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and assumed by the Council of the League of Nations which is aided in this duty by the Advisory Committee on the Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs which assembles at Geneva semi-annually for this purpose. At the last session of the Committee, which may be designated its Eleventh Session, held at Geneva from April 12 to 26, 1928, a resolution was adopted urging that the various Govern. ments should upon proper application take steps to furnish to another country facsimiles of telegrams or cablegrams sent in connection with a smuggling transaction in narcotic drugs together with the names of and other particulars relating to the persons sending them. The resolution includes the suggestion that if the power to enter into this arrangement does not exist at present the several Governments should, if possible, obtain such power, and the resolution by direction of the Council of the League was transmitted to this Government under date of July 7, 1928, copy of the communication from the Acting Secretary General of the League being enclosed. There is also enclosed a copy of a communication from the State Department under date of September 28, 1928, transmitting the document and requesting an expression of opinion concerning the desirability of endeavoring to bring about legislation which would enable the United States Government in fulfillment of its obligations under the International Opium Convention of 1912 to furnish copies of telegrams of the nature referred to in the resolution.

"It may be stated at this point that the adoption of this resolution by the Advisory Committee was due to an incident which occurred in the course of an investigation made by Federal narcotic enforcement officers in New York City of an illicit importation in July, 1926, of more than 200 pounds of narcotic drugs which arrived on the S. S. Arabic from Hamburg. Effort was made at the time to secure the original or facsimiles of certain cablegrams which had been filed in Hamburg for transmittal to suspected smugglers in New York, but the German authorities refused to furnish the desired documents except (1) pursuant to a court order and (2) provided the United States would agree to reciprocate in the same manner should the German authorities make a

like request in the future. These conditions could not be met and the officers were unable to complete that portion of the investigation, but the matter was taken up with the Advisory Committee and resulted in the resolution mentioned.

"Prior to considering the desirability of entering into such an arrangement it seems necessary to consider first whether the Department has power at present by regulation, to require privately owned telegraph or cable companies in this country to deliver copies of suspected telegrams and cablegrams filed with them for transmission, to the Federal authorities for the preparation of facsimiles and whether such companies may be required to give upon request any information they may possess relative to the names of and other particulars relating to the persons sending said telegrams or cablegrams. Secondly, it becomes necessary to consider, if the Department has not the power to require these documents and this information by regulation (and it is thought that it has not), whether there would be any constitutional objection to the enactment by Congress of legislation requiring the companies to furnish the documents and information upon request of this Department. The second question is admittedly rather broad in scope and it may be that some limitation upon the right to demand telegrams and cablegrams from the custody of the companies may remove possible constitutional objections which would be applicable if Congress attempted to give the Department power to ask for any and all copies of telegrams and cablegrams indiscriminately. For instance, it may be that some showing of probable cause to believe that the cablegram is connected with an illicit smuggling transaction would have to be made before the Department would be justified in making its demand, although such a requirement would render the arrangement of doubtful value from an enforcement standpoint since more frequently there would be a strong suspicion existing rather than a definite showing of probable cause as the smugglers themselves are extremely shrewd and telegrams and cablegrams would doubtless be in code which would have to be deciphered before Government officers could ascertain whether or not they concerned a smuggling transaction."

Thus the question you are apparently seeking to solve is whether you have the authority to require by regulation the furnishing by telegraph and cable companies of copies of certain described telegrams and cablegrams in order that such copies may be turned over to the foreign country interested under the terms of the resolution adopted by the Advisory Committee of the Council of the League of Nations.

It is observed that in your letter to the Solicitor you express the view that you do not have such power, and the Solicitor's reply confirms the correctness of that view.

The only statute which undertakes to deal restrictively with the subject of exportation of narcotic drugs, and it is concerning such exports that the telegrams and cablegrams are desired by the foreign countries of destination, is the Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act of February 9, 1909, c. 100, 35 Stat. 614 as amended by the Act of January 17, 1914, c. 9, 38 Stat. 275, and as amended by the Act of May 26, 1922, c. 202, 42 Stat. 596 (U. S. C. Title 21, Secs. 171 et seq.). The only provision of the Act conferring power to make regulations is contained in section 6 (c), and reads as follows:

"The board shall make and publish all proper regulations to carry into effect the authority vested in it by this Act."

An examination of the Act fails to reveal any authority or duty conferred upon the board, viz, the Federal Narcotics Control Board created by the Act, to obtain and furnish to foreign countries such information as that concerning which you inquire.

Moreover, with its attention directed to what information it would seek from foreign countries bearing upon the subject, Congress merely provided in section 6 (b) of the Act as follows:

"The Secretary of State shall request all foreign Governments to communicate through the diplomatic channels copies of the laws and regulations promulgated in their respective countries which prohibit or regulate the importation and shipment in transit of any narcotic drug and, when received, advise the board thereof."

It is also to be observed that the International Opium Convention of January 23, 1912, 38 Stat., pt. 2, p. 1929, to carry into effect which, the Narcotic Drugs Import and

Export Act was enacted, sets forth in Article 21 the items of exchangeable information as follows:

"The Contracting Powers shall communicate to each other, through the Netherlands Ministry for Foreign Affairs: "a. The text of the laws and the administrative regulations in existence which concerns matters aimed at by the present convention or enacted by virtue of its clauses;

"b. Statistical information with respect to that which concerns the traffic in raw opium, prepared opium, morphine, cocaine and their respective salts, as well as all other drugs or their salts or preparations aimed at by the present Convention.

"These data shall be furnished with as much detail and in as short a time as shall be deemed possible."

Neither in the Convention nor in its companion legislation is there any provision for the procuring and furnishing to other countries of evidence which will enable such countries to proceed against persons or narcotics within their respective jurisdictions. It would therefore follow that any regulations seeking to compel telegraph and cable companies to furnish copies of telegrams and cablegrams, such as you describe for transmission to the authorities of the countries interested, would be additive to the Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act, supra, and therefore invalid. United States v. George, 228 U. S. 14, 21-22, and Williamson v. United States, 207 U. S. 425, 461-462. It may be added that I know of no other statute that could be construed to confer such power upon you.

Your second question inquires whether there would be any constitutional objection to the enactment by Congress of legislation requiring telegraph and cable companies to furnish upon your request copies of such messages as you describe. On that question, I would not be authorized to express a view. The question is hypothetical in that it can not now be determined whether Congress would enact such a statute, or what its final form might be. It is likewise true that you are not required to determine the constitutional power of Congress in such legislative field. 23 Op. 582, 584. Respectfully,

WILLIAM D. MITCHELL.

To the SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.

GOVERNMENT SPECIFICATIONS FOR SHEET AND PLATE IRON AND STEEL

In the preparation of specifications for the purchase by Government Departments and independent bureaus, of sheet and plate iron or steel, whether black or galvanized, or otherwise coated, it is not mandatory that the specifications therefor shall conform to the standard gauge prescribed by the Act of March 3, 1893 (27 Stat. 746).

There is nothing in the Act of March 3, 1893, supra, or in any other Act of Congress which precludes the Federal Specifications Board, in the preparation of specifications for the purchase of iron or steel sheets or plates, from specifying that all base iron or steel sheets or plates shall comply with the standard gauge established by said Act, regardless of the protective coating of other metal, or the thickness or weight thereof, which may be specified.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,

April 22, 1929.

SIR: I have the honor to respond to your request for an expression of my opinion concerning the application of the Act of March 3, 1893, c. 221, 27 Stat. 746, to Government specifications for sheet and plate iron and steel, black or galvanized. It is stated in a memorandum accompanying your request that answers are desired to the following specific questions:

"(1) As to whether in the preparation of specifications for the purchase by all Government Departments and independent bureaus of sheet iron or steel, galvanized or otherwise coated, the basic metal must be made to conform to the U. S. Standard gauge prescribed by the Act of March 3, 1893, so that the total weight of the finished sheet shall be that of the standard weight of each gauge plus the weight of coating specified; or whether the U. S. Standard gauge applies in any way to sheet iron or steel when galvanized or otherwise coated, so far as the United States Government Master Specifications are concerned.

"(2) If it is held that the Act of March 3, 1893, does not apply to basic black sheets for coating with protective metals, whether there is anything in this Act, or is there any other Act or law which precludes the Federal Specifications Board from setting up the fundamental and basic rule that all base iron or steel sheets for coating with protective coats of zinc, lead and tin, tin, nickel, chromium, or any other

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