Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-21
BEFORE The HAGUE CONFERENCE.

| The eyes Of all Europe. America. and
| japan, are turned at this moment with
feverish interest toward The
| General Hague. where, on June Is, the
Interest. second peace conference will
assemble.
In the interval the partisans OF peace. Mr.
! Andrew Carnegie in the van. have been
| holding an International peace congress at
Carnegie Hall in New York. The pro-
ceedings are chiefly interesting as indicat-
/ ing the peculiar conditions Of the human
mind. and the probability that the like
manifestations may occur at The Hague.
The first note of discord at Carnegie Hall
! was the difference between President
Roosevelt and MIR. Carnegie over the just
| value of righteousness and peace. The
/ President, in a letter to the president of
! the congress. declared that: 1T is righteous
ness that exalteth a nation. and though
nominaliy peace is the handmade of right
! eousness. yet If they are ever at odds it is
| Righteousness whose cause we must es-
| pouse.'
| Mr.. Carnegie objected and maintained
! that 'R :ghteousness and peace cannot be
| divorced. Imagine the state of mind of
| that man who insists that they can be
divorced. What could be the greater right
! eousness than peace on earth. good Will
| toward men,
| Then there was an outburst OF anger in
| the congress between two delegates, Dr.
! Ernst Richards and Rabbi Levy. And again.
when Prof Munsterberg of Harvard. who
undertook to show that Germany was es-
i sentially a country of peace and industry.
| his proposition was combated. In the
woman's meeting Mrs Henrotin. in a paper
| entitled. The Home VS.. War;, advanced
new methods of expressing .herself'-that
! is. she had discovered the means OF re-
ducing armies. namely, by refusing to bear
! sons TO bear arms.
! A contemporary writer declares that
| while there is a great clamor for peace, 1t
| Is nevertheless true that in
Naval 1885 the seventeen countries
| Progress. that maintain naval forces
| caused to be built 215 vessels
Of war. and these seventeen countries pro
pose to expend for further augmentation OF
! their naval forces during the present year
| many hundreds OF millions more.
| Lord John Lubbock Avebury in speech
| in the house of lords June %. 1905. cited
| figures from the army and navy budgets of
| Italy. Russia Germany and France demon
Strating that in the preceding ten years
f. these four great countries together showed
! an increase of f27 .UG0.Oo0. But the army
| and navy budgets Of Great Britain alone
| those of Russia, Germany, France and Italy
! together
The contemporary writer cited cynically
adds that Notwithstanding these facts a
peace congress had assembled in New York
members of which were Eaive enough-all
| except the Germans-to think that 1t was
sufficient for them to deliver speeches on
| the blessings of peace in order to prevent
| the horrors of war. Travellers, lie says,
| report that in China on the eclipse of the
| sun the coolies make an internal noise in
| order to prevent the great dragon of the air
| from swallowing the day star. One Is in
clned to conclude that the zacadamecians In
| Carnegie Hall will produce on the god of
war quite much effect as the hubbub of
| the Chinese coolie on the eclipse"
The stormy sessions of the New York
| peace congress, 1t is pleasant to record.
ended in perfect calm and happiness. pro-
cured perhaps by boHnteous banquet pre-
| sided over BY Mr.. Carnegie. Baron d'Es-
| tournel!es de Constant. senator of the
| French republic and ardent advocate OF
| peace and the Limitation Of ornaments. en-
| tered the banquet hall. and, approaching
Mr.. Carnegie. said:
Monsieur Andrew Carnegie, the French
people recognize what you have done for
| the cause of humanity. They have a
grateful appreciation of your efforts in the
| cause of universal peace. In token OF that
| appreciation and that they may give you d
| lasting mement0 of their consideration they
| have delegated me to present you with the
! order of the cross OF commander OF the
| ure in presenting you with the order
| No deserves the cross more than
| Mr.. Carnegie. There are some who have
| it who have done nothing to merit it, but,
| on the contrary. dishonor it, they are eX-
| ceptions which happily prove the rule.
The address of Ambassador Bryce al the
! banquet closed the peace congress. Mr..
Bryce said, in part. that
| Bryce's members of the congress had
Sneech shown that war was IRA
| tional. immoral. unphilo-
sophical unchristian and Improbable.
Besides being bad in other ways,
it was also bad business. Nearly
| every war has done far more harm
| than good. Newspapers were the cause
| of war and there was not a pins differ
| ence between them in all countries. The
| bulk of the people are dashed into fury:
The wolves are masters Of the field. and
| not a few of the sheepAturn wolves. The
| motive of the newspapers? They want to
| please the public. The press Is what the
| people make it. Every nation has just such
! newspa pers as it deserves.
| Every one admits the enormous dihiculty
| Of bringing about general limitation OF
| ornaments. I'VE must hope, SAID Am,
bassador Bryce. that an earnest enort VIII
! be made at The Hague conference TO con-
| slider this question and to bring II at least
| one stage nearer to solution
| On the eve of the second peace confer,
| ence at The Hague it will prove usetul
| to recall here the resolution introduced IN
| the house of commons by Sir Edward Grey,
| May, 1906
| that the growth of expenditure on 4arma-
| ments is excessive and ought to be re,
| duced: such expenditures lessen national
and commercial credit. intensity the unem-
! pIoyed problem, reduce the resources foI
| social reform and press with exceptional
| severity on the Industrial classes, and II
| therefore calls upon the government to
! take drastic steps to reduce the drain on
| national income, and to this end to press
| for the inclusion of the question or the
| reduction of ornaments by international
| agreement In the agenda of the forthcom-
ing Hague conference
| b
| NJ de Martaens, permanent member OF
the council of the ministry of foreign at
| fairs of Russia, when re-
Russia's Gently interviewed by the
Program. correspondent of LIE Temps,
| said
| THE program of Russia submitted since
| March, 1885, has been accepted by all the
| powers without exception. The question OF
/ disarmament or rather limitation Of mill
tary budgets submitted by Great Britain