The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-03-21
THE COVENANT IN DANGER
A Way to Save It May Be
 Found, However.
Palma Will Be Asked to Call tho Cuban Congress Into Extra
 ordinary Session to Provide
 Exchange of Notifications

Washington, March 20-Acting Secretary Of State Loomis and Mir. Quesada, the Cu- ban Minister. after discussing the pros poets of an exchange of ratifications of the Cuban treaty within the time limit this morning decided to cable President Palma requesting him to call the Cuban Congress to extraordinary session imme- diately for the purpose. as that body oth- erwise would not meet until April '. seven days after the expiration of the legal time limit for the exchange of notifications.
 From such imperfect readings of the treaty as can be had at this stage the State Department officials have some doubt as to their ability to, do anything whatever with the convention. The amend ments made by the Senate, particularly those that added to the ratifying article, though probably not so intended, may re- suit in the complete loss of the treaty. There are conflicting clauses which 1t may not be possible to reconcile
 The Original Provision.
 Article Il provided originally that ''ths present convention shall be ratified by the appropriate authorities of the respective countries and the ratifications shall be ex- changed at Washington. D. C., as soon as may be. before the thirty-first day of January, 1903, and the convention shall go into effect on the tenth day after the exchange of notifications and shall contin- ue in force for the term of five years from date of going into effect and from year to year thereafter until the expiration of one year from the day when either of the contracting parties shall give notice to the other of its intention to terminate the same''
 Usually 1t is provided that a treaty shall go into effect as soon as the ratificatIouaT are exchanged and with the slight change in this respect the original ratifying clause of the Cuban treaty was in the usual form and would not have led to complications. The date of January 31 was changed by both governments before the United States Senate acted, to March 31. and that Is how the article stood when the Senate added this sentence: This treaty shall not take effect until the same shall have been approved by the Congress"
 This led to complications which are now vexing the department. There were two different dates fixed in the same article for the taking effect of the treaty.
 More Serious Difficulty.
 The weight of opinion inclines to the be- lief that following the common law prin- ciple the last stipulation should govern. which would defer the operation of the treaty until after the Congress acted. But a more serious difficulty has been pointed out as follows:
 It is hardly regarded feasible and is certainly in violation of precedent to ex- change notifications of a document which is not treaty as this Cuban convention will not be- in the opinion of some of the State Department people until the Con- gress" has set its approval upon it. If this view is correct then the exchange of notifications will have to be deferred un- til next winter at the earliest and this de- lay it is thought would cause the failure of the treaty in its present form because of the inability of the negotiators to meet the requirements of article Il which de- mands that the exchange take place be- fore March 31.
 It Is possible that way will be found out of this web and to that end the State Department people now are working. The Cuban Minister here evidently is dismayed at the situation and although he made every effort in his power to keep the facts from attracting attention, they developed fully today, even to the knowledge of his immediate compliance with the State De- partments suggestion that he cabled to President Palma suggesting an immediate calling together of the Cuban Congress which is now in recess.