2 country and addressed to the other, shall be in accordance with the domestic laws and regulations of the country of origin; provided that the rates of postage and registration fees so levied shall not exceed in either country the minimum rates of postage and registration fee prescribed for articles of a like nature, by the Articles of the Universal Postal Conven tion which is in force. ARTICLE II. (a) Each Administration shall retain to its own use the whole of the postages and registration fees it collects on postal articles exchanged with the other, including deficient postage. Consequently, there will be no postage accounts between the two countries. (b) Articles other than letters and postal cards must be prepaid at least in part. Letters and postal cards will be forwarded to the country they are addressed to, even if they absolutely lack postage. Payment of postage and registration fees shall be certified by affixing the appropriate stamps of the country of origin. (c) Each insufficiently prepaid letter shall have stamped on its cover the capital letter T. and shall have indicated plainly thereon, in figures, on the upper left hand corner of the address, by the postal officials of the country of origin, the amount of the deficient postage, and only the amount so indicated shall be collected of addressees on delivery, except in cases of obvious error. ARTICLE III. No postage charges shall be levied in either country on fully prepaid correspondence originating in the other, nor shall any charge be made in the country of destination upon official correspondence which under the postal regulations of the country of origin is entitled to freedom from postage; but the country of destination will receive, forward and deliver the same free of charge. ARTICLE IV. In case any correspondence is tendered for mailing in either country, obviously with the intention to evade the higher postage rates applicable to it in the other country, it shall be refused, unless payment be made of such higher rates. ARTICLE V. (a) Exchanges of mails under this Convention shall be effected through the post-offices of both countries already designated as exchange postoffices, or through such offices as may be hereafter agreed upon, under such regulations relative to the details of the exchanges as may be mu tually determined to be essential to the security and expedition of the mails and the protection of the customs revenues or taxes on commerce. (b) Each country shall provide for and bear the expense of the convey. ance of its mails to the other. ARTICLE VI. The United States of America and the Republic of Panama each grants to the other, free of any charges, detention, or examination whatsoever. the transit across its territory, of the CLOSED mails made up by any authorized exchange office of either country, addressed to any other exchange office of the same country or to any exchange office of the other country. ARTICLE VII. (a) Any packet of mailable correspondence may be registered upon payment of the rate of postage and the registration fee applicable thereto in the country of origin. (b) An acknowledgment of the delivery of a registered article shall be returned to the sender when requested; but either country may require of the sender prepayment of a fee therefor not exceeding five cents. 3 ARTICLE VIII. (a) Exchanges of ordinary international correspondence may be effected without the use of letter-bills; but registered correspondence must be accompanied by a descriptive list thereof, by means of which the registered articles may be identified for the purpose of acknowledgment by the receiving offices. (b) If a registered article advised shall not be found in the mails by the receiving office, its absence shall be immediately reported by the receiving to the sending office. ARTICLE IX. Ordinary and registered exchanges, unless the latter be made in through registered pouches, shall be effected in properly sealed sacks. ARTICLE X. (a) All registered articles, ordinary letters, postal cards, and other manuscript matter, business or commercial papers. books (bound or stitched), proofs of printing, engravings, photographs, drawings, maps, and other articles manifestly of value to the sender, which are not delivered from any cause, shall be reciprocally returned without charge, through the central administrations of the two countries in special packets or sacks marked "Rebuts," after the expiration of the period for their retention required by the laws or regulations of the country of destination; the returned registered articles to be accompanied by a descriptive list, and the special packets or sacks used for returning registered articles to be returned under registration, when registered articles are returned in them. (b) Fully prepaid letters which bear requests by the senders for their return in case of nondelivery by a certain date, or within a specified time, shall be reciprocally returned, without charge, directly to the dispatching exchange office, at the expiration of the period for their retention indicated in the requests. (c) Fully prepaid letters bearing on the covers the business cards, the names and addresses of the senders, or designation of places to which they may be returned (as post-office box, street and number, etc.), without requests for their return in case of nondelivery within a specified time, shall be reciprocally returned without charge directly to the dispatching exchange office at the expiration of thirty days from the date of their receipt at the office of destination. ARTICLE XI. All matters connected with the exchange of mails between the two countries which are not herein provided for shall be governed by the provisions of the Universal Postal Convention and regulations now in force, or which may hereafter be enacted. for the government of such matters in the exchange of mails between countries of the Universal Postal Union generally, so far as the articles of such Universal Postal Convention shall be obligatory upon both of the contracting parties. ARTICLE XII. The Postmaster General of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Panama shall have authority to jointly make such further regulations of order and detail as may be found necessary to carry out the present Convention from time to time; and may by agreement prescribe conditions for the admission to the mails of any of the articles prohibited by Article I. ARTICLE XIII. This Convention abrogates the postal regulations existing between the two countries. It shall be ratified by the contracting countries in accord 4 ance with their respective laws and its ratification shall be exchanged at the city of Washington as early as possible. It shall take effect thirty days from the exchange of ratifications and shall continue in force until terminated by mutual agreement or annulled at the instance of the PostOffice Department of either country. upon six months previous notice given to the other. Done in duplicate, and signed at Washington the 19th day of June one thousand nine hundred and five. [SEAL.] GEORGE B. CORTELYOU. Enviado Extraordinario y Ministro Plenipotenciario The foregoing Convention between the United States of America and Panama has been negotiated and concluded with my advice and consent. and is hereby approved and ratified. In testimony whereof, I have caused the Seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed. [SEAL.] By the President: FRANCIS B. LOOMIS, Acting Secretary of State. WASHINGTON, June 19th, 1905. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. The undersigned. George B. Cortelyou, Postmaster-General of the United States of America, and J. D. de Obaldia, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Panama at Washington. having met for the purpose of exchanging the ratifications of the Postal Convention concluded between the United States of America and the Republic of Panama and signed at Washington June 19th, 1905, and having carefully compared the ratifications of said Convention and found them exactly conformable to each other, the exchange took place this day in the usual form. In witness whereof, they have signed the present protocol of exchange and have affixed thereto their seals. Done at Washington this 19th day of June, one thousand nine hundred and five. [SEAL.] [SEAL.] GEORGE B. CORTELYOU, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from CIRCULAR, No. 45. WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, August 31, 1905. The following decisions have been made and are published to the Army for the information and guidance of all concerned: 1. CAMPAIGN BADGES PART OF THE EFFECTS OF A DECEASED SOLDIER.-Campaign badges, being articles of clothing, are part of the effects of a deceased soldier and should be disposed of in accordance with the requirements of paragraph 161, Army Regulations.-[Opinion of the Judge Advocate General, July 31, 1905, concurred in by the Acting Secretary of War, August 1, 1905.] [1022407, M. S. O.] 2. EXCHANGE OF GUNNER'S BADGES.-There being no funds on hand in the Ordnance Department available for the procurement of the new design gunner's badge to replace the old design gunner's badge for field artillery, the exchange of these badges will not be made, the distribution of the new design badge to be limited to new cases.-[Decision of the Acting Secretary of War, August 2, 1905.] [1038626, M. S. O.] 3. SERVICE IN THE MARINE CORPS NOT TO BE CONSIDERED IN DETERMINING THE ELIGIBILITY OF A SOLDIER TO DISCHARGE BY PURCHASE.-In the case of a soldier who enlisted in the Army on September 14, 1904, and who applied on July 20, 1905, to be allowed to purchase his discharge, advancing in support of his application the fact that he had served a five-year enlistment in the Marine Corps, it was held that service in the Navy or in the Marine Corps should not be considered, it being clear that service in the Army was contemplated by General Orders, No. 48, War Department, March 15, 1904, publishing the conditions under which an enlisted man may purchase his discharge from the Army, and that consequently the soldier was not entitled to purchase his discharge until he should have served at least one year as an enlisted man of the Army.[Opinion of the Judge Advocate General, August 7, 1905, concurred in by the Acting Secretary of War, August 8, 1905.] [1041919, M. S. O.] BY ORDER OF THE ACTING SECRETARY OF WAR: |