Hague, and otherwise to make effective the results heretofore accomplished, this sum to be expended at the discretion of the Secretary of State and to continue available until the object appropriated for is accomplished.

Since the forthcoming Conference will meet in the coming June, and the necessary and extensive preparations must be made for it by this Government, it is very important that the appropriation be made immediately available.

Respectfully submitted:

Senate Doc. 157, 63d Cong., 1st sess.

Message from the President to the Congress transmitting a communication from the Secretary of State accompanied by a report from the American delegates to the Second International Opium Conference at The Hague, July 1–9, 1913.

[Read August 9, 1913; referred to Committee on Foreign Relations.]

TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:

I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of State, accompanied with a report prepared by Mr. Hamilton Wright on behalf of the American delegates to the Second International Opium Conference, which met at The Hague on the 1st of July last and adjourned on the 9th of the same month.

The First Opium Conference assembled at The Hague on December 1, 1911, and adjourned on January 23, 1912. The convention formulated by this conference has since been signed by all of the Latin-American States and by a great majority of those of Europe, and all but three of the States that have signed have already agreed to proceed to the deposit of ratifications.

The results of the conferences should be regarded by the Government and people of the United States with great satisfaction. An international convention imposing the obligation to enact legislation strictly to confine the trade in opium and allied narcotics to medical purposes has been signed by all but 10 nations of the world, and there is reason to believe that by the end of the present year, through the action of the recent conference, all the nations of the world will have become signatories of the agreement.

It remains for the Congress to pass the necessary legislation to carry out the stipulations of the convention on the part of the United States. Such legislation has recently passed the House of Representatives without a dissenting vote, and I earnestly urge that this measure, to the adoption of which this Government is now pledged, be enacted as soon as possible during the present session of the Congress. WOODROW WILSON.

THE WHITE HOUSE, August 9, 1913.

The Secretary of State to the President.

The PRESIDENT:

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington, August 7, 1913.

I have the honor to submit herewith a report prepared by Mr. Hamilton Wright on behalf of the American delegates to the Second International Opium Conference, which sat at The Hague from the 1st to the 9th of July last.

The report summarizes the steps leading up to the call of this conference by the Netherlands Government and reviews the questions. submitted to the conference and the conclusions arrived at by the delegates thereto, representing the following countries: Germany, United States, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Spain, France, Great Britain, Haiti, Italy, Japan, Luxemburg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, and Siam.

The report also covers the period intervening between the adjournment of the First Opium Conference, which sat at The Hague from December 1, 1911, to January 23, 1912. By this conference an international convention was adopted which emphasizes the obligation to adopt legislation strictly to confine the dealing in opium and allied narcotics to medical channels. This convention has been signed with the greatest good will by all but 10 nations of the world, and an agreement to ratify it has been made by nearly all of the signatory powers. Among the signatory powers are all the Latin-American States and a great majority of the States of Europe; and an agreement to proceed to the deposit of ratifications has been entered into by all but three of the signatories. The report states that there is every reason to believe that by the end of the year, through the action of the recent conference, all the nations of the world will have signed the convention, and that it will become universally effective a short time thereafter.

As a party to the international convention, the Government of the United States is pledged to the enactment of legislation to carry it into effect. A bill drawn for that purpose has recently passed the House of Representatives without a dissenting vote and it is hoped that it may be enacted into law during the present session of the Congress.

W. J. BRYAN.

Report to the Secretary of State on the Second International Opium Conference by the American delegates: Hamilton Wright, Lloyd Bryce, Gerrit John Kollen.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, July 31, 1913. SIR: The following report, made on behalf of the American delegates to the Second International Opium Conference, held at The Hague from July 1 to July 9, 1913, is in continuation of reports of January 1, 1910, and of May 15, 1912,2 [the former] made to your

Not printed in For. Rel.; see Senate Doc. 377, 61st Cong., 2d sess.; see also For. Rel. 1912, p. 182, footnote 2.

For. Rel. 1912. pp. 207-221.

predecessor by the undersigned on behalf of the American commissioners to the International Opium Commission, which met at Shanghai in February, 1909, and [the latter on behalf] of the American delegates to the First International Opium Conference, which assembled at The Hague on December 1, 1911, and adjourned January 23, 1912. (S. Doc. No. 377, 61st Cong., 2d sess., and S. Doc. No. 733, 62d Cong., 2d sess.2)

The above-mentioned reports should be carefully consulted, as the first contains the conclusions and recommendations of the International Opium Commission; a wide range of data embracing treaties affecting citizens of the United States in regard to the opium traffic; statutes controlling Americans engaged in the foreign opium traffic: tariff, internal revenue, and other statutes covering the opium trade in the United States and its possessions; projected Federal legislation, etc.; while the second report is mainly composed of instructions to the American delegates to the first Hague conference, and a careful analysis of the International Opium Convention formulated in that conference of twelve powers, representing the civilization of America, Europe, and Asia.

For a proper understanding of what the American Government has accomplished in cooperation with the other nations of the world during the past six years for the obliteration of the special and general opium and allied traffics, it might be well to consult certain articles on the commission and First Conference in the Journal of International Law of July and October, 1909; and of October, 1912, and January, 1913. These articles state very thoroughly the status of the world-wide opium problem before the United States initiated in the autumn of 1906, the international movement for its suppression; and contain information which shows beyond doubt that all nations concerned have heartily rallied to the support of the United States for the achievement of an intercontinental humanitarian, moral, economic, and diplomatic reform. I beg to suggest that these articles be printed as an annex to this report.

With the above-mentioned documents accessible for consultation, it is unnecessary that an exhaustive report be made on the recent conference. The salient facts in regard to the preliminaries of that conference are about as follows:

By article 223 of the International Opium Convention of the First Conference, formulated by delegates of twelve powers, it is provided in effect that the powers not represented at that conference shall be permitted to sign the convention; that to this end the Netherlands Government shall invite all the States of Europe and America who were not represented at the conference to sign the instrument. There then follows an enumeration of 34 powers of Europe and America who are to be invited to sign.

During the first conference an informal agreement was made between the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Govern

To

Contains the report of January 1, 1910, referred to in footnote 1 on p. 221. Contains the report of May 15, 1912, referred to in footnote 2 on p. 221. This document also contains the texts of the Opium Convention and the Protocol de Cloture. the text of Article 13 of the Opium Convention as there printed and as printed in For. Rel. 1912, p. 200,- the words shall not take place" should be inserted after the word " powers."

For. Rel. 1912, p. 202.

ment and the American delegates thereto that the United States should especially concern itself in securing to the convention the signatures of the Latin-American States. This understanding was reinforced by a formal request made on the United States by the Netherlands Government, which appears as follows:

No. 218.

ROYAL LEGATION OF THE NETHERLANDS GOVERNMENT,

Mr. SECRETARY OF STATE:

March 7, 1912.

By virtue of article 22 of the International Opium Convention, concluded January 23 last, an additional protocol of signature has been opened at the Department of Foreign Affairs at The Hague for the powers that were not represented at the conference.

His excellency, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, being convinced of the special interest taken in this question by the American Government, desires me to express to your excellency the hope that you will kindly lend your invaluable assistance to cause the powers of Latin America to sign the said protocol at the earliest possible date.

Be pleased to accept, Mr. Secretary of State, the renewed assurances of my highest consideration.

J. LOUDON.

. As the result of the understanding between the American delegates and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Government, and the formal request of the Netherlands Government upon the Government of the United States, The Department of State issued April 15, 1912, a circular instruction to American diplomatic officers accredited to the Latin-American States. In substance that instruction was about as follows:

Attention was called to the fact that during some 30 years a powerful and extensive public opinion had developed which aimed to secure the abolition of the evil associated with the opium traffic as seen in Far Eastern countries; that this public opinion expressed itself not only in the United States, but in those other countries having intimate commercial association with China; that for a number of years much pressure had been brought to bear upon the Government of the United States to induce it to take the initiative in an international movement for the eradication or mitigation of the evil; and that after a thorough examination of the question by the Department of State the Government of the United States in the autumn of 1906 approached several of the interested powers to see if there could not be assembled an international commission of inquiry to study the moral, scientific, economic, and diplomatic aspects of the question. The Governments approached heartily responded to the proposal of the United States, and in a short time it was agreed among them that an international commission of inquiry should meet at Shanghai, China. That commission met on February 1, 1909, and adjourned on February 26 of that year.

After a searching study of the opium question in all its bearings, the international commission unanimously decided that the opium evil, though most obvious in the Far East, was really present in the home territories of the several countries represented in the commission. The commission then adopted nem. con. nine resolutions, which may be found on page 65, Senate Document No. 377, Sixtyfirst Congress, second session. The instruction further declared that although no formal conclusion was arrived at, it was a matter of discussion, and was recognized by the international commission, that its

resolutions, however important morally, would fail to satisfy enlightened public opinion unless by subsequent agreement of the powers they and the questions involved in them were incorporated in an international convention. Impressed by this fact and the desirability of divesting the opium problem of local and unwise agitation, as well as by the necessity of maintaining it upon the basis of fact as determined by the international commission, the Government of the United States issued a proposal to the interested Governments on September 1, 1909, to the effect that an international conference be held at The Hague, composed of delegates of each State, and that such delegates should have full powers to conventionalize the resolutions of the Shanghai commission and their necessary consequences. This proposal contained notes as to a tentative program (p. 73. S. Doc. 377, 61st Cong., 2d sess.), and to this program, by the proposal of the British Government, was added the question of the production, use of, and traffic in morphine and cocaine, and by proposal of the Italian Government the production, use of, and traffic in the Indian hemp drugs.

The Latin-American States were informed that it was the earnest desire of the United States that in the prospective conference there should be as wide a representation as possible, and that this desire was strengthened after the proposals of the British Government in regard to the morphine and cocaine traffics had been made, for it was promptly recognized by the United States that several of the Latin-American countries were interested in the production of the raw material of the coca leaf from which one of these drugscocaine was derived. However, it was explained that it was not possible in the short period which elapsed between the time of the British proposals and the assembling of the international conference at The Hague for the Government of the United States to make its desire known to the Latin-American Governments; that it seemed wiser at the moment that the prospective conference should consist of those countries which took part in the Shanghai Commission, and that that conference should decide whether its convention should become immediately effective as concerned the signatory States, or wait ratification and effectuation upon the signatures of those other countries of Europe and America not represented in the conference. When the conference assembled, it was stated, there was a general agreement that the signatures to the convention by the Latin-American States was essential; that it was with pleasure that the American delegates accepted article 22 of the convention, which provided for the supplementary signatures of the Latin-American States, amongst others, as it undoubtedly enhanced the value of the work of the conference and directly settled an important diplomatic question, namely, that in the future all Hague conferences dealing with questions moral, humanitarian, and economic, of world-wide interest, such as the opium and allied questions, could not be finally determined upon by a minority of nations of the world, but must include delegates of all States directly or indirectly interested. The American representatives accredited to the Latin-American States were then instructed to bear in mind that this Government had steadily pressed for international action for the solution of the opium problem; that it had done so only after a frank recognition by twelve of the powers of the