bor for life; and when any person is convicted of an offence to which the punishment of death, or a lesser punishment, in the discretion of the court, is affixed, the maximum punishment shall be imprisonment at hard labor for life. The punishment of death prescribed for any offence specified by the statutes of the United States, except in sections 5,332, 1,342, 1,624, 5,339 and 5,345, is abolished. Any Indian found guilty of rape within the limits of any Indian reservation shall be punished by imprisonment at the discretion of the court.

COPYRIGHT.

The act of January 6, 1897, amends section 4,966, Revised Statutes, to read as follows:

"Sec. 4,966. Any person publicly performing or representing any dramatic or musical composition for which a copyright has been obtained, without the consent of the proprietor of said dramatic or musical composition, or his heirs or assigns, shall be liable for damages therefor, such damages in all cases to be assessed at such sum, not less than $100 for the first and $50 for every subsequent performance, as to the court shall appear to be just. If the unlawful performance and representation be wilful and for profit, such person or persons shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction be imprisoned for a period not exceeding one year. Any injunction that may be granted upon hearing after notice to the defendant by any circuit court of the United States, or by a judge thereof, restraining and enjoining the performance or representation of any such dramatic or musical composition, may be served on the parties against whom such injunction may be granted anywhere in the United States, and shall be operative and may be enforced by proceedings to punish for contempt or otherwise by any other circuit court or judge in the United States; but the defendants in said action, or any or either of them, may make a motion in any other circuit in which he or they may be engaged in performing or representing said dramatic or musical composition to dissolve or set aside the said injunction upon such reasonable notice to the plaintiff as the circuit court or the judge before whom said motion shall be made shall deem proper; service of said motion to be made on the plaintiff in perThe son or on his attorneys in the action. circuit courts or judges thereof shall have jurisdiction to enforce said injunction and to hear and determine a motion to dissolve the same, as herein provided, as fully as if the action were pending or brought in the circuit in which said motion is made."

An act of March 3, 1897, amends section 4,963 to read:

"Sec. 4,963. Every person who shall insert or impress such notice, or words of the same purport, in or upon any book, map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, print, cut, engraving, or photograph, or other article, whether such article be subject to copyright or otherwise, for which he has not obtained a copyright, or shall knowingly issue or sell any article bearing a notice of United States copyright which has not been copyrighted in this country, or shall import any book, photograph, chromo or lithograph or other ar

ticle bearing such notice of copyright or words of the same purport, which is rot copyrighted in this country, shall be liable to a penalty of $100, recoverable one-half for the person who shall sue for such penalty and one-half to the use of the United States; and the importation into the United States of any book, chromo, lithograph or photograph, or other article bearing such notice of copyright, when there is no existing copyright thereon in the United States, is prohibited; and the circuit courts of the United States sitting in equity are hereby authorized to enjoin the issuing, publishing or selling of any article marked or imported in violation of the United States copyright laws, at the suit of any person complaining of such violation: Provided, That this act shall not apply to any importation of or sale of such goods or articles brought into the United States prior to the passage hereof.'

NATIONAL MILITARY PARKS. An act approved March 3, 1897, provides that every person who wilfully destroys, mutilates, defaces, injures or removes any monument, statue, marker, guidepost or other structure, or who wilfully destroys, cuts, breaks, injures or removes any tree, shrub or plant within the limits of any National parks, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not less than $10 nor more than $1,000 for each monument, statue, marker, guidepost or other structure, tree, shrub or plant destroyed, defaced, injured, cut or removed, or by imprisonment for not less than 15 days and not more than one year, or by both fine and imprisonment.

shall

misde

Sec. 2. That every person who trespass upon any National park for the purpose of hunting or shooting, or who shall hunt any kind of game thereon with gun or dog, or shall set trap or net or other device whatsoever thereon for the purpose of hunting or catching game of any kind, shall be guilty of a meanor, punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000 or by imprisonment for not less than five days or more than thirty days, or by both fine and imprisonment. The superintendent or any guardian of such park is authorized to arrest any person who violates the above in any way and bring him to trial.

That any person to whom land lying within any National park may have been leased, who refuses to give up possession of the same to the United States after the termination of said lease, and after possession has been demanded for the United States by any park commissioner or the park superintendent, or any person retaining possession of land lying within the boundary of said park which he or she may have sold to the United States for park purposes and have received payment therefor, after possession of the same has been demanded for the United States by any park commissioner or the park superintendent, shall be deemed guilty of trespass, and the United States may maintain an action for the recovery of the possession of the premises so withheld in the courts of the United States, according to the statutes or code of practice of the State in which the park may be situated.

TEA STANDARDS.

An act of March 2, 1897, provided that

from and after May 1, 1897, it shall be unlawful for any person or persons or corporation to import or bring into the United States any merchandise as tea which is inferior in purity, quality and fitness for consumption of the standards provided. It further provided that the Secretary of the Treasury should appoint a board of seven experts, for the term of one year, with a salary of $50 a year, who shall prepare and submit samples of tea. The Secretary of the Treasury was required to fix and establish uniform standards of teas, and deposit duplicate samples in the customhouses at New-York, Chicago, San Francisco and such other ports as he should deem necessary. All teas or merchandise described as tea of inferior quality, purity and fitness for consumption are prohibited to be imported. On making entry at the custom-house of all teas the importer or consignee is required to give a bond to the collector of the port that such merchandise shall not be removed from the warehouse until released by the collector after it has been examined. In case of protest against the report of the examiner, the matter shall be referred for decision to a board of three United States general appraisers. No imported tea which shall have been rejected and exported shall be reimported into the United States under the penalty of forfeiture.

LVTH CONGRESS CALLED IN EXTRA SESSION.

The Senate of the LVth Congress met to act upon the nominations for President McKinley's Cabinet on March 5, 1897. On March 15 both Houses were convened in special session under the proclamation of the President. Thomas B. Reed was reelected Speaker of the House. The President's first message, of which the following is the full text, was read:

"To the Congress of the United States: Regretting the necessity which has required me to call you together, I feel that your assembling in extraordinary session is indispensable because of the condition in which we find the revenues of the Government.

"It is conceded that its current expenditures are greater than its receipts, and that such a condition has existed for now more than three years. With unlimited means at our command, we are presenting the remarkable spectacle of increasing our public debt by borrowing money to meet the ordinary outlays incident upon even an economical and prudent administration of the Government. An examination of the subject discloses this fact in every detail, and leads inevitably to the conclusion that the condition of the revenue which allows it is unjustifiable and should be corrected.

"We find by the reports of the Secretary of the Treasury that the revenues for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892, from all sources, were $425,868,240 22, and the expenditures for all purposes were $415,953,806 56, leaving an excess of receipts cver expenditures of $9,914,453 56. During that fiscal year $40,570,467 98 were paid upon the public debt, which had been reduced since March 1, 1889, $259,076,890, and the annual interest charge decreased $11,684,576 60, The receipts of the Government from all sources during the fiscal

year ending June 30, 1893, amounted to $471,716,561 94, and its expenditures to $469,374,887 65, showing an excess of receipts over expenditures of $2,341,674 39.

"Since that time the receipts of ro fiscal year, and with but few exceptions of no month of any fiscal year, have exceeded the expenditures. The receipts of the Government from all sources during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1894, were $372,802, 498 20, and its expenditures $442,605,758 87, leaving a deficit, the first since the resumption of specie payments, of $69,803,260 58. Notwithstanding there was a decrease of $16,769,128 78 in the ordinary ex penses of the Government, as compared with the previous fiscal year, its income was still not sufficient to provide for its c'aily necessities, and the gold reserve in the Treasury for the redemption of greenbacks was drawn upon to meet them. But this did not suffice, and the Government then resorted to loans to replenish the re

serve.

"In February, 1894, $50,000,000 in bonds were issued, and in November following a second issue of $50,000,000 was deemed necessary. The sum of $117,171,795 was realized by the sale of these bonds, but the reserve was steadily decreased until on February 8, 1895, a third sale of $62,315,400 in bonds, for $65,116,244, was announced to Congress.

were

"The receipts of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1895, $390,373,203 30, and the expenditures $433,178,426 48, showing a deficit of $42,805,223 19. A further Ican of $100,000,000 was negotiated by the Government in February, 1896, the sale netting $111,166,246, and swelling the aggregate of bonds issued within three years to $262,315,400. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1896, the revenues of the Government from all sources amounted to $409,475,408 78, while its ex-) penditures were $434,678,654 48, or an excess of expenditures over receipts of $25,203,245 70. In other words, the total receipts for the three fiscal years ending June 30, 1895, were insufficient by $137,811,729 46 to meet the tctal expenditures.

"Nor has this condition since improved. For the first half of the present fiscal year the receipts of the Government, exclusive of postal revenue, were $157,507,603 76, and its expenditures, exclusive of postal service, $195,410,000 22, or an excess of expenditures over receipts of $37,902,396 46. In January of this year the receipts, exclusive of postal revenues, were $24,316,994 05, and the expenditures, exclusive of postal service, $30,269,289 29, a deficit of $5,952,395 24 for the month. In February of this year the receipts, exclusive of postal revenues, were $24,400,397 38, and expenditures, exclusive of postal service, $28,796,056 66, a deficit of $4,395,059 28, or a total deficiency of $186,081,580 44 for the three years and eight months ending March 1, 1897. Not only are we without a surplus in the Treasury, but, with an increase in the public debt, there has been a corresponding increase in the annual "nterest charge from $22,893,883 20 in 1892, the lowest of any year since 1862, to $34,387,-297 60 in 1896, or an increase of $11,493,414 40.

"It may be urged that even if the revenues of the Government had been sufficient to meet all its ordinary expenses during the

last three years, the gold reserve would still have been insufficient to meet the demands upon it, and that bonds would necessarily have been issued for its repletion. Be this as it may, it is clearly manifest, without denying or affirming the correctness of such a conclusion, that the debt would have been decreased in at least the amount of the deficiency, and business confidence immeasurably strengthened throughout the country.

"Congress should promptly correct the existing condition. Ample revenues must be supplied not only for the ordinary expenses of the Government, but for the prompt payment of liberal pensions and the liquidation of the principal and interest of the public debt. In raising revenue, duties should be so levied upon foreign products as to preserve the home market, so far as possible, to our own producers; to revive and increase manufactures; to relieve and encourage agriculture; to increase our domestic and foreign commerce; to aid and develop mining and building, and to render to labor in every field of useful occupation the liberal wages and adequate rewards to which skill and industry are justly entitled. The necessity of the passage of a tariff law which shall provide ample revenue need not be further urged. The imperative demand of the hour is the prompt enactment of such a measure, and to this object I earnestly recommend that Congress shall make every endeavor. Before other business is transacted, let us first provide sufficient revenue to faithfully administer the Government without the contracting of further debt or the continued disturbance of our finances."

LAWS ENACTED BY THE SPECIAL SESSION OF THE LVTH CONGRESS. Appropriating $50,000 for the relief of destitute citizens of the United States in Cuba, said money to be expended at the discretion and under the direction of the President in the purchase and furnishing of food, clothing and medicines, and for the transportation to the United States of such of them as so desire, and who are without means to transport themselves. May 24, 1897.

Appropriating $100,000 to repair and put in serviceable condition drydock No. 3, at the New-York Navy Yard, June 26, 1897.

Authorizing the construction of a bridge over and across the Clinch River, Kingston, Tenn. June 9, 1897.

Amending the act authorizing_the_construction of a bridge over the St. Louis River, between Minnesota and Wisconsin. June 18, 1897.

Authorizing the construction of a brideg across Pearl River, Mississippi. June 18,

1897.

to transport contributions for the relief of the famishing poor of India, and to charter and employ one or two steamships or vessels of any nationality to carry out the object of the resolution. June 1, 1897.

Consent given to a compact entered into between South Dakota and Nebraska respecting the boundary between said States, and confirming its declarations. The boundary line was fixed as follows, on June 3, 1897: Between a point in the centre of the channel of the Missouri River directly north of the west line of Dixon County, Nebraska, and a point in the centre of said channel directly south of the east line of Clay County, South Dakota

Authorizing foreign exhibitors at the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, to be held in Omaha, Neb., in 1898, to bring to the United States foreign laborers from their countries, respectively, for the purpose of preparing for and making exhibits. June 30, 1897.

Adopting regulations for preventing collisions upon certain harbors, rivers and inland waters of the United States. June 7, 1897.

Complete revision of the Tariff Law, July 24, 1897. See pages 94 to 121 for provisions of the law.

ARBITRATION.

The preliminary steps toward a treaty of general arbitration between the United States and Great Britain consisted of a protracted correspondence between the Marquis of Salisbury, Prime Minister of Great Britain, and Richard Olney, the American Secretary of State. The treaty' itself was signed by Mr. Olney and Sir Julian Pauncefote, British Ambassador, January 11, 1897. On the same day it was sent to the Senate by President Cleveland for ratification, the President accompanying it with a letter expressing strong approval of the spirit and scope of the treaty, and the hope that it would meet with the speedy sanction of the Senate.

The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, to which it was referred, reported it back to the Senate on February 1, and it was debated from time to time until the close of the LIVth Congress. On March 8 the Senate of the LVth Congress sent the bill back to the committee, and it was reported back to the Senate, with several amendments, on March 17. It was debated by the Senate at various times until May 5, when a vote was taken and the treaty failed of ratification, the vote being 43 for and 26 against, or four more than the necessary one-third to defeat it. The vote in detail was as follows:

Yeas-Messrs. Allison, Bacon, Burrows, Caffery, Clay, Cullom, Davis, Deboe, Fairbanks, Faulkner, Foraker, Frye, Gallinger, Gear, Gray, Hale, Hanna, Hawley, Hoar, Lindsay, Lodge, McBride, McEnery, McMillin, Mitchell, Morrill, Nelson, Pasco, Perkins, Platt, of Connecticut; Platt, of New-York; Pritchard, Proctor, Smith, Spooner, Thurston, Turpie, Vest, Walthall, Warren, Wellington, Wetmore and Wilson. Total, 43.

Nays-Messrs. Baker, Bate, Butler, Carter, Cockrell, Daniel, Hansbrough, Harris,

of Kansas; Harris, of Tennessee; Heitfeld, Jones, of Arkansas; Jones, of Nevada; Kyle, Martin, Mason, Mills, Morgan, Penrose, Pettigrew, Pettus, Quay, Rawlins, Roach, Shoup, Stewart and White. Total, 26.

There were twenty-one Senators absent at the time the vote was taken, including the successor to John H. Mitchell, of Oregon, and the successor to Wilkinson Call, of Florida, who had not yet been elected.

FOREIGN MISCELLANY.

GREECE-TURKEY WAR.

The Cretan troubles resulted in an open rupture between Turkey and Greece. A few days after the insurgent Christians at Halepa (on February 7, 1897) proclaimed the union of Crete and Greece, a Greek fleet of torpedo boats, under command of Prince George, sailed for Crete, and the Greek Government formulated a note to the Powers, which set forth that it could no longer remain a passive spectator of the progress of events in Crete, and that the ties of race and religion compelled Greece to intervene in behalf of the outraged Christians in that island. This was followed on February 14 by sending to Crete an "army of occupation,' under Colonel Vassos, with instructions to protect the Christian families in Crete and restore order.

In response to a protest from the Turkish Government against the action of Greece, under threat of retaliation on the Thessalian border, the Powers immediately determined to restrain further hostile action on the part of Greece in Crete. Turkey then assembled an army of about 150,000 along the extended Macedonian frontier and for several miles on the Greek side of the boundary agreed to by the Powers in the treaty of 1878. The Greek army, to the extent of 80,000, was concentrated chiefly between Larissa and Trikhala. This attitude of both Turkey and Greece was so threatening that on April 6 the foreign Powers served notice on the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Sublime Porte of Turkey that in case of armed conflict on the Greco-Turkish frontier all responsibility would rest with the aggressors, and that whatever results might arise from such a conflict, the Powers were firmly resolved to maintain the general peace and would not allow the aggressor, in any event, to reap the slightest benefit from his action.

April 8.-Greek troops crossed the frontier into Turkey, between Metsovo and Diskata, and opened fire upon the Turks. Skirmishes continued day after day until, on April 17, the Council of Ministers of Turkey issued a declaration of war, recalled the Turkish Minister in Greece and gave passports to the Greek Minister at Constantinople.

April 18.-Delyannis, Premier of Greece, declared the acceptance of Turkey's challenge and was sustained by the Legislative Assembly. Battle of Milouna Pass and destruction of Turkish fort at Prevesa. • April 20.-Greeks capture and burn Damasi. April 23.-Osman Pacha takes command of the Turkish army in the field, and the Sublime Porte calls out the 50,000 reserves. Saad Eddin Pacha sent to command the Turkish forces in Epirus. Powers give ad

of

April 29.-The Delyannis Ministry Greece resigned upon command of King George, and M. Ralli, the leader of the Opposition, formed a new Cabinet.

May 6.-The Turks capture Pharsalos, the Greeks losing about a thousand killed and wounded, and the Turks about six times as many.

May 9.-Greek Government made written application to the Powers, through the Ministers at Athens, with a view of obtaining mediation.

May 11.-The Powers sent the following to the Greek Government: "The representatives of France, Italy, Great Britain, Germany and Austria charge M. Onou, the representative of Russia and the Doyen of the Diplomatic Corps, to declare in the name of their respective Governments that the Powers are ready to offer mediation with the view to obtain armistice and smooth the difficulties actually existing between Greece and Turkey, on condition that the Hellenic Government declares that it will proceed to recall its troops from Crete, adhere formally to autonomy for Crete and accept unreservedly the counsels which the Powers give in the interests of peace."

an

The reply of the Greek Government was as follows: "The royal Government, in taking the note and declaration of the Russian representative, acting in the name of the Ministers of the Powers, declares that it will proceed to recall the royal troops from Crete, adheres formally to autonomy for Crete, and confides the interests of Greece to the hands of the Powers."

May 12.-The Ambassadors of the Powers, at a conference in Constantinople, sent a collective memorandum proposing an armistice between Turkey and Greece on the basis of negotiations for peace.

May 16.-The Porte replied to the note of the Powers declining to agree to an armistice until the following conditions should be accepted: The annexation of Thessaly, an indemnity of £10,000,000 Turkish ($43,960,000); the abolition of the capitulations, and that the plenipotentiaries of the Powers should meet at Pharsalos to discuss terms of peace.

May 20.-An armistice to extend over a period of seventeen days was formally concluded between Turkey and Greece, which armistice included the land and sea forces of both combatants. The armistice agreement stipulated that a mixed com-mission of officers of superior rank should establish a neutral zone between the two combatants, and that no advance on either flank should be permitted.

May 21.-Turks violated armistice by advancing to Daitza and occupying and fortifying several positions; also pillaged estate of the late Christian Governor of Crete, burned dwellings, violated women

and committed other acts of pillage and outrage.

May 31.-Premier Ralli and his colleagues in the Cabinet were charged with being implicated in a conspiracy against King George.

June 3.-The peace negotiators held their first conference at Constantinople. The commanders of the Greek and Turkish military forces in Thessaly and Epirus signed an armistice.

June 4.-The Turkish and Greek delegates signed the sea armistice, which provided that "the Greek fleet will quit Ottoman waters. Vessels under Turkish or neutral flags, bound to or returning from Turkish ports, and vessels north of the armistice line will not be examined. Vessels carrying troops and munitions for the Turkish Army will not be allowed to enter ports north of the line. The Turkish fleet must not leave the Dardanelles. The dispatch of reinforcements to garrison towns in the Archipelago is prohibited."

con

July 7.-The peace negotiations were carried on from time to time, but were obstructed by Turkey declining to sider any frontier line in Thessaly north of the river Peneios, which it regarded as a natural boundary. The Sultan on July 7 declared that the war had been forced upon Turkey, and that if no concessions were made by the Powers he would in a few days give the order to advance, and that terms would thereafter be dictated from the Acropolis. On the same day Russia sent a circular note to the Powers suggesting that steps be taken to expedite the conclusion of peace between Greece and Turkey. The German Ambassador at Constantinople was also instructed to insist upon Turkey's acceptance of the strategic frontier as proposed by the Powers. The Sultan declared that he would resist coercion and was entirely ready to meet both Russia and Germany.

July 9.-The Ambassadors of the Powers presented a collective note to the Turkish Government, under instructions from their respective Governments, demanding a cessation of the obstruction of the peace negotiations. On the same day Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria, in reply to an appeal from the Sultan, assured him of his "sincere friendship" and urged him to "conclude peace with Greece on the basis of the conditions the Ambassadors have formulated, which are the maximum concessions recognized as equitable by the concert." The telegram closed as follows: "The concert of the Powers is firm and united in its decisions. Therefore I request Your Majesty to take my advice into earnest consideration.'

July 12. The following is the text of the collective note of the Powers to Turkey, sent July 11: "The great Powers have adopted the project of strategical rectification as it has been worked out by the military attachés and communicated to the Sublime Porte. In consequence they have agreed to assure the Ottoman Government that they have arrived at a firm determination to put an end to the obstruction, the only effect of which is the prevention of the conclusion of a peace eminently in the interest of Europe."

An important Ministerial council was held at Constantinople, at which an in

as

demnity of £6,000,000 was agreed on the extreme limit of Turkish concession. July 14.-The Sultan, after considering the report of the Council, answered by the following irade: "I am convinced that the efforts and energies of the Powers are directed entirely toward the maintenance of peace and the prevention of fresh complications. In these circumstances, it is the plain duty of Turkey, whose sentiments are likewise pacific, to put an end to the present abnormal situation. Consequently, I command the Ministers, if possible, to find the necessary means for con.. cluding the negotiations and to sign the preliminaries for peace by Thursday.'

abo

The terms of the Turkish Government, submitted to the foreign Ambassadors, proposed a change of frontier and fixed the amount of indemnity at £4,000,000 (Turkish) and renewed the demand for the lition of the capitulations granted to the Greek subjects in the Ottoman Empire. Later the Marquis of Salisbury proposed this plan: The constitution of an international commission, representing the six Powers, to assume control of the revenues with which Greece would guarantee the payment of interest for the holders of old bonds, which interest was stopped in 1893, as well as payment for the indemnity loan. This plan was accepted by the Powers, and the treaty of peace was signed on September 18. The new frontier comprehends from the line of the Peneios River, the famous Milouna Pass, and the whole district around Zarxos and Gounitsa.

The Diet adopted a national coinage measure in March, which went into effect on October 1, 1897, providing for the following nine kinds of money: Gold, 20-yen, 10-yen and 5-yen pieces; silver, 50-sen, 20-sen and 10-sen pieces; nickel, 5-sen piece; copper, 1-sen and 5-rin pieces. The values are reckoned on the decimal system, the hundredth part of a yen to be called a sen, and the tenth part of a sen to be called a rin. The standard of the coins is fixed as follows:

Gold coin-Pure gold, 900 parts; copper alloy, 100 parts.

Silver coin-Pure silver, 800 parts; copper alloy, 200 parts.

Nickel coin-Nickel, 250 parts; copper alloy, 750 parts.

Copper coin-Copper, 950 parts; tin, 40 parts; zinc, 10 parts.

The weight of the 5-yen gold piece (equal to $250 in United States gold) is 1.111 momme (4.1666 grammes), the other gold coins being of the same proportionate weight. That of the 50-sen silver piece is 13.4783 grammes, of the 5-sen nickel piece 4.6654 grammes, and of the 1-sen copper piece 7.128 grammes. Gold coins are legal tender to any amount; silver coins are legal tender to the amount of 10 yen;