The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-09-05
INTERNATIONAL
JUSTICE
Secretary Lsns;ng's Address Today
Before American Bar Associa-
ton Convention In
Boston.

] Boston:
lIUnited Press Leased Wire Service.l
BOSTON, Mass, Sept. 5.-Interna-
tional Justice, interpreted and applied
by an impartial court, can do more to
prevent future wars than any agency,
single or collective, operating in the
sphere of diplomacy.
| This note was sounded repeatedly
lin the address of Secretary Lansing
| to members OF the American Bar as
ISOLATION here this afternoon.
international democracy exists in
the sphere Of legal justice and, up to
the present time, in no other rela-
tions between nations" Lansing as
Iserted.
Continuing, he advocated establish
ment of an international tribunal or
tribunals of justice, with The Hague
court as foundation and a concise
body of legal principles
Taking as his subject some ques'
lions of the peace conference, Ian
sing compared international lew ana
diplomatic procedure as means OF set
! ting disputes between nations.
Asserting that nine-tenths of all in
ternational controversies arise over
questions of sovereign rights, Lansing
advanced the opinion that the manda-
tory system must stand the test or
the legality of its sovereign rights. II
the system is not worked out from
the legal point of view 1t Will result
| in confusion, he SAID
Lansing aroused keen interest when
he explained the processes by which
the commission reached It's decision
regarding the fate of the former Ger
man emperor and others charged WIN
responsibility for the war.
In view of Germany's conduct during
the war. he explained, the difficulty
in maintaining strictly Judlc1ai point
of view IN arriving at decisions.
.In the end" he said, 1T was lie
c,ded that a report could not be made
~ arging the kaiser with legal Grim
in,I;tv for beginning the war or in
vading Belgium and Luxembourg. 1t
was recognized that he had committed
great moral crime, an objectionable
offense against humanity, but the COM
mission was forced to find that there
wac no positive law declaring such
acts as he had committed to be Grim
inal and imposing penalty on the
narnetrator. The decision was reach
/ ad with reluctance, because of the
Arm conviction the German ruler was
guilty. although his guilt was not OF
q nature which could be declared and
furnished by judicial tribunal
Quoting the contention OF the rep
resentatives of the United States on
the committee that 1t was a matter
| for statesmen, not for Judges, TO de-
! tarmine whether or not the V1olators
of the treaties guaranteeing the neu-
l. rality of Belgium and OF Luxembourg
should be subjected to political
sanction" Lansing declared the dis
tinction between political sanction
and a judicial sanction determines
the basis of the right to impose PEN
Turning to the question of interna-
Turning the question of fnterna-
tionalism, Lansing pointed out that
.however safe this country may be
from the more pernicious forms Of
this doctrine, and however confidently
we may rely on the sound common
sense of the American people, we
cannot ignore the dangerous posi-
lbiJity that moderate forms may under
certain influences develop into ex-
tremes and threaten our political in
situations"
The final verdict, Lansing declared
he was confident, would be for the
democratic form Of nationalism,
which will develop in the present CEN
turv and become the cornerstones of
the new order.