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master General was authorized to conclude "by and with the advice of the President" postal "treaties and conventions" with other states.1 By virtue of this authority postal conventions have frequently been negotiated with various nations. In 1897 our government became a party to the Universal Postal Union to which almost all civilized countries have adhered.2 It is a significant fact that agreements of this char acter to which the United States has be come a party are not contained in the pub lished collections of treaties of the United States.3 It has been pointed out by the Hon. Simeon E. Baldwin that the term "treaties," employed in the Act of 1872, was an inapt expression of the declared purposes of Congress in authorizing the ex ecutive department to enter into such con ventions. His comment as to their charac ter deserves attention: "There may be," he says, "a bargain be tween independent states which is some thing less than a treaty, and postal con ventions are in the nature of commercial transactions without any direct political significance." 4 The reciprocity agreements and postal conventions negotiated by the President with other nations do not appear to be exceptions to or violations of the constitu tional requirement as to the mode of mak ing treaties; they rather serve as illustra tions of the exercise of a different power incidental to the executive control of the 1 XVII, U. S. Stat. at L. p. 304. An act of Congress authorizing postal arrangements with Canada and countries adjoining the United States is contained in XVII, U. S. Stat. at L. p. 316. 1 XXX, U. S. Stat. at L. p. 1629. 1 In a note on page 531, Vol. ii, in his admirable work on the Treaty-Making Power of The United States, the author, Mr. C. H. Butler, states that he has purposely omitted from his compilation of the treaties and conventions of the United States all postal agreements. 4 The Entry of the United States into World Politics as One of the Great Powers, IX, Yale Review (Feb. 1901), p. 399.
intercourse of our government with friendly states.1 In 1844 a treaty providing for the annex ation of Texas was signed and on the 8th of the following June was rejected by the Senate. On March i, 1845, by joint reso lution Texas was incorporated into the United States.2 The comment of the late Professor von Hoist on the propriety of this procedure is of interest : "The provision," he says, "that treaties should be concluded by the President, with the co-operation of two thirds of the sena tors, had no reasonable purpose if even the utmost which could be accomplished by the treaty-making power could be effected like wise in the most informal and most un guaranteed manner, in which any action whatever of Congress could be taken." * Hawaii was annexed to the United States by joint resolution approved July 7, 1899, which purported to accept the existing offer duly made by the Republic of Hawaii to cede "absolutely and without reserve to the United States of America all rights of sov ereignty of whatsoever kind," together with all rights of property in control.4 The agreements of the United States thus far considered, whether of political or com mercial aspect, have been entered into by the Executive by the authorization of both Houses of Congress. Attention is called to 1 "It is perhaps pertinent to state here that the regular method of making a treaty is departed from by the United States only in regard to postal, money-order, and parcels-post conventions. . . . In these cases an Act of Congress is, once and for all, substituted for the advice and consent of the Senate in each separate case." Hon. Francois Stewart Jones. XII, Pol. Se. Q. p. 420. See also "Du rôle des Chambres dans l'appro bation or l'exécution des traités internationaux é aprts la Constitution des Etats Unis de L'Amérique du Nord," by Professor Gaston Jèze of the Uni versity of Lille. XXI. Revue du Droit Public et de la Science Politique, No. 3, p. 455. 1 U. S. Stat. at L. for the year 1843. 1 von Hoist's "Constitutional History of U.S." Vol. ii, p. 704. 4 XXX, U. S. Stat. at L. p. 750.
