Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-12-11
Row at Havana Seems Unlikely

even temporarily any portion of the territory
Of another state. The consent given to the
occupying state by the state occupied will not
legtimitize the occupation and the occupant
will be responsible for all occurrences resulting
from the occupation not only with respect to
the state occupied but to third parties WELL
From Paraguay-"Intervention or any act of
a state within the territory of another state
without q previous declaration of war, with
the intent to decide by force, material pressure
or moral coercion. internal or external ques-
tions of the other state. will be considered as
a violation of international law"
In general, the articles set down in elaborat
ing upon the pacific settlement of international
conflicts, simply broaden well known principles
Of arbtation. many Of which have already been
incorporated in existing treaties between the
United States and the countries of South and
Central America. But of them go fur
Their and suggest the governing board of the
Pan-American Union a permanent council
of Cancellation. They do not make such con-
Citation obligatory in any sense of the word.
but merely establish, through the board per-
manent body to which aggreved parties may
address themselves with the understanding
that the board will use it's good Offices to bring
about a settlement Several suggestions de-
signed to make of the Governing Board of the
Pan-American Union a council, so to speak,
of an American League of Nations" have been
made before. But none of them has ever re-
ceived serious favorable consideration be-
cause much would be hazarded, and little
gained, IL political controversies of any nature
whatsoever are injected into the functions Of
the PanAmerican Union
The question relating to intervention in the
internal affairs of state, therefore, together
with the scope of arbitration and Cancellation in
future treaties between the Americas, seem to
be the only projects tinged with international
politics which will come before the Havana
conference And if these questions show tend
encies of crowding others off the stage there
is reason to believe that they will be placed
a shelf for future reference. possibly for con-
sderation by a body constituted specially to
deal with them, instead Of remaining to delay
and blockade other important and non-political
considerations.
Despite some of the clouds that undoubtedly
lie on the horizon. the Havana conference is
to be held at time when the American re-
publics are far more interested in getting ahead
in the world and sodifying helpful means Of
intercourse than they are in raking around
for bones to pick. Causes for political rupture
are steadily dying out. Boundary disputes re-
main, but for the most part they are friendly
disputes in the process of settlement. Some
of the few that remain are almost necessary,
as they are constantly capitalized for political
purposes. Tacna and africa remain in dispute
between Chile and Peru, but the view of opti-
mists in relation to that difficulty is that some
progress has been made toward settlement,
which is far better than no progress. Virtually
all of the important steps in the last forty
years which have been taken to bring the
American republics closer together, to remove
barriers to their trade and commerce, to facili-
tate communication between them, to make
available mutually helpful information, to agree
upon arbtrating their disputes instead of fight.
ing them out. owe their origin to the five in
ternational conference.-the first held here in
Washington, in 1889; the second in Mexico City,
in 1901; the third in Rio de Janeiro. in 1906;
the fourth in Buenos Aires. in 1910, and the
last in Santiago, Chile, in 1928. These recur-
ring conferences have constituted American
League of American Nations which has never
allowed its programs for real accomplishments
to be hazarded by political controversy. There
is reason to believe that the Havana con-
ference will set a new precedent. There is
every reason to believe that it will do what it
sets out to do without being sdetracked into
attractive. though hazardous byways.