Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-12-30
AN INTERNATIONAL
LAW CODE NEEDED
Says EL|HU ROOT
Powerful international Tribu.
nails Are Also Necessary for
the Real Restraint of
Nations.

Washington. Dec. aS.--In the real r..
straint of nations by powerful inter-
national tribunals operating under a
definite code of laws alone lies hope of
world peace, Elihu Root, former secro-
tary OF state and senator from New
YORK, declared in an address here to-
night He was speaking before a joint
session of a subsection on international
law. from the pan-American scientific
congress and the American Society Of
International Law, of which he is presi-
dent.
THE Christian church has been urg-
ing peace and good viii among men for
10 centuries, and still there is war -
said Mr.. Root. i'm par, Concerts of
Europe and alliances and ententes and
shilfu balance Of power all lead ultj-
matcly to war When this war IS end
ed. the civilized world will have to deter
mine whether what we call international
law is to he continued as a mere code
of etiquette or is to be n real body of
laws imposing obligations much more
definite and inevitable than they have
been heretofore.
There is some reason to think that
after the terrible experience through
W
be tendency to strengthen rather than
abandon the laW of nations.
while the war has exhibited the in
adequacy of Internal ional law, so far
as it has yet developed TO curb these
governmental policies which aim to eX-
tend power at all costs. 1t has shown
even more clearly that little reliance can
be placed upon unrcstra'ned human ma
80,
commit forcible aggression IN the pursuit
Of power and wealth.
"Irow can the restraints cf law be made
more effective upon m tons 1t is not
difficult to suggest some things which
will tend in that direction Laws to he
obeycd must have sanctions behind thcm
that is to say. violations Of them must
be followed by punishment That punish-
ment must be caused by powers superior
to the lawbreaker. Many States have
grown so great that there Is no power
capable of imposing punishment upon
them except the power of collective
civilization outside of the offending state
Any exercise of that power must he
based upon public opinion-wthout such
an opinion behind It no punishment of
any kind can be imposed for the viola
ton of international law. .
II think there Is ground for the hope
that from the horrors OF violated law a
stronger law will come. We may
hope that there will be a great new de-
partire to escape destruction hv subject
ing the nations tn the rule Of law
During all the desperate struCrlcs
and emergencies of tho great war the
conflicting nations from the beginning
have been competing for the favorablc
Judgment of the rest of the world with
solicitude which shows what a
mighty power even now that opinion
is. Nor can We doubt that this will be
n different world when peace comes
1T may be that out of the great
conflict may arise IL general conscious
ness that it is the people who arc to hc
considered. their rights and liberties
to govern and h" governed for them
selves, rather than rulers ambitions
and policies of ACKNOWLEDGMENT If
that he SO our hopes will be realized,
for autocraCy can protect itself by ar
hitrarv power but the people can pro-
tcct themselves only by the rule of
law
During a day session Dr Jacob Gould
Schurman of Cornell University pro-
dictcd the settlement Of future con-
troversics by arbitration. Force as a
moral means of settling controversies
/ had failed. he said.