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PUBLIC
INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

THEIR WORK AND ORGANIZATION

A STUDY IN
INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

PAUL S. REINSCH

PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

DELEGATE OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE THIRD AND

FOURTH PAN-AMERICAN CONFERENCES

PUBLISHED FOR THE WORLD PEACE FOUNDATION

GINN AND COMPANY

BOSTON AND LONDON
191 I

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3Efte gtftenteum ^res*

G1NN AND COMPANY • PRO-
PRIETORS • BOSTON • U.S.A.

MY PARENTS

WHOSE DEEP INTEREST IN OLD WORLD AFFAIRS

FIRST LED ME TO THINK ABOUT THE

BROADER LIFE OF HUMANITY

PREFACE

The relations between independent states have been, during recent
times, assuming such a character that our traditional ideas of interna-
tional law are in need of revision ; or it might be better to say that
we are witnessing processes and developments in international life
which are adding new areas to the domain of international law. Such,
for instance, is the rapid growth of international procedure in extra-
dition, in the presentation of claims, and especially in arbitration.
Another important new phase of the subject is the organization and
administration of public unions in which certain economic, social, or
scientific interests are dealt with on the basis of world-wide relations.
The technical and industrial advance which characterizes our era has
already brought about an internationalism, which is slowly and care-
fully being embodied in the forms of political organization. It is
this latter subject to which the present volume is intended to afford
an introduction. Within its space only summary treatment of the
individual unions is possible ; but the time will soon be ripe for a
detailed study of this new international administrative law in all its
manifold forms and applications.

The author desires to acknowledge the effective assistance in proof
reading, revision, and verification received from Mr. S. Gale Lowrie,
of the University of Wisconsin, and Mr. Benjamin B. Wallace, now
of Princeton University. Parts of the chapters which make up this
volume were published originally in the American Journal of Interna-
tional Lazv, the American Political Science Review, and the Forum.
These portions, which are reprinted with the kind permission of the
editors, have been revised, elaborated, and brought down to date.

PAUL S. REINSCH

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Introduction 1

The New Internationalism i

II. The Development and Organization of International Unions 12

I. Communication 15

The Telegraphic Union 15

Wireless Telegraphy 19

The Universal Postal Union 21

The International Union of Railway Freight Transportation . 28

Automobile Conference 33

Navigation 34

II. Economic Interests 35

The Metric Union 35

Industrial and Literary Property 36

Union for the Publication of Customs Tariffs 41

Protection of Labor 42

The Sugar Convention 49

Agriculture 51

Insurance 55

III. Sanitation and Prison Reform 56

The International Prison Congress 56

International Sanitation 57

Pan-American Sanitary Union 60

The International Opium Commission 61

The Geneva Convention 62

IV. Police Powers 62

Fisheries Police 62

Protection of Submarine Cables 63

African Slave Trade and Liquor Traffic 64

Repression of the White-Slave Trade 64

The South American Police Convention 66

V. Scientific Purposes 67

The International Geodetic Association 68

The International Electrotechnical Commission 69

The Seismological Union 70

Exploration of the Sea 70

The Pan-American Scientific Congress 71

VI. Special and Local Purposes 73

vii

viii PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

c. HAPTSR PAGE

III. The International Union of American Republics .... 77

The Central American Union 118

IV. The Administrative Law of the Hague Tribunal . . . .122

V. International Administrative Law and National Sovereignty i 26

I. The Basis and Body of Universal Law 127

II. General Principles of Organization 143

Formation of Unions 144

Organs and Institutions 149

Legislation 156

Administrative Activities 160

VI. International Unions and War 169

INDEX 187

PUBLIC
INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The New Internationalism1

Among men of affairs the generous ideal of world unity and peace
is still commonly looked upon as a golden dream. The historic experi-
ence of generations has accustomed men to think in terms of national
sovereignty, and to see in national life, rich with the color of varied
experience, the final form of human civilization. It seems to accord
with what is called the ineradicable basis of human nature that na-
tional differences should exist and that they should express themselves
in mutually exclusive fashion. So the thought of world unity seems
to lack relation to actual facts ; it is at best a guiding hope, a gener-
ous aspiration by which the harshness of competition and strife may,
in ordinary times, be smoothed over a little. Even the men who are
called to do the constructive work in international relations often
accept the idea of universal peace only as " the bright star which we
shall never reach, though it will always guide us," — to use the words
of the president of the second Hague conference. This platonic
enthusiasm frequently found among men of action may be accounted
for partly by the trained conservatism of their nature, which leads
them to take only one step at a time and never to rush with outspread
arms toward an ideal which their souls might divine, but which their
caution views with doubt. But more specifically their attitude is due
to the fact that in the past the ideal of peace has assumed the charac-
ter of a poetical abstraction, — a prophetic vision of a new world, —
devoid of direct relation to the living facts and pulsating energies of

1 Reprinted, in part, from the Forum, July, 1909.

2 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

actual existence. Based upon the formal and abstract concept of hu-
manity developed by the rationalism of the eighteenth century, it has
assumed men capable of cutting loose from all the customs and inter-
ests of their traditional life, and to be directly, as reasoning beings,
impelled to world-wide unity. The world state above, the rational
individual below, and between them nothing but an exalted en-
thusiasm to uphold so vast a structure. It is, indeed, the privilege of
human existence that we may be roused and impelled by generous
appeals ; but to lift all the conditions of our being to a higher plane,
abandoning the inherited customs and institutions, — that involves
more complex activities and changes than the mere acceptance, intel-
lectually, of an exalted thought. The true constructive force was want-
ing in the older cosmopolitanism ; in its attempt to create a new basis
for human life it cast aside and spurned all the relations and institu-
tions in which our national and communal life has had its being. But
man lacks the constancy of effort to hold himself permanently upon
the height of a purely rational ideal ; his nature must be raised
through many degrees of institutional life, from the narrow limits of
personality, to the broad aims of civilization.

These thoughts are suggested as we compare the pacifism and
cosmopolitanism of the recent past with the world-organization move-
ment of the present. Our age is realistic and practical ; its concepts
are positive and concrete. The high ideals which it is conceiv-
ing are viewed not as cloud castles but as mountain tops soaring
aloft in untarnished beauty, yet resting upon an immovable and
massive foundation. As we look upon human life in its complexity
we appreciate the value of all those forms of association, local and
national, which the past has so laboriously evolved. It is not for us
to throw them on the rubbish heap of worn-out machinery. They are
forms of life which manifest themselves independently of our theories.
So we recognize their validity and seek a way to transform the social
and political energies thus concentrated, for the accomplishment of
still higher aims. The barren ideal of no war, no patriotism, no local
interest, has given way to a potent centripetal force. We are build-
ing up cooperation in constantly widening circles, so that it tran-
scends national bounds to become a universal joint effort. We seek
not so much to establish an abstract ideal as to work together in all
the varied and absorbing interests and pursuits that occupy mankind.

INTRODUCTION 3

World-wide cooperation in all human activities, each interest ex-
panding its field of action until it has filled the limits of the globe, —
that is the tendency of to-day. Universal cooperation is the watch-
word which stands for positive action, for the development of concrete
facts in human life corresponding to the actual needs of our economic
and social order. For this purpose adequate institutions must be
created to take international action out of the field of resolutions and
to make it a part of the realities of human life. The void which the
old cosmopolitan ideal left between the individual and humanity is
thus being filled by the creation of living institutions through which
the individual may gradually learn to cooperate, in many groups, with
all his fellow men.

The most important fact of which we have become conscious in
our generation is that the unity of the world is real. The most remote
regions are being made accessible. The great economic and financial
system by which the resources of the earth are being developed is
centralized. The psychological unity of the world is being prepared
by the service of news and printed discussions, by which in the space
of one day or week the same events are reported to all the readers
from Buenos Aires to Tokyo, from Cape Town to San Francisco.
The same political dramas evoke our interest, the same catastrophes
compel our sympathy, the same scientific achievements make us
rejoice, the same great public figures people our imagination. That
such a unity of thought and feeling is drawing after it a unity of action
is plainly apparent. Our destiny is a common one ; whatever may
happen to the nations of Africa and Asia affects our life. Should
great national disasters devastate or wars disorganize these distant
societies, we ourselves must bear a part of the burden. Nor is there
any development or advance in the perfective arts of civilization, the
conditions and processes which make industry profitable and life
agreeable, but we ourselves shall share in the benefits. Science knows
no national boundaries. What is achieved in Berlin, Paris, or Rome
to-day is to-morrow a part of the scientific capital of all the world.
The positive ideal of our day is undoubtedly that the whole earth
shall become a field of action open to every man, and that all the ad-
vantages which may be secured by the efforts of humanity shall accrue
to the citizens of each individual nation. In this new grouping of
social and economic life the national state will indeed continue to

4 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

hold a prominent place, but public and associative action will be domi-
nated by forces and considerations which are broader than national
life. Cooperation is the key to life and society. Neither the indi-
vidual nor the nation is self-sufficing. There is a broader life ; there
are broader interests and more far-reaching activities surrounding
national life in which it must participate in order to develop to the
full its own nature and satisfy completely its many needs. Even as
the individual receives from society both protection and stimulus, so
the nation would suffer intolerable disadvantages were it to exclude
itself from world intercourse.

But if we have not intently followed the recent development of in-
ternational affairs, we may be inclined to regard these things as impor-
tant elements, indeed, in human thought, but not as productive of
efficacious action. Yet the realm of international organization is an
accomplished fact. The idea of cosmopolitanism is no longer a castle
in the air, but it has become incorporated in numerous associations
and unions world-wide in their operation. Nor are these merely
represented by congresses where tendencies and aims are discussed
and resolutions voted. No, they have been provided with permanent
organizations, with executive bureaus, with arbitration tribunals, with
legislative commissions and assemblies. Of international unions, com-
posed of private individuals united for the advancement of industry,
commerce, or scientific work, there are no less than one hundred
fifty, all furnished with a permanent form of organization. But the
national governments themselves have recognized the necessity for
international action and have combined among themselves to further
all those activities which cannot be adequately protected or advanced
by isolated states. There are in existence over forty- five public inter-
national unions, composed of states. Of these, thirty are provided
with administrative bureaus or commissions. As the active cause for
this development in modern civilization is rapidity and safeness of
communication and transport, it is natural that the interests of these
activities should have received a world-wide organization in unions
for postal, telegraphic, and railway communication and for the protec-
tion of the means and methods employed by them. No state can
completely protect itself against the inroads of epidemic disease nor
against the plottings of criminals without the cooperation of other
governments. Unions have thus been established for mutual police

INTRODUCTION 5

assistance and for the development of international sanitation. In
order that industrial competition may be raised to a plane where the
individual laborer or manufacturer is sheltered against intolerable
conditions, nations unite and follow a common plan of economic and
labor legislation. For the ample development of such interests there
have been founded the International Institute of Agriculture, the In-
ternational Association for Labor Legislation, and many semipublic
associations designed to realize the idea of a world unity in the great
field of economic life. But we must not proceed to an enumeration.
It is only our purpose to point out the significance of these great
positive movements. When once we appreciate the scope of the forces
involved, we are impelled to the conclusion that world organization is
no longer an ideal but is an accomplished fact. The foundations in
international life have been laid by the slow working of economic and
social causes, guided by the conscious will of man, but responding to
and logically expressing the deepest needs of human life.

Effectual internationalism respects political and ethnic entities as
essential forms of social organization within their proper limits, just
as the modern state respects the autonomy of towns, provinces, and
member states. We are not able to dispense with the traditions of
orderly development, with the psychic unities which lie back of na-
tional sovereignty and give it force. While, indeed, looking far beyond
any narrow and exclusive policy, positive internationalism is equally
averse to any attempts artificially to create a world state, either by the
deadening force of military empire or by mechanical construction.
But if this great force is not hostile to national community, it is plain,
on the other hand, that the time is past when any nation can expect
to prosper, or even exist, in a state of isolation. International cooper-
ation has become an absolute necessity to states, along all the various
lines of national enterprise. National independence must not be in-
terpreted as equivalent to national self-sufficiency, nor ought we to
think of political sovereignty as enabling a nation to do exactly what
it pleases without regard to others. Though such a power may be
found in the abstraction of law, among men acting with wisdom and
foresight it does not as a matter of fact exist. The normal state is, by
the circumstances of modern life, compelled to international coopera-
tion. By cutting itself off from international intercourse and from the
unions, it would be depriving its citizens of advantages to which they

6 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

are entitled as men living in the civilized world of to-day. It is not
outside of, but within, the great international society of the world that
states will advance and develop what is best in their individuality.
This should be borne in mind especially by us, citizens of a rich and
powerful republic, which is at times inclined to forget that its policy
must consider world-wide conditions and duties. Thus it has become
clear that in all matters of actual life states are interdependent. Inter-
national law is the expression of this interdependence, and in our days
this great science is taking on a new form in response to the new
situation in the world. The abundance of close relations and joint
activities permanently established among states, in recent decades,
is most impressive to the careful observer. The older treatises gave
most attention to the state of war ; in the future the relations of peace
will occupy three fourths of the space and attention. The law of war
will sink to the relative unimportance which criminal procedure holds
in municipal law systems. This vision of world-wide cooperation is
indeed inspiring and grateful. Its beauty and strength rest' on the fact
that millions are working together quietly, in the pursuit of their
various living interests, toward the organization of world unity. It is
not a thing imposed from above by force, or dictated only by a higher
rationalism, but it is the almost instinctive work of active men building
wider and wider spheres of affiliation.

By a strange but not uncommon paradox, the very age that sees
this striking growth of world-wide enterprise is also the witness of an
insensate competition in military armament. In one of his poems the
emperor of Japan says, " In this age, when in the entire world we
believe ourselves brothers, why then should the tempest rise with so
much force." Yet we are here not in the presence of a deep contra-
diction. The spirit of our age expresses itself in a desire for energetic
action, for strong personality, for positive deeds and achievements.
There is a generous stirring of enthusiasm, a new idealism in act and
thought. But it cherishes not a pale and silvery hue of life ; it demands
character, force, and action. According as this force will be directed
it will express itself in bitter national combats or in wonderful interna-
tional construction. But action it demands. It is here that the older
pacifism was weak. The ideal of rest, of quiet, of not arming, of not
struggling, does not arouse this age as does the call to action. But
once let internationalism be presented as the most far-reaching, the

INTRODUCTION 7

most promising action, — action full of difficulty, calling for strength
and devotion, — and it powerfully appeals to the spirit of the age. Let
us vow that this creative energy shall counteract the desire to waste
the inheritance of civilization in bloody and destructive war.

The warlike spirit presupposes a misunderstanding of the motives
and aims of other nations. How can we key ourselves to the dread pur-
pose of taking the life of fellow beings, unless our feelings are worked
upon by the idea that they are antireligious, despotic, immoral, cruel,
— in a word, enemies of civilization ? But will such designs be con-
ceived by a merchant against those with whom he has sat in an inter-
national body, discussing the interests of commerce and industry ?
Will a physician desire to kill the sanitary official in cooperation with
whom he is protecting his nation from the inroads of epidemic and
plague ? Will the man of science conceive a murderous craving to take
the life of those who are searching for the truth in the laboratories of
Germany or of France ? War becomes criminal, a perversion of hu-
manity, in such cases. There is no high ideal which can be appealed
to for the killing of those with whom we cooperate in the work of
making the world a better place.

The older pacifism was of a purely negative character. It looked
upon war as an evil entity to be combated directly. Yet war is only
the symptom of a general condition in which too great emphasis is
still laid upon local interests. It is evident that the only effective
manner to remove the conditions to which the occurrence of war is
due, lies in the building up of an international consciousness ; but such
a consciousness cannot arise out of nothing — there must be back of
it a development of actual unity in interest and feeling. We must
realize our interdependence in practical affairs. It is through the cre-
ation of international organizations for all the interests of human life
that a positive content of the feeling of a common humanity is being
provided. The incentive to war will become weaker and weaker as
the bonds of community between nations increase, such as are pro-
vided by communication agencies, by economic and industrial ties, or
by scientific cooperation. How intolerably painful will be the ruthless
interruption of all such relations and activities ! There are but two
alternatives : either the ties which are thus being created will in time
become so strong that no nation will be reckless enough to sunder
them ; or, should war continue to exist, these relations will have to be

8 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

exempted from its operations. Such an exemption will tend to reduce
the sufferings and dangers of war more and more, and would thus be
in itself a boon to humanity.

Universal cooperation is the future ideal. The world is full of con-
ditions and activities in which nations are not self-sufficing, in which
we instinctively look beyond the boundaries of the national state. The
nation that would be independent in isolation will condemn itself to
be a Venezuela,1 will cut itself and its citizens off from the advantages
of civilization to which all human beings are entitled. But, recognizing
interdependence with the other civilized nations of the world, a state
strengthens itself as does the individual who plunges with full energy
into the life of his community, being stimulated thereby and having
all his faculties developed. The great fact that the world is a unit
rests upon the underlying conditions of modern invention and science,
which the dictum of no national government can destroy. Interna-
tional cooperation points out the only way in which humanity may con-
tinue to develop without wasting its energy and ultimately falling
a prey to triumphant militarism. Between such alternatives it is not
difficult to choose ; indeed, it is almost impossible to believe that
mankind should be so perverse and misguided as to prefer much
longer the waste and suffering of military competition to the joy of
normal activity, — the development of all that is great and strong
through international cooperation. On the one hand lies barbarism,
on the other the certainty of continued progress.

A study of the development of political thought during the modern
era seems to reveal a sharp conflict between the nationalist and the
humanitarian view. In forming their ideas about public life, men
side either with Machiavelli, to whom the state, self-sufficient and
untrammeled by moral considerations, is the sole end of existence ;
or with Grotius, who builds his system upon the unity of mankind.
In the footsteps of Machiavelli follow Hobbes, Burke, and the histori-
cal school, while Grotius is the intellectual ancestor of the believers
in a rationalist policy, like Locke, Rousseau, and the modern Liberals.
At the end of the nineteenth century the conflict between these tend-
encies seemed peculiarly acute. There was a recrudescence of Machi-
avellian craft and cynicism. But at the same time nationalism, with
its ideas of self-sufficiency and independence, its reliance upon force,

1 This was written in the days of Castro.

INTRODUCTION 9

its desire for expansion, was confronted by the ideal of a broader
humanity, softening discords and banishing feelings of hatred through
a common belief in the essential unity of human life and civilization.
It is a significant fact that, at the very time when the ideas of a
common humanity have received such strong expression and have
been given so tangible an embodiment as in the recent conventions
on joint action, we should also be witnessing an extreme effort of
nationalism in the continued and growing armaments and the in-
creasing keenness of international competition. But this contrast
indicates a deeper harmony. We are not here dealing with two forces
that are at all times antagonistic and mutually destructive ; quite to the
contrary, they are contained in each other. With all their apparent
conflict they are intimately related, so that in the present stage of the
world's history a strengthening of the one seems directly to stimulate
the other. It was in nationalism that humanity first became conscious
of its own aims and destinies. The Greek city, truly national, though
politically and socially much narrower than the modern state, was the
beginning of all humanitarian civilization. The strength of national-
ism lies in its power of self-limitation, of individualizing humanity ;
but its aim is, after all, humanity and not any narrower interest. Just
as in state-life itself, aims must be national, — not local or particularis-
tic, or we should have an intolerable rule of factions, — so in the life
of the world, aims ought to be not narrowly national but humanitarian
in the creative sense. This is a moral, but also an actual and inherent,
necessity. An implied homage to this principle is constantly paid by
nations when they make humanitarian professions of policy. Nor are
such declarations a mere deceitful pretext. They indicate a funda-
mental identity between the aims of humanity and those of the
national state.1

1 The idea of the development of internationalism and its compatibility with the
existence and strength of the national state is thus expressed in the prospectus of
the German association for the mutual understanding among nations, of which a
number of the most important international jurists were the founders :

" At one time the problem and aim of our people was to establish the national
state. We know what progress, especially on the field of industry, is due to its
creation ; but a new era brings new demands. Already our technical development
has brought about an epoch of internationalism ; yet the political organization of the
world has fallen behind through its lack of legal relations between the individual
states. While we now may cross the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean
in an uninterrupted railway journey, while the sea between England and the con-
tinent has become virtually a bridge, the nations of the world confront each other

IO PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

When these considerations are clearly grasped, it will be seen that
the law of nations addresses itself primarily to the great national
powers, and that, though they seem to have the largest opportunity
of breaking it, they will be, by their very nature, most prone to respect
its principles. The ideal of a complete national life implies aims that
transcend national boundaries. The great powers are the heirs, jointly
and individually, of the world-state dreams of Rome and the Middle
Ages. They are the heirs, too, of a common civilization that has
descended to us from the older centers of human activity. The justi-
fication of their existence lies solely in their power to establish and
advance the complete life of their citizens upon the basis of humanity.
Thus the very ambitions of every great world power directly impose
on it aims and policies that may truly be called humanitarian in scope
and essence. It is only the underdeveloped, the out-of-the-way, half-
civilized states that do not feel the pervading influence of these
world-wide forces expressing themselves in international action and
international law. How different it is with the great powers. The
very condition of their being demands the acknowledgment of broader
relations and broader duties than their mere territorial entity would
indicate. Thus the sanction of international law flows not so much
from a contractual arrangement for cooperation or joint action, but
from the fact that the essential nature of the national state is human-
itarian, and that even in spite of itself it is forced to adhere to those
principles of polity which express themselves in a developing rational
law created from the point of view of a common humanity. Interna-
tional cooperation is therefore not something that the nations agree
to on account of extraneous pressure or by reason of a passing
accession of humanitarian enthusiasm. On the contrary, it is the

armed to the teeth. Whoever is devoted to national culture will be ready to consider
what a flowering and fruiting of civilization could everywhere be brought about were
it possible to initiate an era of mutual understanding in international politics. The
present race in armaments will speedily lead to ruin. To-morrow it may be necessary
to add to armaments on land and sea, the maintenance of which impose a crushing
burden, an armada of the air. But is it not possible to combine with the idea of
nationalism that of international organization ? Did not the founders of the Empire
find a mediating policy between legitimism, the maintenance of the sovereign dynas-
ties, and nationalism, which demanded a German union ? A similar conciliation
between nationalism and internationalism has been begun and must be carried out.
We must strive for the establishment of a different political system in the intercourse
among nations."

Signed by Jellinek, v. Liszt, Nippold, Piloty, Schuecking, and v. Ullmann.

INTRODUCTION 1 1

result of a national life which has come to realize its humanitarian
implications. Those who hope for a developing internationalism need
not fear the present strength of national impulses. The more nation-
alism itself becomes conscious of its true destiny and its effective
aims, the more will it contribute to the growth of international institu-
tions. Great nations and responsible statesmen will gladly take part
in building new and ampler mansions for human life and industry, and
in discovering and establishing means by which the energies of our
race may be turned into fruitful work for the betterment of civili-
zation in all its aspects.

CHAPTER II

THE DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION OF INTERNA-
TIONAL UNIONS1

The dominant note of political development during the nine-
teenth century was undoubtedly nationalism, and the political forces
of the century, intricate and involved as their action was, may be
understood and analyzed with the greatest clearness from the point
of view of the struggle for complete national existence and unity
which was going on in all the principal countries of the earth.
Nations are readily personified, and there is a unity and sequence in
their action which makes it appear very concrete when compared
with other political influences and movements. Thus toward the end
of the century, after the great struggles in the United States, Ger-
many, and Italy had been decided in favor of the national principle,
it seemed as if the latter were bound to exercise an almost exclu-
sive sway over the future destinies of humanity, — as if the twentieth
century would be taken up with a fierce economic and military com-
petition among' the nationalities who had achieved a complete polit-
ical existence. Under such conditions diplomacy and international
action would have had for their main function the maintenance of a
political balance or equilibrium which would prevent the undue
aggrandizement of any one state or nation. Such, indeed, had been
the original and continuing purpose of diplomatic action.

Yet, notwithstanding the definiteness and energy with which the
action of nationalism asserted itself in nineteenth-century politics,
the force of its current was all the time being diminished and its
direction modified by that other great principle of social and political
combination which we may call internationalism, and which com-
prises those cultural and economic interests which are common to
civilized humanity. During the Middle Ages the unity of civilization
rested largely upon a cultural and religious basis. In our own age

1 Reprinted, with copious changes and additions, from the American Journal of
Jntti-national Law, July, 1907.

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION I 3

such bonds of union have been powerfully supplemented by the grow-
ing solidarity of economic life throughout the world, as well as by
the need in experimental and applied science to utilize the experi-
ence and knowledge of all countries. The existence of such an
underlying economic unity of the civilized world has been borne in
upon the nations with greater force every succeeding year. The
development of the facilities for communication, bringing with them
a great increase in the intercourse and exchange of commodities
among nations, first convinced the latter of the need of international
arrangements of an administrative nature. The inconveniences and
delays caused at the point of transit from one national territory to
another by the existence of different administrative methods and
harassing regulations were such a serious impediment to the natural
currents of trade that they could not long be tolerated. It was thus
that a strong demand arose for the regulation of the international
•telegraph and postal service, of transfer of freight on railways, and,
in general, of all matters affecting international communication. It
is not difficult to see the impulse toward joint action which would
arise from relations such as those mentioned.

Other interests, such as manufacturing and insurance, while sen-
sitive to the importance of international economic relations, were not
so directly and inevitably affected as was transportation. Yet in these
fields another principle became powerfully active, inducing nations
to seek for a cooperative procedure in matters of industry and other
economic enterprise. This principle is found in the need of raising
'the level of competition. It was soon discovered that after a nation
had, within its territory, introduced some improvement in the condi-
tion of its industries and its labor, such as required an additional
' expenditure of money, its industries might, at least for a while, be
seriously threatened by the competition of those countries in which
such regulations had not as yet been adopted. The industrial inter-
ests which might at first have opposed the introduction of such
measures of protection now became eager partisans of their exten-
sion to competing nations by means of treaties and administrative
arrangements. The international movement for improving industrial
and social conditions therefore found powerful support not only
among men who had originally favored such reform, but among
those interests which, through its introduction in certain nations, had

14 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

been placed in a position of disadvantage in international competi-
tion. This is the ground for international action in matters affecting
agriculture, labor, sugar production, and similar economic activities.
Closely allied to this development and preceding it in time is the
movement for the international protection of patents and copyrights.

A third cause for international action arises where a number of
nations find themselves threatened by conditions existing in less
civilized countries, and also where the instrumentalities and proc-
esses of their economic activities extend upon the seas beyond
national jurisdiction. Thus the safeguarding of public health against
the importation of epidemics, and the protection of submarine cables
in high-sea areas became the subject matter of agreements for inter-
national administrative action.

Civilized nations, being desirous of conducting their affairs in the
most scientific and effective fashion, feel the need of making use of
experience and knowledge wherever they may be found. Recogni-
tion of the fact that no people has a monopoly of the best scientific
and administrative processes has led the nations to seek opportu-
nities for the interchange of experience such as are afforded by con-
gresses of experts in various fields of public activity. Many of the
unions formed more directly for administrative purposes also inci-
dentally act as centers for the exchange of reliable information.

The number and extent of the international activities already en-
tered upon are surprising. It is not so much the case that nations
have given up certain parts of their sovereign powers to international
administrative organs, as that they have, while fully reserving their
independence, actually found it desirable, and in fact necessary,
regularly and permanently to cooperate with other nations in the
matter of administrating economic and cultural interests. Without
legal derogation to the sovereignty of individual states, an inter-
national de facto and conventional jurisdiction and administrative
procedure is thus growing up, which bids fair to become one of the
controlling elements in the future political relations of the world.

In order to give an adequate account of these important move-
ments a monographic study of each of them would be necessary.
No more will be attempted in the present chapter than to give
an indication of the main historical facts concerning the formation
of these various unions, and the conventions upon which they rest.

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 1 5

Special attention will be given to the initial difficulties in the way of
reaching such agreements, and to the manner in which those exist-
ing were, as a matter of fact, concluded. The diplomatic and admin-
istrative agencies employed in the formation of these unions, or created
for their purposes, will be reviewed, as well as the influence of private
initiative and associated effort in bringing about joint action by the
governments. We shall also note the functions attributed to the in-
ternational organs, and the main administrative principles and methods
established. The present chapter will be confined to a brief account
of the various unions from these points of view. A more thorough-
going analysis, critical and comparative, of the arrangements and
institutions thus established, viewed in their relation to general inter-
national law and to the administrative systems of the individual states,
will be given in the fifth chapter.1

I. Communication

The TelegrapJiic Union11 (U Union des administrations telegra-
phiqncs). The first important international administrative union to
be established was the telegraphic union. From 1849 on, treaties
had been made between individual European states concerning tele-
graphic communication. In 1850 an Austro-German telegraph union

1 General references: Poinsard, L., Droit international conventionnel, 1896; Le
droit international au XXe siecle, Paris, 1907. Moynier, G., Les bureaux interna-
tionaux, Geneva, 1892. Kazanski, P., The General Administrative Unions of States
(in Russian), Odessa, 1897. Kazanski, " Die allgemeinen Staatenvereine," \njahrb. d.
intemat. Vereinigung, Vol. VI, Berlin, 1904. Descamps, Les offices internationaux,
Brussels, 1894. Lavollee, "Les unions internationales," in Rev. d'hist. dip!., Vol. I,
p. 331. Fiore, " L'organisation juridique de la societe internationale," in Revue de
droit international, 1899, pp. 105, 209. Olivart, Marques de, Tratado de derecho
internacional publico, Vol. II, Madrid, 1903. Ullmann, Vblkerrecht, p. 282. Field,
D. D., Draft Outlines of an International Code, 1872. Oppenheim, L., International
Law, Vol. I, 1896. Schiicking, W., " L'organisation internationale," Revue generate de
droit international, Vol. XV, p. 5. Nippold, O., Verfahren in volkerrechtl. Streitig-
keiten, chap, i, Leipzig, 1907. Annuaire de la vie internationale, A. H. Fried, ed.,
Brussels, contains valuable data on international unions. Edition 1908-1909 contains
the organic laws of most of the unions, public as well as private.

2 Fischer, P. D., Die Telegraphie und das Vblkerrecht, Leipzig, 1876. Save-
ney, E., " La telegraphie internationale," Revue de deux mondes, September and Oc-
tober, 1872. Renault, L., Rapports internationaux. La poste et le telegraphe, Paris,
1877. Carmichael, E., The Law relating to the Telegraph, the Telephone, and the Sub-
marine Cable, London, 1903. Kazanski, P., " L'union telegraphique internationale,"
Revue de droit international, 1897, p. 451. Meili, Die internationalen Unionen, etc.,
Leipzig, 1889. Rolland, L., De la correspondance postale et telegraphique, 1901.
Journal telegraphique, Bern, since 1869. Archiv f. Post u. Telegraphie, Vol. XXXII,
pp. 65-89. Treaties in Archives diplomatiques.

1 6 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

was organized ; another union embraced France, Belgium, and Prus-
sia; and through the convention of October 4, 1852, at Paris, all
continental states which at that time had state telegraphs regulated
the mutual relations of their services. Through such conventions as
these the international relations in this matter were made more satis-
factory, without, however, securing that uniformity and regularity
which the interests of the various nations really demanded. The
desire to attain such uniformity by a universal union led to the
convening of a conference at Paris in 1865. Twenty states were
represented by their diplomatic agents at Paris, assisted by expert
delegates. The conference, therefore, had the double character of a
diplomatic congress and a meeting of expert representatives of the
various administrations. The results of the work of the conference
were, in accordance with this double character, divided into a conven-
tion, or treaty, signed by the diplomatic representatives, and a rtglc-
ment controlling the administrative details, which was signed by the
expert delegates. These conventions resulted in a great simplification'
of the international service as well as in a considerable reduction in
the tariff rates. Many difficulties of local opposition had to be overn;
come before an agreement could be reached. The discussions of the
conference are of exceptional interest, as it constitutes the first impor-
tant attempt to arrange for permanent cooperation between sovereign
states in administrative matters. As a precedent for international
action, the conference of Paris must be accorded a very high impor-
tance. The telegraphic union which was thus formed embraced all
the states represented, and to these were added, during the subsequent
three years, eight other states and colonies.

The first regular conference of the union took place at Vienna in
June, 1868. The double nature of the conference — composed of
diplomatic and technical representatives — was preserved on this as
well as on subsequent occasions. Five more members were admitted
at this time, including the telegraph administration of British India.
The most important act of the conference of 1868 was the establish-
ment of a bureau having its seat at Bern, and acting as a central
organ of the union. At the conference at Rome, in 1871, represent-
atives of important private telegraph companies were admitted as
advisory members. The conference at St. Petersburg (1875) recast
the constitutional form of the union by distinguishing more carefully

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 17

between the matters to be dealt with in the diplomatic convention
and those to be included in the reglement. The convention was made,
in a way, the constitution of the union, laying down the fundamental
principles which were accepted as expressing the essential relations
and duties of the members and the permanent basis of the adminis-
tration. The reglement, on the other hand, was composed of those
administrative regulations by which the details of the administration
were fixed, and which were susceptible of gradual modification, cor-
responding to changes in the character of the administrative relations.
A similar basis of division had been used the preceding -year in the
formation of the general postal union. Among the matters which
were laid down by the convention are the general classification of
telegrams, the admission of cipher dispatches, conditions of suspend-
ing the sen-ice, and the right of declining responsibility for loss. The
details of the tariff and the application of the above rules are fixed
by the reglement.

Among the principles established by the convention, the follow-
ing are of general interest : the secrecy of correspondence is to be
guarded ; the governments do not admit any responsibility on account
of the service of international telegraphy, particularly for damages
caused by delay in delivery of messages ; special wires are to be used
for the international sendee. Telegrams are divided into three classes,
— state telegrams, senice telegrams, and private telegrams. The
contracting parties reserve the power to stop the transmission of every
private telegram which may seem dangerous to the state or contrary
to its laws ; when judged necessary, the telegraph service may be
suspended entirely or partially. The convention further established
the central organ or bureau mentioned above, and laid down a definite
basis for international tariffs of charges. Periodical administrative con-
ferences are to be held for the purpose of revising the convention and
the reglement ; in the deliberations, each public telegraph administra-
tion has the right to one vote. The revisions decided upon by the
conference do not come into force until they have received the
approbation of all the contracting states.

The telegraphic union is at the present time composed of forty-eight
states and colonies. Its regulations are observed also by the subma-
rine cable companies. The union comprises all the important countries
)f the world with the exception of the United States, China, Mexico,

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

Peru, and Canada. It is likely that China will be a member before
long. As only a very small fraction of the telegraph lines in the
United States is under federal control, the government is not in a
position to fulfill the main requisite to becoming a member of the
union, namely, "being in a position to insure the general acceptance
of the principles and rules of the international telegraph conference
on the part of the private companies within its territory." Hence the
repeated invitation to become a member has had to be declined. The
American government has however been represented at the recent
conferences of the union by delegates who are accorded the right to
speak, but who do not vote.

The great increase in telegraphic communication in the last quarter
century is shown in the following table from a United States gov-
ernment report, giving the combined statistics of all the countries
in the union :

1868
1885
1905

Domestic
telegraphs

19,961,925
132,090,116
310,201,679

International
telegraphs

5,678,405
J3>339>742
82,196,656

Total

2 5'640,338
145,429,858

392,398,335

In 1868 the telegraph lines of the countries belonging to the tele-
graphic union (including cables) had a total length of 135,378 miles ;
in 1885 it had increased to 407,997 miles ; and in 1905, to 786,340
miles.

The international telegraphic bureau began operations on January
1, 1869. It is under the supervision of the Swiss government, and
its expenses are met by the states in proportion to the importance of
their telegraphic intercourse. Its original budget allowance was only
50,000 francs a year, of which, as a matter of fact, only 65 per cent
on an average was used during the earlier period. The conference
at St. Petersburg increased the budget to 60,000 francs, and it now
stands at 100,000 francs a year. The attributes of the bureau as
determined by the convention are as follows : It is to collect informa-
tion concerning international telegraphy ; to give due form to demands
for changes in the tariffs and in the service regulations, and to give
notice of such changes ; and to make special studies and investi-
gations when so directed by the conferences of the union.

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 19

The reglement provides that the various telegraphic administra-
tions shall keep each other informed, through the intermediary of
the bureau, of all changes and improvements in their service and of
interruptions in communication. They shall also furnish to the
bureau all statistical information, so as to enable it to issue a com-
plete annual account of the international telegraphic services. At the
periodic conferences of the union, a program, worked out beforehand
under the initiative of the state where the conference is to be held,
and in consultation with the other governments interested, forms the
basis of discussion. Committees are appointed to consider in detail
the various propositions. The resolutions of the conference are not
binding until accepted by all the administrations of the contracting
states, although for their adoption by the conference only a majority
vote of the delegates present is necessary. A change of the funda-
mental convention would of course require the diplomatic action of
all the treaty powers. It is a general principle illustrated by the
telegraphic union that in such combinations the sovereignty of each
member demands that an important act of the union should be under-
taken only by unanimous consent ; but the members of the union,
of course, remain free to conclude among themselves special agree-
ments, not conflicting with the general treaty, which their special
situation and interests may require. Should certain members refuse
to accede to the establishment of a proposed reform, those desiring
the change may form a restricted union for such special purpose.

Wireless telegraphy} The invention of wireless telegraphy raised
many novel problems in international law and administration. The
legal questions involved are of great interest, even when considered
only from the point of view of an individual sovereignty ; but as
telegraphy is an operation which is an essential part in the intercourse
between nations, the method and manner of telegraphic communi-
cation and the rules regulating it could not have been satisfactorily
settled without resorting to international agreement. As there had been
an attempt on the part of Great Britain to build up a radiotelegraphic

1 Meili, T., Die drahtlose Telegraphic Zurich, 1908. Landsberg, A., Die draht-
lose Telegraphie, Marburg, 1909. Fauchille, P., " Le regime aerien, etc.," Revue ge-
nerate de droit international, Vol. VIII, p. 414. Rolland, La telegraphie sans fil,
Revue generate de droit international, Vol. XIII, p. 58. Lorentz, Les cables sous-
marins et la telegraphie sans fil, Nancy, 1906. Docum. de la conference radiotel. de
1906, Berlin. Report of Select Committee, Pari. Sess. Papers, No. 246, London, 1907.

20 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

monopoly, other nations in self-defense favored an agreement by
which such narrow control of an international service would be pre-
vented. A preliminary conference on radiotelegraphy took place in
Berlin in 1903. This was followed by a more formal conference in
1906, at which a convention was framed and adopted. The conven-
tion is accompanied by a protocol containing subsidiary arrangements,
as well as a rcglcment defining more in detail the principles of the
convention and laying down rules for the administration. The
principal provisions of the convention are as follows : Coast stations
and stations on ships are bound to exchange radiotelegrams without
discrimination against any system. Wireless stations must accept
appeals for aid from ships in distress in preference to any other mes-
sages. Inland stations must be connected with the coast stations by
special wires. Naval and military stations can of course be maintained
and they will not be subject to the duty of furnishing public service.
The provisions of the convention and rcglcment may be changed by
common accord among the contracting parties. Conferences of pleni-
potentiaries or simple administrative conferences shall take place
periodically, the former dealing with the convention, the latter with
the rcglcment. In these each country is entitled to one vote. Colonies
or protectorates may be admitted to the union on their own account.
A bureau is established, charged with furnishing every kind of in-
formation upon radiotelegraphy, giving notice of changes in the con-
vention or reglement, and in general performing all administrative
labors in the interest of international radiotelegraphy. In case of
dispute between two or more governments concerning the interpreta-
tion or execution of the convention, the question may be submitted to
arbitral decision. Each litigant then chooses another government as
arbiter ; if these do not agree, they may choose a third government
as umpire. The Italian delegation, while signing the convention, made
a reservation to the effect that their government could not ratify until
the expiration of its contracts with the Marconi Company. In the
end the conference did not create a separate bureau, but charged the
telegraphic bureau at Bern to act as a central office of correspondence
and information in connection with radiotelegraphy, and authorized
it to spend 40,000 francs a year for this branch of the service.

The union for the protection of submarine cables will be taken up
in connection with international police arrangements.

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2 1

The Universal Postal Union } The industrial and commercial de-
velopment of the early nineteenth century brought with it a remark-
able growth in postal business. The carrying of letters and other
missives, originally a private enterprise, had been generally assumed
by the various states during the second half of the eighteenth century,
although it was only as recently as 1867 that the private postal service
of the Thurn and Taxis family was taken over by the Prussian gov-
ernment. As the postal system of each state was an independent
unit, and had practically no administrative relations with other postal
services, there was a great complexity in arrangements and rates as
far as 'international business was concerned. This was exceedingly
cumbersome and constituted a great impediment to commerce. Not
only were the rates of postage very high, but the tariffs were confused
by the fact that the charges varied according to the respective route of
transit. Thus, for instance, there were three different rates between
Germany and Austria, five different rates between Germany and
Australia, four different rates between Germany and Italy, according
to the particular route taken by the letter. Postage between Germany
and Italy, for instance, varied from forty-eight to ninety pfennings per
letter. A letter from the United States to Australia would pay either
five, thirty-three, forty-five, or sixty cents, or $1.02 per half ounce,
according to the route by which it was sent. Mail service was by no
means frequent, but the fact that a letter was prepaid for a certain
route often prevented it from taking advantage of a quicker means of
communication. It might just have missed the mail for which it was
prepaid, by a few hours, but would have to wait until another mail
left by the same route before it would be forwarded. Charges in
general were very high ; thus the rate upon a registered letter between
Berlin and Rome amounted to four marks and ten pfennings. In
making up a through rate, the transit charges of every country whose
administration handled the letter would be included. The accounts of
such mutual charges were exceedingly complicated and it took a vast
amount of clerical work to keep them balanced. Further difficulty
was introduced through the difference in weights and in currency, all

1 Weithase, H., Geschichte des Weltpostvereins, Strassburg, 1899. Rolland, Meili,
op. cit. Schroeter, C, Der Weltpostverein, 1900. Krains, H., L'Union postale uni-
verselle, 1908. L'Union postale, Bern, since 1875. Treaties of October 9,-1874,
June 1, 1878, and May 26, 1906, in Archives diplomatique*. L'Union postale universelle,
published by the international bureau at Bern, 1900.

2 2 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

of which had to be taken account of in computing rates. It will be
apparent from these few facts and examples that the service lacked
that rapidity and cheapness which alone could make it a real influence
in the development of wrorld-wide business relations. A remedy could
be created only through international action. Nor were treaty arrange-
ments between individual nations sufficient to solve the problem.
What was needed was an understanding between all the civilized
nations of the world.

Beginning with the year 1802, a large number of conventions for
the purpose of regulating postal communication were concluded by
groups of two or more nations. After the middle of the century this
international interest assumed such proportions that the establishment
of a regime of uniform regulations appeared highly desirable. In
1862 the United States government officially took the lead in this
matter ; the Department of State called attention to the many incon-
veniences arising from the lack of unity, and suggested the holding of
an international postal conference. Such a conference accordingly as-
sembled at Paris in May and June, 1863, on which occasion fifteen
states were represented ; though its avowed purpose was not as yet to
produce definite treaty regulations, but, on the basis of full and free
discussion, to clear up the general principles which should dominate
international postal administration. Many practical difficulties in the
way of a unified system revealed themselves, especially in connectior
with the freedom of transit and the division of the proceeds from
mail passing through two or more jurisdictions. In its resolutions
the conference declared itself in favor of thirty-one principles, which
covered, among other matters, the transmission of letters with declared
value and of inferior classes of mail, a uniform system of tariffs, and
the establishment of fixed transit dues.

In the subsequent decade not much progress was made, but in
1869 the German postal union began to negotiate for the calling of
a new congress. The Franco-German War interrupted these negoti-
ations, but they were taken up again at its conclusion, and finally
Switzerland convoked a conference to meet in September, 1873.
Russia and France at first indicated their unwillingness to take part
in the enterprise. The French administration believed that the for-
mation of a postal union would cause it severe financial loss on account
of the lowering of transit charges. This consideration, combined with

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION

the fact that the movement had been initiated by the German govern-
ment, led to the reluctant attitude assumed by France. Public opinion
and business interests, however, compelled her to join in the for-
mation of a union, even at the loss of five million francs a year in postal
income. Thus after a short delay Russia and France agreed to meet,
and the conference finally came together on September 15, 1874.
The points to be considered had been very carefully prepared by the
German postal administration, under the guidance of Postmaster-
General Stephan, and the conference, therefore, was enabled immedi-
ately to enter upon the discussion of specific problems of organization.
Twenty-two states were represented at the conference ; the dele-
gates were in most cases the heads of postal administrations, or high
officials connected with the same. The excellence of the preparatory
labors enabled the congress to finish its work in less than four weeks,
and in this short time to create the constitution and regulations of
the General Postal Union. As in the case of the telegraphic union,
a convention fixed the general principles upon which the union and
its administrative work are based, while details were worked out in
tj a rcglcment. The leading principles established were the complete
l\ freedom of transit from one jurisdiction to another, and the creation
f of a practically unified postal territory comprising all the treaty states.
j It is, of course, necessary to distinguish between freedom and gratui-
tousness of transit. The latter could not possibly be established, for
states of central location, like Belgium and France, had too large and
direct a financial interest in the matter ; but transit charges were
reduced to fixed payments on the total net weight. This swept away
the whole maze of accounts ; at present mails in transit are weighed
during four weeks every six years, as a basis for charges. The postal
convention of 1874 was ratified by the action of the diplomatic rep-
resentatives of the powers at Bern, in May, 1875.

A very important postal congress was held at Paris in 1878. The
French representatives favored the conclusion of an entirely new
convention, but the action taken did not go beyond a modification
in some details of the convention of 1874. The union at this time
assumed the name of Universal Postal Union. The number of states
and colonies represented had risen to thirty-two. While the organi-
zation of the union was not materially modified, the voting right of
colonies was regulated so as to give one vote each to British India

24 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

and Canada, and one vote each to the combined French, Spanish,
Dutch, Portuguese, and Danish colonies. Subsequent congresses
(Lisbon, 1885; Vienna, 1891 ; Washington, 1897; Rome, 1906)
concerned themselves very largely with the details of administration.
The congress of Vienna, however, instructed the international bureau
of the postal union to act as a clearing house for the adjustment of
the mutual financial claims of the various national postal administra-
tions. Each administration forwards to the bureau a monthly state-
ment of its accounts with every other national administration. The
bureau balances these accounts, collects from the administrations
whose balance is unfavorable, and pays over the proceeds to the
nations entitled to a credit. This congress also provided for an in-
ternational exchange of newspaper subscriptions. In many European
states subscriptions to periodicals and newspapers may be arranged
for through the postal sendee. The extension of this system so as to
enable a subscriber to give his order and pay his subscription for some
paper published in a foreign country, at the post office of his home
town, was made possible by the arrangements adopted at Vienna. At
this congress the Australian colonies were admitted to the union with
the right of one vote. The congress of Rome, in 1906, agreed upon
a further reduction in the charges by permitting a greater weight to
be carried in letters. By divers groupings of member-states, numer-
ous restricted unions for special purposes have been formed.

The convention of the universal postal union, as revised by the
congress of Rome in 1 906, lays down certain principles of law regard-
ing the relations and duties of the various postal administrations, and
establishes the organization of the union as well as the functions of
congresses, conferences, and of the bureau. The right of transit is
guaranteed throughout the entire territory of the union. Transit
charges, to be paid to each of the countries traversed, are based upon
weight and distance. Thus, for instance, one franc fifty centimes is
paid per kilogram of letters for distances not exceeding three thousand
kilometers. The rates of postage on the different classes of mail
matter are fixed on a uniform standard throughout the entire extent
of the union ; the rates for registry, too, are made uniform, although
non-European countries are allowed to charge a double fee. The con-
gress of Rome established the principle that postal administrations
are responsible for the loss of a registered article, to the amount of

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 25

fifty francs. It also provided for prepaid reply coupons, which are
issued in all the countries of the union and may be sent to any
other country, there to be exchanged for a stamp to frank the reply.
The convention contains special prohibitions with respect to things
not to be sent through the international mails, though it " does not
impliedly alter the legislation of any country as regards anything not
expressly provided for by its stipulations"; nor does it restrict the
right of the contracting parties to conclude treaties with a view to
making special postal arrangements with each other.

The duties of the various organs of the union are outlined in the
convention. The administrative organ of the union is the interna-
tional postal bureau, located at Bern. It is under the supervision of
the Swiss government. Its duties are to gather, publish, and distribute
information of all kinds on the international postal service ; upon the
demand of the parties interested, to give advice on controversial ques-
tions ; to give regular form to propositions for the modification of the
rtglement ; to notify the various administrations of adopted changes ;
to facilitate the operations of international accounting ; and, in gen-
eral, to make such studies and engage in such work as shall be in
the interests of the postal union. The official language is French, and
the bureau publishes a monthly journal, L Union post ale, in French,
English, and German. A very important article of the convention
provides for the settlement of disputes by arbitration. In any case of
disagreement upon the interpretation of the convention or concerning
the responsibility of any administration, each of the governments
concerned chooses another member of the union not directly inter-
ested in the matter ; if necessary, the arbitrators thus selected choose
another administration as umpire. Decisions are determined by a
majority of votes.

A congress of the union shall be held not later than five years after
the acts adopted at the previous congress have entered into force, or
it may be called when demanded by two thirds of the governments.
The congress is composed of plenipotentiaries empowered to intro-
duce changes both in the convention and the reglement ; whereas
the conference is an administrative body which deals only with the
latter. In the interval between me^ings of the congress proposals for
changes in the convention may be made and acted upon ; in such
cases six months must be given for the administrations to examine

26 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

the proposals before communicating their vote. For a change in the
more important articles unanimity of votes is required, but articles
regulating minor details may be modified by a two-thirds vote. If the
question concerns only the interpretation of the convention, a simple
majority is sufficient. Countries outside of the union may be admitted
to membership upon their demand. The protectorates and colonies be-
longing to European countries and to the United States are arranged in
seventeen groups, each one of which is considered as a single country
or administration.

Further important organic arrangements are contained in the rbgle-
menty though the larger part of this is taken up with specific rules
concerning the transmission of mail matter and accountability with
respect to transit charges. The rkglement divides the countries of the
union into seven classes in order to determine the portion of budget
charges to be borne by each. Each class contributes in the propor-
tion of a certain number of units. The annual budget of the bureau
at the present time is 125,000 francs. The duties of the bureau are
more specifically laid down, and arrangements are made for communi-
cations to be addressed to it by the governments ; its function of
settling and liquidating accounts between the administrations is
developed with special minuteness. It is the duty of the interna-
tional bureau to effect the balance and liquidation of accounts of every
description relative to the international postal service between admin-
istrations of countries of the union who desire to make use of this
service. In 1907 the financial transactions of the bureau acting as a
clearing house amounted to 76,916,000 francs.

The rtglement may be changed in the same manner by the con-
gresses, and in intervals between them by the governments, as in the
case of the convention.

It may be noted that the tendency of development in the postal
union has not been toward giving greater powers to majorities of
member states. In 1878, out of twenty-three articles of the conven-
tion only six required unanimity of votes for their modification ; at '
present as many as fifteen require unanimity, while only fourteen
may be modified through a smaller vote.

The postal union now comprises all the countries and colonies of
the world with the exception of Morocco, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, 1
and a few Pacific islands. China and Ethiopia are the most recent

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 27

accessions to the union. A conception of the vast extent of the postal
business of the world may be gained from the following figures : In
1905 there were mailed in the territory of the union 32,140 million
pieces of mail matter; the money-order business amounted to 6432
millions of dollars ; the declared value of objects sent amounted to
15,200 million dollars.

In 1909 a beautiful monument was erected at Bern to commemorate
the founding of the postal union. Upon the occasion of its unveil-
ing, a great many tributes were paid to the remarkable development
and influence of the union. Expressions such as the following from
the speech of M. Deucher, president of the Swiss confederation, are
significant :

The old assembly house of the Bernese diet bears this inscription : " It is in
this building that the universal postal union was founded on October the ninth,
1874." To-day, thirty-five years later, there rises on one of the most beautiful
sites of our capital, the grand commemorative monument, the unveiling of which
we are met to celebrate.

The five genii which surround the globe represent the universal importance of
the union and attest the power gained by a great idea, for the realization of which
nations went hand in hand, regardless of the difference of race, language, and
religion, political and economic interests, — a triumph of civilization and culture, a
bond of union between the peoples of the world. The universal postal union, a
work supremely pacific, constitutes a real confederation of the nations, the repre-
sentatives of which to-day turn their eyes to the international monument and
express their gratitude to the master who created it.

A number of restricted unions have been formed for special pur-
poses. The objects for which they were founded are in no way incon-
sistent with the purposes and activities of the general union, and all
of them make use of the international bureau as their agent. There
are also a great many treaties between individual countries concerning
such matters as special postage rates. The following restricted unions
are now in existence : first, the union for the exchange of money
orders, founded in 1878 and comprising at present thirty-three states ;
second, the union for the transmission of packages of declared value
registered and insured, founded at the same -time and comprising
thirty members ; third, a parcels-post union, founded in 1880, with a
present membership of thirty-nine states ; fourth, a union for the col-
lection of payments through the postal service, founded in 1885, with
twenty-one members ; fifth, a union for the use of books of identity,
with twenty members ; and sixth, the union for facilitating subscription

23 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

to periodicals through the postal administration, with twenty-four
members. The unions admit new members upon application. Their
membership is constantly increasing, and most of them will ultimately
coalesce with the general union as their object becomes more univer-
sally important. Meetings of these restricted unions are usually held
together with the congresses of the universal postal union. The
United States is not a member of any of these restricted unions,
though it has made special arrangements with some countries, such
as Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, and Germany, respecting lower
rates of postage and other postal matters.

The International Union of Railway Freight Transportation}
From the earliest days of railway development in Europe the necessity
for international arrangements with respect to the transit of merchan-
dise from one country to another was apparent. As early as 1847
there was founded the union of German railway administrations,
which is still in existence, comprising one hundred eight admin-
istrations in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Holland, Belgium, Rou-
mania, and Russia. The affairs of the union are administered through
the roval railway " direction " at Berlin, and every two years there is
a general meeting for the revision of the regulations. The work of
the conference is prepared by eight standing committees on various
branches of the sendee, such as freight traffic, passenger traffic, and
exchange of cars.

The idea of a more general union for railway transportation was
first suggested by two experts, de Seigneux and Christ, of Switzer-
land, who petitioned the Swiss federal council to call an international
conference. Preliminary plans for such a union were worked out in
Switzerland and in Germany, and in 1S78 the first conference met
at Bern. It was composed of expert delegates of the following coun-
tries: Germany, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxemburg,

1 Proces-verbaux des deliberations de la conference reunie a Berne au sujet d'une
convention internationale en matiere de transports par chemins de fer, Bern, 1S7S,
18S1, 1886. Congres international des chemins de fer, comptes rendus, at the dates
and places of various conferences. Das internationale Ubereinkommen iiber den
Eisenbahn- und Frachtverkehr, Bern, 1901. Zeitsckrift fur den internationalen Eisen-
bahntransport, Bern, since 1S93. Rosenthal, Ed., Internationales Eisenbahnfracht-
recht, Jena, 1S94. Olivier, E., Des chemins de fer en droit internal., Paris, 18S5.
Eger, G., Das internationale Ubereinkommen, etc., Breslau, 1S93. Meili, Das Recht
der Verkehrs- und Transportanstalten, iSSS. Gerstner, Th., Der neueste Stand des
Berner Ubereinkommens, Berlin, 1901. Bulletin du Congrh internat. des chemins
defer, Brussels.

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 29

the Netherlands, Russia, and Switzerland. The two prime movers
for the conference acted as its secretaries. In a session occupying
a month, the conference, on the basis of the preliminary studies,
worked out the text of a convention concerning railway freight traffic,
a convention creating an international commission, and supplementary
ordinances. The results of these labors were referred to the various
governments which had been represented at the conference. They
were carefully studied by the administrations concerned, and memo-
rials suggesting improvements and modifications were handed in by
the latter. A second conference was convened in 1881. It also met
at Bern, and the same powers were represented. This conference
introduced a number of important modifications in the convention. It
suggested the creation of a central bureau in place of the commission
provided for by the first conference. So careful were the administra-
tions and governments interested that even yet they were not ready to
accept the results of all these labors. After additional consideration
a third conference met at Bern in 1886, which molded the convention
and the regulations into their final form. It also adopted a protocol
for the holding of a final conference of diplomatic representatives at
which the convention might receive formal sanction. This meeting
ultimately took place in 1890. It accepted the convention as adopted
by the third conference, with some minor changes. Ratifications were
exchanged on September 30, 1892, and the union as well as its cen-
tral bureau began operations on January 1, 1893.

The main portion of the convention thus carefully worked out by
the best expert talent of continental Europe is composed of a state-
ment of general principles as well as of more detailed rules concerning
the transportation of railway freight from one country to another.
The fundamental principle established by the convention is that
transportation is obligatory, and that therefore no article of ordinary
merchandise can be refused acceptance. Among the chief matters
included are the continuity of transportation under a single bill of
lading, the form of which is determined by the convention ; uniform
regulations with respect to packing and to the transport of dangerous
substances and breakable articles ; the responsibility of railway ad-
ministrations, in international freight transportation, for delays, losses,
and damages to goods. The competent tribunal for the trial of rail-
way cases is that of the domicile of the company or administration

30 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

affected. Judgments are however made executory in any of the con-
tracting countries, without a revision of the substance of the litiga-
tion. The arbitration of controversies between different administra-
tions is also provided for. The inclusion of passenger traffic in the
convention, though suggested, was not seriously considered at the
time because of the feeling that to introduce so difficult a matter
might greatly embarrass the achievement of a plan for united action.
The organization of the union as determined by the convention is
as follows : The administrative organ is the central bureau, which is
located at Bern. Its functions are, first, to receive communications
from the contracting states and from the railway administrations
interested, and to transmit them to other states and administrations ;
second, to gather, arrange, and publish information of all kinds which
may be important to the international freight service ; third, at the
demand of parties, to pronounce arbitral sentences on controversies
which may arise between different railways ; fourth, to give due form
to suggestions for the modification of the present convention, and to
propose to the treaty states the calling of a new conference ; fifth,
to facilitate between the different administrations financial operations
necessitated by the international freight service, such as the collec-
tion of arrears, and the maintenance of stable credit relations among
the various railways. The bureau, therefore, acts as agent for the
liquidation of accounts due from one railway administration to another,
and the method of demand and collection, as well as the responsibility
of the respective states for such dues, are regulated in detail by the
reglement. The central office also edits an authoritative list of railway
lines with international connections. In the special reglement for the
central bureau the federal council of Switzerland is given authority
to organize and supervise that institution. The expenses of the bureau
are not to exceed one hundred thousand francs per year ; they are
borne by the contracting states in proportion to the length of their
railway lines, which form part of the international service. The cen-
tral office is authorized to issue a publication in French and German
(Zeitschrift fur den internationalen Eisenbahntransport ; Bulletin des
transports internationaux par chemins de fer).

In agreement with the terms of the convention, the Swiss federal
council has established a central bureau composed of a director, a
vice director, a juristic and a technical secretary, and the necessary

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 31

clerical personnel. The international office, like the similar bureaus
of the postal and the telegraph union, is placed under the direct
supervision of the Swiss Department of Post Offices and Railways,
and the general regulations made for these bureaus are also made
applicable in this case. The most striking function of the central
office is that of pronouncing judgment in controversies between dif-
ferent railway administrations. According to the ordinance of the
federal council, the court in such cases is composed of the director
of the bureau and two arbitrators. The latter, as well as two substi-
tutes, are appointed by the federal council. At the desire of the
parties, or in cases of small importance, the director himself may act
as judge without the assistance of other referees. The control of
the steps of the arbitral procedure is in his hands and he also pre-
sides in the court. In case of disagreement between him and the
arbitrators, he may call in the two substitutes, and should there be an
equality of votes, his opinion is decisive. The services of this tribunal
are gratuitous as far as the parties to the controversy are concerned.
The judicial function of the central office has been appealed to in
numerous cases. Prominent experts have acted as arbitrators, per-
plexing controversies have been settled, and the arrangement has
given general satisfaction.

The first conference for the revision of the convention took place
in Paris in 1896. The modifications which it introduced were of a
technical nature. After prolonged negotiations they finally went into
effect in October, 1901. On account of these delays a long period
elapsed between the first and second revision conferences, the latter
of which did not meet until 1905. The feeling at this time was that,
the convention having proved veiy acceptable in detail and successful
in its operations, and its provisions having entered into the adminis-
trative practices of all the countries concerned, changes should be
made only with great care. Future conferences should not consider
matters which have not been carefully examined by the contracting
parties before the conference, with a view to ascertaining the bearing
of new propositions upon their respective systems and instructing
their delegates accordingly. The conference concluded that it would
be sufficient to have a general meeting once in five years instead
of every three years as provided in the original treaty. Though im-
portant modifications were introduced in the technical details of the

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

convention, they did not affect the organization of the union. The
annual budget of the central office was increased to one hundred
ten thousand francs, and arrangements were made for instituting a
pensioning system for its officials and employees.

At this conference an effort was made to have the arbitral function
of the central office extended to controversies between the railways
and the general public. This change was, however, not sanctioned,
though the conference declared that officials of the central bureau
might personally act as arbitrators. But such judgments are not to
be published in the official bulletin. Several other proposals failed of
adoption. The Swiss federal council favored the extension of the
union to the transportation of passengers and baggage. The Russian
government desired to have the bureau instructed to work out and
publish a complete statistical report on international railways, their
traffic and operation. The latter proposition was not accepted be-
cause the extent and cost of the undertaking were not perfectly clear
to the conference, while the former appeared to necessitate previous
negotiations among the governments concerned. The idea of making
an international agreement concerning passenger traffic was however
taken up again by the Swiss federal council, which, on February 9,
1909, resolved to submit to the states who are members of the inter-
national union a draft treaty concerning this subject. This conven-
tion is at the present time being considered by the member states.
It includes international arrangements concerning the carriage of
passengers from country to country, as well as the transport of bag-
gage and of express parcels. Its adoption, which is considered a
question of only a short time, will bring the entire railway traffic of
the principal states of continental Europe within the realm of inter-
national agreement and regulation. The codification of the interna-
tional railway law concerning freight has been in every way successful,
facilitating commerce and simplifying the work of the various admin-
istrations concerned.

While the union under discussion comprises only states of conti-
nental Europe, there is an organization of a semipublic nature, the In-
ternational Association of Railway Congresses, which includes a much
larger number of nations. It was founded in 1885, for the purpose
of establishing an interchange of experience in railway management,
and its membership now consists of forty-eight governments and four

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 33

hundred thirteen railway administrations. The seventh congress was
held at Washington in 1905 ; the eighth, at Bern in 19 10.

A convention was adopted by an international conference at Bern
in 1882, for the purpose of securing uniformity in the technic of
railway administration. Two subsequent conferences, in 1886 and in
1907, continued this work. Eleven continental European states have
taken part in these conferences and ratified one or more of the con-
ventions. The latter deal specifically with such subjects as the gauge
of railways, the character of through carriages, and the construction
and maintenance of rolling stock.

Automobile conference. In October, 1909, there was held a con-
ference, at which delegates from eighteen countries were present,
for the purpose of working out a convention embodying international
regulations for motor cars. The principal countries of Europe, as
well as the United States, were represented by official delegates.
The convention adopted lays down the conditions to be fulfilled by
automobiles and by their drivers before international road certificates
may be granted to them. It controls the issuance and validity of
these certificates, and requires that each motor car shall carry, for
purposes of identification, its number, as well as a large-sized letter
establishing its nationality. Moreover, rules with respect to the posi-
tion of signposts on the public roads are laid down, and it is pro-
vided that in the meeting and passing of vehicles, the customs of the
locality in which the driver finds himself must be strictly respected.
This convention may be looked upon as an administrative arrange-
ment. The delegates of some of the countries did not represent the
department of foreign affairs but another administrative department
of their government. While such delegates do not have a formal
right to bind their country by signing the treat}', their participation
will ordinarily assure the enforcement of the convention by the
administrations which they represented. Arrangements of this kind
have been entered into at other times, as, for instance, in the case
of the South American agreement respecting dactyloscopy, which is
discussed below. The convention was signed by the delegates of
sixteen governments, and by April, 19 10, it had been formally rati-
fied by the following : France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium,
Spain, Great Britain, Italy, and Monaco ; so that it came into force
May 1, 19 10.

34 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

Navigation} The methods and rules of navigation on the high
seas are a matter in which naturally all seafaring nations are inter-
ested. It is, therefore, not surprising that signals and routes have
been regulated to a certain extent by international cooperation. A
signal code was first adopted by England and France in 1864.
Other nations from time to time joined in accepting this code, which
was given a thorough revision in 1899. At the present time forty
states have adopted it. Through the use of flags of various sizes,
forms, and colors, ships are enabled to communicate with each other,
and thus a veritable international sign language has been created.

England and France also led the way in the adoption of conven-
tional rules with respect to routes of navigation, as well as night and
fog signals. These rules also have been remodeled from time to
time, especially at the conference of Washington in 1889. They
are at present accepted by thirty states, and though their observance
has not been made obligatory on ships, they are as a matter of fact
generally observed by navigators.

The work of harmonizing and eventually of codifying international
maritime law has been discussed at the annual conferences of the
International Maritime Committee, which have taken place regularly
since 1896. The committee is the central organ of national associa-
tions in twelve leading states ; it has its seat in Antwerp and pub-
lishes a bulletin. Another body dealing with maritime interests is
the International Association of the Marine, which was founded on
French initiative. At its meeting at Lisbon in 1904, on which occa-
sion the delegates of eight governments participated, the association
voted for the establishment of an international maritime bureau.
These private and semipublic endeavors have been supplemented by
the work of an international conference on maritime law, convened at
Brussels in 1905 on the invitation of the Belgian government. At
this conference thirteen powers were represented and a convention
project was adopted, covering the law of salvage and collision. This
convention was further discussed and elaborated at a second confer-
ence held at Brussels in 1909.

1 Protocol and Proceedings, International Marine Conference, 1889, Washington,
1890. Bulletin du Comite maritime international, Antwerp. Revue internal, de droit
marit., Vol. XIX, pp. 800, 937. Ann. de droit commerc, Vol. XVIII, p. 323. Govare,
P., in Revue de droit international prive, Vol. I, p. 593. Fromageot, H., Projet de
creation d'un bureau international de la marine, Paris, 1902.

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 35

There also exists a great semipublic union of navigation interests,
the Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses,
which was founded in 1900. It numbers at present among its asso-
ciates 25 governments and 1390 private organizations. Its annual
budget is 75,000 francs, of which the states contribute 60,000 francs.

II. Economic Interests

The Metric Union} One of the most serious inconveniences of
international commerce arises from a difference in the standards of
weights and measures. The adoption of a uniform standard was
therefore urged at an early date by the representatives of commerce
and by scientific associations. In 1867 the international geodetic
conference at Berlin pronounced in favor of the universal use of the
metric system. It also suggested the creation of an international
commission which should supervise the keeping and duplication of
standard units of measure, in order to avoid a gradual divergence
among the various national standards. In 1869 the French govern-
ment created a metric commission (Commission d?t metre), composed
of French and foreign members, for the purpose of advancing unity
of measurements. A conference called by this commission discussed
the scientific methods required for assuring the stability of standards,
and suggested the creation of an international bureau. For the pur-
pose of carrying out these suggestions a diplomatic conference was
convoked in Paris in 1875, which adopted a treaty on the subject.
Under this treaty there was created a bureau of weights and measures,
installed at Sevres, near Paris. It is the function of this bureau to
preserve the original standards of measurement, and, upon request,
to furnish accurate copies to governments and scientific institutions.
The bureau is under the supervision of a committee representing the
states who are members of the union. From time to time there is
held a general conference composed of delegates of the treaty states.
The conference confines itself to the discussion of scientific methods
for perfecting the accurate reproduction of standards of measurement.
The bureau has become an important scientific center for metrological
investigations. It is supported by contributions from the treaty states,
and by fees received for reproductions of the prototype measures.

1 Bigourdan, G., Le systeme metrique des poids et mesures, Paris, 1901. Moy-
nier, op. cit., p. 57. Olivart, op. a'/., Vol. II, p. 477.

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

The French government has dealt in a very liberal spirit with this
institution. Not only are the buildings occupied by the bureau free
from taxation, but the foreign members of the commission who
reside at Paris are allowed a like exemption. Moreover, the bureau
at Sevres has always had some foreigners on its staff.

Patents, trade-marks, and copyrights} As a result of long-con-
tinued discussion on the part of persons and associations inter-
ested in the development of industrial inventions, the French
government, in 1880, issued an invitation for a conference on the
protection of industrial property, to be held at Paris. At a second
conference held at the same place in 1883 there was adopted and
signed by the representatives of eleven states a convention for the
protection of patent rights and trade-marks. The purpose of the
union thus formed was not the complete unification of the respec-
tive laws of the member states, but rather the creation of adminis-
trative rules by which the citizens of one state would be permitted,
without expensive formalities, to come under the protection of the
patent and trade-mark laws of the other contracting states. In
the words of the convention, ' The subjects or citizens of each of
the contracting states, as well as subjects and citizens of states which
are not parties to the union, who are domiciled or have industrial or
commercial establishments within the territory of any state of the
union, shall enjoy in all the other states of the union the advantages
which their respective laws accord at present or shall accord in future to
their own nationals. Consequently they will have the same protection
as the latter and the same legal recourse against any infringement of
their rights, upon having complied with the formalities and conditions
imposed upon nationals by the internal legislation of each state."

1 Bergne, J., Internat. Copyrights Union, L.Q.R., Vol. Ill, p. 14. Briggs, Wm.,
Internat. Copyright, London, 1906. Darras, A., Du droit des auteurs et des artistes
dans les rapports internationaux, 1SS7. Delzons, in Revue de deux moudes, Vol.
XLVIII, p. 895. Dubois, J., " De la revision en 1908 de la convention de Berne, "Jon r/i.
de droit international privi, Vol. XXXVI, p. 661. Frey-Godet, "La protection inter-
nationale des marques industriels," in Zeitschrift filr Volkerrecht und Bundesstaatsrecht,
Vol. I, p. 329. Olivart, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 402. Poinsard, L., in Annates des sciences
politiqaes, Vol. XXV, p. 67. Soldan, L'Union intern, pour la protection des ceuvres
litteraires et artistiques, 1887. Annuaire de l'Association internationale pour la pro-
tection de la propriete industrielle. Recueil des conventions et traites concernant
lapropriete litteraire et artistique ; published by the international bureau, Bern, 1903.
" Paris Copyrights Congress," in Nation, Vol. LXXI, p. 226. U.S. House of Rep r. Doc.
1208, Sixtieth Congress. International Copyright Union, Bulletin No. ij, Copyright
Office, Washington, 190S.

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION -J

An administrative arrangement such as this might of course lead
the way to a gradual assimilation of the various systems of national
patent law themselves, although this would not be its immediate
object. A central organ of the union, the international bureau of
industrial property, was established at Bern. The functions of this
office were at first confined entirely to correspondence, investigation,
and publication. It was charged to bring together statistics and other
useful information, to issue a periodical {La propriete industrielle),
and to prepare preliminary studies for the conferences. The sugges-
tion to make it an office for the registration of trade-marks and patents
did not at first find favor. At the second revisionary conference, held
at Madrid in 1891, the proposal for a trade-mark registry was re-
peated. Though this arrangement is not as yet acceptable to all the
treaty states, it has been adopted by ten of them, who thus form a
restricted union under the more general convention. Under this
system the registration, at the international bureau, of a trade-mark
already registered in one of the treaty states has the effect of giving
protection in all the other contracting states without any further special
registration in any of them. This method of procedure is a great
simplification, and it materially reduces the expenses of industrial
companies on account of trade-marks. The net income of this special
service is distributed pro rata among the states of the restricted union.
This arrangement, by which the international bureau becomes an ad-
ministrative organ of the treaty states, is admirable for its directness.
It does not involve any change in the national law, but simply entitles
the person or firm registering a trade-mark to whatever protection is
given in the respective treaty state to this form of commercial prop-
erty. Another restricted union was established at the Madrid confer-
ence among eight states, for the purpose of preventing fraudulent
indications of the place of origin of merchandise.

The general union was strengthened in 1903 by the accession of
the German Empire, which, up to that time, had held aloof. It com-
prises at the present time seventeen countries, including the United
States, in which country the conference of 191 1 will be held.

The formation of the union for the protection of industrial property
served as an encouragement to those men who desired to secure simi-
lar international privileges to works of art and literature. An inter-
national literary and artistic society had been formed in Paris in 1878

38 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

under the presidency of Victor Hugo. Its main purpose was to bring
about a more complete protection of literary property. At a confer-
ence held at Bern, in 1883, the association worked out a general
project of a convention for the international protection of copyrights.
Thereupon the Swiss government was prevailed upon to call an official
conference for the purpose of discussing and adopting a convention
of this kind. Three diplomatic conferences were held in successive
years, beginning in 1884, which resulted in the formation of the in-
ternational union for the protection of literary and artistic property,
and the adoption of the convention of 1886 on international copyright.
The conditions existing before the creation of the union were in
every way unsatisfactory. The systems of legislation of the different
countries in matters of copyright were conflicting. Some of them
granted no protection whatever to foreign authors ; any privileges that
had been secured by the latter were based on treaties between indi-
vidual countries, which differed greatly from one another. This
condition was much improved by the adoption of the Bern convention
of 1886, though indeed it constituted only a first step in the evolution
of a satisfactory universal law of copyright. Such a law is not at pres-
ent feasible on account of the jealousy of individual states in behalf
of their own legislation. The national laws were however affected in
two ways. In the first place, the convention provided that authors
who are citizens of one of the contracting countries shall have their
works protected in all the others. This was effected without a change
in the laws, by giving an author such protection abroad as the existing
legislation in each country may accord to its citizens or subjects. But
in addition to this, certain general principles were laid down to which
national legislation must conform. These latter rules constitute the be-
ginning of a uniform system of copyright law, though they are of such
a nature as still to leave a wide latitude for national discretion. The
main principles, established in 1886, are as follows : Writings, music,
works of fine art, and scientific designs are protected for a time
which must not exceed the period of protection accorded either in
the country of origin or in the country in which protection is sought.
The right of translation is retained by the author for a period of ten
years after the publication of the original. Dramatic works are pro-
tected against production in the same manner and for the same period
as writings.

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION

A conference for the purpose of revising the Act of Bern was held
at Paris in 1896. It worked out and adopted an interpretative decla-
ration and an additional act. The former settled a number of disputed
points in connection with the first convention. The interpretations
adopted were not satisfactory to Great Britain and were not ratified
by that country. The additional act advanced the general work of in-
ternational legislation and added to the principles established in 1886.
This act was not adopted by Norway nor by Haiti. The principles
established in the additional Act of Paris are as follows : Posthumous
works are accorded protection. Authors who are not citizens of states
in the union are personally protected when once their works have
been published in, and receive the protection of, one of the member
states. In other words, it is not the publisher, but the author, who is
intended to have the benefit. Architectural works, as well as photo-
graphs, are accorded international rights.

In November, 1908, a second conference of revision was held at
Berlin. It was a very important congress, attended by delegates of
the fifteen members of the union, as well as of nineteen other nations
who, though not members, had been invited by the German govern-
ment. The latter included Argentina, the United States, and Russia.
The conference adopted a complete code, intended to displace the
former conventions. The most cardinal change made is that, while
under the convention of 1886 foreign authors were protected accord-
ing to the laws of their own country, it has now been established that
the manner of protection abroad shall be governed by the laws of the
country in which it is sought. This proposal was made by Germany
on the ground that the problem of ascertaining the exact copyright law
of other countries constitutes a great difficulty for the national judges.
France supported the proposal, with the reservation that the time of
protection should still be governed by the laws of the country of the
author, because otherwise the countries giving the longest protection
would be at a disadvantage. The German proposal was adopted by
the conference. Hereafter, therefore, each country will protect liter-
ary works according to its own law. It was further enacted that the
normal time of protection should be that of France, extending to fifty
years after the author's death ; but it is also provided that, if this du-
ration is not uniformly adopted by all the countries of the union, the
period of copyright shall not exceed the time fixed by the country of

4o PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

origin. The system of 1908 approaches more closely the ideal of a
universal protection, and it admits foreigners directly to the privi-
leges accorded under the local jurisdiction. The law of international
copyright was further developed in the following manner : Architec-
tural drawings are to be universally protected, whereas heretofore
protection was made dependent upon the existence of national legis-
lation. International rights are also given to choreographic pieces and
pantomimes, to photographs, and to reproductions of music on mechan-
ical instruments. An attempt was made to extend the privileges of
the union to works of decorative art, or art applied to industry, but
all that could be obtained was protection as far as the internal legis-
lation of each country permits. The delegates of France, Germany,
and Italy favored universal rights in behalf of industrial art, viewing
the latter as an expression of creative thought in the same sense as
applies to the fine arts. The proposal was opposed by England and
Switzerland. The law relating to journalistic writings also was more
definitely settled. Works of fiction appearing in periodicals are com-
pletely protected. Scientific, literary, artistic, and political articles
may be reproduced unless the author has expressly reserved his right.
In all cases the duty to give credit to the source is imposed. News
items are not accorded any protection. The law, as here stated, had
in its main features been settled by the first convention. The conven-
tion of Berlin completed the work and assimilated political articles to
those of a literary character. It will be apparent from the above that,
while the convention of Berlin grants protection according to the
law of the country where rights are sought, it also continues the work
begun before, of making the legislative norms in the various treaty
states more and more harmonious and uniform.

Though the convention constitutes a universal code, it is rather a
model to which future development will conform, than an act whose
integral acceptance on the part of all the members of the union
is assured. The convention of Berlin declares, in Article 27 : " The
present convention shall replace, in the relations between the con-
tracting states, the convention of Bern of September 9, 1886, includ-
ing the additional article and the formal protocol of the same day, as
well as the additional act and the interpretative declaration of May 4,
1896. The convention and acts above mentioned shall remain in
force in the relations with the states which do not ratify the present

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 41

convention. The states signatory to the present convention may, at
the time of the exchange of ratifications, declare that they intend,
upon such and such a point, still to remain bound by the provisions
of the conventions to which they have previously subscribed." The
convention was signed by the delegates of fifteen states. According
to its terms, as seen above, it may be adopted with reservations, or
even the former conventions may still remain in force in toto between
individual members of the union. Nevertheless the treaty has already
been ratified by nearly all the members, so that it may, before
long, entirely displace the earlier conventions. The United States is
not a member of this union.1 The creation of a new convention by
the union always gives an impetus to the making of more advanced
treaties between individual nations. Thus, among such countries as
France, Germany, Italy, and Belgium, a number of treaties have been
made which develop their copyright law in the direction favored by
the international union.

The union, in 1888, created a bureau which acts as a central organ
of information and publishes a journal (Le droit d'autetir). In 1892
this office was united with the bureau of industrial property. The
associated bureaus are under the control of the Swiss Department of
Foreign Affairs. Their expenses are borne by the treaty states upon a
basis of unit ratios. The relations of these bureaus to the govern-
ments and national administrations are, of course, not so direct as in
the case of the telegraph, the postal, and the railway-freight bureaus,
nor do they possess any arbitral functions ; but their work in bring-
ing together authoritative information upon the patent and copyright
laws of the various nations has been of great value to the governments
and to persons specially interested. Movements for the reform of
national legislation have derived their information from these inter-
national organs. The bureaus have a very small personnel, and have
always stayed well within their modest budget, notwithstanding the
volume and real importance of their published work.

Union for tJie Publication of Customs Tariffs? In 1890 an

1 The manner in which the attitude of the United States impresses the world is
shown by such statements as the following : " The United States, in fact, subordi-
nates the primordial right of authors to the narrow interest of American printers
and their employers. It may be said without exaggeration that this is a situation
unworthy of a great people." — L£on Poinsard

2 Acts of the conference of Brussels, 1SS8, and of Bern, 1S94, in Archives Jiplo-
matiques, Paris.

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

international bureau was created for the authoritative collection and
publication of customs tariffs. It is situated at Brussels, and is under
the control of the Belgian administration. Its duty is to supply, with
the least delay possible, copies of laws and administrative ordinances
referring to customs tariffs, and to cause the same to be published in
its own periodical [The International Customs Bulletin). Forty-one
states are parties to this arrangement ; they divide among themselves
the expenses of the bureau, which has an annual budget of 125,000
francs. In 1894 it was attempted, upon the initiative of the Swiss
government, to establish a similar office for the publication of treaties.
Sixteen governments were represented at a conference held at Bern,
where the project of the Swiss government was discussed. On account
of the lack of direct authorization on the part of several delegates,
the conference did not take any action, but referred the project to the
consideration of the various governments.

Protection of labor} The efforts which have been made for the
purpose of securing agreements for the protection of labor are espe-
cially instructive. To an unusual degree private and state initiative
have been combined and intermingled in the cooperation between
public officials and private experts to bring about an international
understanding. No field of action reveals, so clearly the limitations
of international arrangements and the difficulties in the way of their
achievement, nor, on the other hand, shows so fully the possibilities
inherent in them. The government of Switzerland deserves the credit
of having made the first attempts to secure an international confer-
ence on labor legislation, after the matter had been repeatedly con-
sidered by a number of large international congresses, composed of
delegates of labor associations and of other organized bodies. In 1889
the Swiss federal council addressed an invitation to fourteen European

1 A full bibliography is given by F. Dochow in Zeitschrift fur Internationales
Privat- und dffentliches Recht, Liepzig, 1906. Francke, E., Der internat. Arbeiter-
schutz, Dresden, 1903. Account of the Bern conference with proces-verbal, in
Archives diplomatiques, 1905, Vol. Ill, p. 271. Bulletin de V Office international du
travail, since 1900. Crick, D., " La legislation internationale du travail," Revue de
droit internatiotial, 1905, p. 432. Armand-Hahn, J. P., in Annales des sciences poli-
tigues,Vo\. XX, p. 156. Jay, R., La protection legale des travailleurs, Paris, 1904.
Schriften der internationalen Vereinigung fiir gesetzlichen Arbeitschutz, Jena, 1901-

1906. Bauer, " International Labor Office," Economic Journal, 1903. Raynaud, B.,
Droit international ouvrier, Paris, 1906. Pic, in Revue generate de droit international,

1907, p. 495. Mahaim, E., in Rev. icon, internal., 1906. Metin, A., Les traites ouvriers,
Paris, 1908.

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION

powers, requesting them to send delegates to a conference for the
purpose of discussing certain definite topics concerning labor legisla-
tion. The suggestion was favorably received by the majority of the
countries addressed, and the federal council consequently decided to
send out formal invitations. But at this very time the German em-
peror issued two rescripts, in which he pronounced in favor of inter-
national action in labor matters. Correspondence followed between
Germany and Switzerland, and the smaller country yielded to the
German Empire the honor of calling the conference, which then
assembled in Berlin in March, 1890, with a representation of fifteen
states. Three committees were appointed to consider (1) work in
mines, (2) Sunday rest, (3) work of children, young workmen, and
women. Though Switzerland proposed the conclusion of a binding
convention and the creation of a central bureau, the conference did
not favor the taking of such definite measures at that time. The only
result of its work was the passage of resolutions embodying the opin-
ion of the delegates on certain principles to be followed in labor
legislation.

The conference thus having failed to produce tangible results in
the form of a treaty, the propaganda for international labor protec-
tion was taken up with redoubled energy by private individuals and
associations. In 1897 two labor-legislation congresses were held.
The congress at Zurich was composed of the representatives of labor
organizations. Although many opposing views were here represented,
the delegates found it possible to unite upon a definite program of
labor legislation. The congress which met in Brussels in the same
year (international congress of labor legislation) was composed largely
of publicists and economists. It confined itself entirely to discus-
sion, not even passing resolutions. After the session, however, there
was appointed informally a committee of three members for the
purpose of finding means to carry on the work begun in the con-
gress. The committee made certain arrangements with the Belgian
government for the publication of an Annuaire de la legislation du
travail, but the political conditions in Belgium were not favorable to
a further pursuance of the purposes of this group of men. Other
national committees were however created, and the French commit-
tee eventually arranged for a conference, which was held at Paris
during the exposition of 1900. This congress occupied itself with

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

the question of a permanent organization. It was decided to form an
international association, open to all who believed in protective labor
legislation. The association was to be composed of national sections,
each with its separate organization and autonomy. The governing
board was to be a commission composed of two delegates from each
section, together with the representatives of governments which de-
sired to take part in the enterprise. An international labor office was
established, whose mission it is to publish, in French, German, and
English, periodic reports on labor legislation in all countries ; to fur-
nish information on labor laws to members of the association ; to
assist in the study of the legislative protection of labor, as well as in
the creation of a systematic body of international labor statistics. The
labor office is located at Basel, where it began work in May, 1901,
and where the first general assembly of the association was held in
September of the same year. It was composed of delegates repre-
senting the national sections as well as four governments. This
assembly expressed the opinion that, while the association itself might
carry on an active propaganda for labor legislation, the bureau should
confine itself to an objective and impartial study of labor legislation for
the purpose of furnishing an absolutely reliable basis of facts and
statistics. As the first questions for discussion and eventual action
the assembly selected, first, industrial night work of women ; and,
second, the regulation of unhealthy industries, especially those using
white lead and white phosphorus.

The second general assembly was held at Cologne in 1902. On
this occasion seven national sections and eight governments were
represented. The assembly considered the organization and the
finances of the central office as well as the two questions submitted
by the previous conference. The international commission was in-
structed to take steps to induce the various governments to consider
the suppression of these industrial dangers. The commission, at its
subsequent meeting at Basel, decided to appeal to the Swiss federal
council in order that an international conference might be called to
frame a treaty on these matters. Early in 1905 invitations were
sent out, and in May the official conference met at Bern. Over fifty
delegates were present, representing all the governments of Europe,
with the exception of Russia, Greece, Roumania, and Servia. The
conference took up the discussion of the two questions which had

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 45

been formulated and prepared by the assemblies of the international
association. Although the sessions occupied only eight days, the dis-
cussions were earnest and many different points of view were brought
out. The absence of Japan interposed special obstacles to the adoption
of a convention on the use of white phosphorus, a material exten-
sively employed in the Japanese match industry. The convention
which was finally adopted on this point provided that after January
1 , 1 9 1 1 , the manufacture and sale of matches containing white
phosphorus was to be forbidden. The Japanese government was
to be invited to join in this treaty before December 31, 1907.
Eleven out of the fifteen states voted in favor of this agreement.
The conference also adopted a protocol regulating the hours of
night work for women. These projects were transformed into
definite conventions by a diplomatic conference which met in
December, 1906.

A study of the widening extent of the white-phosphorus prohibi-
tion is particularly instructive in that it shows the reluctance of
governments to place restrictions upon industry, and the possibilities
which are afforded of accomplishing this through the plan of inter-
national cooperation in the enactment of labor laws. The agitation
started in countries where the match industry was of a comparatively
insignificant character, and where the evils due to the use of white
phosphorus outweighed more strongly the advantages attendant upon
encouraging the business. Such countries made no opposition to the
restriction, and as early as 1874 Finland and Denmark had prohibi-
tive legislation and had been quite successful in stamping out the
disease of necrosis. Switzerland fell in line in 1879, the Nether-
lands in 1 90 1, and Germany in 1903. By this latter period substi-
tutes had been found, so that the use of white phosphorus was not
so imperative ; therefore the action of Denmark, Switzerland, and the
Netherlands in prohibiting the importation of matches of this material,
and the fact that Japan had become so successful a rival that other
markets were practically excluded, made Germany not unwilling to
prohibit the use of the poison and join the ranks of those who
were agitating for this humanitarian legislation.

Now began a more active campaign that the restrictions which
these countries had imposed on this industry might become world-
wide, and thus might constitute no special hardship upon home

46 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

industries. In France and Roumania the manufacture of matches
was a state monopoly, so that it required but the actual substitution of
potash for white phosphorus to accomplish the purpose, — a step
taken in i898v A special prohibitory law was there unnecessary.

The agitation for the extension of the prohibition resulted in its
being placed on the program for discussion at the Bern conference
of 1905 ; the convention adopted was promptly signed by Germany,
Denmark, France, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, and Switzer-
land, and somewhat later by Spain, Belgium, Portugal, and Norway.
Of the fourteen states represented in the conference, seven thus were
ready to sign the treaty at once, but among these the prohibition was
already in force in five states, while in the sixth the industry was
almost negligible. Italy was the only country making any consider-
able concession, and here the convention has not as yet been ratified.
By January, 19 10, the convention had been ratified by France and
most of her colonies, Germany, Denmark, Luxemburg, the Nether-
lands, Switzerland, Spain, Great Britain, and the Orange River
Colony. Great Britain and Austria had previously conditioned their
acceptance upon the adhesion of practically every country where the
match industry was carried on, more especially of Japan. Great
Britain pointed out that the signing of the treaty would necessitate
(a) the postponement of other social legislation deemed more impor-
tant in England, -(b) depriving the people of their accustomed kind
of matches and increasing the price, and (c) hampering the British
export trade with restrictions not borne by competitors. The British
contended that their system of restrictions had effectively stamped
out necrosis, and that until other competing states were ready to take
similar measures, they could not be expected to sign the convention.
The effect of the treaty was, however, practically to exclude British
matches from the European markets. This led to the passage of a
parliamentary act in December, 1908, prohibiting the sale, manufac-
ture, or importation of white-phosphorus matches. The exclusion of
such matches from Australia, a field of export which the Japanese
manufacturers were finding very profitable, will be a potent factor in
inducing Japan to accede to the convention. So far, however, the
burdens of the late war have rested so heavily upon that country that
she has hesitated to hamper her industries by restrictions which are
not imperatively demanded.

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 47

The extension of the white-phosphorus prohibition is of further
interest as showing the obstacles which must be overcome before any-
prohibitory law can be made world-wide in its scope. Before nations
can become signatory to treaties of this character they must have
their social legislation developed to such a point that the proposed
provision fits in readily with the established system. It is unreason-
able to suppose that all countries that are thrown into industrial com-
petition have constructed their social legislation along similar lines.
The physical and intellectual development of the working classes
depends upon many factors, among which climate and race are
prominent ; each country must bear in mind its own peculiar needs
in framing industrial legislation, and the matter of conforming to the
laws of other countries is of secondary consideration. There are
many industries, too, where there is competition with countries in
which the regulation of labor is primitive, and where for years to
come no hope can be entertained of adequate laws properly enforced.

International labor legislation implies that the contracting states
are developing their social laws along parallel lines. This is not
necessarily true. Several countries may be equally advanced in
general labor legislation, but economic pressure and national interests
may have operated so that one has neglected or postponed some
one branch of legislation in which the others have made considerable
progress. An international treaty covering such a branch may mean
the sacrifice of world markets on the part of one country, with no simi-
lar loss on the part of other nations. Though Great Britain was back-
ward in prohibiting the use of white phosphorus, the fact remains
that in regard to factory and labor legislation in general she was far
in advance of most of the signatory powers to the convention of 1906.
But the method of combining those countries which can pass labor
legislation at comparatively little cost, and then gradually enlarging
the field by cutting off the markets of recalcitrants, results in an ex-
tension of labor prohibitions which nations working independently
might be years in accomplishing. The limitation noted further sug-
gests a method of work for which the international association of
labor legislation is admirably fitted, and which it is in fact pursuing
with marked success. By operating through the national sections in
accordance with the program outlined by the bureau, pressure can be
brought to bear upon the respective governments to induce them to

48 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

legislate upon particular subjects ; when this has reached a stage
sufficiently advanced, the time is ripe for an international agreement.

In regard to the regulation of industries through international con-
ventions, the United States occupies a position less advantageous
than do the European countries, owing to the peculiar form of our
governmental organization. The enactment of social legislation be-
longs in the main to the states rather than to the federal government,
and constitutional prohibitions keep the states from entering into
treaties with foreign countries, or even among themselves, without
the consent of Congress. The American section of the international
association, especially in its operations through the state sections, is
nevertheless accomplishing marked results in securing uniform laws
in the various states, in conformity with the plans of the interna-
tional association.

The extreme caution with which the governments have proceeded
in regard to labor treaties is a characteristic mark of the jealousy
which states feel in behalf of their legislative independence in such
important matters. In the railway and telegraph service a unified
administrative procedure for international traffic was forced upon the
various governments by the circumstances of the case. That there is
a great need for international regulation of labor laws is apparent
from the interest which this subject has aroused. National advance
in labor reform would in fact be checkmated were it not to be
seconded by agreements of wider scope. Yet the governments have
been very reluctant to commit themselves to any definite policy of
uniformity in this matter, and the existing union has therefore re-
mained semiprivate in its nature, for its main constituent elements
are the national sections. The international labor office may also be
called a semiprivate institution, though its work has been assisted in
every way by the various public administrations which deal with labor
affairs. The expenses of the office are borne partly by the contribu-
tions of national sections, but more largely by subscriptions of gov-
ernments, Switzerland itself leading with a subscription of 12,000
francs a year, while the United States contributes only $200.

In this connection we may also note the provisions of the Franco-
Italian treaty of April 7, 1904. This treaty constitutes a very im-
portant attempt to have the privileges of national labor legislation
extended to laborers who are sent in from another state. The

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 49

convention refers especially to the gratuitous transfer of the savings
accounts of laborers from one country to another, the admission of
foreign laborers to the benefits of national labor insurance, and the
extension to them in general of the protection afforded workingmen
by the national law. Each power is obliged to make a full annual
report on matters of public administration relating to labor, so that a
guarantee may be afforded of the faithful carrying-out of the treaty
provisions, through a mutual accountability.1

On July 3, 1909, representatives of Great Britain and France
signed a convention at Paris, providing for the admission by either
country of laborers belonging to the other, to the benefits of state
workingmen's insurance against accidents.

The sugar convention? For over forty years past, negotiations
have from time to time been carried on among the powers for the
purpose of putting restraints upon the policy of individual govern-
ments, by which they attempt to modify the commerce and production
of sugar by means of a bounty system. Earlier treaties, such as those
of 1864 and of 1877, proved inadequate to accomplish this purpose,
because of the lack of compulsory provisions and the consequent
failure of some of the contracting nations fully to live up to the
agreement. After long-continued negotiations and a succession of
conferences, a convention was finally concluded in Brussels in March,
1902, by which a number of European states formed a union for the
purpose of doing away with sugar bounties and placing a fixed limit
upon import duties (they are not to exceed the excise tax by more
than six francs per quintal on refined, and five and a half francs on
crude, sugar). The union included at the time of its formation nine
states, and it now has fourteen members, including Russia, which
came in under a special arrangement in 1907. A permanent organi-
zation is provided for in Article 7 of the treaty, which creates a
standing commission charged with supervising the execution of
the agreement. This commission is composed of delegates of the

1 Text in Revue de droit international, 1904, p. 296. Guyot, T., ibid., p. 359. Pic,
in Revue ghierale de droit international, Vol. XI, p. 515.

2 Text of the treaty of 1902 in Staats-Archiv, Vol. LXVII, p. 267. Martino, G.,
" The Brussels Sugar Conference," Ec. Jour., 1904. Taylor, B., " Sugar and the
Convention," Fortnightly, Vol. LXXVII, p. 636. Lough, T. H., " The Sugar Con-
vention of Brussels," Contemp. Rev., Vol. LXXXIII, p. 75. Kauffmann, Weltzucker-
industrie, 1903. Politis, N., L'Union internat. des sucres, 1904.

50 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

contracting states, and has its seat at Brussels. Its functions are as
follows : (a) to determine whether in the contracting states there is
accorded any direct or indirect bounty on the production or exporta-
tion of sugar ; (b) to determine whether the contracting states, which
are not exporters, continue in that special condition ; (c) to determine
the existence of bounties in nonsignatory states and the amount of
the compensatory duty ; (d) to give advisory decisions on questions
in controversy ; (c) to give due form to requests for admission to the
union on the part of states which are not yet members ; (/) to author-
ize the levy of an exceptional surcharge (not more than one franc per
hundred kilograms) by any one of the contracting states against
another, by whose sugar its markets are invaded to the injury of
national production.

In general, it will be seen, the duties of the commission are con-
fined to determining the existence of facts. On questions submitted,
it makes an official report addressed to the Belgian government, to
be communicated to the contracting states. But certain determina-
tions of the commission have a direct validity, and form the basis of
contingent treaty obligations on the part of the contracting states.
This is the case with reference to the matters mentioned under (b)
and (c) above. As soon as the commission shall determine that the
states of Spain, Italy, and Sweden have begun to export sugar, these
states, under the agreement, must conform their legislation to the dis-
positions of the convention. Whenever the commission ascertains
the existence of bounties in nonsignatory states, the treaty powers are
bound to levy a countervailing duty upon sugar imported from such
sources. These determinations are made by a majority of the com-
mission, each state being entitled to one vote, and they go into effect
within two months of their date. An appeal, to be considered, must
be lodged within eight days after the notification. It will then be
decided within a month.

The commission is assisted by a permanent bureau located at
Brussels, upon which is imposed the function of collecting, arrang-
ing, and publishing every kind of information and statistics concerning
sugar legislation throughout the world. The expenses of the bureau
and of the commission are borne by the contracting states, who also
pay individually the expenses of their delegates. It is to be noted
that these organs of the union do not correspond directly with the

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 51

contracting states. The communications are all made through the
Belgian government, which thus becomes the diplomatic agent of
the union. Even information on laws and regulations concerning
sugar, as well as statistical data, are not communicated directly to
the commission, but through the Belgian government as an inter-
mediary. All reports of the commission are likewise transmitted
through the Belgian government, which also has the right of calling
new conferences. The sugar commission is the only international
organ which has a right, through its determinations and decisions, to
cause a direct modification of the laws existing in the individual treaty
states, within the dispositions of the convention. Though not given
direct legislative power, it makes determinations of fact upon which
changes in the laws of the individual states become obligatory under
the treaty. Its function may be compared to that intrusted to the
President of the United States in the reciprocity provisions of the
McKinley and Dingley tariff laws.

In 1907 the life of the union was extended for a period of five
years from September 1, 1908. It was also agreed that after this
date Great Britain should be released from penalizing the importation
of bounty-fed sugars, but such sugars when reexported from Great
Britain to any other contracting state would become liable to the
compensatory duty.

Agriculture} Like other economic interests, those of agriculture
extend in their relations beyond the political boundaries of states.
The prosperity of the farmers of a nation is determined to a large
extent by the conditions, legal and economic, in markets beyond the
national boundary. Being more dispersed than the representatives of
other pursuits, commercial or industrial, agricultural producers have
been less successful in uniting for a defense of their common interests.
Yet several private associations for the unification of various agricul-
tural interests throughout the world were formed toward the end
of the nineteenth century. A general international congress of

} Delia Volta, R., " The International Institute of Agriculture," Rev. d'ec. pot.,
Vol. XIX, p. 597. Gidel, " LTnst. agricole internat," Annates des sciences politiques,
Vol. XX, p. 630. Pantaleoni, M., in the Giomale degli economisti, February, 1905.
Papafava, F., ibid., September, 1905. Henry, A., L'organisation du commerce des bles,
Brussels, 1900. Luzzatti, L., " The International Institute of Agriculture," North
Am. Rev., Vol. CLXXXII, p. 651. Bellini, A., LTstituto internaz. d'agric, Turin,
1906.

52 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

agriculture has assembled periodically. It is composed of national
sections and has for its organ a permanent international commission.
Moreover, special organizations were founded to develop international
relations among special groups of producers. Thus there was created
a statistical union of sugar production and a congress of cotton pro-
ducers and manufacturers. The latter established a permanent ex-
ecutive organization at its meeting in Zurich in 1904. The cotton
congress, held the year after the international institute of agriculture
had been created, expressed its sympathy with that undertaking, and
the hope that it might soon include in its studies and operations
matters relating to cotton culture. A German scientist, Dr. Ruhland,
has organized at Freiburg an international office for the observation
of grain prices and markets, which has done valuable work in pro-
viding accurate information on the supply and prices of grain, thereby
enabling producers to take intelligent advantage of the conditions of
the world's market.

These various tentative efforts and organizations, with many others
not here mentioned, indicated that the time was ripe for the creation
of a more general union for the advancement of agricultural interests.
The official initiative in this matter was taken by King Victor Em-
manuel III, of Italy, to whom the idea of an international institute
of agriculture had been suggested by Mr. David Lubin, an American.
The king, on January 24, 1905, addressed to the president of the
Italian council of ministers a letter in which he outlined the objects
and purposes of such an institution in the following language :

The agricultural classes, generally the most numerous in the country, have
indeed a great influence upon the destiny of nations ; but being without any
organization or bonds of connection among themselves, they cannot effectively
cooperate for the improvement and proper distribution of the different crops ac-
cording to the demands of consumers, nor for the protection of their interests in
the markets which, with regard to the most important products, constantly tend
to become more nearly world-wide.

An international institute could therefore be of great utility if, free from all
political aims, it engaged itself in the study of the conditions of agriculture in the
different countries of the world, giving information from time to time upon the
quantity and quality of crops, the manner of facilitating production, the least ex-
pensive and most rapid means of reaching the market, and the most equitable
method of fixing prices. Such an institute, working in conjunction with the
different national bureaus already created, would also be able to furnish accurate
data upon the conditions of rural labor in different places, so as to be a useful
and reliable guide for emigrants ; it could make arrangements for the common

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 53

defense against diseases of plants and animals, which resist individual or partial
efforts ; finally, it would exercise a beneficent influence in the development of
rural cooperation, insurance, and agrarian credit.

On the basis of this royal initiative the Italian foreign office in-
structed its diplomatic agents to attempt to secure the cooperation
of the powers for the purpose of creating an international institute.
These instructions call attention to the disadvantages from which
farmers now suffer through the lack of united action, which makes
them a prey to speculators and to commercial and railway syndicates.
But the instructions especially emphasize the support which the
movement for world peace would receive through a development of
the common interests of the agricultural class. It is therefore sug-
gested that there be formed an institute composed of the delegates of
various governments and of national associations of agriculture. The
purpose of such an institute would include the organization of agri-
cultural exchanges and labor offices ; the organization of rural
cooperation in sales, purchases, credit, and insurance ; the defense
against syndicates of intermediaries ; and the preparatory study of
legislative and administrative problems. Through the work of the
institute the governments would be enabled to act in unison, upon the
most reliable information. In order that these matters might be dis-
cussed, the Italian government extended an invitation to the powers
to send delegates to a conference to meet at Rome. In preparation
for this conference the ministries of foreign affairs and agriculture
in Italy worked out a definite program which embodied these
suggestions.

In the conference which met on May 28, 1905, thirty-eight Euro-
pean, American, Asiatic, and African governments were represented
by official delegates. Although some of the most powerful states
maintained an attitude of reserve, the general idea of an international
institute of agriculture was received with favor. Opinions were how-
ever divided on the form that it should take. The thought of the
Italian government evidently had been that there should be two com-
ponent elements, possibly organized in two separate houses, one com-
prising the delegates of the governments, the other the representatives
of agricultural associations. Thus only, it was believed, could the
agricultural interests throughout the world become truly unified. The
conference, however, confined its action to the establishment of an

54 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

institution composed solely of the delegates of governments, — diplo-
mats or agricultural experts. The international institute of agricul-
ture, as organized by the conference, accordingly takes the following
form : It is a public institution, consisting of a general assembly and
a permanent commission, in both of which each treaty power is rep-
resented. The general assembly controls the work of the institute.
It considers projects prepared by the permanent commission, fixes
the budget, and makes suggestions to the contracting governments
with respect to modifications of the organization. The quorum is
fixed at two thirds of all the votes of the contracting states. The per-
manent commission carries out the directions of the assembly, and
prepares projects for consideration by the latter. It is composed of
one representative from each of the states, although one delegate
may represent several governments.

The functions of the institute are as follows : (a) to collect, study,
and publish statistical, technical, and economic information relative to
agricultural and animal husbandry, agricultural markets, and prices ;

(b) to communicate the above information to governments interested ;

(c) to investigate the payment of rural labor ; (d) to give notice of
new plant diseases which may appear in any part of the world, indi-
cating the extent of territory affected, the course of the malady, and,
if possible, efficacious remedies ; (c) to study questions relative to
agricultural cooperation, insurance, and credit ; (/) to present, for the
approbation of governments, measures for the protection of the com-
mon interests of agriculturalists and for the betterment of their con-
dition, taking account of all means of information, such as resolutions
of international and other agricultural congresses, agricultural societies,
academies, and other scientific bodies.

The states belonging to the institute are divided into five groups,
each state being free to choose for itself to which group it will belong.
Members of the first group have five votes in the assembly and
contribute sixteen units to the income of the institute ; in the second
group they have four votes and contribute eight units ; and so on
down to the fifth, where each member has one vote and contributes
one unit. The unit is not to exceed 2500 francs a year. The king
of Italy supported the foundation of the institute by making over to
it the revenues of certain valuable crown domains.

The organization determined on by the diplomatic conference at

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION

Rome was far from meeting the desires and aspirations of the men
who were most interested in the movement for an international union
of agriculture. Not only is the institute a purely governmental insti-
tution, but its functions are practically confined to the collection of
information and the suggestion of projects for treaties and legislative
measures. Yet it could hardly be expected that the governments
would immediately consent to the establishment of an organ with
direct administrative functions, such as, for instance, an international
cooperative union of agricultural credit. On the basis of the organiza-
tion as effected, it will be possible to centralize efforts in behalf of the
agricultural interests and to secure a gradual amelioration of agricul-
tural conditions. The institute, as its organic law indicates, will hold
itself ready to cooperate with national and international organizations
representing private initiative, such as the international congress of
agriculture mentioned above. In Italy there was organized in 1905
a special office for the representation of agricultural societies and
cooperative organizations, which is to mediate between the latter and
the international institute.

Several matters connected with agriculture, which have heretofore
been regulated by separate treaties, will now probably be drawn within
the scope of the agricultural institute. In 1878 there was formed in
Bern a union comprising eleven European states, for preventing the
introduction and spread of phylloxera. In March, 1902, a convention
was concluded at Paris for the protection of useful birds ; this has been
ratified by eleven states. The treaty governments engage themselves
to propose to their respective legislatures measures for the protection
of birds which destroy insects noxious to agriculture. In this connec-
tion we may also mention the union for the protection of large African
game, concluded in London, May 19, 1900, among the powers which
have colonies in central Africa.

Insurance.1 Though there has not as yet been created in the in-
terests of insurance an international administrative organization, yet
a number of governments have regularly participated in the meetings
of international associations dealing with insurance problems. Most
prominent among these is the international congress of actuarial

1 Emminghaus, in Zeitschrift f. J. Versickerungs -WissenschafU'V ol. VII, p. 9. Re-
ports, Memoirs, and Proceedings of the Fifth International Congress of Actuaries,
Berlin, 1906.

56 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

science. Not only have the meetings of this congress usually been
held under government patronage, and under the presidency of some
important statesman (in 1903, Secretary Cortelyou, in New York), but
many governments have been represented by official delegates, and
the deliberations of the congress have dealt to a large extent with
administrative and legal, as distinct from technical and mathematical,
subjects. The congress of 1906 was held in Berlin in conjunction
with the fourth international congress of insurance medicine. Six-
teen governments were represented by official delegates, and five of
the thirteen topics of discussion dealt entirely with administrative and
legal questions. The congress has an official organ in the permanent
committee for insurance congresses at Brussels. Aside from the
governments, national actuarial societies and similar associations are
represented in its organization.

The international congress of protection against fire, which is a
more purely private organization, resolved, in London in 1903, to es-
tablish experiment stations, an international expert commission, and
a central statistical bureau. International congresses of labor insur-
ance have been held repeatedly (the eighth congress met at Rome in
1906) and have received financial assistance from various European
states.

III. Sanitation and Prison Reform

The International Prison Congress.1 Congresses for the purpose
of the discussion of penitentiary administration and reform have
been held at irregular intervals from 1846 on. At the congress of
1872, under the leadership of the United States, steps were taken to
secure a permanent organization. Since 1880 congresses have been
held every five years, the place of the last meeting being Washington
(1910). At the congress at Budapest in 1905 twenty-eight nations
were represented. The scope of the work of the congress is not ap-
parent from its designation in English. This is an imperfect transla-
tion of pcnitentiairc, a term which includes the consideration of all
that relates to the moral and physical amelioration of prisoners as

1 Bulletin de la Commission pinitentiaire Internationale, Brussels and Bern. Jas-
par, H., in Revue de droit international, 1901, p. 448. National Prison Association,
Proceedings 1905, p. 227. Charities, Vol. XV, p. 116. "Les congres penitentiaires
internat.," Revue pinitentiaire, 1905, p. 653. Le Poittevin, A., in Revue de droit inter-
national prive, Vol. I, p. 90. Barrows, S. J., The International Prison Congress, Sen.
Doc. 462, Sixtieth Congress, first session, 190S.

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION

well as to the prevention of crime. The executive work of preparing
for the congresses is performed by the international penitentiary
commission composed of one delegate from each country. The com-
mission meets regularly every two years, and is composed of four
sections, for the consideration of prison administration, penal law,
prevention of crime, and juvenile delinquencies. The secretariate of
the commission is situated at Bern. Some time previous to the meet-
ing of the congress, series of questions prepared by experts are
sent out to the various countries represented. They are submitted to
careful review by adepts, and reports upon them are returned to the
secretariate. All these reports are then edited and published in French,
to be distributed among all the delegates appointed to the congress,
in time for them to give these matters careful study. In this manner
the discussions avoid all preliminary misunderstandings as to defini-
tions and points at issue, and the meetings of the congress are usually
very fruitful in the formation of definite opinions on matters con-
nected with practical prison administration. The congress and the
commission have no power to bind the respective governments by
treaty ; their purpose is primarily the exchange of expert opinion
and knowledge, for the development of the science of penitentiary
administration.

International sanitation} International defensive action against
invasion by epidemics was first urged by the French government,
which in 185 1 called a sanitary conference to meet in Paris; this
was followed by a second meeting in 1859. The terrible epidemic
of cholera of 1865 caused the holding of a third congress at Con-
stantinople. Other conferences have followed at short intervals.
Although from the first these had a diplomatic character in that
they were attended by the representatives of governments, they were
primarily scientific in their aims, confining themselves to discus-
sions and resolutions rather than to elaborating treaties. Ultimately,

1 Text of the treaty of Venice, 1897, in Stoats- Archiv, Vol. LXI, p. 261. " La
conference de Paris, 1903," in Revue ginirale de droit international, Vol. XI, p. 199.
Houet, " Conference int. sanitaire," in Rev. int. de droit marit., Vol. XIX, pp. S05-
870. Loutfi, Z., La politique sanitaire internat, 1906. Monod, H., in Rev. d'adtni-
nistration, March, 1904. Rapmund, O., Das offentliche Gesundheitswesen, Leipzig,
1901, p. 126. 8e Congres internat. de hygiene et de demographic Budapest, 1S95.
Huot, in the Rev. int. de droit marit., Vol. XIX, p. 803. Proces-verbaux, Paris Con-
ference, 1903, Paris, 1904. Text of Convention of 1903, transl. by Thomson, London,
1904.

58 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

however, more formal action was taken, and at Venice in 1892
the first general treaty for protection against cholera was framed.
Every conference since then has added to the diplomatic work,
that of Venice in 1897 and that of Paris in 1903 being especially
important.

At the latter conference it was voted to establish an international
sanitary office to be situated at Paris. Such a bureau had first been sug-
gested at the international congress of hygiene at Brussels in 1897.
At the Paris sanitary conference the president of the French dele-
gation introduced the subject by calling for the creation of a union de
sante incarnee dans une autorite Internationale fortement constitute.
The functions bestowed upon the bureau according to this first pro-
posal are, however, not executive, but only informational. The office
is to collect information on the progress of infectious diseases, being
assisted by the sanitary authorities of the treaty states. The results
of the work of the bureau are to be communicated to the various
governments and published. The establishment of the bureau was
supported by all powers represented, but was accepted with certain res-
ervations by Austria, Great Britain, and Germany. The sixth sanitary
conference, which met at Rome in 1 907, drew up a formal convention
which contains detailed arrangements for the new institution. The in-
ternational office of public hygiene is located at Paris, and is under the
control of a commission composed of delegates from all the member
states. Its main object is "to collect and bring to the knowledge of
the participating states facts and documents of a general character
concerning public health and especially regarding infectious diseases,
notably cholera, the plague, and yellow fever, as well as the measures
taken to check these diseases." The number of votes allowed each
treaty state, in the government of the office, is determined by, and is
inversely proportional to, the number of the class to which it belongs
as regards its participation in the expenses. The budget is fixed at
150,000 francs per year. The convention went into effect in 1908,
after having been ratified by nine powers, including the United States.
Other governments have since given their adherence.

The execution of the treaties of the sanitary union, with respect
to prophylactic measures to be taken in Turkey and Egypt, is super-
vised by two commissions, the sanitary councils of Constantinople
and of Alexandria. The conseil supcrieur de sante of Constantinople

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 59

was created by arrangement between the Sultan and the mari-
time powers having relations with Turkey, as early as 1838. It was
natural that the functions of surveillance created by the treaty of
Venice in 1892 and by later treaties should be intrusted to this
organ. The council is composed of seventeen voting delegates, four
being appointed by Turkey, the others by the foreign treaty powers.
Decisions of the council are taken by majority vote, and are directly
executory. The Turkish minister of foreign affairs acts as president
of the council, and the representation of the foreign powers is ar-
ranged through their respective legations at Constantinople. The
council supervises the quarantine service at Turkish ports on the
Persian Gulf and on the Red Sea, as well as along the Persian and
Russian boundaries. The expenses of the council are met by fees
imposed for quarantine services, which are in turn regulated by a
" mixed commission on the sanitary tariff," composed of representa-
tives of the various powers. The Turkish government also contrib-
utes toward the expenses.

The conseil sanitaire, maritime et quarantenaire a" Egypt e at
Alexandria was created in 188 1. It is composed of the representa-
tives of fourteen treaty powers and two representatives of Egypt.
The presidency is accorded to the representative of Great Britain.
The council has regular monthly meetings, and controls the Egyptian
quarantine stations on the Red Sea, the Suez Canal, and the mouth
of the Nile. A similar sanitary council exists at Tangier. It was
created in 1840, and has also been brought into relation with the gen-
eral sanitary union. The conventions framed by the various sanitary
conferences control the treatment of suspected ships and passengers
from countries subject to epidemics, in all the ports of the treaty
powers. The conclusion of general treaties on this matter was for a
long time resisted by Great Britain, because of fears in behalf of her
shipping interests. The continued danger of infection from oriental
countries, however, finally forced the European nations to unite in
self-defense. The sanitary conferences, while fitted out with diplo-
matic attributes, are still largely concerned with scientific questions.
The provisions of their treaties must frequently be modified in ac-
cordance with the latest determinations of science with respect to the
period of incubation and the most efficient means for preventing the
transmission of disease.

60 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

The international congress of hygiene and demography has a
purely scientific character. It is composed of the official represent-
atives of most of the civilized countries, together with delegates of
scientific bodies and of local councils of public health. The congress
has a permanent commission with offices at Brussels. Another
similar organization, in which also governments officially interest
themselves, is the international congress of school hygiene. Two
government conferences have been held for the scientific discussion
of leprosy (Berlin, 1897; Bergen, 1909); and the first international
congress on the sleeping sickness was held at London in 1907. Six
countries participated in the latter through official delegations.1

Pan-American sanitary union? The second Pan-American confer-
ence, which met at Mexico in 1902, passed a resolution concerning
international sanitary police. Among other things it recommended
that the "American governments shall cooperate with each other to-
ward securing and maintaining efficient and modern sanitary condi-
tions in all their respective ports and territories, to the end that
quarantine restrictions may be reduced to a minimum and finally
abolished." The conference also provided for the calling of a sanitary
congress at Washington and the establishment of an international
sanitary bureau at the same place. The latter was to be composed of
a permanent executive board of not less than five members, to be
elected by the congress. These resolutions were carried out, the bureau
was established in Washington, and four congresses have been held
to date. The second of these, which met in October, 1905, worked
out a treaty project concerning the prevention of such epidemics as
cholera, the plague, and yellow fever. This treaty has been ratified
by fourteen American powers, including the United States, Mexico,
Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, and Colombia. The third Pan-American con-
ference, held at Rio de Janeiro in 1906, passed a further resolution
on sanitary police. After recommending the general acceptance of the
convention of Washington, it urged the adoption of measures tend-
ing to assure the adequate sanitation of cities and especially of ports.
It had been pointed out that in order to be thorough, international
sanitary police must not confine its attention to quarantine and to a

1 See Brit. Pari, papers, 1907, Cd. 377S, and 1909, Cd. 4916.

2 Proceedings of the International Sanitary Conferences, Washington. 1 902-1910.
" Report of the Fourth Conference," in Bulletin of the American Republics, April,
1910.

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 6 1

definition of quarantinable diseases, but must advance to the taking-
up of the effective sanitation in centers from which disease may spread.
The Pan-American conference further resolved on the establishment,
in the city of Montevideo, of a center of sanitary information, which
shall supply to the already existing international sanitary bureau at
Washington the elements necessary for a successful carrying-out of
its work. Cooperation between the bureau of Washington and that
established at Paris by the international sanitary union was also pro-
vided for, with a view to obtaining mutual information. The fourth
international sanitary conference was held at San Jose in Costa Rica in
1909. The advance made in sanitation throughout America as a result
of the efforts of the union was reviewed at this time, and the great
benefits obtained through this work were brought out in an impressive
manner. The conference adopted further resolutions embodying the
results of the best experience in dealing with the plague, cholera, and
yellow fever, and recommending specific measures for uniformity in
mutual protection.

The International Opiitm Commission} In view of the fact that the
opium evil in China and other countries cannot be effectively com-
bated except through cooperation among different nations, it was
proposed by the American government in September, 1906, that a
conference be held by a commission composed of delegates of the
different powers. The commission met at Shanghai in February,
1909, upon which occasion thirteen nations were represented. The
program had been prepared and was communicated to the countries
concerned in advance. Each government had been invited to submit
a report to be laid before the commission at Shanghai. After receiv-
ing reports and discussing the questions before it, the commission
adopted a set of resolutions calling for legislation within the countries
represented, against the manufacture and distribution of opium for
other than medicinal purposes. On September 1, 1909, the American
Secretary of State proposed to the interested powers that a conference
be called, to meet at The Hague, for the purpose of framing a con-
vention concerning opium, which would include the recommendations
made by the opium commission and other matters connected therewith.

1 Proceedings of the International Opium Commission, Shanghai, 1909. Treaties
and documents concerning opium in Am. Jour, of Intemat. Law, Supplement, July,
1909. Hamilton Wright, " International Opium Commission," Am. Jour, of Internal.
Lata, July and October, 1909.

62 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

The Geneva Convention.1 The care of the wounded during wars
has become the subject of a special international agreement, the
Geneva convention of 1864. This regulates the treatment of disabled
soldiers and neutralizes the sanitary and hospital services during mili-
tary operations. This convention made possible the work of the Red
Cross societies, which have been established in practically all civilized
countries. These associations are organized on a private basis, though
their work is essentially of a public nature, for which reason they must
necessarily be in close touch with the administration of military affairs.
The societies form a universal union, which has its administrative
offices at Geneva, where it periodically holds conventions. The inter-
national committee of the Red Cross at Geneva acts as a central organ
of communication between the national branches. Repeated attempts
have been made to amend the convention of 1864, and finally, in
1906, a new convention was adopted at Geneva. The latter defines
with greater precision the persons and services protected by the con-
vention, but avoids the term "neutral" and gives, in some respects,
greater rights of control to belligerents. The emblem of the red cross is
henceforth to be protected against unauthorized and commercial uses.

IV. Police Powers

Fisheries police? The fishing industry in the North Sea, being
carried on by fishermen of various nationalities, has required inter-
national legislation and protection. A treaty was concluded in 1882
between the six powers most directly interested. Under this treaty any
commissioned ship of a signatory power may, in certain enumerated
cases, intervene and arrest any fishing vessel belonging to a subject
of a treaty power. The delicts for which such an arrest may be made
are enumerated in the treaty, and the delinquent vessel must be de-
livered up to the authorities of its own country. This arrangement is
supplemented by the convention of November 16, 1887, concluded
at The Hague among the same powers, with the exception of France.
Under this convention the surveillance and control of floating cabarets,

1 Bulletin international des sociStes de la croix rouge, Geneva. Moynier, Notions
•essentielles sur la croix rouge, Geneva, 1896. Meurer, in Zeitschrift fur Vblkerrecht
tend Bundesstaatsrecht, Vol. I, p. 521. Annuaire de la vie Internationale, 1908-1909,
p. 421. Fauchille et Politis, Manuel de la croix rouge, 1908.

2 Treaty of May 6, 1882, and of November 16, 1887, in Archives diplomatiques. Pere
de Cardaillac de St. Paul, Etude de droit international sur la peche, Toulouse, 1903.

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 63

or liquor shops, is provided for. The policing is carried on by the
commissioned ships of the treaty powers, which have the same rights
of arrest in this matter as they were given under the treaty of 1882.
Protection of submarine cables} The international status of sub-
marine telegraphs led to much discussion when these instruments of
communication were first put into use. In 1869 the government of
the United States suggested the holding of a conference for working
out a treaty project on the neutralization and protection of cables.
The Franco- Prussian War caused the postponement of such action,
although there was continued diplomatic and scientific discussion of
the international law aspects of marine telegraphy. In 1879 the In-
stitute of International Law took up this matter and came to the
conclusion that the first object to be achieved was to protect submarine
cables against wanton or careless destruction by means of an inter-
national agreement for the arrest of delinquents on the high seas.
In 1 88 1, on the basis of a resolution of the international congress of
electricians, the French government issued invitations for a diplomatic
conference, which met in Paris during the following year. Thirty-
three states, as well as the international telegraph bureau of Bern,
were represented, either by diplomatic or expert delegates. The dele-
gates of the United States, the power which had originally taken the
initiative, declined to take an active part in the proceedings, pleading
lack of instructions from their government. The result of the deliber-
ations of this conference was the drafting of a convention which was
later ratified by the diplomatic representatives of the powers at Paris
(March 14, 1884). Under this treaty certain precautions for the pro-
tection of cables are made obligatory upon fishermen and navigators.
The commissioned ships of any signatory power may arrest ships
suspected of having willfully or negligently injured cables. The arrest
is made for the purpose of ascertaining from the ship's papers all
necessary data with respect to it. An authentic written minute (proces-
vcrbal) is made out on the basis of the facts thus ascertained and of the
injuries observed. This document has legal force before the national
tribunals of the delinquent, to which jurisdiction for the trial of such
cases is reserved.

1 Landois, Volkerrechtl. Schutz d. submarinen Telegraphenkabel, Greifswald, 1S94.
Renault, L., on protection of cables, in Revue tie droit international, Vol. XV, p. 17.
Conf. internat. pour la protection des cables, 1882, 1SS6, Paris, Impr. Nat.

64 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

African slave trade and liquor traffic} Agreements for the sup-
pression of the slave trade were made between Great Britain and
France in the years 1833 and 1841. In the latter treaty some addi-
tional states joined. The congress of Berlin in 1885 took up the
question again and determined in principle upon the more complete
international organization of the preventive system. The Brussels
conference of 1 890 finally regulated the matter .through a convention
or general act in which both slave trade and African slavery itself
were made subject to strict international regulation. An office was
established at Zanzibar (bureau international maritime de la traite)
for the purpose of superintending the enforcement of the general act.
The five powers which primarily assumed the preventive operations on
sea are represented in this bureau. A second bureau was established
at Brussels for the purpose of collecting information and publish-
ing documents and statistics with respect to the slave trade. Eight-
een states are members of this union. The Brussels general act of
1890 also regulates the sale of liquors in the central belt of Africa (be-
tween twenty degrees north and twenty-two degrees south). In regions
where the natives have not yet become accustomed to the use of
liquors the traffic is entirely forbidden. For other parts a high mini-
mum excise duty is fixed by the treaty. The bureau at Brussels is to
act as an intermediary between the treaty powers for the exchange
of information concerning the liquor traffic in their respective African
possessions. Conferences were held in 1899, in 1906, and in 1908,
at which the rules of 1890 were revised and amended. The traffic
in firearms in Africa has been regulated in a similar manner by
international action.

The repression of the white-slave trade? The nefarious traffic

1 Brussels General Act, in Archives diplomatiques, Vol. XXXV, p. 206. Docu-
ments relatifs a la repression de la traite, Brussels, annually. Recueil du bureau de
Bruxelles. Actes de la conf. de 1906, Brussels.

2 Int. Conf. for the Repr. of White Slavery, 1902, in Archives diplomatiques,
Vol. LXXVII, pp. 154-263. Appleton, P., La traite des blanches, Paris, 1903. Re-
ports of the International Congress for the Repression of White Slave Trade (Lon-
don, 1899 ; Frankfurt, 1903 ; Paris, 1906). Renault, L., " La traite des blanches," in
Revue generate de droit international, Vol. IX, p. 497. Rehm, in Zeitschrift fiir Vbl-
kerrecht und Bnndesstaatsrecht, Vol. I, p. 446. Mayr, G. v., on the Paris congress on
white slavery, 1906, in Beilage znr Allgemeinen Zeitung, Munich, February 5-6, 1907.
Teutsch, J., on the congress of 1906, in Revue penitentiaire, Vol. XXXI, pp. 84-104.
Berenger, R., " La traite des blanches," in Revue de deux mondes, July, 1910.
" Deuxieme conference internat., correspondance, etc.," Archives diplomatiques,
Vol. CXV, pp. 45-200.

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 65

known as the white-slave trade has for a considerable time operated
on an international basis. The persons engaged in it have received
protection from the fact that their transactions were not confined to
one single national territory, but that acts apparently innocent and
legitimate were followed by a consummation in another state which
rendered the entirety of the act criminal. Without international agree-
ment as to the responsibility in such cases, it would often be impossible
to punish guilty persons because the acts committed in any one
particular state might not amount to a completed crime. It was,
moreover, necessary that the police administrations of the different
states should support the efforts of each other by promptly giving
information and in other ways, so that the execution of criminal
designs might be frustrated. The matter of coming to an understand-
ing was first taken up by private international congresses. The princi-
pal one of these organizations is the international union for the
repression of the white-slave trade, which was founded in London
in 1899 and has its central office in that city. The successive con-
gresses of this union have worked out definite principles and methods
for the purpose of preventing the traffic in question. Through its
initiative the French government was prevailed upon to call a confer-
ence of the powers, which met in Paris in July, 1902. Fifteen states
were represented, including Brazil on the part of America. The
conference elaborated projects for a convention and for an adminis-
trative arrangement. The former includes such modifications of the
principles of criminal law as would be necessary to make the suppres-
sion of the traffic effective. Certain divergencies as to the age of
majority, the transmission of rogatory commissions, and other matters
delayed the ratification of this treaty ; but the Paris conference of
April 18, 19 10, resolved these difficulties in a satisfactory manner,
and the convention has now been ratified by a number of states.

The " arrangement " has in view the adoption of methods of sup-
pression which can be instituted, without legislative action, by mere
administrative ordinances in the various states. This was ratified by a
diplomatic conference assembled in Paris in May, 1904, and it has been
accepted by sixteen powers, including the United States.1 It further

1 The legislative and administrative autonomy of the individual states of the
American Union places great difficulties in the way of effective cooperation on our
part.

66 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

provides that each treaty government is to create or designate a special
bureau to collect all specific information about attempts to engage
women for immoral purposes in foreign countries. Such bureau is to
have the right of immediate communication with the similar bureaus
in other states. The governments are to institute a special service of
surveillance in railway stations and ports for the purpose of discover-
ing attempts to carry on this illegal traffic. In cases where mere sus-
picion exists, such suspicion shall nevertheless be communicated to the
authorities at the point of destination of the suspected persons. The
repatriation of victims of the traffic is also provided for. The French
government is made the agent of the union for the purpose of carry-
ing on the diplomatic negotiations for the admission of new members.
The London bureau will act as a central organ for purposes of com-
munication, while in the individual countries certain police authorities,
as, for instance, the police presidency of Berlin, have been designated
to act as national bureaus.

The Paris conference of April, 19 10, extended the methods of
international police cooperation to the suppression of immoral
writings and objects. The publication or manufacture of, and the
commerce in, such things is to be generally forbidden ; infractions
may be tried in any country where the delict or some of its elements
has transpired. By a "project of arrangement" each state binds
itself to designate some authority to give information to the agents
of the other governments respecting such cases. Fifteen powers were
represented at this conference.

The Soutli American police convention} The Latin-American
scientific congress, which met at Rio de Janeiro in 1905, after a
discussion of the best means of interchanging information for iden-
tifying criminals, passed resolutions calling for the holding of an
American police congress for the purpose of making an agreement
upon this point. As a result a police conference met at the city of
Buenos Aires in 1905. It included delegates of the police adminis-
trations of the province, as well as the city of Buenos Aires, of the
city of Rio de Janeiro, of Santiago, and of Montevideo. It was there-
fore purely an administrative conference, representing not the na-
tional governments in their entirety but only the police administration

1 Conferencia internacional de policia, convenio celebrado, Buenos Aires, 1905.
Almandos, L. R., Dactiloscopia Argentina, La Flata, 1909.

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 67

of the capital cities. The convention adopted was an arrangement
for the cooperation between these administrations for their mutual
assistance. Paraguay later also gave its adherence. The convention
provides for the interchange of data for the purpose of identifying
criminals and suspicious characters. For purposes of identification
the Argentinian system of dactyloscopy, together with a system of
morphological description, was adopted, to be used in common by
all the administrations. The treaty further provides for the exchange
of information concerning the movements of suspicious characters.

V. Scientific Purposes

Modern governments are devoting a large and constantly growing
part of their energies to scientific work. In nearly every branch of
their administrative activities it is necessary to conduct scientific
investigations in order to provide a reliable basis for governmental
action. While this is true even of the police functions, it applies
especially to that part of government which relates to developing
industrial, commercial, and agricultural life. Here the government,
through its scientific institutes, endeavors to guide and assist the
material development of the country by the discovery and testing of
new methods. But as governments enter more fully into scientific
work, and as a greater force of officials is employed in this manner, it
is also soon discovered that international cooperation is necessary in
order to make such branches of the service most effective. Moreover,
there are certain determinations of scientific and technical facts that
can be made in a satisfactory manner only through world-wide coop-
eration. In all sciences it is important that there should be a free and
universal interchange of experience and results ; but some scientific
undertakings involve the contemporary study of related groups of
facts in different parts of the world in such a manner that they can
be satisfactorily carried on only through simultaneous work by scientists
in a large number of countries. It is, of course, possible that such
international cooperation could be organized through private initiative,
and this has in fact been done in many branches of science. But
there are other lines of investigation which governments, on account
of the scientific institutions which they already control, are well pre-
pared to undertake. A number of public conferences of a scientific

68 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

nature have been held, various standing committees and bureaus have
been created which are supported by government contributions, and,
moreover, a great many governments participate regularly, through
official delegates, in international scientific congresses arranged for
by private initiative.

Among the commissions and bureaus which have been reviewed
above, there are a number whose functions may be called scientific.
Bureaus like that of the industrial property union and the sanitary
union have the duty of collecting reliable information and arranging
it in a scientific manner. The functions of the metric bureau at Sevres
are of a strictly scientific nature. But in all these cases, and in the
others reviewed, the information is gathered for the purpose of form-
ing the basis of action by the governments who are members of the
respective unions. There are, in addition to these associations and
unions, a few whose purpose is purely informational and scientific.
We cannot, of course, in this place deal with the numerous scientific
associations of international extent, composed of private persons and
not connected with governments through representation and financial
support.

The International Geodetic Association.1 On the initiative of the
Prussian government a conference was convened in 1864 for the pur-
pose of forming an association through which the geodetic work car-
ried on by the various governments could be compared, harmonized,
and rendered more efficient. Fourteen states were represented at this
conference. It created a permanent organization composed of a gen-
eral conference which meets every three years, a governing commis-
sion, and a central bureau. This last was located at Potsdam and
placed under the direction of the Prussian institute of geodesy. The
original purpose of the association was to standardize geodetic re-
searches with respect to central Europe. Its scope was subsequently
expanded so as to embrace all of Europe and then the entire globe,
the ultimate purpose of the association being the absolute determina-
tion of the form of the earth. The organization of the union was

1 Titmann and Hayford, " Conference of the Geodetic Association," in Science,
December 7, 1906. Publications of the International Council for the Exploration of
the Sea, Copenhagen, since 1903. On the international conference and council for
exploration of the sea, Geogr. Jour., Vol. XX, p. 316, and Scott. Geogr. Mag., Vol. XVI,
p. 299. Bulletin of the Internat. Statistical Institute, various places since 18S6. Treaty
of March 15, 1886, in Archives diplomatique*.

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 69

modified in 1886 by giving the international bureau an independent
budget made up of contributions of the member states according to
population. The control of the Prussian government over the bureau
was rendered less direct by this measure, although the connection
with the Prussian institute was maintained. At the present time the
association has a membership of twenty states, and its annual budget
averages $19,000. The association does not fix the methods of obser-
vation or computation in any country ; it controls only the processes
used in its own central bureau and in the field work paid for from
the association funds. But by virtue of the active interchange of ideas
the union undoubtedly does exert a strong influence in making the
methods used in various countries more nearly uniform and progres-
sive than they would otherwise be.

In 1882 there was held at Paris an international conference for the
determination of electric units. Twenty-five governments took part
through official delegates, and resolutions were adopted establishing
certain general rules with respect to the subject under consideration.
Conferences of this nature have been held from time to time, in one
or another of which all of thirty-six governments have participated.
The last conference on electric units and standards met at London in
October, 1908. Its object was to obtain international agreement on
the three electric units, — the ohm, the ampere, and the volt. It re-
solved itself into three commissions : first, on electric units ; second,
on electric currents ; and third, on a standard measure of light. A
permanent international electrotechnical commission has been estab-
lished, which met at the same time. This commission has under con-
sideration the question of standardizing the nomenclature and the
ratings of electric apparatus and machinery.

In 1884 an international conference was held at Washington for
the purpose of fixing a prime meridian. This also was entirely a
government conference, twenty-six countries being officially repre-
sented. It passed a resolution recommending the universal acceptance
of the meridian of Greenwich as a prime meridian. Furthermore, it
adopted a plan for a universal day. Under this arrangement the
time in all parts of the world would be exactly the same, and it
would become impossible to lose or gain a day by passing a certain
meridian.1

1 Proceedings published at Washington, 1SS4.

70 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

The study of the causes, results, and concomitant phenomena of
earthquakes constitutes a subject which cannot be satisfactorily dealt
with on the basis of the scientific experience of a single nation. The
science of seismology is therefore essentially international. It is neces-
sary to have a broad field of observation in order accurately to deter-
mine the natural laws involved in the phenomena ; as a matter of fact,
the physical area affected by any serious disturbance is practically the
surface of the entire globe. A first general conference on seismology
was held at St. Petersburg in 1 90 1 , when it was agreed that the estab-
lishment of a public international union should be brought about.
Accordingly, in 1903, there followed a meeting of official representa-
tives of governments, through whom an international association was
established. A rtglcment was adopted and a central bureau instituted
at St. Petersburg. The conference also created a commission com-
posed of delegates of each of the governments, who are members of
the union. This body exercises a general supervision over the tech-
nical work of the association. Subsequent general conferences were
held at Leipzig, 1904; Rome, 1906; and The Hague, 1907. The
union at the present time includes fifteen governments.1

Of great practical importance is the work of the international asso-
ciation for unifying the formulae of potent drugs. Not only is med-
ical science concerned in the establishment of universal formulae
of this kind, but it is evidently also of great importance to certain
branches of the public administration — such as, for instance, that of
criminal law — that there should be uniformity in such matters. At a
conference held at Brussels in 1902, at which nineteen powers were
represented, this international association was established, a commis-
sion formed, and a secretariate instituted at Brussels. A second
conference, held in 1906, worked out a new convention, which was
signed on November 29 of that year.

Of a more purely scientific nature is the work of the permanent
council for the exploration of the sea, which is located at Copenhagen.
This union was founded at Stockholm in 1899. At a subsequent
meeting at Christiania, in 1901, the international council was estab-
lished, together with a bureau and a laboratory. The governments
interested, nine in number, are represented upon the council by two
representatives each. The purpose of the bureau is to give uniform

1 Geogr. Jour., Vol. XXVIII, p. 8l.

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 71

direction to hydrographic. and biological researches in the ocean.
Particular research work is also intrusted to it from time to time by
the council. It is the function of the international laboratory to con-
trol the apparatus employed and to insure uniformity of methods on
the part of investigators belonging to different nations, in order that
the results obtained may be accessible and useful to all. The budget
for 1907 was 102,425 francs. The expenses of the council are de-
frayed entirely by the governments who are members. Another
organization of this kind is the international commission established
to carry on the study of the polar regions. It was brought into being
at a congress held in 1906, at which fourteen governments and a
number of learned associations were represented. A similar object is
pursued by the Baltic and White Sea conference, which met at The
Hague in September, 1909.

It had been repeatedly suggested that there should be undertaken
the joint elaboration of a map of the world, in which the principal
civilized countries should participate. The suggestion was first taken
up in the international geographical congress, which met at Bern in
1 90 1. A committee appointed to develop a plan reported at subse-
quent congresses. Finally, an international commission was created,
which met at London in 1909. At this conference twenty-four coun-
tries were represented. The plan adopted contemplates a map drawn
upon the scale of one to one million, that is, about sixteen statute
miles to the inch. Each sheet of this map will embrace an area of
four degrees in latitude and six degrees in longitude. There will
be twenty-four hundred of these sheets, and the entire map when
put together will measure about one hundred by one hundred
fifty feet. The commission will agree upon absolute uniformity in
the system of notations. The practical value of this undertaking
requires no emphasis.

The Pan-American scientific congress.1 General scientific con-
gresses, taking for their province the whole realm of human knowl-
edge, are peculiar to America. The meeting of scientific men from
all parts of the world, during the St. Louis exhibition, is well remem-
bered as the first attempt to gather in one convention representative
scientific men from all nations. But our neighbors to the south

1 Trabajos y conclusiones del cuarto congreso cientffico (primero pan-americano),.
Santiago, 1909.

72 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

made the beginning in holding general scientific congresses on a
continental scale. In 1898, through the efforts of the Argentinian
scientific society and under the auspices of the Argentinian govern-
ment, there was convened the first Latin-American scientific congress,
in the city of Buenos Aires.

So successful was this first attempt that the idea took root and the
scientific congress became an institution of American life. In 1901
the second congress met at Montevideo, followed in 1905 by the
third, in the capital of Brazil. In all these congresses the government
of the country of meeting acted as host, and the president and public
ministers took part as honorary or active officers. Thus, from the
first, the congress was impressed with a semipublic character, and
governments were represented in it by specially designated delegates.
This did not of course exclude the presence of representatives of uni-
versities and other learned bodies, as well as of private "adherents."
These congresses served to establish closer bonds of union and of
mutual friendship and understanding among the participating coun-
tries of America.

When the organizing commission of the fourth congress, in Chile,
began its work, it was suggested that this congress should include all
the nations of America, not only those using tongues of Latin deri-
vation. This decision was a result of the efforts which had been
made in the diplomatic conferences at Washington, Mexico, and Rio
de Janeiro to establish relations of active friendship among all Ameri-
can countries. These had prepared the way for a union of Ameri-
can men of science. Thus the suggestion commended itself to the
Chilean commission, and they inaugurated a new era in American
intellectual life by making the scientific congress Pan-American in
scope and character. Not only did they decide to include the United
States among the nations invited, and thus to make the congress
truly American, but they were guided by the concept of American-
ism in the elaboration of the program. Accordingly it was planned
that the congress was to occupy itself primarily with problems and
conditions peculiar to the American continents. As this was the first
meeting of the kind, a survey of the whole field of science in the New
World was a proper work to be undertaken. For this reason many
of the papers and discussions were occupied with the more general as-
pects of their subject. An effort was made broadly to determine the

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 73

tasks confronting American men of science at the present time.
But in addition to this, many special investigations of scientific
materials were presented.

The fact that governments were represented, and that most Latin-
American countries had appointed their minister in Chile as head of
their delegation, gave the congress a semidiplomatic character. This
was accentuated by the election of diplomats to the principal offices
of the congress. The congress was divided into nine large sections,
each of which held separate meetings, and some of which had again
to be subdivided in order to make it possible to present the papers
that had been prepared for the occasion. Many resolutions were
adopted, based upon studies presented by various delegates. It was
also resolved that the president, secretary, and treasurer of any con-
gress should constitute a permanent commission acting until the sub-
sequent meeting, in cooperation with the committee on organization,
whose duty it is to carry out the preparatory arrangements in the
country where the meeting is to take place.

VI. International Commissions and Unions for Special

and Local Purposes

Common action on the part of a number of states to protect specific
interests is becoming more and more frequent. In order to carry out
the provisions of treaties or to make an investigation, temporary com-
missions have often been created, whose duties are confined to the
accomplishment of a certain specific task. Of this nature were the
commissions appointed to elaborate the provisions of the Vienna
treaty of 18 15, dealing with navigation. Separate commissions were
appointed to prepare regulations for the Vistula, the Elbe, the Rhine,
and the Ems. But though it would be interesting to study the organ-
ization and work of these temporary bodies, we shall have to content
ourselves with a very brief review of those international commissions
for special or local purposes, which have a more permanent duration.
An interesting attempt to regulate the jurisdiction over boundary
rivers, through the institution of an international tribunal and the
determination of its relations to the national courts, is contained in
the convention relative to the navigation of the Rhine, concluded on
October 1 7, 1 868, between six riparian states. It provided for a tribunal
of Rhine navigation, in which all the treaty states were represented.

74 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

The interest which a number of central European states have in
the navigation of the Danube has led to the conclusion of a series of
treaties and conventions upon this- matter, beginning with the treaty
of Paris in 1856. By this treaty there was created a European
Danube commission, which was charged to plan and carry out impor-
tant works for improving the navigation of the lower Danube. Its
duration, originally limited to two years, — a strangely inadequate
period, - - was subsequently extended, until finally, by the treaty of
London in 1883, its powers were prolonged for twenty-one years and
for periods of three years thereafter, subject to denunciation by any
of the treaty powers. The commission is composed of representa-
tives of the ten treaty states ; its permanent offices are at Galatz. Its
resources are supplied by an equal tax imposed by the commission
itself, by a majority vote, upon the shipping of the lower Danube ;
it is guaranteed complete independence from undue interference on
the part of any riparian state, and has the right to use its own distinc-
tive flag. Very important and useful works have already been exe-
cuted under its superintendence.1

The Peking peace protocol of September 7, 1901, provides for
the improvement of the navigation of two Chinese rivers under the
superintendence of international commissions.

By the general act of the Berlin conference (1885) there was insti-
tuted an international commission of the Kongo. The duty of this
commission is to superintend the execution of the treaty provisions
in favor of the equal rights of navigation in the Kongo basin. It is
provided by the act that the commission is to be composed of one
representative of each treaty power, to be independent of the riparian
governments and to have the usual diplomatic privileges of invio-
lability. Thus far, however, the commission has not been constituted
for work. A similar commission was instituted by the treaty of Con-
stantinople, of 1888, for the purpose of supervising and enforcing
the observance of the neutrality of the Suez Canal ; it is made up of
the consuls of the treaty powers in Egypt.

Another instance of international cooperation is found in the union

1 Orban, P., Etude de droit fluvial international, Paris, 1S96. Arntz, Regime
international du Danube. Bonfils, Droit int. publ., § 52S. Berges, A., Du regime
de navigation des fleuves internationaux, 1902. " Reglement pour Amelioration du
Whang-pou," in Archives diplomatiques, Vol. LXXXI, p. 28. Compare, also, the
Canada-United States International Waterways Commission.

DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION 75

for the purpose of maintaining a lighthouse at Cape Spartel, in Mo-
rocco. Eleven powers are members to this agreement, which is car-
ried out under the superintendence of the consular corps at Tangier.
As a result of the treaty of Algeciras ( 1 906) international supervision
over Moroccan affairs has been very much extended. We may note
especially the international control of the police, and the international
bank of Morocco.

In case of serious disorganization in the financial system of the
state, joint international action for the purpose of reform has been
frequently resorted to. The Egyptian commission for financial affairs
(caisse de la dcttc), which was instituted by treaty in 1880, is com-
posed of representatives of the principal creditor nations. The amor-
tization and conversion of the Egyptian debt is under its control, and
its consent is necessary to enable the Egyptian government to incur
any expenditures not authorized under the original treaty. A similar
institution for Turkish finance has existed since 1878. In 1897 there
was created an international financial commission for the control of
Greek finances. The Macedonian financial reglement of 1906 pro-
vided for a fiscal commission composed of delegates of Germany,
France, Great Britain, and Italy, of the civil agents of Russia and
of Austro-Hungary, and of the Turkish inspector general of finance.
The commission was to superintend the regular collection of the
taxes, and its assent was necessary to the validity of the Macedonian
budget. It had the right to nominate for each vilayet an inspector to
superintend the fiscal agents employed by the Turkish government.
As a result of new fiscal arrangements made in 1909 the commission
was dissolved, and the agents of Great Britain, France, and Italy en-
tered Turkish service as foreign financial advisers. For the purpose
of facilitating the payment of the indemnity installments, as provided
for in the Peking protocol of 1901, there has been instituted at
Shanghai a commission of bankers, upon which all the treaty powers
are represented.1

In connection with these unions for local and restricted purposes,
it also seems proper to mention two important organizations, which
aim to unify and make interchangeable the coinage of the member

1 The Macedonian reglement, in Archives diplomatiques, Vol. XCV, p. 355. Murat,
Le controle international sur les finances de l'figypte, de la Grece et de la Turquie,
Paris, 1899. Engelhardt, in Revue de droit international, Vol. XV, p. 340.

76 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

states. Such are the Latin monetary union,1 formed in 1865, and
comprising France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, and Greece, and the
Scandinavian monetary union, formed in 1873, and composed of
Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The original purpose of the Latin
union was the maintenance among the countries composing it of the
double standard at the ratio of 15^ to 1. The great subsequent depre-
ciation of silver caused many difficulties to the union. A conference
meeting in 1874 decided upon a temporary suspension and permanent
limitation of silver coinage. In 1885 Belgium threatened to withdraw
from the union, but was ultimately induced to continue a member, on
the basis of several concessions. Subsequent conferences were held
in 1893, 1898, 1902, and 1908. The matters determined by these
conferences related to means for preventing the exportation of coin,
and for regulating the amount of fractional currency to be allowed
each country, as well as the per capita amount of silver coin to be
issued in each. This latter item was fixed at 16 francs per inhabitant
by the conference of 1908. In 1892, upon the initiative of the
United States, an international monetary conference met at Brussels
for the purpose of discussing means for the maintenance of a suit-
able currency with the double standard. This conference did not lead
to the adoption of international acts or treaties.

1 Willis, A History of the Latin Monetary Union, Chicago, 1901. Russell, H. B.,
International Monetary Conferences, New York, 1898. Van der Rest, " L'union
monetaire latine," in Revue de droit international, Vol. XIII, p. 5.

CHAPTER III

THE INTERNATIONAL UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS

It is not our purpose in this chapter to follow in detail the history
of the relations between the different republics of America, nor even
the development of the idea of a specifically American tendency in
international law and diplomacy. But as a part of the present study
a brief presentation of the proceedings and results of the American
conferences and of the international administrative organs created by
them will be indispensable. The American union is distinguished
from others by the universality of its purposes and by the geograph-
ical limitation of its membership, but the action of its conferences
and organs illustrates the same principles and subserves the same
need for cooperation which we have observed in other cases.

The invitation for the first Pan-American conference at Wash-
ington was issued on the basis of the Act of Congress of May 24,
1888. In this act the plan of cooperation between the American
powers was outlined in the following language : ' The President of
the United States shall set forth that the conference is called to
consider :

" First : Measures that shall tend to preserve the peace and promote
the prosperity of the several American states.

11 Second : Measures toward the formation of an American cus-
toms union, under which the trade of the American nations with
each other shall, so far as possible and profitable, be promoted.

' Third : The establishment of regular and frequent communica-
tion between the ports of the several American states.

' Fourth : The establishment of a uniform system of customs regu-
lations in each of the independent American states to govern the
mode of importation and exportation of merchandise, and port dues
and charges ; a uniform method of determining the classification and
valuation of such merchandise in the ports of each country, and a
uniform system of invoices ; and the subject of the sanitation of
ships and quarantine.

78 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

' Fifth : The adoption of a uniform system of weights and
measures, and laws to protect the patent rights, copyrights, and
trade-marks of citizens of either country in the other, and for the
extradition of criminals.

" Sixth : The adoption of a common silver coin, to be issued by
each government, the same to be legal tender in all commercial
transactions between the citizens of all of the American states.

" Seventh : An agreement upon and recommendation for adop-
tion to their respective governments of a definite plan of arbitration
of all questions, disputes, and differences that may now or hereafter
exist between them, to the end that all difficulties and disputes
between such nations may be peaceably settled and wars prevented.

' Eighth : And to consider such other subjects relating to the welfare
of the several states represented as may be presented by any of said
states which are hereby invited to participate in said conference."

This general plan of common action is the result of long discus-
sions in both Houses of Congress, of motions and resolutions offered
by different senators and representatives, and of the political ideas
of Blaine as set forth especially in his circular letter concerning a
peace congress to be held in the year 1882.1 The act cited above
was adopted during the administration of President Cleveland by the
action of a Republican Senate and a Democratic House. As the
initiative in this matter was traced back to Blaine, who had been Sec-
retary of State in 1881, and as the policy was in general a part of
Republican views on our economic and commercial relations with
the Old World, there was a strong opposition to the passage of this
measure by the House of Representatives. The President himself
did not sign the bill, but neither did he veto it, so the measure
became a law without his cooperation. When the conference, thus
called, met at Washington, the governmental power had again passed
entirely into the hands of the Republicans. Blaine as Secretary of
State under Harrison acted as president of the conference, an office
which he exercised in person. Without doubt he was the leading
personality in this meeting, as well as in the general movement.
These facts explain why the entire merit of originating the Pan-
American idea is often attributed to him.

1 International American Conference, 1889, Reports and Discussions, Washing-
ton, 1890, Vol. IV, p. 255.

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS 79

When, however, we consider the individual parts of the act of
1888 in their development, it is apparent that this policy did not
spring from the mind of any single statesman. The first suggestion
of cooperative action among the American powers took the form of
a plan for the arbitration of international controversies. This theme
is contained in the first and seventh paragraphs of the section of the
law of 1888 which lays down the purposes of the conference. In
the year 1881 the government of Colombia had invited all American
states to send delegates to a meeting where this matter should be
discussed,1 but on account of the war between Chile and Peru this
conference could not be held. The circular letter of Secretary
Blaine, already referred to, is entirely taken up with this purpose of
arbitration and does not go beyond the idea of fostering international
peace. In the House of Representatives this point of view is empha-
sized in the resolutions presented by Worthington and by McKinley
(1886) ; and Logan represented a similar sentiment in the Senate.
These resolutions confine themselves to favoring the creation of
international courts of arbitration for America.

The commercial aspect of Pan-American relations was first dis-
cussed in the House in 1884. In this year Congress passed an act
creating a commission of three members who were charged to make
a careful study of the commercial relations between the different
American republics.2 In a report addressed to the committee of the
Senate and dated March 26, 1884, Secretary of State Frelinghuysen
favored the policy of concluding a series of reciprocity treaties ; he,
meanwhile, expressed some doubt concerning the practicability of a
general American customs union. The Act of 1888, however, men-
tioned such a union as one of the purposes of the conference. The
Forty-ninth Congress, in which the Democratic party had a strong
majority, had taken an entirely negative attitude in this matter ; the
Fiftieth, through which the Act of 1888 finally came into being,
contained a strong minority in the House, which opposed the policy
of using diplomatic means for the development of commerce.3

The first international conference of American states held its in-
augural session on October 2, 1889, all the independent American

1 Conference, 1889, Reports, Vol. IV, p. 218. 2 Ibid., p. 299.

8 Minority report (Mr. Perry Belmont) in Conference, 1889, Reports^ Vol. IV,
p. 320. Majority Report, Vol. IV, p. 315.

8o PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

states being represented. The matters for discussion were distrib-
uted among sixteen standing committees ; in general the plan out-
lined in the Act of 1888 was made the basis of this division,
although there was added a discussion of private international law.
Four of the committees considered means of transportation by land
and sea, while others dealt with such matters as the customs union,
customhouse regulations, sanitary administration, extradition, and a
Pan-American bank.

Although the conference ultimately passed a resolution couched in
very general terms, it soon became apparent to all delegates that the
idea of an American customs union would have to be abandoned.1
The delegates of Chile and of Argentina insisted that the term " cus-
toms union " could refer only to a complete Zollverein, such as that
of the German states ; they accordingly brought in a minority report
in which it was definitely declared that the project of a customs union
among the American states must be rejected. However, it was not
at all the attitude of the North American delegates to urge the crea-
tion of a customs union, and at no time was this matter pressed.
The American representatives argued that this expression ought to
be interpreted in connection with the other parts of the act, and that
it merely indicated that considerations of a commercial nature were
to be taken up by the conference. The majority report of the com-
mittee, which was accepted by the conference, assumed the following
conservative form : ' To recommend to such of the governments
represented in the conference as may be interested in the conclusion
of partial reciprocity treaties of commerce, to negotiate such treaties
with one or more of the American countries with which it may be to
their interest to make them, upon such terms as may be acceptable
in each case, taking into consideration the special situation, condi-
tions, and interests of each country, and with a view to the promo-
tion of the common welfare of all."

Seldom did the conference in its further action pass beyond such
general resolutions and recommendations. The territory was too new,
the principle of cooperation was untried, and the questions of joint
action were exceedingly complicated. It was felt that the mutual

1 Blaine's Letter, June 19, 1890. Sen. Doc. 138, Fifty-seventh Congress, first
session. Report of Committee on Customs Union, Conference Reports, Vol. I,
p. 103.

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS 8 1

relations of the powers involved would have to be determined more
definitely before a conference could undertake the elaboration of definite
projects for treaties and laws with a feeling of complete assurance as
to results. The conference adopted only one treaty project, — that
dealing with the obligatory arbitration of international controversies.1
Though the conference, with the exception of the delegates of
Mexico and Chile, had accepted this project, no state was bound
diplomatically through this action ; the adoption was purely ad
referendum and required ratification by the individual governments.
The conference gave to this project a very advanced character ; obli-
gatory arbitration was to be decreed in all controversies, with the
sole exception of those in which the independence of a country was
endangered. But even in the latter case arbitration was to be obli-
gatory upon that party whose action threatened the independence of
another country. The treaty also announced the principle that in
America the right of conquest shall have no application, and therefore
declared invalid all cessions of territory which had been obtained
through the presence of an armed force. The principal advocates
of this project, the delegates of Argentina and Peru, tried to weaken
the objections urged against it through the argument that though the
treaty made arbitration obligatory, it did not introduce a compelling
power nor permit intervention on the part of outside nations. Under
this interpretation the term " obligatory " would have addressed itself
rather to the conscience of the parties to the controversy ; it did not
invite the action of outside powers to secure the enforcement of the
duty. It does not seem that the delegates were entirely clear in their
minds concerning the relations of such a treaty to the sovereignty of
the individual states. The acceptance of an arbitration project of so
broad a character is in large part due to the personal influence of
Secretary Blaine, who himself took part in the debates and made
several enthusiastic and forceful appeals in behalf of international
peace.

The project was signed by the delegates of eleven republics, among
them Brazil, Bolivia, and the United States ; but on the date fixed for
final ratification, May I, 1891, not a single government had sanctioned
the treaty. Attempts were made to extend the term. In his annual
message of December 19, 1890, President Harrison had urged that

1 Conference Reports. Vo!. II. p. 259.

82 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

the United States, true to its initiative, should adopt the treaty, but it
was never ratified by any of the powers.

Resolutions of the conference containing recommendations to the
various American governments were adopted, concerning the following
matters : postal communication, survey of the Pan-American railway,
administrative customs regulations, harbor dues, international mone-
tary affairs and a Pan-American bank, patents and trade-marks, weights
and measures, sanitary regulations, extradition treaties, and interna-
tional private law. Although in general the preparatory work of the
conference was inadequate, nevertheless many of these subjects were
dealt with in considerable detail and in the light of experience. Thus
the report of the committee on customs regulations made a number
of specific and practical recommendations. The reports on inter-
continental communication, too, were of considerable value, as they set
forth clearly the condition of existing and possible means of transpor-
tation by sea and by land. In the matter of patents and international
private law the conference confined itself to recommending the fur-
ther adoption of the treaty which had been elaborated by the South
American congress of international law at Montevideo in 1888.1 In
regard to sanitation, it pursued a similar course and favored the
adoption of the projects which had been worked out by the sanitary
conference of Rio in 1887, and of Lima in 1889. In these matters,
therefore, the conference of Washington based its recommendation
entirely upon the products of South American labors in the field
of internationalism.

Considered in its entirety, the conference of Washington repre-
sents a new phenomenon in international life. Hitherto the world
had known only two kinds of international meetings : congresses of
a diplomatic character, called together for the purpose of dealing with
a definite political situation, usually after a great war, and for the pur-
pose of determining the bases for a treaty in which the different
national interests would be balanced and adjusted ; or conferences
partially diplomatic and partially technical in character, summoned
for the discussion of a definite group of economic or social interests,
such as, for instance, the various European conferences dealing with
postal, telegraphic, or railway affairs. The conference of Washington

1 Conference, 1889, Reports, Vol. II, pp. 555, 874. Actas del congreso sudameri-
cano de derecho internac. privado, Buenos Aires, 1889.

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS 83

'differed from these established categories of international meetings in
that, on the one hand, it was not convened for the settlement of a
specific diplomatic problem, while on the other it did not confine itself
to the discussion of any definite interest or group of relations. It had
the character of a general advisory meeting of the representatives of
neighboring countries, summoned for the purpose of bringing these
countries into closer touch with one another and of arriving at a better
mutual knowledge of their various relations and interests, in order to
provide a secure basis for the eventual conclusion of treaties and
for cooperation between these governments. It was therefore a fore-
gone conclusion that such a conference, the first of its kind, would
not be rich in specific results. More intimate relations would first
have to be established and the countries would have to gain clearer
views concerning the tendencies and probable effects of international
arrangements among American states before definite action could be
expected. But it could also be hoped that a free interchange of opin-
ions among leading diplomats and statesmen of an entire continent
would not be without desirable results in bringing about a better
mutual understanding.

The direct influence of the resolutions of the conference of Wash-
ington upon the legislative and administrative conditions in the differ-
ent American states was indeed very small. There was common action
in the creation of an intercontinental railway commission and of the
bureau of American republics. The former was nominated shortly
after the conclusion of the conference, and it received its financial
means through contributions from the United States and a few other
governments. The commission caused important investigations and
surveys to be made, and prepared a detailed technical report which
was submitted to the second conference.

Of great importance was the creation of the International Bureau
of the American Republics. This step, incidentally suggested in the
report of the committee on customs regulations, caused the confer-
ence to provide for the creation of such a bureau "for the prompt
collection and distribution of commercial information." The bureau
was to be established in the city of Washington and was placed under
the supervision of the American Secretary of State. The commercial
and industrial information thus collected was to be published in an
organ called The Bulletin of the International Bureau of American

84 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

Republics printed in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese.
The different governments assumed the duty of furnishing correct
and detailed information concerning their commercial and customs
legislation, as well as all statistical data bearing upon these matters.
The annual budget of the bureau was not to exceed $36,000 ; its
income was to be furnished by the different countries, in proportion
to their population. It was provided that this union of American
republics was to remain in force for ten years ; and unless twelve
months before the end of this term a majority of the member states
had announced their withdrawal, it was to continue for an additional
term of equal length. Immediately upon the conclusion of the con-
ference, the bureau was organized by the American Secretary of State,
a director being appointed on August 26, 1 890.

The conference of Washington did not pass any resolution con-
cerning future meetings of American diplomats. It was, however,
generally recognized that this conference constituted only an initiative
which would be followed sooner or later by similar meetings for the
further elaboration of the general ideas adopted at Washington. The
accession to power of the Democratic party in 1893 did not favor
the continuance of the work with which Blaine's name was so promi-
nently connected. In the summer of 1896 the Mexican republic
attempted to convene an international American congress. On the
day set for its opening, however, there were present only the repre-
sentatives of Venezuela and of the five Central American republics,
so that the conference did not come into being. The American min-
ister to Mexico had been instructed by his government to take part
in the congress, should it actually be convoked. The idea had been
expressed that this congress would consider the meaning and appli-
cation of the Monroe Doctrine. President McKinley, educated in
the political traditions of Blaine, was favorable to the Pan-American
movement, but shortly after his accession to the presidency the
United States became involved in the war against Spain. For some
time during and after the war there was considerable doubt as to
what influence it would exert upon the relations of the United States
to the Spanish-American republics. Many publicists surmised that
the hostilities would bring about an awakening of sympathy for the
mother country among her ancient colonies, and that on the basis of
the contrast between Latin and Germanic stock there would be

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS 85

developed a more conscious opposition between North and South
America. Conjectures of this kind were, however, soon to prove fal-
lacious. There was indeed a short ebullition of sentiment in favor of
Spain, but it is doubtful whether it exerted any strong influence in
modifying existing political and economic relations. A Hispano-
American congress held in Madrid in 1900, though well attended
and used as an occasion for expressions of loyalty to Spain, did not
lead to any definite results. The Spanish-American War, on the
other hand, through making the United States the sovereign power
in Porto Rico and giving her a species of protectorate over Cuba,
created among the North-American people a far greater interest in
the Spanish-American world than they had ever felt before.

In his message of December 5, 1899, President McKinley sug-
gested that, in view of the incomplete results of the first Pan-Ameri-
can conference, it might be desirable to hold a second meeting of this
kind. Following out this suggestion, the Department of State sent a
circular letter to its various diplomatic representatives in Central and
South America. The Mexican republic now repeated its invitation,
and on October 22, 1901, the second conference of American repub-
lics met in the city of Mexico. This time, too, all the American
republics were represented.

At Washington controversy had centered upon questions of com-
mercial policy. The suspicion that the United States was attempting
to use diplomatic means in order to conquer South American trade
had led the Chilean and Argentine representatives to defend their
economic freedom against surmised dangers by making a positive
declaration of commercial independence. On the other hand, the
far-reaching project of arbitration was opposed only by Chile, and
did not become a source of general strife and antagonism. But in
the Mexican conference all this was reversed, and the question of
arbitration became the focal point of debate. The perennial conflict
between Chile and Peru concerning the provinces of Tacna and Arica
had become more and more acute. Chile, though bound by treaty to
institute a plebiscite in which the inhabitants of these provinces might
express their preference with respect to the country to which they
would rather belong, had refused to make any such submission of the
question of sovereignty to the local population, except on terms not
acceptable to Peru. The latter had therefore made repeated urgent

86 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

representations, and now insisted upon submitting the entire question
to an international tribunal. On all occasions, therefore, Peru was
ready to favor a general obligatory procedure of international arbitra-
tion. Brazil also had acquired more definite views upon this matter,
although she looked at the question from the opposite position. When
she came into territorial conflicts with her western neighbors, the latter
had invoked the principle of arbitration against the great republic of
the Amazon.

During the first weeks of the conference the relations among the
delegation at Mexico were uncomfortably strained. The delegates of
Chile made no secret of their intention to withdraw from the confer-
ence, should it even enter upon a discussion of obligatory arbitration.
The more extreme representatives of the opposing view insisted upon
the adoption of their proposals before they would agree to the consid-
eration of any other topics on the program. The matter was further
complicated through the fact that the defenders of the obligatory
principle were not agreed among themselves whether the treaty to be
concluded should refer only to future controversies, or whether the
settlement of existing conflicts should also be provided for. When it
became apparent that the large committee upon arbitration could not
successfully cope with the problem, the whole negotiation was in-
trusted to a subcommittee of seven representative members. This
small group exhausted all the expedients of suasion and diplomacy.
After long negotiations and careful discussion they finally brought
forward a plan of compromise. Through the diplomatic tact of some
leading members the elements of opposition had been quieted and a
common mode of action made possible. Thus one of the greatest diffi-
culties by which an international conference has ever been confronted
was solved by the means of diplomacy and by a mutual forbearance
among forces in decided opposition to each other on questions of prin-
ciple. The solution adopted took the following form : The conference
accepted the suggestion of the delegation of the United States, ac-,
cording to which all American republics were to declare their adhe-
sion to the Hague treaty of arbitration of 1899. In this manner
the general principle of arbitration was given a measure of recogni-
tion. In the second place it was agreed that those states which stood
for an obligatory procedure should sign among themselves a proj-
ect for a treaty, according to which all their controversies were to be

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS 87

submitted to the Hague tribunal, with the exception of such conflicts
in which their national honor and independence were involved. These
two treaty projects were to be communicated to the different govern-
ments through the Mexican minister of foreign affairs. The solution
suggested by the committee was adopted. All the republics accepted
the protocol concerning the Hague treaty, and the treaty project for
obligatory arbitration was signed by the representatives of the follow-
ing states : Argentina, Bolivia, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru,
Salvador, San Domingo, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The govern-
ments of Mexico and of the United States undertook to negotiate
for the admission of the other American republics to the Hague
conference.

Of great practical importance was the adoption of a treaty project
for the purpose of establishing international arbitration in all cases
of pecuniary claims. According to this treaty the parties agreed "to
submit to arbitration all claims for pecuniary loss or damage which
may be presented by their respective citizens, and which cannot be
amicably adjusted through diplomatic channels, when said claims
are of sufficient importance to warrant the expenses of arbitration."
It was provided that the parties could take advantage either of
Article 26 of the convention of The Hague, which arranges for the
submission of cases to the permanent tribunal ; or of Article 2 1 , should
they prefer that a special arbitration commission be organized for the
particular case. The treaty was to come into force upon ratification
by five states, and the term of duration was fixed at five years.1 The
project was signed by the delegates of all the republics present in the
conference at the time, that is, all except Brazil, whose delegate had
died on December 10, 1901, and Venezuela, which had withdrawn
from the conference on January 14, 1902.

The principle recognized in this treaty — that controversies founded
upon private claims of a pecuniary nature should be settled by arbi-
tration— had already for a long time been acted upon in the diplomatic
intercourse among the American republics.2 On many occasions when
a number of claims of this kind had accumulated between two states,

an arbitration commission was instituted by special treaty and the

1 Second Int. Conf., Sen. Doc. jjo, Fifty-seventh Congress, first session, p. 139.

2 See extracts from the documents in Moore, History and Digest of International
Arbitrations, Washington, 1898.

88 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

controversies were thus adjusted.1 Moreover, a large number of contro-
versies of this kind were constantly being settled through the ordinary
means of diplomatic action. Thus the new treaty gave definite and per-
manent form to a practice that had gradually grown up. Inasmuch as
it provided for the reference of such cases to the Hague tribunal and
made the latter the regular court for controversies between American
states arising out of private claims, it may well be considered an
important milestone in the progress of the world toward a normal
and continuous application of international law.

After these difficult political questions had been disposed of, the
conference made rapid headway upon the other subjects of discus-
sion. Questions of commercial policy again occupied its attention.
The system of reciprocity which the first conference had advocated
in so conservative a manner had brought but little fruit in the inter-
vening period ; for although the M cKinley tariff law had, under
Blaine's influence, provided for the conclusion of reciprocity treaties,
and such arrangements had been made with Brazil, the Dominican
republic, the Central American states, and the West Indian colonies
of England and Spain, nevertheless actual commerce was influenced
only in a small degree by these measures, and, finally, the entire
system was done away with by the Wilson law of 1894. In very
reduced proportions the system was again included in the Dingley
law of 1898, but the reciprocity treaties which American diplomatic
representatives succeeded in obtaining from South American repub-
lics did not get beyond the Senate of the United States, which body
at that time confined its action in such matters almost entirely to
opposition.

It was therefore to be expected that the Mexican conference would
not take any detailed action with respect to commercial policies. The
committee on commerce and reciprocity contented itself with pointing
out the desirable results of a general better understanding among the
American republics, which would proceed from closer commercial re-
lations. The latter could best be aided by " an adhesion to the system
of celebrating treaties of commercial reciprocity, as a favorable foun-
dation for the encouragement of the sentiments of union among the
republics of America, with the understanding that these treaties be

1 For example, treaties between the United States and Ecuador, 1862 ; Peru, 1863 ;
Venezuela, 1S66 ; Chile, 1S92.

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS 89

founded upon a careful study of the interests of the nations that may
conclude them, so that the concessions granted in them may be
mutually compensated, in order that they may be permanent and may
constitute in a lasting manner a facility for international trade." But
as the elaboration of a system of reciprocity was evidently not feasible
at the time, the conference directed its attention rather toward the
details of international instruments of commerce and transportation.
Resolutions were adopted concerning the development of communica-
tion by sea and by land, especially through the construction of the
Pan-American Railway, the simplification of customs and harbor
regulations, the exchange of full reports concerning trade and indus-
try, and the improvement of the sanitary service in the ports. The idea
of a Pan-American bank also received the support of the conference.
Although general action in the matter of commercial treaties could not
be expected any more than at the first conference, nevertheless the
delegates acted with greater confidence in their attempts to do away
with various kinds of petty impediments to commerce such as fre-
quently exist in the regulations of the customs administration. The
conference recommended the following improvements : Uniform regu-
lations for the entry, dispatch, and clearance of vessels, and simplifi-
cation of manifests and invoices ; adoption of a simple and uniform
system for declarations of merchandise forwarded in postal parcels ;
the facilitation of the transit of goods ; the simplification of charges
collected from merchant vessels, and of formalities respecting the
entry, clearance, loading and unloading of ships. The second con-
ference further resolved that there should be called, within a year
from its adjournment, a customs congress of the American republics,
which was to take under consideration the various recommendations
made by the Pan-American conference. It also favored the organi-
zation of a permanent customs commission, composed of individuals
possessing technical and expert knowledge, who were to compare and
study the customs and tariff laws of the nations of America, in order
to suggest measures which might simplify customhouse formalities
and facilitate mercantile traffic.

In connection with the reform of international sanitation the suc-
cessful work of the United States in Havana, Santiago, and other
Cuban towns had given rise to a general demand for the extension of
such thorough methods in the suppression of epidemics in both of the

90 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

American continents. The basis of the action of the conference in
this matter was the hope that, through a common procedure and
mutual support, the sanitary condition of the different ports might be
improved to such an extent that the strict enforcement of a protective
quarantine would become more and more superfluous. In addition to
general requirements with respect to mutual notification in cases of
epidemics, the conference resolved that within a year the governing
board of the bureau of the American republics should convoke a con-
ference at Washington, in which the sanitary authorities of the dif-
ferent republics should be represented, for the purpose of discussing
and proposing uniform treaty regulations. It was also decided to
establish an international sanitary bureau at Washington, composed
of at least five members to be nominated by the sanitary conference.

The report of the commission on the intercontinental railway, on
the basis of surveys made in the year 1899, estimated the cost of
the fifty-four hundred miles yet to be constructed at $174,000,000
in gold. The conference decided that in order to carry on the inves-
tigations and propaganda thus begun, a commission of five mem-
bers should be appointed. Such a commission was then immediately
nominated by the president of the conference. It consisted of two
North Americans and of three diplomatic representatives of other
republics at Washington.

In the matter of the elaboration of treaty projects the Mexican
conference went much farther than her predecessor of Washington.
The treaties concerning arbitration have already been mentioned.
Further treaty projects were adopted concerning the following
matters :

First, the extradition of criminals. This treaty is based on the same
principles which had already been adopted in treaties between the
United States, Argentina, and Mexico ; it also included as causes
for extradition anarchistic plotting and agitation, in so far as the latter
are specifically defined as crimes by the legislation of both countries
concerned.

Second, the codification of public and private international law.
This treaty empowered the governing board of the bureau of Ameri-
can republics to nominate a commission of five American and two
European jurists for the purpose of preparing a code of public and
private international law. This code was then to be submitted to the

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS 91

governments of the American republics for acceptance, and would
eventually, as far as adopted, control the international relations among
the American states.

Third, the practice of the learned professions. This treaty contained
regulations for the mutual recognition of diplomas granted for pro-
fessional study.

Fourth, patents and trade-marks.

Fifth, copyright and literary property.

Sixth, the rights of aliens. This project contained the following
provisions : ' The states do not owe to, nor recognize in favor of,
foreigners, any obligation or responsibilities other than those estab-
lished by their constitutions and laws in favor of their citizens.
Therefore the states are not responsible for damages sustained by
aliens through acts of rebels or individuals and . . . from acts of war
whether civil or national, except in the case of failure on the part of
the constituted authorities to comply with their duties. . . . Claims
shall not be presented through diplomatic channels except in cases
where there shall have been, on the part of the court, a manifest
denial of justice, or unusual delay, or evident violation of the princi-
ples of international law." This project was not signed by the dele-
gates of the United States, who declared that the principles contained
in the treaty were not entirely acceptable to their government. The
American delegates also withheld their signature from the project
on patents and trade-marks.

In order to assure the periodicity of the conference, it was resolved
that within five years a third conference should be convoked through
the governing board of the bureau at Washington. It was also re-
solved that a special conference for the discussion of matters pertain-
ing to the coffee industry should meet in New York within a year.

The second conference undoubtedly represents a decided progress
in the development of American international relations. For the
second time it had been possible, in the presence of radical differ-
ences of opinions, to find a basis for mutual understanding and for
cooperation in a number of important matters. The conference, like
its predecessor, lacked detailed preparatory work, so that it could not
enter upon a thorough discussion of the technical side of interna-
tional legislation and intercourse ; but, on the other hand, there had by
this time been developed a far greater feeling of security, of mutual

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

understanding, and of community of interest than had been the case
at Washington. This was apparent from the fact that a large number
of treaty projects were adopted. Some of the resolutions were indeed
of such general and self-evident character that their promulgation was
not due so much to a desire for practical action as to a wish of the
conference to tide over certain difficulties and at least, apparently, to
achieve definite results in matters where the public was not willing
to be disappointed.

When we consider the specific results obtained on the basis of the
resolutions of this conference in the years from 1902 to 1906, the
outcome again is apparently of small importance. The adhesion of
the American states to the Hague convention and their inclusion
in the Hague conference of 1907 were accomplished through the
mediation of the United States and Mexico, but these results might
have been gained by individual negotiation, even without the protocol
of the conference of Mexico. The convention for the settlement of
pecuniary claims came into force on December 28, 1905, when five
states (the United States, Guatemala, Peru, Salvador, Honduras) had
ratified it. In the course of the following two years three further
powers acceded to the treaty. The convention for obligatory arbitra-
tion had, in the beginning of 1906, been ratified by the following
states : Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Uruguay, Mexico, Peru, and
the Dominican republic ; the extradition treaty had been adopted only
by Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador, and Costa Rica ; the treaty con-
cerning the learned professions, by the five Central American repub-
lics, Peru, and Bolivia ; the remaining treaties had been adopted only
by the Central American republics, and in one case also by Bolivia.
The principal states of South America — Chile, Argentina, and Brazil
— had therefore, by 1906, not adopted any of the treaties framed
at Mexico. Mexico had ratified two, while the United States had
accepted only the convention concerning pecuniary claims.

In accordance with the resolution of the conference of Mexico,
the first American customs congress met in New York in January,
1903.1 Thirteen of the American republics were represented. The
congress took up the matters referred to it under the resolutions of
the Mexican conference, but after the delegates had expressed their

1 Proceedings of the First International Customs Congress, Sen. Doc. 1S0, Fifty-
seventh Congress, first session.

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS 93

regret at the lack of adequate preparatory research, they contented
themselves with a recommendation favoring the creation of a special
commission for the study of the customs laws and regulations of the
different American states. On the basis of this inquiry future con-
gresses would then be able to engage in more detailed discussions
and pass more specific resolutions. The congress also adopted a gen-
eral resolution on the desirability of unifying the regulations and prac-
tices in the field of customs and harbor administration. As no funds
were available, the bureau of the American republics could not create
the commission called for, and the subsequent conference of Rio gave
a different direction to the entire matter.

The third international conference of American states,1 which was
held in Rio de Janeiro in July and August, 1906, differed in some
important respects from the two conferences which had preceded it.
While it was left to the conferences of Washington and of the city of
Mexico to arrange their own programs and to determine upon their
rules and regulations, and while no limit was set to the length of their
sessions, all these matters had, in the case of the Rio conference,
been settled beforehand by arrangement of the governing board of
the bureau of American republics. A complete program had been
worked out, containing all the subjects upon which joint action was
considered desirable. A set of rules and regulations, also, had been
adopted, and the length of the session had been fixed so as not to
exceed six weeks. The conference, when it convened, was therefore
saved all the trouble and loss of time which a discussion of these
matters would have made necessary, had they been left to the con-
ference itself. The making of these preliminary arrangements had
consumed several weeks at both Washington and Mexico.

The conference was further distinguished from its predecessors by
a feeling, general among those who caused it to convene, as well as
among those who composed its membership, that it would not be
advisable upon such an occasion to inaugurate sweeping policies or to
attempt radical changes. The action of former conferences had been
more ambitious. Broad resolutions and long drafts of treaties had
been adopted, but the various governments had given only moderate
attention to these recommendations, so that most of them were not

1 This part of the chapter is reprinted, with certain changes, from the American
Political Science Review for February, 1907.

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

followed by authoritative action. The third conference felt that the
time had come when it might pass over the more general problems
and devote itself rather to detailed structural changes and to admin-
istrative arrangements, as well as to the improvement of conventions
already existing.

The political part of the program contained the thorny problems
of international arbitration and the collection of debts by force. The
arbitration convention for the settlement of pecuniary claims, worked
out by the Mexico conference, had meanwhile been approved by
several of the American governments. The conference extended the
period provided for the validity of this treaty until December 31, 191 2.
The general arbitration resolution offered greater difficulty. Some of
the smaller South American states, like Peru and Bolivia, which be-
lieve that they have been injured by their stronger neighbors, have
always demanded an arrangement for compulsory arbitration. In this
they were supported on general principles by the government of
Argentina. On the other hand, states like Chile and Brazil absolutely
opposed the passage of a compulsory-arbitration resolution because of
the existence of certain differences which they considered of such
vital importance to their national life as to lie outside the field of arbi-
tration. The fact that the Latin-American republics had been invited
to the second Hague conference furnished a method of solving this
difficulty. The Rio conference merely passed a general resolution
recommending that the delegates to the next Hague conference be
instructed " to secure the acceptance of a general arbitration conven-
tion so effective and definite that, meriting the approval of the civi-
lized world, it shall be accepted and put in force by every nation."

The matter of the collection of debts by force of arms was disposed
of in a similar manner. Argentina, whose government had recently
restated the principle that force should not be used in the collection
of pecuniary claims, was especially anxious to have the conference
pass a resolution indorsing this doctrine as a part of general inter-
national law. But while the governments of the United States and
of other creditor nations have generally abstained from diplomatic
pressure in such cases, it was nevertheless considered unwise to pass
a resolution of this kind at the conference where chiefly debtor nations
were represented. The conference, therefore, carefully abstained from
giving any indorsement to this principle other than recommending to

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS 95

the governments represented that they consider the advisability of
inviting the second peace conference at The Hague "to examine the
question of the forcible collection of public debts and, in general,
means tending to diminish conflicts which have their origin in pecu-
niary claims." It will thus be seen that the conference did not take the
step of even advising the governments to instruct their delegates to
bring up this matter at the Hague conference ; in fact, it simply re-
ferred the proposal back to the individual governments to act upon
it at their own discretion. The statement currently reported in the
press that the so-called " Drago Doctrine " had been adopted by the
conference was therefore absolutely unfounded.

The foregoing broad political questions contain the matter upon
which differences of opinion and controversies might most readily be
expected. That they were dealt with to the satisfaction of the great
majority of the delegates, though disposed of in a manner that could
not of course be considered final, indicates the spirit of accommodation
and forbearance that characterized the gathering. The location of the
next conference also became a question of considerable importance
during the course of the session. The Argentine government had
invited it to meet at Buenos Aires in 19 10, but the delegates of
Chile and Brazil led the opposition to fixing any date or place of
meeting at this time, and the matter was finally left to the governing
board of the bureau of American republics, which afterwards decided
in favor of Buenos Aires.

The second important matter that occupied the attention of the
conference was the reorganization of the bureau of American repub-
lics. The Mexico conference had passed a resolution calling for the
construction of a separate building to be used by the bureau. The
fact that, funds being now available, this construction would soon be
undertaken, led to a general consideration of the organization and
functions of the bureau. It was felt that the purely commercial and
informational duties it had hitherto exercised were too narrow,
and that this organ of the international union of the American states
might be made far more effective in carrying out the resolutions of
the conferences. It was recognized that the latter would in the past
have received more attention and would have been acted on in more
cases, had there existed a bureau or office charged with constantly
bringing to the attention of the various governments the advisability

96 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

of adopting the recommendations or ratifying the conventions. The
most important part of the reorganization plan was therefore to con-
stitute the bureau virtually the executive organ of the international
American conference. The bureau was instructed to compile and
digest all information regarding the treaties and conventions between
the American republics, and to assist in securing the ratification of
resolutions and conventions adopted by the conferences. It was also to
prepare complete reports upon problems specially committed to it by
any conference, which are to be subjects of subsequent discussion and
action. The lack of such preparation and the absence of sufficient
data formerly made definite action on many topics of the program
entirely impossible, since the session was too short for the delegates
to gather such necessary information at the time. The bureau of
American republics was also assigned the duty of furnishing to any
person interested information concerning educational facilities in
any of the American countries. The growing educational relations
between the various American countries attracted the attention of the
conference, and it was believed that this migration of students and
teachers contained in it the promise of far closer relations between the
American states. It was therefore thought advisable that the bureau
should be constituted an office of educational information, so as to act
as a mediator in fostering this important movement.

Another very important structural innovation is contained in the
resolution calling upon the American governments to appoint, each in
its own country, a permanent commission on Pan-American affairs.
These commissions are to act as a nucleus for Pan-American interests
in their own country, and are to assist the bureau of American repub-
lics in carrying out the duties laid upon it under the new arrangement.
These structural changes introduced by the third conference, if carried
out with intelligence and energy, will be very powerful in rendering
the union of American republics permanently efficient. The principal
defect of the organization heretofore was the lack of connection
between the successive conferences, and the absence of any office or
commission in the individual states which was specially charged with
and interested in the carrying-out of the resolutions of the confer-
ences and the fostering of Pan-American relations. With preparatory
studies resting upon the broad basis of information gained from the
various commissions throughout America, the conferences in the

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS

future will be able to rear their work upon a solid foundation. The
resolutions passed by them will not be allowed to fall into immediate
neglect, but care will be taken to keep them before the various gov-
ernments and to impress upon the latter the advisability of joint action
on many important matters.

Structural changes and innovations were also involved in some of
the other questions on the program. The Mexico convention on
patents, trade-marks, and copyrights was reaffirmed, and there were
established in connection with it two international bureaus — one to be
located in Havana, the other in Rio de Janeiro — for the registration of
patents, trade-marks, and copyrights. The conference further passed
a resolution providing for an American center of sanitary information
in the city of Montevideo. This center is to be in close touch with
the sanitary commissions of the various countries, to collect and com-
pare the experience of all these bodies, and to assist, with its advice,
any of the commissions or local authorities which may call upon it.

By resolution the conference provided for a commission on public
and private international law, which is to have its seat at Rio de
Janeiro. This commission is to study, define, and formulate those
principles of international action about which the American states in
their practice are substantially agreed. It is also to be empowered to
consider other parts of private and public international law, with the
purpose of determining positive principles upon which the various
governments may in future be brought to agreement. A complete
codification of international law is not immediately expected, nor is it
felt that a commission of this kind should undertake such a task ; but
it might codify the results of American experience and practice, so as
to create a definite American opinion on questions of international law
for the guidance of our governments and eventually for the purpose
of influencing the action of all civilized powers.

Considerable importance naturally attaches to the deliberations of
the conference upon questions affecting international commerce. Here,
too, a new organ was created, namely, a special section on com-
merce, customs, and statistics in the bureau of American republics.
This section is placed under the direction of an expert, among whose
specified duties there is the collection of information upon the cus-
toms and consular laws and regulations of the various American
states. The simplification and uniformity of the rules of customs

98 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

administration is an end much to be desired for the encouragement
of commerce ; and it is expected that the scientific work of the bureau
will provide a firm basis for such reforms.

The passage of resolutions on the general subject of the conclusion
of commercial treaties was not favored by the majority of the com-
mittee on commerce. The matters which they considered, in addition
to the creation of the special section already mentioned, and which
were formulated as resolutions and passed by the conference, were as
follows : First, a plan, presented by the Chilean delegation, for the
fostering of a more efficient merchant-marine service between the
countries of America, which plan originally comprised the following
elements : the American republics were to require that any naviga-
tion company desiring to enjoy the benefits of the system should
submit its time-tables, sailing lists, and rate schedules to the control
of some agency like the bureau of American republics ; that, in re-
turn for granting reasonable rates and giving good service, the com-
panies were to receive favorable treatment in the various American
countries ; they were, for instance, to be free from certain restrictions
under the customs regulations with respect to the entiy of vessels
and goods, and they were also to be granted certain reductions in
harbor dues and other navigation charges. Many 'evident difficulties
in the way of this scheme presented themselves. Harbor dues and
local imposts are often not under the control of the central govern-
ment, they are also frequently pledged as security for some public
indebtedness ; the matter of controlling the rates of international
transportation is, moreover, one of extreme difficulty and complexity.
The conference did not therefore indorse any final policy on this
matter, but instructed the bureau of American republics to make a
complete investigation of the subject and to suggest the basis upon
which contracts with navigation companies for rapid and frequent
communication at reasonable rates might be concluded.

Secondly, the conference passed a resolution for the purpose of
fostering the development of the internal resources of the American
republics. The bureau of American republics was directed to make
a special investigation into the conditions of internal improvements
and the laws governing land, mining, and forest concessions in the
various American states ; and to present to the next conference a
memorial upon the laws and administrative practices relating to these

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS

matters. The purpose of this resolution was to broaden the scope
of the work of the bureau of American republics, and to make the
latter an efficient agent in assisting in the internal development of
the American republics. Most of these are in need of both capital
and immigrants, and by the diffusion of correct information concern-
ing industrial conditions a valuable service may be rendered. A
resolution was adopted recommending the calling of a conference to
take some action in order to meet the crisis in the coffee trade, as
well as a further one instructing the bureau of American republics to
make an investigation concerning the fluctuations of exchange in the
Latin-American states.

The above outline of the action of the third conference will show
that, in so far as its work did not modify structural arrangements, it
was mainly suggestive, calling attention to new lines of international
activity, to new possibilities of development, and charging the bureau
of American republics to make preliminary investigations.

None of the delegations represented at Rio pressed upon the
others a positive or ambitious program. They were mutually recep-
tive, and all seemed to recognize that the function of the conference
was not to force any policy of a majority upon the nonconcurrent
members, but, by impartial discussion, to arrive at a basis of action
upon which unanimity would be possible. The actual debates and
discussions were therefore carried on entirely in committee. All
differences of opinion were settled there, and the committees' reports,
having the unanimous indorsement of their members, were in turn
adopted by the conference itself without a dissenting voice. In this
respect the conference differed most radically from its predecessors,
in both of which long and earnest debates took place in the plenary
sessions. This time the discussions on the floor were mostly of a
purely formal nature. During the earlier part of the conference
resolutions thanking the presidents of the United States and of
Mexico for their successful intervention in the Central American
disturbances called forth a number of congratulatory addresses.
Thereupon commemorative remarks upon men recently deceased, who
had been prominently associated with Pan-American interests, en-
gaged the attention. The coming of Mr. Root brought many festivi-
ties, as well as the formal session at which he delivered his memorable
speech outlining the relations of the American states to each other.

IOO PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

The expressions of condolence for Chile on the occasion of the
earthquake of Valparaiso occupied one of the later sessions. The
larger number of resolutions were passed on the last day. Though,
under the rules, the meetings of the conference were to be secret,
representatives of the press and other visitors were freely admitted
by common consent ; but as all the real business was done in
committee, the spirit of the rules was observed.

The manner in which the work of the conference at Rio affected
treaty relations is encouraging from the point of view of international
cooperation. In accordance with its resolution, committees have been
appointed in nearly all the American countries. Their membership
ranges from three to fourteen, and in every case they are composed
of representative men prominently identified with the foreign relations
of their respective states. In many of the countries these committees
have held frequent meetings for the discussion of American inter-
national affairs and for the investigation of special problems comprised
in the programs of the Pan-American conference. The treaties adopted
by the Rio conference have received a great deal of attention on the
part of the American governments, and they have been quite generally
ratified.1 The convention dealing with naturalization was ratified by
twelve states, and in a number of other cases special agreements have
been concluded between American states embodying the principles es-
tablished by the Rio conference. The convention relating to arbitration
of pecuniary claims, confirming the treaty of Mexico, was ratified also
by twelve states. A large number of the countries, moreover, concluded
with each other general treaties of arbitration, which include the matter
of pecuniary claims. The United States, in the course of the year
1909, concluded general arbitration treaties with nearly all the Latin-
American governments. The convention providing for the creation
of an international commission of jurists, which is to draft a code
of international law, was ratified by fourteen states. The date fixed for
the convening of the commission was however allowed to pass, so
that at the time of the fourth Pan-American conference the commis-
sion had not as yet been constituted. The convention relating to patents
was ratified by eight states. But it is, of course, not merely in the
specific ratification of treaties adopted by the Pan-American confer-
ences that the usefulness of these meetings must be sought ; for

1 See note and diagram at the end of this chapter.

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS ioi

while they do lead to a direct modification of the treaty arrangements
between the American states, they also indirectly assist in the estab-
lishment of principles of international policy and law which then
gradually become the basis of treaties independently made between
different American countries. Moreover, the common discussion of
public problems reacts in many cases upon internal legislation, bring-
ing the latter more completely within the purview of the more
general experience and the wider outlook upon international affairs
represented in the Pan-American conferences.

The fourth international conference met at Buenos Aires on July
1 2, under the honorary presidency of the Secretaries of State of the
United States and of Argentina, Mr. Philander C. Knox and Dr.
Victorino de la Plaza, and under the active presidency of Dr. Antonio
Bermejo, the chief justice of the supreme court of Argentina, with
the Argentine minister in Washington, Seilor Epifanio Portela,
acting as secretary general. The year of the conference coincides
with that of the celebration of the centenary of independence in most
of the Spanish-American countries, and the conference will stand in
history as the most notable feature of this commemoration ; especially
as it gives proof of the fact that the nations of this continent, moved
by a common impulse to establish their independence, are still, after
a century has passed, acting upon the basis of a common American
policy. In accordance with the precedent established at Rio de
Janeiro, the work of the conference was based entirely upon a pro-
gram previously adopted by the governing board of the Pan-American
Union in Washington and accepted by the member states. A pre-
liminary program, which had been issued about six months before the
meeting of the conference, contained a number of subjects which were
ultimately omitted by the governing board for reasons of convenience
and out of deference to the wishes expressed by one or the other
American government. The preliminary program is nevertheless
interesting as embodying subjects which may be taken up in future
discussions. The governing board also adopted the rules and regu-
lations which governed the conference. These rules followed in the
main, and in nearly every detail, those which had been in force at the
conference of Rio de Janeiro. The provision that the sessions of
the conference were to be secret was however omitted, it being left
to the conference itself to determine the matter of admission to its

102 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

sessions. The rules fixed the number of countries to be represented
on the various committees, but the conference itself determined how
many there were to be of the latter. As a result there were altogether
fourteen committees, on six of which every delegation was represented.
The most notable regulation was that which provides that subjects
not included in the program shall not be introduced unless there be
a favorable vote of two thirds of the members. This regulation in
connection with the character of the functions of the committee
on general welfare brought about some discussion. There was, how-
ever, an almost unanimous feeling among the delegations that it was
not desirable that new business should be introduced at all. A coun-
try wishing to bring before the conference any subject may in due
time propose its discussion and ask for its inclusion in the program.
As international conferences are not composed of legislators acting
to a certain extent sui juris, but of delegates ruled by the instructions
of their governments, it is not only desirable but absolutely necessary
that the program of subjects to be discussed should be known be-
forehand by all the governments, in order that they may study them
and give instructions thereon to their representatives. This principle
affects the functions of the committee, which, according to the regu-
lations, is to consider the general welfare. The nature of its functions
has not been entirely clear. Is it to deal only with the immediate
welfare of the conference and of its members themselves, taking up
questions which affect their convenience and comfort ? Or, going to
the other extreme, is it to consider and report upon general business
which affects the welfare of the entire continent ? Accepting the latter
view, a delegate of Paraguay argued that every country ought to be
represented on this committee, considering that by common accord
the congress might modify its program and take up some new subject
interesting to all American countries. Later on another delegate
spoke at length upon the desirability of having such a committee,
which could deal with the broader aspects of American policies. He
cited an expression used by Senor Nabuco in the conference of 1906,
when, speaking of the committee "on the general welfare of the con-
tinent," he said that "to it pertain all the measures and plans not
dealt with in the program, and all ideas of a unanimous character, so
to speak, advanced in the interest of our hemisphere." In that con-
ference Senor Nabuco also said that "the committee on the continental

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS 103

welfare looks after everything not foreseen in regard to the good
relations between the American countries." It is evident that whatever
interpretation may be given to the character of this committee, its
functions will in the nature of things be more restricted than the name
implies. The general welfare of the continent is the subject which
the entire conference deals with, but it is necessary that the govern-
ments should know beforehand what aspects of the general welfare
are to be considered, in order that they may form a definite opinion
thereon. The aspects so selected will be embodied in the program,
and their consideration will be divided among the different commit-
tees of the conference. It is unlikely that a conference will ever vote
the taking-up of an entirely new topic which has not been considered
by the governments, unless it be of decidedly minor importance.
Matters of a relatively unimportant nature may from time to time be
referred to the general-welfare committee, if admitted by a two-thirds
vote in the conference ; but it is not in accordance with the character
and the practice of the international union to bestow upon such a
committee the function of introducing, of its own motion, matters
which it might deem of general interest, nor was such a practice at
all in the mind of Seiior Nabuco when he made the statements cited
above. Whenever the question arises as to whether a certain motion
constitutes new business, it is proper and in accordance with practice
that the question be submitted first to the committee on rules and
regulations. Only in cases where there is no doubt as to the subject
matter being included in the terms of the program, but where no
special committee has been provided for it, should such business be
directly referred to the committee on general welfare, unless indeed
the introduction of some new matter has been expressly sanctioned
by a two-thirds vote. The proper time for the governments to consider
what aspects and features of the general welfare of the continent they
desire to have discussed, is the period when the program for the con-
ference is being formed by the governing board of the Pan-American
union.

In connection with the fourth conference some very interesting
questions arose as to the rights which flow from membership in the
union. As the relations between the governments of Argentina and
Bolivia were temporarily strained at the time when the invitations for
the conference were being issued, a doubt came on as to whether

104 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

a country which had broken off its diplomatic relations with the gov-
ernment which is to act as the host of the conference is, nevertheless,
by virtue of its membership, entitled to send a delegation. This ques-
tion was resolved in the affirmative, and through the intermediation
of the governing board of the Pan-American union an invitation was
extended to Bolivia to send representatives to the conference. The
plenary rights of membership at all times and under all conditions
were thus established, although in this particular case Bolivia ulti-
mately failed to avail herself of the right to take part. A similar
problem arose with respect to the representation upon the governing
board of the union of a government which for the time being does
not have a diplomatic representative in Washington. It was decided
that a republic thus situated might intrust its representation on the
governing board to some other member of that body, who would
then have a vote for each country represented. The suggestion had
been brought forward that an American republic whose diplomatic
relations with the United States had been interrupted, should be
entitled to accredit a special representative directly to the governing
board of the Pan-American union. When the practical difficulties
involved in such an arrangement were pointed out, especially the
inadmissibility of erecting within a sovereign state a separate organ-
ization empowered to receive quasi-diplomatic envoys,1 the suggestion
was withdrawn, and the solution above outlined was unanimously
adopted.

An interesting question in the public law of international unions is
that concerning the effect of the admission to a conference of dele-
gates of a government, the independence or legality of which has not
been recognized by all the members of the union. Precedents have
been established which appear to justify the enunciation of the prin-
ciple, which is also in accordance with the essential nature of inter-
national unions, that membership in a union and participation in its
administrative and deliberative business does not involve the recog-
nition by every participant state of the legality or independence of
every other government represented. The delegates of the republic
of Brazil attended the first Pan-American conference at a time when
the republican government had not as yet been officially recognized
by all the American states. At the third conference both Colombia

xThe right of legation enjoyed by the Vatican rests upon a special historic basis.

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS 105

and Panama were represented, the latter republic at that time not
having been recognized by the country from which it had severed
itself. The delegates of Colombia did not make any declaration re-
specting this matter while the conference was in session, yet no one
considered their participation as implying a recognition of the new
republic. Similarly, at the fourth conference the presence of the dele-
gate from Nicaragua, who represented the government of Senor Madriz,
which was not recognized by the United States, was not a fact involv-
ing such a recognition. It is evident that as the conference from its
very nature cannot enter into the controversies between individual
nations nor those within the different countries, its acceptance of the
representatives of a de facto government cannot be said to cany with
it a universal recognition. It is indeed conceivable, though fortunately
such a case has not as yet arisen, that the conference may have to
decide for itself whether to recognize, for its own purposes, a certain
government desiring to be represented. This question would arise,
should two delegations from one country demand admission, or
should the delegation appearing from any country notoriously not
represent a de facto government. It is, however, very likely that in
such a case the decision would rest upon the principle that as the
conference cannot go into the internal affairs of a country, it cannot
admit any delegation at all under such circumstances, unless indeed
in the former of the two cases one of the two delegations had ap-
peared under practically fraudulent pretenses. The full enjoyment of
the rights of membership in the union may therefore be said to be
based upon the maintenance of a stable and undivided government.

A further step was taken to secure the periodicity of future con-
ferences by bestowing upon the governing board of the Pan-American
union the power to designate the place and time 'of the next confer-
ence, and by fixing the period within which it is to be convoked at
five years. This time may however be extended, should a meeting
within the designated period become impossible. The rivalry which
always exists among various nations who wish to secure the privilege
of inviting the conference is in itself a proof of its importance. In
order to avoid lengthy discussions and unavoidable disappointments
during the conference, it has been found convenient to allow the
governing board to make the selection, with due regard to all the
points of convenience and propriety involved.

106 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

The conference by resolution recommended the establishment, in
the city of Buenos Aires, of a permanent Pan-American exposition
of products. In order to carry out this resolution it was provided that,
corresponding to the governing board of the Pan-American union,
the American diplomatic representatives accredited to the Argentine
government should form a committee in Buenos Aires, intrusted with
the administrative direction of the permanent exhibit.

The organization of the Pan-American Union itself was a subject
for detailed and careful consideration in committee, as the result of
which a resolution and the tentative draft of a treaty were adopted
by the conference. The committee considered the advisability of con-
verting into a formal convention the resolution passed and continued
by successive conferences under which the bureau of American re-
publics had hitherto been maintained. On the part of many delegates
the belief was expressed that the ratification of such a convention
would take an indefinite time on account of the constitutional provi-
sions in numerous republics which require the submission of treaties
to one or both houses of the legislature. Accordingly it was feared
that the activities of the bureau ' might be embarrassed were a con-
vention adopted immediately, on account of the delays which might
occur in its ratification. It was therefore decided to maintain for
the immediate future the resolution under which the bureau exists,
making therein such changes as might seem necessary ; and also to
submit to the governments the draft of a convention carefully con-
sidered, which can be ratified as soon as the governments may find
it convenient.

The conference maintained the presidency of the Secretary of State
of the United States of America in the governing board of the Pan-
American union. Indications had been made by the delegates of
some countries that it would be more in accordance with the equal
dignity of all the members in the union if the chairmanship of the
board were made elective. But it was pointed out that by common
international practice a position of similar importance is usually ac-
corded the minister of foreign affairs of the country in which the
union has its seat ; and also that the presidency of the Secretary
of State would powerfully assist the union and help to increase its
dignity and efficiency. The importance of these considerations was
accepted by all, and the dignity of the presidential office was again

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS 107

conferred upon the Secretary of State of the United States as an
honor freely bestowed by the American nations. In the absence of
the Secretary of State the sessions of the governing board are to be
presided over by one of the American diplomatic representatives
present, in the order of rank and seniority and with the title of vice-
president. In order to acknowledge the dignity which it is proper to
recognize in an international institution of such importance, the name
of the bureau was changed to " Pan-American Union " ; while the name
of the organization of American countries which supports the bureau
was changed to the briefer form of " Union of American Republics."

Under a resolution passed at Rio de Janeiro in 1 906, Pan-American
commissions have been established in nearly all of the republics. It
was the original intention that these bodies should cooperate with
the central union in carrying out its work. In accordance with this
purpose and in order to make it more definite, the fourth conference
embodied in the resolution and draft convention relating to the Pan-
American union an article defining the functions and relations of the
Pan-American commissions. Being linked to the Pan-American
union, they are to form with it a common organism, acting as its rep-
resentatives and agencies in the different states, and having on their
part the right to bring to the central institution matters relating to
their respective countries.

The functions of the Pan-American union were not essentially
modified. It was decided that it would be desirable for the union to
gather and publish information on the current legislative acts of the
American republics. The position of the union as the permanent
commission or agent of the international American conferences was
emphasized. The success of these conferences in the future will de-
pend largely upon the thorough and systematic work of preparation
carried on by the Pan-American union and the commissions. The
questions considered by the conferences are becoming less general
and elementary, far more detailed and technical. The extensive body
of accurate information required in the making of treaties and reso-
lutions which shall be of practical value can be furnished only by
cooperative work carried on through the administrative agencies of
the union. The financial administration was more definitely regu-
lated with respect to the annual budget and the duty of the member
states to pay their quota upon a fixed date into the treasury of the

IOS PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

Pan-American union. It was left to the governing board to arrange
for the fulfillment of the duties of a treasurer on the part of some
official of the union, and to establish an independent system of audit.
The importance of the Columbus Memorial Library as a center where
the most complete information on all the countries of the union can.
be obtained, was recognized, and the republics renewed their engage-
ments to supply this collection with documents and other books. In
order to make the work of the Pan-American commissions more suc-
cessful, and to form in each country a center of information on all
American affairs, it was provided that documents and books should
similarly be sent to the Pan-American commission in each country.
It was felt that it would not be wise to attempt to make specific reg-
ulations for all the activities of the Pan-American union. The power
to provide in this manner for the control of the administration in all
its agencies was therefore left to the governing board, and, in matters
referring to the internal administration, to the director general. The
Pan-American union thus established is an organization of great im-
portance and dignity. It was therefore thought proper that the title
of the head official should be changed to " director general " and that
of the secretarv to "assistant director."

In preparing and adopting the draft of a convention concerning
the Pan-American union, the committee and conference were governed
by the principle that in such a convention there should be laid down
only the essential bases of the organization and functions of the union,
leaving to the governing board and to the director general the power
to determine, by means of regulations, all the details involved in the
proper performance of the mission of this important agency. The
draft adopted rests entirely upon experience, and incorporates in a
more formal manner the organization already developed by means
of the successive resolutions of the conferences and the activities of
the union.

The program of the conference included the consideration of the
renewal of the treaty concerning the arbitration of pecuniary claims.
The treaty concluded in Mexico upon this subject, and renewed at
the conference at Rio in 1 906, had been ratified by twelve American
states. The convention adopted by the fourth conference retains the
first article of the treaty of Mexico, which provides for the submis-
sion to arbitration of all pecuniary claims which cannot be adjusted

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS 109

amicably through diplomacy in all cases where such claims are suffi-
ciently large to warrant the expense of arbitration. To this article
there was added the clause that " the decision shall be given in con-
formity to the principles of international law." The treaty allows the
alternative of submitting the respective claims to the permanent court
of arbitration at The Hague or of constituting a special jurisdiction.
While the former treaties were concluded for a period of six years,
the time during which the present convention is to run is indefinite,
the signatory nations being given the faculty of denouncing the con-
vention upon giving notice two years in advance.

The discussion, in committee, of the treaty on pecuniary claims
was very interesting from the juristic point of view. The proposal
was made to include in the treaty a provision giving the arbitral tri-
bunal the power to decide the preliminary question whether the re-
spective claim is one in which diplomatic procedure is appropriate. The
suggestion was made in order to protect the sovereignty of a nation
against any attempt to take from its courts cases which they are
legally competent to try, and to carry them before an international
judicature. While the article in question was not added to the treaty,
the committee in its report cited an extract taken from the report of
the committee at the Rio conference to the effect that ' ' the internal
sovereignty of a state consists explicitly in the right it always pre-
serves of regulating, by its laws, such juridical acts as are consummated
within its territory, and of trying these by its tribunals, excepting in
cases where, for special reasons, they are converted into questions of
an international character." The committee then disavowed the pur-
pose of withdrawing alien residents from the jurisdiction of the local
court, and stated that arbitration would exist only " in cases where it is
shown that there has been a violation of the rules of conduct imposed
upon states under the sanction of international law, towards the citi-
zens of other nationalities. . . . With this understanding, the ex-
pression ' denial of justice ' should be given a most liberal construction,
causing it to embrace all cases where a state fails to furnish the guar-
antees which it ought to secure to all individual rights. The failure
of guarantees does not come solely from the judicial acts of a state.
It may result also from the acts or omissions of other public officials."
In the course of the discussion Mr. John Bassett Moore, delegate of
the United States, made the following declaration, which was also

HO PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

incorporated in the report of the committee, and which indicates
clearly the points involved :

The undersigned, while he refrains from entering into a discussion of the
statements of general principles embodied in the foregoing report, deems it proper
to observe that he does not consider it to be practicable to lay down in advance
precise and unyielding formulas by which the question of a denial of justice may
in every instance be determined. Still less does he believe it to be possible to
treat this matter as a preliminary question, which may be decided apart from the
merits of the case, or to include in a general treaty of arbitration a clause to that
effect. In the multitude of cases that have, during the past hundred and twenty
years, been disposed of by international arbitration, the question of a denial of
justice has arisen in many and in various forms that could not have been foreseen ;
nor can human intelligence forecast the forms in which it may arise hereafter. In
the future, as in the past, this question will be disposed of by the amicable methods
of diplomacy and arbitration, and in a spirit of mutual respect and conciliation
which happily grows stronger among nations with the lapse of years.

This declaration was embodied in the committee's report because
the other members did not consider it to be in conflict with what
had been set forth.

A group of three treaties adopted by the fourth conference deals
with the important subjects of copyrights, patents of inventions, and
trade-marks. In all these matters the conference was informed and
inspired by the recent advances in the development of international
administrative law, achieved through the general international union,
which deals with industrial and literary property. The treaty of Bern,
as recently amended by the convention of Berlin, formed the basis of
the convention on literary and artistic property. The essence of this
convention is contained in Article 3, which provides that " the recog-
nition of a right of literary property obtained in one state, in con-
formity with its laws, shall be of full effect in all the others^ without
the necessity of fulfilling any further formality, whenever there ap-
pears in the work some statement indicating the reservation of the
property right." The principle here adopted constitutes the highest
and most effective form that can be given to literary property. In
fact, it likens that right almost completely to that of property in phys-
ical objects, which, too, is protected in every civilized state when-
ever it has been legally acquired in one of them. The provision led
to some debate in the conference, as certain delegates, especially some
members of the Mexican delegation, considered that any formalities re-
quired by a state where protection is sought should also be observed ;

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS I 1 1

but the simpler system was ultimately adopted by the conference.
Article 6 of the convention provides that the extent of the protection
granted to authors or artists shall be governed by the laws of the
country where it is sought, but that the term of protection shall
never exceed the time accorded by the laws of the country in which
the respective property right originated. This article embodies the
solution adopted by the most recent and mature opinion of jurists
the world over, and incorporated in the convention of Berlin. The
result of the provision is that each country gives to the literary prop-
erty originating in other treaty states the same protection which it
accords to its own citizens, but that, on the other hand, no country
can claim for its citizens a longer term of protection than is granted
by its own legislation.

In the treaty on patents of invention the recent thought and ex-
perience of the entire world were also taken into account. The
essence of the convention is contained in Article 2, which provides
that " every citizen of each of the signatory states shall enjoy in
each of the other states all the advantages conceded by their respec-
tive laws relative to patents and inventions, designs, and industrial
models. In consequence they shall have the same protection and
legal remedies against eveiy attack upon their rights, being bound,
however, to comply with the formalities and conditions imposed by
the internal legislation of each state." It is further agreed that every
person who has duly applied for a patent in one of the contracting
states shall be protected in his right of property during a term of
twelve months, in order that he may have time to secure recognition
of his patent in the other states. Another article provides that the
recognition of a patent may be refused because the process or model
involved does not really constitute a new invention, but has been in
use previously. This provision is important, as it will oblige states, in
order to receive international protection for the patents granted by
them, to inquire into the usefulness and novelty of the inventions for
which a property right is sought. The absence of a provision of this
kind from the convention adopted by the conference of Rio de Janeiro
was one of the causes why the government of the United States
decided not to ratify that agreement.

A detailed and interesting convention was adopted concerning
trade-marks. Full international protection is to be accorded to

112 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

trade-marks duly registered in one of the countries of the union, with-
out prejudice to the rights of third persons or to the provisions of
the internal legislation of each state. For the purpose of carrying out
this system an international registry of trade-marks is to be estab-
lished, with two bureaus, one located in Havana for the accommo-
dation of the northern countries, the other in Rio de Janeiro for
those to the south of Colombia. In order to secure the benefit of
international protection, the owner of a trade-mark may register it
in the proper bureau upon payment of the sum of fifty dollars. In
the conventions adopted at Rio de Janeiro it was contemplated
that the international bureaus of Havana and of Rio de Janeiro
should not only undertake the registry of trade-marks, but should
also be the depositories of international patents and copyrights.
Upon more careful consideration it has however seemed unduly
cumbersome and expensive to require the transmission of the rec-
ords of all patents and copyrights granted in the individual states.
The treaty framed at Buenos Aires therefore confined the function of
registry entirely to trade-marks, while it charged the bureaus to act
also as general information offices in relation to intellectual and
industrial property. The reasoning of this decision accords with the
experience of the international union which has its seat at Bern.
As is well known, the bureau at Bern acts as a registry only for
trade-marks ; in matters of patents and copyrights it is primarily an
information office. The status which international legislation has
been attempting to secure for the latter two kinds of property is
that each state should give to the citizens of other states the rights
and the protection which it accords to its own citizens. An inter-
national registry of patents and copyrights has not as yet been cre-
ated anywhere. It is, however, the purpose of international agreements
to render more and more effective and uniform the protection which
the different states accord to these rights. In this matter many of
the American republics have made but a mere beginning, and it is
highly desirable, from the point of view of the development of intel-
lectual and industrial life, that there should be created in those states
which do not as yet have an efficient legislation a strong sentiment
for protecting these important kinds of property.

A matter of great interest in international administration was
dealt with in the resolutions concerning the unification of consular

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS 1 1 ^

documents and customs regulations. The instructions issued by the
Department of State to the United States delegation dwelt upon the
hindrances of trade which result from the lack of uniformity in such
matters as consular fees, the forms of invoices and manifests, and other
features of consular and customs administration. It suggested the
adoption of a uniform invoice for all shipments from one republic to
another, and a uniform method of consular certification. The recom-
mendations embodied in the resolution include the following : to
suppress the consular certification of the general manifest ; to dis-
pense with the certification of the bill of lading in the case of countries
requiring the certified consular invoice, for the reason that the latter
document embraces all material data ; and to adopt a common form
of consular invoice and of consular manifest, models of which were
appended to the resolution. The study of the different forms of cer-
tificates in use convinced the committee and the conference that
" the essential requirements of all these documents could be combined
into a single international form of consular invoice, if there were
omitted the certificates of shippers and consuls which must reflect
the requirements of local laws." * With respect to consular fees the
resolution recommended that they should be moderate and should not
be treated as an indirect means of increasing the customs revenue ; it
is considered desirable that these fees should be limited so as not to
exceed an amount necessary to cover the costs of the consular service.

The resolution regarding customs regulations is in the main a re-
statement of the resolutions adopted by the New York international
customs congress of 1902, which had never been placed before the
several countries in a formal way. These resolutions contain a num-
ber of suggestions for making the formalities of customs administra-
tion simple, and freeing them from elements which would unduly
retard the activities of commerce in the shipping industry.

The resolution adopted on the subject matter of sanitary police
recommends the adoption, by the countries which have not yet ratified
it, of the international sanitary convention of Washington, as well as
the enforcement of the resolutions of the third and fourth sanitary
conferences, held respectively at the city of Mexico and at San Jose
in Costa Rica. Article 12 of the convention of Washington is to
be interpreted as requiring that the official proof of freedom from

1 From the report of the delegation of the United States to the Department of State.

ii4

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

infectious disease must be " satisfactory to both parties interested."
The original proposal that such official proof should be ' ' satisfactory
to the interested party " was objected to in committee by certain
delegates on the ground that this phrase might endanger the com-
merce of the weaker country by subjecting it to the discretion of the
officials in another, who might use their power in a hostile manner.
The form ultimately adopted seemed to be free from the objection
raised, in the opinion of all the delegations with the exception of that
of Venezuela, which entered its reservations upon this point.

The other resolutions adopted by the conference deal either with
matters of condolence or commemoration, or take up commercial and
intellectual interests, such as the construction of the Pan-American
Railway, the establishment of more efficient steamship service between
the American republics, the summoning of the coffee congress, the
celebration of the opening of the Panama Canal, the interchange of
university professors and students, and the proceedings of the Pan-
American scientific congress. All these matters are full of interest
and form an important part in the development of closer relations
between the republics of America, but as they do not involve any
specific points in international law or practice, we shall simply men-
tion them here without dealing with them in detail. It may however
be noted that the resolution concerning steamship communication
contains the very interesting suggestion that an inquiry be instituted,
concerning the means by which there may be established between the
American republics a reciprocal, liberty with respect to the coasting
trade. The resolutions referred to in this paragraph indicate the
growing strength of the feeling of solidarity among the American
nations, which was given an eloquent expression in the speeches
delivered at the opening and at the closing of the conference, as well
as in the sessions when the centenaries of independence of different
republics were commemorated. Among the delegations there was a
complete feeling of mutual confidence, and all the questions before
the committees were discussed with great frankness and in the fullest
detail. Every point of view was ably presented, and differences of
opinion were insisted upon with energy. It is therefore the more
gratifying to record that, with all such divergencies, and after all
national points of view had been discussed without reserve, it was
possible to arrive at a practically unanimous agreement upon every

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS 115

subject of the program. Nor were these agreements the result of
superior insistence on the one part, or the ready acceptance of alien
points of view on the other ; but they naturally grew and evolved out
of the discussion, so that as it proceeded, certain definite conclusions
came more and more clearly out of uncertainty into the steady light
of rational conviction.

Turning to a general estimate of the work performed by the con-
ference in the development of international administrative law, we
encounter the fact that expectations are often entertained in relation
to such diplomatic meetings which in the nature of things are not
justified. It is the purpose of a general international conference to
determine a basis upon which unanimous or almost unanimous action
may be had. It cannot, in the space of a few weeks, solve all political
questions of an international nature ; far less can it reform the world
by entering into and attempting to deal with the domestic problems
of different nations. The fourth Pan-American conference did not
escape the unfavorable criticism born of such unpracticable views,
but it must also be said that the responsible press of South America,
when it came to consider the results of the conference, showed a high
degree of appreciation of the exact nature of the work which these
great international meetings can perform. The conference itself
waived all purely doctrinaire discussions and dedicated itself from the
start to the practical solution of specific problems. It was not indeed
unmindful of the great principles which underlie the solidarity of
America. Eloquent expression was given to these, from old and new
points of view, but it was the unmistakable feeling among the dele-
gates assembled that the relations of the American republics to each
other were well enough settled as regards their general character to
enable the continental conference to pass on to the order of the day
and to transact the specific business before it. Isolated speeches in-
volving a different conception were quietly listened to and respectfully
consigned to the printed minutes of the conference. The practical
character of the work to be done was emphasized through the reports
made by the different governments, which indicated that since the
last conference, far more ratifications of Pan-American treaties had
been made than ever before.

From this brief review of the work of these conferences we turn
to consider the question whether these meetings, called into being

Il6 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

by the optimistic policy of Blaine, have, at least in a measure, come
up to the hopes entertained by the first advocates of the Pan-American
idea. The result thus far achieved, expressed in the form of actual
laws and treaties, is not indeed a large one. Yet the conventions and
resolutions passed by the conference have been given constantly
more support and attention by the governments, and there is un-
doubtedly a growing sense that the conferences and the international
union are by no means destined to failure, but are called to play a
prominent part in the development of an all-American civilization.
The very existence of an association of this kind in which the repre-
sentatives of states of varied interests are given an opportunity of
exchanging views, of measuring each other, and of testing the extent
of the sphere of common consent is itself a great advantage, even if
few treaties should result. The whole matter of international admin-
istration is in its infancy, and the germs which exist at the present
time are all-important as indicating the tendency of future develop-
ments. The facts that the American international union embraces so
many subjects and that it has an organ in the Pan-American Union
of Washington, which is now given the opportunity of making itself
truly efficient, are matters of great importance for the future peace
and welfare of the American continent and of the world at large. As
the understanding between the American nations grows stronger, as
they realize more completely their true community of interest, these
international services will grow in importance and will become a
strong bond of civilization.

It will be seen from this that the union of American republics is
not looked upon as simply another name for a general protectorate of
the United States over all America. Even were such a thing possible,
the government of the United States has no intention of assuming
such a burden. Certainly at the conferences the American government
has had no policy to force upon the sister republics. Its delegates
always accord an impartial hearing to whatever may be proposed by
other delegations ; they claim no hegemony for the United States, but
strive to assist in arriving at a basis for common understanding. It
is of course in the nature of things that the government of a nation
so great and powerful as is the United States should exert a con-
siderable influence in any council that it may enter, but there was
absolutely no inclination to strive for an influence greater than would

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS I i 7

be freely accorded by the other governments as a natural result of the
situation. The union of American republics is therefore truly inter-
national, its action is based upon the unanimous consent of all the
states composing it, and no power or group of powers claims for
itself a determining influence.

The organization of the Pan-American Union, as perfected by the
resolution and the draft convention at Buenos Aires in 1 9 1 o, contains
the following salient features. The Pan-American Union in Wash-
ington has the following duties and purposes : (1) to compile and
distribute data and information relative to commerce, industry, agri-
culture, education, and general progress in the American countries ;

(2) to collect and classify all information respecting treaties and
conventions between the American republics and between these and
other states, as well as concerning the legislation in force in them ;

(3) to contribute to the development of commerce and intellectual
relations between the American republics, and to their more intimate
mutual knowledge ; (4) to act as a permanent commission of the
international American conferences, to keep their archives, to assist
in obtaining the ratification of the resolutions and conventions adopted,
to study or initiate projects to be included in the program of the con-
ferences, to communicate them to the different governments of the
union, and to formulate the program and regulations of each succes-
sive conference ; (5) to present to the various governments, before
the meeting of each conference, a report upon the work accomplished
by the institution since the close of the last conference, as well as
separate reports concerning the matters referred to the union. It is
also provided that there shall be created in the capital of each one of the
republics a Pan-American commission, dependent upon the ministry
of foreign affairs and composed, as far as possible, of former dele-
gates to an international American conference. It shall be their
function (a) to assist in securing the approbation and ratification of
resolutions and conventions adopted by the conference ; (/>) to furnish
to the Pan-American Union all the data which it may require in
the preparation of its works ; (c) to present, by their own initiative,
projects which they may judge appropriate to the purposes of the
union.

The management of the Pan-American Union is intrusted to a gov-
erning board, composed of the diplomatic representatives accredited

I iS PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

by other American governments in Washington, and of the Ameri-
can Secretary of State, upon whom the presidency of the governing
board has been conferred. The governing board holds regular monthly
sessions, except during the summer months. Five members form a
quorum.

The administration of the Pan-American Union is delegated to a
director general, who formulates, with the approbation of the govern-
ing board, the regulations for the various services of the union. The
general regulations are passed by the governing board in accordance
with the resolutions of the Pan-American conferences. The director
general presents at the ordinary session of November an itemized
budget of the expenses for the following year. This budget, when
adopted by the governing board, is communicated to the signatory
governments with an indication of the annual quota due from each,
which is fixed in proportion to the population census. The quotas are
to be paid promptly into the treasury of the Pan-American union.
An auditing committee, composed of members of the board, is also
established. According to the resolution the union is established for
successive periods of ten years. The convention would make it of
indefinite or permanent duration. Any government, however, has the
right to withdraw upon giving two years' notice to the Secretary of
State of the United States.

The Central American Union1

Efforts had been made from time to time to bring about more
stable and amicable relations between the five Central American
republics. When finally, in 1906, a treaty was signed on board the
United States vessel MarbleJiead, then in Central American waters,
it provided for a conference to be held in Costa Rica for the
purpose of drawing up a general treaty of peace, friendship, and
commerce. This preliminary treaty was signed by representatives of
Guatemala, Salvador, and Honduras. A diplomatic conference, held
at San Jose, Costa Rica, in September, 1906, was attended by rep-
resentatives of the Central American states, with the exception of

1 Treaties, Am. Jour, of Intern at. Law, supplement for April, 1908. Scott, J. B.,
Central American Peace Conference, ibid., Vol. II, p. 121. Anderson, Luis, ibid.,
Vol. II, p. 144. Secunda conferencia centro-americana, actas-convenciones, San
Salvador, 1910.

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS 119

Nicaragua. A general treaty of arbitration was signed at this time,
and other conventions for the promotion of closer intercourse were
concluded. The absence of Nicaragua from the conference of San
Jose and the continued unrest resulting in frequent disturbances led
to the friendly mediation of the United States and Mexico. A general
peace conference was called to meet at Washington on September
17, 1907. The work of this conference was productive of a number
of important international enactments regulating the mutual inter-
course and the commercial and political relations of the Central
American republics. The past union of these republics, their con-
tiguousness, and the similarity of their natural conditions led to a
desire to create an international union which would do more than
could ordinarily be undertaken by such an organization. As one of
the conventions expressed it, the following Central American inter-
ests, among others, should be given special attention : the peaceful
reorganization of the mother country, — Central America ; public
education of an essentially Central American character ; commerce
between the republics ; improvement in the methods of agriculture
and the industries ; uniformity in civil, commercial, and criminal legis-
lation ; uniformity in customs laws, in the monetary system, and in
weights and measures ; and cooperative effort for better sanitation.
Another of the conventions speaks of the Central American court of
justice as representing the national consciousness of Central America.
It is therefore apparent that the conventions aimed at a form of
cooperation which would in some respects constitute a first step in
the direction of federal government. Yet as the sovereignty of the
individual republics has been fully maintained, the Central American
union has thus far not passed beyond the stage of. purely international
action.

The general treaty of peace and amity concluded at Washington
provides for the mutual protection of the rights of citizenship, admis-
sion to the practice of learned professions, enjoyment of the right to
artistic and industrial property, the treatment as national vessels of
the ships of any of the contracting countries, mutual validation of
public instruments and judicial acts ; in a word, it establishes between
the five republics a complete regime of mutuality in matters of private
international law, and of public law as far as the rights and privileges
of individuals are concerned.

120 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

The convention for the establishment of a Central American court
of justice is an instrument of great interest. The jurisdiction of the
court comprises cases between contracting governments, as well as
claims of individual citizens of a Central American country against
any of the other contracting governments because of the violation of
treaties and conventions, and other controversies of an international
character. It is not necessary that the government of the suitor should
support his claim, provided that the remedies of law have been ex-
hausted or that a denial of justice can be shown. The Central Ameri-
can court of justice is therefore distinguished through the fact that,
preceding the international prize court created by the Hague con-
ference of 1907, it constitutes the first instance of an international
tribunal which is authorized to apply its remedies at the suit of in-
dividuals. The court consists of five justices, one being appointed by
each republic ; its procedure and the rights of representation before
it are fully defined by the convention. It is provided that every de-
cree or judgment shall be rendered with the concurrence of at least
three of the justices.

Another convention concluded at the same time provides for the
establishment of an international Central American bureau for the pur-
pose of furthering the objects for which the Central American union
is created. The bureau was established in the city of Guatemala
in 1908. It publishes an official journal, Centro America. The
establishment of a Central American pedagogical institute, to be
located in the republic of Costa Rica, was also agreed upon.

International conferences of the Central American union are held
annually in January in the different republics in rotation. The first
conference was held at Tegucigalpa in 1909, and the second at San
Salvador in 19 10. At this latter, conventions for the following pur-
poses were adopted : the unification of the consular service of the five
republics ; monetary uniformity on a gold basis ; commercial reciproc-
ity among the five republics ; the adoption of the metric system of
weights and measures ; the relations of the Central American bureau
to the governments ; and the establishment of the pedagogic in-
stitute provided for in the Washington treaty. These conventions
are adopted ad referendum, subject to ratification by the respective
governments.

UNION OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS

121

Note to Chapter III

Diagram indicating the ratifications of the conventions adopted by the confer-
ence of Rio de Janeiro and the establishment of Pan-American commissions (up
to June, 1910).

Countries

Naturalized citizens
resuming residence
in country of origin

Pecuniary
claims

Patents
Trade-marks
Copyrights

Codification of

international

law

Pan-American
commission

United States

of America .

Argentina . .

X X

Brazil ....

X X

Chile ....

Colombia . .

Costa Rica . .

Cuba ....

Dominican

Republic . .

Ecuador . . .

Guatemala . .

Haiti ....

Honduras . .

Mexico . . .

Nicaragua . .

Panama . . .

Paraguay . .

Peru ....

X X

San Salvador .

Uruguay . . .

Venezuela . .

X X

X Ratified.

x X Ratification advised by executive, being considered by Congress.

CHAPTER IV

THE ADMINISTRATIVE LAW OF THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL

The general international union represented by the Hague con-
ferences has been fully dealt with in so many recent books that it
would be of little use to go over the ground again in this place. It is
therefore not our purpose to set forth their history or their work.
Yet, for the sake of completeness and on account of their great im-
portance to the subject of international unions, we shall have to devote
some attention to the permanent institutions of an administrative char-
acter which have been created by the Hague conferences. In estab-
lishing and developing the administrative organization of the union,
they have made use of the experience gained in the other more
special unions with which we have already dealt ; but they have also
added some elements in their constructive work which will, in turn,
exert an influence upon the development of general international
institutions.

The international peace conference of The Hague, though origi-
nally resulting from the call of an individual government, has already
become an institution which is to a certain extent self-existent. The
exclusive faculty of calling the conference and undertaking the pre-
paratory negotiations, which was claimed for Russia on account of
her original initiative, does now no longer obtain ; for while the
attempt to establish a regular periodicity in the meetings did not fully
succeed, the assembling of a third peace conference, " held within a
period corresponding to that which has elapsed since the preceding
conference," has been agreed upon. The recommendations of the
second conference also call attention to "the necessity of preparing
the program a sufficient time in advance to insure that the deliberations
may be conducted with the necessary authority and expedition. In
order to obtain this object, the conference considers that it would be
very desirable that, some two years before the probable date of the
meeting, a preparatory committee should be charged by the govern-
ments with the task of collecting the various proposals to be submitted

122

LAW OF THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL 123

to the conference, of ascertaining what subjects are ripe for embodi-
ment in an international regulation, and of preparing a program,
which the governments should decide upon in sufficient time to enable
it to be carefully examined by the countries interested. This com-
mittee should further be intrusted with the task of proposing a system
of organization and procedure for the conference itself." Thus gradu-
ally, as the experience of nations in this matter ripens through repeated
meetings and continued common action, a normal method of procedure
is being worked out.

The administrative organization of the Hague tribunal and of its
bureau is provided for in the general convention on the settlement of
international disputes of 1907. This treaty is so important a land-
mark in the development of international action reduced to institu-
tional form that its text should be carefully considered by those
interested in this subject. Being readily enough accessible, it should
be immediately at hand in the study of international administration
for purposes of direct examination and comparison with other institu-
tions. Though its text will, in the course of things, be modified
and in part superseded by subsequent legislation, it will always be
a document of the greatest importance, as containing the establish-
ment of permanent international institutions whose operations are
universal.1

The second conference paid especial attention to the development
of international procedure. The experience gained through the inquiry
into the Doggerbank incident was utilized to give completeness and
definiteness to the provisions relating to the commissions of in-
quiry. The procedure of these important though temporary inter-
national bodies is laid down with great clearness and in considerable
detail. The manner of composing the commissions, the representation
of parties in investigations before them, the power to obtain testi-
mony, the duty of litigants to furnish information, the manner of
examining witnesses and of presenting the case, — all these matters
are fully regulated in the twenty-eight short articles of Part III of the

1 The text may be found in the volume of " Texts of the Peace Conferences at
The Hague, 1899 and 1907," by James Brown .Scott (p. 155); also in "The First
Book of World Law," by Raymond L. Bridgman ; and in "The Second International
Peace Conference," Sen. Doc. 444, Sixtieth Congress, First session. On the general
subject see also Ralston, J. II., "International Arbitral Law and Procedure," ('.inn
and Company, Boston, 1910.

124 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

treaty. In a similar manner, though with different details, the organ-
ization of the permanent court and its procedure are settled in the
subsequent parts of the convention.

The more specifically administrative organs of the union are the per-
manent administrative council, composed of the diplomatic represent-
atives of the contracting powers accredited to the Dutch government,
and of the Dutch minister of foreign affairs, who acts as president.
This institution is evidently modeled upon the governing board of
the Pan-American union. The council has power to control the ad-
ministrative side of the work of the tribunal and of the international
bureau ; it appoints and dismisses officials and employees of the latter,
fixes their salaries, and controls the expenditure. The council also
takes charge of the preparation of an annual report upon the work
of the international court and of the administrative bureau, as well
as on the budget of disbursements. It makes its decisions by a
majority vote.

It is the function of the bureau to perform all the administrative
services needed in the operations of the court. It acts as a means of
communication between parties and the arbitrators. It makes the
necessary arrangements for the meetings of the court and acts as a
chancellery or secretariat in all matters of judicial action. The
expenses of the bureau are borne by the contracting powers in the
proportion fixed respecting the international bureau of the universal
postal union.

Another convention concluded by the conference of 1907 deals
with the establishment of an international prize court. In this docu-
ment, too, matters of procedure are dealt with in detail. The greatest
departure from the usage of international tribunals is made in that
the prize court will take action in certain cases at the suit of an indi-
vidual. Individual subjects of a neutral or hostile power, if the judg-
ment of a national court in a prize case adversely affects their property,
may institute proceedings before the international court. The admin-
istrative council and the international bureau fulfill the same functions
with respect to the prize court as have already been explained above
respecting the court of arbitration. The secretary general of the inter-
national bureau acts as registrar of the court ; the bureau is in charge
of the archives and carries on the administrative work in general.
Notice of appeal is entered with the bureau, to whom the records of

LAW OF THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL 125

the case in the national court must be transmitted. The president of
the court and the registrar authenticate the minutes of the proceedings
by their signatures.

In the fall of 1909 the American Department of State proposed to
the other powers who are signatories of the Hague conventions that
the international prize court should be invested with the duties and
functions of the proposed court of arbitral justice, the standing tri-
bunal which was recommended but not established by the second con-
ference. The American government suggested that " the international
court of prize shall be competent to entertain and decide any case of
arbitration presented to it by a signatory to the international court of
prize convention ; and when sitting as a court of arbitral justice it shall
conduct its proceedings in accordance with the draft convention for
the establishment of a court of arbitral justice, approved and recom-
mended by the second Hague conference in October, 1907."

CHAPTER V

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW AND NATIONAL

SOVEREIGNTY 1

The conception of a law common to the entire civilized world has
received a new content and a practical interpretation through the
recent development of international unions. The numerous private
unions and associations for international purposes constitute a spon-
taneous grouping of men throughout the world, who are interested
in certain lines of enterprise — industrial, political, or scientific —
which are not limited by national boundaries, but have the whole
world for their field of action. The number of such associations
already created is indeed surprising. Nearly every type of social
effort for the promotion of the broader interests of mankind has been
organized in this manner, so that there are literally hundreds2 of inter-
national unions and associations. These bodies hold periodic confer-
ences for the interchange of opinions and the comparison of results,
and in many cases they have established permanent bureaus or offices.

The public unions which have been formed by the action of states,
and which are now operating as public agencies of international inter-
ests, indicate the extent to which the national authorities have come
to realize the importance of interests and activities that transcend in
their operations the boundaries of the national state. There are over
thirty such unions, most of them endowed with permanent organs of
administration, which enable them to fulfill, even though only in a
rudimentary way, the three classic functions of government, — the
legislative, executive, and judicial. The interests which they repre-
sent and administer can be understood only when we consider the
human world as a totality of interrelated forces and activities. From
this point of view any other form of organization that might be given
them would be defective in extent and efficiency.

1 Reprinted, with changes, from the American Journal of International Law,
January, 1909.

2 The number of international congresses held in the years 1901-1910 was seven
hundred ninety. See lists in the Annuaire de la vie Internationale, 1910.

126

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW 127

The Basis and Body of Universal Law

When any social or economic interest has attained world-wide re-
lations, when its activities in order to succeed must rest on the
experience of all mankind, and must extend their operations over
numerous national territories, then such an interest can be effectively
regulated only upon a world-wide basis. The legal aspects of its
organization and action can be expressed only in the terms of a law-
enacted from the point of view of international relations, rather than
resting upon the experience and policy of any national state. The
world law which is thus created is not merely an intellectual product
such as the natural law of the older jurisprudence. Quite the con-
trary, it is the legal expression of positive interests and activities
already developed in the life of the world that are manifesting them-
selves in action, and are therefore entitled to have their relations ex-
pressed also in juristic form. A law of this kind, while aiming at
universality, will strive to avoid purely theoretical construction and
to base itself upon ascertained needs and actual experience.

When the principal interests that have already received an inter-
national organization are passed in review, it is not difficult to recog-
nize in them those characteristics which make them essentially
international. It is an often-repeated saying that the world at the
present time stands in the sign of communication. The ideal of the
civilized world with respect to economic relations is that the entire
surface of the globe should be rendered readily accessible to the
enterprise of any individual, and that rapid and uninterrupted commu-
nication should make possible a uniform management and control of
the natural resources which humanity has inherited. The demands
thus made upon international policies have their material support in
the great advances recently achieved in the practical sciences and arts
of communication. But in order that the greatest advantage may be
gained by mankind from these inventions, a liberal character should
be imparted to legislation. We need a uniform law of transportation
by land and sea in order that the efficiency of communication may
not be impaired by unnecessary local differences of regulation. Scien-
tific jurisprudence has directed itself to the task of gradually unifying
the principles of maritime law and restoring to it the character of a
world law, so that it may again be universal, as it was in its original

128 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

medieval form. The European railway freight union has created a
code of transportation which is justly considered one of the most
notable achievements of modern international activity in the field of
legislation. The very nature of communication makes it an interna-
tional interest and establishes the unavoidable necessity of legislating
in this matter from the point of view of universalism, — regarding the
world as a unified economic organization.

The same principles apply to correspondence by letter and by tele-
gram. Rapidity of intelligence and notification is essential to effi-
ciency in the exploitation and control of the manifold natural resources
of the earth, and to the success of its greater industrial and com-
mercial enterprises. The impossibility of treating any of these inter-
ests from the point of view of a national policy alone was illustrated
in a most striking fashion in the case of radiotelegraphy. When this
process had gained recognition as a practical method, the British
Marconi Company secured an exclusive contract with the British
Lloyd and with the Italian government for telegraphic service be-
tween vessels and the coast. Under this arrangement the wireless
stations in these two countries would refuse to receive or send
messages of any other system than that of Marconi. The political
advantages of such an arrangement to a power like Great Britain are
apparent at first sight, and the relinquishment of such a privilege
through any convention met with much resistance in England, because
it was believed that, under the Marconi monopoly, the British govern-
ment would have obtained a great advantage over its rivals. As the
Times put it, "The existence of a world-wide commercial organization
with its headquarters in England, in closest touch with the admiralty,
largely operated, even in foreign territories and on foreign ships, by
English operators, would be an invaluable asset to the admiralty in
a great war." This was apparently exactly the way in which the other
powers also saw the matter, and they opposed this attempt to establish
a universal monopoly in so important an interest. The two powers
which favored restriction could not resist the logic of the opposition,
so that finally, in 1906, an agreement was made which guaranteed for
the future the freedom of international wireless communication.

Other interests which have been organized on an international
basis, while not so clearly world-wide in their nature, nevertheless
contain prominent elements which have led to insistent demands for

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW 129

a universal organization. The scientific and economic interests con-
nected with labor have long been organized on such a basis, and the
problems of labor legislation can be dealt with satisfactorily only from
an international point of view. There are several elements in the
labor situation of the world which render this policy necessary. In
order adequately to protect its own labor forces, any nation would be
obliged to enact legislation which might seriously handicap its national
industries unless assurance were given that foreign competitors should
be bound by the same obligations. Efficient protection of national
labor is therefore scarcely possible through the isolated efforts of an
individual state ; it must rest upon a basis of international under-
standing. Moreover, labor itself is an international force. Scarcely
any nation at the present time derives from its own population all
the labor of which it is in need, as more or less permanent migra-
tions of laborers from country to country are continually taking place.
The supply of labor is therefore international in scope and calls for
international control.

Of all the prime economic operations, agriculture appears at first
sight to be to the greatest extent local and national. Yet a less super-
ficial consideration of the interests involved will show that agriculture
is by no means an activity that can be fully protected upon a national
basis. International protection is demanded against the importation
of plant and animal diseases. In order that agricultural operations
may be effectively adjusted to atmospheric and climatic conditions,
the meteorological service ought to be organized upon an interna-
tional basis. To determine accurately the status of the market for
agricultural products, world-wide determinations of the conditions of
supply and demand are necessary ; and agricultural labor, in fully as
great a measure as that employed in the industries, is dominated by
international conditions and population movements.

In scientific and administrative processes it is the common experi-
ence of the entire world which is required to obtain the most satis-
factory results, but it is especially in the field of criminal and sanitary
administration that a large measure of international cooperation is nec-
essary in order that national property and population may be protected.
Modern criminal administration looks upon punishment as among the
lesser of its various tasks, and concentrates its efforts upon the means
of preventing crime. Hence extradition by no means exhausts all the

130 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

requirements of mutual helpfulness. Crime is organized internation-
ally ; the prevention of crime must therefore be effected in a similar
way. We need only think of the most fundamental crime against
state existence, the plottings of revolutionary anarchism, to realize
fully how important international cooperation will be to the future
efficiency of the protective service. We might thus review all the
interests of civilized humanity, intellectual or material, and we should
doubtless find in each of them certain elements calling for interna-
tional action and organization. It is only when full advantage is
drawn from the possibilities of international cooperation that human
activities shall in the future be able to unfold and grow to their proper
importance.

The body of law which is thus being created by the action of the
authoritative organs of public international unions, and by cooperation
among governments, is distinguished from general international law
in that it not merely regulates the relations between national states,
but undertakes to establish positive norms for universal action. We
may tentatively apply to it the designation of international adminis-
trative law, defining it as that body of laws and ordinances created
by the action of international conferences or commissions which regu-
lates the relations and activities of national and international agen-
cies with respect to those material and intellectual interests which
have received an authoritative universal organization. The law thus
created contains principles and rules that might be viewed as the be-
ginning of a universal civil law. This is true especially with respect
to rules created in the matter of communication, such as the principle
that telegrams and letters must be transmitted ; but even these prin-
ciples refer to administrative action, so that they may be embraced in
the designation which we have used above. Should the efforts to
unify the maritime law of the world be crowned with success, the
body of law thus created would not properly be included under the
above designation ; it would continue to be dealt with under its tra-
ditional name as a branch of the universal law of communication. In
its elaboration and enforcement, however, international administrative
organs would take an essential part.

The general purposes that are being achieved by the creation of an
international administrative law may be looked at from three different
points of view. It is desired, in the first place, that a mutuality of

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW i^i

advantages be secured for the citizens of all civilized states. In a por-
tion of international legislative activity, therefore, the object is not so
much to change the national law as to secure for the subjects of one
state the advantages of legislative and administrative arrangements in
others. The national law with respect to patents, copyrights, or the
admission to liberal professions may continue to differ in the various
jurisdictions. But the object aimed at by international arrangements
is to secure for the foreigner the protection of the national law as it
stands, placing him in the same position of right with respect to these
matters as is enjoyed by the subjects of the state in question.

A second general object is the regulation of the administrative ac-
tivities connected with these world-wide interests on a basis adequate
to their extent and importance. Such regulation may create an entirely
new law, which the various national administrations bind themselves
to respect ; or it may involve the modification, to a certain extent, of
national methods of procedure.

Finally, there is the ideal of uniformity or universality of law, which
will be to a certain extent pursued in all these international unions.
This ideal, on account of the simplicity and equity of the conception
which it involves, is not merely attractive from the intellectual point
of view, but, in the measure in which it is achieved in any field, it
serves to free business intercourse and action from all kinds of diffi-
culties and obstructions. It must however be noted in connection with
this idea that it is far easier to introduce uniform methods within
the field of pure administrative activities than to establish a similar
homogeneity in principles which have become part of the civil law.
International administration has the advantage of operating largely in
a field that has not been occupied as yet by systematized methods and
historic traditions, such as is the case in the field of private law. Pri-
vate international law, dealing with conditions and characteristics based
on a long national experience, has far greater obstacles to overcome
in its unifying efforts than has international administrative procedure.

As the purposes thus outlined are more and more nearly achieved,
great advantages are to be gained. Homogeneous development, uni-
formity, and simplicity are favored. Commercial and industrial inter-
course is facilitated by the absence of irrational local differences in
legal rules. Unfair competition is prevented by the uniformity of
national regulations, which places competition the world over upon a

132

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

higher plane, and which checks the granting of entirely inequitable
advantages to certain enterprises and industries. The disadvantages
flowing from the lack of international cooperation may be illustrated
by examples taken from the field of insurance. As the operations of
life insurance have become international, its scientific and technical
activities have already been given an international organization in the
actuarial congress. This pursuit, however, has not yet been pro-
vided with public organs of international administration. The attitude
of various national administrations illustrates the difficulties created
by a lack of uniformity in regulations. Thus the German govern-
ment demands that any foreign insurance company doing business
in Germany shall submit its transactions in all the countries of the
world to the control of the German administration. France has re-
cently established the requirement that all insurance companies
operating in that country must invest in French public securities,
which pay at the present time an interest of about three per cent.
These regulations are plainly due to the solicitude of national offi-
cials in behalf of subjects who may become insured in foreign com-
panies. But consider what a burden is placed upon the business of
insurance, — a burden which of course must ultimately be borne by
the insured. If each government should demand an account of the
entire business of a foreign insurance company for the purpose of
complete control, the expense and trouble involved would become intol-
erable. When the governments of the older states require investments
to be solely in their own low-interest-paying funds, they exclude the
insured from the advantage of perfectly safe investments in new coun-
tries at nearly double the rate of interest. All these difficulties would
be avoided, could there be created an international bureau for the
auditing and control of insurance investments. Investigations of the
business of a particular company made once for all with perfect meth-
ods, on a world-wide basis, could safely be accepted by any national
administration, and all the advantages open to investors the world
over could thus be enjoyed by the insured of any international
company.

Whenever we are examining any body of law it is of considerable
importance to know how its individual principles are enforced. With
respect to international administrative law reliance must, in the main,
be placed upon the enlightened sense of self-interest of the national

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

133

administrations. In so far as they realize the importance of these
arrangements to themselves and to the interests intrusted to their
care, will they be ready and willing to enforce the principles of inter-
national legislation without any ulterior sanction. In the present con-
dition of the world it will perhaps for some time be impossible to
strengthen the administrative organs of the international unions so
as to provide them with powers of execution against national ad-
ministrations. Certain means of stricter enforcement have indeed
been provided. In some of the unions the" individual governments
are required to furnish annual reports upon their legislative and ad-
ministrative action with respect to the interests in question. It is
understood that if these reports show that the requirements of the
union have not been fulfilled, the public opinion of the world, diplo-
matic pressure, and ultimately exclusion from the union will be suf-
ficient to provide a sanction. In this matter we have to rely upon the
accuracy of the reports which the various administrations are bound
to furnish, but we may rest assured that generally they will be care-
ful to have their official returns correspond to the facts. How im-
portant these reports are to international administration is illustrated
by the case of such a union as that for the prevention of phylloxera.
Each government is bound to report upon the occurrence of this
disease in its wine-producing regions, and upon the methods that
have been used for its suppression and for the protection of other
parts of the country. Foreign nations should be able to rely abso-
lutely on the accuracy of these reports and upon the good faith of the
government in protecting itself as well as others by a strict fulfillment
of its international obligations. When the labor-protection treaty was
concluded between France and Italy in 1906, it was provided that
each party must annually publish a complete report concerning its
administrative action. This arrangement was criticized by French
publicists on the ground that Italian inspectors would exercise a cer-
tain control over French administration, in that the convention gives
to each government the right of superintending the labor police exer-
cised by the other. And yet it is inconceivable how the enforcement
of treaties of this kind may be secured without such means of inter-
national intelligence. Another method was employed by the union
for the protection of submarine cables. The conference of 1886
appointed a commission on the enforcement of the treaty, which

134

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

examined the laws and practice of all the treaty states and reported as
to which of them were not giving effect to the convention. In the labor
conference of 1890 Germany proposed that the execution of the treaty
measures should be insured by a sufficient number of functionaries,
— specialists appointed for the purpose. The representatives of Aus-
tria, however, cautiously urged that the surveillance of the national
administration should be reserved to each government without any
interference by an outside power. This objection indicates the diffi-
culties which have to be met in any attempt to secure good faith
and complete observance in the matter of international administrative
treaties.

When all is said, it is plain that the real sanction of international
administrative law lies in the eventual exclusion from the union of a
state which persistently neglects or refuses to fulfill its obligations.
In some of the unions this sanction is amply sufficient to secure the
careful observance of treaty obligations. An international union may
be so necessary to the economic life of the member nations that
exclusion from it would produce an industrial and commercial dead-
lock, an eventuality to be avoided at almost any cost.

The realization of this necessity — of the fact that economic life
within the national state is dependent for its prosperity upon interna-
tional cooperation and membership in international unions — serves
as a balance to the ever-present desire to preserve sovereignty unim-
paired and the freedom of national action unembarrassed. When at
the labor conference in 1890 it was proposed by the Swiss delegates
that an international bureau of labor should be established, the British
representatives objected on the ground that they could not put their
labor legislation at the discretion of a foreign power. The feeling thus
expressed is still a very strong impediment to the progress of interna-
tional legislation. It seems, however, that the world is passing from
this attitude to another and more liberal view of the situation. The
view which national governments have generally taken regarding inter-
national cooperation is that everything must be avoided which would
constitute a derogation of the complete rights of sovereignty. How-
ever, it makes a great deal of difference how this principle of caution
is applied. When all international action is regarded as endangering
national power, the question which governments will ask themselves
when such action is proposed, will take the following form : What is

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW 135

the least measure of concession which, with a due show of interna-
tional courtesy, we can make to this demand ? But after the useful-
ness and even necessity of international cooperation have emerged
into view more and more clearly, and when the governments recog-
nize that, in order to be completely useful to their subjects and citizens,
they must join in these movements, they will ask themselves, What
is the largest measure of aid and cooperation which we can give in
this case with safety to our national interests ? In other words, the
international activity is no longer looked upon as an outside hostile
force, to which only the least modicum of concession ought to be
made ; but it is regarded as a useful and necessary cooperative enter-
prise in which each state should join as far as its special circumstances
will permit.

Although this is not the place to examine the theory of sovereignty,
it is evident that the old abstract view is no longer applicable to
conditions in a world where states are becoming more and more
democratic and where the organization of interests is taking on an
international aspect. It is undoubtedly a mistake to look upon sover-
eignty as an irreducible entity including the sum of all political and
social power. It is therefore not justifiable to proclaim that sover-
eignty would be destroyed if any administrative activity of the national
government be curtailed or transferred. Sovereignty in the modern
organization of the state is merely the focal point at which the political
energies of the nation converge. It represents the strongest social
purpose to which at certain times all other social purposes may have
to yield. At present the paramount social purpose in the civilized
world is still the maintenance of national power. It is the national
organization upon which the safety of the material and moral inter-
ests of the world still reposes. But there are always large groups of
interests which will not be dominated directly by the sovereign state,
and whose activities are independent of the latter. The sovereign
purpose, while it may eventually dominate, does not by any means
at all times include, all other social purposes.

The creation of international groups and organs which we are
witnessing may, in the long run, have a tendency to change this focali-
zation of power. There may ultimately be created an international
consciousness, interest, and organization so powerful as to make itself
the paramount social force. This will not be the work of a single

136 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

generation, nor will it be brought about entirely through conscious
political arrangements. If it comes, it will be as a result of inevitable
convergences of social interest and power. Should it arrive, it will
gradually make national sovereignty obsolete. Such a consummation,
though its occurrence is not likely for some generations, could not be
prevented by a narrow national policy which would attempt to block
the normal and natural grouping and organization of interests the
world over. We ought therefore not to speak of an abdication of
sovereignty simply because one or several interests have been organ-
ized on an international basis. The national state still remains in the
center of the stage. It merely utilizes these international organizations
for the benefit of its own citizens and subjects.

It would also be a mistake — though this error has not always been
avoided — to speak of sovereignty as a principle of international law.
It is plain that international law does not bestow sovereignty upon the
state. On the contrary, it clearly regards it as a question of fact, and
simply discusses the conditions under which a certain society may be
said to have achieved a sufficient political organization to be recog-
nized as sovereign. Sovereign states, independent political entities,
are the agents in international law whose importance is determined
by the degree of vigor and efficiency with which they act in the com-
munity of nations, but not by their isolation and withdrawal from
contact and cooperation. The main principle of international law is
community of interests ; upon this the law must be based if it is to
be respected. Through membership in the international-law union
the personality of the state is developed, as is that of man through
life in the society of his fellows. These common interests are based
on fact as undeniably as is the sovereign power. States have inter-
course with one another ; they and their citizens need it, and so it
will be continued. The relations thus established must be given a
normal, orderly form. Therefore, though we are just beginning to
create an international jurisdiction, we have long had an interna-
tional procedure and we are fast developing international adminis-
trative law.1

Through the essential mutuality of the relations of civilized life the
sovereign state is practically forced to avail itself of the advantages

1 See, in this connection, Nippold, Fortbildung des Verfahrens in volkerr. Streitig-
keiten, 1907, chap. i.

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

137

offered by international organization. It is plain that the individual
isolated national government is unable to secure for its citizens all the
advantages of civilization. Relying merely upon the capacities and
resources contained within its national territory, it cannot offer to
those dependent upon it the protection and the advantages which, as
citizens of the modern world, they have a right to demand. If we
consider the most fundamental and rudimentary duty of a civilized
state, — the protection against disease and crime, — we immediately
discover that the resources of a national administration are inadequate
to afford complete security to the citizens. The organization of crime
rests on an international basis. Like anarchism, which we have al-
ready mentioned, the so-called white-slave trade illustrates the prin-
ciples involved. The criminal laws of any individual state cannot
reach the offenders so as to safeguard its subjects against this most
heinous exploitation. Nor is it possible for a state to protect itself
against the influx of disease, unless indeed it should, in Chinese
fashion, cut itself off entirely from commercial intercourse. In all
these matters it must rely upon cooperation with other national
administrations, and only in a normal and well-regulated system of
international police and sanitary administration can security be found.
Similarly, a complete right to a patent or to the reproduction of a
literary work cannot be given by single governments, but can result
only from the common action of all civilized states. The moral right
of the author of a book or an invention to be recompensed for the »
worth and utility contained in the product of his mind can be pro-
tected only within narrow limits by an individual state. The complete
establishment of this right is secured only through universal legisla-
tive arrangements. Numerous examples of this kind will immediately
suggest themselves. It is evident that there are growing groups of
advantages which are obtained by men as members of civilized society
rather than of any particular state. Such advantages the states owe
it to their citizens to foster and develop, in order that the latter may
enjoy what in reason they are entitled to. The state is powerless to
create these broader rights by its own unaided efforts. It can secure
them for its citizens only through cooperation with other states.

International cooperation may, in the present state of our civilization,
be represented as an ethical duty. No state has the right, by stubborn
aloofness from international movements, to exclude its citizens from

138 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

the advantages of civilization. But this ethical duty is reenforced by
a very practical necessity, which is plain to any common-sense admin-
istration. As a matter of fact, the state which would isolate itself
from the postal union or the sanitary union would act in as irrational
a manner as an individual who would leave the abodes of civilization
to pass his life in the unhealthy and inhospitable wilderness of a
swamp. The laws created by international cooperation have an actual
and potent sanction in the suffering and loss which are inevitably
consequent upon their nonobservance. If we consider for a moment
the international organ to which the most positive powers have been
given, the sugar commission, we shall recognize the workings of neces-
sity in its creation. The far-reaching powers which have been in-
trusted to this body did not result from any preconceived plan or any
conviction that the establishment of an international authority of this
kind would be desirable. On the contrary, this solution was forced
upon the members of the conference by the conditions which had
been brought on throughout the sugar-producing world by the practice
of granting national bounties. The disastrous results produced by
this species of competition could be avoided only by the creation of a
powerful international authority. The evils were so great that the
measures for their removal presented themselves to the delegates in
the form of unavoidable necessity ; and they acted in accordance with
this conclusion, although they tried to improve the appearance of their
action by substituting the word "executory" for "obligatory" in
speaking of the determinations to be made by the commission.
The decided step forward which was thus taken in the organization
of international unity was due not by any means to theoretical con-
siderations, but to the presence of a practical difficulty which could
be solved only by committing important powers to an international
organ.

The development of international administration is favored in
general by the principle that action will not be taken unless all the
parties are agreed as to its desirability. In the older type of treaties
between nations the purpose was the conciliation and compromise of
conflicting interests. The new economic conventions strive to discover,
on the contrary, a basis for cooperation, an essential equality of inter-
ests among all the nations, upon which permanent arrangements
may be founded. The unanimity required for this kind of legislation

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW 139

cannot however be permanently defeated by mere capricious opposi-
tion on the part of one or several states. When it is once clearly
discovered that a basis for cooperation exists, the reluctant states will
generally be forced in the event to accede to the agreement, because
they very soon find that exclusion from the advantages of the union
means a serious loss to their own interests.

The effect of this new development, which we have been review-
ing, upon the spirit and the methods of diplomacy cannot but be
salutary. Although diplomacy has not yet entirely lost its old repu-
tation, according to which its methods were held to be synonymous
with shrewdness, scheming, and chicane, it is clearly apparent that
a very different view of international relations is obtaining the lead-
ing influence in the diplomatic world. Instead of dealing only with
the nice balancing of political interests, and attempting to gain more
or less ephemeral advantages by shrewd negotiation, the new diplo-
macy makes its main purpose the establishment of a basis for frank
cooperation among the nations in order that, through common action,
advantages may be obtained which no isolated state could command
if relying merely on its own resources. John Ouincy Adams, in his
" Diary," says of a certain British diplomat : " The mediocrity of his
talents has been one of the principal causes of his success"; and in
the past merely neutral social virtues were indeed often accounted
sufficient for diplomatic efficiency. The present sets more exacting
requirements, and as the complexity of economic and social interests
increases, efficient diplomats will have to be men of " great energy
of mind, activity of research, and fertility of expedients," to use the
words by which Adams expresses the qualities not so essential to
ordinary7 diplomatic intercourse in his day. In order adequately to
represent his nation, a minister ought to keep himself informed,
through touch with expert opinion and with the progress of affairs,
on all the world-wide economic, industrial, and intellectual activities
by which the welfare of his nation is intimately affected. A diplo-
mat who masters these relations and keeps himself advised upon
these movements will be able to secure many advantages for his own
country, and he may moreover perform important sen-ices in help-
ing to work out a basis for effective international cooperation in fields
where such action is required by the very interests which he more
particularly represents.

140 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

The process of international organization frequently favors the ex-
pansion of the sphere of the national government. When interests
are organized upon an international basis, the persons and associa-
tions concerned begin to see more clearly how their purposes may be
furthered through state action. They consequently demand new legis-
lation as well as the expansion of the administrative sphere, and urge
the government to use its organs for the purpose of securing the
greatest possible advantages for the individual citizen. The example
of other nations is appealed to, and in every way the state is encour-
aged to make the fullest use of its powers. The organization of the
agricultural interests upon an international basis, recent as it is, has
already produced an insistent demand for. greater state activity. The
control which the state exercises over the conditions of labor is stimu-
lated by the international agreements and conventions on that subject.
In our country the agitation for a parcels-post service proceeds mostly
from those persons who have realized the advantages which our in-
dustry might gain in foreign markets through the use of this method ;
so that if this system should be introduced, it would be due very largely
to efforts to develop our international relations.

It is very important to note that the organization of the economic
and social activities of the world is being based upon the representa-
tion of interests in definite organs. While the parliamentary systems
of national governments still adhere to the abstract numerical idea,
the more natural system of interest representation is being used in
international affairs. Undoubtedly the international movement will
be strengthened by this fact, because a social or economic interest
is an entity possessed of independent potentiality of action. As world
organization spontaneously takes this form from the beginning, it will
profit by the combined energies which all these interests represent.

The effect which international organization has exercised upon the
methods and processes of national administration has been salutary.
In conventions and congresses methods are compared, criticisms
and suggestions are made, and the best experience of the world is
centralized, — all of which has been turned to advantage by progres-
sive administrations. Moreover, a certain responsibility comes to be felt
by the individual governments over against each other. It would be
embarrassing to be discovered in the use of antiquated and unscientific
processes. The result is a greater efficiency of administrative action

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW 141

throughout the world. Through the public organization of universal
scientific bodies the latest results of pure and applied science are
placed at the disposal of governments. The scientific branches in the
administration of modern states are so important and their influence
upon governmental action is so direct that the organization of scientific
work upon an international basis in itself constitutes a movement of
prime importance.

It would be interesting to compare the internationalism of the pres-
ent with the cosmopolitan movements which the world has seen at
former periods of its history. There is a distinct difference between
the cosmopolitanism of the close of the eighteenth century and that
of our own day. The rationalist cosmopolitanism is still current in
much of our literature, although in practical affairs we have almost
entirely outlived it in this particular form. It is individualistic and
humanitarian, and recognizes no institutions between the isolated
individual, on the one hand, and the all-embracing ideal of humanity
on the other. Every person is supposed to be inspired with a feel-
ing of human brotherhood, and to strive for the abstract purposes of
universality. Cosmopolitanism of this kind caused Byron to weep
when the enemy of his country was defeated, and Goethe to look on
with indifference when the land of his fathers was invaded by the
troops of Napoleon.

The cosmopolitanism of our days is concrete and practical. It rests
upon the idea of cooperation in constantly expanding circles. For
this purpose adequate institutions must be created in order that inter-
national action may become real. The national state is not regarded
as a superfluous obstacle. As international advantages are essential
to the citizen, so the state remains necessary to the achievement of
internationalism. The temper of the age is positive and constructive
rather than given to idealism and speculation. The void which the
old cosmopolitan ideal left between the individual and humanity is
being filled up by the creation of institutions through which the indi-
vidual may gradually be raised, by almost imperceptible degrees, from
the narrow limits of personality to the broad aims of civilization. This
internationalism respects the ethnic and national entities of which it
is composed. As through the consciousness of the city and of the
national state we gradually develop into a consciousness of world
unity, we shall not be able to dispense with the traditions and

142 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

aspirations which lie back of national sovereignty and give it force.
However, the positive ideal of the world to-day is undoubtedly that
the whole earth shall become a field of action open to every man,
and that all the advantages which may be secured by the energies of
humanity throughout the world must be guaranteed to the citizens of
each national sovereignty. A new grouping of social, economic, and
political interests is being effected, in which, though indeed the
national state will continue to hold a prominent place, public and
associative action will be dominated to a large extent by forces and
considerations which are broader than national life.

This development will also exercise a profound influence upon the
attitude of mankind toward war. The older pacifism overlooked the
fact that war is only the symptom of a condition in which too great
emphasis is still laid on local interests. With the gradual enlargement
of the field of economic and cultural activities until what have been
national forces shall have a more extensive scope, and with the wan-
ing of narrower interests before those of world-wide importance, the
incentive to war will necessarily become weaker and weaker, pari
passu with the increase in the solidarity among nations. More and
more reluctant will governments be to interrupt the complex integra-
tion of industry and of commerce through war ; either these fields
will have to be exempted from hostile action, or, as they come to occupy
more and more completely our life and thought, war itself will have
to be abandoned as a solution of international differences.

While the vista of possibilities thus unfolded is attractive and
of great promise, it is nevertheless true that the movement which we
have been considering would be retarded and injured by too great
expectations and by action which would overlook the present just
claims of local autonomy. The basis for cooperative action will
gradually unfold itself ; and as it does so, the principles of inter-
national legislation and administration will assume a character of
inevitableness and will be recognized by any particular state as sub-
serving its own interests. Individual initiative, to be effective, should
be confined to assisting in the discovery and clear expression of such
unquestioned bases for cooperation. Any attempt to urge states into
action without showing a specific need, on the mere plea of the inter-
est of internationalism, would be, in so far, to jeopardize the normal
development and ultimate success of the great movement which is

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW 143

one of the most notable phenomena of the era in which we are living.
Nor should we expect states readily to give up that power of self-
determination, of freely selecting their means, methods, and activities,
which constitutes the essence of political sovereignty ; however essen-
tial, in their own interest, a participation in common action may be,
they still remain the principal guardians of human rights and inter-
ests, and ought therefore to retain to themselves the necessary free-
dom of action which such a trust requires.

General Principles of Organization

At first sight there is little promise of accord in the details of
organization and in the methods of the various international unions.
They have been founded for a great variety of purposes ; they deal
with a multitude of interests representing every branch of human
enterprise and endeavor, and having but little in common. There has
been no general concerted plan among the governments with respect
to the international movement which we are reviewing. The individual
unions are rather the result of a spontaneous growth and crystalliza-
tion than of carefully elaborated contrivance. Every particular one
of them has naturally followed that course of development which
its own specific purpose has indicated. But when all has been said,
and when all these reservations have been made, there is yet dis-
coverable an underlying unity in the movement which enables us to
treat it as dominated by certain general principles, no matter how
variegated and complicated its individual manifestations may be. In
the course of the comparatively short life of the various international
unions there have indeed already been developed individual bodies
of law, of method, and precedent, which may lay claim to being
important and separate entities in the field of jurisprudence and
administration — which consequently require separate study, and are,
as a matter of fact, dealt with in separate treatises. We need only
think of such bodies of international legislation as the European rail-
way freight law, the law of international copyrights, and the rules
created by sanitary conventions. Yet if we desire to form an estimate
of the tendencies of the international movement and of its relations
to national life, it will be necessary to attempt a general survey of the
principles and methods employed. Such an attempt to arrive at a

144 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

conception of what may be considered the normal action in this great
movement will give us a criterion by which individual proposals and
arrangements may be judged. It will also enable us to form a more
accurate judgment of the general bearing and the tendencies of inter-
national administrative activities. Finally, it will protect us from the
not uncommon error of exaggerating the importance of the functions
created and of the positive powers which have been attributed to these
new international organs.

Formation of unions. It is not always easy to tell with certitude
whether the formation of a given union is due primarily to public or
to private initiative. We encounter commonly an interaction of in-
fluences. Private associations or groups of individuals may discover
the need for international action with regard to a certain interest, and
may undertake to urge the establishment of treaty relations and
administrative bodies. Quite generally such persons will themselves
organize on an international basis and will hold conferences or
congresses where the feasibility of common policies and actions is
discussed at length, and where proposals for public unions frequently
originate. Thereby governments may finally be moved to take authori-
tative action in the matter in question, with the result that treaties
and conventions will be concluded ; or the state organs, desiring to
come in closer touch with the efforts of private initiative, may associ-
ate themselves for a while with the organizations already established ;
they may send official delegates to the conferences of the interna-
tional associations, and out of this cooperation there may be evolved
gradually a basis for public action.

In a large number of cases, however, unions have been formed
directly by public or state initiative. Nations had early realized the
necessity of treaty arrangements on such subjects as the control of
communication by telegraph, railway, or the mails. However, the
individual conventions, multiplying year by year and containing
many divergent provisions, had a tendency to render the subject
unnecessarily complicated and difficult for the national administra-
tions. Thus there came about naturally a desire for unification on a
general international basis. At other times the technical branches of
the national administration discovered in their practical work the
need for a general treaty, and setting the government in motion,
they secured the direct establishment of conventions and unions.

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW 145

In exercising its public initiative the state makes use both of
technical experts belonging to its administration and of the general
diplomatic personnel. Occasionally the basis for a treaty is worked
out entirely by technical experts, possibly by medical men in the
case of sanitary treaties, or by railway officials in the case of transpor-
tation arrangements. Ultimately the results thus carefully perfected
will be discussed, from the point of view of general diplomatic and
political arrangements, by a conference of diplomatic representatives,
which affixes the authoritative seal of signature and ratification. It
is a frequent practice to use both diplomatic and technical delegates
in the same conference. In such cases the state, of course, expects
the diplomatic representative to give to the undertaking the prestige
of his office and the assistance of his political experience, in order
that the importance of the work may be duly emphasized, and that,
on the other hand, the action proposed may be scrutinized from the
point of view of national diplomatic interests. The general experi-
ence of a trained diplomat on such occasions is also of no little
benefit to the negotiators. The technical delegates, for their part, are
relied upon to furnish the knowledge upon which the substantive
action of the conference will be based ; the latter will necessarily
draw upon the experience of these men with respect to the form to
be given the enactments and with respect to the technical informa-
tion upon which all its action must be founded. It is unquestioned
that the presence of the diplomatic element has frequently acted as a
retarding influence. The technical delegates, having experienced the
disadvantages of local differences in legislation, enter the conference
with more enthusiasm for the international idea. The diplomat, being
accustomed to consider every proposal from the point of view of an
undiminished national freedom of action, will suspect dangers and
will be inclined to oppose any limitation upon the complete diplo-
matic freedom of the nation which he represents. As we have
already noted, the participation of diplomatic representatives in the
creation of these various international unions has made demands
upon the profession which the older concept of diplomatic action did
not include. A successful diplomat to-day must master the intricate
organization and interaction of world-wide industrial, commercial,
and scientific forces which give to national life a new and broader
significance.

146 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

In these matters private initiative is of course far bolder and
more optimistic than that of the state. It is not beset by the ever-
present care to preserve sovereignty intact, nor does it regard every
interest from the point of view of national organization. But the
very lack of responsibility may at times also be a disadvantage, as is
also the want of technical experience when questions of detail in
public administration are involved. Private initiative will frequently
assume that international society has already been created, ignoring
the fact that for the time being the realization of broad aims still
depends largely upon the efficiency of the national governments. In
its zeal it is apt to forget the natural limitations upon administrative
action, and for international purposes will demand acts of govern-
mental interference which it would scarcely tolerate if demanded
from the point of view of national policy. The manner in which
private initiative often loses the proper perspective is illustrated by
the second congress against white slavery, which recommended that
the postal administrations should not deliver postc restante mail to
young girls without the consent of their parents. The difficulties of
administration which such an arrangement, well intentioned though
it be, would entail were certainly not given due consideration.

The great unions dealing with the communication interests were
all the result primarily of public initiative. Treaties between two
powers or a group of powers grew up and increased in numbers
until, as pointed out above, the unification on an international basis
presented itself as the only rational and practical solution of the
difficulties. The definite suggestion of forming some of these organ-
izations, such as the railway freight union, came indeed from private
individuals, who worked out preliminary projects ; but in all these
cases the definite steps leading to the establishment of the unions
were taken by public authorities. The great sanitary conventions of
the last two decades were also the result of public initiative, although
in these cases a long series of expert technical conferences preceded
diplomatic action. In a similar way the unions dealing with the
metric system, the suppression of the slave trade, the sugar bounties,
and the publication of customs tariffs, were created by public agen-
cies, as was also the scientific union for the study of geodesy. The
international unions dealing with the police of the high seas, as well
as the bodies which manage specific local affairs, such as the Danube

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW 147

commission and the Egyptian caisse de la dcttc, present them-
selves under the aspect of an extension of national organs of admin-
istration for the protection of interests beyond the boundaries of the
state, and were therefore naturally the result of direct public initiative.

Private initiative, on the other hand, has been most active and effec-
tive in connection with general economic interests in which the politi-
cal authorities are not so necessarily and directly involved as they are
in the control of communication, sanitation, and the police. In the
three important fields of literary and industrial property, labor legis-
lation, and agriculture, the public unions which now exist are the
result primarily of a determined and persistent private initiative. Two
societies, the international association for the protection of industrial
property7 and the international literary and artistic association, agitated
for the adequate protection of authors and inventors and worked out
definite projects for international conventions. Urged on by this
initiative, individual states thereupon took the necessary steps to
bring about the convocation of diplomatic conferences through which
the subject matter was given authoritative form. Permanent interna-
tional organs of administration were also created for the safeguarding
of these rights.

Among all the subjects concerning which international action has
been taken, none perhaps illustrates more strikingly than labor legis-
lation the necessity and promise of this method of procedure, but
at the same time the great difficulties which oppose themselves to
the realization of any general plan of operation. Early in the devel-
opment of the international movement it was realized that under-
standings of a world-wide scope would ultimately be necessary to the
very existence of advanced national labor legislation. It would evi-
dently be impossible for an isolated nation to institute a system of
perfect protection for its labor forces while those nations who were
its principal competitors in the industrial field continued in the use
of a system under which labor forces were exhaustively exploited.
Another reason for treaty arrangements in this matter is found in
the fact that the labor supply is becoming more and more an inter-
national commodity. No longer based exclusively upon the native
element in any one state, it is determined rather by importation and
exportation of labor forces, whose temporary cooperation with local
laborers necessitates some kind of understanding between nations

148 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

upon this matter. Various international associations of a private
nature were formed, composed either of the direct representatives of
labor striving for a more complete recognition of its needs, or of
persons who interested themselves in the situation of workingmen
from a scientific or humanitarian point of view. The labor interest,
both in its economic and scientific aspect, therefore received an
organization which corresponded to the economic facts involved. A
strong sentiment was thus created for the founding of a public inter-
national union dealing with labor problems. A number of govern-
ments sent delegates to the general assemblies of the international
association for the legal protection of labor, giving this organization
a quasi-public character. Finally, a diplomatic conference was con-
vened in which certain proposals that had been worked out by the
association were discussed, and where certain general legislative prin-
ciples were adopted.

As we have seen in a preceding chapter the first suggestion
toward the establishment of the international institute of agriculture
was made by a private person who brought his ideas to the attention
of various governments. The proposal was finally taken up by the
king of Italy, and public initiative thus took the place of private sug-
gestion. The ideas of the originator of this movement had also been
discussed and indorsed by the international association for agriculture,
a private organization. In this case the action taken by the public
authorities fell far short of what had been expected by the original
sponsors of the movement. Instead of creating an organ empowered
to take direct action for the protection of the various interests of agri-
culture, the diplomatic conference which acted as a constituent
assembly in this matter did not go beyond founding an intelligence
bureau, the administrative functions of which are very limited.

Private initiative has also brought about the creation of international
unions with respect to penitentiary science, seismology, the repression
of the white-slave trade, and the great humanitarian enterprise of the
international Red Cross association. In general it may be said that
the movement of internationalism, even in its public or authoritative
manifestations, has been advanced most through the associated effort
of private individuals. States naturally move with caution in these
matters, and it is only when a need has become imperative and when
means and methods have been worked out and shown to be safe and

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW 149

practical, that public authorities feel justified in entering into inter-
national administrative arrangements.

When a union has once been created, admission to it is, as a rule,
granted freely. Any state may therefore ordinarily acquire member-
ship by merely declaring its adherence to the conventions concluded,
and by assuming the burdens imposed by them. Such adherence is
notified to the "directing state" — the government in whose terri-
tory the international bureau is established — and by it communicated
to the other member states. This method prevails in nearly all the
unions. An exceptional method is followed in those unions in which
very special burdens are imposed upon the treaty states. Thus in the
European railway freight union the request of a country to be admitted
to membership must be addressed to the directing state ; it is then
referred to and reported on by the bureau, submitted to the member
states, and acted upon by them. Unanimous action of the latter is
necessary in order that a new member may be admitted. In the sugar
union the request for admission must be acted on by the commission
of the union, to whom it is transmitted through the Belgian govern-
ment, which is, in this case, the directing state. Admission to the
union for the suppression of the slave trade may be made subject to
certain conditions, which are applied upon motion of the treaty states.
The common law of international unions may therefore be stated to
be that the unions are open to all nations who are ready to assume
the burdens imposed, and that the accession of all civilized countries
will be encouraged. The purposes of these unions can of course be
fulfilled best with a complete membership, including all the states of
the world. Some of the unions, such as the postal union and the
agricultural institute, closely approach this condition.

In certain unions membership is limited by natural causes or by
the specific nature of the purpose for which the union has been cre-
ated. The union of American republics is limited by a geographical
fact. The European railway freight union, the North Sea fisheries
union, the Danube convention, are other examples of special purposes,
which imply a limited membership.

Organs and institutions. The method of organization in the inter-
national unions tends toward uniformity. There is a general sys-
tem which may be considered as the normal scheme of organization,
although all its individual parts will not be found in every instance.

150 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

The tendency toward imitation has manifested itself in this field as
in other fields of social enterprise. Methods of organization which,
though established in the face of great opposition, have subsequently
proved their usefulness and thus justified their existence will natu-
rally be imitated in the creation of new unions.

The constituent assembly and general legislative organ of the inter-
national union is the conference or congress. The use of the former
term is becoming more general, although the meetings of the postal
union are still called congresses, while in the case of the agricultural
institute the term " general assembly " has been employed. The at-
tempt to distinguish sharply between the terms "congress" and "con-
ference " seems to be futile. As used in general diplomatic language,
the term " congress " may be said to refer to an important assembly
of plenipotentiaries for the discussion and settlement of a definite
political situation demanding immediate action by the powers. In this
manner the term is employed in connection with the congress of
Vienna, the congress of Paris, and the congress of Berlin. In the
past, congresses of this kind have been called when, as the result of a
great war, the political equilibrium had been destroyed and when vast
interests were in the balance, requiring authoritative and immediate
settlement. The term " conference " is used more generally where the
subject of discussion is some specific interest or group of interests.
A conference does not ordinarily work in the presence of a political
situation which imposes upon it imperative demands of action. It
deals with matters in which action seems advisable, in which mutual
counsel should be had, but it is free from the immediate urgency of
political adjustments. The term is applied even to the general Hague
conference, in which the most important interests of nations are dis-
cussed by plenipotentiaries. If the phraseology were determined by
the importance of the interests involved and by the diplomatic char-
acter of the delegates, the term " congress " certainly should be used in
this case. The only element which distinguishes the Hague meetings
from those to which the term " congress " has been applied in the past
is the absence of an urgent political situation calling for immediate
international action of a fundamental and definitive nature, such as
that taken in 181 5, or 1856, or 1878. It may however be that the
term " congress " is destined to entire disuse in connection with in-
ternational meetings of public representatives. The technical reason

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

151

assigned for still calling the meetings of the postal union " congresses "
is that they have the right and function of making changes in the
original convention ; as distinguished, for instance, from the confer-
ence of the telegraphic union, which cannot modify the original
convention, but must confine its action to the provisions of the ad-
ministrative rcglcmcnt. The reason for this usage is, however, not
of universal validity, because, like the postal congresses, conferences
of other unions may inaugurate changes in the fundamental conven-
tions ; or meetings especially convoked for the purpose of making
such changes are designated as conferences and not as congresses.

On the other hand, the usage is growing up of giving the name
" congress " to large international meetings of private individuals.
Thus we speak of international scientific congresses. In this manner
a change in our phraseology seems to be taking place, the more dig-
nified and formal term " congress " being now used for meetings
which have no public or authoritative character ; whereas assemblies
which enjoy diplomatic powers or a public initiative are almost
uniformly designated as conferences.

The conference of an international union may either meet at periods
whose occurrence is definitely fixed in the convention, or, in a smaller
number of unions, at a time determined by the preceding conference,
or upon special call by member states. Thus, for instance, the con-
gress of the postal union meets no later than five years after the acts
of the previous congress went into effect ; the conference of the geo-
detic union meets every three years ; while that of the union of Amer-
ican states meets at a time determined by the governing board of the
Pan-American Union, within five years of the last conference. The
conference acts both as a constituent assembly and as a legislature.
As the original convention was the work of a conference, so, in gen-
eral, changes in the convention or in additional acts may be inaugu-
rated by it. The ordinary legislation of the union, contained in the
rtglcmaits, is, of course, also subject to action by the conference, al-
though in some cases the initiative in this matter is delegated to the
commission. The conferences engage in discussions of questions of
general policy, in the comparison of methods, and in the criticism of
results. In the scientific unions the advances made by the particular
science, reports on investigations, and the determination of methods
to be employed in future study constitute the principal subjects of

152 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

discussion, outside of the technical rules which may be made for the
guidance of the executive organs.

For action in congresses and conferences, unanimity is the general
rule. Readiness to subordinate national interests to the vote of a ma-
jority of states has as yet not been manifested to any large extent.
Each member of the union reserves to itself the right to approve or
disapprove of any important change or innovation introduced in the
organization. It is a general principle of the action of international
unions that it must not bear upon subjects in which the solidarity of
the nations interested is not fully recognized. As long as differences
of interest are keenly felt, common action is impossible. Of course
it always remains open to the nations which desire certain arrange-
ments not yet favored by the totality of the membership, to form
a restricted union for the specific purpose of enjoying among them-
selves the advantages of the measure proposed. If this action is
really of such a nature as to be inherently advantageous to all states
without distinction, the tendency is for such restricted unions to grow
larger until they finally absorb the entire membership of the respec-
tive union. In developing international cooperation, too great reliance
ought not to be placed, however, upon the mere force of the major-
ity. The only validity that may be attributed to it is that inherent in
the reason and practicalness of the ideas suggested, which may ulti-
mately bring about unanimity among all the nations concerned. In
order that any action may be had, it is therefore necessary that a
common standing ground, a coincidence of interests, should be dis-
covered. At times, however, action is also favored by generous
impulses and by the feeling that something must be done by an in-
ternational conference in order that its existence may be justified.

There are certain exceptions to the rule requiring unanimity of votes
in the international unions. In the general assembly of the agricultural
institute two thirds of all votes constitute a quorum and can therefore
take action. The sugar commission, which enjoys certain legislative
powers, acts by a majority of votes. The same is true of the superior
council of health at Constantinople. In the postal union a peculiar
provision obtains. In the interval between conferences, suggestions
for changes in the legislative arrangements of the union may be pro-
posed by any three member states. Such proposals will then be
submitted to all the members. In order that they may be adopted,

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW 153

unanimity is necessary only in proposals affecting the most important
parts of the convention ; with respect to other parts a two-thirds vote,
or even a simple majority, is sufficient.

In nearly all the unions a distinction is made between the conven-
tion and the reglement. The former determines the organization of
the union, together with some of the fundamental principles upon
which it is to operate. Thus, for instance, the postal convention estab-
lishes the principle of free transit and rules defining the responsi-
bility of the various administrations for losses of postal matter. The
ordinary operations of the union are regulated by the reglement, which
has the juristic character of an administrative ordinance. Changes in
the convention necessitate diplomatic action, and require, therefore,
greater formality as well as more extensive deliberation. The pres-
ence of diplomatic representatives is always necessary when a conven-
tion is to be changed. Changes in the reglement, however, may be
made by technical delegates ; or, in certain cases even, the function
of determining the administrative rules may be delegated to a com-
mission. The commission of the sugar union, for example, elaborated
the reglement (June 20, 1903) which makes detailed regulations of
an administrative nature respecting the customs treatment of sugars,
their transit and importation. The administration of sanitary affairs
in the ports of Turkey and the near East is determined in its details
by the reglements worked out by the councils of health at Con-
stantinople and Alexandria, which in turn are based on the general
convention.

The next organ of the international unions to be considered is the
commission. This may be defined as a governing board whose duty
it is to superintend the administrative work of the union carried on
by the bureau and other agencies. As just stated, the commissions
are sometimes intrusted with the duty of preparing administrative
regulations, or even, as in the case of the sugar union and the sani-
tary councils, of working out a complete code of administrative ac-
tion. Their administrative control is therefore at times of such a na-
ture as to assume a quasi-legislative character. The commissions also
exercise a certain fiscal control over the expenses of the bureaus of
the union, and in some cases arbitral functions have been intrusted
to them. The commission is a recent development marking a more
complete evolution of the international union. In the older unions,

154 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

commissions have not been instituted, but the function of control which
they ordinarily exercise is in these cases intrusted to the government
in whose territory the bureau is situated.

The commissions are made up of representatives of the treaty
powers. In some, all of the treaty powers are represented. Thus the
governing board of the Pan-American union is composed of the rep-
resentatives of the Latin-American republics at Washington, under
the presidency of the American Secretary of State. The commissions
of the sugar union and of the international institute of agriculture
are also composed of representatives of all the treaty states. In some
of the unions, however, the commission is elected by the conference,
and contains a smaller number of members than the number of treaty
states. Thus in the metrical union it is composed of fourteen members,
half being renewed at each session of the conference, i.e. every six
years. The permanent commission of the geodetic union is composed
of two ex officio members and of nine others nominated by the con-
ference. Four or five of the positions are refilled at each meeting of
the conference, every three years. Other unions which make use of
this organ are the penitentiary union, the union for the exploration
of the sea, hygiene and demography, seismology, and formulas for
potent drugs.

The requirement of unanimity is not usually applied to action by
the commissions. Even the sugar commission, which is intrusted with
the most important powers, acts by a majority of votes. As the ad-
ministrative and quasi-legislative functions of these commissions grow
in importance, the principle of international action will be strength-
ened, especially on account of the absence of the majority require-
ment. The commission will therefore be seen to constitute an
important step in advance in international organization, as implying
that in some cases nations have come to recognize the necessity or
desirability of subordinating their special wishes to the will of the
majority. Most of these unions, it is true, deal with scientific inter-
ests, and the functions of their commissions are therefore not apt
to result in political action. But the establishment of the principle
of majority action is nevertheless favored by this form of organiza-
tion, and especially by the admission of that mode of action in the
sugar union, which deals with most important economic and fiscal
interests.

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

155

Practically all the unions make use of a central office or bureau as
their chief administrative agency. The bureau is the connecting link
between the various national administrations. It furnishes them in-
formation about the interests of the particular union, acts as interme-
diary between the governments, and carries out the specific administra-
tive duties assigned to it in the reglcmcnt. Though its duties are chiefly
informational, instances are not lacking where it has been intrusted
with more positive powers of administration, and even with arbitral
functions. While the term " bureau " is the ordinary designation, the
words " secretariate " or " office " are also occasionally employed.1
All the unions which use the commission employ also the bureau as
an administrative agency ; in addition, the following unions have inter-
national bureaus : telegraphy, posts, railway freight, industrial and lit-
erary property, publication of customs tariffs, labor, slave trade, and
catalogue of science.

It remains for us to consider the functions of the directing and
supervising government, i.e. the government in whose territory the
international bureau is situated. It is the ordinary practice to locate
the central office of a union in a small neutral state. Thus far Switzer-
land has been the favorite home, harboring the central offices of the
telegraphic, postal, railway, industrial and literary property, labor, and
penitentiary unions. The preference originally accorded to Switzer-
land is probably due to the fact that this country is both centrally
located and entirely independent of extraneous influences ; its use
of four distinct idioms is also an advantage. More recently a number
of bureaus have been located in Belgium (customs tariffs, sugar, slave
trade, potent drugs). The jealousy which formerly prevented their
location in the territory of more powerful nations seems to be yielding
somewhat at the present time, for in addition to the older scientific
bureaus, the new bureau of hygiene has been established at Paris, while
Germany harbors the central office of the two scientific unions of seis-
mology and geodesy, and Italy has become the home of the international
institute of agriculture. It will be noted that nearly all these unions
established more recently have created commissions or governing
boards. In the unions which have no commission — this is the case
with most of the unions located in Switzerland — the regulation of

1 The bureau of the union of American republics is now known as the " Pan-
American Union."

156 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

the administrative organization of the bureau, and the general super-
vision of its work, is left to the directing government. The bureaus
situated in Switzerland are under the control of one of the Swiss
departments, such as the Department of Post Offices and Railways.
The action of the Swiss government with respect to the civil service
of these bureaus has been criticized because of the somewhat narrow
policy of confining appointments to these positions to Swiss subjects.
The total advantage which Switzerland draws from this arrangement,
however, is not very extensive, as the budgets of all these unions are
exceedingly small. In Belgium the antislavery and the customs
tariffs bureaus are under the direct charge of the Foreign Office.
The Pan-American Union comes under the control of the government
of the United States only inasmuch as the American Secretary of
State is the president of the governing board of the bureau.

In unions which use the commission as the organ of control, the
directing government simply exercises the function of a diplomatic
intermediary between the treaty states and the bureau. Thus, for in-
stance, communications to the sugar commission are made through
the Belgian government. There seems to be a certain reluctance to
permit the international commissions or offices to establish direct rela-
tions with the treaty governments. They may indeed in some unions
furnish information by way of routine correspondence, but more formal
matters are usually communicated through the foreign office of the
government in whose territory the bureau is situated. The Pan-
American Union corresponds with the governments through their
diplomatic representatives in Washington. Correspondence with any
government is permitted only in the absence of diplomatic represen-
tation ; but the union may correspond directly with the various Pan-
American commissions.

Legislation. A general review of the field of legislation as occupied
and developed by the international unions reveals that there are three
classes of arrangements in which all the legislative acts of unions may
be grouped.1 The most notable of these classes contains the efforts
which are made to bring about a unification of the substantive law
governing any international interest. Uniformity of legislation is an
ideal which under the present conditions of national life can be ap-
plied only to a limited number of general principles. Moreover, it is

1 The more general phases of this subject have been treated above, p. 135.

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW 157

not in all fields that the process of international unification is at the
present time considered feasible, even in a partial form. There is,
however, one branch of law in which a unifying activity is demanded
by the most essential characteristics of modern civilization. The de-
velopment of rapid communication has very nearly made the world
into a unit in so far as the transmission of intelligence and the trans-
portation of passengers and goods are concerned. Even before this
advance had been made, the convenience of having a uniform law in
matters of transportation by sea and land was generally recognized ;
the recent developments already mentioned have only emphasized
this desire. The most substantial achievement which has thus far
resulted from the international movement is the creation of a railway
freight code for the European continental states. The questions aris-
ing in transportation are here juristically treated upon a uniform basis,
with the result that the freight intercommunication between the con-
tinental states of Europe has been to a large extent freed from diffi-
culties and annoyances. A determined effort is even at the present
time being made to reduce the principles of the maritime law to a
condition of uniformity. As the law merchant and the maritime law
were originally international, or rather had the character of a world
law independent of national jurisdiction, created by the spontaneous
action of merchants, bankers, carriers, and shippers throughout the
medieval world, even so it is hoped that at the present time, when
the interests of communication have so decidedly transcended national
boundaries, we may again unify the maritime law and give it a world-
wide currency. In the conventions relating to the telegraphic and
postal unions, certain general principles respecting the duties and
responsibilities of public administrations have been definitely settled.
In some of the unions the establishment of uniform principles of
law for all the nations is indeed the prime motive of action. Thus
the international association for labor legislation works specifically
toward the uniformity of labor-protection laws, and in the conventions
already elaborated it is this principle which is applied, though thus far
only a very limited field has been covered.

The second class of international legislation consists of administra-
tive regulations. In this class, too, the ideal of uniformity is para-
mount, — the methods of the various national administrations arc to
be simplified and based upon a common standard. But in addition

158 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

to the unification of administrative processes cooperation pure and
simple is aimed at, and therefore legislation of this kind often only
establishes certain new relations between the governments by which
there may be bound together administrations that retain in the
management of their own affairs different rules of action.

The third class of international legislative arrangements rests upon
a different idea. In this class it is not uniformity that is primarily
sought, but mutuality of advantages. No attempt is necessarily made
to modify the details of the national administration, but it is simply
provided that the subjects of each one of the treaty states shall be ad-
mitted to the legal advantages granted to the subjects of every other.
Thus the unions for the protection of industrial and intellectual prop-
erty have until recently worked mainly with the purpose of obtaining
a mutuality of advantages, so that, even without any changes in the
copyright law of a given state, foreigners might be admitted to an en-
joyment of the protection under such legislation, in return for a simi-
lar benefit granted by their own sovereign state. But it must be noted
that mutuality will after all rarely be the sole purpose of an interna-
tional union. Even in the unions mentioned, the purpose of securing
mutuality is accompanied by an effort to assure a minimum of protec-
tion for copyrights and patents in all the treaty states, and further-
more to arrive at a uniform interpretation of disputed questions in the
law of copyrights, such as, for instance, the question of the nature of
publication and of the dependence upon the original patent or copy-
right of a privilege granted to the same person in a foreign country.

We may note in passing that it requires rather more of an effort
to achieve uniformity of substantive law than to harmonize admin-
istrative methods and processes. The latter may be modified by mere
executive orders, while a change in the substantive law of a state
necessitates a more formal act. The reaction of treaty arrangements
upon the national systems of law and government is therefore far
more powerful in the field of administrative action than in substan-
tive civil law. In the scientific unions the uniformity of processes of
investigation constitutes, of course, the prime purpose of common
action. The unifying tendencies of these organizations do not en-
counter the difficulties occasioned by national differences of admin-
istration to nearly the same extent as is the case in the unions dealing
with political or economic interests. But also in those unions which

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW 159

afford a protection against disease, such as the sanitary union or the
union against phylloxera, no great difficulties will be encountered by
the demand for uniformity when it is once made clear that the judg-
ment of science has positively decided that certain methods are indis-
pensable if a country is to be protected from invasion by disease. I
do not mean to say that these unions will be free from the difficulties
caused by national differences in administration, and by the tenacity
with which local methods are maintained ; yet their action will in
general be the less impeded by such considerations, as it incorporates
the dictates of science, against which there is no appeal in matters of
this kind.

The nature of the substantive rules enacted by international legis-
lation is, as has already been indicated, characterized by simplicity
and by perfect coaptation. Before a rule is given sanction by inter-
national treaty, its applicability and validity must have been tested
to the complete satisfaction of the treaty states. Mere experimen-
tation on such a vast scale is inadvisable. The consequences of legal
arrangements must be tested either on a national basis, or in a more
restricted international union, before general rules of a legal nature
will commend themselves to a large group of states for permanent
adoption. And yet when the entire field of international legislation
is surveyed, it is surprising what substantial bodies of law have already
been created by such common agreement.

The nature of the rules enacted may be illustrated by the following
examples : In the law of communication, the principle of freedom
of transmission of telegrams, wireless messages, and letters has been
established. In the European freight union, the duties of a common
carrier are enforced in so far as the acceptance, care, and delivery
of merchandise are concerned ; moreover, the responsibilities of the
carrier are strictly defined, so as to exclude national differences of
interpretation. The postal union well illustrates the process of inter-
national legislation. Only comparatively few rules of practice, and
these of a very general character, have been established by law for the
entire union. The principal among these relate to the obligatory ac-
ceptance of mail matter, registry and indemnity for the loss of regis-
tered packages, the relations of the postal administrations to one
another, the charges to be made for international services when pre-
paid and the liabilities incurred in case of insufficient prepayment,

160 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

the forwarding of letters and parcels, the classes of articles to be
excluded from the mails, the exchange of mail with warships, and
the counterfeiting of stamps. All such matters are administrative in
their nature, but with respect to them general rules of action and
responsibility must be established, whether for all nations or for the
members of a restricted union. Thus, after the principle had first
been tested by the experience of a smaller group of nations, the postal
congress of Rome in 1906 finally made general the responsibility of
postal administrations for the loss of registered mail matter.

The legislation of the sanitary union may be illustrated by the
following details, which are contained in the treaty of 1903 : The
duty of notification when epidemic exists, the declaring of quarantines
and their duration, the measures of protection allowed to be applied
by an individual state with respect to the disinfection of incoming
passengers, merchandise, and ships, and special dispositions regard-
ing the Red Sea, Suez Canal, and Persian Gulf. The convention on
labor legislation provides for uniform principles with respect to the
forbidding of night labor by women and the use of white phosphorus
in the industrial arts. The sugar union has limited the amount of
duty to be levied upon imported sugar and has entirely forbidden the
granting of bounties to sugar producers. Enough examples have per-
haps been given to indicate how largely international legislation is
concerned with administrative methods and processes. Efforts to
make uniform laws by which the rights of individual citizens would
be regulated are, however, also encountered, although they are prom-
inent only in those unions whose sphere of action directly affects
private law. Of this nature are the rules prohibiting certain kinds of
labor or the use of certain substances in manufactures, as well as
those more comprehensive attempts to standardize the protection of
copyrights and patents, and the rules on conflict of laws.

Administrative activities. The administrative activities of the inter-
national unions vary with their manifold purposes. Thus far, national
governments have exhibited great reluctance in endowing the organs
of the unions with direct powers of action. As long as they confine
themselves to establishing means of communication between govern-
ments, to affording occasions for the periodic interchange of opinions
and comparison of results, even the greatest upholder of national
sovereignty will not discover any dangers in such arrangements. But

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW 161

once permit the organs thus created to make binding decisions or to
take administrative action which the individual sovereignties are bound
to respect, and an entirely different situation is created. Yet the needs
of international intercourse have become so prominent that it has been
found imperative in many cases to give a certain limited power of
action, carefully guarded and well defined, to the international admin-
istrative organs.

Their general purpose is of course to serve as a link of commu-
nication between the contracting states, so that, should these desire to
bring about any change in administrative arrangements or in the rela-
tions among themselves in the matter covered by the respective union,
they will have ready at hand an organ through which their efforts
may legally and properly be made. The bureaus of the unions are
therefore quite generally charged with the duty of giving due form
to demands for changes in the respective convention or reglcmait.
More initiatory or authoritative functions have been intrusted to a num-
ber of them. Thus the slave-trade bureau at Zanzibar superintends
the enforcement of the general antislavery act, which gives it a cer-
tain power of control over the vessels furnished by the treaty powers
for police duty in African waters. The sanitary councils of Constan-
tinople and Alexandria exercise a direct administrative control over
the various quarantine stations of the Levant and the Persian Gulf.
The mixed commission of the Danube, the caisse de la dette, and the
Turkish debt commission fulfill specific functions indicated by their
local purposes. The Pan-American Union has been charged with the
duty of obtaining information for the governments of America which
may be useful to them with regard to projected public works. The
governing board of the bureau, moreover, fixes the date and program
of future conferences. The international patent bureau at Bern, in
behalf of a restricted union for this purpose, acts as a registry of trade-
marks, which are thus made ipso facto valid in all the states signatory
to the convention. The work of the metric bureau and of the bureaus
of the scientific unions can be called administrative only in the sense
that it aims at the evolution of more adequate methods of investiga-
tion in the sciences concerned. The metric bureau, however, has the
specific administrative duty of preserving the original standards of
weights and measures, and of issuing to governments and associations
duplicates of such standards carefully tested as to their accuracy.

1 62 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

More extensive and important administrative powers have been
intrusted to the sugar commission. As already noted, it has the
quasi-legislative function of preparing regulations for the customs
administrations with a view of preventing the secret importation of
bounty-fed sugars into the treaty states. The commission also decides
upon requests for the admission of new members. In addition to
these and other functions, it has the very important power of making
certain determinations of fact on the basis of which the legislation of
the treaty states must be modified under the provisions of the conven-
tion. Thus it is instructed to ascertain if in any of the contracting
states any sugar bounty is given ; further, to determine the existence
of bounties in noncontracting states and the amount of such bounties,
with a view to applying the compensatory duties provided for in the
treaty ; and, finally, it may authorize the levy of a surcharge by one
treaty state against another. The treaty not only fixes the maximum
duties permissible on sugar imports, but it also establishes a general
scale of countervailing duties to be levied against countries paying a
bounty to their sugar producers. But all the determinations of fact
upon which the levying of such duties is dependent are made by the
international sugar commission. It is difficult to define a function
of this kind. It may perhaps be described as essentially judicial in
that its main element is the determination of fact ; but as it is a situ-
ation rather than an isolated fact which the commission is to deter-
mine, its power may in many cases be in its effect practically legislative,
in that it may determine the duty of any treaty government to levy
certain taxes or to make certain administrative arrangements. The
functions attributed to the sugar commission include the greatest
powers as yet intrusted to any international organ. The policy of
granting such attributes was not discussed as a theoretical question,
but the course of action was forced upon the treaty states by the situ-
ation of the sugar industry at the time when the treaty was concluded.

It is quite a general practice to give functions of a fiscal nature
to the international bureaus and commissions. Sometimes accounts
between different national administrations are to be settled. Thus,
in the postal union, the bureau acts as a clearing house between the
administrations and provides for the settlement of unsatisfied balances.
In a similar way the bureau of the railway freight union acts as a
fiscal center for the collection of arrears and the settlement of balances

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW 163

between the administrations. The bureau for industrial property,
which is charged with the special work of trade-mark registry for the
restricted union, derives a direct income from this service, as it levies
a fee of one hundred francs for the registry of a trade-mark and fifty
francs for each additional trade-mark registered by the same proprietor
at the same time. The proceeds from these fees are, after deduction
of the expense of administration, divided among the members of the
restricted union. The governing board of the Pan-American LTnion
deliberates on and fixes the annual budget of the bureau, which must
be submitted to it by the director of that institution ; a similar finan-
cial control is exercised by the council of the bureau at The Hague.

The financial support of the international bureaus and commissions
is usually derived from direct contributions by the member states. In
some instances these contributions are made pro rata, according to
the population of the member states (e.g. American union), or the
expense may be borne in equal shares by all the members (e.g.
sugar union). In the railway union the expenses are borne in pro-
portion to the mileage of railways operated for international pur-
poses in the various countries. Another method is to divide the
member states into classes and to attribute to each class a certain
number of units in the expenditure. Thus the members of the union
for the protection of industrial property are divided into six classes.
Those belonging to the first class pay twenty-five units, those of the
second class twenty units, and so on down to the sixth, which pay
three units. The annual expense of the union is divided by the total
number of units, and the individual unit is then multiplied by the
number associated with a particular class. A similar system is used
in the international institute of agriculture, the postal, and the sanitary
unions. The treaty states are given the choice as to which group they
desire to enter. Stringent regulations covering default of payment
are not always made, as the national self-respect of the member states
is deemed a sufficient guaranty of payment. But in some cases a
definite sanction is provided ; in the metric union, for instance, the
failure of a member state to pay its quota for three years in succes-
sion results in the striking of its name from the list of member-
ship. It occasionally happens that the international unions receive
special support from a particular nation, or from private sources. The
American union thus recently received the sum of $750,000 from

1 64 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

Mr. Carnegie for the purpose of erecting a suitable building as a home
for its bureau ; and upon the establishment of the international insti-
tute of agriculture, the king of Italy 'made a very substantial donation
for the purpose of assisting in its maintenance.

The conventions by which international unions are created gener-
ally contain a determination of the maximum of annual contributions
or expenses. While the budgets of the states and of the unions are
usually annual, governments nevertheless bind themselves in many
cases to support the work of a union for a period of years. Depend-
ence of international activities upon annual budgets would be a great
disadvantage, in that organizations which deal with big interests ought
to plan their work for a long period in advance. The directing gov-
ernment often acts as the treasurer or financial representative of the
union. Thus, according to the rbglement of the postal union, "The
Swiss administration supervises the expenses of the international
bureau, makes the necessary advances, and prepares the annual
account, which is communicated to all the other administrations."
The same system is followed in the telegraphic union. Funds for
the support of the sugar union are paid to the Belgian government
and are applied by it to the purposes of the organization. On the
other hand, the idea of endowing international unions with an inde-
pendent financial system is beginning to find favor. Thus the Pan-
American conference at Buenos Aires provided for an independent
treasury and separate fiscal accountability of the Pan-American union
in Washington. After the annual budget has been prepared by the
director general and adopted by the governing board, it is communi-
cated to the member states ; they are then held within a certain period
to pay their quota into the treasury of the union. An auditing com-
mittee is appointed by the governing board for the purpose of making
a complete annual revision of accounts.

In some of the unions, methods have been established for the
arbitration of controverted questions. It is evident that a complete
organization of internationalism would involve the creation of inter-
national tribunals in which controversies with respect to the various
interests represented might be heard and decided. The general
opposition which the principle of obligatory arbitration has encoun-
tered has thus far prevented any far-reaching action in this matter.
Nevertheless, in a number of instances, arrangements for arbitral

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW 165

settlement of controversies have been concluded, which may indeed
be looked upon as important precedents in the general movement.
When at the second Hague conference the question of arbitration
was being discussed in committee, it was strongly urged and seri-
ously considered that all the interests which had been publicly organ-
ized upon an international basis should be made subject to arbitration
procedure.1 This fact very well illustrates the connection between the
establishment of the unions and the growth of a general feeling of
international community. It was not merely an accidental suggestion
that was made at The Hague, but rather the announcement of a
principle which takes account of the most salient facts in the present
organization of the civilized world. If certain international interests
have arrived at a stage where their importance is recognized to the
extent that separate international institutions have been created to
guard over them and to develop them, it may well be argued that
these very interests constitute the most natural subjects for arbitra-
tion. If their administration has been made international and to a
definite extent common among all the nations, the decision of contro-
verted questions with respect to them may also safely be left to an
international .organ. Although the opposition to the general principle
of arbitration was still so strong upon this occasion that the above
suggestion was not enacted in the form of a convention, it neverthe-
less embodied a sound principle of policy and is at present influencing
nations in the making of special treaties upon this subject matter.

Turning, now, to the specific arrangements for arbitration which
have already been instituted, we note that in the postal union the
bureau is instructed, upon demand of the parties, to give advice on
controverted questions. Moreover, it is provided that questions con-
cerning the responsibility of any administration under the postal
convention and disputed interpretations of its provisions shall be

1 The proposal contemplated that controversies of a legal nature, and especially
those relative to the interpretation of existing treaties, should be submitted to arbi-
tration ; among the classes of treaties to be included in this arrangement were the
following, relating to international unions : protection of laborers, patents and copy-
rights, monetary systems, weights and measures, sanitation, phylloxera, and animal
diseases. M. Alberto D'Oliveira, a delegate of Portugal, spoke as follows about this
matter : " The world-wide conventions establish the accord of converging interests,
the accord of all the states to bring about a unification of international services.
Here there is no occasion for a collision of interests ; whenever there occurs a di-
vergence in the interpretation of treaties, all the states have the same interest in
obtaining an equitable solution." (Session of Committee A, August 15, 1907.)

1 66 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

submitted to arbitration upon the instance of one of the parties, the
arbitrators in such case being two or three impartial governments.
This provision is of great interest in that it represents the first en-
actment by public authority of the requirement of compulsory inter-
national arbitration. Restricted as it is in its sphere of application, it
nevertheless contains the complete principle of compulsory arbitration
without abatement, and therefore may well be cited as a notable prec-
edent in the future development of that method of procedure. Up
to 1907, twelve cases had been submitted to the postal bureau for advi-
sory arbitration, and three had been decided definitively by arbitrators.

In the railway union the central bureau is charged, at the demand
of the parties to the controversy, to pronounce arbitral sentences in
disputes between different railway administrations. The suggestion
made in 1904 that this power should be extended to controversies
between railway administrations and private persons was not adopted
by the conference. We have already seen that the determination of
facts made by the sugar commission may be considered as quasi-
judicial in their nature ; but in addition to this duty, the commission
is charged to give advice on disputed questions at the request of the
governments or their delegates. The convention for the regulation
of wireless telegraphy also provides for the arbitration of controversies
concerning the interpretation and execution of treaty requirements.

The most common function of the international bureaus is that of
furnishing reliable and adequate information concerning the particular
interest they deal with. This is the main work of such bureaus as
that of industrial and literary property, the American republics, cus-
toms tariffs, labor, sugar, agriculture, hygiene, and the slave trade
(Brussels). It was as purely informational agencies that most of these
bureaus came into being. This truly inoffensive function became the
entering wedge for other and more important attributes, but even
considered entirely by itself it is by no means of small importance.
As a basis for national legislation, impartial and reliable information
about the subject matter involved, from the abundant sources of inter-
national experience, may best be furnished through the central serv-
ice of the various bureaus. National legislation is thus enabled to
take advantage of a wider experience, so that it may avoid the diffi-
culties and drawbacks of local variations and local ignorance of the
broader conditions of legislative problems. World-wide information

INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW 167

is the only sound basis for a growing enlightenment in law-making.
In administrative work governments will find the informational func-
tion of the bureaus of even more constant and general advantage.
An administrative office is reluctant to send letters of inquiry to a
foreign government. It may prefer, out of political reserve or for
other reasons, to rely upon private sources of information — limited,
partial, and in many ways inadequate. A thoroughly effective inter-
national service of information ought to justify itself primarily through
active assistance to administrative offices in the various treaty states.
The publications which have from time to time or at regular periods
been issued by the bureaus have in most cases been of unquestioned
advantage to governments and to the public.

Closely allied to the service of furnishing general and specific
information is that of preparing matters for the conferences of the
unions, a function which is intrusted to many of the international
bureaus. The bureau of the institute of agriculture, for instance, is
instructed to propose measures for the protection of the common in-
terests of agriculture. The Pan-American Union has been directed to
make special investigations of topics proposed for action by the inter-
national American conference. Such reports must be prepared at a
time sufficiently in advance of the conference, in order that the indi-
vidual governments may examine the matter with a view of instructing
their delegates on the basis of the facts set forth. Preparatory work
of this kind is done also by the railway bureau and by the bureau of
the sugar union.

As we consider the totality of administrative activities centered in
the unions, we again note the extreme reluctance which nations have
hitherto felt toward endowing these international organs with positive
powers. It is very common to exaggerate the importance of their func-
tions. The railway bureau, for instance, is sometimes portrayed as in
a measure controlling the various European railway administrations.
In order not to receive a mistaken impression, it is necessary to
remember that these institutions are primarily organs of information
and communication. Other functions, as we have seen, have been
granted, but they are thus far exceptional rather than normal. They
point to future possibilities of development rather than to general pres-
ent achievement. We need only look at the small budgets of these in-
ternational institutions to understand how unprepared are the national

1 68 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

governments to give them a powerful backing and support. On an
annual allowance of from 60,000 to 125,000 francs, such as the
bureaus in Switzerland enjoy, a complicated administration cannot
be developed. However, what has actually been accomplished with
such limited means is the more remarkable. Notwithstanding the
limitation in functions and resources, it is unquestioned that the inter-
national bureaus have succeeded in making for themselves a promi-
nent place in the modern civilized world, a place which they owe
partly to the circumspection and wisdom with which their affairs have
been managed ; partly, however, also to the great and growing im-
portance which we cannot fail to recognize as belonging to the inter-
national organizations which these institutions represent.

CHAPTER VI

INTERNATIONAL UNIONS AND WAR1

The effect of a declaration of war upon treaty arrangements between
the belligerent powers is one of the most unsettled subjects in inter-
national law. That military hostilities should carry with them a serious
interruption of ordinary relations between the respective states and
their citizens is, of course, inevitable. The old view, however, that a
state of war absolutely annuls all treaties existing between the bellig-
erents at the outbreak of hostilities can no longer be accepted. Our
ideas in this respect have to be modified and adapted to the changed
conception of the character of war. War no longer is looked upon as
involving in absolute hostility all the citizens of the belligerents, even
as to the most peaceable pursuits ; it is no longer the complete nega-
tion of lawfulness, the unchaining of all the barbarous impulses of
which mankind is capable. Instead of destroying all law, war is itself
subject to legal restraint ; and as far as it affects individuals, it merely
modifies the execution of jural remedies, but does not abrogate legal
rights and principles. The old conception of warfare which mani-
fested itself during the Thirty Years' struggle, and even later, was
that all the furies of hatred should be let loose against mankind and
all it holds clear, as far as included in the enemy state. The terrors
of these ravages led Grotius to reflect upon means to protect humanity

1 Annuaire de l'institut de droit international, 1879, I0-°2> 1906. Fischer, D. P. D.,
Die Telegraphie und das Vblkerrecht, Leipzig, 1876. Kraemer, Die unterseeischen
Telegraphenkabel in Kriegszeiten, Leipzig, 1903. Rey, F., " Le reseau telegraphique
sous-marin en temps de guerre," Revue generate de droit international public, 1901.
Rolland, De la correspondance postale et telegraphique dans les relations interna-
tionales, Paris, 1901. Scholz, F., Krieg und Seekabel, Berlin, 1904. Drahtlose Tele-
graphie und Neutralitat, Berlin, 1905. Wilson, Submarine Telegraphic Cables, Wash-
ington, 1901. Catellani (Enrico), Condizioni ed effecti giuridici dello stato di guerra.
Maurel, La declaration de guerre (these pour le doctorat, Toulouse). Renault, " Les
unions internationales," Revue generate de droit international public. Renault, " Pro-
tection des cables sousmarins," Revue de droit international. Vol. XII, p. 255. De
Martens, G.-F., Uber die Erneuerung der Vertrage in den Friedensschliissen der
europai'schen Machte, 1797. Jacomet, R., La guerre et les traites, Paris, 190S. Zucu-
lin, B., I cavi sottomarini e il telegrafo senza fili, 1901.

169

170 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

from such outrages. He says : "' Many very strong reasons deter-
mined me to write. I have remarked on all sides in the Christian
world such an unbridled license in warfare that the most barbarous
nations would blush over it ; arms are taken without reason and for
the slightest pretexts, and when once they are held in hand, men
trample under foot every divine and human right, as if thereby one
were authorized and firmly resolved to commit all kinds of crime
without any check." Since then, through the labors of Grotius and
his successors and through the work of responsible statesmen in con-
trol of national armies, restraints have been placed upon the excesses
of war, and gradually the character of that terrible procedure has been
fundamentally changed. We have already established on a secure
foundation the principle of the exemption of noncombatants from
the sufferings of war. If war is to be a trial of strength, affording a
faithful index of national power and resources, everything resembling
a debauch must be strictly excluded. Indiscriminate cruelty and rob-
bery not only offends our sense of justice, but it directly weakens the
culpable army in keeping up to the requirements of modern warfare.
The idea that war must be made as terrible as possible still has some
adherents, but the tendency of action and legislation is in a different
direction. That nation will be most likely to be successful which is
able to control its military forces absolutely, to keep them from rob-
bery and general interference with private rights, and to have them
concentrate their efforts on the great problems of modern military
organization and action. Elements that will make for success in
future struggles, should they arise, must be sought among such as a
high power of efficient organization, the grasp of technical detail, the
successful handling of complicated mechanisms (like battleships), and
the maintenance of discipline upon a level where the rights of non-
combatants will be absolutely respected. These capacities will bring
success, rather than preying on peaceful commerce on the high seas,
ravaging fertile territories, and bombarding defenseless towns. The
time is not far distant when all such barbarous excesses will appear
beneath contempt.

This changed conception of war has affected our views on the
mutual relations of subjects of belligerent states. The ordinary produc-
tive activities of life are already heavily handicapped by the burden
of armaments ; they are, therefore, demanding and receiving greater

INTERNATIONAL UNIONS AND WAR 171

immunity from the danger of interference. It no longer seems pre-
posterous that subjects of different belligerent states might have
peaceful economic relations with one another even during warfare.
The last Hague conference went so far as to adopt a rule to the
effect that "it is especially forbidden to declare extinguished, sus-
pended, or unenforceable in a court of law the rights and rights of
action of nationals of the adverse part}'." Though there is consid-
erable difference of opinion as to the exact meaning of this clause,
even under the narrowest interpretation it involves an enormous
advance in recognizing the exemption of private rights from im-
pairment through war.

The matter which interests us directly in this place, however, is
the effect of war upon treaties. The old absolute rule that all treaties
are annulled by war has, as stated above, been abandoned in practice.
The rule most generally adopted by authorities at the present time is
stated in this language by the French Court of Cassation: "It is
necessary to distinguish general and political treaties regulating the
conditions of peace and of alliance between two or more nations, from
special treaties of hospitality, commerce, etc., which touch more par-
ticularly the interests of private persons in the two states ; though
war destroys the former, it only suspends the latter, which resume
their full force when peace is reestablished, by application of the
principle, Cessante causa, tollitur effectus" x Dambach, in Holtzen-
dorff's treatise, expresses the consensus of authorities in saying :
" Nonpolitical treaties, especially those serving private interests, such
as treaties of commerce, communication, postal service, extradition,
etc., are«not abrogated by war. It is the better opinion that not even all
of such treaties are suspended, but only those the execution of which
would be incompatible with a state of hostility ; especially those whose
enforcement would strengthen either party in warfare." The latter
part of this dictum, though it may appear to be a little in advance of
prevailing practice, undoubtedly does embody a just idea of interna-
tional relations. The principle to be used as a basis for our judgment
in this matter must be sought in the consideration as to whether we
shall secure to the international economic and cultural activities and
relations of mankind a continuous, uninterrupted existence. These re-
lations constitute the normal state of human affairs from which war

1 Isnara Blanc contre Perrales ; Sirey, 1S59, Vol. II, p. 605.

172 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

is a derogation ; it ought, therefore, to be understood, that a clear
military or strategical necessity must be shown before peaceful activ-
ities shall be interfered with. Annulment and interference are no
longer the rule but the exception. Though during warfare these
interruptions may occur frequently enough to become common, yet
the fact remains that they are exceptions ; and the world is ready for
a rule that in so far as not specifically interrupted, the ordinary life
of economic and cultural relations shall go on. When interruptions
have to be made, the natural relations are resumed as soon as the
disturbing cause has passed away.

Reduced to more definite terms, it would follow from this principle
that upon the conclusion of peace it would not be necessary specifi-
cally to reestablish all treaties existing between the belligerents at the
beginning of war ; but that even without such specific mention, all
treaties relating to communication, economic activities, private rights,
and intercourse between subjects of different nations would revive
and regain their full force.

Glancing at the practice followed in connection with the wars of
the nineteenth century, it appears that the above principle has not
yet become fully established. In peace negotiations it has often been
asserted categorically that all treaties had been annulled by the decla-
ration of war. Yet when we study more in detail these negotiations
and the resultant treaties, we find that the old principle of absolute
annulment has hardly ever been maintained in all its rigor. Thus,
in the peace conference following the Crimean War, many general
assertions of universal annulment were made ; but Count Buol, never-
theless, insisted upon the permanence of the rights acquired under
the Turkish capitulations, and when the treaty was finally concluded,
it referred in terms only to treaties of commerce and " establishment
or domicile." Even in these matters the arrangements existing
before the war were kept in force, while other treaties not mentioned
were evidently silently considered to have survived the war. At the
beginning of the Spanish-American War the Spanish government
issued a decree declaring that "the state of war, existing between
Spain and the United States, brings about the annulment of the treaties
of peace and amity, and of all the other accords, treaties, or conven-
tions, until now in force between the two countries." The practice of
Spain during the war was, however, not in accord with this extreme

INTERNATIONAL UNIONS AND WAR 173

pronouncement, and, in fact, recognized the continued existence of indi-
vidual treaties. Moreover, the language of the new treaty of amity
concluded between the United States and Spain on July 3, 1902, is
not consistent with the idea of the decree of 1898. The latter may
indeed be looked upon as a shot in the air rather than as a well-con-
sidered statement of a policy definitely asserted and adhered to. A
similar situation existed in almost every case where, in recent negotia-
tions, the general principle of the absolute annulment of treaties
through war was announced.

It is apparent that although negotiators representing their countries
in peace conferences are still much inclined to take the ground that
war has annulled all treaties, this is due to extreme caution. As
the law on the point is not as yet entirely and definitely settled, it is
considered safer to assume that anterior treaties have been annulled
and to restore their force by a special statement in the treaty of
peace. But, aside from such declarations, the actual practice of states
is inspired by a different principle ; and even the negotiations and
treaties of peace when closely analyzed reveal a state of facts different
from the absolute theory. As a matter of fact, many kinds of treaties,
especially those affecting the rights and activities of private indi-
viduals, are tacitly allowed to revive as soon as diplomatic relations
are reestablished ; in many cases, as we shall see, they have even
been allowed practically to continue in force and operation during
the war.

Usually the argument for the continued existence of such treaties
is based upon the consideration that they affect the rights of private
individuals, and that, therefore, they should not be dealt with in the
same manner as are general treaties of alliance which touch the po-
litical action of states. However, in the case of conventions of inter-
national unions, another element enters which makes their continued
existence logical and proper. They are not arrangements between
two powers, but acts carefully considered and adopted by a large
number of nations, which at times assume the character and dignity
of laws decreed by the powers for the entire world or a large part of
it. Now, while it is conceivable that through strained relations be-
tween two members of such a union their interchange of mutual
services under the treaty may be for a while suspended, it would be
entirely illogical to hold that by engaging in war they abrogate the

174 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

convention and cease to be members of the international union.
Nobody would hold that powers at war do not have a perfect right
to send representatives to the conferences of the international unions
of which they are members. It has been clearly established that
governments who have no diplomatic relations with each other can,
nevertheless, with perfect propriety participate in the business of in-
ternational unions to which both may belong. Nor will such action
be looked upon in the light of a direct political relation or a mutual
diplomatic intercourse between them. These principles being ac-
cepted, it follows that the convention upon which this membership
rests is not annulled by warfare, but is simply partially suspended as
between the belligerents. Any other solution would be untenable,
also for the reason that no state certainly can be supposed to have
the intention, by engaging in war with some one power, of cutting
itself off from all friendly relations with the rest of the world. Every
reason, therefore, exists for excepting the conventions of unions from
the rule that a declaration of war effects the annulment of treaties.
This solution is also accepted by authorities. Thus, M. Renault says :
' When war comes about between two members of a union, it would
seem that no one would think of contending that the treaty of union
has, like some other conventions, been annulled or suppressed, and
that it is not put in force again by the establishment of pacific rela-
tions." With reference to the Franco-German War, he says : "'It is
likely that the treaty constituting the telegraphic union had been con-
sidered as restored in force as soon as diplomatic relations had been
reestablished between the two countries. This is true also of the
postal conventions ; as soon as the necessities of wTar permitted, they
were in force again." Fillet considers that the state of war is not in-
consistent " with the conservation of certain legal relations between
the enemy states, and that annulment strikes only the treaties whose
enforcement would be incompatible with the existence of hostilities."
Though their validity continues, the execution of such treaties may
of course be interfered with, and, as a matter of fact, is usually sus-
pended during war. It is, however, of the highest importance that it
should be clearly established that nations may even during war retain
legal relations with each other. Though at first all treaties not abro-
gated may be considered as suspended with regard to their execution,
as war continues it will be found convenient to have relations of

INTERNATIONAL UNIONS AND WAR 175

various kinds even with the subjects of the other belligerent. Through
the growing volume of such relations the ultimate reestablishment of
peace is made to seem constantly more natural. Under the conditions
of modern life no state can isolate itself permanently even from its
worst enemy. The recognition of the fact that certain treaty relations
subsist, though in a state of temporary suspension, makes the transi-
tion from peace to war less abrupt and more in agreement with the
nature of actual affairs.

The principles here developed have, as a matter of fact, been quite
generally recognized, — implicitly, if not expressly, — through the
action of governments during and after recent wars. Thus while the
treaty of Frankfurt, 1871, specifically revives the conventions with
respect to the international railway service and to literal')' and indus-
trial property, the telegraphic convention is not mentioned, but it was
in fact observed again as soon as diplomatic relations were established.
The international postal service between Germany and France was
also reestablished immediately after the armistice by the convention
of Rheims, March 17, 1871. Later negotiations bring out the fact
that treaties on extradition and the execution of judgments were con-
sidered to subsist after the war. During the Spanish-American War
the United States government recognized the continued existence of
the universal postal convention, which guarantees the right of transit
of mails throughout the territories of the countries forming the union.
With respect to copyright during this war, Secretary Hay declared
that " while the government of Spain has maintained that all treaties
with the United States were terminated by the recent war, it is
thought that it would hold that its general laws granting copyright
were at most only suspended, so far as American citizens were con-
cerned, during the period of the existence of the war." Of course,
on the other hand, many cases may be found in which postal and
telegraphic conventions were in terms reestablished through the treaties
of peace ; such was the case in the peace negotiations between Turkey
and Greece in 1 897 ; the language used here was such as to imply
that the telegraphic treaty had been entirely annulled. It is probable,
however, as pointed out above, that such illogical views of the situation
are due rather to an extreme caution in making sure that all proper
treaty relations are reestablished than to an absolute belief in the
actual annulment of all such relations during war. If it is ascertained

176 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

that as a matter of general practice at the conclusion of wars such
relations are immediately reestablished, the theory may seem of sec-
ondary importance. Yet for purposes of clear reasoning it is essential
to insist upon the principle that conventions of unions cannot be
logically said to have been annulled by the mere fact that war exists
between two parties to the union.

Having considered the theory and practice with respect to the an-
nulment or supension of treaties, let us now inquire concerning the
practice of belligerents as affecting international services and rights,
such as postal and telegraphic communication, extradition, copyrights,
and sanitary protection.

It is important to note at the beginning that exactly those instru-
mentalities which are most essential to international intercourse,
namely, telegraphic service, postal communication, and railways, are
also most likely to be made use of by belligerents for military pur-
poses. In modern warfare, with the vast areas covered by military
operations, especially in the case of colonial empires, communication
by mail and telegraph is an essential instrument of war. The first
desire of every belligerent, therefore, will be to use these instruments
for his own purpose, but also to prevent, as far as possible, their use
by his adversary. This is the first main consideration which stands in
the way of allowing postal and telegraphic communication to go on
as uninterruptedly in times of war as in peace. The other principle is
that to a large extent the ordinary economic intercourse between the
subjects of the two belligerent states is interrupted, because it is con-
sidered incompatible with the state of war, as involving a certain dis-
loyalty of subjects to their own sovereign and a possibility of action
harmful to the latter. With the development of modern international
activities and with the changed conception of war, the principle of
nonintercourse has however lost considerably in force ; and there is
a strong tendency favorable to allowing ordinaiy commercial and in-
dustrial enterprises, in so far as they are not inconsistent with hostil-
ities, to go on between the private citizens of the two belligerent states.
Great Britain and the United States have been backward in giving
assistance to this tendency, not because of any hostility to the newer
view, but because of the rule of the common law which interdicts
commercial intercourse between subjects of states which are at war
with each other.

INTERNATIONAL UNIONS AND WAR

177

If the principle of nonintercourse stood alone, it would undoubt-
edly soon be overcome and displaced by a more liberal policy, due to
the growing importance of uninterrupted trade relations among all
parts of the world. But the first consideration indicated, the necessity
of protecting the efficiency of military operations, is not so readily
superseded, and it is from this point of view that the services dealt
with in international unions are usually interfered with or interrupted
during times of war.

According to the old conception of war it was believed that all
postal and telegraphic communication between the enemy states is
cut off. However, as war is no longer considered a struggle between
citizens, but between states, it is now generally admitted that only the
correspondence of a belligerent state and its armies should be interfered
with. There are, indeed, also older precedents. As early as 1296,
Philip le Bel authorized the messengers of the University of Paris
to continue their services with Flanders even during war.1 In recent
times a number of treaties have been made, providing for a continu-
ance of mail service even during war. Thus the convention between
the United States and Mexico, July 1, 1887, provides that, should
there be war between the two countries, postal communication is to
continue without interruption until one of the countries has advised
the other of its desire to modify this arrangement. Six weeks after
the reception of such notice postal interchange must cease. France
has made similar treaties with several of her neighbors. Thus the
Anglo-French convention of June 14, 1883, provides that, in case of
war between the two nations, the mail boats shall continue their com-
munication without hindrance until notification by one of the two
governments, in which case they shall be allowed to return freely
into their respective ports.

On principle most authorities now hold that postal and telegraphic
communications are not ipso facto interrupted by war and that they
persist wherever the interests of war do not oblige the enemy to sus-
pend them. It is, of course, desirable from the point of view of each
of the belligerents that these services should continue as far as is
possible, and that restrictions should only be made when clearly re-
quired for military reasons. No one, however, disputes the right of a
belligerent state to make such restrictions as it may consider necessary.

1 Rolland, De la correspondance postale.

178 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

When a belligerent has occupied parts of the territory of the state
with which it is at war, it has a right to seize official correspondence
and exercise a strict control over that of private persons. Telegraphic
communications, too, may be interrupted even by cutting the wires.
But in so far as possible, the occupying state will continue the postal
services for the benefit of the local residents as well as of neutral
countries. The mails of the latter must of course not be interfered
with. A project was suggested in 1877, according to which neutrals
in case of war were to establish a service of mail couriers who might
enter and traverse the territories of belligerents, even those under
hostile occupation. Such an arrangement would of course be de-
signed primarily for the carrying of mails between neutral countries ;
it would be particularly a transit service. This suggestion has, how-
ever, never been put into execution on account of the difficulty and
expense of organizing temporary mail routes. It is generally under-
stood that the agents of postal and telegraphic services should be
dealt with entirely as persons connected with a civil administration.
Even though messages are carried in balloons, messengers should
not be treated as spies, although attempts to do so have been made
repeatedly. The convention of St. Petersburg, concerning inter-
national telegraphic service, provides that the contracting powers
reserve the right to stop any message which may seem dangerous to
the security of the state ; each government also reserves the right
to suspend partially or entirely all telegraphic communication, but
notice of such suspension must immediately be given to each of the
contracting states.

Difficult questions arise in connection with submarine cables in
time of war. The cable system is of international importance, and in
its maintenance not only the belligerents but other nations as well are
interested. A belligerent who for military purposes cuts a cable or
otherwise interrupts cable communication is, therefore, interfering with
the general business affairs of the world. For these reasons it has
been repeatedly tried to give cables international protection by declar-
ing them inviolable or neutralizing them. A convention entered into
between France, Brazil, Portugal, Italy, and Hayti, in May, 1864, pro-
vides that the contracting states engage themselves "not to cut or
destroy in times of war the cables laid by Ballestrini [the French
oceanic cable system], and to recognize the neutrality of the telegraphic

INTERNATIONAL UNIONS AND WAR

1/9

line." A project proposed by the United States in 1869, when the
great North American cables had been laid, contained similar dispo-
sitions. The adoption of this principle has, however, not thus far
been possible on account of the reluctance which states feel against

allowing so important an instrument to remain where it may be used
by an enemy in war. A solution was suggested by the Austro-
Hungarian government in 1872, to the effect that cables should
be protected by the institution of a commission composed either of
representatives of the belligerent states, or of neutrals, or both, with
power to supervise the operations of submarine telegraphy. In actual
practice in recent wars, hostile cables, or cables belonging to neutrals
but landed upon hostile territory, have frequently been cut by bel-
ligerents. Thus, in the Spanish- American War the American forces
cut nearly all of the cables landed in Cuba, while strictly controlling
those connecting Cuba with the United States.

The Institute of International Law, in 1902, discussed these
problems, and finally adopted the following rules (19 voting in the
affirmative, 6 in the negative, 4 not voting) concerning cables in
war time :

I. A submarine cable connecting two neutral territories is inviolable.

II. A cable uniting the territories of two belligerents or different parts of the
territory of one of the belligerents may be cut anywhere, except in territorial
waters or in neutralized waters belonging to a neutral country.

III. A cable connecting a neutral country with the territory of one of the
belligerents cannot be in any case cut in territorial waters or in neutralized waters
belonging to a neutral territory.

On the high sea such cable cannot be cut unless there is an effective blockade,
and within the limits of the lines of this blockade, under condition of restoring the
cable within the shortest time possible. Such cable may always be cut upon the
territory and within the territorial waters belonging to an enemy country up to a
distance of three marine miles from the low-water mark.

IV. It is understood that the liberty of a neutral state to transmit dispatches
does not imply the right to use a cable or to permit its use manifestly for the
purpose of lending assistance to one of the belligerents.

V. In the application of the preceding rules there is to be no difference
between the cables of a state or cables belonging to private owners, nor between
the cables of the enemy and those which are the property of neutrals.

According to these rules, as will be seen, the only protection which
is afforded cables is that they may not be cut in the territorial waters
of a neutral country, nor upon the high sea, except in areas where
there is an effective blockade ; and that cables connecting neutral

l8o PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

territories are inviolable. The American Naval War Code of 19001
contained the following rules :

Article 5

The following rules are to be followed with regard to submarine telegraphic
cables in time of war, irrespective of their ownership :

(a) Submarine telegraphic cables between points in the territory of an enemy,
or between the territory of the United States and that of an enemy, are subject to
such treatment as the necessities of war may require.

(b) Submarine telegraphic cables between the territory of an enemy and neu-
tral territory may be interrupted within the territorial jurisdiction of the enemy.

As will be seen, they coincide in principle with the rules of the
institute, with the exception that they do not contain the provision
regarding the cutting of cables on the high seas in the area of the
blockade. When the code was discussed in the Naval War College
in 1903, the following formulation was suggested :

Article 5

Unless under satisfactory censorship or otherwise exempt, the following rules
are established with regard to the treatment of submarine telegraphic cables in
time of war, irrespective of their ownership :

(b) Submarine telegraphic cables between the territory of an enemy and neutral
territory may be interrupted within the territorial jurisdiction of the enemy, or at
any point outside of neutral jurisdiction if the necessities of war require.

This version would leave the belligerents free to cut cables even on
the high seas if the necessities of war required. Such a procedure,
however, would in most cases be found very difficult to carry out,
unless special instruments for the raising of cables were available,
and the belligerent were in possession of detailed maps indicating
the exact location of cables on the bottom of the sea.

Communication by wireless telegraphy also gives rise to many prob-
lems during war. The law respecting it has not as yet been settled ;
but very extensive claims have been made in behalf of belligerents

1 This code was withdrawn by order of the Navy Department, in February, 1904.

INTERNATIONAL UNIONS AND WAR 181

because of the ease with which wireless communication may be used
for military purposes. The Institute of International Law, in its ses-
sion of 1906, adopted the following rules on this matter :

Preliminary Dispositions

Art. I. The air is free. States have with respect to it in times of peace and of
war only the rights necessary for their conservation.

Art. II. In default of special dispositions, the rules applicable to ordinary tele-
graphic correspondence are applied also to wireless telegraphy.

Part I. State of Peace

Art. III. Every state has a right, in a measure necessary for its security, to
prohibit, above its territory and its territorial waters and as high up as shall be
necessary, the passage of Hertzian waves, whether they are sent from an appara-
tus belonging to a state or a private apparatus, whether placed on the land, on
board of a ship, or in a balloon.

Art. IV. In case of the prohibition of wireless correspondence, the govern-
ment must immediately advise the other governments of such a decree.

Part II. State of War

Art. V. The rules admitted for times of peace are in principle also applicable
in times of war.

Art. VI. Upon the high sea, within the zone which corresponds to the sphere
of action of their military operations, the belligerents may forbid the sending
of waves, even by a neutral subject.

Art. VII. Individuals who, notwithstanding the orders of a belligerent,
engage in the transmission or the receiving of wireless messages between the
different parts of an army, or of a belligerent territory, shall not be considered as
spies, but must be treated as prisoners of war when captured. A different rule
holds when the correspondence has been sent under false pretexts.

The carriers of messages transmitted by wireless telegraphy may be treated as
spies when they employ deception and ruse.

Neutral ships and balloons, which by their communications with the enemy may
be considered as being placed in his service, may be confiscated together with
their messages and their apparatus. Neutral subjects, ships, and balloons, in cases
where it is not established that their correspondence was designed to furnish to
the adversary information relative to the conduct of hostilities, may yet be removed
from the zone of operations and their apparatus may be seized and sequestrated.

Art. VIII. A neutral state is not obliged to prohibit the passage from its
territory of Hertzian waves in the direction of a country at war.

Art. IX. A neutral state has a right and the duty to close or to take under
its administration an establishment of a belligerent state which it may have author-
ized to operate upon its territory.

Art. X. Every prohibition of communicating by wireless telegraphy issued
by the belligerents must be immediately notified by them to the neutral gov-
ernments.

1 82 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

As will be seen, very considerable latitude is given to belligerents
by Article VI, in that they are authorized to forbid the sending of
telegraphic messages upon the high seas even by a neutral when
within the zone of military operations. This is the most extreme ex-
tent to which authority has been attributed to belligerents in modern
international legislation in matters affecting neutrals. The rules pro-
posed, however, also contain the provision that the agents of wireless
telegraph companies shall not be treated as spies but as prisoners of
war. During the siege of Port Arthur, Alexieff had issued an order
making the sending of wireless messages from the neighborhood of
the Russian forces equal to espionage. This has been considered as
unduly rigorous, and is therefore not followed in the rules laid down
by the institute.

Another subject requiring special attention is the treatment of mail
ships by belligerents. We have already cited the treaties made by
France and by the United States in which postal communication is
accorded protection in case of war. These treaties refer to ships car-
rying on the mail service directly between the belligerent countries.
A fortiori, it is, of course, desirable that mail ships navigating
between a belligerent and a neutral country should be considered
inviolable or that, at most, there should be accorded a right of inquir-
ing whether any military correspondence is being transported. The
Institute of International Law has adopted the principle that neutral
ships shall not be arrested and visited when the commissioner of the
government whose flag they carry declares in writing that they trans-
port neither dispatches nor troops for the enemy nor contraband of
war. In any event, only official correspondence can be seized, all
private correspondence being inviolable.

In practice the mails of neutrals have been generally given scru-
pulous protection in times of war. During the Mexican War, while in
occupancy of Vera Cruz, the United States allowed British mail boats
to pass in and out freely. During the Spanish-American War the
American government treated the universal postal convention as exist-
ing in full force even between the United States and Spain, since the
right of transit had been guaranteed throughout the entire territory of
the countries of the union. The treaty was held " to insure the safe
transit under any conditions of closed mails passing from one country
of the postal union to another," but to have " no bearing on mails

INTERNATIONAL UNIONS AND WAR 18*

passing from one post office to another in the same country."1 President
McKinley's proclamation of April 26, 1898, contained the provision
that the voyages of mail steamers are not to be interfered with except
on the clearest grounds of suspicion of a violation of law in respect
of contraband or blockade. During the Franco-Prussian War the
French government gave orders to accept the word of the official in
charge of the correspondence on a neutral mail steamer as to the ab-
sence of any communications involving information to the enemy.
The British, during the Boer War, did not interfere with German mail
steamers communicating with South Africa. The practice of Russia
during the Japanese War was, however, far from being in accord with
these more liberal principles and practices. Thus Russian vessels re-
peatedly stopped neutral mail steamers in order to search for Japanese
mail. Xor did they confine their interference to official correspond-
ence. On the contrary, they seemed to go on the principle that any
private correspondence going to Japan could also be seized.2

The treatment to be accorded mail steamers has now been more
adequately defined and established on a liberal basis in the Hague
convention of 1907 on the Right of Capture in Maritime War,
which contains the following provisions :

Chapter I — Postal Correspondence
Article I

The postal correspondence of neutrals or belligerents, whatever its official or
private character may be, found on the high seas on board a neutral or enemy
ship, is inviolable. If the ship is detained, the correspondence is forwarded by
the captor with the least possible delay.

The provisions of the preceding paragraph do not apply, in case of violation
of blockade, to correspondence destined for or proceeding from a blockaded port.

Article II

The inviolability of postal correspondence does not exempt a neutral mail ship
from the laws and customs of maritime war applying to neutral merchant ships in
general. The ship, however, may not be searched except when absolutely neces-
sary, and then only with as much consideration and expedition as possible.

These provisions constitute a great advance in the law of inter-
national communication, especially in so far as they relate to official

1 Moore, Digest of International Law, Vol. VII, p. 257.

2 Lawrence, War and Neutrality in the Far East.

1 84 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

correspondence. They virtually assure the continuance of communi-
cation by mail throughout a war. That it should have been possible
to adopt such a treaty is a testimony to the improvement of interna-
tional relations and to the acknowledged importance of uninterrupted
intercourse. The exemption of the mail service from military inter-
ference was further made acceptable by the fact that other and more
rapid means of communication are now chiefly relied upon by bellig-
erents for purposes of military intelligence.

What is true of the unions dealing with activities that are readily-
made use of in military operations may be considered a fortiori to
apply to those which affect only interests and relations outside of the
realm of war. Concerning these it could be urged with even less
reason that war annuls the conventions upon which they rest. The
protection of the health of persons and animals against the importa-
tion of diseases, the operations of the agricultural institute, the sup-
pression of African slavery and of the white slave trade, the regulations
of the monetary system, and the protection of private property in copy-
rights and patents are all matters which have no direct relation with
war, and in the conservation of which during war every civilized
state must be interested, even from the point of view of its own
special affairs. The conventions by which these unions are formed
do not mention the eventuality of war ; while the means by which
they can be abrogated or annulled are definitely fixed, war is not
spoken of in this connection. As a matter of practice, these relations
and conventions have always been looked upon as not dependent for
their existence upon the maintenance of peaceful relations among
all the members. States do not lose their rights of membership by
engaging in war with one another. In the conferences and governing
boards of international unions the representatives of warring nations
may meet on a friendly footing without in any way compromising the
belligerent position of their respective states. Thus the work of the
great international unions continues without interruption, even though
war may exist between individual members. The hygienic bureau at
Paris, the sanitary councils at Constantinople and Alexandria, the
international agricultural institute, the bureau of patents and copy-
rights, the Pan-American Union, these and others, all continue their
operations under the conventions in times of war as well as in times
of general peace.

INTERNATIONAL UNIONS AND WAR 185

The doctrine of nonintercourse, however, does involve, to a certain
extent, the cessation of direct relations between the two belligerent
governments and their subjects even in matters relating to the inter-
national unions. During the Spanish-American War it was held that
the mutual arrangements for copyrights were suspended, but also
that when a treaty of peace should have been concluded, it would
be " entirely proper for the librarian of Congress to admit Spanish
subjects to the same copyright privileges that they enjoyed prior to
the declaration of war." 1

The permanence of international relations will be preserved intact
in a constantly greater number of instances as the principle becomes
more fully established that war is not a struggle between individuals,
as even now the belligerent states retain their membership in the in-
ternational unions. It will become possible to maintain direct rela-
tions along certain lines, such as the postal service and the protection of
private rights, even with the other belligerent and its subjects. Every
sound consideration favors this policy, which is already partially applied
by many nations. The needs of military efficiency do not require an
absolute suspension of these relations. Through maintaining them,
a belligerent nation is only utilizing the benefit of its membership in
international unions to the fullest extent. Moreover, it is desirable
that there should be a field within which even the subjects of two
belligerents could meet in amity. During the international scientific
congress at St. Louis, in 1904, a Japanese delegate declared that
this was one of the few occasions and places where Russians and
Japanese could meet in friendship at this time. But the maintenance
of such relations which do not interfere with the military effective-
ness of either party is also most advantageous, for the reason that
they make the transition from war to peace easier and more natural.
The sharp contrast between absolute hostility and profound peace is
no longer in accord with the conditions of the world we live in. No
war is strong enough to break up entirely all relations which bind
two countries together. The recognition of this fact, by allowing
certain peaceful relations to be maintained even while hostilities are
going on, is a far more just and natural treatment of the matter than
would be the rigid enforcement of the old uncompromising theory of
absolute nonintercourse.

1 Opinions of the Attorney-General of the United States, Vol. XXII, p. 268.

1 86 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

Conclusion. The international organization that is being created
in our era is not a force hostile to national life and development.
Nations will not readily give up that ultimate liberty of political move-
ment and self-determination in political action, that national independ-
ence which has been won through great and long-continued sacrifices.
The principle of independent nationalism is serving a purpose in
allowing different aspects of human nature and human capacity
to work themselves out, thus enriching the sum total of civilized
forces. But the growing unity of the world is a fact which must also
be recognized ; it rests upon the technical advances made in commu-
nication and industrial processes during the last hundred years. The
relations thus created among all branches of mankind have to be
taken into account in national policy. While preserving intact their
ultimate freedom of action, nations cannot therefore afford to stand
aloof from the movement upon which their own efficiency and the
welfare of their citizens depend. These universal factors have in
our era become of prime importance. They have transformed the
character of diplomacy. They are mitigating the rigors of war and
are filling the entire world with that spirit of cooperation upon which
real advance is dependent. In former ages mankind freed itself
from the danger of overpopulation by terrible bloodlettings. The
advances of modern science will make it possible for human beings
to exist upon the surface of the globe in greatly increased numbers
and under the happiest conditions, if only the works of civilization
can be carried through by common accord of the nations. It is
here that the real choice is to be made. The question is whether the
energies of humanity are to be expended in old-fashioned, cruel, and
universally harmful warfare, or are to be directed into the ample
field of constructive work for the betterment of the conditions under
which men live throughout the world. When this consideration is
clearly understood, the true meaning and importance of international
organization in the form of public unions will be grasped, and it
will be seen that in this direction lies the highest promise for the
betterment of the conditions of civilized life.

INDEX

Adams, John Quincy, 139

Administrative law, international, 126-168

African game protection, 55

African slave trade and liquor traffic, 64

Agriculture, international institute of, 51,
129

Alexandria sanitary council, 59

American customs union suggested, 77-
80

American republics, international union
of, 77-120

Arbitration, before Pan-American con-
ference, 81, 85-88, 92, 94, 100 ; Central
American court of, 1 20 ; in interna-
tional unions, 164-166; in the railway
union, 30, 31, 32

Argentina, opposition of, to American
customs union, 80

Armaments, 6

Automobile conference, 1909, 33

Baltic and White Sea conference, 71

Basel labor office, 44

Belgium, seat of unions, 155

Berlin conference on radiotelegraphy,

1906, 20
Berlin copyright conference, 1908, 39
Bern bureau for industrial and literary

property, 37, 41, 161
Bern copyright conferences, 38
Bern labor conference, 1905, 44
Bern postal congress, 1873-1874, 22
Bern railway conferences, 28
Birds, protection of useful, 55
Blaine, James G., 78, 79, 88
Brussels act of 1890 (liquor traffic), 64
Brussels sugar conference, 1902, 49
Buenos Aires, Pan-American conference

at, 91
Buol, Count, 172

Bureau of the American republics, 83, 95
Bureaus, international, character of, 155,

156, 160-168

Cape Spartel lighthouse, 75
Carnegie, Andrew, 164
Central American court of justice, 120
Central American union, 118, 120
Chile, and international arbitration, 85,

86 ; opposition of, to American customs

union, 80
Cholera, protection against, 57-58

Cleveland, President, 78

Codification of international law, 90, 97,

100, 121
Colonies, members of postal union, 23,

26
Commercial policy, American, 88, 97, 98
Commissions, general character of, 153-

Communication, 13, 15, 146
Conferences, international, character of,

82, 102-105, 115, 150-153
Congresses, international, character of,

82, 150-153
Constantinople sanitary council, 58
Cooperation, 4, 6, 8
Copyrights, 36, 38, 91, 97, 110-112, 175,

185
Cosmopolitanism, 2, 4, 141
Cotton congress, 52
Court of Cassation cited, 171
Customs bulletins, international, 42
Customs congress, American, 92
Customs regulations, 113
Customs tariffs, publications of, 41

Dactyloscopy, 66
Danube commission, 74
Danube navigation, 74
Diplomacy, newer methods of, 139, 145
Directing state, 149, 156
Drago doctrine, 94

Drugs, association for unifying the formu-
las of potent, 70

Economic interests, 13, 35
Egyptian financial control, 75
Electric units, conference on, 69
Enforcement of conventions, 132-134
Exploration of the sea, council for the, 70
Extradition in America, 90, 92

Financial arrangements, 162-164
Financial control, international, 75
Financial support of the postal union, 26
Fisheries police in the North Sea, 62
Formation of unions, 144
France and Great Britain, labor treaty

between, 49
Frelinghuysen, Secretary, 79

Geneva Convention, 62

Geodetic association, international, 68

187

1 88

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIONS

Great Britain and France, labor treaty

between, 1909, 49
Grotius, 8, 169

Hague convention, adherence of Ameri-
can republics to, 87 ; postal correspond-
ence in, 183

Hague tribunal, 122-125

Harrison, President, 8

Hispano- American congress at Madrid,
1900, 85

Hugo, Victor, 38

Hygiene, 57

Hygiene and demography congress, 60

Immoral traffic, repression of, 65

Industrial properties, 36, 1 58

Initiative, public and private, in forming
unions, 144-149

Institute, international, of agriculture, 54

Institute of International Law, on sub-
marine cables, 179; on wireless teleg-
raphy, i8r ; on mail ships, 182

Insurance, 55, 132

Knox, Secretary, 101
Kongo navigation, 74

Labor legislation, 44-48 ; international

association for, 44
Labor protection, 42, 129, 133, 134, 147
Latin monetary union, 76
Legislation, international, 135, 156-160
Lubin, David, 52

Machiavelli, 8

McKinley, President, 79, 84

Mail ships in war, 182

Map of the world, 71

Marconi Company, 20, 128

Marine, International Association of, 34

Maritime law, 34

Meridian, prime, 69

Metric union, 35

Mexico, Pan-American conference in, 85

Monetary union, 76

Montevideo treaty on private international

law, 82
Moore, John Bassett, 109
Morocco, international control of, 75

Nabuco, 102, 103

National state, 5, 8, 10, 12, 135, 140

Naval war code, 180

Navigation, 34, 73

Navigation congresses, 35

Opium commission, international, 61

Pacifism, 2, 7, 142

Pan-American commission, 96, 107, 108

Pan-American conferences, 77-120

Pan-American railway, 90
Pan-American sanitary union, 60, 89, 113
Pan-American scientific congress, 71
Pan-American union, 106-108, 117, 118,

161
Paris postal congress, 1878, 23
Paris telegraphic conference, 1865, 16
Passenger transportation, 32
Patents, 36, 91, 97, 110-112
Pecuniary claims, arbitration of, 87, 92,

1 08-1 10
Phylloxera union, 55, 133
Poinsard, Leon, 41
Police powers, 62-67, 130
Postage rates, 21, 24
Postal monument, 27
Postal union, 21, 159, 175, 177, 178, 182-

183
Potent drugs, 70
Potsdam geodetic bureau, 68
Prime meridian, conference on, 69
Prison congress, international, 56
Protection of labor, 42, 133
Psychological unity, 3

Radiotelegraphy, 19

Railway administration technic, 33

Railway congresses, 32

Railway freight bureau at Bern, 30

Railway freight transportation, union for,

28, 157
Red Cross, 62
RZglement, 17, 19, 1 51-153
Renault, Louis, 174
Restricted union, 19, 27
Rhine navigation, 73
Rio de Janeiro, Pan-American conference

at, 93
River commissions, JT,
Rome conference on agriculture, 1905, 53
Rome postal congress, 1906, 24
Root, Secretary, 94
Routes of navigation, 34
Ruhland, Dr., 52
Russian disregard of neutral rights, 183

St. Louis scientific congress, 1904, 71, "185
Sanitary bureau in Paris, 58
Sanitation, 56-58, 89, 113, 160
Santiago scientific congress, 72
School hygiene, congress on, 60
Scientific purposes, 67-73
Seigneux, de, 28
Seismology, conference on, 70
Sevres metric bureau, 35
Slave trade, 64

Sleeping sickness, congress on, 60
South American police convention, 66
Sovereignty, theory of, 13 5-1 36
Submarine cables, protection of, 63, 133,
178-180

INDEX

189

Suez Canal commission, 74

Sugar commission, functions of, 50

Sugar convention, 49, 162

Support of unions, financial, 163-164

Swiss government, control of, over

bureaus, 31
Switzerland, seat of unions, 155

Telegraphic union, 15, 174, 177, 178
Trade-marks, 36, 37, 91, 97, 110-112;

registry of, 37, 112
Transportation law, 29
Treaties and war, 1 71-17 5
Turkish financial control, 75

Unanimity, 138, 152, 154

United States, and international copy-
right, 41 ; initiative of, for court of
arbitral justice, 125; initiative of, for
opium conference, 61 ; initiative of,
for Pan-American conference, 77 ;

initiative of, in calling postal confer-
ence, 22

Universal law, 127-142

Universal postal union, 21

Victor Emmanuel III, 52

War,and international unions, 6, 169-185;
effect of, upon treaties, 171

Washington, Pan-American conference
at, 1889, 79

Washington sanitary bureau, 60

White-phosphorus prohibition, 45

White-slave trade, 64, 137

Wireless telegraphy, 19, 128, 181-182

Women in industrial night work, regula-
tion of hours for, 45

World law, 127-142

World state, 10

Zanzibar slave-trade bureau, 64, 161

OTHER WORKS

By Professor Paul S. Reinsch

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English Common Law in the Early American Colonies

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IN PREPARATION

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