CHAPTER VI

Distinctive emblem

ART. 18. In homage to Switzerland the heraldic sign of the red cross on a white ground, formed by the reversal of the federal colors, is continued as the emblem and distinctive sign of the sanitary

service of armies.

ART. 19. This emblem appears on flags and brassards as well as upon all matériel appertaining to the sanitary service, with the permission of competent military authority.

ART. 20. The personnel protected by the provisions of paragraph 1, article 9, and articles 10 and 11 will wear attached to the left arm a red cross on a white ground, which will be issued and stamped by competent military authority, and accompanied by a certificate of identity in the case of persons attached to the sanitary service of armies who do not have military uniform.

ART. 21. The distinctive flag of the convention can only be displayed, with the consent of the military authorities, over sanitary formations and establishments whose protection it secures. It shall be accompanied by the national flag of the belligerent to whose service the formation or establishment is attached.

Sanitary formations which have fallen into the power of the enemy, however, shall fly no other flag than that of the Red Cross so long as they continue in that situation.

ART. 22. Neutral sanitary formations which, under the conditions set forth in article 11, have been authorized to render their services shall fly, with the flag of the convention, the national flag of the belligerent to which they are attached. The provisions of the second paragraph of the preceding article are applicable to them.

ART. 23. The emblem of the red cross on a white ground and the words Red Cross or Geneva Cross can only be used, whether in time of peace or war, to protect or designate sanitary formations and establishments, the personnel and matériel protected by the convention.

CHAPTER VII

Application and execution of the convention

ART. 24. The provisions of the present convention are obligatory on the contracting powers only, in case of war between two or more of them. The said provisions shall cease to be obligatory from the time when one of the belligerent powers should not be signatory to the convention.

ART. 25. The commanders in chief of the belligerent armies shall have to provide for the details of execution of the foregoing article, as well as for unforseeen cases, in accordance with the instructions of their respective governments, and conformably to the general principles of this convention.

ART. 26. The signatory governments shall take the necessary steps to acquaint their troops, and particularly the protected personnel, with the provisions of this convention and to make them known to the people at large.

CHAPTER VIII

Repression of abuses and infractions

ART. 27. The signatory powers whose legislation should not now be adequate engage to take or recommend to their legislatures such measures as may be necessary to prevent the use, by private persons or by societies other than those upon which this convention confers the right thereto, of the emblem or name of the Red Cross or Geneva Cross, particularly for commercial purposes by means of trademarks. The prohibition of the use of the emblem or name as above shall be enforced at and from the time set by each legislation and not later than five years after this convention goes into effect. Upon the said going into effect, it shall be unlawful to use a trade-mark or commercial label contrary to such prohibition.

ART. 28. In the event of their military penal laws being insufficient, the signatory governments also engage to take, or to recommend to their legislatures, the necessary measures to repress, in time of war, individual acts of pillage and ill treatment of the sick and wounded of the armies, as well as to punish, as usurpations of military insignia, the wrongful use of the flag and brassard of the Red Cross by military persons or private individuals not protected by the present convention. They will communicate to each other through the Swiss Federal Council the measures taken with a view to such repression, not later than five years from the ratification of the present convention.

General provisions

ART. 29. The present convention shall be ratified as soon as possible. The ratifications will be deposited at Berne.

A record of the deposit of each act of ratification shall be prepared, of which a duly certified copy shall be sent, through diplomatic channels, to each of the contracting powers.

ART. 30. The present convention shall become operative, as to each power, six months after the date of deposit of its ratification. ART. 31. The present convention, when duly ratified, shall supersede the Convention of August 22, 1864, in the relations between the contracting states.

The Convention of 1864 remains in force in the relations between the parties who signed it but who should not also ratify the present convention.

ART. 32. The present convention may, until December 31, proximo, be signed by the powers represented at the conference which opened at Geneva on June 11, 1906, as well as by the powers not represented at the conference who have signed the Convention of 1864.

Such of the powers as shall not have signed the present convention on or before December 31, 1906, will remain at liberty to accede to it after that date. They shall signify their adhesion in a written notification addressed to the Swiss Federal Council, and communicated to all the contracting powers by the said Council.

Other powers may request to adhere in the same manner, but their request shall only be effective if, within the period of one year from its notification to the Federal Council, such Council has not been advised of any opposition on the part of any of the contracting powers.

ART. 33. Each of the contracting parties shall have the right to denounce the present convention. This denunciation shall only become operative one year after a notification in writing shall have been made to the Swiss Federal Council, which shall forthwith communicate such notification to all the other contracting parties.

This denunciation shall only become operative in respect to the power which has given it.

In faith whereof the plenipotentiaries have signed the present convention and affixed their seals thereto.

Done at Geneva, the sixth day of July, one thousand nine hundred and six, in a single copy, which shall remain in the archives of the Swiss Confederation and certified copies of which shall be delivered through the diplomatic channel to the contracting parties.

[Here follow the signatures.]

MR. DENBY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and ordered to be printed.

FEBRUARY 15 (calendar day, February 17), 1909.

Reported with amendments, referred to the House Calendar, and ordered to be printed.

A BILL

To amend an Act approved January fifth, nineteen hundred and five, entitled "An Act to incorporate the American National Red Cross."

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That paragraph five of section three of an Act approved January fifth, nineteen hundred and five, entitled "An Act to incorporate the American National Red Cross," be, and is hereby, amended to read as follows:

"Fifth. And to continue and carry on a system of national and international relief in time of peace and apply the same in mitigating the sufferings caused by pestilence, famine, fire, floods, and other great national calamities, and to devise and carry on measures for preventing the same: Provided, That funds contributed for relief purposes of a specific and local character shall be applied to the particular purpose for which the contributions were made until, in the judgment of the central committee, all needed relief and rehabilitation of individuals, families, and institutions has been realized. Any balances of relief funds contributed for special purposes, which, in the opinion of the central committee, are not needed for the special object or purpose for which the contributions were proposed shall be credited to the general emergency

fund for national and international relief, and may be used in the discretion of the central committee for mitigating the sufferings caused by war or by any great national or international calamity occurring in time of peace."

SEC. 2. That section four of the said Act be, and is hereby, amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 4. That from and after the passage of this Act it shall be unlawful for any person within the jurisdiction of the United States to falsely and fraudulently hold himself out as or represent or pretend himself to be a member of or an agent for the American National Red Cross for the purpose of soliciting, collecting, or receiving money or material; or for any person to wear or display the sign of the Red Cross, or any insignia colored in imitation thereof, for the fraudulent purpose of inducing the belief that he is a member of or an agent for the American National Red Cross. Nor shall it be lawful for any person or corporation, other than the American National Red Cross, not lawfully entitled to use the emblem of the Red Cross on a white ground hereafter to use such emblem or any insignia colored in imitation thereof or the words 'Red Cross' or 'Geneva Cross' for the purposes of trade or as an advertisement to induce the sale of any article whatsoever.

"From and after the nineteenth of December, nineteen hundred and eleven, it shall be unlawful for any person, corporation, or association, other than the American National Red Cross and its duly authorized agents, and the sanitary and hospital authorities of the Army and Navy of the United States, and such persons, corporations, and associations as heretofore had registered have acquired rights, prior to the passage of this Act through the registration of the red cross as a trade-mark in the office of the Commissioner of Patents of the United States, to use, within the territory of the United States of America and its exterior possessions, the emblem of the red cross on a white ground, or any sign or insignia made or colored in imitation thereof, or the words 'Red Cross' or 'Geneva Cross,' for any purposes whatever.

"If any person violates the provisions of this section he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be liable to a fine of not less than one or more than five hundred dollars or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or both, for each and every offense. This fine so collected shall be paid to the Amer can National Red Cross."