ART. 50. The Emperor shall have the supreme supervision of the administration of post and telegraph. The officers appointed by him shall have the duty and the right to see to it that uniformity be established and maintained in the organization of the administration and in the conduct of business, as well as in the qualifications of employees.

The Emperor shall have the power to issue governmental instructions and general administrative regulations, and also the exclusive right to regulate the relations with the postal and telegraph systems of other countries.

It shall be the duty of all officers of the postal and telegraph administration to obey the orders of the Emperor. This obligation shall be assumed in the oath of office.

The appointment of such superior officers as shall be required for the administration of the post and telegraph in the various districts (such as directors, counselors, and superintendents), furthermore, the appointment of officers of the post and telegraph acting in the capacity of organs of the aforesaid authorities as supervisors or for other services in the several districts (such as inspectors or controllers), shall be made throughout the Empire by the Emperor, to whom such officers shall take the oath of office. The governments of the several states shall receive timely notice of the aforementioned appointments, as far as they may relate to their territories, so that they may confirm and publish them.

Other officers required in the administration of the post and telegraph, as well as all those employed for local and technical work, including the officials in the local offices, and so forth, shall be appointed by the governments of the respective states.

Where there is no independent state administration of post or telegraph, the terms of special treaties shall control.

ART. 51. In consideration of the differences which have heretofore existed in the net receipts of the state postal administrations of the several districts, and for the purpose of

securing a suitable equalization during the period of transition below named, the following procedure shall be observed in assigning the surplus of the postal administration for general imperial purposes (Art. 49):

From the postal surpluses which accumulated in the several postal districts during the five years from 1861 to 1865, a yearly average shall be computed, and the share which every separate postal district has had in the surplus resulting therefrom for the whole territory of the Empire, shall be expressed in a percentage.

In accordance with the ratio thus ascertained, the several states shall be credited on the account of their other contributions to the expenses of the Empire, with their quota accruing from the postal surplus in the Empire, for a period of eight years following their entrance into the postal administration of the Empire.

At the end of the said eight years the distinction shall cease, and any surplus from the postal administration shall go, without division, into the imperial treasury, according to the principle contained in Art. 49.

Of the quota of the postal surplus which accrues during the aforementioned period of eight years in favor of the Hanse cities one-half shall each year be placed at the disposal of the Emperor, for the purpose of providing for the establishment of the proper postal organizations in the Hanse cities.

ART. 52. The provisions of the foregoing Arts. 48 to 51 do not apply to Bavaria and Württemberg. In their place the following provisions shall be valid for these two states of the Empire:

The Empire alone shall have power to legislate upon the privileges of the post and telegraph, upon the legal relations of both institutions to the public, upon the franking privilege and the postal rates, excepting, however, the adoption of administrative regulations and of rates for the internal communication within Bavaria and Württemberg respectively; and,

under like limitations, upon the fixing of charges for telegraphic correspondence.

In the same manner, the Empire shall have the regulation of postal and telegraphic communication with foreign countries, excepting the immediate intercourse of Bavaria and Württemberg with neighboring states not belonging to the Empire, the regulation of which is subject to the provisions of Art. 49 of the postal treaty of November 23, 1867.

Bavaria and Württemberg shall not share in the postal and telegraphic receipts coming into the treasury of the Empire.

IX. MARINE AND NAVIGATION

ART. 53. The navy of the Empire shall be a united one, under the supreme command of the Emperor. The Emperor is charged with its organization and construction; he shall appoint the officers and employees of the navy, and they and the seamen shall take an oath of obedience to him.

The harbor of Kiel and the harbor of the Jade are imperial naval ports.

The expense required for the establishment and maintenance of the navy and of the institutions connected therewith shall be defrayed from the treasury of the Empire.

10

All seafaring men of the Empire, including machinists and artisans employed in ship-building, are exempt from service in the army, but are liable to service in the imperial navy.1o ART. 54. The merchant vessels of all states of the Union shall form a united mercantile marine.

The Empire shall determine the process for ascertaining the tonnage of sea-going vessels, shall regulate the issuing of tonnage-certificates and of ship-certificates, and shall fix the

10 Paragraph 5 of Art. 53 was repealed by law of May 26, 1893; it read as follows: "The apportionment of requisitions to supply the ranks of the navy shall be made according to the actual seafaring population, and the number furnished in accordance herewith by each state shall be deducted from the number otherwise required for the army."

conditions upon which a license to command a sea-going vessel shall be granted.

The merchant vessels of all the federated states shall be admitted on equal footing to the harbors and all natural and artificial watercourses of the several states of the Union, and shall be accorded similar treatment therein. The fees which may be collected in harbors, from sea-going vessels or from their cargoes, for the use of marine institutions, shall not exceed the amount necessary for the maintenance and ordinary repair of these institutions.

On all natural watercourses taxes may only be levied for the use of special institutions which serve to facilitate commercial intercourse. These taxes as well as the charge for navigating such artificial channels as are the property of the state shall not exceed the amount required for the maintenance and ordinary repair of such institutions and establishments. These provisions shall apply to rafting, in so far as it is carried on along navigable watercourses.

The power to lay other or higher taxes upon foreign vessels or their cargoes than those which are paid by the vessels of the federal states or their cargoes shall belong only to the Empire and not to the separate states.

ART. 55. The flag of the naval and merchant marine is black, white, and red.

X. CONSULAR AFFAIRS

ART. 56. The Emperor shall have the supervision of all consular affairs of the German Empire, and he shall appoint consuls, after hearing the Committee of the Bundesrat on Trade and Commerce.

established within the German consuls shall

No new state consulates shall be districts covered by German consuls. perform the functions of state consuls for the states of the Union not represented in their districts. All the state consulates now existing shall be abolished as soon as the organization of the German consulates shall be completed in such a

manner that the representation of the separate interests of all the federal states shall be recognized by the Bundesrat as satisfactorily secured by the German consulates.

XI. MILITARY AFFAIRS OF THE EMPIRE

ART. 57. Every German is liable to military duty, and in the discharge of this duty no substitute shall be accepted.

ART. 58. The costs and the burden of the entire military system of the Empire shall be borne equally by all the federal states and their subjects, so that neither special privileges nor burdens upon particular states or classes are in principle permissible. Where an equal distribution of the burdens cannot be effected in natura without prejudice to the public welfare, the equalization shall be effected by legislation in accordance with the principles of justice.

ART. 59. Every German capable of bearing arms shall belong for seven years to the standing army, as a rule from the end of his twentieth to the beginning of his twenty-eighth year; during the next five years he shall belong to the national guard (Landwehr) of first summons, and then to the national guard of second summons until the thirty-first day of March of the year in which he reaches the age of thirty-nine years.

During the period of service in the standing army the members of the cavalry and of the mounted field artillery are required to serve the first three years in unbroken active service; all other forces are required to give the first two years in active service.

As regards the emigration of men belonging to the reserve, only those provisions shall be in force which apply to the emigration of members of the national guard (Landwehr).11

ART. 60. The number of men in the German army in time of peace shall be fixed until the thirty-first day of December, 1871, at I per cent. of the population of 1867, and shall This article is given as amended by law of April 15, 1905. also altered by law of February 11, 1888.

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