Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-07-18
STATEMENT BY CH0ATE
Remarks Before Committee of
The Hague Conference
.ON ARBITRATION ISSUE
Tells Why American Government Is
Interested.
APPLAUDED by HIS HEARERS
Another Proposal Is Submitted to the
Congress Regarding the Collection
of Contractural Debts.
by HIS HEARERS

| THE HAGUE, July 1S.-At committee
| meeting today Joseph II. Choate. one of the
American plenipotentiaries, made an i'm
| portant statement of the reasons that bad
| induced the American government to pro-
! pose a general treaty of arbitration. He
| said
THE dangers and mischief threatening
the world from constant preparation for
| war, and the accumulation of arms have
| been somewhat mitigated by the excellent
| work of the first peace conference in rec
| ommending arbitration to the nations as
| substitute for and the establishment at
| The Hague of permanent court.
"Since this time great events have oc-
| CURED, and two terrible wars, which in
ficted untold miseries upon many nations,
| have led to international agreements of
bitraton separately and in pairs. There
| is no reason why nations that agree by
| each other, two by two, should not
| agree altogether to exactly the same
| thing"
Continuing, Mr.. Choate referred to the
| excellent work done in this direction by the
| Pan-American conferences at Mexico City
| and Rio Janeiro; and it was under these
circumstances. he said. that the United
| States proposed general arbitration CORE
| spending in form and substance to the
many individual treaties which have been
| entered INTO, lncluQlnS tnOSe negotiated by
| the United States in 1904, but reserving the
| right of the Senate to participate In any
| special agreement which might become
| necessary for carrying the treaty into
| effect in particular cases.
Mr.. Choates remarks were interrupted
| often by the applause of his hearers, and
when he was through he was warmly con-
graduated by many of the delegates.
An American Proposal.
The American delegation has presented
to the peace conference the following prop
osition:
If for any reason a captured neutral
vessel cannot be tried the vessel must be
released.
The Peruvian delegation has presented
the following amendment to the American
proposition regarding the collection of con-
tractural debts:
THE principles established by this propo-
sition can not be applied to differences aris-
ing from contracts between the government
of one country and the foreign subjects Of
another when the contracts provide that
these differences must be submitted to the
judges of local tribunals
The Venezuelan delegation presented
declaration on the same subject making
the same objection as Peru, with the addi-
ton that in case no contract exists all
diplomatic means of reaching an under
standing must be tried before recourse Is
had to the permanent court of arbitration.
The Venezuelan declaration ends with these
words
Settled Through Peaceful Means.
1T is understood that said differences
are to be settled through peaceful means
without recourse to coercive measures, i'm
plying the employment of military or naval
forces
The matter of the collection of debts &C.
cuped the entire morning session of the
subcommittee. In the course of the debate
DR.. Drago tArgentine) delivered a long ar
gumentative speech in support of his doc
trine. He declared great step backward
would be taken by the acceptance of that
part of the American proposal which ap-
peals to force for the purpose of executing
disputed arbitral awards. By the acceptance
of such measure, DR.. Drago continued,
the nations would recognize war as an Or
binary accessory to the law, and they would
establish one more cause for legitimate war.
This would be contradictory to the pur-
poses of a peace conference having for its
objects the diminution of the causes of
Perez Triana (Colombia) spoke in oppos-
ton to the employment of armed force
for the collection of any kind of debts.