618 



SANITARY CONFERENCE, INTERNATIONAL. 



abstained from such proceedings. When British 

 and American forces took possession of the 

 streets of Apia and stopped trailic, demanding a 

 pass before allowing any one to proceed, they 

 infringed the general act, as far as Germans so 

 stopped were concerned, as these were guaranteed 

 the same rights of residence, trade, and personal 

 protection as citizens of the other two powers. 

 The arbitrator decided that the military action, 

 consisting in the bringing back of the Malietpans, 

 the distribution to them of arms and ammunition, 

 the bombardment, the military operations on 

 shore, and the stopping of street traffic,, was un- 

 warranted; and therefore that the British and 

 United States governments were responsible for 

 losses caused by such military action. The ex- 

 tent to which the two governments, or each of 

 them, may be considered responsible for such 

 losses was reserved for a future decision. The 

 action of the German consul and the German 

 president of the municipal council of Apia in 

 repudiating the decision of the chief justice 

 and encouraging the pretensions of Mataafa, 

 although the three consuls had been unanimous 

 in exacting from him as the condition of his re- 

 turn from exile the renunciation of all preten- 

 sions to the kingship, was the real cause of the 

 trouble. The German consul, disregarding the 

 treaty agreement to abide by the decision of the 

 chief justice in such cases, encouraged Mataafa, 

 although it was on German initiative that this 

 chief, whom the Germans had themselves deport- 

 ed in consequence of a former struggle for the 

 kingship, was debarred from becoming a candi- 

 date. This sudden change of policy on the part 

 of the German representative broke the concord 

 which formerly existed; yet, as it was unaccom- 

 panied by force, although private German citi- 

 zens supplied the Mataafans with weapons, the 

 arbitrator did not hold the German Government 

 responsible for the consequences. 



German Samoa. The German part of the 

 group, embracing all islands lying west of 171 

 of east longitude, consists of the islands of Savaii 

 and Vpolu and adjacent islets. The former 

 has an area of 660 square miles, the latter 340 

 square miles. The total population is 30,000, of 

 Polynesian race, nominally Christians, converted 

 by Protestant, Catholic, and Mormon mission- 

 aries, but still subject to pagan superstitions. 

 There are about 200 whites and 300 half-breeds. 

 The revenue for 1903 is estimated at 441.000 

 marks, including an imperial contribution of 170,- 

 000 marks. The imports are clothing, provisions, 

 kerosene, etc., amounting to about 2,250,000 

 marks. The exports, valued at 1,875,000 marks 

 in 1899, consist mainly of copra and cacao. The 

 number of vessels that visited the port of Apia 

 in 1900 was 69, of 84,488 tons. 



Tutuila. Tutuila, with Manua and the islets 

 Tau, Olesinga, and Ofu, fell to the United States 

 in the division of Samoa. Tutuila has an area 

 of 54 square miles and about 3,800 inhabitants; 

 Manua, 25 square miles, with 2,000 inhabitants. 

 Both islands are hilly and covered with woods. 

 There are about 20 whites and as many half- 

 castes on the islands. The people collect copra 

 for sale to traders and tropical fruits and vege- 

 tables for their own consumption. The United 

 States took formal possession*on April 17, 1900. 

 The harbor of Pago Pago, the only safe one in 

 Samoa and the best and largest in the Pacific, was 

 made a naval and coaling station and the resi- 

 dence of the Governor, Capt. Uriel Sebrop, in 1902. 



SANITARY CONFERENCE, INTERNA- 

 TIONAL. A conference of the American repub- 

 lics was held in Washington, D. C., on Dec. 3, 4, 



and 5, in accordance with Article V of the resolu- 

 tion passed on Jan. 29, 1902, by the second Inter- 

 national Conference of the American Republics 

 held in the city of Mexico, providing that with- 

 in one year a general convention of represent- 

 atives of the American republics should meet 

 in Washington for the purpose of discussing sani- 

 tary matters, recommending the negotiation of 

 sanitary treaties, enacting rules that might be 

 enforced in all countries for the common benefit, 

 and suggesting measures that might be condu- 

 cive to the fulfilment of the purposes and intents 

 of the conference regarding these questions. The 

 ideas of the conference on this subject are made 

 clear by the report of the committee entrusted 

 with the study of the matter, which was as fol- 

 lows: 



" The advance in medical science in America 

 has rendered it necessary that aseptics or sanita- 

 tion take the place of antiseptics or quarantine. 

 In other words, it is more important to put cities 

 in such sanitary conditions that diseases can not 

 propagate than to be under the necessity of pre- 

 venting infection by means of quarantine, which 

 hinders traffic and brings obstacles to commerce. 



" The constant increase of common interests in 

 the American republics renders it necessary for 

 the present conference to adopt methods and 

 make recommendations for the improvement of 

 sanitary conditions, in order to attack contagious 

 diseases, and that the restrictions of quarantine, 

 so injurious to all, be substituted by precautions 

 which may do away with the causes of quaran- 

 tine itself. In this manner not only will its con- 

 sequence be avoided, but the precious treasury of 

 human life will also be efficaciously protected. A 

 system of sanitation will free merchant vessels 

 and railroads from the large expenses which they 

 have to incur on account of the inconveniences of 

 quarantine. 



" Strict quarantines, and sometimes prohibit- 

 ory, have been adopted whenever contagious dis- 

 eases have appeared in several ports of the Con- 

 tinent, and the losses suffered on that account, 

 as well as the discredit resulting from the exist- 

 ence of such contagious disease, cast upon the 

 places where the disease has appeared, exceeds 

 the amount of expense which the sanitation of 

 those same ports might have required. And not 

 only do the ports of embarkation suffer for such 

 reasons, but the evil is also felt by the producer 

 and the consumer, whose dependence on each 

 other is so manifest." 



The report quotes from several high authori- 

 ties to support its statements, and then contin- 

 ues: 



" The committee, on beginning its labors, care- 

 fully studied the project of the Mexican dele- 

 gation on international sanitary police, preceded 

 by a complete and well-proved study of the ques- 

 tion, which tends to establish the fact that the 

 solution of the problem of the prevention of 

 contagion of the principal epidemic diseases has 

 undergone modifications, made necessary by the 

 continued advance of science, and for that n-:i- 

 son, as well as in view of the wonderful discov- 

 eries made since the first Pan-American Confer- 

 ence of 1890, it appears indispensable to recon- 

 sider the recommendations that were approved 

 on that occasion, in order to harmonize tln-m 

 with the requirements of maritime and tfirc-lrial 

 intercommunications and with the progress . >f 

 science. 



" The committee considers the foregoing ob- 

 servations as reasonable; but, with a view to 

 reaching immediate results which unquestionably 

 also call for immediate consideration, adhering 



