The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-10-22
LAWYERS HEAR ROOT.
EXPLAIN COURT PLAN
Experience of United States
Is Basis of Procedure, He
Tells Bar Association.
is NOT OvER-OPTIMIsTIC
League May or May Not See
Fit to Adopt Obligatory
Arbitration Feature.

Elihu Root, speaking before the AS
ISOLATION of the Bar last night said
he had no idea what the League OF Ma
lions, which Is to meet in Geneva next
month. will do with the plan for the
Permanent Court of International Jus
tice which he and his associates on the
leagues advisory committee of jurists
devised at The Hague in June and July.
There may be so much opposition
to the obligatory arbitration feature
that they will strike that out" he said.
hope not Whatever they do with It,
another step forward has been taken.
Our committee by unanimous agree
men have formulated the plan. 1t is a
step In the progress of civilization. All
advances shock somebody, and an at
Tempt to go too fast, too far at once.
almost always ends in failure
Dover"
Il have found that to be the fact in
observing the progress of law at WASH
lngton. Every good bill has to go
through period of CESSATION. Every
forward step has to come in contact
with the habits and preconceptions and
reactions of the people,"
was taken very largely from the expe-
rience of the United States, Mr.. Root
said. He also gave his views as to
principles which would tend to make
this court a success where previous at
ternpts at the decision OF international
questions had failed
Why Taft Treaties Failed.
He said that the Taft arbitration
treaties, executed by the United States
with France and Great Britain, had
failed because they had referred all
5usticiable questions to arbitration, but
had mentioned those questions in terms
so vague that 1t was difficult to dis
tinguish them from others.
One of the difficulties of arbitration in
the past, Mr.. Root pointed out. is that
the arbitral bodies were made up of
diplomats and that the awards were apt
to be based on expediency rather than
upon justice. But the new world court
was designed to be a court of judges
sitting and deciding according to the
law and letting the consequences take
care of themselves" The formulation of
plan for such a court, he said, was
the problem presented to the committee
with members from ten countries which
met at The Hague.
he continued-"just as engineers are
called to propose a plan for a bridge.
The task might seem simple. but it was
difficult"
He dwelt on the fact that small coun-
tries were unwilling to let big countries
have a voice in proportion to their inn
portance; similarly big countries were
unwilling to be overwhelmed by the
numerical preponderance Of the. small
countries. In making up tie plan for
the new court the committee therefore
drew upon the experience of the Gov
eminent Of the. United States.
Just such Questions were presented
to the Constitutional Convention of 1887,
Mr. Root said. The big States were un-
wil'i.ig to be overborne by the numeri-
cal superiority of the small ones. and
the small ones made their objections
against the big ones. This was settled
by the formation Of the two legislative
bodies. each State being represented as
such in the Senate and the population
represented In the House. On the same
principle II had been provided that the
judges of the new world court should
be elected by the Council and the AS
sembly of the League of Nations, just
as law is passed by the separate and
concurrent votes of our Senate and
House of Representatives. The Ameri-
can idea of a committee of conference
to thresh out problems II the two ap-
pointing bodies failed to agree had
been taken bodily to Europe. said Mr..
Root The findings Of this committee
are to be recommended to the Council
and the Assembly of the league.
I'm that way the old bugaboo of the
Hague convention of 1907 has been re-
moved" he added. I'm the assembly the
small nations can prevent the big ones
from being unfair, and in the Council
the big nations can prevent the small
nations from being unfair
I'VE came to the conclusion" he said