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Art. 19. The High Contracting Parties bind themselves to take, or propose to their respective legislatures, the neccessary measures for insuring the execution of the present Convention.

Art. 20. The High Contracting Parties shall communicate to one another any laws already framed, or which may be framed, in their respective countries relative to the object of the present Convention.

Art. 21. The High Contracting Parties shall preserve their entire liberty as regards radio installations other than provided for in Article 1, especially naval and military installations, and stations used for communications between fixed points. All such installations and stations shall be subject only to the obligations provided for in Articles 8 and 9 of the present Convention.

However, when such installations and stations are used for public maritime service they shall conform, in the execution of such service, to the provisions of the Regulations as regards the mode of transmission and rates.

On the other hand if coastal stations are used for general public service with ships at sea and also for communication between fixed points, such stations shall not be subject, in the execution of the last named service, to the provisions of the Convention except for the observance of Articles 8 and 9 of this Convention.

Nevertheless, fixed stations used for correspondence between land and land shall not refuse the exchange of radiograms with another fixed station on account of the system adopted by such station; the liberty of each country shall, however, be complete as regards the organization of the service for correspondence between fixed points and the nature of the correspondence to be effected by the stations reserved for such service.

Art. 22. The present Convention shall go into effect on the 1st day of July, 1913, and shall remain in force for an indefinite period or until the expiration of one year from the day when it shall be denounced by any of the Contracting parties.

Such denunciation shall affect only the Government in whose name it shall have been made. As regards the other Contracting Powers, the Convention shall remain in force.

Art. 23. The present Convention shall be ratified and the ratifications exchanged at London with the least possible delay.

In case one or several of the High Contracting Parties shall not ratify the Convention, it shall nevertheless be valid as to the parties which shall have ratified it.

In witness whereof the respective plentipotentiaries have signed one copy of the Convention, which shall be deposited in the archives of the British Government, and a copy of which shall be transmitted to each Party.

Done at London, July 5, 1912.

(Signatures) 15

15 Senate Documents, 3d Session 62d Congress, 10, 185.

The convention is signed by Plenipotentiaries of the following countries: Germany and the German Protectorates; The United States and the possessions of the United States; the Argentine Republic; AustriaHungary; Bosnia-Herzegovina; Belgium; Belgian Congo; Brazil; Bulgaria; Chile; Denmark; Egypt; Spain and the Spanish Colonies; France and Algeria; French West Africa; French Equatorial Africa; Indo-China; Madagascar; Tunis; Great Britain and the various British Colonies and Protectorates; the Union of South Africa; the Australian Federation; Canada; British India; New Zealand; Greece; Italy and the Italian Colonies; Japan and for Chosen, Formosa, Japanese Sakhalin, and the leased territory of Kwangtung; Morocco; Monaco; Norway; Netherlands; Dutch Indies and the Colony of Curacao; Persia; Portugal and the Portuguese Colonies; Roumania; Russia and the Russian possessions and Protectorates; San Marino; Siam; Sweden; Turkey; and Uruguay.

The Service Regulations affixed to the Convention are contained in fifty articles and are full and technical in their provisions. The Convention and Regulations are unique in their provisions and in the general scope of the international undertaking because the service to which they apply is new and in its nature will not endure restriction by national boundaries. The radio waves pay no heed to artificial lines. The force behind them is universal and all-pervading. The service is confined to neither land nor sea, and the full benefits of its use can only be obtained through the cooperation of all the nations. It is necessary that ships on the sea be allowed to communicate with the land within the range of their installations, no matter what sovereignty it may acknowledge, that ship communicate with ship no matter what flag each flies, that costal stations communicate with the shipping within their range and that messages be transferred to wire lines when necessary to reach their destination. No other invention makes such an imperative demand for the nations to agree and cooperate as this. No nation can afford to forego the use of it, nor can it secure the full advantage of it without combining with all the other nations. International law as it existed when the invention was first made had no rules to offer. It was a blank on the subject for it knew nothing of it.

CHAPTER IX

INTERNATIONAL GOVERNMENTAL

ESTABLISHMENTS

The system of diplomatic representatives of each government residing at the seat of government of every other state has resulted in the formation of a diplomatic corps in each capital, but this corps performs no function as an organized body. The members of it act separately under instructions from their respective governments and their duties are ordinarily confined to dealings with the government to which they are accredited. Unless acting under special instructions from his government the intercourse of an ambassador with members of the diplomatic corps from other countries is social rather than official. Nevertheless, matters of general interest are often discussed informally by members of the diplomatic body and to the interchange of their personal views many of the general conferences owe their origin. These have been called by the government of one or another nation and attended by plenipotentiaries of such and so many states as see fit to respond, there being no obligation on any of them to respond to the invitation. As a result of conferences so called and of the conventions agreed on and ratified in due form a number of international governmental agencies with well defined functions and continuing powers have been established at different places.

The International Bureau of Weights and Measures established at Paris under the treaty of 1875 called for an initial outlay of 400,000 francs for building and equipment and an annual expenditure of not exceeding 100,000 francs. Within its limited sphere the Bureau acts and speaks for all the nations that have joined in its creation and support. The distribution of the small burden of expenses is based on population expressed in millions among the countries divided into three classes; those in which the use of the metric system is obliga

tory multiplied by three, those in which it is optional by two, and the others by one. The operations of the bureau are under the direction and supervision of an international committee composed of fourteen members, which in turn is under the control of a general conference of delegates of the governments which are parties to the convention.

The International Postal Union with its Bureau at Berne is peculiar in the principles of its organization and operation in several ways: It connects a great department of each government with a like department of every other government; it authorizes these departments to deal directly with each other without the intervention of either the foreign office or the diplomatic corps; it allows the postal administrations to confer with each other and make changes in the regulations governing the international service; it provides for the division of the income from a continuing business in a most surprisingly simple and satisfactory manner; it also apportions the burdens of the service in like manner; it is a great international department of government for a world that as yet has no general government; its general office is the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union at Berne, the ordinary yearly expenses of which are limited to 125,000 francs, irrespective of the special expenses of meetings of a congress or conference. It seems almost incredible that so small a sum can be made to defray the expenses of this service. This expense is apportioned among the nations divided into seven classes. Loose as the bonds holding this organization together appear to be they have stood the strain of the great war and at its conclusion the exchange of mails goes on as before without any need of change in the system. The Universal Postal Union seems to be as firmly established as any existing governmental structure.

The International Bureau of the Telegraph Union also has its seat at Berne. By the conventions of Berlin, November 3, 1906, and London, July 5, 1912, radio telegraphy was placed under its supervision with a limitation on the expenses of the Bureau in connection with this service to 80,000 francs per year. International supervision of the service of the wireless telegraph is even more imperative than of the transmission

of mails, and this international organization appears to be a permanent one, subject however to changes and modifications.

Connected with the Foreign Office of the Government of Belgium two international bureaus have been established: one under the General Act for the Repression of the African Slave Trade; the other under the convention providing for the publication of customs tariffs. The latter provides for an estimated expenditure of 125,000 francs per year. The Slave Trade Act also provides for an international office at Zanzibar. The International Institute of Agriculture with its seat at Rome is another governmental organization joining all the nations for the performance of a limited, though very useful service. It is declared to be a permanent institution, organized with a general assembly of representatives of all the adhering governments. The expenses are paid by the nations divided into five groups with units of assessment ranging from one to sixteen and are not to exceed 2,500 francs per unit.

Paris has a second permanent international bureau, that of Public Health. Its purpose is to collect and distribute information relating to public health and especially to infectious and contagious diseases. The annual expenses of it are estimated at, but not strictly limited to 150,000 francs.

All the foregoing organizations are designed to be world wide in their operations and some of them are so in fact. The Western Hemisphere maintains three bureaus, one at Washington, one at Habana, and one at Rio de Janeiro. These discharge useful functions under the treaties above mentioned but their operations are intended to be confined to America.

The great Hague conferences established one international organization which may in time prove to be at least the beginning of the most important of all, the Court of Arbitration, with its permanent Bureau and Administrative Council at The Hague.

Aside from these organizations with local home establishments there are others of importance: The Permanent International Commission of Congresses of Navigation; The International Geodetic Association; and the International Prison Commission. All these are designed to serve all the nations and to promote concord among them.

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