New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-10-19
SUMMING Up At THE HAGUE

STUNNING UP At THE HAGUE.
The final act of the congress at The hague
before the adjournment which will occur to-
day recapituates the conventions aetuan9
agreed upon by that body, and a review of the
list which has already been published in our
columns confirms the impression which was
formed early in the sessions that the major
attention of the congress, so far as poSluNe
enactments went was given to regulating inc
ways and means of warfare so that from one
point Of view it might appropriately nave DeeH
called a war congress rather than peace
congress- Thirteen acts were agreed upon anu
of these nine referred exclusively 10 "0rIne
and three more dealt with the immediate cir
cumstances of war while only one mad 10
do with the direct prevention or prohibition OF
war. These features of the congress WORK
have already been much commented upon ana
by some. especially the peace-at-any-price propa-
gandists have been denounced as marking the
whole congress failure. With that estimate
we cannot agree and we heartily repeat our
former opinion. that the congress was wen
worth holding both for what 1t dld ana Tor
what il merely tried to do or talked OF uoln%'
If was natural inevitable and desirable that
first attention should be given TO the reSuId-
ton Of warfare-that is, to the abatement OF
its horrors and the restriction or It's evil III
finpnCpS
ligerents: precisely as it is for physician TO
give his first attention to alternating the most
acute and distressing symptoms of his patient
before attempting a radical cure of the disease
or even positively determining what the as
ease is And ii is no reprOach TO such per
Torrance 10 say that it is the easiest course
to pursue. A physician can administer an
anodyne to relieve pain much more easily anu
quickly than he can cure the disease whlch
causes the pain, and he is not to be condemhed
for doing that easy thing first though OF course
he should go right on 10 the more dlilcult ana
ir,nortant thing. So nations may easily agree
upon the protection of the rights OF heura'S
and the prohibition of barbarous methods OF
warfar. while the total prevention OF war Is
still beyond their reach. If, as the world mas
all along professed to believe the Armed Neu-
trality the Declaration of Paris ana the
Geneva Red Cross Convention marked epochS
in the progress of humanity, this second Hague
congress must also be gratefully regarded as
in the same category.
The practical results of of the enact
ments of the congress will be of first rate I'M
portance for the prevention Of war ana the
results Of the other twelve will, in the depIor-
abIa event of wars occurring. be widely and
most benefcenty felt. When we remember
how often friendly relations and even peace
of international Indebtedness we can realize
how saIutary it will be and how much 1t Will
abate diplomatic acrimony and anxiety and
make for peace to have all such contractnhl
claims referred to adjudication or arbitration
instead Of to force. In case OF war II VIII
mean much 10 the world TO have the Geneva
Red Cross Convention applied TO sea MS well
as to land warfare TO have the ve1ed queS-
tions of naval prizes settled by an impartial
international tribunal and in general to nave
neutrals and non-cOmbatants more fully eN-
empted and protected from the disturbances
nerils and calamities Of the conflict. For just
those things and no more, we repeat 1t was
well worth while 10 mold the congress.
Rut that is not all 1t is very far from all.
Tho things which the congress merely talked
about and recommended must also be cOnsid-
cred, and It may well be that in the last
ANALYSIS they will be found actually of greater
value than the things which it achieved The
detailed discussion OF systematic international
adjudication as a substitute for either war or
opportunist and empirical arbitration ana or
other irenic measures was instructive and IL
Illuminating in a high degree and the substan-
tial agreement Of so large number OF powers
concerning those matters and the frank and
exDlicIt way in which they committed them
selves upon them were among the most en-
contracting and inspiring manifestations of in
ternationaI concord which we have seen in our
+imes That such counsels will produce ef-
fects Of widespread and permanent good II Is
impossible TO doubt LAS a man thinketh, so
is he" and to suggest that the same rule
does not hold good collectively and that the
nations of the world could come together for
four months and think Of peace and talk Of
peace without actually making for peace would
be to affront reason and to deny a funda-
mental principle of human nature.