The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-03-30
FOR PEACE.
By Arbitration En-
forced.
CARS RESCRIPT
Is Discussed By Members
Of the Second Parish Club

The annual meeting of the Second
Parish Club Of the First Unitarian
Church, last night, at the church on
Court hill, was enlivened by a Discus
sion of International arbitration. The
paper of the evening was read by j. B.
Stone, and this was followed by warm
debate on the subject, in which divers
and sundry ideas were advanced some
pertinent to the discussion and others
not The gentlemen who took part
were Rev. Austin S. Carver, w. ].
Mann, F. L. Hutchins and H. A. Far
we'll
AT the opening of the meeting the
election of officers took place, resulting
as follows: President, w. e. Abbott;
vice president, =. E. Davis; secretary
and treasurer, Miss L. F. Upham. The
executive committee consists of the, Of
f1cers and Prof. H. w, Coombs and
Miss Carrie Houghton.
After all the business had been at
tended to- the subject of the evening
was taken up, and Mr.. Stone read his
paper ON international arbitration"
which was historical as we'll as sug-
gestive in the treatment Of an all i'm
portant matter in these latter day dis
cussions. AS prologue to his paper
Mr.. Stone read the cars rescript,
which formed the basis Of his address.
The speaker intimated that there was
a STRONG feeling of distrugt among
nations and leading men Of all coun-
tries that the conference will not pro-
ducs results such as possibly Nicholas
II. anticipated or had in mind when he
directed his minister of foreign affairs
to send his rescript to all the govern
ments. This distrust, no doubt, said
the speaker, arose from the conditions
of Russia herself, who is essentially a
war power, at all times Strengthening
the nations frontiers and constructing
a system Of railroads primarily meant
for the n1asSing of troops in case of a
conflict with her neighbors.
With this as a prelude, Mr.. Stone
continued, speaking in part as follows
Arbitration is not a new idea; the
form is only new, and yet movement
very similar was proposed by Henry
been a spirit of arbitration among CIV
ilized people, a recognition Of some
thing called equity. The adoption of
the constitution by 10 independent COL
onies was at the time international ar
bitration. The creation of the supreme
court was solely for arbitration.
In the 105 years or more since tine
adoption of the constitution there have
been 80 questions settled between states
that under other circumstances would
undoubtedly have been settled by war
Since 1900, Carl Schurz declares that
80 international controversies have
been settled by arbitration.
Let us for moment turn to the
economic side of the question, for here
in to my mind lies the true motive OF
the movement not only on the part OF
Russia, but of most of the European
nations
What has war and fear of war cost
the world? The present estimate Is
10000 millions of dollars, or 800 times
the total value of all property real and
personal, in the city of Worcester. A
debt which in Europe amounts to 500
for every man, woman and child. In
1892 our national debt was about $1t
per capita. SPANS capita tax now Is
undoubtedly $500; in 1890 it was $3.50.
The increasing burden of militarism
in Europe makes a condition that must
be met or chaos will surely follow, fol-
the producer is already loaded to his
limit
Can anything be said on the other
side? Yes, much can, when you fe-
member that about all we have that
is worth anything politically, historical
or even personal, we have had to fight
for, History teaches us that the fight
ing nations are the ones that have
grown. There are questions that can't
be arbtrated and they still exist. &c
resist a common enemy the war Of in
dependence was fought, The civil wal
was fought because both sides deem
ed themselves right, and arbitration
oo111d NOT o11oYlicb ana
War, dreadful as 1t is, seems 20 have
its uses and the possession of destruc-
tive power in the hands of wise, strong
men in times of great crises is a great
blessing.
There is nothing like war to bring
out the heroic virtues, examples of
which fill all literature.
The speaker then turned his atten-
ton to the conference at the Hague
and, continuing, said in substance: II
seems to me that the work at The
Hague will be incomplete unless it not
only gives US an international court TO
determine what is equity, but shall or
ganize an international army and navy
to enforce its DEGREES. for one see no
difficulty in doing this.
First-Let there be no navy not an
international one, except such light
craft as needed for revenue service.
Lie bdNlHB III IlOHCy dlOliC III inns
item would be sufficient to girdle- the
earth with all the ocean cables to com
mand such a navy and to build all the
railroads needed for military purposes.
1 see no difficulty also in creating in
the same way an international army
subject to the same court. There
should be reserve force of 250,000 men
located on certain reservations. This
cost of this would not be 10 per cent of
the present system
The fundamental principles, said the
speaker, ares precisely the same as 7t
million people are living under and en-
joying a freedom and security found
nowhere else on the face of the earth
| At the conclusion of Mr.. Stones pa
per- the club members took the subject
| in hand and discussed its various
| phases for over two hours.
Just previous to the close of the
meeting Mr.. Carver, by vote of the
! club. was requested to introduce the
question of cooperation of the public
schools. at the next meeting of the
school committee, with the peace
movement and the coming conference
at The Hague, May IS.
BOUTWELL, AS TRIAL JUSTICE.