The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1910-06-11
ARBITRATION VERSUS SELF.
REDRESS.

AS surely as the duel has given
place, among individuals, to the
court Of justice, will the awful
arbitrament Of var giIa, way to
the international tribunal; also,
as a corollary to this, it may be
written down that as the court Of
justice has back Of it for the en-
forcement of its DEGREES the punt
tive machinery Of the govern
ment, so will the international
court be backed by some form Of
international police, composed Of
limited naval and military forces,
in which each Of the signatories
to the international court will be
represented.
One of the brightest auguries
of the dawn Of a worldwide peace
is to be found in the fiji hat it
has become the fashion, during
the past year or two, too peak Of
armies and navies as me as for
the preservation Of peace. When
the leaders of the world. be they
presidents, kings, or cmperor>. de-
clare that every increase in the
armed strength Of their res
pective countries is undertaken
for the express purpose Of pre-
serving peace, the statement is
generally accepted as sincere. Al
though the advocates Of peace by
arbitration deplore the enormous
investment Of treasure, time, and
labor involved in the maintenance
of the vast military organizations
of the civilized world, they are
beginning to believe that the ad-
vocates OF peace by war are as
anxious as they themselves that
the worlds peace be permanent
+ly preserved. =.
The establishment Of the noble
principle Of international arbitra-
ton will be, after all, merely a
repetition in the international
world Of a process Of evolution
from barbarism too civilization,
which has long ago taken place in
theindividual national world. Far
back in the beginnings Of human
history, the principal Of self-re-
dress was paramount. If wrong
or fancied wrong was done, the
injured party encompassed the
death Of his enemy by such ready
means as might be at hand. Grad
ually, with the growth Of intelli-
gence, it was realized, not only
that the injured party was a poor
judge Of his own cause, but that
the principle Of self-redress was
subversive Of the peace and hap
piness of the community. It was
realized, also, that the man whose
brain was clouded. with the smoke
Of furious passion, was not so
well qualified a judge as some
third and d~isinterested party, who
could look upon the case in dis
pute with an impartial eye; and
so, gradually but surely, the prin-
ciple. Of arbitration took s hape
and became the stable rock on
which our wonderful modern sys-
tenn Of national jurisprudence
has been erected.
We have before us a lucid re-
view Of the growth Of the princi-
pie Of national arbitration in a
pamphlet published by the Mary
land Peace Society and written
by James Brown Scott, lecturer
international law in the George
Washington and Johns Hopkins
universities. He refers to the
three stages which were shown in
the development Of the celebrat-
ed Roman judicial system, which
were as follows: Cd The primary
litigant submitted his controver-
sy to an arbiter Of his own choice
for decision according to the con-
science Of a good and impartial
man; (2) the magistrate or judge
chosen from an official list or
panel is preferred to a citizen ar
bitrator; ~ the administration
Of justice is regarded as the duty
and therefore the right Of the
State, and a judicial system is
prepared for and imposed upon
the citizen.
The author of the paper sees
the same unconscious development
taking place in the gradual
growth Of arbitration between
states. In early times they would