Birmingham state herald., 1897-06-16
UNIVERSAL POSTAL UNION
After Accomplishing the Desired End, Adjourns of the Work
 Performed by the Union.

Washington, June 15.LThe universal postal congress, the fifth convention of the kind in the world, adjourned today, after a closing session lasting several hours. The next of the congresses, the sixth sextennial one, will be held at Rome, Italy, in February, 1903.
 The final session today was devoted to the formal signing of the general treaty and the detailed alltcIes of agreement. Thirty delegates signed 'thsse two sets of papers, subject to the formal ratlfca- tion of their governments, and owing to the excessive amount of labor inVolVSu, signatures to he othen general sections were waived urltil presented to the ex- eculives of their government. The rec ords were placed in the archives of the ate department for preseryat ton and certified copies will be forwarded to all tlhs governments forming the Universal Postal union. The deliberations of the final meeting were accompanied by much formality.
 Gen. Batchelder president of the con- gress accompanied d by the whole body shortly after il o'clock, proceeded to the state department where the documents were signed
 About 3 o'clock dinner was served in the large banquefing hall of the Arling- ton, where the delegates met members of the postal department
 Thia meeting was called to order at 3 o'clock, when farewell addresses were made. The business session was held un- der the direc ton of M. De LsSsert, the Swiss delegate and the dean cg the corps, according to age, at which speeches of recognition of the services of the officials were made and valuable tokens of good will presented them by the congress. l. was late this evening whs n the final adieus were said, and the Washington postal congress was adjourned to meet at noon.
 Following is an official resume of the works of the congress-: ,ss a Fisst, .,Sc;es, principal treaty which ex- cludes the entry or ,ses-ea into the. postal union; the declaration of the Orange Free State, which failed to send delegation to Washington, that 1t hoped soon to enter the union; the declaration of the Chinese empire, which was represented in the congress, that 1t will observe the regula tions of the union as soon as the organization of it's service permits.
 Second, the condition in which the countries of the union will reciprocally aid the intermediary transit rates have been facilitated and tariff diminished quite materially on a graduated scale for the ensuing union.
 Third, uniform colors have been pro jected for postage stamps.
 Fourth postal cards unpaid are sub iected to double tariff-that is cents in place of the former tax, which was 10 cents, the same as for .unpaid letters
 Fifth, circulars produced on a machine (typeWritten) in quantities of twenty circulars, all of the same character are admitted to the international mails at the same rates as printed circulars.
 Sixth, samples of merchandise are ad- mitted up to $50 grammes.
 Seventh, objects of natural history, animals, dried plants or preserved geo. logical specimens are admitted as sam ples.
 Eighth, the question of th9 e alton ot a universal postags stamp was brought up and the proposition defeated on ac- count of the difficulties which would oc- cur in putting into practice that impor- tant innovation. especially because of the diversity of currescy standards.
 Ninth. special arrangements concsrn- irag packages of declared values, postal orders. books of identity and suhsc ip- ticns to journals have been thoroughly revised.
 This country is not actually c1rcerned in thess agreements. th7y mostly affect ing the states of the central of Europe.
 The new treaty will become operative Jan. l. 1899.
 Most of the delegates left the city for their hcCnes tonight. having booked pas sage on ocean liners for this and next week. The British delegates expect to reach home in time to participate in the queens jubilee.