Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-05-29
We HAVE TAKEN
BACKWARD step
JOHN BASsETT MOORE
SPEAKS BEFORE CONFER
ENCE ON PEACE.
JAY PROPOSED ARBITRATION
First Treaties In 1794-Took Ad.
vanced Ground Not Taken
By Nations Now.
JAY PROPOSED ARBITRATION

nual Lake MOhOnk Conference on In
ternational Arbitration here today, de-
clared that existing arbitration treat
les were backward steps. AS far back
as 1874 he found the United States
and Great Britain admitting to arbi-
tration in a sweeping manner certain
points which would be subject to exI
ception or restriction under the treaty
with Great Britain today.
Have Taken Backward Step. i
"As we are somewhat prone to-
boast of leading the van in the cause
of peace, it may be worth our while
to consider" he said, whether we
should not occupy a position more ad-
vanced than that which we now hold
If we were to go back to the practice
we adopted a hundred and twenty
years ago."
Mr.. Moore, whose resignation last
March from the high Office Of uns
Ior of the State Department stirred
Washington with rumOrs of a clash
with Secretary Bryan. made no attack
upon the policies of his former chief!
He spoke ~fa"orably Of the pending
Bryan Peace Treaties"
The Address. i
His address was "A Survey of the
Present Situation"
He deplored that the cases of arbi-
tration initiated during the past two
years have not in any respect been
notable-related as they were for the
most part to simply pecuniary ques-
tions,! and that wen these had been
Ov~ershadoWed by armed conflicts OF
exceptional destructiveness," particu-
larly in the Balkans where the end of
hostilities was not yet assured.
"Every century," he said, hopefully,
furnishes occasions when the out
look of good causes is discouraging,
if not almost hopeless. At such times
1t is necessary to rise above present
conditions in order to take heart for
the future" I
Made Striking Advances. $3.50.
There was no doubt but that since
the Lake Mohonk Conferences began
twenty years ago the u of inter-
national Cooperation" as he put it,,
had made striking advances, the most
remarkable instances of which were
the two Hague Conferences in 1893
and 1907.
But the numerous treaties conclud-
ed since the Hague convention for the
purpose of making arbitration obliga-
tory in certain cases, do not, in my
opinion. he said, represent a gem
eral advance, and certainly do not re-
present an advance on the part of the
United States" =.
Hague Excepts Nothing.
He POINTED out that the Hague con-
ventioh'~ although it does not In
terms make arbitration obligatory in
any case, it expects nothing from the
scope of arbitration, but the numer-
ous treaties since concluded, starting
with that between France and Great
Britain as a model in 1903, have *
cepted from arbitration at The
Hague differences affecting the vital
interests; the independence, or the
honor of the two countries, or concern
ing the interests of third parties. /,
Treaties Behind Practice.
$50 far as the United States and
Great Britain are concerned" Mr..
Moore continued, the clause (mean-
ing the. clause of exceptions in the
ttreaties) ran far behind the actual
practice of these countries, for they
had on numerous occasions submitted
to arbitration questions which had
been considered as effecting the
'rcnor' of the two parties-as was
particularly true of the Geneva Arbi-
tration relating to the Alabama claims
Advance Peace. /
Nevertheless, the Government of
the United States, no doubt urged
thereto by those who desired to ad-
vance the cause of international
peace, signed treaties with various
powers in the precise terms of the
British French arrangement. These
treaties provided that the contracting
parties should in each individual
case, before appealing to the perma.
nent court of arbitration, conclude
a special agreement defining the mat
ter in dispute, the scope of the arbi-
traitors powers and the procedure to
be followed. The Senate amended this
clause so as to require its own adj
vice and consent to be given in each
particular case. The effect of this
amendment was to require a newt
treaty to be made before any question
could be submitted to arbitration. !
Harder to Obtain. =. 49,
."The result of this action is that, sd
far as the United States is concerned,
it is in practice more difficult to Sc
cure international arbitration than it
was in the early days of our indeI
pendence. Although this statement
may occasion some surprise, its cor
rectness may easily be demonstrated.
prior to 1908 it was the practicd
of the United States to arbitrate
pecuniary claims against foreign gov
ernments without concluding a formal
treaty. Twenty V of our interna-
tional arbitrations on such claims up
to 1908 were held under executive
agreements as against 10 under treat
les. The former method is now for
hidden.
!. Jay Proposed Arbitration. (
. eve may go back to 1894 and find
in Article 7 of the Jay treaty a pro-
vision for the reference to a mixed!
commission of all complaints made
by citizens of the United States for
loss and damage by reason of irregu-
lar or illegal captures or condemnaI
tS1vr ~ v1rr4l, ~. -kl.o ~ AN