File No. 763.72114/2812
The Secretary of State to the Secretary General of the War Council of the American Red Cross ( Cutcheon)
Sir: With reference to your letter of August 8, 1917, to Mr. Grew,1 in which you call attention to article 16, chapter 2, section 1 of the annex of the Hague convention of 1899, relative to the payment of carriage or duties of entry on gifts and relief for prisoners of war, I beg leave to refer to article 2 of the same convention which reads—
The provisions contained in the Regulations mentioned in article 1 are only binding on the Contracting Powers, in case of war between two or more of them.
These provisions shall cease to be binding from the time when, in a war between Contracting Powers, a non-Contracting Power joins one of the belligerents.
Inasmuch as all the powers engaged in the present war are not parties to the convention the Department of State regards it as not binding as between the belligerents in the present war. In so far as the rules set forth in the convention are declaratory of international law, they are of course obligatory as being a part of the law of nations, but not by virtue of the convention in which they are laid down.
The Department is now, however, conducting negotiations with a view to arranging with the French, Swiss and German Governments for the reciprocal free transmission of parcels for prisoners in the United States and Germany respectively.
I am [etc.]
Second Assistant Secretary
- Not printed.↩