The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-17
PLANS FOR LEAGUE OF PEACE OUTLINED
 BY TAFT IN SPEECH
Continued from Page One,

| livering the keynote speech. Others who spoke were President Lowell of Harvard, Oscar Straus, Hamilton Holt.
 and former Judge George Gray of Della lwaie.
 Tn calling this meeting" MT Taft
 saio. my associates and I have beer Iaware that we might be likened to the 'Tailors of Tooley Street who mistook
 themselves for the people of England. We wish first to say that we do not rep
 resent anybody but ourselves.
 "To those who differ with us in our view of the necessity Of this feature of possible force in our plan, we say
 we admit your claim to sincere patriot
 ism to be as just as ours. We do not ascribe your desire to avoid war to be
 B fear of death to yourselves or your
 sons; but rather to your sense of the
 horrors, injustice and ineffdctiveness of settling any international issue by such brutal arbitrament. Nevertheless, we differ with you in Judgment that ], in the world of nations as they are. war
 can be completely avoided. Nor are
 we militants or jingoes. We are trying
 to follow middle path.
 | Two Tribunals 1 Now what is the machinery. n resort | to which we wish to forcs an intending l billigerent of the league: It consists of two tribunals to one of which every | issue must be submitted. Issues be-
 tween nations are of two classes l First, issues that can be decided on | fvla af tafo finn al lo md
 equity called justifiable. Second, issues that cannot be decided on such princi ples of law and equity. but which might
 be quite as irritating and provocative
 oi war. called non justifiable. "We propose that for jussifiablc ques- tions we shall have an impartial court to which all questions arisIng between members of the league shall be sub initted. If the court finds the question justifiable, it shall decide It. If it does
 not it shall refer it to a commission of lconciliation to investigate, confer, hear argument and recommend a compro- mise.
 We do not propose to enforce com
 pliance either with the courts iudg-
 inent or the conciliation commissions recommendation. We feel that we ought
 not to attempt too much-we believe
 that the forced submission and the step Itaken to reach the compromise rendered will form material induceinent to peace
 Tn it's practical application difficult l ties now unforeseen may arise. but we
 believe the league offers a working hy- pothesis upon which a successful ar
 rangement can be made.
 We are not here to suggest a means lDf bringing this war to an end; much
 as that is to be desired and much as
 we would be willing to do to secure peace
 it is not within the project of the pres
 ent meeting.
 | Hope for Peace 1 We hope for peace and our hopes of | its coming in the near future are suffi- cient to make us think the present is
 a good time to formulate a series of pro- posals to which the assent of number of the great powers could be secured. We | think a League of Peace could be formed ! which would enable nations to avoid war
 by furnishing a practical means of set- | tling international quarrels or suspending
 them until the blindlng heat of assion has cooled.
 Tn no war has the direct interest that | neutrals have in preventing war be- | tween neighbors been so clearly made | known. This interest of neutrals has | been so forced upon them that 1t would
 require only a slight development and
 growth into a right to be consulted be- fore such a war among neighbors can be begun. This step we hope to have i taken by the formation of a peace league of the great powers whose fundamental principle shall be that no war can take place between any two members of the league until they have resorted to the
 machinery that the league proposes to | furnish to settle the controversy likely | to lead to war
 | "If any member refuses to use this machinery. all members of the league agree to defend the member attacked | by force.
 Not Peace-at-Any-Price "We do not think the ultimate resort
 to force can be safely omitted from an effective league of peace. We are not peace-at-any-price men. because we do not think we have reached the time when
 a plan based on the complete abolition of war is practicable We do not think lit necessary to call peace-at-any- price
 men towards, or apply other epithets to them We have known in history the most noble characters who adhered to such a view and yet whose physical and
 moral courage is a heritage of mankind. ] We are greeted first by the oh- lection that no treaties can prevent war. We realize that nations are some | times utterly immoral in breaking treaties and shamelessly bold in avo1- ing their right to do so on the ground 1 of necessity: but this Is not always
 tho case. We cannot give up treaties
 because sometimes they are broken.
 We decline to assume that all nations l are always dishonorable.
 "1t is objected that we only propose | to include the more powerful nations We'll gladly include them all. But we
 don't propose to have the constitution
 of our court com mplicated by a demand for equal representation of the many smaller nations. We believe that when we have league of larger powers the
 smaller powers will be glad to come in
 and enjoy the protection the league will afford against the unjust aggres- sion of the strong against the weak" | Mir Holt said the best way to bring about the disarmament of the nations was to form a League of Peace based l on the principle of the American form l of government.
 i Mir straus said that history and tho present war give uncontrovertihle l proof that righteousness will not pro- tect a nation unless other nations are
 exalted by righteousness. History of