River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1910-05-12

| see my own nation do.
Treaties of Arbitration.
| The advance can be made alont
several lines First of all there car
be treaties of arbitration. There are
| of course, states SO backward that Z
civilized community ought not to en-
| ter into an arbitration treaty with
| them, at least until we have gone
much further than at present in sc
curing some kind OF international pc
lice action. But all really civilized
communities should have effective ar
| bitration treaties among themselves
believe that these treaties can cover
almost all questions liable to arise be
tween such nations, if they are drawn
with the explicit agreement that each
contracting party will respect the 9th.
er's territory and absolute sovereignty
within that territory, and the equally
explicit agreement that (aside from
the very rare cases where the nations
honor is vitality concerned) all other
possible subjects of controversy Will
be submitted to arbitration. Such q
party deliberately violated it. OF
course, as yet there is no adequate
safeguard against such deliberate V1o-
lation, but the establishment OF a
sufficient number of these treaties
would go long way towards creating
world opinion which would finally
find expression in the provision Of
methods to forbid or punish any such
violation.
Work of Hague Tribunal.
Secondly, there is the further de-
velopment of The Hague tribunal, Of
the work of the conferences and courts
at The Hague. 1t has been well said
that the first Hague conference
framed a Magma Charta for the ma
tions; it set before us an ideal which
has already to some extent been real
lied, and towards the full realization
of which we can all steadily strive.
The second conference made further
progress; the third should do yet
more. Meanwhile the American gov
eminent has more than once tenta-
lively suggested methods for COM
pleting the court Of arbitral justice,
constituted at the second Hague con-
ference, and for rendering it effective.
1t is earnestly to be hoped that the
various governments of Europe, work
ing with those of America and of
Asia, shall set themselves seriously to
the task of devising some method
which shall accomplish this result. If
l may venture the suggestion, it would
be we'll for the statesmen of the
world, in planning for the erection of
this world court, to study what has
been done in the United States by the
Supreme court. l cannot help think
ing that the Constitution of the United
States, notably in the establishment
of the Supreme court and in the
methods adopted for securing peace
and good relations among and be-
tween the different states, offers GER
tain valuable analogies to what should
be striven for in order to secure,
through The Hague courts and confer
ences, a species of world federation
for international peace and justice.
Undue Growth of Armaments.
In the third place, something should
be done as soon as possible to check
the growth of ornaments, especially
naval ornaments, by international
agreement. No one power could or
should act by itself; for it is eminent
ly undesirable, from the standpoint of
the peace of righteousness, that a
power which really does believe in
peace should place itself at the mercy
of some rival which may at bottom
have no such belief and no intention
of acting on it. But, granted sim
cerity of purpose, the great powers Of
the world should find no insurmount-
able difficulty in reaching an agree
ment which would put an end to the
present costly and growing extrava-
gance of expenditure on naval arma-
ments.
Finally, it would be a master stroke
if those great powers honestly bent on
peace would form a league of peace,
not only to keep the peace among
themselves, but to prevent, by force if
necessary, it's being broken by others.
The supreme difficulty in connection
with developing the peace work of
The Hague arises from the lack OF any
executive power, of any police power
to enforce the decree of the court.
In any community of any size the au-
thority of the courts rests upon actual
or potential force; on the existence of
a police, or on the knowledge that the
able-bodied men of the country are
both ready and willing to see that the
DEGREES of judicial and legislative
bodies are put into effect. In new and
wild communities where there is vio-
lence, an honest man must protect
himself; and until other means of Sc
curing his safety are devised, it is
both foolish and wicked to persuade
him to surrender his arms while the
men who are dangerous to the COM
munitv retain theirs. He should not
renounce the right to protect himself
by his own efforts until the commu-
nifty is so organized that it can effec-
lively relieve the individual of the
duty of putting down violence. So it
is with nations. Each nation must
keep well prepared to defend itself uEF
til the establishment of some forE
of international police power, coupe
tent and willing to prevent violence IS
between nations.