alien's passage a condition might arise which could perhaps be regarded as in effect a payment of his passage by a corporation, society, or association, as the statement of facts does not show that any such condition actually exists, or that his passage money is, in fact, to be repaid, I am of the opinion, without passing upon the question as to what would be the effect of such a condition if it did arise, that the mere hypothetical possibility of such a condition would not be a ground of exclusion. CHARLES J. BONAPARTE. Respectfully, File No. 907/30. The Acting Secretary of State to Minister Wilson. No. 131.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 12, 1907. SIR: Referring to the visits to and operations in Belgium of immigration agents of certain of the States of the United States, which have formed the subject of correspondence between the department and the legation, and referring especially to your dispatch (No. 167) of April 7, 1907, in which it was suggested that the legation be furnished with a clear interpretation of the present construction of our immigration laws with respect to the operations of such commissioners, I inclose herewith for your information a copy of an opinion rendered on September 30 in the case of the alien Geronimo Garcia, which case was brought to the attention of the Attorney-General by the Louisiana state board of agriculture and immigration with the object of testing the provisions of the act of February 20, 1907, relating to immigration of alien laborers by the States and Territories. On the 22d of last August the Belgian legation at Washington called the attention of the department to certain pamphlets which were (and possibly are now) being distributed in Belgium by Charles Schuler immigration agent of the State of Louisiana, and inquiring whether or not the contracts offered Belgians to emigrate were exposing them to deportation. A copy of the Belgian legation's note was communicated to the Department of Commerce and Labor, which, in its answer, dated the 8th instant, states that a reply to the Belgian legation's inquiry is furnished by this opinion of the Attorney-General. I am, etc., File No. 907/33-34. ALVEY A. ADEE. No. 251.] Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN LEGATION, Brussels, November 14, 1907. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the department's No. 131, inclosing for my information a copy of a letter from the honorable Secretary of Commerce and Labor, which contains the "See inclosures to note of this date to the Belgian legation. decision of the honorable Attorney-General of the United States in the case of the Cuban immigrant, Geronimo Garcia, defining the interpretation of the immigration laws of the United States as the same relate to the question of assisted immigration in its various phases. I have communicated the substance of the decision of Mr. Bonaparte to the Belgian foreign office in a note, copy of which is inclosed. I have, etc., HENRY LANE WILSON. [Inclosure.] Minister Wilson to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. AMERICAN LEGATION, Brussels, November 7, 1907. MR. MINISTER: Referring to your excellency's note of the 3d of May, 1907 (Direction E, No. 1370), I beg to say that I am just in receipt of a dispatch from my Government, inclosing a copy of a decision rendered by the AttorneyGeneral of the United States in the case of one Geronimo Garcia, a native of Cuba, who was induced to immigrate to the State of Louisiana by agents of the state board of agriculture, under promise of definite employment after arrival, his expenses thither being paid under agreement of reimbursement from his wages. The Attorney-General, in summing up his conclusions, held that the promise of specific employment made in the case of Garcia was a clear violation of the labor-contract law, which excludes "persons hereinafter called 'contract laborers,' who have been induced or solicited to migrate to this country by offers or promise of employment, or in consequence of agreements, oral, written, or printed, expressed of implied, to perform labor in this country of any kind, skilled or unskilled." This provision, the Attorney-General holds, excludes "aliens solicited or induced to immigrate by reason of offers or promises, even when there is no contract of employment. Your excellency will note that the inhibition here quoted is express and clear, but in order that the exact status of the present interpretation of the law may be clearly understood, it may not be superfluous to advise you that the decision of the Attorney-General in no way affects the rights of constituent States of the Union, through their accredited agents, to solicit immigration by advertisement, a right denied to corporations or individuals, and to pay the passage of immigrants, a right denied to corporations, societies, or municipalities. There is no bar to the expenditure by the State of any sum it chooses to appropriate for assisting immigration. A State may charter a steamship or steamship lines, and through its agents bring in aliens at its own expense. It can give land and cattle or property of any kind to immigrants brought in in this way, after their arrival. It is merely forbidden to bring in alien laborers under any prior promise of compensation or employment, or under any form of labor contract. An alien induced to immigrate to the United States by the agents of any constituent State, and whose passage is paid, or who, after his or her arrival, is endowed with land or other property by the State, can not be deported under the contract-labor law. An alien induced to immigrate to the United States by the agents of any constituent State under promise of specific employment may be deported. Your excellency is doubtless well advised of the existence of other provisions of the immigration laws of the United States relative to the deportation of undesirable immigrants, such as paupers, criminals, anarchists, persons afflicted with loathsome contagious or incurable diseases, and women brought for immoral purposes. I avail myself, etc., HENRY LANE WILSON. CONVENTION BETWEEN BELGIUM AND SWEDEN RELATIVE TO PROPERTY RIGHTS. File No. 6774/1. No. 180.] Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN LEGATION, SIR: I have the honor to send you herewith duplicate copies, in the original text, of a convention concluded between Belgium and Sweden relative to the rights of their citizens to inherit and to acquire property in their respective domains. I have, etc., HENRY LANE WILSON. [Inclosure-Translation.] Convention concluded between Belgium and Sweden to take the place of the convention of July 21 and August 2, 1838, regarding the right to inherit and to acquire property. His Majesty the King of the Belgians and His Majesty the King of Sweden, being desirous of regulating, by means of a new convention, the rights of their respective subjects to inherit and to acquire property in the two countries, have appointed as their plenipotentiaries for this purpose, to wit: His Majesty the King of the Belgians, Baron de Favereau, knight of his Order of Leopold, etc., member of the Senate, his minister of foreign affairs, and His Majesty the King of Sweden, Baron G. Falkenberg, first-class commander of his Order of the Polar Star, etc., his envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary near His Majesty the King of the Belgians, Who, after communicating to each other their full powers, found in good and due form, agreed on the following articles: ARTICLE 1. Belgians in Sweden and Swedes in Belgium shall, on the basis of reciprocity and under the same conditions as the citizens or subjects of the most favored other nation, be permitted to acquire and hold real estate or personal property and to dispose thereof by sale, exchange, gift, will, or otherwise, as well as to receive property by inheritance whether ab intestato or under a will. ARTICLE 2. The laws known under the names of "droit d'aubaine" (the right of the State to confiscate the property of a deceased foreigner) and "droit de détraction" (the right of the sovereign to withhold a part of the property of a deceased foreigner) shall not be enforced in future, when, in case of an inheritance, donation inter vivos, sale, emigration, or the like, there is occasion to transfer property from the Kingdom of Belgium to the Kingdom of Sweden, or vice versa. ARTICLE 3. Belgians who acquire real estate or personal property in Sweden, whether by inheritance ab intestato or under a will, or by sale, exchange, gift, or otherwise, and, reciprocally, Swedes who acquire real estate or personal property in Belgium under the same titles, shall not be required to pay thereon any other dues, imposts, or taxes than such as are imposed on nationals by the laws and regulations which exist or may in future exist in the respective countries. The same rule shall apply if they alienate the property, transfer it, and carry away the amount received as its value. ARTICLE 4. The present convention shall go into force on June 1, 1907, and shall remain binding until the expiration of a year after the day on which either of the high contracting parties shall have denounced it. It shall not affect any real-estate rights acquired before said date by Belgian subjects in Sweden or by Swedish subjects in Belgium. ARTICLE 5. The present convention shall be ratified and the ratifications exchanged as soon as possible. In witness whereof the respective plenipotentiaries have signed the presen convention and affixed thereto the seal of their arms.. Done at Brussels, in duplicate, on March 28, 1907. (L. S.) (L. S.) DE FAVEREAU. The exchange of ratifications took place on May 3, 1907. Certified to by the secretary-general of the ministry of foreign affairs, Chevalier van der Elst. DISCRIMINATION AGAINST AMERICAN PRODUCTS. File No. 5301/2. No. 157.] Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN LEGATION, SIR: I have the honor to report that recently the Continental Petroleum Company, a Belgian corporation dealing exclusively in American lubricating oils, complained to this legation against alleged discrimination in the specifications governing the submission of bids for furnishing oils to the Belgian Government railways. The specific ground of complaint was the insertion in the specifications of supply bids the requirement of "Russian" origin. A copy of the cahier des charges containing on page 34 the specifications to which objection was taken is transmitted herewith. As it appeared to me that the objections of the Continental Petroleum Company were well taken, I addressed a note (copy inclosed) to the Belgian foreign office, calling attention to the discrimination. I am just in receipt of the reply of the minister (copy and translation inclosed) from which it will be seen that the justice of the protest made is recognized, and the discrimination will be removed. I have, etc., [Inclosure 1.] HENERY LANE WILSON. Minister Wilson to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. AMERICAN LEGATION, Brussels, December 17, 1906. MR. MINISTER: Mr. F. Petit, president of the Continental Petroleum Company, a Belgian corporation, has called the attention of this legation to an alleged discrimination against American lubricating oils by the department of railways in the specifications of the rules for the submission of supply bids on Wednesday, December 19. In his letter addressed to this legation, and which is inclosed to you, Mr. Petit states that in stipulating that all bidders submitting propositions are limited to lubricating oils of Russian origin, the minister of railways has discriminated against American oils. He affirms that while his company is prepared and willing to furnish oils which in practical use will fully meet the usual tests, giving equal if not better results than the oils of Russian origin, the fact that the oils which his company furnishes are of American origin disqualifies it as possible bidder. I inclose also a copy of the specifications referred to, which is marked on page 34. May I ask your excellency to be good enough to inform me, after having ascertained the views of your colleague in the department of railways, whether in making use of the word " Russian" in the specifications it was the intention to exclude the American oil product, which the representatives of the Continental Petroleum Company assure me will meet all the tests equally as well, if not better, than the Russian oil. I avail, etc., [Inclosure 2.-Translation.] HENRY LANE WILSON. The Minister for Foreign Affairs to Minister Wilson. BRUSSELS, March 2, 1907. MR. MINISTER: I have not failed to bring to the knowledge of the minister of railroads, posts, and telegraphs, the communication which your excellency addressed to me on the 17th of December last, regarding a complaint made by the Continental Petroleum Company in reference to the specification "Russian crude mineral oil for lubricating" contained in the rules for the submission of bids for supplying oils to the administration of Belgian railroads. My colleague writes me that the rules for the submission of bids, special number 837, relative to lubricating oils, the supplying of which was decided on June 6, 1906, simply mentioned "crude mineral oil" and thus allowed the products of American origin to compete with those of Russia. In this contest the Continental Petroleum Company was awarded the bid. But the American oils delivered by this company gave rise to serious complaints, such as overheating of the axles on locomotives and passenger and freight cars. The Belgian authorities continue to believe, despite the assertion to the contrary by the said company, that the oils previously employed were of a superior quality. It was under these conditions that, in view of the award of December 19, 1906, the department of railways, posts, and telegraphs was obliged to insert in the rules for the submission of bids the stipulations "Russian crude mineral oil for lubrication." In advising me of what proceeds, Mr. Liebaert adds that his department is now studying the new conditions which will be inserted in the contracts in order to be sure that the lubricating oil accepted, whether it be of American, Russian, or other origin, will give good results. When these conditions are determined, a test will be made, and if the results are satisfactory, the matter will be definitely decided. I have the honor to return to your excellency the letter of the Continental Petroleum Company which you have sent me. I take, etc., DE FAVEREAU. File No. 5301/2. No. 97.] The Acting Secretary of State to Minister Wilson. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch, No. 157, of the 7th ultimo, referring to the complaint of a company dealing |