No. 569.] No. 223. Mr. Cramer to Mr. Evarts. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Copenhagen, January 2, 1880. (Received January 17.) SIR: It being customary for the diplomatic corps, on New Year's day, to present their felicitations to the King, the members of that body residing at this capital were accordingly received by His Majesty in special audience yesterday, at 12.30 o'clock p. m., at the Christiansborg Palace. In conversing with the chiefs of the different foreign missions, the King made no allusions to politics, either at home or abroad. He simply inquired after the health of the heads of those governments whose diplomatic representatives were present on this occasion. In my case he added: "You have my best wishes for yourself, personally, and for the prosperity of your country." In thanking His Majesty, I reciprocated his good wishes. Afterwards the Crown Prince received us and thanked us for bringing him our felicitations. The Queen received the ladies of the diplomatic corps at the same hour in which the King received the gentlemen of that body. At 5 o'clock p. m., the King gave a grand banquet, to which the heads of the different foreign legations, the Danish cabinet ministers, and other high civil, military, and naval officers had been invited. The King proposed a toast to the prosperity of Denmark. No. 573.] No. 224. Mr. Cramer to Mr. Evarts. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Copenhagen, February 4, 1880. (Received February 24.) SIR Referring to your dispatch No. 301, of the 9th of last August, relative to the immigration into the United States of Mormons, &c., I have the honor to inform you that a few days ago I received a note from the Danish minister for foreign affairs, dated the 31st of January last. in reply to a note from this legation of the 3d of September last. A copy of the latter was sent to you with my No. 557, of the 17th of October last. A copy of the former, with a translation thereof, is herewith inclosed. I am, &c., [Inclosure in No. 573.-Translation.] M. J. CRAMER. Baron Rosenörn-Lehn to Mr. Cramer. COPENHAGEN, January 31, 1880. SIR: In the note which you had the goodness to address to me on the 3d of September last, you observed, on the one hand, that polygamy as practised by the Mormons at Salt Lake, constitutes an offense against the laws of the United States; on the other, that every year a considerable number of emigrants from Europe proceed thither, un der the guidance of Morman emissaries and agents from Salt Lake, for the express purpose of joining that community; and, notably, that four agents from Utah Territory and twenty elders" travel through this country for the purpose of making proselytes for that sect. Under these circumstances you have, at the request of your government, expressed the desire that the government of the King take steps that will prevent the organizing of like criminal enterprises by these agents whose aforesaid activity falls beyond the reach of the laws of the United States, and will stop the departure of bands already organized from here to America for the purpose of violating the laws of the last-named country. The minister of justice, to whom I have not failed to communicate your note, sir, admits that an activity takes place in this country tending to make proselytes for the Mormon community, and he does not ignore that that community in Utah Territory shows itself disposed, in contempt of the laws of the United States, to tolerate, nay, even to permit its members to practice polygamy. Nevertheless it is not possible, according to the principles generally admitted in penal law, to see in that activity an attempt to incite to the violation of the laws of the United States, seeing that the joining the Mormon community can in no wise be likened to the resolution to contract polygamous alliances. While greatly deploring the activity displayed here by these American agents with a view to induce Danish subjects to expatriate themselves for the purpose of joining the Mormon community in Utah Territory, the Government of the King does not see itself empowered to interfere in order to stop this abuse. It is, however, with great satisfaction that we learn from your note, sir, that the Government of the United States has resolved to adopt effective measures, of a repressive nature, against the state of things which has up to the present time existed in Utah, because the knowledge that polyg amy will no longer be permitted to be practised with impunity in a Territory of the United States will doubtless not fail to deprive the Mormon sect of one of the conditions for its propagation in other countries. Receive, sir, &c. O. D. ROSENÖRN-LEHN. No. 288.] FRANCE. No. 225. Mr. Hitt to Mr. Evarts. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Paris, November 14, 1879. (Received November 28.) SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith a lithographed report of the Committee of Weights and Measures, showing what amount of money is required for the year 1880. The president and secretary of the committee state that, experience having demonstrated the insufficiency of the sum allowed heretofore for the working of the Bureau, the committee has unanimously decided to avail itself of the privilege given by Article 6 of the regulations, and to raise the annual budget for the year 1880 to 100,000 francs. A tabular statement on page 5 shows how this amount is to be used. The committee states further that numerous expenses, which cannot be comprised either in the current expenses or in the expenses allowed for establishing the Bureau, have been rendered necessary by long and costly researches, chemical or mechanical, for the construction of the international prototypes, and that such expenses are, according to Article 21 of the regulations, to be paid by the parties to the convention. The committee asked, therefore, for the reimbursement of these expenses, which extend in all to 56,725 francs. According to the scale fixed by the convention (Article 20), the amount to be paid by the United States for the year 1880 would be 15,224 francs, of which 9,714 francs are for the current expenses, and 5,510 francs for the extraordinary expenses. I have, &c., R. R. HITT. [Inclosure with No. 288.] INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE of WeigHTS AND MEASURES. SPECIAL REPORT TO THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES Proposed budget and table of the quotas of the various states for the International Bureau of Weights and Measures for the year 1880. The Metric Convention fixes, at the beginning of the year, the payment of the contributions of the various states for the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, and the annual general report of the international committee must be addressed to the contracting states at the close of the year. In order to inform the governments, with as little delay as possible, concerning the amount of each one's contributions for next year, we are again obliged to send them, in a special report, which precedes the general report by about two months, a table of the contributions for 1880, as established by the committee in its session of October 11, together with a statement of the reasons for the action of the committee. As explained in previous reports, the period of the construction and organization of the International Bureau is at an end, and our establishment has entered the phase of full scientific and administrative activity, for not only are its officers (the number of whom will be nearly complete in 1880) busy in examining our large instruments, whose constant quantities must be determined, but, although the new prototypes are not completed, the manufacturers have been actively working on them all this year, and there will be work enough for almost all next year in comparing the numerous old standards of the meter and kilogram which many states have sent to us in order to have them determined by the International Bureau, in pursuance of the proposal made last year by the International Committee. Now, the experience which we have had during the present year has made it evident to us that the sum of 24,000 francs, which is provided for in Article 6 of the budget for "keeping the building in repair, for the purchase and repair of apparatus, fuel, gas, office expenses, &c," is far from being sufficient for the needs of the Bureau when in full operation. In fact, the careful study in which our commission of accounts has engaged, in conjunction with the Director of the Bureau, has enabled it to become fully informed with regard to the data furnished by experience, and has led it to estimate the amount necessary to meet these expenditures at a sum upwards of 20,000 francs in excess of that provided in Article 6 of the regulations, as appears from the budget submitted by it to the committee, which budget we are about to present. Although we have effected a saving of 7,000 francs in the salaries by providing for only two assistants from the 1st of May next, yet that saving under the head of a does not make good the deficiency which appears under the head of b, and the experience of all previous years has shown that we cannot rely upon receiving the entire amount of the contributions during the year for which they are due. Thus, in the current year, there is again a deficit of 11,333 francs, not to speak of what is still due for past years, which amounts to 10,523 francs. As the International Bureau has no reserve fund, it is prudent, if we do not wish to run the risk of seeing the operations of our establishment brought to a standstill, to make provision for the deficiencies which the experience of a number of years gives reason to apprehend. The result of all these considerations is that the committee is again obliged to fix the budget for the year 1880 at 100,000 francs, and that merely in order to meet actual running expenses, as will appear from the following statement, which has been prepared by the commission of accounts: Budget for 1880. (a) Salaries (b)1. Keeping in repair of buildings, machines, and stationary appar atus 2. Expenses of laboratory and atelier. 3. Purchase of auxiliary instruments and keeping of instruments in repair.... 4. Cost of heating and refrigeration for the purpose of securing precision.... 5. Cost of ordinary heating, gas, and water. 6. Library 7. Cost of printing and of meteorological publications. 8. Expenses of bureau and secretary's office.... (c) Indemnity to the secretary of the committee... (d) Sundry and contingent expenses, including possible delays in the payment of contributions... Total... Frares 38.000 9,000 8, 100 8,000 4,000 1,000 7,500 1,500-44, 100 6,000 11,900 100,000 The International Committee, basing its action on the above, has unanimously resolved, on motion of the Director of the Bureau, to exercise the privilege granted it by Article 6 of the conventional regulations, and to raise the budget for 1880 to 100,000 francs. As we have already remarked, the present requirements of the International Bureau now render it impossible for the committee to meet the expenses that must still be incurred for the purchase of several important instruments by saving money from the annual expenses. It appears from the accounts for the year 1879, which we shall have the honor to communicate in our general report, that the expenses of the present year have not been strictly confined within the limits of the budget adopted during the session of 1878. It was found necessary to spend, in addition, about 12,000 francs, chiefly owing to the unforeseen increase in the expenses for keeping the machinery and very complicated stationary apparatus in repair, as well as for heating and refrigeration for the purpose of securing precision. As, moreover, the receipts were 11,000 francs below the amount provided for, the deficit of 23,300 francs, as regards the budget, obliged the committee to defer certain outlays for the introduction of needed instruments until a more favorable time. Now, the foregoing statement shows that the ordinary resources for the year 1880 will not be sufficient to cover these expenses, which are unavoidable. The difficulties, with which the committee is thus obliged to contend in its management of the International Bureau, arise mainly from two causes: First, from the insufficiency of the sum of 400,000 francs, which was appropriated by the convention for the expenses of first establishment, as we have shown in detail in our previous reports; second, another fact, to which we must call the attention of the high governments, viz, that the committee has been obliged to make considerable outlays, which come neither under the head of expenses of first establishment nor under that of annual expenses of the International Bureau, as provided for by the regulations of the convention, but which were rendered necessary by the examination of the material for the prototypes and by the manufacture of a portion of the standards and test copies which were to accompany the international prototypes. It appears from previous reports, as well as from those which will be speedily laid before the government, that in consequence of the difficulties arising from the chemical defects of the material prepared by the French section having charge of the manufacture of the prototypes, the committee has been obliged to engage in long and costly investigations, in order to discover chemical methods and mechanical processes that would permit the manufacture of prototypes of faultless chemical composition, thus rendering it possible to supply the want of those examinations which, according to the convention, should have been made by the French section, but the expense of which should have been defrayed by the contracting governments. In the course of these investigations, the committee was obliged to proceed a little faster that it would have done in the ordinary run of business, and to cause to be constructed, for the examination of the material for the manufacture of prototypes, a certain number of typical standards (étalons types), which are eventually to accompany the international prototypes as auxiliary standards; that is to say, as means of control and comparison. The committee was obliged to do this, because the manufacture of the prototypes being asigned by the convention to the French section, while the International Committee was perfectly free to construct auxiliary standards, the situation, taken as a whole, rendered it important to begin the examination of an improved material by the construction of typical standards which could be used in future as test standards (étalons témoins) of the international prototypes provided for in Article 21 of the regulations, and which, at the same time, could be used by the committee as valuable means for the previous examinations and for the work of comparison which it has undertaken in the interest of the weight and measure service of the contracting states. Now, according to Article 21 of the regulations of the convention, the cost of the international prototypes, as well as that of the standards and test-copies which are to accompany them, is to be paid by the high contracting parties, besides the expenses of establishment and the annual expenses of the International Bureau, on the same scale as that which is established for the annual contributions. In view of the foregoing facts, and of its financial situation, the International Committee is obliged to request the governments to have the kindness to make good, without delay, the sums which it has been compelled to advance for the construction of the internationol prototypes and for the manufacture of the standards which are to accompany them as auxiliary means of control and comparison. We have caused to be prepared a special account of the expenses thus incurred, and it appears, from a statement made by our commission of accounts, that the payments thus far made for the construction of the standards and test-copies which are to accompany the prototypes amount to 40,725 franes, and that the engagements contracted for the same purpose amount to 16,000 frafics, so that the total expense thus occasioned is 56,725 francs. The repayment of this sum, by an extraordinary contribution during the year 180, would enable the committee not only to meet all the expenses already contracted for in the way of getting the Bureau in working order, which amount to 16,920 francs, but also to order and to pay in great part for one of the principal instruments, the geodesic comparator, which, according to the terms of the convention, is to be procured for the International Bureau. The remainder of the expense for this instrument can be met in 1881 by the arrears, which already amount to 21,880 franes, and the payment of which will, we hope, be definitely settled before the close of 1881. In this manner the committee would be enabled to close the account of the first establishment and to regulate an abnormal situation which it has thus far been able to support, thanks to the privilege which it has had of transferring appropriations from one object to another, but which would seriously compromise the management of the International Bureau, since it is no longer possible to effect savings in the annual budget in order to appropriate them to the purchase of necessary articles. Thus, the extraordinary contribution is justified, on the one hand, by the letter and spirit of the convention, and, on the other, rendered imperative by the financial situation and by the need of a regular management of the International Bureau, so that the committee in its session of October 11 unanimously resolved to request the governments of the high contracting parties, in virtue of Article 21 of the regulations of the convention, to reimburse the amount of the expense incurred (56,725 franes) for the international prototypes and the test-standards which are to accompany them. In conformity with these resolutions, we have calculated, according to the seale provided in Article 20 of the regulations, the annexed table of the contributions, both annual and extraordinary, for the year 1880. Madrid and Neuchâtel, October 26, 1879. The president : GENERAL IBAÑEZ. The secretary: DR. AD. HIRSCH. Table of the quotas of the contreting States for the International Bureau of Weights and Measures for the year 1880. |