remove without destroying them, are received in the United States from a foreign country, and there is reason to believe they contain articles liable to customs duties, the customs officers are notified of the receipt of such letters or packages and their several addresses; and if any letter or package of this character be addressed to a person residing within the delivery of this office, the addressee thereof is notified that such letter or package has been received and is believed to contain articles liable to customs duties, and that he must appear at the office of the customs examiners in the post-office building within a time aot exceeding twenty days from the date of said notice and receive and open said letter or package in their presence.

Non-Mailable Articles.

The following articles, when addressed to the countries named, are absolutely unmailable, the laws of those countries forbidding their importation by mail:

TO BELGIUM

Articles of miscellaneous merchandise not bona fide trade samples.

TO GREAT BRITAIN

Packages containing glass and packages of manufactured tobacco, including cigars and cigar ettes; also packages of unmanufactured tobacco exceeding four ounces in weight.

TO FRANCE

Tobacco in any form.

TO ITALY

a. Living plants or any living portion of a vegetable, such as branches, bulbs or roots. b. Samples of tobacco.

c. Samples of raw or spun silk in excess of 100 grams (3% ozs.) weight.

d. Correspondence relative to lotteries.

TO RUSSIA

a. Newspapers and other political publications, unless addressed to members of the reigning imperial family, ministers of the Empire or members of the diplomatic corps, or subscribed for at Russian post offices.

b. Non-political publications, except those subscribed for at Russian post offices or addressed to the Public Imperial Library, the Academy of Sciences, the higher educational establishments or established book stores.

c. Books in the Russian language published elsewhere than in Russia.

d. Pasteboard drawing models.

e. Russian paper money and Russian government bonds.

Parcels-Post.

Statement Showing the Countries to which Parcels May be Sent, and the Dimensions, Weight and

The sender of a parcel addressed to any of the countries named above, except Barbados, may have the same registered by paying a registration fee of 8 cents, and will receive the "return receipt' without special charge therefor; but the Post Office Department will in no case be responsible for, the loss or damage of any parcel.

Customs and Postage Charges on Delivery.

Dutiable articles received in the United States in parcels-post mail will be rated and chargea with the proper amount of customs duty by the customs officer at the United State exchange post office at which said mails are received from abroad, and the duty so rated will be collected and remitted to said customs officer by the postmaster who delivers the article.

Special Rates and Conditions Applying to Canada and Mexico.

CANADA.

Articles of every kind or nature which are admitted to the domestic mails of either country are admitted at the same postage rates and under the same conditions to the mails exchanged between the two countries; except that plants, seeds, etc., are subject to the postage rate of one cent an ounce; that "commercial papers" and commercial samples are transmissible at the same postage rates and under the same conditions as apply to them in mails to other foreign countries-though goods and merchandise not samples may be sent in packages, not over four pounds in weight, for one cent per ounce; and that articles other than letters in their usual and ordinary form are excluded from the mails unless they are so wrapped or enclosed as to permit their contents to be easily examined by postmasters or customs officers; and except also the following articles, the transmission of which is absolutely prohibited under any circumstances, viz.:

All sealed packages which, from their form and general appearance, evidently are not letters. Publications which violate the copyright laws of the country of destination; packets (except single volumes of printed books and packages of second-class matter) which exceed four pounds six ounces in weight; poisons, explosive or inflammable substances; live or dead (not dried) animals, insects and reptiles (except queen bees and their attendant bees), fruits and vegetables which quickly decompose, and substances which exhale a bad odor; lottery tickets or circulars, Police Gazettes; all obscene or immoral articles, and other articles which may destroy or damage the mails, or injure the persons handling them.

All articles are required to be fully prepaid with postage stamps, at the rate of postage applicable to similar articles in the domestic mails of the country of origin, and are required to be delivered free of postage to addresses in the country of destination; except that letters upon which only one rate of postage has been prepaid are required to be forwarded, any deficiency being collected on delivery.

MEXICO.

All articles of every kind or nature which are admitted to the domestic mails of either country will be admitted under the same conditions to the mails exchanged between the two countries; except that articles of miscellaneous merchandise (fourth-class matter), not sent as bona fide trade samples, are required to be sent by "Parcels-Post," and that commercial papers and bona fide trade samples are transmissible in the regular mails at the postage rate and subject to the conditions applicable to those articles in Postal Union Mails; and except also the following articles, the transmission of which is absolutely prohibited under any circumstances, viz.: Sealed packages which, from their form and general appearance, evidently are not letters; publications which violate the copyright laws of the country of destination; packets, except single volumes of printed books, which exceed four pounds six ounces in weight; liquids, poisons, explosive or inflammable substances, fatty substances, or those which easily liquefy; live or dead (not dried) animals, insects (except bees) and reptiles; confections, pastes, fruit and vegetables which quickly decompose, and substances which exhale a bad odor; lottery tickets or circulars; all obscene or immoral articles; and other articles which may destroy or damage the mails, or injure persons handling them.

COPYRIGHT.

Under the International Copyright Act (approved March 3, 1891; took effect July 1, 1891), any United States citizen, or citizen or subject of foreign nations granting copyright to United States citizens on substantially the same basis with their own citizens, or which become parties to an international agreement for reciprocity in copyright, who is "the author, inventor, designer or proprietor of any book, map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, engraving, cut, print or photograph or negative thereof, or of a painting, drawing, chromo, statue, statuary, and of models or designs intended to be perfected as works of the fine arts, and the executors, administrators or assigns of any such person" may secure for twenty-eight years the sole liberty of printing, reprinting, publishing, completing, copying, executing, finishing and vending the same; and, in case of a dramatic composition, of publicly performing or representing it or causing it to be performed or represented by others. The applicant, on or before the day of publication in this or any foreign country, must deliver at the office of the Librarian of Congress, or deposit in the mail within the United States, addressed to him at Washington, D. C., a printed copy of the title of the book, map, etc., or a description of the painting, etc., or a model or design for a work of the fine arts for which he desires a copyright. He must also, not later than the day of publication in this or any foreign country, deliver at the Librarian's office, or deposit in the mail within the United States, addressed to him at Washington, D. C., two copies of a book, photograph, chromo or lithograph printed from the type set within the United States, or from plates made therefrom, or from negatives or drawings on stone made within the United States, or from transfers made therefrom, or a photograph of a painting, drawing, statue, model or design. The Librarian's ices are: 1. For recording the title or description of any copyright book or other article, 50 cents. 2. For every copy under scal of such record actually given to the person claiming the copyright, or his assigns, 50 cents. 3. For recording and certifying any instrument of writing for the assignment of a copyright, $1. 4. For every copy of an assignment, $1. The charge for recording the title or description of any article entered for copyright, the production of a non-resident alien, is $1. The Secretary of the Treasury prints at short intervals catalogues of copyright publications for distribution at a small charge.

Proprietors of copyrights must send to the Librarian a copy of all subsequent editions in which substantial changes are made. Authors have exclusive right to dramatize or translate their works copyrighted in the United States. An author, inventor or designer, or his widow or children, may sccure an extension of the copyright for 14 years by recording the title a second time within 6 months before the expiration of the first period. (The title of a periodical must include the date and number; and each number of a periodical requires a separate entry of copyright.)

year

No copyright is valid unless notice is given by inserting in every copy published, on the title page or the page following, if it be a book; or if a map, chart, musical composition, print, cut, engraving, photograph, painting, drawing, chromo, statue, statuary, or model or design intended to be perfected as a work of the fine arts, by inscribing upon some portion thereof or on the substance on which the same is mounted, the following words, viz.: “Entered according to act of Congress, in the -, by, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington,” or at the option of the person entering the copyright, the words: · Copyright, 18—, by · -"The penalty for unauthorized use of copyright notice is $100. Every person who shall, without the consent of the proprietor of the copyright first obtained in writing, signed in presence of two or more witnesses, print, publish, dramatize, translate or import, or knowing the same to be so printed, published, dramatized, translated or imported, shall sell or expose to sale" any copy of a copyrighted book, must forfeit every copy to the proprietor and is liable for damages in a civil action. In the case of paintings or statuary, the infringer forfeits $10 for every copy he sells, possesses or exposes for sale. With other copyrighted articles, he forfeits the plates and $1 for every sheet he possesses or exposes for sale: Provided, however, that in case of infringement of the copyright of a photograph made from any object not a work of the fine arts, the forfeiture shall not be less than $100, nor more than $5,000; and in case of infringement of the copyright of a painting, drawing, statue, engraving, etching, print, or model or design for a work of the fine arts, or of a photograph of a work of the fine arts, the forfeiture shall not be less than $250 nor more than $10,000. Persons purchasing for use, and not for sale, may import, subject to duty, not more than two foreign copies of a copyrighted book.

Switzerland France, Belgium, England, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Mexico, and Chili have been admitted to the benefits of the new law. For an American citizen to secure copyright in Great Britain, the title must be entered at Stationers' Hall, London, the fee for which is five shillings sterling; the work must be published in Great Britain simultaneously with its publication in the United States, and five copies of the publication are required.

A foreigner may secure copyright in France by depositing two copies of the publication at the Ministry of the Interior in Paris.

In Germany a foreigner must enter his work in the general registry book of copyrights at Leipzig and have it published by a firm having its place of business within the German Empire.

Copyright in Canada is to be registered with the Minister of Agriculture, fee $1; the work to be published in Canada.

REGISTRY OF TRADE-MARKS.

Owners of trade-marks used in commerce with foreign nations, or with the Indian tribes, provided such owners are domiciled in the United States, or in any country granting similar privileges to citizens of the United States, are entitled to have their trade-marks registered.

The application for registry must be sent to the Patent Office in Washington, accompanied by a statement showing: 1. The name, domicile, location and citizenship of the applicant; 2. The class of merchandise and the particular description of goods to which the trade-mark has been appropriated; 3. A description of the trade-mark itself, with fac-similes of it, and a statement of the way in which it is to be affixed to the goods, and the length of time during which it has been used.

The application must be accompanied by a written declaration, verified by the person, or by a member of a firm, or by an officer of a corporation applying, to the effect that such person, firm or corporation has at the time a right to the use of the trade-mark, and that no other person, firm or corporation has a right to such use, either in the identical form or in any such near resemblance thereto as might be calculated to deceive; that the trade-mark is used in commerce with foreign nations or Indian tribes, and that the description and fac-similes presented for registry truly reprosent the trade-mark.

The fee for registering a trade-mark is $25.

A trade-mark will not be admitted to registry if it is merely the name of the applicant; or if it is identical with a registered or known trade-mark owned by another and appropriate to the same class of merchandise; or if it so nearly resembles some other person's lawful trade-mark as to be likely to cause confusion or mistake in the mind of the public, or to deceive purchasers.

Copies of trade-marks and of statements and declarations filed therewith, and certificates of registry may be used as evidence in any suit in which the trade-marks are brought in controversy; and the registry is prima facie evidence of ownership.

The certificate of registry remains in force for 30 years, except where the trade-mark is applied to articles not manufactured in this country and receives protection under the laws of a foreign country for a shorter period, in which case it ceases to have any force in this country at the time the trade-mark ceases to be exclusive property elsewhere.

At any time during the six months prior to the expiration of the registry, the certificate may be renewed on the same terms and for a like period.

Any one who counterfeits, copies or colorably imitates a registered trade-mark and affixes it to merchandise of substantially the same kind as that described in the registration is liable to an action for damages at the suit of the owner of the registered trade-mark, and he may also be enjoined from continuing the wrongful use. One who procures the registry of a trade-mark by false or fraudulent means is liable in damages to any person injured thereby.

No imported article which copies or imitates the name or trade-mark of any domestic manufacture or manufacturer can be admitted to entry at a custom house. Any domestic manufacturer who has a trade-mark may require his name and residence and a description of the trade-mark to be recorded in books kept for that purpose in the Treasury Department, and may furnish to the Department fac-similes of such trade-marks; and then it is the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to send one or more copies of the same to each collector. This provision applies equally to unregistered and to registered trade-marks.

Trade labels are entered and registered in conformity with the regulations provided by law as to copyright of prints, except that the fee for recording the title of any print or label not a trade-mark is $6.

CABLES AND TELEGRAPHS.

CABLE RATES.

These rates are from New York City. The address and signature are included in the chargeable matter, and the length of words is limited to fifteen letters. When a word is composed of more than fifteen letters, every additional fifteen or the fraction of fifteen letters will be counted as a word.

Per Word.

Alexandria (Eg'pt) $0.56

Algeria...
Antigua..

Argentine Rep

Austria

Ecuador 0.32 England 1.44 France

1.00 Germany.

Per Word.

.25 Netherlands

25 New South Wales.

1.45 Singapore..

Per Word.

Nassau, Bahamas.. $0.35 Servia....

$0.36

Natal (Durban)...

1.52 Siam..

1.19

.32 Sicily.

.32

1.35

.43 New Zealand..

1.52 Spain...

.40

.35 St. Thomas.

1.69

55

Orange Free State.

1.52 Sweden

.39

.30

1.45

The following table exhibits the mileage of lines operated, number of offices, number of messages sent, receipts, expenses, profits, and average tolls and cost per message for the years named :

The number of instruments in the hands of licensees under rental at the beginning of 1897 was 772,627. The number of exchange connections daily in the United States is 2,630,071, or a total per year of over 847,000,000. The average number of daily calls per subscriber was 8 1-10. The company received in rental of telephones in 1896, $3,589,044. It paid its stockholders in dividends in 1896, $2,616,307. The capital of the company is $23,650,000.