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Done at The Hague, the 18th October, 1907, in a single copy, which shall remain deposited in the archives of the Netherland Government, and duly certified copies of which shall be sent, through the diplomatic channel to the contracting Powers.

(Here follow signatures.)

No. 7. Convention for the Creation of an International
Institute of Agriculture, 1905.1

In a series of meetings held at Rome, from May 29 to June 6, 1905, the delegates of the Powers convened at the Conference for the creation of an International Institute of Agriculture, having agreed upon the text of a Convention to be dated June 7, 1905, and this text having been submitted for approval to the Governments which took part in the said conference, the undersigned, having been furnished with full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed, in the names of their respective Governments, on what follows:

Article I.

There is hereby created a permanent international institute of agriculture, having its seat in Rome.

Article II.

The international institute of agriculture is to be a government institution, in which each adhering power shall be represented by delegates of its choice.

The institute shall be composed of a general assembly and a permanent committee, the composition and duties of which are defined in the ensuing articles.

Article III.

The general assembly of the institute shall be composed of the representatives of the adhering governments. Each nation, whatever be the number of its delegates, shall be entitled to a number of votes in the assembly which shall be determined according to the group to which it belongs, and to which reference will be made in Article X.

1

1U. S. S. L., XXXV, 1918. Compare, above, Document No. 5, Arts. XVXVIII, pp. 541-542.

Article IV.

The general assembly shall elect for each session from among its members a president and two vice-presidents.

The sessions shall take place on dates fixed by the last general assembly and according to a program proposed by the permanent committee and adopted by the adhering governments.

Article V.

The general assembly shall exercise supreme control over the international institute of agriculture.

It shall approve the projects prepared by the permanent committee regarding the organization and internal workings of the institute. It shall fix the total amount of expenditures and audit and approve the accounts.

It shall submit to the approval of the adhering governments modifications of any nature involving an increase in expenditure or an enlargement of the functions of the institute. It shall set the date for holding the sessions. It shall prepare its regulations. The presence at the general assemblies of delegates representing two-thirds of the adhering nations shall be required in order to render the deliberations valid.

Article VI.

The executive power of the institute is intrusted to the permanent committee, which, under the direction and control of the general assembly, shall carry out the decisions of the latter and prepare propositions to submit to it.

Article VII.

The permanent committee shall be composed of members designated by the respective governments. Each adhering nation shall be represented in the permanent committee by one member. However, the representation of one nation may be intrusted to a delegate of another adhering nation, provided that the actual number of members shall not be less than fifteen.

The conditions of voting in the permanent committee shall be the same as those indicated in Article III for the general assemblies.

Article VIII.

The permanent committee shall elect from among its members for a period of three years a president and a vice-president, who

may be reëlected. It shall prepare its internal regulations, vote the budget of the institute within the limits of the funds placed at its disposal by the general assembly, and appoint and remove the officials and employees of its office.

The general secretary of the permanent committee shall act as secretary of the assembly.

Article IX.

The institute, confining its operations within an international sphere, shall

(a) Collect, study, and publish as promptly as possible statistical, technical, or economic information concerning farming, both vegetable and animal products, the commerce in agricultural products, and the prices prevailing in the various markets;

(b) Communicate to parties interested, also as promptly as possible, all the information just referred to;

(c) Indicate the wages paid for farm work;

(d) Make known the new diseases of vegetables which may appear in any part of the world, showing the territories infected, the progress of the disease, and, if possible, the remedies which are effective in combating them;

(e) Study questions concerning agricultural coöperation, insurance, and credit in all their aspects; collect and publish information which might be useful in the various countries in the organization of works connected with agricultural coöperation, insurance, and credit;

(f) Submit to the approval of the governments, if there is occasion for it, measures for the protection of the common interests of farmers and for the improvement of their condition, after having utilized all the necessary sources of information, such as the wishes expressed by international or other agricultural congresses or congresses of sciences applied to agriculture, agricultural societies, academies, learned bodies, etc.

All questions concerning the economic interests, the legislation, and the administration of a particular nation shall be excluded from the consideration of the institute.

Article X.

The nations adhering to the institute shall be classed in five groups, according to the place which each of them thinks it ought to occupy.

The number of votes which each nation shall have and the number of units of assessment shall be established according to the following gradations:

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In any event the contribution due per unit of assessment shall never exceed a maximum of 2,500 francs.

As a temporary provision the assessment for the first two years shall not exceed 1,500 francs per unit.

Colonies may, at the request of the nations to which they belong, be admitted to form part of the institute on the same conditions as the independent nations.

Article XI.

The present Convention shall be ratified and the ratifications exchanged as soon as possible by depositing them with the Italian Government.

In faith whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention and have hereunto affixed their seals.

Done at Rome the 7th of June one thousand nine hundred and five, in a single original, deposited with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy, of which certified copies shall be sent through the diplomatic channel to the contracting States.

No. 8. Proposals for The Hague Conference of 1907.1

a. Memorandum from the Russian Embassy in Washington, handed to the President of the United States, 13 September, 1905, proposing a Second Peace Conference at The Hague.

In view of the termination, with the cordial coöperation of the President of the United States, of the war, and of the conclusion of peace between Russia and Japan, His Majesty the Emperor, as initiator of the International Peace Conference of 1899, holds that a favorable moment has now come for the further development and for the systematizing of the labors of that international conference. With this end in view, and being assured in advance of the sympathy of President Roosevelt, who has already, last year, pronounced himself in favor of such a project, His Majesty desires to approach him with a proposal to the effect that the Government of the United States take part in a new interna'U. S. For. Rels., 1905, 828; 1906, 1629; see, above, text, Chap. XX.

tional conference which could be called together at The Hague as soon as favorable replies could be secured from all the other States to which a similar proposal will be made. As the course of the late war has given rise to a number of questions which are of the greatest importance and closely related to the Acts of the First Conference, the plenipotentiaries of Russia at the future meeting will lay before the conference a detailed program which could serve as a starting point for its deliberations.

b. Note from the Russian Ambassador to the Secretary of State, 3 April, 1906.

Imperial Russian Embassy,

Washington, D. C., April 3, 1906.

Mr. Secretary of State: I have just received from my Government order by telegraph to bring the following to the knowledge of the United States Government:

The Imperial (Russian) Government, in agreement with the Dutch Government, proposes to call The Hague Conference during the first half of the month of July of the present year.

Russia at the same time invites the nations which did not sign the convention relative to the laws of war on land, nor that relative to the adaptation of the Geneva Convention to war at sea, to inform the Royal Government of The Netherlands of their adhesion to these conventions. With regard to further adhesions to the convention concerning international arbitration, the Imperial Government is conferring on this subject with the Governments which signed the acts of 1899.

I deem it proper at the same time to inclose herewith a summary of the program which the Imperial Government proposes to submit to the Conference at The Hague, and I should thank your Excellency to inform me of the response of your Government to this proposition, in order that I may transmit it to St. Petersburg by telegraph.

Please accept, etc.,

ROSEN.

C. Note from the Russian Ambassador to the Secretary of State proposing the Program of the Second Peace Conference

12 April, 1906.

Imperial Embassy of Russia,
Washington, April 12, 1906.

Mr. Secretary of State: When it assumed the initiative of calling a Second Peace Conference, the Imperial Government had

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