Whereas satisfactory evidence has been received by me that upon vessels
of the United States arriving in ports of the Province of Ontario, in
the Dominion of Canada, or arriving at any port in the island of
Monserrat, in the West Indies, or at Panama or Aspinwall, United States
of Colombia, or at the ports of San Juan and Mayaguez, in the island of
Puerto Rico, no duty is imposed by the ton as tonnage tax or as light
money, and that no other equivalent tax on vessels of the United States
is imposed at said ports by the governments to which said ports are
immediately subject; and
Whereas by the provisions of section 14 of an act approved June 26,
1884, "to remove certain burdens on the American merchant marine and
encourage the American foreign carrying trade, and for other purposes,"
the President of the United States is authorized to suspend the
collection in ports of the United States from vessels arriving from any
port in the Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, the Bahama Islands, the
Bermuda Islands, the West India Islands, Mexico, and Central America
down to and including Aspinwall and Panama of so much of the duty at
the rate of 3 cents per ton as may be in excess of the tonnage and
light-house dues, or other equivalent tax or taxes, imposed on American
vessels by the government of the foreign country in which such port
is situated:
Now, therefore, I, Chester A. Arthur, President of the United States of
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the act and section
hereinbefore mentioned, do hereby declare and proclaim that on and after
the first Tuesday in February, 1885, the collection of said tonnage duty
of 3 cents per ton shall be suspended as regards all vessels arriving in
any port of the United States from any port in the Province of Ontario,
in the Dominion of Canada, or from a port in the island of Monserrat, in
the West Indies, or from the ports of Panama and Aspinwall, or the ports
of San Juan and Mayaguez, in the island of Puerto Rico.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 31st day of January, 1885, and of
the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and
ninth.
[SEAL.]