No. 29.
Mr. Kasson
to Mr. Evarts.
Legation of
the United States,
Vienna
,
March 10, 1879.
(Received March 27.)
No. 172.]
Sir: The foreign office has just communicated to
the various missions at this capital a circular note, advising them of the
possible brief detention of letters at the frontier, and the possible injury
to their seals in the process of disinfection. The application of this
process is limited, of course, to letters from suspected countries, and is
confined to certain designated offices on the frontier. Recommendations are
made respecting the mode of sealing in order to preserve the inviolability
of the letters.
By the regulations of 1837 a simple fumigation only was allowed in the case
of correspondence addressed to diplomatic missions. It is now announced that
this correspondence will no longer be treated exceptionally, but will
undergo the same complete disinfection to which other correspondence is
subjected.
Accompanying this note are the original texts of the circular above
mentioned, addressed to this legation, and of the announcement of the
ministry of commerce, and the English translations of the same.
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure I in No.
172.—Translation.]
circular to the foreign missions at
vienna.
Among the measures adopted by Austria-Hungary against the danger of the
invasion of the pest appears equally the disinfection of letters and
transmissions by post, coming from the infected provinces of Russia.
[Page 51]
The ordinance of the minister of commerce at Vienna of the 28th of last
month regulates this question.
The disinfection with which the post-office at the frontier at
Podwoloczyska and at Szakowa are charged is made in the following
manner:
The letters will not be opened, however, as the seals, if of Wax, will
suffer by this proceeding whether by being softened or effaced; the said
offices will apply to the letters before the disinfection gummed
vignettes with the insignia of the government in order to secure the
inviolability of the fastening. The vignettes offer the same advantages
as wafers, since they do not suffer or detach by reason of the heat and
the evaporation of carbolic acid.
For disinfecting completely single letters, that is to say such as have
but half an inch thickness (1 cent. 3.2 mm.), it is necessary to expose
them in the apparatus for three hours to the increasing effects of heat.
The letters of greater thickness are subjected to this proceeding during
four hours, which may sometimes cause a delay in their dispatch.
The regulation of 1837 which was in force until now in Austria-Hungary
required for the correspondence of the foreign missions at Vienna the
disinfection by means of simple fumigation. The experiments made since
by science have demonstrated the insufficiency of this means, and
intense heating as the only proper proceeding to obtain a radical
disinfection.
The imperial and royal government could therefore not hesitate in causing
to be applied equally to the correspondence of the foreign missions at
Vienna, and to that which might be destined for transit through
Austria-Hungary to foreign governments, the process of heating, and to
cause the fastening of the letters to be assured by the official
vignettes in question.
However, in order to increase the precautions taken by the post
administration, it would be well that the said correspondence from the
provinces of Russia should be closed exclusively by means of wafers and
of gummed vignettes, and that in the interest of a prompt dispatch the
packages of letters should not exceed half an inch in thickness, as is
stated above.
The imperial and royal ministry for foreign affairs hasten to inform the
missions of these measures, adopted in the common interest, and has the
honor to request that the government may be advised of the same.
[Inclosure 2 in No.
172.—Translation.]
notification of the imperial and royal ministry
of commerce of the 28th february,
1879.
[No. 5729. For the official portion of the Wiener
Zeitung.]
The correspondence coming from the localities in Russia infected with the
pest disease will be subjected to disinfection, not only by the Russian
authorities at the respective cordon-posts, but also at the Austrian
frontier by the post-offices in Podwoloczycka and Szezakowa.
This disinfection will be conducted on the part of the last-named post
establishments so, that the single ordinary letters, postal cards,
newspapers (freight letters) will be exposed in a disinfecting apparatus
with evolution of carbolic-acid steam to an elevated heat during several
hours.
Inasmuch as the procedure causes, in letters sealed with hard wax, a
softening of the sealing-wax and effacement of the seal impression,
therefore the assurance of the inviolability of that class of
correspondence will be effected in this way: that before the
disinfection of the letters fastened with hard wax, official sealing
vignettes (guard seals), which are not affected by the carbolic-acid
steam and do not detach, will be applied to the envelopes.
Transmissions of money from Russia will, for the purpose of similar
disinfection, be opened at the indicated post establishments by persons
commissioned thereto.
The contents (paper and metallic money), as well as the envelope, will
therefore be-subjected to disinfection in the prescribed manner, the
remittance provided with a new inclosure and address, and the
post-office seal.
Sample transmissions and pieces of goods (packages and freight
transmissions) out of the infected provinces will be treated like the
baggage of travelers coming from these localities.
After performance of the disinfection, the letters and post transmissions
will be forthwith forwarded by the next opportunity to the place of
destination.
