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to the royal office of public prosecutor within whose district the printed matter of the publication in question has been distributed, for obtaining the consent of confiscation of the printed matter or the publication which formed the subject of the infringement, as well as for the purpose of entering upon the prosecution. In case the interfering police authorities have learned, however, that the printed matter in question has already been confiscated by another authority, or that the royal office of public prosecutor has already been asked to take the necessary steps as to the confiscation and the opening of the proceedings, then they need not forward the printed matter to their own competent office of public prosecutor, or to refer the case to the same, but to that office which is the competent one relative to the territory for the other authorities (which have previously seized the printed matter).

§ 69. It is a strict duty of the police authorities to act on occasions of confiscations and seizures with the greatest care and discretion, and in such a manner that these measures do not degenerate into a molestation or into an unauthorized violation of the secrecy of letters.

It is therefore the duty of the police authorities in suspicious cases, when it is supposed that the letter contains prohibited proclamations, printed matter, or ship tickets, to convince themselves that their suspicion is a reasonable one. The suspicion is a reasonable one if the letter is stamped with the stamp or the imprint of a known contractor, agent, or representative having no license; if the letter externally bears no such a mark but has been posted at a place, municipality, or port from which emigrants are conveyed to transoceanic countries, or where managers, agents, and representatives engaged in emigration business are residing, or when the letters are addressed to persons who are suspected of intending to emigrate, or are addressed to such persons from whom it is not supposed on account of their occupation and their standard of education that they have a regular correspondence, and that therefore the correspondence can only be intended to incite and to encourage to emigration.

If the police authorities have sufficient proofs or facts on hand that a closed cover contains forbidden publications, printed matter, or ship tickets, they shall seize the same, in case it was not yet delivered to the addressee, at the postoffice, and if such delivery has been made, at the house of the addressee.

The letter delivered to the authorities by the post-office, as well as the letter seized at the addressee's house, is to be opened in the presence of the addressee, and in case he be not at home, in presence of one of the adult members of his family. Minutes have to be drawn up regarding this proceeding.

In case the letter or the inclosure should not contain argumentative proofs of an infringement of this law or another punishable action, the same shall be returned to the addressee, which fact must be established by statement of date and place at which the letter is posted.

In general the regulations of the instruction No. 130,000/99 b., issued on occasion of the passing into law of the criminal procedure, are to be followed in the carrying out of the seizure.

Budapest, 18th April, 1904.

TISZA.

TRANSPORTATION OF EMIGRANTS FROM HUNGARY.

Mr. Loomis to Mr. Hale.

[Telegram.-Paraphrase.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington, October 13, 1904.

(Mr. Loomis states that complaints of fresh discriminations have been made by the Red Star Line, an American corporation, against the Austro-Hungarian Government concerning the transportation of emigrants from Fiume, and instructs him to investigate the matter and to bring it to the attention of the government, and to suggest at the same time favorable consideration for the application of the company for license to do business in Hungary.)

No. 178.]

Mr. Hale to Mr. Hay.

AMERICAN LEGATION,

Vienna, October 18, 1904.

SIR: I beg to state that the secretary of the Belgian legation, here at Vienna, informed me some time ago that the Red Star Line had made complaint through his mission of the action on the part of the local authorities at the Hungarian frontier in arresting would-be emigrants for the United States en route via Antwerp and bearing steamship tickets by the Red Star Line, confiscating the said tickets, and either forcing their bearers to return to their native villages or sending them direct to Fiume, alleging that embarkation from that port alone was permissible. Thirty such specific cases have been handed to the foreign office here by the Belgian minister.

The German chargé d'affaires also told me in August last that he had protested on the same grounds in the interests of the German shipping companies, and I have learned on reliable authority that the German ambassador himself last week presented 130 such cases to this Government, and also that the Government of the Netherlands has recently taken similar action. I mention these facts to show that the actions of the Hungarian frontier authorities have not been directed against the Red Star Line alone.

Yesterday morning I sent for Mr. Rudolf Strasser, the general representative of the company at Vienna, who only confirmed what I already knew in the matter. I then asked for an interview with Count Goluchowski, the minister for foreign affairs, who received me in the afternoon. Count Goluchowski stated that in regard to the action of the frontier authorities in seizing the steamship tickets of emigrants going by any line he had already protested strongly against such action to Count Tisza, the Hungarian premier, and that the latter had replied that the necessary instructions would be given immediately prohibiting such violence. When I referred to the application made by the Red Star Line for license to do business in Hungary, and suggested, as per instruction, a favorable consideration of the same, Count Goluchowski said he had heard nothing of it, but would inquire into the matter. He added, however, quite frankly that the Hungarian Government's attitude was not favorable to such a petition; that the granting of the same would naturally entail similar concessions to the German lines, and that the refusal to permit any steamship lines to establish themselves in Hungary was a matter well within the right of that government to decide.

Previous to my reception by Count Goluchowski, but after I had asked to be received by him, I received a letter from Mr. Edward Strasser, the manager of the Red Star Line at Antwerp, stating that he had been notified of your cable instruction to me, first above referred to, and that he would come to Vienna any time after the 20th instant that I would name to fully explain the situation. I have just written to him stating that I was received by Count Goluchowski yesterday and am reporting to-day the result of my interview to the Department, and have suggested that unless he feels that the embassy is not fully enough acquainted with the situation that his journey here is not necessary.

I have, etc.,

CHANDLER HALE.

Mr. Hay to Mr. Hale.

No. 111.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 19, 1904. SIR: I confirm the Department's telegram to you of the 13th in

stant.

I inclose herewith original papers which the Red Star Line, through its counsel, Mr. S. C. Neale, has submitted to the Department. They appear to make out a prima facie showing of discrimination against the Red Star Line in favor of the Cunard Line by the Hungarian authorities, and the Department feels justified in instructing you to use your good offices in behalf of the American interests discriminated against to obtain proper relief for them.

I am, etc.,

Mr. Hay to Mr. Hale.

JOHN HAY.

No. 116.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 29, 1904.

SIR: I inclose a copy of a letter from the Secretary of Commerce and Labor in regard to the case of Mrs. Maria Horniak, the wife of a citizen of the United States, who was compelled by an official of the Hungarian Government to forfeit her prepaid passage ticket to this country and to purchase another ticket via the Cunard Line from Fiume, Hungary."

You will take this case up in connection with the several complaints recently brought to the attention of the Department by the International Maritime Company, concerning which an instruction was sent on the 19th instant.

I am, etc.,

* * *

JOHN HAY.

No. 184.]

Mr. Storer to Mr. Hay.

AMERICAN EMBASSY, Vienna, November 17, 1904.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Department's instruction No. 111, with its inclosures.

The opinion and attitude of the Austro-Hungarian Government, as stated by the minister of foreign affairs on this subject, was reported to the Department by Mr. Hale's No. 178, bearing date of the 18th of October, 1904, the receipt of which has not yet been acknowledged by the Department.

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It would seem that the renewed application to the foreign office of the Austro-Hungarian Government on precisely similar grounds and reasons as has heretofore been made would be fruitless in view of the situation as stated in Mr. Hale's dispatch, referred to above.

I have, etc.,

a Not printed.

BELLAMY STORER.

Mr. Storer to Mr. Hay.

No. 186.]

AMERICAN LEGATION, Vienna, November 29, 1904.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Department's instruction No. 116, bearing date of October 29, 1904, calling for inquiry into the circumstances under which Mrs. Horniak has made complaint to the Department in regard to her treatment by a Hungarian official at Fiume.

* ** *

Notwithstanding the fact that the Department has not yet acknowledged Mr. Hale's dispatch No. 178, bearing date of October 18, 1904, with reference to the complaints of the Red Star Line, and also that sufficient time has not elapsed for reply to my No. 184, bearing date of November 17, 1904, I have deemed it advisable to have another personal interview with the Austro-Hungarian foreign office on this subject.

Mr. de Mérey, the chief assistant secretary, is a Hungarian, and therefore I placed, to-day, the general question again before him instead of Count Goluchowski, pointing out the likelihood that some measures of reprisal might be urged before our Congress at its early meeting next month, as had been the case last spring.

Mr. de Mérey was deeply interested in the question, not only from the standpoint of the foreign office, but also as a Hungarian; and asked me to let him make a full exposition of the difficulties the foreign office had to labor under.

It would appear that immediately on the assumption of office of the Tisza ministry in November, 1903, great energy was displayed in putting into operation in a vigorous and rigorous fashion the general law concerning emigration from Hungary, framed, but not put into execution by its predecessor in office next but one-the ministry of Mr. Koloman de Széll.

Full text of the law originally drafted under Széll in the spring of 1903, of the law modified in certain particulars as put into force, and of the several degrees or orders issued by Count Tisza as minister of the interior, under the provisions of the law to give effect to its operation, were transmitted to the Department at the time.

The new ministry, presided over as it is by a man of immense energy, of broad modern ideas of progress, and great self-reliance, set itself naturally to develop the commercial interests of the only seaport Hungary possesses-Fiume-of which the country is very proud, and to improve which expenditures relatively enormous have been made.

As heretofore described to the Department, the Hungarian Government bound itself to furnish 30,000 emigrants from Fiume to the Cunard Company, and the sense of this obligation was felt from the top to the bottom of the Hungarian officialdom. There is no denial or doubt, Mr. de Mérey gave me to understand, that discrimination against all Atlantic lines other than the Cunard Company for Fiume was intended, and that the same was urged upon and expected from all subordinate officials throughout Hungary.

Soon, however, the chances of commerical and political reprisals both on the part of the navigation companies other than the Cunard and of the Government of the United States became visible.

Keen competition by other shipping lines via Trieste, to which the provincial and local governments of the Austrian provinces interested gave welcome, began to threaten; and the session of our Congress last spring, just at its close, was full of warnings for the Hungarian Government.

This latter felt itself compelled to cancel certain features of its contract with the Cunard Company, including the guaranty of the number of emigrants to be at least 30,000, and the widespread outcry against the acts of its officials, emanating from the hostile shipping lines, both through the press of Europe and through the diplomatic representations from the home countries of these rival merchant fleets, compelled the relaxation of the efforts to compel forcibly all emigration to pass through the official channel.

In fact countermanding orders have been issued from the ministry of the interior denouncing and prohibiting any official interference with the route chosen by those intending to emigrate. But, it was added, perhaps not unnaturally, such orders were slower to affect the mind of the under officials, and bring about their hearty and instant. obedience, than the original efforts to develop Fiume, to which national pride and popular feeling had given an impulse, apart from official instructions.

Count Tisza has personally urged Mr. de Mérey to send in at once the details of any complaint of the action of any Hungarian officials, and the ministry of the interior will, without the slightest delay, make instant inquiry, hold functionaries to strict measure of account, and see that justice is done.

Here I may interpolate that last week Mr. Strasser, the director of the Red Star Line, called in person at the embassy to bring sundry cases of what is said to have been unjust and tyrannical action of the Hungarian minor authorities as to emigrants intending to go to America via Antwerp and holding tickets for that object.

Mr. Strasser told me that his company had no doubt in the world of the good faith of Count Tisza in seeing the mistakes heretofore made and in trying to remedy them. He knew that orders, as I have described, had been issued by the ministry of the interior. He claimed, however, that up to this time such orders had been of little effect on the subordinate officials, with whom the agents' fee of 18 kronen, paid by the Cunard Company to every person (official or otherwise) who was the means of bringing an emigrant to the vessels of that company at Fiume, was more powerful than the instructions of their own official chiefs.

At the close of this explanation Mr. de Mérey urged me to submit. through the foreign office to Count Tisza each and every case of alleged oppressive action or improper interference with the free departure of any one in whom the United States Government had any interest or duty, as it was the request of the Hungarian Government that all such cases be brought to its attention in order to probe them to the bottom.

Accordingly, following your instructions, I shall transmit to the foreign office, for the attention of the Hungarian Government, all cases notified to the embassy either by the Department or the Red Star Line.

I have, etc.,

BELLAMY STORER.

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