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THE OPIUM EVIL.
Rule V. A drafting committee for the purpose of coordinating the acts adopted by the conference and preparing them in their final form shall also be appointed by the conference at the beginning of its labors.
Rule VI. The members of the delegations are all authorized to take part in the deliberations at the plenary sessions of the conference as well as in the committees of which they form part. The members of one and the same delegation may mutually replace one another.
Rule VII. Every resolution or motion proposed for discussion by the conference must, as a general rule, be delivered in writing to the president, and be printed and distributed before being taken up for discussion.
Rule VIII. The public may be admitted to the plenary sessions of the conference when the conference itself so decides. Tickets shall be distributed for this purpose by the secretary general with the authorization of the president.
Rule IX. French shall be the official language of the conference, and the minutes shall be recorded in this language. However, other languages may be used in the conference.
Rule X. Special questions which have been already dealt with in the sessions of the committees can not be discussed in pleno by a member of a delegation in a speech of more than 10 minutes, unless the conference decides otherwise.
The rules as finally adopted by the conference follow:
Rule I. The International Opium Conference is composed of all the delegates of the powers which have accepted the proposal of the United States Government and the invitation of the Government of the Queen of the Netherlands.
Rule II. After organizing its bureau, the conference shall discuss in pleno the best method of drafting a program. The conference may, if necessary, appoint com- mittees to study the questions submitted to it. The delegates of the powers are free to register on the lists of these committees as may appear convenient to them.
Rule III. Each committee shall appoint a chairman, secretary, and reporter. Rule IV. A drafting committee for the purpose of coordinating the resolutions adopted by the conference and preparing them in their final form shall also be ap- pointed by the conference at the beginning of its labors.
Rule V. All the delegates are authorized to take part in the deliberations at the ple- nary sessions of the conference as well as in the committees of which they form part. The members of one and the same delegation may mutually replace one another.
Rule VI. Members of the conference attending the meetings of committees of which they are not members, are not to be entitled to take part in the deliberations without special authorization of the chairman of the committees.
Rule VII. When a vote is taken, each delegation shall have only one vote. The vote shall be taken by roll call in the alphabetical order of the powers represented.
Rule VIII. Every resolution or motion proposed for discussion by the conference must, as a general rule, be delivered in writing to the president and be printed and distributed before being taken up for discussion.
Such proposals can not be voted on during the same session without the unanimous consent of all the delegations.
Rule IX. A committee of three delegates shall be appointed by the conference, to which shall be intrusted the duty of making any communications to the press.
Rule X. The minutes of the plenary sessions of the conference and of the committees shall give a succinct résumé of the deliberations. A proof copy of them shall be deliv- ered with as little delay as possible to the members of the conference: they need not be read at the beginning of the sessions, except by the request of a delegate.
Each delegate shall have a right to request the insertion in full of his official declara- tions according to the text delivered by him to the secretary and to make observations regarding the minutes.
The reports of the committees shall be printed and distributed before they are taken up for discussion,
Rule XI. French shall be the official language of the conference, and the minutes shall be recorded in this language.
However, other languages may be used in the conference. This rule shall not exclude the delivery of a translation to those delegates who desire to receive these documents in any other language.
Rule XII. Special questions which have been already dealt with in the sessions of the committees can not be discussed in pleno by a member of a delegation in a speech of more than 10 minutes, unless the conference decides otherwise.
THE OPIUM EVIL.
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Some discussion having arisen as to the program of the conference, the following statement was made on behalf of the American dele- gation:
That the United States had endeavored to secure from the inter- ested Governments a definitive program for the conference, based on the tentative program contained in its circular proposal of September 1, 1909, and the additional proposals of Great Britain, but had failed to do so because several of the Governments had expressed a desire to reserve their views until the conference had assembled; that it was now apparent that a committee to be termed the program committee should be selected, and that this committee, composed of members from each delegation, should formulate a definitive program for the conference.
This view was concurred in by all of the delegates, and the following resolution, proposed by the American delegation, was unanimously adopted:
That a committee to be called the program committee be appointed, consisting of one representative from each delegation, and that it be authorized to prepare and submit to the conference a draft program for consideration, such program to be based upon the suggestions made on behalf of the United States of America as modi- fied by the several powers which have made reservations thereon and upon the addi- tional suggestions made on behalf of Great Britain and Italy; and that any further matters which the conference may subsequently decide to take into consideration shall similarly be first referred to the same committee.
Under this resolution a partial program was designed for the conference. Some delay and confusion which afterwards occurred would have been avoided if the conference had sent all new pro- posals to this committee to be properly formulated, instead of dis- cussing them in plenary session, as was insisted upon by several of the delegations present,
Rule 8, as adopted by the conference, proved to be a causo for delay, and it was finally changed, on suggestion of the Japanese delegation, to read as follows:
Every resolution or motion proposed for discussion by the conference must, as a general rule, be delivered in writing to the president, and be printed and distributed before being taken up for discussion.
The resolution referred to in the present rule is one of such character as is destined to form the subject of international agreement and consequently to require a careful study beforehand; and does not include a resolution offered in the course of the sitting of the conference for transaction of business.
Such proposals can not be voted on during the same session, without the unanimous consent of all the delegations.
Under the rules, the deliberations of the conference were to be kept secret, or at least not communicated by members of the confer- ence to the press except through the agency of the press committee of the conference. It may be observed that this rule was not fully respected, and at one of the plenary sessions the president called the attention of the conference to the fact. Some adverse comment has been made because the conference chose to deliberate in camera. It should be stated in this connection that the American delegation was one of those opposed to a day to day publication of the proceed- ings of the conference, for it recognized that the conference was dealing with the production and traffic in commodities the present and future value of which would be largely determined by the defini-
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