Evening star., 1925-04-09

at the laying of the corner stone of
the Pan-American Union Palace:
There are no international contro-
versies SO serious that they cannot
be settled peacefully, If both parties
really desire peaceable settlement
while there are few causes Of dispute
so trifiing that they cannot be made
the occasion of war, if either party
desires war. The matters in dispute,
therefore, are nothing; the spirit
which deals with them is every
thing"
The question of how to enforce the
judgment of an international tribunal
is met by the League of Nations with
proposal to accomplish il with
armed force against the "aggressor
nation" That question was one Of
the greatest difficulties confronting
the trainers of the United States Con-
stitution. The Confederation had ut
terly failed because it had no power
to coerce the 13 sovereign States.
Some of the fathers of the Nation
proposed TO give power to the Fed
eral Government to send armed force
against State which refused 10 pay
its Federal taxes or undertook to
nullify a law of Congress. In argu-
ment against such an effort, Alex
ander Hamilton protested:
ITO coerce the States would be one
of the maddest projects ever devised.
No State would ever suffer itself to
be used as an instrument of coercing
another. There could be no cure
for this great evil but to enable the
national laws to operate on individ-
uals, like the laws of the States"
This view prevailed, and 1T has
been upheld by the courts in all
cases. For example: A law of Con-
gress near the close Of the eighteenth
century decreed that ships bearing
cargoes from France were subject to
seizure, in retaliation of acts of
French aggression against our COM
merce. The Secretary of the Navy
in transmitting orders to our naval
officers expanded that law by order
ing seizure of ships bearing cargoes
to France, as well as those coming
from France. Such a cargo was
seized. Damages were awarded
against the captain because he vio-
lated the law while obeying the or
ders of his superiors.
1t is not the State which violates
law, it is the individual. So, all laws
passed by the Confederate States
during the Civil War were sustained
by our Supreme Court, just as II
there had been no rebellion, for it
was not the State, but the individuals
within the State which were held to
be in rebellion. (Kieth VS.. Clark, 81
u. s, 454; Little VS.. Barreme, . Cranch,
170.)
1t is that principle upon which the
International Institute of Law de-
pends for enforcing the codified pan
American international laws; pro-
Cedure viii be against individuals
violating any of the agreed laws, and
the agreement will have the force of
International treaties between all of
the American republics, obligating
them not to pass any laws in conflict
with such a treaty. If such law be
passed, it will be internationally
unconstitutional" and therefore
void, without even the necessity of
it's repeal.
So radically different is the posi-
tion of the League of Nations on this
point that DR.. Charles II. Levermore.
the winner of the Box $4,000 peace
prize, after spending months in Ge-
neva studying the leagues policies,
comes back and reverses his support
in an article published in the Balti-
more Sun:
The protocol is "the latest phase of
q series of futile attempts by the
League Of Nations to make disarma-
ment possible and peace permanent.
Coercion or resort to war as a means
OF punishment of so-called 'aggres-
sor nation is now the avowed policy
of the League of Nations. The
league has thus abandoned the prin-
ciple OF preventing wars by the force
of public opinion, and now proposes,
through the protocol, to empower the
council of the league to call upon
nations to wage immediate war
against the aggressor"
In the light of Mr.. Roots dictum
that the only important influence In
preventing war is the spirit of the
belligerents, the task of Mr.. Wicker
sham and his co-workers in formu-
lating international law that will
satisfy the authors Of that war pro-
tocol and the advocates Of peace is
complicated. The problem is now d.
vided into its elements and certain
experts are assigned to study each
section.