New Britain herald., 1916-05-22


 will use their combined power, if
 necessary, to force any nation with a
 grievance to submit it's difficulty to an
 international court, or to a council
 of conciliation before declaring war
 The tentative platform Of the
 league reads as follows: We believe
 it to be desirable for the United
 States to join a league of nations
 binding the signatures to the follow
 ing:
 4 Article one All justiciable ques-
 tions arising between the slgnatory 1 powers not settled by negotiations.
 shall, subject to the limitation of
 treaties, be submitted to a judicial
 tribunal for hearing and judgment
 both upon the merits and upon any
 issue as to it's Jurisdiction of the | question.
 Article two. All other questions 1 arising between the signatories and submitted to a council Of consilia- ton for hearing, consideration, and | recommendation.
 Article three. The signatOry DOW CTS shall jointly use forthwith both l their economic and military forces 1 against anyone of their number that | goes to war, or commits acts of hos i tility, against another of the sigma 1 tories before any question arising 1 shall be submitted provided in the foregoing.
 Article four. Conferences between 1 the signatory powers shall be held from time to time to formulate and codify rules of international law 1 which, unless some signatorv shall l signify it's dissent within a stated per l iod, shall thereafter govern in the decision of the judicial tribunal men, toned in article one. ic The securing of such a league Of nations does not lie beyond the sphere of the possible.
 1. For a long time there has been a recognition of the worth of the Hague tribunal; but there has also grown to be a feeling that it was far from enough. Many difficulties between nations have been adjusted 1 by Hague tribunals and many wars have been nipped in the bud thereby The great lack in the Hague Tribunal lies in the fact that it is not really a court at all; it is merely a specified group of persons from among whom special adjusters of differences may be drawn at the desire of disputants general feeling prevails that there should be an international court of a permanent character, which should have a relation to the nations simi- lar to that which our supreme court holds to the several states of the Union.
 2. Even in the midst of war the belligerent nations have shown a de- sire to conform as far as possi ble. to such international law as exists They may not have succeeded in every case; but it is a significant matter that they have not thrown it to the winds. There is a sense of interna- tional responsibility remaining in the international life in spite of war.
 3. European statesmen have been turning toward partnership, since the time-honored theory of a balance of power has proven inadequate to maintain the peace of Europe. The theory of the balance of power aimed to secure by treaties and alliances two groups of European nations as nearly equal in military strength as possible so that neither group nor any one nation should feel strong enough to become aggressor, Premier Asquith in an address in Dublin, Septem Der 25, 1914 spoke of 'the substitution for force, for the clashing of competing ambitions, for groupings and alliances and precarlous equipoise, of a real European partnership, based on the recognition of equal rights and es- tablished and enforced bv the com mon will.' I have at hand no uuota. tiOn from German statesmen. but a reference from a dispatch of Sir Ed ward Grey reveals the trend of Ger man ideas. He wrote at the last des- perate moment before war was de- clared: II the peace of Europe can be preserved, and the present crisis safely passed my own endeavor will be to promote some arrangement +o which Germany could be a party. bv which she could be assured that no aggressive or hostile policy would be pursued against her or her allies bv France, Russia ourselves, jointly or separately. I have desired this and worked for it. as far as I could through the last Balkan crisis and Germany having a corresponding ob- Ject, our relations SenSibly improved The idea has hitherto been too Upto- plan to form the subject of definite proposals; but if this present crisis so much more acute than any that Europe has gone through for genera tions, be safely passed, I am hopeful that the relief and reaction which will follow may make possible some more definite reapproachment be- sible hitherto.
 f. America can no longer avoid being a prominent figure in world