"By a telegram from our minister in London of June 20, 1891, the Department is informed that Lord Salisbury has substituted for the above assurance the following: Her Majesty's Government are advised that under existing English law an alien by first publication in any part of Her Majesty's dominions can obtain the benefit of English copyright, and that contemporaneous publication in a foreign country does not prevent the author from obtaining English copyright; that residence in some parts of Her Majesty's dominions is not a necessary condition to an alien obtaining copyright under the English copyright law, and that the law of copyright in force in all British possessions permits to citizens of the United States of America the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as to British subjects.' "It will be seen by comparison that the only change made in the phraseology of the note of June 16 by the later statement communicated by telegraph is in the last clause. This clause in the note of June 16 was that English law permits to citizens of the United States of America the benefit,' etc. "In place of this the statement now made by the British Government is that the law of copyright in force in all British possessions permits,' etc. "This assurance is more comprehensive than the first and, as the official statement of the British Government, given in the very language of the first alternative condition of section 13 of the act of March 3, 1891, warrants the inclusion of Great Britain and the British possessions in the proclamation applicable to Belgium and France. "Switzerland. By a note of the 26th instant, the Swiss minister applies, in behalf of the citizens of Switzerland, for the benefit of our law under the first condition of section 13. To this end he refers us to the law of his country, which contains the following provisions: "ARTICLE 10. The provisions of this act are applicable to authors domiciled in Switzerland, as regards all their works, no matter where - those works appear or are published; also to authors not domiciled in Switzerland, as regards works that appear or are published in Switzerland. "Authors not domiciled in Switzerland enjoy the same rights, as regards works which appear or are published in foreign countries, that are enjoyed by authors of works appearing in Switzerland, provided that the latter receive the same usage in the country concerned as the authors of works published there. "ART. 4. Authors domiciled in Switzerland have the right to give such notice (or make such declaration) in the case of all their works, and authors not domiciled in Switzerland; also, authors not domiciled in Switzerland in the case of works published in foreign countries, but only when the authors of works published in Switzerland receive the same usage in the country concerned that is received by the authors of works published there. Foreign authors of the latter class must meet the requirements of this provision, unless some other arrangement has been made by means of an international convention.' These provisions, officially presented as constituting a compliance with the first condition of section 13, appear to warrant the inclusion of Switzerland in the proclamation with Belgium, France, and Great Britain. 66 "Annexed hereto is a copy of the act of March 3, 1891, and a form of proclamation." Report of Mr. Moore, Third Assist. Sec. of State, to the President, June 27, 1891, For. Rel. 1892, 261. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION. Whereas it is provided by section 13 of the act of Congress of March 3, 1891, entitled "An act to amend title sixty, chapter three, of the Revised Statutes of the United States, relating to copyrights," that said act "shall only apply to a citizen or subject of a foreign state or nation when such foreign state or nation permits to citizens of the United States of America the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as its own citizens; or when such foreign state or nation is a party to an international agreement which provides for reciprocity in the granting of copyright, by the terms of which agreement the United States of America may, at its pleasure, become a party to such agreement; And whereas it is also provided by said section that the existence of either of the conditions aforesaid shall be determined by the President of the United States by proclamation made from time to time as the purposes of this act may require;" And whereas satisfactory official assurances have been given that in Belgium, France, Great Britain and the British possessions, and Switzerland, the law permits to citizens of the United States the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as to the citizens of those countries; Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States of America, do declare and proclaim that the first of the conditions specified in section 13 of the act of March 3, 1891, is now fulfilled in respect to the citizens or subjects of Belgium, France, Great Britain, and Switzerland. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and fifteenth, Proclamations have been issued by the President, under the first condition specified in section 13 of the act of 1891, as follows: Belgium, France, Great Britain and the British possessions, and Switzerland, July 1, 1891; German Empire, April 15, 1892; Italy, October 31, 1892; Denmark, May 8, 1893; Portugal, July 20, 1893; Spain, July 10, 1895; Mexico, February 27, 1896; Chile, May 25, 1896; Costa Rica, October 19, 1899; the Netherlands, November 20, 1899; Cuba, November 17, 1903; Norway, January 1, 1905. Correspondence with the Argentine Government in 1893 failed to result in an agreement." A similarly fruitless correspondence took place with Greece in 1894.b In the course of the correspondence prior to the issuance of the proclamation as to Costa Rica, attention was called to the fact that the first condition of the act of March 3, 1891, required the President "to ascertain the actual existence in the foreign state of law or regulation according to citizens of the United States the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as to the citizens of such foreign state. It does not authorize the President to enter into reciprocal or conditional negotiation with such foreign state to the end of establishing equivalence of treatment in the two countries.” e "No proclamation has issued under the second condition expressed in the statute, to wit, that the foreign state or nation be a party to an international agreement which provides for reciprocity in the granting of copyright, by the terms of which agreement the United States of America may at its pleasure become a party to such agreement, and, indeed, the greater convenience and simplicity of the first condition seems to make its ascertainment preferable as the basis of an international understanding. . . . In some instances, as in the case of the Spanish negotiation, an agreement was only reached by removing the impression which existed that the statute contemplated a reciprocal identity of the provisions of copyright legislation in the two countries, and by showing that the first of the alternative conditions prescribed by the act of Congress merely required the ascertainment of the fact that citizens of the United States stand in the foreign state on substantially the same footing in regard to the privileges of copyright registration as the citizens or subjects of such state. This being determined to the President's satisfaction, his proclamation issues, giving to the citizen or subject of such foreign state the same privileges of copyright in the United States as are enjoyed by citizens of the United States." Circular, Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, to U. S. dip. officers, July 25, 1899, MS. a For. Rel. 1894, 1-3. For. Rel. 1894, 291-292. c For. Rel. 1899, 584, 585, 587. Circulars in relation to the act of March 3, 1891, were previously sent out by the Department of State, May 7, 1891; May 23, 1893; Feb. 21, 1896, For. Rel. 1892, 261; MS. Inst. Arg. Rep. XVII. 55; XVIII. 161. "I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 25th instant, asking whether we are now in copyright relations with Spain. "In reply I enclose copy of the President's proclamation, of July 10, 1895, issued, in virtue of section 13 of the act of Congress of March 3, 1891, granting the benefits of that act to subjects of Spain, in view of the assurance conveyed to him that the laws of Spain and her colonial possessions granted the benefits of copyright to citizens of the United States on substantially the same basis as to Spanish subjects. "While the Government of Spain has maintained that all treaties with the United States were terminated by the recent war, it is thought that it would hold that its general laws granting copyright were at the most only suspended, so far as American citizens were concerned, during the period of the existence of the war. "The Department has no information that any copyright has been refused in Spain to United States citizens." Mr. Hay, Sec. of State, to Mr. Johnson, May 29, 1900, 245 MS. Dom. "The Canadian authorities have steadily declined to permit the registration of copyright in Canada to citizens of the United States, the ground of objection being that the enactment of the Congress of the United States and the President's proclamation of July 1, 1891, extending the benefits of the act of March 3, 1891, to all British subjects, did not constitute an international copyright treaty' within the meaning of the Canadian copyright act, which provides that any person domiciled in Canada or in any part of the British possessions, or being a citizen of any country having an international copyright treaty with the United Kingdom, who is the author of any book, map, chart, etc., shall have the sole right of printing, publishing, etc., for a number of years on certain conditions. "In February 1897, this Government proposed the negotiation of a copyright convention which should expressly meet this allegation of the Canadian government. This proposal the Canadian government declined to entertain.” Mr. Hill, Assist. Sec. of State, to Messrs. Wilmer and Canfield, March 3, 1899, 235 MS. Dom. Let. 269. By the English copyright law any person, whether a native or an alien, can obtain copyright throughout the British dominions by the mere fact of first publication there. The British Government, in notes to Mr. Lincoln and Mr. White of June 16, 1891, and November 12, tion. 1892, maintained that the English copyright law ran in Canada as in every part of the British dominions, and that it was open to United States authors to protect their rights in Canada by registering at Stationers' Hall in London. In a note to Mr. Hay, United States ambassador, of April 12, 1898, the British foreign office, while reaffirming this position, stated that the Dominion government would be prepared to accord to United States authors, under the Canadian as distinct from the Imperial law, the privilege of copyright in Canada on publishing only, if a similar favor were conceded to Canadian authors who desired copyright in the United States. (For. Rel. 1898, 365-366. See, also, For. Rel. 1892, 220-223, 225, 227, 240, 266.) (4) TAXATION. "I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter without date, but which reached this Department to-day, in which you The power of taxa- present for the consideration of the Department the question as to the right of the Jewish congregation at Munich, under their constitution, and under the laws of Bavaria, to exact from you, as a citizen of the United States of Jewish descent, a tax levied for purposes connected with the Jewish Church and worship. "The question presented appears to be one of internal administration or municipal concern in a foreign government; and is as yet, so far as it relates to yourself, hypothetical, as the demand for the tax has not yet been made upon you. It is the rule of this Department not to express opinions in such cases in advance of occurrences which may be anticipated; but I will in this instance, so far depart from the rule, as to inform you that while this Government stands ready to extend due protection to bona fide citizens, native or naturalized, whose rights or liberties, under the law of nations and the Constitution and laws of the United States, are infringed upon, it would seem to be beyond the proper sphere of its duties to attempt to interfere with such domestic regulations or laws of foreign states as that above indicated." Mr. Hale, Assist. Sec. of State, to Mr. Netre, April 13, 1872, 93 MS. Dom. Tangible movables are generally taxable at the place where they are |