DEGREE CONFERRED ON THE KING OF ITALY BY THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. The Acting Secretary of State to Ambassador White. No. 115.] DEPARTMENT of State, Washington, July 21, 1906. SIR: Mr. Charles C. Harrison, the provost of the University of Pennsylvania, called at this department on the 17th instant and handed to me two letters (copies of which I inclose) from the Italian ambassador, Baron Mayor des Planches, accepting on behalf of his Sovereign, the King of Italy, the degree of doctor of laws conferred by the University of Pennsylvania, by authority previously communicated to the university by His Majesty through his ambassador on commencement day, June 13, 1906. In one of these letters the ambassador states that the etiquette of the Italian court is that the diploma indicative of the degree should be handed to His Majesty by the American ambassador at Rome. You will therefore ask for an audience with His Majesty the King of Italy and will deliver to him, on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania, the diploma and hood indicative of the degree, which will be sent to you in the same pouch that carries this instruction. I am, etc., No. 241.] ROBERT BACON. Ambassador White to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN EMBASSY, Rome, August 13, 1906. SIR Referring to your instruction numbered 115 of the 21st ultimo I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the diploma and hood indicative of the degree of doctor of laws which has been conferred by the University of Pennsylvania upon the King of Italy, and to inform you in reply that His Majesty, with whom I have just been staying at one of his hunting seats in the Piedmontese Alps, has asked me to defer presenting the aforesaid insignia to him until the return of the court to Rome-probably in the month of Novemberwhen he proposes receiving me at an audience especially arranged for the purpose, with a view to indicating his high appreciation of the honor conferred upon him by the university. I shall not fail to inform you when I shall have discharged the mission with which you have intrusted me in behalf of the University of Pennsylvania. I have, etc., HENRY WHITE. MARRIAGE OF ITALIANS TO AMERICANS IN THE UNITED STATES. The Acting Secretary of State to the Italian Chargé. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, July 14, 1906. MY DEAR MR. CHARGE: The department has been asked by an American whose daughter is about to marry an Italian nobleman as to the legal effect of the certification by an Italian consular agent in the United States of an American marriage, and whether or not the marriage so certified is in all respects exactly equivalent, according to Italian law, to a marriage celebrated in Italy. Inasmuch as the parties interested appear to be of unquestioned standing in the community and are naturally anxious to have absolute certainty upon the point, the department would greatly appreciate a statement as to the Italian law upon the subject by the embassy which may be forwarded to the gentleman in question for his information. The information above requested is all that is asked for, but it has occurred to this department that there might be, according to Italian law, certain regulations affecting the personal status of an Italian marchese and his right to marry in a foreign jurisdiction which, even if they did not affect the legality of the marriage, might, if not complied with, give trouble at some later time. If there are any conditions precedent which should be complied with or other legal restrictions affecting the personal status of an Italian nobleman entering into such an alliance, the department would appreciate any information which the embassy could give in regard to them. I am, etc., ROBERT BACON. The Italian Chargé to the Secretary of State. [Translation.] ROYAL EMBASSY OF ITALY, Manchester, Mass., July 24, 1906. Mr. SECRETARY OF STATE: In reply to your letter of the 14th instant, I hasten to inform you that a marriage solemnized in America between an Italian subject and an American citizen is absolutely valid in Italy, provided the "forms" required by the lex loci have been complied with and the provisions of articles 25 to 69 of the Italian civil code have not been infringed (those articles determine the personal capacity of the parties to the marriage). The Italian subject must, within the three following months, cause the certificate of marriage to be recorded in the register of births, deaths, and marriages of the township in the Kingdom where he usually resides. The certificate must be authenticated by the proper Italian consular authorities. The laws of Italy make no distinction between the noblemen and the common people; the right of entail has been abolished and nobiliary titles confer no privilege, not even that of precedure, at court or at any public function. For the same reason, all the children hold equal rights to the father's estate. Titles of nobility are nevertheless still recognized, and the nonnoble woman who marries a nobleman has the right to bear her husband's title. G. C. MONTAGNA. Be pleased to accept, etc., DEATHS OF ITALIANS IN UNITED STATES. OBSERVANCE OF THE CONSULAR CONVENTION BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND ITALY. No. 925.] The Italian Chargé to the Secretary of State. [Translation.] ROYAL EMBASSY OF ITALY, MR. SECRETARY OF STATE: By its note No. 409, of June 30, 1893, this royal embassy called the attention of the Federal Government to the nonobservance, on the part of the competent American authorities, of article 16 of the consular convention between Italy and the United States, which requires the local authorities to give prompt notice of the deaths and opening of the succession to the consuls and consular agents of the country to which the decedent belongs. The Department of State then courteously answered that everything possible would be done to remedy the situation complained of. The royal consuls in the United States have nevertheless successively complained on several occasions of the inexecution of the provisions of article 16 of the above-mentioned convention. Count Naselli, late royal consul at Philadelphia, recently addressed the governors of the States embraced in his consular district on the subject and received the following answer: Mr. Bromley Wharton, secretary to the governor of the State of Pennsylvania, wrote: "So far as I am at present informed, the governor of the Commonwealth has received no notification from the Government of the United States as to the terms of any consular convention between Italy and the United States which require the intervention of the Commonwealth. If you were to make your request to the proper authorities of the United States they would probably give such notification." Mr. A. J. Montague, governor of the State of Virginia, answered: "I desire to express my regret at the absence of legal authorities empowering me to give the notice essential to effect the stipulation expressed in the convention between the United States and the Kingdom of Italy." 6 Mr. C. W. May, attorney-general of the State of West Virginia, answered: "The treaty-making power is, by the Constitution of the United States, vested in the Federal Government, and article 16 of the consular convention, referred to by you, in which it is stated that the competent local authorities shall give notice, etc.,' evidently refers to the local federal authorities over which the state government would have no control. I beg, therefore, to refer you to the authority which entered into the consular convention for carrying out the provisions of the same." Count Naselli, having further asked of the coroner of Harrisburg, Pa., on the 2d of April last, a notice of the death of an Italian of the name of Liborio Luciani, which notice the said coroner ought to have furnished of his own motion, under the aforesaid article 16, was told in answer that he would have to pay the sum of $2 for such a notice. I therefore venture to draw your excellency's attention to this fact and to the injury thereby caused to the heirs of Italian citizens dying in this country, and to observe at the same time that the authorities of the Kingdom have invariably complied and will regularly comply, for their part, with the obligations placed upon them by the said article 16 of the convention repeatedly referred to. I have, in consequence, the honor to bespeak of the Federal Government such measures and provisions as will seem to its high judgment most expedient to cause the local competent authorities to carry out the provisions ordained by the said article, the enforcement of which is a particular subject of solicitude for the Government of the King. Tendering in advance to your excellency my best thanks for whatever you may be pleased to do in regard to the request here presented, I gladly avail, etc.. No. 372.] G. C. MONTAGNA. The Secretary of State to the Italian Chargé. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, May 26, 1906. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 19th instant, in which you point out that the local authorities of some of the States fail to comply with Article XVI of the consular convention between the United States and Italy, which provides that in the case of the death of an American citizen in Italy or of an Italian subject in the United States who has no heir or testamentary executor designated by him the competent local authorities shall give notice of the facts to the consuls or consular agents of the nation of the deceased, in order that the information may be at once transmitted to the parties interested. I have the honor to say in reply that on July 14, 1893, this department in a circular letter called this matter to the attention of the governors of the States and Territories. Another circular of the same character will now be addressed to them. Accept, etc., ELIHU ROOT. PROHIBITION OF FOOD PRODUCTS. The Italian Chargé to the Secretary of State. [Translation.] ROYAL EMBASSY OF ITALY, Washington, D. C., March 23, 1906. Mr. SECRETARY OF STATE: The food commissioner of the State of Ohio, by an order dated June 6, 1905, has prohibited the sale of paste colored with saffron, basing his action on the wording of No. 6 B of section 3 of the "general pure-food law of Ohio." That article states that a food product must be, among other things, considered to be adulterated "if it is colored, coated, polished, or powdered, whereby damage or inferiority is concealed, or if by any means it is made to appear better or of greater value than it really is." Now, if it be borne in mind that the sellers are disposed to affix, as they have always done, labels on the goods showing them to be "pasta gialla " (that is, colored with saffron), so that they can not be mistaken for the egg paste ("pasta all'uovo") of better quality; if it be further borne in mind that saffron is not a drug in the least noxious to the article, which seems to be the opinion of the federal authorities, which admit the said paste into the United States, and the authorities of the several States which have never interfered with its sale, it is hard to understand how the above-mentioned food commissioner could have given such a broad interpretation to the above-quoted article of the law. I therefore have the honor to have recourse to your excellency's wonted courtesy and to beg that you will use your good offices with the governor of the State of Ohio to obtain from him the repeal of the the order issued by the food commissioner, which no provision of the existing law of that State warrants, and which, on the other hand, works serious hardship on the large Italian population residing in the State. And tendering to your excellency my best thanks for the reception you may be pleased to give to this, my request, I am glad to avail myself of this opportunity, etc., G. C. MONTAGNA. The Acting Secretary of State to the Italian Chargé. No. 348.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, March 31, 1906. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 23d instant, asking this department to use its good offices with the executive department of the State of Ohio to obtain the withdrawal of an order, issued by the food commissioner of that State, prohibiting the sale of paste colored with saffron, the order, in your opinion, not being justified by the provision of law on which it is based nor by the nature of the coloring matter. I have the honor to say in reply that the department has at once communicated with the governor of Ohio on the subject. Accept, etc., ROBERT BACON. No. 351.] The Acting Secretary of State to the Italian Chargé. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, April 9, 1906. SIR: In further reply to your note of the 23d ultimo, protesting against the decision of the dairy and food commissioner of the State of Ohio, prohibiting the sale in that State of paste colored with saffron, I have the honor to say that the department has received a letter from that officer, to whom your note was referred by the governor of Ohio, in which he points out that the domestic manufac |