BERLIN CONVENTION, 1906.

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ciprocal correspondence with respect to the range, to the perfection of the organization and to the surety of communications." ART. I, SEC. 3. It can not accept the first paragraph of this section because in the agreements concluded with M. Marconi the Government engages to keep the details of the installations secret.

ART. VI. It can not accept the text of this article, and it should limit itself to the declaration on the part of its Government that it will endeavor to introduce in the agreements stipulated with M. Marconi some modifications in the desired direction.

Done at Berlin August 13, 1905.

(Signatures follow.)

By Article III of this protocol the rules of the St. Petersburg convention are adopted so far as consistent.

Berlin Wireless Convention, 1906.-The following states are parties to the International Wireless Telegraph Convention concluded at Berlin, November 3, 1906: Germany, the United States of America, Argentina, AustriaHungary, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Denmark, Spain, France, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Monaco, Norway, the Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, Sweden, Turkey, and Uruguay.

ARTICLE 1.

The High Contracting Parties undertake to apply the provisions of the present Convention at all radiotelegraph stations-coast station and ship stations-open for the service of public correspondence between the land and ships at sea which are established or worked by the Contracting Parties.

They undertake, moreover, to impose the observance of these provisions upon private enterprises authorized either to establish or work radiotelegraph coast stations open for the service of public correspondence between the land and ships at sea, or to establish or work radiotelegraph stations, whether open for public correspondence or not, on board ships which carry their flag.

ARTICLE 2.

The term "Coast Station " means any radiotelegraph station which is established on land or on board a ship permanently moored, and which is used for the exchange of correspondence with ships at sea.

The term "Ship Station " means any radiotelegraph station established on board a ship which is not permanently moored.

ARTICLE 16.

Governments which have not taken part in the present Convention shall be allowed to adhere thereto on their request.

This adhesion shall be notified through the diplomatic channel to the contracting Government under whose auspices the last Conference has been held, and by it to all the others.

Adhesion involves as a matter of right of acceptance of all the clauses of the present Convention and admission to all the advantages stipulated therein.

ARTICLE 17.

The provisions of Articles 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, and 17 of the International Telegraph Convention of St. Petersburg of the 10/22 July 1875 are applicable to international radiotelegraphy."

a Extract from the International Telegraph Convention signed at St. Petersburg, July 10/22, 1875:

ARTICLE 1.

The High Contracting Parties concede to all persons the right to correspond by means of the international telegraphs.

ARTICLE 2.

They bind themselves to take all the necessary measures for the purpose of insuring the secrecy of the correspondence and its safe transmission.

ARTICLE 3.

They declare, nevertheless, that they accept no responsibility as regards the international telegraph service.

ARTICLE 5.

Telegrams are classed in three categories:

1. State telegrams: those emanating from the head of the Nation, the Ministers, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Naval forces, and the Diplomatic or Consular Agents of the Contracting Governments, as well as the answers to such telegrams.

2. Service telegrams: those which emanate from the Managements of the Telegraph Service of the Contracting States and which relate either to the international telegraph service or to subjects of public interest determined jointly by such Managements.

3. Private telegrams.

In the transmission, the State telegrams shall have precedence over other telegrams.

ARTICLE 6.

State telegrams and service telegrams may be issued in secret language, in any communications.

Private telegrams may be exchanged in secret language between two States which admit of this mode of correspondence.

The States which do not admit of private telegrams in secret language upon the expedition or arrival of the same, shall allow them to pass in transit, except in the case of suspension defined in article 8.

GENERAL CONTROL OF MESSAGES.

ARTICLE 21.

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The High Contracting Parties retain their full liberty concerning radiotelegraph installations not covered by Article I, and, in particular, concerning naval and military installations, which are subject only to the obligation of Articles 8 and 9 of the present Convention.

Nevertheless, when these installations carry on public correspondence, they shall conform, for the performance of this service, to the stipulations of the Regulations so far as concerns the manner of transmission and the accounting.

ARTICLE 22.

The present Convention shall come into operation on and from the 1st of July, 1908, and shall remain in force for an indefinite period, or until the expiration of a year from the date of denunciation.

Denunciation only takes effect as regards the Government in whose name it is made. The Convention shall remain in force as regards the other Contracting Parties.

General control of messages.-The Supreme Court of the United States stated in 1886 that

A telegraph company occupies the same relation to commerce as a carrier of messages that a railroad company does as a carrier of goods. Both companies are instruments of commerce

ARTICLE 7.

The High Contracting Parties reserve the right to stop the transmission of any private telegram which may appear dangerous to the safety of the State or which may be contrary to the laws of the country, to public order or good morals.

ARTICLE 8.

Each Government also reserves the right to suspend the international telegraph service for an indefinite period, if deemed necessary by it, either generally, or only over certain lines and for certain classes of correspondence, of which such Government shall immediately notify all the other Contracting Governments.

ARTICLE 11.

Telegrams relating to the international telegraph service of the Contracting States shall be transmitted free of charge over the entire systems of such States.

ARTICLE 12.

The High Contracting Parties shall render accounts to one another of the charges collected by each of them.

ARTICLE 17.

The High Contracting Parties reserve respectively the right to enter among themselves into special arrangements of any kind with regard to points of the service which do not interest the States generally.

and their business is commerce itself. They do their transportation in different ways and their liabilities are in some respects different, but they are both indispensable to those engaged to any considerable extent in commercial pursuits. (Telegraph Co. v. Texas, 105 U. S. Supreme Court Reports, 460.)

The government must necessarily control commerce, and it is thus provided according to the fundamental law. Wireless telegraphy would be a matter of commerce and accordingly properly subject to governmental control. Such control has been quite regularly exercised in regard to telegraphy by means of wires. It is generally recognized that government control may be expedient both from commercial and military reasons. Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Russia, and Spain control their telegraph lines. If such control is, and it seems to be, both legal and expedient, then government control of wireless telegraphy should be assumed.

In the consideration of wireless telegraphy certain complications arise. The analogy to ordinary telegraphy is not complete. While a message may be sent from a given point, it will not as in the ordinary telegraphy move only in a direction determined by the sender. In ordinary telegraphy the wire upon which the message travels is tangible and may be cut if it can be reached. The destination of the message may be inferred if the course of the wire is known. The apparatus of the ordinary telegraph is practically stationary, even though in land warfare a certain degree of mobility is secured at times. This is, however, very limited and may not extend to maritime movements. There must be wire connection between the sending and receiving stations. Their locations may be known, and hence the jurisdiction may be determined. The transmission of dispatches may thus be controlled. Most governments have maintained some control over land telegraphy and a general control over submarine lines, even when connecting with a foreign state. It is generally admitted that each government may when necessary in war assume control of the wire telegraphy. The uncontrolled use of wireless telegraphy would not long be tolerated by any government which desired to

CONTROL OF TELEGRAPH IN WAR.

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protect itself. This is particularly the case at present because by present methods the sending of messages from one station may interfere with similar work in another.

Control of telegraph in time of war. The general principles governing the relations of belligerents and neutral are not changed by the introduction of wireless telegraphy. The burden of the conduct of the war should not be thrown upon neutrals, nor should neutrals participate in the war.

From the nature of wireless messages, they may reach instruments within neutral jurisdiction without any guilty participation on the part of those within neutral jurisdiction. There is no means by which the neutral can prevent the receipt of such messages other than by rendering the station useless. Such action would not be similar to that of sealing a cable connecting with belligerent territory, for the same wireless instrument may receive messages from any source and is not, like the cable, limited to a connecting station easily determinable. It would not be reasonable to demand that a neutral should close a station simply because it might receive dispatches from a belligerent. Nor would it always be possible for a given station to determine the character of a message which it might receive, because its source might be uncertain, or if the source were known the message itself might be apparently innocent in character. The possibility of neutral control of wireless messages within neutral jurisdiction would be quite different from that of control of wire inessages.

In the consideration of the treatment of submarine cables in time of war the main question was one of interruption of a material connection between two points. In wireless telegraphy interruption may take place whether intentional or unintentional without possibility of fixing clearly the responsibility for the interruption. Interruption or interference may be no more than temporary and probably could not be permanent. The message transmitted may not be sent in a single direction or to a single point.