The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-12-07

there may be appeal to the proposed
court from the decisions of national
courts. has received the signature of the
governments parties to the original con-
vention and has been ratified by the
government of the United States, to-
Sether with the prize court convention
The deposit of the Publications with
the government of the Netherlands awaits
action by the powers on the declaration,
signed at London on February 26, 1909, Of
The rules of international law to be rec
ognlzed within the meaning of article
hshment of an international prize court.
Fur-SeaI Treaty.
| The fur-seaI controversy, which for
nearly twenty-five years has been the
United States and the powers bordering
upon the north Pacific ocean, whose sub
Jects have been permitted to engage in
pelag1c sealing against the fur-seal herds
/ having their breeding grounds within the
jurisdiction of the United States, has at
I last been satisfactorily adjusted by the
4 conclusion of the north Pacific sealing
convention entered into between the Unit
] ed States, Great Britain, Japan, and Rus
STA on the 7th of July last This conven-
| ton 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 believe that not only
| viii it result in preserving the fur-sea1
| nerds OF the north Pacific ocean and re-
storing them to their former value for
| the purpose of commerce, but also that 1t
will afford a permanently satisfactory
/
solution of which seemed to be the total
destruction of the fur seals. In another
| aspect also, this convention is Of i'm
portance in that it furnishes an illustra-
ton of the feasibility of securing gen
eral international game law for the pro-
lection 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 especially
the part of the United States for the pur-
pose of fulfilling the obligations assumed
under this convention, to which the sen
ate gave its advice and consent on the
oath day of July last.
Protection Industrial Property Union.
The conference of the International
Union for the Protection of Industrial
Property. which, under the authority of
congress-, convened at Washington on
May 10. 1911, closed its labors on June 2,
1911, by the signature of three acts. as
% A convention revising the Paris
convention of March 90 1888, for the pro-
lection of industrial property, as MODIFIED
by the additional act signed at Brussels
December IA. 1900:
CD An arrangement to. replace the ar
rangement signed at Madrid on April IA.
1891. for the international registration of
trademarks, and the additional act with
regard thereto signed signed at Brussels /
on December IA. 1900; and
90 An arrangement to replace the ar
rangement signed at Madrid on April H. |
1891, relating to the repression of false
indication of production of merchandise
The United States is a signatory of the
first convention only, and this Will be
promptly submitted to the senate.
International Opium Commission.
In a special message transmitted to the
congress on the 18th of January 1911 in !
whiclpI concurred in the recommends
made by the secretary of state in regard
to certain needful legislation for the con
troll of our interstate and foreign traffic |
in opium and other menacing drugs. L |
quoted from my annual message of De |
cember z, 1909, in which / announced that |
the results of the International Opium |
Commission held at Shanghai in Feb
Tuary 1909, at the invitation of the |
United States had been laid before this |
government; that the report of that COM |
mission showed that China was making |
remarkable progress and admirable ef- |
forts toward the eradication of the opium !
evil; that the interested governments had |
not permitted their commercial interests
10 prevent their cooperation in this re
form; and as a result of collateral in |
Vestigations Of the opium question in |
this country, l recommended that the /
manufacture, sale, and use of opium IN |
the United States should be more rigor- |
ously controlled by legislation.
Prior to that time time and in continual |
ton OF the policy of this government to |
secure the cooperation of the interested |
nations, the United States proposed an |
international opium conference with full /
powers for the purpose of clothing with |
the force of international law the resolu-
lions adopted by the aforementioned |
commission, together with their essential |
corollaries. The other powers concerned |
cordially responded to the proposal Of |
this government, and, I 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-
cIusion act, more than twenty states have |
been animated to modify their pharmacy
laws and bring them in accord with the |
spirit of that act, thus stamping out, to
a measure, the intrastate traffic in opium
and other habit-forming drugs. But. al
though I have urged on the congress the
passage of certain measures for Federal
control of the interstate and foreign traf-
fic in these drugs, no action has yet been
taken. In view of the fact that there is
now sitting at The Hague so important
a conference, which has under review
the municipal laws of the different ma
lions for the mitigation of their opium
and other allied evils a conference which
will certainly deal with the international
aspects of these evils, it seems to me most
essential that the congress should take
immediate action on the anti-narcouc leg
islation to which have already called
attention by a special message
Buenos Aires Conventions.
The four important conventions signed
at the fourth Pan American conference
at Ruenos Aires, providing for the reg
ulation of trademarks, patents, and copy
rights and for the arbitration of pecun-
iary claims, have, with the advice and
consent of the senate, been ratified on
the part of the United States and the
notifications have been deposited with
the government of the Argentine Repub-
lie in accordance with the requirements
of the conventions am not advised
that similar action has been taken by
any other of the signatory governments.
One of the notable advances in inter
national morality accomplished in recent
years was an arrangement entered into
on Aprl4 10 of the present year between
the United States and other powers for
the repression of the circulation of OBJ
scene publications
In my last annual message 1 referred
to the tariff negotiations of the depart
ment of state with foreign countries in
connection with the application, by a
series of proclamations of the minimum
o~fff of ha Init or immortal J
tions from the several countries, and
stated that, in its general operation. sec