In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 12th day of April, A.D. 1892, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and sixteenth.

BENJ.  HARRISON.

By the President: 
  JAMES G. BLAINE,
    Secretary of State.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas it is provided by section 13 of the act of Congress of March 3, 1891, entitled “An act to amend Title LX, chapter 3, of the Revised Statutes of the United States, relating to copyrights,” that said act “shall only apply to a citizen or subject of a foreign state or nation when such foreign state or nation permits to citizens of the United States of America the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as its own citizens, or when such foreign state or nation is a party to an international agreement which provides for reciprocity in the granting of copyright, by the terms of which agreement the United States of America may at its pleasure become a party to such agreement;” and

Whereas it is also provided by said section that “the existence of either of the conditions aforesaid shall be determined by the President of the United States by proclamation made from time to time as the purposes of this act may require;” and

Whereas in virtue of said section 13 of the aforesaid act of Congress a copyright agreement was signed at Washington on January 15, 1892, in the English and German languages, by the representatives of the United States of America and the German Empire, a true copy of the English version of which agreement is, word for word, as follows: 

The President of the United States of America and His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia, in the name of the German Empire, being actuated by the desire to extend to their subjects and citizens the full benefit of the legal provisions in force in both countries in regard to copyright, have to this end decided to conclude an agreement and have appointed as their plenipotentiaries: 

  The President of the United States of America, James G. Blaine,
  Secretary of State of the United States;

His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia, Alfons Mumm von Schwarzenstein, his charge d’affaires near the Government of the United States of America, who, being duly authorized, have concluded the following agreement, subject to due ratification: 

ARTICLE I. Citizens of the United States of America shall enjoy in the German Empire the protection of copyright as regards works of literature and art, as well as photographs, against illegal reproduction, on the same basis on which such protection is granted to subjects of the Empire.