The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-03-30

\ tHuBihStlC over the renearkalS anu N1Ou'
day night the Jefferson curtain will
rise on performance that Is expect.
ed to eclipse anything that has been
seen here this season.
! abolish the causes of war before we
make war illegal. We did not abolish
Jealousy, hatred, greed, nor the other
human emotions which give rise to kill.
ings before we made murder a crime.
And I am not speaking to you here
as a dreamer. but out Of my own ex-
perience. I have handled hundreds OF
criminal cases, and am probably more
aware than some OF you of the exist
ence of the irreducIble minimum Of
criminal activity. There will always
be some crime and some violence. How
do we handle it? Do we say, Let 1t
run riot, it always has been and always
will be-" Abolish the law against kill.
ing and shooting, because some men are
criminal at hearth" No, we erect q
standard of not shooting and not kill
ing, and We enact that standard into
law, and We punish those who do not
conform. Society does not In private
law condone crime; 1t penalties 1t and
makes it disreputable.
reducible minimum Of criminal activity
its name: Lust Of territory, lust Of
dominion. desire for empire, willing.
ness to kill the inhabitants of other ma
tons is criminal. Why let this run riot,
and say: ut always has been. it al.
ways will beY We did not wait for
men to become perfect before we enact
ed individual law; we cannot afford to
wait for nations to become perfect be.
fore we enact international law. When
they become perfect, no law will be
necessary. That law must include a
declaration that war Is a crime against
civilization and penalize it under the
law of nations.
There Is now no law, nor even any
declaration made by the nations forbid.
ding war. War 10 not crime. Fight
ing between individuals, unless in self
defense Is criminal; purposeful and ma.
llicious killing, except In self-defense,
are illegal and criminal are wars At
1776. We have to make the world
liberation like our own Revolution Of
agree that international sighting, un-
less in self-defense, is criminal is muir
der.
We have certain laws about war,
but none against war. There are laws
as to how war shall be made, but they
do not forbid war. Suppose we made
murder with a pistol lawful, and muir.
der with a knife illegal; would such
law express the spirit of thou shall
not kill?" And yet the laws about
warfare do something similar. They
l. ~
smooth bullet, but not roughly with a
dumdum bullet. You may kill the young
but not the DID," and I will tell you
that the world needs the young more
than the old, for they have more to
give. You may kill the men, but not
the women. / should think every
American woman would repudiate that
doctrine. Who wants to live when the
men Of her own flesh and blood are
food for cannon?
War is Wrong
And the spirit which holds that kill
ing is right, kills women as well as
men, the old with the young, the little
children, the sick az well as the sound,
fails to regard hospitals, and use poi
son gas. An opposing nation then in
vents a gas so deadly that civilization
cannot survive its use. American in
genuity has invented such a gas. There
are atrocities of war, but they pale
into insignifcance beside war, which is
the supreme atrocity. And even as
the ancient code declared, Thou shall
not kill" so surely must the modern
code declare, Thou shall not war"
OF course, killing and fighting are
crimes unless they are committed in
self defense. Some men say that you
cannot penalize war, because it is al
ways said to be in self-defense; but
the law of self-defense in individual
law, is made so plain that a man
must prove self defense in order to
justify a killing. When the interna.
tional code is written condemning war
as murder, the law of self defense be-
tween nations will have to come with
in that law in order to justify a
war.
What form the law should take il
plain. 1t should declare that war is a
crime against civilization and outlaw
it as such. Who should enact the
law is just as plain. It must be en-
acted by the civilized world. 1t need
not be enacted by legislature or
parliament. 1t can be enacted by a
simple conference as an universal trea-
ty. And America, the first great ma
ton to live in friendship with her
neighbors, should call a conference to
outlaw war, through a treaty followed
by a code convention to enact and
codify international law along lines Of
international justice.
1t will be impossible tonight ade-
quately to discuss the proposition Of
codifying international law. Suffice it
to say that in the general law of ma.
tons there exists the same complete
reputation of moral law which exists
in the legalization of war. The doc.
trines of annexation, military necessi-
ty, reprisals, peaceful penetration,
spheres of influence and balance Of
power, permit action which in private
life would be condemned as simple
stealing, or as criminal violence. These
and similar doctrines must be -elimi.
mated and action under them branded
as illegal by code convention of the
world
How the outlawry of war and the
international code should be enforced
is equally plain. 1t should be enforced
by a court with affirmative jurisdic.
ton which can call in nations which
make war and defy the moral law and
Judicially settle disputes which would
otherwise lead to injustice and to
war. For this two things are neces-
sary: the affirmative jurisdiction to
hear the merits of the dispute Just az
our supreme court has jurisdiction
over the states and secondly, the code,
the law.
No Law Against War
How can a court stop war if there
is no law against war? I have sat in
murder trials, How could even i'm
| nanel q inrY to try a man for murder