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The present compilation is designed to present in a convenient form the English texts or, in cases where no English text was signed, the official United States Government translations of treaties and other international agreements entered into by the United States from 1776 to 1950.

For several years the Department of State has been aware of the need for a consolidation of the texts of treaties and other international agreements of the United States. The establishment of the statutory volumes United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (UST) by an Act of Congress of September 23, 1950, effected this consolidation with respect to instruments brought into force after January 1, 1950, the date from which UST begins. Nearly two-thirds of the total number of treaties and agreements entered into by the United States between 1776 and 1968 have been concluded since 1949 and are therefore included in that publication.

Existing official compilations of the earlier treaties and agreements—those that antedate the UST volumes—do not meet the needs of either the United States Government or the American public. In the United States Statutes at Large, where the texts were officially published up to 1950, they are printed in 60 different bindings.

It has been nearly 60 years since the compilation known as the "Malloy" series began to come off the press and over 30 years since the fourth and last volume was published. The full title of that compilation, prepared under the direction of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States Senate, is Treaties, Conventions, International Acts, Protocols, and Agreements Between the United States and Other Powers. The first two volumes (1776-1909) were compiled by William M. Malloy, the third (1910-1923) by C. F. Redmond, and the fourth (1923-1937) by Edward J. Trenwith.

The only other significant official compilation of texts of United States treaties and agreements is one entitled Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America, edited by Hunter Miller. It consists of eight volumes (volume 1 is a short print) and carries only to the end of 1863. No further volumes of that publication are contemplated.

This new compilation will be approximately four times the length of the "Malloy" series. There are two principal reasons for the great increase in size: first, the large number of treaties and other international agreements entered into by the United States in the period between 1937 and 1950, many of which were extensive arrangements setting up the worldwide activities of the United Nations and its specialized agencies; and second, the inclusion in the new volumes of postal arrangements, agreements printed in the Rh