prices. At a conference in Brussels on March 5, 1902, Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden entered into an international sugar convention,' which created a permanent commission of representatives of the contracting countries, empowered practically to dictate, by a majority vote, certain matters of national legislation affecting sugar. The essential covenants of the convention and its protocol are as follows:

The High Contracting Parties engage to suppress, from the date of the coming into force of the present Convention, the direct and indirect bounties by which the production or exportation of sugar may profit, and not to establish bounties of such a kind during the whole continuance of the said Convention.

The High Contracting Parties engage to limit the surtaxthat is to say the difference between the rate of duty or taxation to which foreign sugar is liable, and the rate of duty or taxation to which home-produced sugar is subject—to a maximum of 6 francs per 100 kilograms on refined sugar and on sugar which may be classed as refined, and to 5 francs 50 centimes on other sugar.

This provision is not intended to apply to the rate of import duty in countries which produce no sugar; neither is it applicable to the by-products of sugar manufacture and of sugar refining.2

'Hertslet, Commercial Treaties, vol. xxiii, pp. 579 et seq. Russia and several other, including non-European, governments subsequently adhered to the convention. For an account of the bounty problem and its solution see Sayre, Francis Bowes, Experiments in International Administration (New York, 1919), pp. 117 et seq. An additional Act was signed Aug. 28, 1907, and an Accord, still farther extending the duration of the convention, on March 17, 1912. Earlier Sugar Conventions had proven ineffective for lack of penalty provisions.

'Spain, Italy and Sweden were to be exempt from the foregoing engagements under certain conditions.

The High Contracting Parties engage to impose a special duty on the importation into their territories of sugar from those countries which may grant bounties either on production or on exportation.

This duty shall not be less than the amount of the bounties, direct or indirect, granted in the country of origin. The High Contracting Parties reserve to themselves, each so far as concerns itself, the right to prohibit the importation of bounty-fed sugar. . . .

The High Contracting Parties engage reciprocally to admit at the lowest rates of their tariffs of import duties sugar the produce either of the Contracting States or of those Colonies or Possessions of the said States which do not grant bounties, and to which the obligations of Article 81 are applicable.

Cane sugar and beet sugar may not be subjected to different duties.

Considering that the object of the surtax is the effectual protection of the home markets of the producing countries, the High Contracting Parties reserve to themselves the right, each as concerns itself, to propose an increase of the surtax, should considerable quantities of sugar produced by one of the Contracting States enter their territories; this increase would only apply to sugar produced by that State.

The proposal must be addressed to the Permanent Commission, which will decide, at an early date, by a vote of the majority, whether there is good ground for the proposed measure, as to the period for which it shall be enforced, and as to the rate of the increase; the latter shall not exceed 1 franc per 100 kilograms.

"The High Contracting Parties engage, for themselves and for their Colonies or possessions, exception being made in the case of the selfgoverning Colonies of Great Britain and the British East Indies, to take the necessary measures to prevent bounty-fed sugar which has passed in transit through the territory of a Contracting State from enjoying the benefits of the Convention in the market to which it is being sent. The Permanent Commission shall make the necessary proposals with regard to this matter."

(c) Sealing of Railway Trucks

Seventeen European countries are parties to an agreement signed May 15, 1886, regarding the sealing of railway trucks which are to be subject to customs inspection. This instrument, which deals with the method of constructing railway cars and specifies in detail the means of securely sealing them, was revised in 1907 and confirmed by the peace treaties of 1919.

1

(d) Publication of Customs Tariffs

About fifty countries, including the United States and embracing practically the entire commercial world, are parties to the International Convention concerning the Formation of an International Union for the Publication of Customs Tariffs, signed at Brussels, July 5, 1890, and confirmed by the peace treaties of 1919. Article 12 is as follows:

In order to enable the Institution to edit the International Customs Bulletin as accurately as possible, the contracting parties shall send it, directly and without delay, two copies :

(a) of their customs law and their customs tariff, carefully brought up to date.

(b) of all provisions that shall ultimately modify said law and tariff.

(c) of the circulars and instructions that shall be addressed by the said Governments to their custom-houses concerning the application of the tariff or the classification of goods, and that can be made public.

(d) of their treaties of commerce, international conventions and domestic laws having a direct bearing upon the existing tariffs.2

1 A Final Protocol was signed in 1907. Martens, Recueil des traités, vol. 82, pp. 42-51; Handbook, p. 801.

'Malloy, Treaties, p. 1998.

In this manner is to be accomplished the object of the convention, that is, to obtain publicity in customs matters for the information of governments and the guidance of international traders. The Bulletin is published in English, French, German and Spanish. The collected data and trained staff of the Brussels organization would seem to form an excellent nucleus around which to assemble future international gatherings for the study of and for action in regard to customs problems.

(e) Arrangements for China and Turkey

Certain bi-lateral treaties between the Powers, sometimes including the United States, and such countries as China, Persia, Siam and Turkey, partake of the nature of international multi-lateral agreements. They emphasize, however, the assumption of obligations by only one country rather than mutual undertakings among the powers forming the other side of the compact. The essential element of true multi-lateral treaties, namely mutuality of obligation among all parties, appears, therefore, to be for the most part absent.

(f) The Act of Algeciras

The conference held at Algeciras in 1906 prepared a General Act which was signed on April 7 by the representatives of twelve powers, including the United States. The subject was the affairs of Morocco and "economic liberty without any inequality" was one of the expressly sought ends. One of the seven chapters of the Act is entitled "A regulation concerning the customs of the Empire and the repression of fraud and smuggling." Article 66 provides that—

Merchandise of foreign origin shall temporarily be subject on entry into Morocco to special taxes amounting to 22 per cent ad valorem. The whole proceeds of this special tax shall form a special fund, which shall be devoted to the execution

of and expenses connected with public works for the development of navigation and the general trade of the Shereefian Empire.1

The Act of Algeciras is something more than an imposition of rules upon a weak power: it is an agreement among the great powers that a specified régime in Morocco shall be respected by them.

(g) The Porto Rose Conference

It is often impracticable for one or two states to take action that is admittedly desirable, unless other states will agree to take the same action at the same time. The reduction of the innumerable restrictions upon commerce with which the new states born of the war in central and southeastern Europe felt it necessary to protect themselves is an example in point. At the economic conference held at Porto Rose, near Trieste, in the fall of 1921, and attended by representatives of the succession states of the former AustroHungarian Empire-Austria, Hungary, Italy, Rumania, Poland, Czechoslovakia and the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes—a convention was signed for the purpose of removing or reducing these restrictions and of preventing the levying of duties that would have a prohibitive effect upon trade.2

(h) The Genoa Conference

The formation of customs unions or the elimination of customs duties between groups of small states has been discussed at recent conferences of various countries bordering

'Malloy, Treaties, p. 2172. See also Articles 67 and 123. France has put into effect in Morocco discriminatory duties against German goods, acting under the Treaty of Versailles. The Convention of Madrid (1880) had provided for the Open Door in Morocco for the contracting parties only.

2 See Commerce Reports, Jan. 23, 1922, p. 211.