so as to provide this reform; but their task would be as nothing compared with that of the United States. While it has been suggested that legislation on the part of New York State might cover the vast majority of cases of arbitration, it has not been made clear how one might answer the objection that we are raising a body of technicians, with a distinct and narrow procedure, to the rank of a tribunal of justice.

We are convinced that the objects in view will be achieved best by the adoption of a summary procedure administered by merchants as a group, and depending for its effectiveness upon moral suasion. It would seem, therefore, that at this time it would be advisable that the United States members of the International High Commission recommend:

(1) That arrangements should be made for a representative commercial organization in each country to become a party to a plan for arbitration of disputes arising between individuals engaged in international trade, such as the plan formulated by representatives of the Chamber of Commerce of Buenos Aires and representatives of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, a copy of which is attached; and

(2) That in each country where an active and representative commercial organization does not now exist endeavors should be made to form such an association of business men as will be national in the scope of its membership and in its study and promotion of national commercial interests.

(h) Report of Elliot H. Goodwin on the Uniformity of Regulations Concerning Commercial Travelers and Their Samples in the American Republics.

Commercial travelers play a very important part in the expansion of trade as this becomes more and more highly specialized and technical. It is in the interest of Governments to facilitate the work of commercial travelers as far as possible. Heavy taxes imposed upon them in accordance with a general fiscal policy of occupation taxes will do much indirect harm to the revenues.

Heavy fees imposed upon commercial travelers for the privilege of importing samples for a fixed period of time amount to import duties under another form. Particularly vexatious is the fact that these fees differ within the various countries from State to State and even from municipality to municipality. Methods should be devised for standardizing the duration of time during which samples may enjoy freedom from duty and the amounts to be levied, consolidating the latter in each case.

There have been suggested recently various types of certificates which duly accredited commercial organizations might issue to commercial travelers. We can see some advantages, but there are serious objections to the issue of such certificates by other than governmental authority.

It is recommended, therefore, that the United States members of the International High Commission on Uniform Laws make certain representations looking toward action on the part of the commission on the matter of regulations for commercial travelers and their samples.

These would take the following form:

I. COMMERCIAL TRAVELERS.

1. That all American Republics should receive commercial travelers not only from other American Republics, but from all other countries, without exacting fees or taxes of any sort because of their occupation; that the principle of reciprocity which is commonly applied in international relations strongly favors this; and that the principles of reciprocity incorporated in the convention signed at Buenos Aires in 1910 relating to such comparable subjects as trademarks are a persuasive argument to the same result; and

2. That if any American Republic finds it difficult to abolish at once any taxes now levied by States or municipalities as one of their regular and important sources of revenue, for which they can not readily provide a substitute, the National Government should establish a fair and uniform tax to be paid by commercial travelers when they enter the country and distribute the proceeds ratably among the States and municipalities which otherwise would assess their own taxes; but even such a national tax should be continued only so long as may be necessary for the States and municipalities to establish other forms of revenue.

II. SAMPLES.

1. That taxes assessed by State and municipal governments against commercial travelers because they carry samples should be abolished.

2. That each American Republic should admit, free of duty and of restriction, all samples which are in fact without value as merchandise, either because of their nature or because of mutilation or incompleteness.

3. That an officially attested list of samples of commercial value, giving a full description of each item and issued without charge at the time a commercial traveler departs from his own country by the consular authorities of an American Republic, should be accepted by the customs authorities of the American Republic in question as establishing the character of the articles as samples.

4. That for each commercial traveler samples which are certified in the manner suggested next above and which do not exceed $500 in value should be examined and appraised at the passenger dock or landing without delay and without requirement of formal entry.

5. That if any duties are collected upon samples, the whole amount paid should at once be refunded when the samples, to be identified by the customs authorities by means of marks affixed by them at the time of importation, are reexported within the period which has been set.

6. That if a bond is taken to secure payment of duties in the event such samples of commercial value as are dutiable are not reexported within the period set, the bond should be canceled at once when the samples, identified by the customs authorities in the manner suggested above, are in fact reexported within the period.

7. That the period during which reexportation of samples will result in refund of duties or cancellation of bond should not be less than six months, which period should be uniformly accepted throughout American Republics as a minimum.

8. That as a prerequisite for refund of duties or cancellation of bond reexportation through the port of entry should not be required.

9. That all formalities at the customs should be simplified to the greatest degree possible, the entrance of samples should be expedited, and all opportunities for unaccountable delay on the part of customs officials should be obviated.

(i) Report of Thorvald Solberg on Uniformity in the Law of Copyright in the American Republics.

It seems desirable, in order to make a clear and intelligent statement, first to set out briefly what are our present copyright relations with our southern neighbors, and on what basis they rest.

UNITED STATES COPYRIGHT LEGISLATION.

The copyright law now in force in the United States is the act approved March 4, 1909, to amend and consolidate the acts respecting copyright (which went into effect on July 1 of the same year), as amended by the acts of August 24, 1912, March 2, 1913, and March 28, 1914.

STATUTORY PROVISIONS AS TO INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT.

Our international relations in regard to copyright are based upon the provisions of section 8 of the act of 1909 extending the copyright secured by that act to include works by foreign authors:

(1) "When an alien author or proprietor shall be domiciled within the United States at the time of the first publication of his work"; or

(2) "When the foreign State or Nation of which such author or proprietor is a citizen or subject grants, either by treaty, convention, agreement, or law, to citizens of the United States the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as to its own citizens, or copyright protection substantially equal to the protection secured to such foreign authors under this act, or by treaty"; or

(3) "When such foreign State or Nation is a party to an international agreement which provides for reciprocity in the granting of copyright, by the terms of which agreement the United States may, at its pleasure, become a party thereto."

The act further provides that the existence of such reciprocal copyright conditions shall be determined by the President by proclamation made from time to time.

INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT RELATIONS ACTUALLY ESTABLISHED.

Under the similar provisions of the copyright act of March 3, 1891, and the provisions quoted above from section 8 of the copyright act of 1909, such proclamations have been issued by the President with respect to reciprocal copyright relations in behalf of 26 countries. (A complete list, with the date of each proclamation, is attached.)

It is necessary for a correct understanding of our international copyright relations to keep clearly in mind the two very different kinds of agreements entered into, namely:

(1) A reciprocal exchange of the rights granted in each country by the domestic copyright law of that country, upon full compliance with the requirements of such domestic law upon the part of the copyright claimant, and

(2) A reciprocal exchange of special rights and privileges secured to each country by the terms of and upon compliance with the stipulations of a copyright treaty or convention.

Within the first group belong the following countries with which we have copyright relations simply by virtue of the issuance of presidential proclamations: Austria, Belgium, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, France, Great Britain and the British possessions, Italy, Luxemburg, Mexico, Netherlands and possessions, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Tunis.

In the same class are the following countries on whose behalf presidential proclamations have been issued based upon agreements or treaties which extend the rights and privileges of our copyright laws to foreigners: Germany, by virtue of the "agreement" signed on January 15, 1892; China, by virtue of Article XI of the treaty for the extension of commercial relations, signed October 8, 1903; Japan, by virtue of the copyright conventions signed November 10, 1905, and May 19, 1908; and Hungary, by virtue of the copyright convention signed January 30, 1912.

In the second group (i. e., countries with which we have established reciprocal copyright protection based upon treaty stipulations) are found the following nine Latin American States: Bolivia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and Salvador. The character of the copyright relations thus established is explained in the following paragraphs:

COPYRIGHT RELATIONS ESTABLISHED WITH LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES.

International copyright relations have been established by means of presidential proclamations on the dates stated with Mexico, February 27, 1896; Chile, May 25, 1896; Costa Rica, October 19, 1899; and Cuba, November 17, 1903. It is understood, therefore, that authors who are citizens of these four Latin American countries have been entitled to all the rights granted by the copyright laws of the United States in force since the dates stated) upon full compliance with the requirements of our copyright laws), with the one exception of "copyright controlling the parts of instruments serving to reproduce mechanically a musical work," granted by section 1(e) of the copyright act of 1909. To secure this right required a special proclamation. Such proclamation was issued by the President in behalf of the citizens of Cuba on November 27, 1911. Reciprocally, United States authors from the dates stated have been entitled to such copyright protection in Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica, and Cuba, as the laws in force grant in each of these countries, and therefore, in the express terms of the copyright act, citizens of the United States are accorded in each of these countries "the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as to its own citizens.

PRESENT COPYRIGHT-TREATY RELATIONS WITH LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES.

(1) Treaty signed at Mexico, 1902. In addition to the copyright relations established, by virtue of presidential proclamations, between the United States and the four countries named above, the United States on April 9, 1908, proclaimed its adhesion to the "convention between the United States and other powers on literary and artistic copyrights," which was signed at the city of Mexico on Janu

ary 27, 1902. This convention went into effect between our country and Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Salvador on July 1, 1908. Under the provisions of this convention authors who have obtained copyright for their works in one of the signatory countries to which they belong may file a copy of each such work, accompanied with the copyright certificate and a petition claiming recognition of the copyright in each of the other countries.

So far as the copyright office has any information, however, not a single application has been filed by any author of either of the five countries. A very few petitions have been filed by citizens of the United States to secure copyright in some of the Central American countries. It is presumed that this convention is virtually superseded by that of 1910.

(2) Convention signed at Buenos Aires, 1910.-A convention on literary and artistic copyright was formulated at the Fourth International American Conference and was signed at Buenos Aires on August 11, 1910, by all the Latin American States, except Bolivia, and by the United States. The ratification of this convention was advised by the Senate on February 15, 1911, and it was ratified by the President on March 12, 1911, but was not proclaimed until July 13, 1914. On that date it went into effect between the United States and the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, as well as Bolivia, whose adhesion to the treaty has been announced through diplomatic channels. This agreement is liberal and is modern in spirit. It provides that "the signatory States acknowledge and protect the rights of literary and artistic property in conformity with the stipulations of the present convention," and that authors or their assigns who are citizens of one of the signatory countries or who are foreigners domiciled in such country, shall enjoy in the other signatory countries the rights which the respective domestic laws of such countries accord.

Finally, the convention expressly provides that a copyright obtained in one of the signatory countries "shall produce its effect of full right in all the other States, without the necessity of complying with any further formality, provided always there shall appear in the work a statement that indicates the reservation of the property right." It would seem, therefore, that authors of the seven countries which have ratified and proclaimed this convention are protected in the United States for all of their works published since July 13, 1914, in any one or more of these countries, provided such works contain a statement that copyright is reserved. No other formality is stipulated. No copies are required to be deposited, no registration is necessary. The protection includes all the rights accorded by our copyright statutes, subject only to such limitation or qualifications as the express provisions of the convention may imply. The term of protection is that of our own statute, provided this term of protection is not longer than that granted by the country of origin of the work or that of the country having the shortest period of protection, in case the work appeared simultaneously in several of the signatory countries.