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CHAPTER VIII

THE WORLD'S PRIME MERIDIAN

Frederick Frelinghuysen, when Secretary of State of the United States, sent a circular letter under date of October 23, 1882, by direction of President Arthur, to the diplomatic representatives of the United States in foreign countries, to ascertain whether the governments of those countries would be likely to accept an invitation to "an international congress with the object of finally adopting a common meridian." In this letter he used these words:

It may be well to state that, in the absence of a common and accepted standard for the computation of time for other than astronomical purposes, embarrassments are experienced in the ordinary affairs of modern commerce; that this embarrassment is especially felt since the extension of telegraphic and railway communications has joined states and continents possessing independent and widely separated meridional standards of time; that the subject of a common meridian has been for several years past discussed in this country and in Europe by commercial and scientific bodies, and the need of a general agreement upon a single standard recognized; and that, in recent European conferences especially, favor was shown to the suggestion that, as the United States possesses the greatest longitudinal extension of any country traversed by railway and telegraph lines, the initiatory measures for holding an international convention to consider so important a subject should be taken by this government.

Perhaps this statement is sufficient to show the reasons which led to world action. On the invitation of the United States, an international conference was held in Washington "for the purpose of fixing a prime meridian and a universal day." Its first session was on October 1, 1884, and it was dissolved on November I following. Twenty-five nations were represented by delegates as follows: AustriaHungary, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Great Britain, Guatemala, Hawaii, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Russia, Salvador, San Domingo, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United States, and Venezuela. Each nation had one vote. The final act of the conference was as follows:

The President of the United States of America, in pursuance of a special provision of Congress, having extended to the governments of all nations in diplomatic relations with his own an invitation to send delegates to meet delegates from the United States in the city of Washington on the first of October, 1884, for the purpose of discussing and, if possible, fixing upon a meridian proper to be employed as a common zero of longitude and standard of time-reckoning throughout the whole world, this international meridian conference assembled at the time and place designated; and, after careful and patient discussion, has passed the following resolutions :

I. That it is the opinion of this congress that it is desirable to adopt a single prime meridian for all nations, in place of the multiplicity of initial meridians which now exist.

2. That the conference proposes to the governments here represented the adoption of the meridian passing through the center of the transit instrument at the observatory of Greenwich as the initial meridian for longitude.

3. That from this meridian longitude shall be counted in two directions up to 180 degrees, east longitude being plus and west longitude minus.

4. That the conference proposes the adoption of a universal day for all purposes for which it may be found convenient, and which shall not interfere with the use of local or other standard time where desirable.

5. That this universal day is to be a mean solar day; is to begin for all the world at the moment of mean midnight of the initial meridian, coinciding with the beginning of the civil day and date of that meridian; and is to be counted from zero up to twenty-four hours.

6. That the conference expresses the hope that, as soon as may be practicable, the astronomical and nautical days will be arranged everywhere to begin at mean midnight.

7. That the conference expresses the hope that the technical studies designed to regulate and extend the application of the decimal system to the division of angular space and of time shall be resumed, so as to permit the extension of this application to all cases in which it presents real advantages.

These seven resolutions were adopted by votes varying from unanimity in case of the first and sixth, or unanimity with two abstentions in case of the fourth, up to the vote of fourteen ayes, five noes, and six abstentions in case of the third, which was the strongest adverse vote. In due time, by sufficient ratification of the nations, the will of the world fixed the meridian of Greenwich as the standard, and thus the formal expression of that will has its rightful place in the body of world law.

CHAPTER IX

THE GENEVA CONVENTION FOR THE SEA

On December 21, 1904, there was signed at The Hague a convention for the exemption of hospital ships, in time of war, from the payment of all dues and taxes imposed for the benefit of the state. Nations were represented by plenipotentiaries as follows: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, China, Korea, Denmark, Spain, the United States, Mexico, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Luxemburg, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Peru, Persia, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, Servia, Siam, and Switzerland. Each nation sent one delegate only (and sixteen of them were already the diplomatic representatives of their countries respectively at The Hague, while all of the others sent the diplomatic representative at some other European court, except Russia), save that the Netherlands government sent two. The conference agreed upon the following articles :

ART. 1. Hospital ships, concerning which the conditions set forth in Articles 1, 2, and 3 of the convention concluded at The Hague on July 29, 1899, for the adaptation to maritime warfare of the principles of the Geneva convention of August 22, 1864, are fulfilled, shall be exempted, in time of war, from all dues and taxes imposed on vessels for the benefit of the state, in the ports of the contracting parties.

ART. 2. The provision of the foregoing article does not prevent the application, by means of visitation or other formalities, of fiscal or other laws in force at said ports.

ART. 3. The rule laid down in Article 1 is binding only on the contracting Powers in case of war between two or more of them. The said rule shall cease to be binding from the time when a noncontracting Power shall join one of the belligerents in a war between contracting Powers.

ART. 4. The present convention, which, bearing the date of this day, may be signed until the first of October, 1905, by the Powers expressing their desire to do so, shall be ratified as soon as possible. The ratification shall be deposited at The Hague. A procès-verbal of the deposit of the ratifications shall be drawn up, and a copy thereof, duly certified, shall be delivered through the diplomatic channel to all the contracting Powers.

ART. 5. The nonsignatory Powers are permitted to adhere to the present convention after October 1, 1905. They shall, to that end, make their adhesion

known to the contracting Powers by means of a written notification addressed to the government of the Netherlands and communicated by the latter to the other contracting Powers.

ART. 6. In the event of one of the high contracting Powers denouncing the present convention, such denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the notification made in writing to the government of the Netherlands and immediately communicated by the latter to all the other contracting Powers. This denunciation shall only affect the ratifying Power.

By ratification by the necessary number of Powers these articles became a part of the Geneva convention as a whole, and are thus a part of the body of world law.

CHAPTER X

INTERNATIONAL SANITATION

On May 14, 1880, there was approved by President Hayes a resolution adopted by both branches of the Congress of the United States, "that the President of the United States is hereby authorized to call an international sanitary conference to meet at Washington, District of Columbia, to which the several Powers having jurisdiction of ports likely to be infected with yellow fever or cholera shall be invited to send delegates, properly authorized, for the purpose of securing an international system of notification as to the actual sanitary condition of ports and places under the jurisdiction of such Powers, and of vessels sailing therefrom."

The conference began its sessions on January 5, 1881, and ended them on March 1, 1881. The following nations were represented : Argentine Republic, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Spain, the United States, France, Great Britain, Hawaii, Haiti, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, Peru, Russia, Sweden and Norway, Turkey, and Venezuela. Each nation had one vote. The final act consisted of the following resolutions :

ART. 1. Each government shall have such an organized internal service as will enable it to be regularly informed of the state of the public health throughout the whole of its territory.

ART. 2. Each government shall publish a weekly bulletin of the statistics of mortality in its principal cities and ports, and shall give such bulletins the largest possible publicity.

ART. 3. In the interest of the public health the sanitary authorities of the countries represented in this conference are authorized to communicate directly with each other in order to keep themselves informed of all important facts which may come to their knowledge; but nothing herein contained shall relieve them from the duty of furnishing, at the same time, to the consuls in their respective jurisdictions the information they are required to give them.

ART. 4. A centralized international system of sanitary notification being deemed indispensable to the successful carrying out of measures for preventing the introduction of disease, it is advisable to create international organizations to be charged with the duty of collecting information in regard to the outbreak,

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