New Britain herald., 1917-04-20
AMERICA'S PART IN
 INTERNATIONAL LAW
We Must Have Voice in Forming
 Code Says Prof. Usher

Code Says Prof. Usher
 l Philadelphia, April 20.-America
 must champion the right to be con suited and considered in shaping in- ternational law, declared Professor
 Roland G. Usher, of Washington Uni- versity, of St. Louis, in an address on Americas Obligation as the De-
 fender of International Right" at | the annual meeting here today of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.
 International Law as observed in practice" he asserted, consists of the privileges which the six European powers mutually extend to each other and of the obligations which they
 recognize as binding between them- selves and, in addition, of all such privileges and immunities as they voluntarily extend to the other so- called nations and of the concessions which they exact from them.
 There can be no great doubt that the result of this system Is to define American rights and Americans obH
 gations in the terms of European in- terests and to place the decision in 1 the hands of the six European pow i CTS acting in concert. We have in practice enjoyed such privileges as they have granted. We have. with objections more or less violent and with protestations more or less loud, been compelled in the past to accept 1 their version of our obligations to- jrI,% %c of such as are at present in question, we have commonly enjoyed, though we 1 have never been in position to exact 1 Or defend them. Must Have New syStem.
 "I must emphasize the inexpediency ! of resistance to the fundamental deci- sions of the great powers. They are i too definitely at one on the main pro- portions of the international situation, , and, when united, are too over- I whelmingly powerful for us to think of successful resistance. So long as 1 this Is the system and so long as the 1 great European powers unite to sup | port it, we must acQuiesce in its exist ence. ,|s....t ..,
 T would impeach the system itself. The international right America must
  the right to be considered in shaping the basic and fundamental clements in the international problem, the right to insist that the international horizon shall be so broadened as to include not only the affairs of Europe but those of Africa, Asia and America. The obligation of America in defense of international rights as see it, is to insist that the definition of inter- national right shall be international in scope and international in purpose.
 The priciple itself is the vital thing; that the United States is nec- essary element of the international community to be consulted in all af- fairs of significance. This fact we must maintain and this fact we must defend"
 A "supernationa1 code" of princi- pies to make peace self-enforcing was outlined by pr. $. H. Patten of the University of Pennsylvania, as a sub- stitute for any attempt to impose peace by force.
 Dr. Patten was discussing "Ameri- ca's relation to the world conflict" and presenting arguments in favor of peace without force. Defining the code of principles he proposed, he said:
 "All decisions should be made by popular vote. The western world I claims to be democratic and yet in no nation is democracy trusted. Should declarations of war be de- layed until ratified by popular vote. they would not occur.
 Home rule must accompany pop ular suffrage to prevent national ma jorities from expressing minorities. The antagonisnis of race. culture, re- ligion and language could thus be avoided.
 Freedom of the seas. The ocean is common heritage that should be in the control of no nation or group. If England extends her blockade of Germany 100 miles from the German coast, Germany should be allowed all equal area about England to es- tablish her submarine blockade. and We should claim the same zone for l our coast defense. But other parts of the oceans should be open to all l on equal terms.
 t'No nation should be allowed to enact export taxes on raw material. The natural advantages are so un- equally distributed that virtual slavery can be maintained if some world necessity were controlled by one nation or if a group of nations should conspire to control world l commerce. ]
 "A fair distribution of tropical areas ! among commercial nations. All na- ! tions need tropical region to com ] plement their home trade. There is ten times the quantity of tropical land to meet this condition. Cuba could