The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1909-05-08

dress by Congressman Richard Bar.
tholdt Of Missouri. president of the
American Group. Interparliamentary
union. Another paper that met with
deserved applause was that OF Edwin
D. Mead of Boston on THE Arrest In
Competitive Aiming in Fidelity to The
Hague Movement"
Competitive Aiming.
In discussing this question, Mr..
Mead said:
Let us consider simply Great Brit
aip Germany and the United States.
1t is unnecessary to go further, be-
cause these three nations control the
situation, and they are the chief sim
ners. If these three nations began to-
day to act, with reference to arma-
ments, in accordance with the spirit
and purpose of The Hague convention,
the peace and order of the world
would be assured tomorrow.
In 1898 Great Britain spent on her
navy $124.OOO.O00; Germany spent
| $29,OO0.00O; and the United States
spent $50,OO0,000. Last year Great
Britain spent 3170,OOO,0OO; Germany,
$50, 100000: and the United States,
| $1O4. 100000. The increase in precise
ly ten years when there should have
been decrease was enormous. Our
own army expenses last year were as
great as our navy expenses. Our navy
expenses this year will be $4,000, 900
greater than last year. We are to-
day paying for expenses Of past wars
and preparations for possible wars IS
per cent. practically two-thirds, of
our total national revenue. leaving
barely one-third available for all con-
structive purposes. What would Wash
ington and Jefferson and Franklin say
to this? We know what they did say
about things of this sort. They would
say to-day that the republic was stand
ing ON its head.
Hope for the Future.
This is what has come about in
ten years III these three nations be-
cause The Hague conference in 1899
did nothing about the reduction or ar
rest of ornaments. AS we now look
back, we see that it could not do much
directly at that time. The war sys-
tenn of nations could be supplanted
only by the gradual development of
system of international law and JUS
tice to take its place. When the first
Hague conference created the inter
national tribunal, 1t did indirectly the
most probably which 1t could do in be-
half of the reduction of armaments,
because 1t took long step in furnish
ing the nations with such legal ma
chinery for the settlement of their diff
ferences as makes recourse to war
machinery more and more unneces-
sary and inexcusable. 1t has been in
the line of this thought that the in
ternational lawyers have had their
hopeful assurance. Develop the legal
machinery, they said, and the arma-
ments will perforce crumble of their
own dead weight.
THE continued and rapid develop
ment during the decade of provision
for the peaceful settlement of interna-
tional disputes has been something un-
paralleled in history. The leaders of
the movement for international justice
are sometimes reproached with being
dreamers. The only trouble with them
In the past ten years has been that, so
far as the development of the instru-
ments Of international Justice are con-
cerned, they have not been able to
dream daringly enough or fast enough
to keep up with the facts"
Among the diplomats who came to
Chicago to attend the Peace congress
were: Ambassador Count johann
Heinrich Won Bernstorff OF Germany;
Herman de Lagercrantz, envoy from
Sweden; WI Ting Fang. envoy from
China; Alfred Mitchell Innes, coun-
selor Of the British embassy, and DR..
Halvdan Kont of the University of
Norway. The Japanese, Turkish and
French embassies also were repre-
sented.