New-York tribune., 1908-02-21
THE ARBITRATION TREATIES.

The new arbitration treaties which have been
I negotiated with various countries i'll pursuance
of the policy recommended at The Hague are
reported to provide that for each act Of arbitra-
| ton there shall be special agreement" which
| shall be submitted TO the Senate for its ratiti-
! cation or rejection after the manner of ordi-
! nary treaties, thus obviating the objection
which the Senate made to former arbitra-
ton treaty and assuring the ratification of
! these conventions. This arrangement,
| which is apparently successful affords cause for
some qualification; for while arbitration is by 70
| means an infallible panacea for international
! Ills and while it would be possible and easy TO
Overrate or msapply it, on the whole the dis
| Greet recognition and practice of it will doubt
! less promote a material betterment of inter
national relations. 1t is therefore we'll to
| have the diplomatic or judicial machinery for
promptly resorting to arbitration in as COM
] plete and workable condition as possible. And
that, as we understand it, is the object of these
| treaties.
The provision to which have referred was
| inserted, of course, a recognition Of the right
and duty of the Senate to exercise q certain
| supervisory power including the veto power,
over the foreign transactions of the govern
ment The precise extent of that power has
| long been a subject of controversy, and no COM
| plete determination of it has yet been reached.
There is no dispute to the constitutional
| of the Senates ratification of treaties or as to
| its right TO ratify to reject at will. Some
have called into question the right of the Sen
ate 10 amend treaty after its negotia ton hold
ing that it should either ratify reject it it
| stands; while, on the other hand, at least one
! President on one noteworthy occasion submit
ted tentative outline of q proposed treaty
10 the Senate before negotiating it, for th
ate TO pass upon in advance and practically to
dictate TO him the sort of treaty which it would
be willing to ratfy if he would or could negoti-
ate it.
In the present case the question really is
whether the Senate can or should approve a
general treaty providing for subsequent and
supplementary negotiations, agreements or
treaties which should not be submitted to it
for ratification; or whether, having ratified a
treaty, the Senate must or should also pass
upon every additional act which may be per-
formed by the government under that treaty as
contemplated in the original treaty itself. There
is probably ground for argument that the Sen
ate could properly thus waive the privilege of
passing individually upon the sequential details
of a scheme to which it had given its general
and comprehensive sanction, and there is also
ground for strong contention on the other side
which now appears TO have prevailed. In these
treaties the government makes general agree
ment to make specific agreements for arbitra-
ton whenever ccasions arise. But these lat
ter Will all be In an established FORM so that
really the only question for the Senate to de-
eide concerning them will be whether the mat
tefs in hand are or are not suitable for sub
mission to arbitration. 1t is obviously neces-
sary for some authority TO determine that So
long as ii is hed-and ii may always be held
that there some matters which the nation
should not and can not submit to arbitration
each proposal for arbitration must be indi-
vidually considered and its fitness determined
That ie =omethIng which cannot be done auto
naticaliy under Il general convention And the