Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1925-10-10
Saturday, October 10, 1925.
whether the pitcher hits the
stone or the stone hits the pitcher, it
goes i'll with the piteher.-Cervantes.
FROM MR.. ROOTS OPINION

The opinion of Elihu Root re-
secting agencies for promoting and
interpreting international law prop
erly commands attention. Recently
he prepared a paper on the codiflca-
ton of international law. which was
read before the Interparliamentary
Union.
In this he warned that "contro-
versies and quarrels between nations
are bound to come and that mere
agreements not to have these things
happen are futile but he does think
the proposed codification would ma
terially aid the Permanent Court of
International Justice, charging the
services of which he deems neces-
sity. This court grouped with the
Hague Court Of Arbitration and the
League of Nations he believes
promises to facilitate the preserva-
ton of peace ito a degree never be-
fore attained"
He says Of these institutions. pre-
ceding his comment with the opinion
that war nowadays must be the re-
suit of state of mind of a people:
"These three institutions. for con-
ference. for judicial decision and Tor
arbitration, are still in their INFANCY,
hut they have made extraordinary
development in the last thirty years.
and the simple fact of their existence
is already changing the way in winch
mankind thinks and feels about the
disposition of international contro-
versy without war.
Again he says: Time out OF mino
the world has been negotiating Tor
the prevention Of war. and eacn
negotiation, successful or unsuccess-
full, begins just where all the others
have begun. Every case in court,
however, begins not where the iast
case began, but where the last case
ended. The Judgment OF the court
may be binding only upon tne
parties. but the general acceptance
~ the courts decision will be con-
tinually building up body of agree
ment which narrows the field OF
controversy between nations and
prevents future CONTROVERSIES. The
court Is an instrument OF interna-
tional progress toward the govern
ment Of the world by law.
Most serious, in considering this
subject, is the mistake of those VINO
expect human institutions to be born
full grown, who condemn the Hague
Court Of Arbitration and the Perma-
nent Court 0 international Justice
and the League of Nations within Its
own membership, and all the inter-
national conferences Of the postwar
period, because they have not al
ready stopped all wars. These peo-
.ple would have the clock begin by
striking twelve. Immediately after
planting an acorn they would dig 1t
IN and throw it away because 1t is
not already an oak They fail to un-
derstand that all international prog
ress is the result never of compulsion
but always of a process. and that the
process has to go on in the minds
and feelings OF many widely different
nations and therefore 1t must be
slow.
Although you cannot change hu-
man nature. you can change stand
ards of conduct, but always gradu-
ally. never violently. The first i'm
portant question is how many steps
can all these nations, differing in In
ditions and modes Of thought and
feeling, be brought to agree upon.
That is the first thing to ascertain
and when it is escertained, although
it may be possible to get immediate
agreement upon only one step. the
part Of wisdom is to get that step
agreed upon and put it into effect.
Already the world is becoming ia
miliar with the idea of judicial de-
cision upon international questions
and already the world is beginning
to think that way. Already in many
countries sensible people are coming
to realize that here Is a reasonable
alternative to the proposals of the
demagogue and the follies Of hysteria.
Plainly it is important now to en-
large the scope of the courts luris-
diction by enlarging the law which
the court Is authorized to apply"