The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1929-04-19
INTERNATIONAL GOODWILL DAY

INTERNATIONAL GOODWILL DAY
Thirty years ago this spring, on
May 18th, 1899, the First Hague
Conference assembled at the CAPT.
tai of Holland. So important ala
It's work prove to be that the ami
versary of it's first meeting is OBJ
observed as International Goodwin
Day, particularly by the schools.
Last year the school-chlldren OF
Wales and Monmouthshire followed
their usual custom of broadcasting
a message to all lands. Broadcast
ed from the Eiffel Tower in Paris,
this message has been answered
from all five continents and from
nearly every country. Last year
their message was:
1--WE, boys and girls of the princi-
pality of Wales and of Monmouth
shire, greet with cheer the boys
and girls of every other country un-
der the sun. Will you, millions OF
you, join in our prayer that God will
bless the efforts of the good men and
/
settle the old quarrels without fight
| ing? Then there will be no need for
any of us, as we grow older, to show
our pride for the country in which
we were born by going out to hate
and to kill one another.
Long live the League of Nations
the friend of every mother, the
protector of every home, and the
guardian angel of the youth of the
world"
International Goodwill Day is an
appropriate memorial of the work of
the First Hague Conference. With
out the hearty support OF public
opinion, governments are now I'M
able to follow out policies of peace.
Therefore to increase interest in and
knowledge about what is necessary
for the maintenance of peace is the
best way to honor the men like AM
drew D.. White, head OF the Ameri-
cam u6fegaraSil, N4As.r -isr5 "a ago
llabored for peace at the Hague.
The American delegation was in
structed by Secretary of State John
Hay to propose the establishment OF
a World Court, always on the job,
| to which the nations would pledge
| themselves to submit almost every
| dispute which could arise. Public
| opinion was not yet ready for such
a step, and instead of court, the
First Hague Conference set up a
l'scourt of arbitration" consisting OF
list of distinguished men from
among whom two nations might Sc
| Iect arbitrators in case they wished
to settle dispute in this way.
By 1907, public opinion had be-
come ready for a permanent court
which the American delegation to
the Second Hague Conference pro-
posed. The proposal was accepted.
but fell through because at that
time no way could be found of elect
ing a small number of judges from
a large number of nations.
In 1920, when the World Court
was established, public opinion had
| learned the vital necessity of having
ready an effective way of settling
disputes between nations peacefully
Under the guidance Of the American
statesman, Elihu Root, the nations
agreed to elect eleven independent
| Judges, elected regardless of their
nationality" to act as judges for the
world Such men as Charles Evans
Hughes of the United States, Loder
of Holland, Huber of Switzerland
and Weiss of France compose the
court and give the public confidence
in it's fairness and ability.
BY June last year the World
Court had given decisions in thirty
four cases, nearly twice as many as.
have been handled by the arbitration
court at the Hague in thirty years
This indicates the greater convent.
ence of real, permanent court as
compared to an arbitration court
which has to be selected and estab-
lished after a quarrel begins.
May 18th, International Goodwill
Day, is really the birthday of the
World Court, which grew out of the
work of the Hague Conference. 1t
is a good opportunity to consider the
need of effective ways of settling dis
putes peacefully. This is impossible
without the support of public opin-
ion.
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