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, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and thirty-second. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. [SEAL] By the President: ALVEY A. ADEE, Acting Secretary of State. TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN PROVIDING FOR RECIPROCAL RIGHTS FOR THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA IN THE MATTERS OF CONVEYANCE OF PRISONERS AND WRECKING AND SALVAGE. Signed at Washington, May 18, 1908. Ratification advised by the Senate, May 20, 1908. Ratified by the President, June 19, 1908. Ratified by Great Britain, June 3, 1908. Ratifications exchanged at Washington, June 30, 1908. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION. Whereas a Treaty between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, providing for reciprocal rights for the United States and the Dominion of Canada in the matters of conveyance of prisoners and wrecking and salvage, was concluded and signed by their respective Plenipotentiaries at Washington on the eighteenth day of May, one thousand nine hundred and eight, the original of which Treaty is word for word as follows: The United States of America and His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India, being desirous to Inake provision for the conveyance of persons in lawful custody for trial or punishment either in the United States or the Dominion of Canada through the territory of the other, and for reciprocal rights in wrecking and salvage in the waters contiguous to the boundary between the United States and the Dominion of Canada, have for that purpose resolved to conclude a treaty, and to that end have appointed as their plenipotentiaries: The President of the United States of America, Robert Bacon, Acting Secretary of State of the United States; and His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India, the Right Honorable James Bryce, O. M., His Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Washington; who, after communicating to each other their respective full powers, which were found to be in due and proper form, have agreed to and concluded the following articles: ARTICLE I. CONVEYANCE OF PRISONERS. Any officer of the United States of America or of any state or territory thereof, having in his custody without the borders of Canada, by virtue of any warrant or any other lawful process issued by authority of the United States or of any state or territory thereof, any person charged with or convicted of any of the criminal offences specified below, committed within the jurisdiction of the United States or of any state or territory thereof, may, in executing such warrant or process, convey such person through any part of Canada to a place in the United States, if such warrant or process is endorsed, or backed, by a judge, magistrate or justice of the peace in Canada, or if the authority of the Minister of Justice of Canada for such conveyance is first obtained. During such conveyance of such person through Canada, such officer may keep such person in his custody, and in case of escape may recapture him. Any officer of the Dominion of Canada or of any province or territory thereof, having in his custody without the borders of the United States of America, by virtue of any warrant or any other lawful process issued by authority of the law of the Dominion or of any province or territory thereof, any person charged with or convicted of any of the criminal offences specified below, committed in Canada, may, in executing such warrant or process, convey such person through any part of the United States to a place in Canada, if such warrant or process is endorsed, or backed, by a judge, magistrate or justice. of the peace in the United States, or if the authority of the Secretary of State of the United States for such conveyance is first obtained. During such conveyance of such person through the United States, such officer may keep such person in his custody, and in case of escape may recapture him." The foregoing provision shall apply only to persons charged with or convicted of offences of the following descriptions: 1. Offences for which extradition is at the time authorized by a treaty in force between the United States and Great Britain. 2. Assault with intent to commit grievous bodily harm. 3. Assault upon an officer of the law in the execution of his duty. The United States and the Dominion of Canada may by concurrent legislation make further or other regulations for authenticating the warrant or process under which the person in custody is to be conveyed, as before provided. ARTICLE II. WRECKING AND SALVAGE. The High Contracting Parties agree that vessels and wrecking appliances, either from the United States or from the Dominion of Canada, may salve any property wrecked and may render aid and assistance to any vessels wrecked, disabled or in distress in the waters or on the shores of the other country in that portion of the St. Lawrence River through which the International Bound ary line extends, and, in Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair, Lake Huron, and Lake Superior, and in the Rivers Niagara, Detroit, St. Clair, and Ste Marie, and the Canals at Sault Ste Marie, and on the shores and in the waters of the other country along the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts within a distance of thirty miles from the International Boundary on such Coasts. It is further agreed that such reciprocal wrecking and salvage privileges shall include all necessary towing incident thereto, and that nothing in the Customs, Coasting or other laws or regulations of either country shall restrict in any manner the salving operations of such vessels or wrecking appliances. Vessels from either country employed in salving in the waters of the other shall, as soon as practicable afterwards. make full report at the nearest custom house of the country in whose waters such salving takes place. ARTICLE III. This Treaty shall remain in force for ten years after its date and thereafter until terminated by twelve months' written notice given by either High Contracting Party to the other. ARTICLE IV. This Treaty shall be ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and by His Britannic Majesty; and the ratifications shall be exchanged in Washington as soon as possible. In faith whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed this Treaty in duplicate and have hereunto affixed their seals. Done at Washington the eighteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and eight. And whereas the said Treaty has been duly ratified on both parts, and the ratifications of the two governments were exchanged in the City of Washington, on the thirtieth day of June, one thousand nine hundred and eight; Now, therefore, be it known that I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, have caused the said Treaty to be made public, to the end that the same and every article and clause thereof may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the United States and the citizens thereof. 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 tenth day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the one hundred and thirty-third. [SEAL.] By the President: ALVEY A. ADEE, Acting Secretary of State. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. GREECE. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION OF GREEKS INTO THE UNITED STATES. File No. 16840. No. 35.] The Secretary of State to the Greek Minister. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 12, 1908. SIR: I have the honor to send to you for your information and such suggestion as you may be pleased to make thereon, a copy of an interesting report made to the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization of the Department of Commerce and Labor, by Miltiades M. Constantinides, an interpreter employed in the Immigration Service at Boston, Mass., in relation to the practice of certain Greeks who enter the United States as alleged priests of the Greek Church, but who are in reality either imposters or unordained monks incompetent to perform validly the functions of the priesthood. In view of the statement that these persons are performing sacerdotal acts which are legally invalid, as the celebration of marriages and the like, the abuse is one which no less affects your Government than our own. It is proposed to instruct the American minister at Athens to confer with the authorities of your Government with a view to adopting regulations and some form of certification which shall effectively prevent this abuse. Before doing so I would be pleased to have your views in the matter as to the extent to which the Greek Government can go in the direction of certifying to the sacerdotal character of this class of emigrants in the manner suggested by Mr. Constantinides and indorsed by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. In so doing I comply with the request of Secretary Straus, who asks me to ascertain from you "exactly what tests may be applied to detect imposters among aliens applying for admission to this country or alleged to be unlawfully here, who claim to be engaged as missionaries or priests in the Greek Orthodox Church." Accept, etc., ELIHU ROOT. [Inclosure.] Miltiades M. Constantinides to Hon. Geo. B. Billings, Commissioner of Immigration at Boston, Mass. BOSTON, November 21, 1908. SIR: Under the immigration act now in force priests of all denominations are landed in this country, coming under the exempt classes. As a Greek working amongst Greeks, it has come under my observation for the last two or three years that a good many of the Greek orthodox priests (alleged to be such) have landed in America without a strict examination of their qualifications. Lately I took the liberty, once by your permission, to investigate a few of these alleged Greek priests, and have found in every case that they were not Greek orthodox priests at all and that they have no authority to perform a marriage ceremony or any other holy ceremony according to the Greek Orthodox Church. Most of them are only Greek monks who ran away from their oldcountry monastery for one reason or another. In most cases their papers show that they were inmates of a monastery in Greece or Turkey. On a pretense of going to visit their relatives at their home, or in rare cases under a leave of annual absence, they get out of the monastery and escape to America. Here they go from community to community, offering their services as fully qualified and properly ordained priests of the Greek Orthodox Church amongst their countrymen at half the salary the real priests of that church demand. By their actions and behavior they only bring trouble and discord and scandal into any peaceful Greek church and its congregation. You will readily understand that, without being exactly priests, having been only ordained as monks, they are not recognized as priests, as they have never been ordained as such and have not been ordered to come here by their higher church authorities. They, therefore, in each and every case have entered this country in violation of law, entering in the garb of a priest when they had no right to do so. The most important fact connected with the arrival of these alleged priests and their doubtful practices, however, is that any marriage ceremony they have performed or may perform in the future between a Greek (naturalized citizen of the United States or alien) and an American woman, and this Greek should move in later years back to Greece or Turkey, as they quite frequently do, as I know from the many years observation, their American marriage performed by the bogus priest is null and void, and the Greek who returned to his own country is at liberty to marry again without being subject to punishment for bigamy. Furthermore, an American widow and her children from a bogus marriage performed by an alleged priest as above described is not entitled, according to Greek laws, to inherit any property left by her Greek husband in his old country, and there are many cases on record which bear out my statements; and the American consul general at Athens, Mr. Horton, will also testify to these conditions. The Greek courts and the holy orthodox synod in Greece base their decisions in such cases on the fact that these couples were not legally married by the properly ordained priest of the Greek Orthodox Church in the respective American community. For instance, a priest appointed for the diocese of Boston can not, according to the laws of the Greek Orthodox Church and according to the regulations of the Greek Government, perform a lawful ceremony of marriage in the State of New York, or, as a matter of fact, in any other State outside of Massachusetts, unless he has a special permit or special authority to do so. I respectfully ask you to submit these statements to the Department of Justice in Washington for a thorough investigation. I wish to state further that there are rumors current in the Greek colonies in this country that a few of these alleged priests are not even monks, but plain outlaws who have come here disguised as priests so as to enter this country without too severe an examination. It goes without saying that in every case where it can be proven that these questionable characters entered in violation of law they should be deported, as they are certainly undesirable aliens. In conclusion, and after much thought, I beg to submit to you the following suggestion, which I believe will have the approval of the Greek synod as well as the Greek minister at Washington, and last, but not least, the support of the consul general of the United States at Athens, Greece. It is, that every Greek orthodox priest coming to seek entry in the United States must have a properly made out passport signed by the Greek orthodox synod, countersigned by the secretary for ecclesiastical affairs of Greece, and viséed by the United States consul general at Athens, Greece. Such procedure would mean no hardship at all to the regularly ordained and properly qualified priests of the Greek Orthodox Church; in fact, it would be greatly appreciated by the authorities in Greece who are at a perfect loss how to handle these alleged priests, who operate in this country, which is beyond the jurisdiction of the Greek Government or church authorities. 76851°-F B 1908-26 |