Evening star., 1928-12-18

Character" "'What means did you en-
ploy?' was the question asked of the
wife of Concini, in regard to her treat
ment of Mary of Medici, and the
answer was Only that influence that
every strong mind has over a weak
one Cannot Caesar in irons. shuttle
off the. irons and transfer them to
Hippo or Thraso, the turnkey? Is
an iron handcuff so immutable a
bond? Suppose a SLAYER on the coast
of Guinea should take aboard a gang
of negroes, which should contain per-
sons of the stamp of Toussaint
L L'Ouverture; or let us fancy he has
under those masks a gang of Washing
tons in chains. When they arrive in
Cuba, will the relative order of the
ships company be the same? Is there
nothing but rope and ,iron?"
No penalty carries reserve force
beyond its literal expression.
x X
But the spirit of an agreement is
its strength. According to Senator
Bruce, who opposes this kellogg treaty.
there is but one gauge by which TO
test its strength, just as the slave ships
would test the handouts upon the
hands of savages they captured He
measures the iron, not the brains or
heart. The Senator pointed to the
Bryan arbitration treaties and added:
/ Not only has the United States be-
come a party to innumerable concilia-
ton and arbitration pacts already, but
1t can truly be said that there is not
one of them that was, or is, not in
vested with a practical value of which
the Kellogg pact is totally devoid. They,
at least, sought by specific conciliatory
and arbitral processes which, within
certain limits. are by no means in
effective to stay the uplifted hand of
war. The Kellogg pact contains
no provision designed to give practical
effect to its condemnation of recourse
to war for the solution of international
controversies, its remuneration Of war
as an instrument or national policy.
and its abjuration of all. settlements
or solutions of international disputes
or conflicts except by pacific means"
That is the condemning yardstick
by which national good faith is measur-
ed, in the estimate of the Senator
from Maryland. Measured by a Bryan
treaty which compels nations to agree
in advance to compromise all disputes,
the Kellogg treaty is found wanting.
Just what was to happen to a nation
which, in spite of Bryan arbitration
treaty, refused to arbitrate or repudiat-
ed the arbitral award, or set up q claim
that the offense was not justiciable, and
went to war on the plea of self-defense?
What was the effective penalty of
such a violation? When Soviet Russia
refused to honor her national debts
and schemed to act as an enemy Of
other nations, she was refused recog-
milton by the other nations. Yet she
has def1antly strutted as If she had
been "unduly penalized." Russia. how
ever. was first to sign and ratify the
Kellogg pact in the hope that it might
her good status among nations,
not through penalties endured, but
through good faith proved.
y X *
Senator Bruce declares that the KEEL
logg treaty contains no stipulated PEN
alties. but its defenders ask: Does it not
contain what is more effective-the
spirit of honor among nations which
lay claim to civilization and good faith?
st. Paul might have applied his dec
laration about the letter of the law and
the spirit to modern affairs when he
announced
But now we are delivered from the
law, that being dead wherein we were
held: that we should serve in newnesS
Of spirit and not in the coldness of the
letter."
Practically all great international re-
lationS are based on honor and good
faith, not on armies threatening puni-
tive expeditions. We do not collect our
European debts with armed force.
There are some 60 nations which stand
up in world revival meeting. confess
their sins of the past and pledge them
selves to avoid such guilty practices
hereafter. They reform and sign
pledge. They renounce war as a legiti-
mate means of settling controversies,
Just as a self-reSpecting householder
abstains from brawling with his neigh
Dors. The strength of the new pledge
is not in its literary composition nor its
legal phraseology. but in its pledged
spirit, say the defenders thereof-"not
Of the letter. but the spirit. for the let
ter killeth, but the spirit giveth life"
For pledged nation, after the new
agreement goes into effect, declare the
supporters. to violate its pledge would
bring national oStracism-an eXcoln-
munication from the pale of civiliza-
ton. Hitherto it has been of no greater
disgrace than for an automobilist to be
penaliZed for wrong parking, pay his
fine and drive on. Even Germany
invasion of Belgium-and found it prof.
table to her plans. Penalties are con-
trasted with gains, but honor stands
alone without offsetting mitigation. IN
the decade of the League, with all its
threat of interference and its penalties.
there have been 28 major wars which it
failed TO stop. THE spirit OF man is the
candle of the Lord, searching all the
inward parts"
tcopyriFht. 1928. By Paul v. eoniHeD