Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 3, 1906, (In two parts), Part II

The Acting Secretary of State to Ambassador White.

Department of State,
Washington, July 11, 1906.

No. 109.]

Sir: I transmit in the pouch with this, for deposit with the Italian Government, the President’s ratification of the convention signed at Rome on June 7, 1905, providing for the creation of an international institute of agriculture.

You will inform the department of the date of the deposit. The department would be pleased to be informed also of the names of the other governments which have deposited their ratifications. It is presumed that the Italian Government will, in due time, furnish to each of the signatory governments a proces-verbal of ratification.

The deficiency appropriation act, approved June 30, 1906, contains the following provision:

For the payment of the quota of the United States for the support of the International Institute of Agriculture at Rome, Italy, for the fiscal year nineteen hundred and seven, four thousand eight hundred dollars; for the salary of one member of the permanent committee, and for the actual and necessary traveling expenses of delegates to be appointed to the grand assembly of the institute of agriculture, eight thousand dollars. In all, thirteen thousand four hundred dollars, the said amount to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of State.

In pursuance of the authority thus conferred, Mr. David Lubin, of Sacramento, Cal., has been selected to represent this Government on the permanent committee, it being understood that he is willing to serve without salary. The appointment of delegates to the general assembly of the institute will be considered in due time.

In transmitting to the minister for foreign affairs the President’s instrument of ratification you will inform him of the selection of Mr. Lubin, and say that the Government of the United States elects, under Article X of the convention, to be classed in the first group of nations, and that it is prepared to pay its quota of $4,800 for the support of the institute for the fiscal year 1907 as soon as it is informed by the Italian Government that the institute has been organized.

I am, etc.,

Robert Bacon.

text of the convention for the creation of an international institute of agriculture.

[Translation.]

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 1.

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

Article 2.

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 3.

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 10.

Article 4.

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 programme proposed by the permanent committee and adopted by the adhering governments.

Article 5.

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 6.

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 7.

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 3 for the general assemblies.

Article 8.

The permanent committee shall elect from among its members for a period of three years a president and a vice-president, who may be reelected. 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 9.

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 cooperation, 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 cooperation, 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 10.

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:

Groups of nations.	Numbers of votes.	Units of assessment.
I	5	16
II	4	8
III	3	4
IV	2	2
V	1	1

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 11.

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.

For Italy:	Tittoni.
For Montenegro:	General Mitar Martinovich.
For Russia:	Kroupensky.
For Argentine Republic:	Bald.° M. Fonseca.
For Roumania:	Nicolas Fléva.
For Servia:	M. Milovanovitch.
For Belgium:	L. Verhaeghe de Naeyer.
For Salvador:	J. Gustavo Guerrero.
For Portugal:	M. de Carvalho e Vasconcellos.
For United States of Mexico:	G. A. Esteva.
For Luxemburg:	L. Verhaeghe de Naeyer.
For Switzerland:	J. B. Pioda.
For Persia:	N. Malcolm.
For Japan:	T. Ohyama.
For Ecuador:	J. T. Mera.
For Bulgaria:	D. Mintchovitch.
For Denmark:	Cte Moltke.
For Spain:	Duc de Arcos.
For France:	Camille Barrère.
For Sweden:	Bildt.
For the Netherlands:	Jonkheer van der Goes.
For Greece:	Christ. Mizzopoulos.
For Uruguay:	Jean Cuestas.
For Germany:	A. Monts.
For Cuba:	Carlos de Pedroso.
For Austria-Hungary:	H. Lützow.
For Norway:	Carl Lövenskiold.
For Egypt:	Aziz Izzet.
For Great Britain:	Edwin H. Egerton.
For Guatemala:	Thomas Segarini.
For Ethiopia:	Giuseppe Cuboni.
For Nicaragua:	Jean Giordano duc de Oratino.
For United States of America:	Henry White.
For Brazil:	Barros Moreira.
For Costa Rica:	Rafael Montealegre.
For Chile:	Victor Grez.
For Peru:	Andrés A. Caceres.
For China:	Houang Kao.
For Paraguay:	F. S. Benucci.
For Turkey:	M. Rechid.