ARTICLE 14

The requirements of article 14, in respect to the bureau of information, have been found to some extent defective; this for the reason that inadequate provision is made for the keeping of the records of individual prisoners of war, or for the disposition of these records at the conclusion of peace. This defect has been remedied by the following amendments:

ARTICLE 14. A bureau of information regarding prisoners of war shall be established in each of the belligerent states at the beginning of hostilities, as well as in any neutral countries which may have received belligerents in their territory. This bureau shall answer all inquiries. made concerning the prisoners, and shall receive from the several branches of the service all data regarding internments, transfers, releases on parole, exchanges, escapes, entries into hospitals, deaths, and other information necessary in order to prepare and keep up to date an individual descriptive card for each prisoner of war. The bureau should keep on this card the matriculation number, name, age, place of residence, grade, regiment or corps, wounds, date and place of capture, date of internment, wounding or death, as well as all special entries. Upon the conclusion of peace the descriptive card shall be delivered to the government of the other belligerent.

It shall also be the duty of the information bureau to gather and keep together all articles of personal use, valuable papers, letters, etc., which are found on the fields of battle or left behind by prisoners released on parole, exchanged, or escaping, or dying in hospitals or ambulances, and to transmit them to the interested parties.

The purpose of the foregoing amendments is to require the belligerent to keep an accurate record of each prisoner of war in its hands, with a view to the completion of his individual history in the proper office or bureau of the government under whose flag he serves.

ARTICLE 17

The original article involved an application of the principle of reciprocity, and provided that a commissioned officer who occupies the status of a prisoner of war should receive such portion of his monthly pay as was allowed by his own government to prisoners of war in its custody. As there has been found to be considerable variation in these rates of allowance, and as some governments

among them that of the United States make no provision for such a case, it was deemed proper to allow pay to each officer at a rate corresponding to his rank and grade in the service of the captor; that government to be reimbursed for payments made to prisoners of war in conformity to the requirements of the conventional stipulation. As so modified the article reads:

ARTICLE 17. Officers who become prisoners shall receive the pay to which officers of the same grade are entitled in the country where they are being detained, the amount to be repaid by their government.

ARTICLE 23

In this article a number of acts are described to which neither belligerent is permitted to resort in the conduct of his military operations. It was the well-understood purpose of the convention of 1899 to impose certain reasonable and wholesome restrictions upon the authority of commanding generals and their subordinates in the theater of belligerent activity. It is more than probable that this humane and commendable purpose would fail of accomplishment if a military commander conceived it to be within his authority to suspend or nullify their operation, or to regard their application in certain cases as a matter falling within his administrative discretion. Especially is this true where a military officer refuses to receive well-grounded complaints, or declines to receive demands for redress, in respect to the acts or conduct of the troops under his command, from persons subject to the jurisdiction of the enemy who find themselves, for the time being, in the territory which he holds in military occupation. To provide against such a contingency it was deemed wise to add an appropriate declaratory clause to the prohibitions of article 23:

ARTICLE 23. Besides the prohibitions established by special conventions, it is particularly forbidden:

(h) To declare extinguished, suspended, or barred the rights and choses in action of the nationals of the adversary.

The experience gained in the practical application of the rules of war adopted by the conference of 1899 has made it apparent

that the limitations imposed in that undertaking upon the authority of an invading belligerent, in the matter of requiring services from the population of the territory in his military occupation, were not expressed with sufficient clearness to assure to the population of the invaded district that immunity from the operations of war which it was the purpose of its framers to secure.

With a view to apply a remedy to this state of affairs, and to make clear the humane requirements of the original convention, a clause was adopted in committee with a view to impose an additional restraint upon the power of belligerents in that regard. The new regulation is conceived in the following terms:

A belligerent is also prohibited from compelling the subjects of the adversary to take part in military operations against their country, even in case they were in his service before the commencement of the war.

ARTICLE 25

This article, in its original form, forbade belligerents to bombard towns, villages, dwelling places, or buildings which were not garrisoned or defended. The act forbidden was a bombardment with cannon of the types habitually used in field or siege operations. In view of the increased employment of balloons in military operations, it was believed to be not only prudent, but in the highest degree expedient, to give such an extension to its terms as to include within the scope of the prohibition a possible resort to balloons, or airships, as agencies of aggressive attack. This purpose was accomplished by adding the words "whatever be the means employed," so that the amended article reads:

ARTICLE 25. It is forbidden to attack or bombard undefended cities, villages, dwellings, or buildings, whatever be the means employed.

ARTICLE 27

It is the purpose of the amended article to secure to historical monuments the same measure of protection from the vicissitudes of siege operations that is accorded to the classes of structures which are named in the original convention. To that end the proper

terms of description have been inserted in the amended article, so that the clause now reads:

ARTICLE 27. During sieges and bombardments all necessary measures should be taken to spare, as far as possible, buildings devoted to religious worship, arts, science, and charity, historical monuments, hospitals, and places of assembly of sick and wounded, provided they be not used at the same time for a military purpose.

It shall be the duty of the besieged to designate these buildings or places of assembly by special visible signs which shall be made known beforehand to the besieger.

ARTICLE 44

It has been seen that the substance of the prohibition, which was originally contained in this article, has already been embodied in article 23 of the amended code. As a result of the experience gained in recent wars it has been deemed best to forbid a belligerent, in somewhat more explicit terms, to resort to force or constraint with a view to compel the inhabitants of occupied territory to furnish information in respect to the positions, operations, or intended movements of their own army. With this end in view an appropriate regulation was adopted by the committee and approved by the conference. The new rule provides:

ARTICLE 44. A belligerent is forbidden to compel the inhabitants of an occupied territory to furnish information concerning the army of the other belligerent or concerning his means of defense.

ARTICLE 52

The article in its original form was intended to regulate the levying of requisitions in occupied territory of the enemy, and provided, in its last paragraph, that levies in kind should, as far as possible, be paid for in cash; if not paid for, the article contained the requirement that receipts should be given for property taken in the exercise of the belligerent right of requisition. The new paragraph contains the additional requirement that the property represented by these receipts shall be paid for with the least practicable delay, and the article as amended takes the following form:

ARTICLE 52. Requisitions in kind and services can only be levied on communes and inhabitants for the needs of the army of occupation. They shall be in accordance with the resources of the country and of such a character as not to oblige the inhabitants to take part in the war operations against their country.

These requisitions and services shall be levied only by authority of the commander in the locality occupied.

Supplies furnished in kind shall be paid for in cash as far as possible, otherwise they shall be verified by receipts and the amounts due paid as soon as possible.

ARTICLE 53

This article, in its new form, enlarges to some extent the field of application of the original paragraph by bringing within its operation all means of communication of every kind which are intended for the transportation or conveyance of persons, property, or intelligence. The final paragraph forbids the destruction of submarine cables except in case of absolute and over-ruling military necessity. When such lines are taken and used, they are to be restored, with suitable indemnities, on the conclusion of peace. As amended, the article has been given the following form:

ARTICLE 53. An army occupying a territory may seize only the specie, funds, and bills receivable which are actually the property of the state, depots of arms, means of transportation, stores, and provisions, and, in general, all movable property of the government capable of being used in the military operations.

All means used on land, sea, or in the air for the transmission of information or the transportation of passengers or freight, except where governed by maritime law, stores of arms, and, in general, all kinds of munitions of war, may be seized even if they belong to private parties, but they must be restored and the indemnities shall be fixed upon the conclusion of peace.

ARTICLE 54. Submarine cables connecting an occupied territory with a neutral territory shall not be seized or destroyed except in case of absolute necessity. They must also be restored and the indemnities adjusted upon the conclusion of peace.

FINAL ARTICLE

The following article was adopted by the committee and approved by the conference in plenary session with a view to its insertion as a final paragraph of the rules of war on land: