To the Senate:
In further response to the resolution adopted by the Senate on the 25th instant, requesting the President, if not incompatible in his judgment with the public interests, to transmit to the Senate the statement of the German Government or its officers in relation to the wages paid to German workmen, I transmit herewith the documents furnished by the German Government on the subject, which this day were returned by the Committee on Finance of the Senate to the Department of State.
The attention of the Senate is invited to the statement in the accompanying report of the Acting Secretary of State that these documents were obtained upon the understanding that the names of manufacturers were to be held confidential and that the information furnished will not be made the basis of administrative action.
WILLIAM H. TAFT
Note: This Message was accompanied by a statement from the German Government controverting representations made to the Congressional Committees on Tariff Revision by interested American manufacturers regarding the cost of production and wages paid by German manufacturers of chemicals, pottery, glass, metals, jewelry, watches, sugar, cotton goods, textiles, worsted, carpets, wool, paper, printed articles, brushes, shoes, leather, matches, and ammunition. According to this German statement, the cost of production of their articles and the wages paid by them were grossly misrepresented.
William Howard Taft, Special Message Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/207539