324 WRIGHT— POWER TO MAKE AGREEMENTS. 



ing the powers and responsibilities of office. In this capacity, 

 therefore, the President may only make international agreements, 

 under authority expressly delegated to him by Congress, or the treaty 

 power, or agreements of a nature which he can carry out within 

 the scope of existing legislation. Congress has often delegated 

 power to the President to make agreements within the scope of a 

 policy defined by statute, on such subjects as postal service, patents, 

 trademarks, copyrights and commerce.-^ Such agreements appear 

 to be dependent for their effectiveness upon the authorizing legis- 

 lation, and are terminable, both nationally and internationally, at 

 the discretion of Congress. 



" It cannot be supposed," wrote Secretary of State Gresham, " that it 

 was intended, by the simple exchange of notes on January 31, 1891, to bind 

 our governments, as by a treaty, to certain duties or remissions of duty 

 on the specified articles, beyond the time when the Congress of the United 

 States might, in the exercise of its constitutional powers, repeal the legisla- 

 tion under which the arrangement was concluded." 22 



While in effect, however, they are binding on the courts,-^ and the 

 President, through his control of the administration, can usually 

 see that they are observed. 



163. Administrative Agreements under Authority of Treaty. 



The administrative powers of the President permit him to carry 

 out treaties, which are the supreme law of the land, so far as 

 Congress has supplied him with the necessary administrative ma- 

 chinery and supplies. International agreements for this purpose, 

 and under express authority of treaty, have been made with ref- 

 erence to the definite marking and mapping of boundaries.-* 

 Under authority of the treaty with Cuba (1903), as well as of 

 congressional legislation. President Roosevelt acquired a lease at 

 Guantanamo, Cuba, for a naval base.^^ The first Hague Conven- 

 tion of 1899 apparently gave the President power to conclude com- 

 promis for submitting cases to arbitration, but the Senate has since 



21 Supra, sec. 61 ; Taft, op. cit., p. 135. 



22 Moore, Digest, 5 : 362. 



23 Field V. Clark, 143 U. S. 649. 

 2* Crandall, op. cit., pp. 117-118. 

 25 Ibid., p. 139. 



