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:
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 [Page 947] 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.
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.
[Page 948]
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.
[Page 949]
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. |
