Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-08-07

| llole VI IHc WHOle meeting was
tribute to the late President Hard
ing. Judge Charles Johnson deliv-
cred very fine memorial address.
Judge Johnson was we'll acquainted
with President Harding as he was in
| Washington part of the time that the
| President was there. Hamilton Holt,
vice chairman of the executive COM
rnittee of the newly formed Lea que of
| Nations, non-partiSan association
was a guest of the club aud follow
ing the dinner gave an address on
the League of Nations. The BIRTH
Gays of John DeOrsay and Seldom
| Whitcomb were appropriately OBJ
| served by members of the club.
Mr.. Hollis lecture was a plea that
the United States enter the existing
League of Nations, and incidentally
! the lecturer praised the late Presi-
dent Harding for his efforts to get
the United States into the Permanent
| Court of International Justice. Mr..
Hollis definition of the league, which
he said was the best brief formula
ton he could offer, s this: This
league is a scheme whereby sover-
mously better than they otherwise
could" The only two important
words in the definition were "sov-
ereign" and Unanimous" How any
nation could lose its sovereignty
who joined the league was beyond
the comprehension of every member
of the assembly l met in Geneva"
said Mr.. Holt. Indeed, if any Uni
ted States senator had voted to bring
the United States into league that
in any respect violated our Constitu-
ton, he would have been impeached
for treason, for the only people who
| ~, 40 COnStltn-
ton are the American people. No
foreign people or league can do it and
any senator who voted to permit 1t
would have violated his oath OF
office.
when the league acts 1t can only
act unanimously in other words,
only as far and as fast as nations
can agree on ways and means. one
would not think under the circunl-
stances" said Mr.. Holt. 1.-THE pace
would be so dizzy as to cause many
nations to swoon. The league there
fore is not a super government. 1T
cannot compel, enforce, or even
legislate. In every instance its func-
ton is to recommend, to advise and
to propose"
MIR. Holt then took up the two
main functions of the league-the
prevention of war and the promotion
of progress. "Alreadv IN the three
and a quarter years of the leagues
existance much has heen done along
both lines. There are two main Or
cans of the league already function
ing designed to compose internation-
al difference-the court to settle JUS
. ticiable questions and the council to
settle non justiciable or political
questions. Already the court has
rendered four opinions and four
cases are still on the docket. 1t Will
be remembered that when the Uni
tea States supreme court was set up
no contested case came before it for
iWcrld court is already going strone.
The establishment of this court has
been the aim of every American ad-
ministration, both Republican and
Democratic, for the past 30 years.
And now it owes it's being largely to
the genius of an American Ellhu
Root. The palace at The Hague in
which it sits was given by another
Observation-Disclosures Carnegie. And
one of it's present judges is another
great American, John B. Moore. In
fact this court fulfills the prophecy
Of that old Connecticut blacksmith,
Elihu Burritt. who said three genera
tions ago that when it came into eX-
istance it would be the highest court
of appeals this side the bar OF eter-
nal justice
THE Council" declared Mr.. Holt,
/ "has already taken cognizance OF
seven cases, every one of which has
been settled by peaceful means. Inc
most important of these were the
issue between Sweden and Finland
| over the jurisdiction of the Aaland
Islands the boundry dispute in Up
I
! Poland, the attempted invasion of AL
bania by Serbia, and the lombard
ment of a Persian port by the fleet
| of Soviet Russia.
| Mr.. Holt described his Impressions
| of the Assembly, every session OF
which he attended, and the members
! of which he declared composed the
i most distinguished political gather
| ings on earth ut was most impress
sive to see the procession of the
nations when the clerk called the
roll, and the chief delegate OF eacl
nation assembled the rostrum to cast
the ballot of his nation. There they
came from every continent on the
globe, from every race and color OF
| mankind, representing two thirds of
| the land of earth, and ree-quarters
| of the human race.
II heard no discourteous words
words spoken on the floor. l heard
nothing of that partisan bunk
which is in evidence in some national
| assemblies. Everything was conduct
on the highest plane. Every dele
gate seemed to desire to promote the
| common good by word and action,
and enchance the prestige Of the
League"
Mr. Holt then told of what the
League is doing for the limitation
of ornaments and how the perman-
ent armament commission is working
out the problem. THE question of
ornaments" said Mr.. Holt, is in
separately bound up with all that is
good and all that is bad in our per-
sonal and national PHYSIOLOGY. Cas-
ual conferences, such as Mr. Hughes
has sponsored, may slough off arma-
ment excrescences here and there,
but the problem will never be solved
casually. Only by all the great mill
tary powers getting together and
tackling the problem in a permanent
| way, can we do more than scratch
the surface of the issue.
This the League is doing. The
, United States SHOULD join if for no
= other reason that it is the best plan
vet on the horizon looking towards
a genuine armament problem
Mr.. Holt then took up the various
/ things the League is engaged in to
promote human progress. The list
was a long and notable one. He
described how that Grand Old Nik-
ing" DR.. Mansen, brought back to
their homes and loved ones nearly
| 10000 soldiers, who, starving and
diving of want and disease found
| themselves stranded in foreign lands
at the conclusion of the armistice.
bnd 1anfhinr