River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1911-12-14
Hague convention for the establish

Hague convention for the establish
ment Of an international prize court,
mentioned in my last annual message,
embodying stipulations providing for
an alternative procedure which would
remove the constitutional objection to
that part OF The Hague convention
which provides that there may be an
appeal to the proposed court from the
decisions of national courts. has re-
celved the signature of the govern
ments parties to the original conven-
ton and has been ratified by the gov
eminent of the United States, together
with the prize court convention.
The deposit of the notifications with
the government of the Netherlands
awaits action by the powers on the
declaration, signed at London on Feb
ruary &c, 1909, of the rules of interna-
tional law to be recognized within the
meaning of article seven of The Hague
convention for the establishment of an
international prize court.
Fur-SeaI Treaty.
The fur-seal controversy, which for
nearly twenty-five years has been the
source of serious friction between the
United States and the powers border
Ing upon the north Pacific ocean,
whose subjects have been permitted to
engage in pelagic sealing against the
fur-seal herds having their breeding
grounds within the Jurisdiction of the
United States, has at last been salts
factorily adjusted by the conclusion of
the North Pacific sealing convention
entered into between the United
States, Great Britain, Japan and Rus
STA on the seventh Of July last. This
convention Is a conservation measure
of very great Importance, and If it is
carried out in the spirit of reciprocal
concession and advantage upon which
it is based, there is every reason to be-
l1eve that not only will it result in pre-
serving the fur-seal herds Of the north
Pacific ocean and restoring them to
their former value for the purposes of
commerce, but also that it will afford
permanently satisfactory settlement
OF question the only other solution
OF which seemed to be the total de-
struction of the fur seals In another
aspect, also. this convention Is of i'm
portance in that it furnishes an illus
tration of the feasibility of securing a
general international game law for the
protection of other mammals of the
sea, the preservation of which is of
Importance to all the nations Of the
world.
The attention of congress is especil-
ly called to the necessity for iegisla-
ton on the part of the United States
for the purpose Of fulfilling the obliga-
lions assumed under this convention
to which the senate gave its advice
and consent on the twenty-fourGh day
of July last.
international opium Commission.
In special message transmitted to
the congress on the seventh of Janu-
airy, 1911, in which l concurred in the
recommendation made by the secre-
tary of state in regard to certain need
full legislation for the control OF our
interstate and foreign traffic in opium
and other menacing drugs, quoted
from my annual message of Deem
Der z, 1909, in which I announced that
the results of the International Opium
commission held at Shanghai in Feb
ruary 1909, at the invitation of the
United States, had been laid before
this government; that the report Of
that commission showed that China
was making remarkable progress and
admirable efforts toward the eradica-
ton of the opium evil; that the inter
ested governments had not permitted
their commercial interests to prevent
their cooperation in this reform; and,
as a result of collateral Investigations
of the opium question in this country,
/ recommended that the manufacture.
sale and use of opium in the United
States should be more vigorously con-
trolled by legislation.
Prior to that time and III continual
ton Of the policy of this government
to secure the cooperation of the inter
ested nations, the United States pro-
posed an international opium confer
ence with full powers for the purpose
of clothing with the force Of interna-
tional law the resolutions adopted by
the above-mentioned commission, to-
gether with their essential corOllaries.
The other powers concerned cordially
responded to the proposal of this gov
ernment, and, / am glad to be able to
announce, representatives of all the
powers assembled in conference at
The Hague on the first of this month
Since the passage of the opium-ex-
clusion act, more than twenty states
have been animated to modify their
pharmacy laws and bring them in ac-
cord with the spirit of that act, thus
stamping out, to a measure, the in
trastate traffic in opium and other
habit-forming drugs. But. although l
have urged on the congress the pass
age of certain measures for federal
control Of the interstate and foreign
traffic in these drugs, no action has
vet been taken. In view Of the fact
that there is now sitting at The Hague
SO important conference, which has
under review the municipal laws of
the different nations for the mitigation
of their opium and other allied evils,
conference which will certainly deal
with the international aspects of these
evils, it seems to me most essential
that the congress should take immedi-
ate action on the anti-narcotic legis1a-
ton to which l have already called at
tention by a special message.