Evening star., 1898-09-10
TREATY MAKING.
The Document Has to Go Through
Many Forms Before the End.

rrom tHe iHIlauelpnla inquirer.
| About the LIST of December will be added
to the collection of important international
documents in the State Department at
Washington the treaty of peace concluded
between Spain and the United States at the
conference to be held in Paris about the 1st
of October This treaty will take rank in
Importance and interest with the treaties
of the wars of 1776 and 1912, and the Mex
lean war.
The action of the peace commissioners at
Paris will not be final. The treaty on
which they agree will be subject to ratifica-
ton by both countries. According to the
Constitution and laws of the United States.
no treaty with this country is operative
until it has gone through five stages, of
which the negotiation and signing by the
peace commissioners is only the first.
When the peace commissioners have
reached determination the treay as
agreed to will be copied in duplicate. and
each copy will be signed by all the commits
sioners. The copies will be made with the
pen, for the typewriter is not recognized in
diplomacy. In the Spanish copy the Span
ish commissioners will sign first, and in the
American copy the Americans.
The American copy will be brought back
to this country by the secretary of the
American commission and delivered to the
Secretary of State. In the State Depart
ment message for Congress will be pre-
pared. 1t viii embOdy the text of the
treaty. 1t will be written on heavy sheets
of blue paper. fastened together at the top
with red silk ribbon. The President will
sign this message, and Assistant Secretary
Pruden will take it to the Capitol, where
the Senate. gathered in special session. will
be waiting to receive it, When the message
has been delivered to the Senate, the chair
man OF the committee on foreign relations
Will move an executive session, and behind
closed doors the message will be read. 1t
will probably follow the usual custom and
he q a q ttaa m for f4ityr1
lationS. When the Senate adjournS it will
be delivered to a confidential messenger
from the government printing office, who
VIII carry ii to the public printer, and ul-
der his personal supervision it will be put
into type by special set of compositors.
When the work is complete and about 100
copies have been run off. the forms and
proofs will be locked up in the vault. The
copies will be delivered to the secretary of
the Senate, who will receipt for them, num-
Der each one and deliver them to the mem
berS of the Senate.
When the treaty has been approved Cor
the Senate has advised and consented to
its ratification'}, a new copy will be made
and returned to the President with the
signature of the President of the Senate
attested by the secretary of the Senate
The President, on receipt of notice that the
Senate has given its consent, will ratify the
treaty, and the State Department will pre-
pare what is known as an exchange copy
This Is the copy which will be sent to
Madrid. to be preserved there as the per-
nahent record OF the government between
the countries. Spain also will prepare an
exchange copy and send it to the United
States.
When it was customary to use wax for
the official seal of state document it was
usual for the State Department to inclose
the seal of an exchange treaty in round
silver box, having the national coat of
arms in relief Now that waters are used
this is not done. and the exchange treaty
we send to Spain will doubtless be a very
plain document. 1t will be written in Eng
lish on long sheets of blush paper, known
as treaty paper, fastened at the side with a
ribbon. The President will sign it, Secre-
tary Days signature will attest that of the
President, and then the document will be
taken TO the keeper of the seal of state. 1t
is not enough that the keeper should recog-
nize the signatures of William Mckinley
and William r. Day. He must have a
signed order from the President, directed
to him, before he will make the impression
of the great seal on the red wafer at one
corner of the document. The treaty then
complete, may be incosed in box, but 1t
will probably be placed in a portfolio of
green leather, embossed and stamped with
a gold border.
The copy which the Queen Regent of
Spain will sign and Prime Minister Sa-
gasta will forward TO this country will diff
fer from ours 1t will be in two lam
guages-Spanish and French-and it will
closed in a carved or ornamented box. AL
most all the exchange treaties on file in the
State Department are very ornate. and
some are decorated in silver and gold
The exchange of ratifications is the fourth
step toward the completion of the treaty.
The fifth and final step is the proclamati ton
of the treaty by the President.