Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1928-09-11
Timely Views
ANTI.wAR TREATY SEES As PROGRESSIVE sTEP

ANTI-WAR TREATY SEEN AS PROGRESSIVE STEP
BY NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER College President.
(Nicholas Murray Butler was born at Elizabeth,
n. J.. April 2. 1862. He received A. B.. A. NJ and
Phi d. degrees at Columbia university and later
studied in Berlin and Paris. He holds 20 honorary
degrees from American and European universe
ties. He began teaching as nm assistant in philos-
ophy In 1855, and became president Of Columbia in
1902, which office he has since held. His home Is
IN New York City,.
The signing Of the treaty renouncinE war. recently
signed at Paris. is an example of the tendency toward
international cooperation and international associa-
ton. which i the fourth Or the moving forces which
are making history in our time. The other moving
forces are the challenge. the principles Of modern de-
mocracy M exemplified BY abandonment of a demo-
cratic form of government In Italy and in Russia, the
disintegrating influences upon conventional and es-
tablished habits and beliefs as shown BY increasing in
difference to any form Of religious exercise,
and the steady penetration of the Orient by western
ideas and practices.
The fourth or these moving forces, the tendency to-
ward international cooperation. has grown rapidly in
power and in influence. This movement had its be-
ginning, for all practical purposes, in the Congress Of
Vienna and the Treaties of Chaumont. Paris and VII
emma. which accompanied the close Of the NapoleCnic
wars. The Congress Of Berlin in 1878 marked the
progress Of the same tendency.
The first Peace Conference AZ The Hague, called
by the Czar and his ministry in 1899 by an invitation
to the nations, which il noble in conception as well as
truly prophetic, marked the next long step forward.
Out Of its labors came the most useful permanent
court Of arbitration. Then followed the second Peace
Conference at The Hague in 1907, when, with effective
American cooperation, the plan for a permanent court
Of international justice was agreed to in all respects
save as TO the method Of selecting the judges.
The great war converted even the most ~skepticaI Of
statesmen and philosophers to the absolute necessity Of
preventing its repetition. As q result we have the
League Of Nations with It's already impressive record
OF achievement, the mere existence Of which has al
tered the whole point Of view Of the peoples Of
Europ.
We have also the permanent court Of international
justice at The Hague. Finally, we have the epoch
marking treaty recently signed at Paris which commits
the governments Of the civilized world TO the rcnun-
citation Of war as an instrument OF policy. This
means that hereafter these governments, in their deal
ings with each other, will not contemplate war. pre-
pare for war, much less threaten war as a means Of
securing the success Of their contention or point of
view in any international business or difference which
may arise. They will, on the contrary, act as civilized
human beings act and bring their differences and dis
cussions to a peaceful end by established methods Of
diplomatic discussion, Cancellation, arbitration and ju-
dicial settlement.