St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1911-11-15
INTELLECTUAL FEAST
Addresses of Pres. Benton and Con.
gressman Foster Before the Com
mercial Club Mastery Efforts.


nate as to get a seat at the banquet
served under the auspices of the ST.
Johnsbury Commercial Club at Py-
THAN Hall last Thursday evening.
Benton of the University of Vermont
and Congressman D. J. Foster of
Burlington and their addresses were
of the highest order A chicken
pie supper was served by o. H.
Smith and every one of the 175 tick
cts were sold and applications made
for more but the hall would not ac-
commodate them.
At the speakers table were seated:
John Rickaby, president of the club,
President Benton, Rev. G.. W. C.
Hill, Congressman Foster and Secre-
tary Charles E. Peck. On the op-
posite side of the table were: Hen
ry Fairbanks, A. B. Noyes, James
Cosgrove, Judge w. P. Smith and F.
H. Brooks. AS soon as the dinner
was served President Rickaby called
the assemblage to order and intro
duced the Rev. Mr.. Hill as the toast
master.
Mr.. Hill in his opening remarks
said that he thought the club was to
be congratulated on being able to
have a meeting of this nature be-
cause it helps in more than a busi-
ness way 1t will be educative and
inspiring to the members and
through them will reach the whole
town. He believed the purpose of
the club was we'll expressed by a sign
at the entrance of New York store,
@|Come in without knocking and go
To Ic0
ed the regrets of Minister H. G. Ide,
who was unavoidably absent on bus
mess. He then introduced Congress
man Foster as virtually the father of
the rural free delivery system.
Congressman Foster.
After a few pleasant Introductory
remarks Congressman Foster said
he would speak regarding the Inter
national Peace Treaties. They are
part of a great world movement for
the development of a system of in
ternational Jurisprudence, of good
international manners. 1t is
movement that contemplates the
substitution of law for force in
our international dealings. The
10Th century was devoted to prepar-
ing the way for international law
and a permanent international court.
1t was period in which nations
found themselves and the United
States was one of the leaders in this
movement The opening of the CEN
tury found US 13 weak jealous
states but it's close found us mighty
nation. So also France, Germany,
Japan found themselves and were
welded into great nations during the
18th century Another influence
that prepared us for closer inter
national relations was the annihila-
ton of distance through application
of steam and electricity in the 10Th
century so the world is relatively |
smaller today than at the opening Of
the century. The new methods OF
travel have brought the people of
different nations into closer contact
and obliterated national jealousies.
A third great factor in preparation
for international jurisprudence is
the uniformity of civilization in all
sections of the world.
United States was the leader in
justice. The treaty
made with England ats the close Of
the revolutionary war provided that
certain of the disputes between the
two countries should be settled by
the first instance in
history. 1t killed John Jay, who
made it and he was subjected to
the greatest indignities because the
were not ready for such
a system of international dealings.
That treaty ushered in the system
Of international arbitration and
since that date the United States
during the 18th century made 172
That treaty lifted our
to the standard Of inter
national right.
He then stated his belief that had
President Mckinley been given 10
days more time he would have Sc
cured the independence of Cuba
without bloodshed. He cited the cas-
es of Mexico and China where the !,
United States administered the
claims of American citizens against
those countries and repaid those
countries the balance left over after
the claims had been equitably ad-
justed. In the case of Mexico time
convinced the United States that the
claims paid were fraudulent and
unjust and it repaid Mexico the
money entire.
The next great step in interna-
tional justice came so years after
LH0 Jdy treaty. LII 1910 IHIS COuuCIy
made a treaty with Mexico providing
that disputes arising in the future
should be settled by arbitration. Be
tween then and 1900, 56 other treat
les containing this provision were
made. The crowning feature in the
of international JUS
tice was the Hague conference. 1t
made plain to the world that here
after at stated periods there would
be world conference to consider
matters. With this
tribunal established we will now go
on and develop great body of in
law. Our representatives
CONTINUED on page ID