The Alaska daily empire., 1916-03-16

AUTHORITY ANSWERS
 ROOFS ARGUMENTS
 EDITORS NoTE-The follow
 Ing artlcls lu angwer Co Senator
 Rooeo attack on the admlnlstra-
 tion for not acting when Ger
 many Invaded Belgium wao wrlt-
 ten by John N. Burgess, an author
 ity on International Law and a
 Republican, and was printed in
 the New York Evening Mall a
 Republican newspaper.-EnlToR.
 MT. Elihu Root is reported to have said In his address to the state com vention of his party in Carnegie Hall, February 10. thot at the time Of the entrance of the German forces Into Belgium an the parties in tho war were parties Of the fifth Hague con. vention of 1907. Mir. Root ought to know about that, since he was secre- tary Of state Of the United States that is. tho chief diplomatic officer Of the government-at the time. Never theless. as an old student of lnterna- tlonal law and the history of diplom- acy. older even than he and interest cd scientifically in getting nt the ex- act truth ln this matter and every oth- CT mattery of history, am compelled to call his statement most respectfully in question.
 Question Called.
 According to MT. James Brown Scott's work on "Thc Hague conven- tions and Declarations of 1899 and 19O7." published in tho summer of 1915. two ol the parties to tho pres ont war have never ratified this con- ventlon. viz. Great Britain and Serbia. Mir. James Brown Scott was the sec retary Of our delegation at The Hague convention of 1907 and is an accurate scholar. having scientific interest in the truthfulness of his statements.
 Now. tho German troops entered Belgium on August q. 1914 Serbia was a party Co the war on and after July 2S preceding. Great Britain de- clared war formally against Germany on August 4. a few hours after the en- trance of the German troops Into Bel gium. but she had two days before this. according to the statement Of Sir Edward Grey in No. 148 of the so- called British White Paper" assured France that she would enter the war as Frances ally in case of war be- tween France and Germany, and France was a party to the war before the German forces were in Belgium.
 Not Partes to Convention
 Thus two of the parties to the war Serbia and Great Britain. the one both formally and actually. the other prac- tically, # not formally. were not par lies to the fifth Hague convention Of 1907 at the moment when the German forces entered Belgium. This fact abrogates thls fifth Hague convention altogether during this war. because the goth article of the convention de- ciares:
 The provisions of the present
 convention do not apply except be-
 tween contracting powers. and
 then only # an the beiligerents
 are parties Go the convention.
 Moreover. it must be remembered that in ratifying this convention the government of the United States laid down the express condition that noth- ing contained in the convention should be construed as requiring Che United States to interfere or entaugie itself in or with the political questions of foreign states or to relinQulsh its tra- ditional attitude toward purely Ameri- can questions.
 So far as ] can comprehend the is- sues and events. the claim of Mir. Root that this country was obligated to interfere in the conflict between Ger many and Belgium. and his criticism of the administration for not having done SO. have no foundation of any kind. least Of an any legal foundation.
 The Better Policy.
 am 8 Republican of tho first gen. eratlon. an older Republican than Mir. Root himseA My Republicanism be- gan on the battleiields of the Civil War. My first vote was cast for Gen. Grant for President and have never