The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-18
COURT IF ARBITRAL
 JUSTICE PLANNED
Distinguished Men Take. Part
 in Conference
CLOSE OF THE SESSION
Trend of tho Discussion Is Toward
 Abolishment of War and the Per- '-A manent Establishment of
 k International Peace

washington, December 17.-With tho word peace conspicuous not only in the decorations of the room in which dis tinguished array of diplomats, interna- tional jurists and lawyers gathered. but as the subject of all the speeches. the in- ternational conference of the American Society for Judicial Settlement of Inter national Disputes closed tonight with a banquet addressed by President Taft and number of other distinguished speakers Gen. Stuart L. woodford, United States ambassador to Spain when the Spanish American war broke out, was the toast master
 Besides a speech by President Taft others were made by the French ambas- sador, Joseph H. Choate Maj. Gen. Fred erick D. Grant, Richard Bartholdt, Mar tin W. Littleton, Thomas Nelson Page and W. Bourke Cochran.
 The banquet concluded three days pro- gramme of speeches principally on the question of the establishment of perm anent court of arbitral justice. James Brown Scott, president of the society, de- elared tonight that conference of this character had never before been wit
 
 messed in this or any other country
 Abolishment of War
 The general trend of discussion was to- ward the abolishment of war, an ideal for which Andrew Carnegie has just donated s11,s0o,o0O to help realize.
 The analogy of the supreme court as an international law court that may be used as a prototype for the international tri- bunal rejuvenated the conception of the sovereignty of the states of the United States, conspicuous in the days of Web ster and Clay.
 Public opinion as to the sovereignty of all nations was cited by many speakers as the real force which would have to be developed to make the permanent court of arbitral justice reality.
 Just before the closing session ad- journed at noon today President Taft was reelected honorary president and John Hays Hammond was elected president; Governor-elect Simeon E. Baldwin of Connecticut, vice president; Theodore Marburg of Baltimore, secretary; J. G. Schmidlapp, Cincinnati, treasurer.
 The executive committee will be: H. B. F. MacFarland of Washington, W. w. Willoughby of Baltimore and James Brown Scott of Washington, the retiring president of the society.
 Burke Cockran's Speech
 International lunacy was the way in which w. Bourke Cochran, former rep resentative from New York, referred to the competition between the nations of the world to outdo each other in the strength of their naval armaments. He declared it was mad waste of money which was keeping the nations poor and was the principal cause of the high cost of living.
 MT. Cochran expressed the opinion that the era in the history of the worlds civil ization when armaments could safely be done away with had been reached.
 This society,"" he said, lis proposing the only effective measure by which that purpose can be accomplished. The dis tinguishing characteristic of man in this age is his passion for justice''
 The speaker asserted that the method by which justice can be made absolutely clear is the establishment by agreements among the nations of tribunal composed Of representatives from every civilized country.
 T think 1t capable of demonstration he declared, that the increased cost of living throughout the world is due to the enormous waste of property caused by the peculiar international insanity which of late years has assumed the form of fren- zed competition between nations to es- tablsh the most extensive equipment for destruction
 ''I know it has been suggested that the
 
 of living in this country. I am utterly opposed to tariff for protection in any form. There is only one way to reform q protective tariff and that is to end 1t, root and branch"
 Mir. Cochran then compared free trade England with this country, showing that there also the cost of living has risen, thus seeking to demonstrate that the tariff has little to do with higher prices. There remains but one source of waste, he asserted. which accounts for it, and that is the enormous expenditures for ornaments which all nations have been making of recent years. Every penny employed in armament is a waste of treasure.
 In conclusion he expressed the opinion that the international arbitration idea must prevail and by its success the peace of the world made perpetual.
 General Grants Speech
 Maj. Gen. Frederick D. Grant, son of Gen. Ulysses s. Grant, whose words, Let us have peace, have been closely asso- ciated with his military achievements, was one of the speakers. He read a let ter written by President Grant in 1879 to the Universal Peace union in which he suggested a permanent court of ar bitration, the development of which is one of the chief objects of the confer once of the American Society on Judicial Settlements The letter said in part:
 'T look forward to day when there will be courts established that shall be recognized by all nations which will take into consideration all differences between nations and settle by arbitration or de- cision of such courts these questions"
 Major General Grant said he believed the United States army was not "an in- .strument of aggression, but that it stood for the maintenance of peace. He added that an army always will be necessary to uphold the decisions of The Hague conferences as we'll as to prevent inter-