Evening star., 1927-04-29

possible gains on the road to peace
among nations. DR. Alexander Pearce
Higgins, WheweH professor of inter
national law at Cambridge University
| who is now exchange professor at
Harvard. took up what he called The
! Duties of States.
MIR. Hughes. while pointing out at
| some length what he considered well
nigh insuperable" difficulties at pres
cnt for the limitation of armaments,
/ predicted that it would be idle TO
expect n more favorable time for
such limitation. lie stressed the dan
/ ger of provocative armament" which
threatens aggression, breeds distrust.
stimulates competition in arms and
/ leads to war"
! But rays of hope were seen by the
! former Secretary Of state. The hope
/ Of the development of international
/ law" he said. must in large measure
/ be realized through judicial institu-
| tions dealing with questions as they
arise-eXpounding, clarifying, show
| ing the limits of the existing body Of
! the law and the need Of amendments
and additions.
Through the labors of jurists, the
negotiations of governments through
commissions and conferences, we may
look for steady, even if slow, progress
! in restating or Codifying the law,
adapting it to new conditions.
Processes Linked.
'"The two processes, the develop
ment of the law and the amicable adj
iustment of controversies outside the
sphere of the law, with the avoidance
of provocative preparation for war,
should go on together. The indispen-
sable requisite is that the attitude of
the powers, especially of the great
powers. should reflect the growth of
a law-abiding sentiment and of the
reasonable disposition which underlies
it, the conviction of peoples that the
path of security and peace can be
found only in the ways OF justice and
mutual respect"
Reviewing the failure of the five
power naval treaty negotiated at the
Washington Conference in 1921 to be-
come effective through lack of ratltl-
cation by the signatory powers, and,
more significant still" the failure of
the powers to adopt a convention en-
bodying the rules proposed in the re-
port of the Commission of Jurists of
1928 as to the use of aircraft and radio
in war, Mr.. Hughes said:
what are the reasons for this ap-
parent indifference? There are sew
eral, and contradictory reasons. Fun
damentally, it appears that the COM
pelling sentiment does not exist. First,
there are those who are so intent on
aholishing war that they have no pa
tience with regulations of war. They
decline to contemplate the possibility
of another war. They have passed
resolutions against it; they simply will
not have it; it must be alto
gether outIawed. But there are others,
perhaps as numerous. who are salts
fed that nothing can prevent war
and that, if there is war, no rules viii
restrain the use in any manner of any
instrumentality by which success can
be achieved"
Difficulty Recognized.
Difficulty in obtaining agreements
among nations was recognized by Mr..
Hughes, who said that the point was,
however that the lack of definite
agreements is in itself a grave temp
tation to inordinate excesses, and that
clear and binding agreements should
be obtained to the fullest extent prac-
ticable--agr agreements demanded by the
public opinion of civilized nations
''The problem of land armament, as
well as that of naval armament, is eS-
sentially one of an appropriate con-
ception of defense and the avoidance
of provocative armament, Mr.. Hughes
declared. Gen. John McAuley Palmer
in his recently published work on
Craftsmanship or War has made a
most valuable contribution TO the un-
derstanding of this subject He de-
fines the problem, and points the way
to a solution.
HE speaks as one Of our foremost
military experts, with technical knowl
edge, absolute candor and a vision
which has not been blurred by pro-
fessional prejudices. Neither IL mill
tarist nor a paciftst, he gives us a
philosophical consideration of the
problem from the standpoint of the
interests of democratic peoples in or
der to aid them in assuming what
Washington desired, a respectfully de
fensive POSTURE thus discouraging i'm
stead of provoking strife.
Study of Swiss System.
''Gen. Palmer brings us to a study
of the essentials of the Swiss system
as furnishing a means by which the
limitation, indeed, the elimination, of
provocative land armament may be
achieved consistently with the stand
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