Los Angeles herald., 1907-08-30
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION
coNvENEs
AMBASSADOR BRYCE AMONG THE
SPEAKERS
nTariff Is War" Declares j. n. Bal
four Browne Of England.
Association Elects
Officers

the legal fraternity representing the
nrincinal countries of Europe and Amer
lea are in attendance at the twenty
fourth annual conference of the inter-
national Law association which opened
today. ,..,.
This is the second time the association
has held conference in the United
States.
Onicers for the ensuing year were
elected as follows:
simeon E. Baldwin, LII. D., CHIEF JUS
tice of the supreme court of errors, Con-
necticut, honorary president; Rt. Hon:
T,ord Justin Kennedy, LII. D., court OF
appeals. London, president
d. Evans Darby, London, read a paper
on s'Intermittent Progress OF Internation-
al Arbitration"
James Bryce, the British ambassador,
made a brief address, stating that IN his
opinion the sentiments OF the America .a
people are in favor of those op1ects
whose accomplishments is the aim OF
the International Law association. lie
believed the association was doing
great work in paving the way for points
likely to come before courts OF arpi-
.tration. s.
n ~. Balfour Browne Of London,
England, made the following address;
'.No two bodies, such as states, can
exist either in war or peace without nav
ing some laws governing their relations.
No two or more nations can exist without
the existence of natural laws as to the
inter-action of one upon the other. The
moro nations emerge from barbarism into
civilization. the more their tnter-rela-
lions and undergraduates are IN
creased, the greater becomes the neces-
sity for the recognition of the laws
which must regulate their mutual rela-
lions.
international law is the courtesy OF
nations, and as we advance along the
road of civilization we will find that there
Is the same sanction for these laws,
which exist for morals and politeness
which are outside the sanction of our
courts, but which are really as strenu-
ously enforced as are our criminal laws.
there is in our days tendency to lay
stress upon nationality, or the molecular
force which forms the state unit; and we
have in the last century seen these mole
cular forces do notable work on the great
stage of Europe in the unification of
Italy and Germany. Recently, however,
we have to note a fission in national
unit in the separation of Sweden and
Norway. And Great Britain has Its
problem of segregation to deal with,
which may have to be solved in the near
future, either as Scandinavia has for the
time solved it's problem of independence
or as the United States solved its problem
of unity when the southern states en-
deavored to camp out
Consolidation Keynote
at is necessary. however, in consid-
ering the great questions of interna-
tional law to have regard to the ten
denotes alluded to. The Imperialism of
Britain does not. as the Imperialism of
Rome did, aim at a universal empire,
but at the consolidation of its colonial
empire, and the closer relations which
still further mutual dependence will
bring about between the mother coun-
try and the children states.
There must still exist units, larger
units of nations between whom the
courtesy of nations must continue to
exist. But the feature of our times is
that these national units are now, as
they never were before, at work in
commerce, and it is with
the problem of international compet1-
ton for trade supremacy that many of
the questions of the newer interna-
tional law must necessarily arise.
with the older questions of interna-
tional law we are more or less famil-
lar We have seen that one of the
main objects of international law is to
promote peace-and even in the event
of war to prevent the confiagration
spreading to other nations than those
that have actually drawn the sword.
When two nations are at war interna-
tional law says it is the duty of others
to give them a fair field and no favor.
Commerce Aids Peace
''It is the freedom of commerce in a
world of shopkeepers which is tend
ing more and more to mitigate the
rigors of war, and that very mitigation
is a means of peace. 1t is, therefore.
the clear duty of neutrals not to feed
the rival guns with ammunition. But
assuming that 1t is the duty of neutrals
to stand aloof in such matters, then we
have to recognize the right of belliger-
ents to see that they really are neutral
III they are pretending neutrality, and
yet assisting the enemy the limits of war
are at once enlarged. In the old days he
right of search nigh be justified on
grounds which cannot carry conviction in
these The high seas are now the essen.
tial highways of commerce and the paths
of travel Great Britain can feed only
six and a half million people, while she
has forty million hungry mouths to
supply
Now if England is not at war and two
other nations are at these grim logger
heads, the right of search of any British
ship on the high seas by one or the other
OF the belligerents might put an end to-
her commerce and would certainly be a
serious drawback to her trade. But here
law has put in wise word
for the extension of the courtesy Of ma
tons.
Guarantee Suggested
ct has been suggested that there should
be a guarantee given by neutral nations
that certain ships carrying mails, pas
sengers and ordinary commerce, have
been examined In the home ports and
have no contraband of war on board. 1t
is in these ways that we may ameliorate
the calamity of war. and 1t is by gradually
pruning the haggard branches that we
may hope that its growth may die down
and be no more a pest on the peace of the
world.
But it was rather in connection with
the war of peace that l had desired to
say something today. We desire to recog-
nize that tariffs are ramparts and that
ramparts are war and that while these
ramparts exist which protect the mark
cts of our rivals from our peaceful ag-
gression and so deprive our capitalists
of the return on their capital and our
workmen of the wages they might earn,
and thus produce lower wages in our
country an increasing number of lnen-