Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-08

I'VE speak OF international law, buC
international law is something wholly
different from private or municipal
law, and the capital difference Is that
there is a sanction for the one and
no sanction for the other; that there
is an outside force which compels in
dividualS to obey the one, while there
is no such outside force to compel
obedience as regards the other"
It is noteworthy that that vital diff
ference was pointed out by Mr.. Roose-
welt Is years ago, yet, today, some of
the critics of the Kellogg treaty to
outlaw war by international agreement
allege that because the treaty contains
no penalty beyond public condemna-
tion), therefore it is weak and would
be of no avail in Self-enforcement.
President Roosevelt found, Is years ago,
that that very same weakness" ap-
plies to all international laws. 49,.
~ x
President Roosevelt, In his Sorbonne
speech, pointed out:
international law will, I believe, as
the generations pass. grow stronger
and stronger until, in some way or
other. there develops the power to make
it respected. But as yet it is only in
the first formative period AS yet, as
a rule, each nation is Of necessity
obliged to judge for itself in matters
OF vital Importance between 1t and its
neighbors. and action must of necessity.
where this IS the case, be different from
what they are where, as amongst pri-
vate citizens, there IS an outside force
whose action Is all-powerful and must
be invoked in any crisis of importance.
1T is the duty of wise statesmen,
gifted with the power of looking ahead,
to try to encourage and build up every
movement which will substitute or tend
to substitute some other agency for
force in the settlement of international
disputes. 1t is the duty Of every
honest statesman to try to guide the
Nation SO that 1t shall not wrong any
other nation. But, as yet, the great
civilized peoples. if they are to be true
to themselves and to the cause Of hui
mainly and civilization, must keep ever
In mind that, in the last resort, they
must possess both the will and the
power to resent wrongdoing from 9TH
erS. The men who Sanely believe in
lofty morality preach Righteousness;
but they do not preach weakness.
whether among private citizens or
among nations. We believe in
peace. but If peace and Justice con-
stand for justice, though the whole
world came in arms against him."
Can any reader doubt after reading
the above that. were Roosevelt today
In the White House. he would not sup
port both the treaties outlawing war
as national policy and the 15-cr1Iiser
bill. to make it surer that I'VE do not
preach weakness?
x x \
The United States has a record of
having ever been leader in the cause
OF peaceful settlements of international
controversies, yet it has always recog-
nlZed that international law depends
upon public sentiment, worldwide.
rather than upon statutory penalties for
It's enforcement There is no super
power which can inflict punishment for
violation of international agreements
all enforcement must come from public
condemnation for breaches of faith.
Never has that been more clearly ex-
pressed than in the pending Kellogg
multilateral treaty abolishing war as a
recognized national policy.
International law has never been
codified; it is published in no stat
ute book. but like British common
law. it is the growth of precedents
and usages generally accepted, but
cedents are accumulated for Substi-
tuting peaceful means in place of bat
ties in the maintenance of interna-
tional rights, such 'unwritten laws" will
become quite as strong as the common
law OF a single nation, similarly devel-
oped by precedent upon precedent.
Without world supergovernment alb
sorbing national independence and ma
tlonal sovereignty, there is no other
way for creating body Of international
law.
The United States was the originator
OF this idea. for in 1894 1t began the
practice of proposing arbitration for in
ternational adjuStments-more than q
century prior to the Cars abortive
gesture OF establishing a Permanent
Court of International Justice" at The
Hague, even while Russia was busy
building ships for her proposed agrees
sion against Japan. 1t was in the Jaw
treaty with Great Britain in 1894 that
the United States provided for three
commissions to inquire into certain spe-
clt1c controversies. That did not apply
to future disputes. however but it es-
tablished powerful precedent.
Nevertheless. arbitration has often
been hindered by the objections and
amendments of the Senate when such
treaties came up for ratification. In
1897 the Olney-Pauncefote treaty be-
tween the United States and Great
Britain was SO amended by our Senate
that the President refused to sign it.
The same happened to arbitration
treaties negotiated by President Roose-
Welt and repudiated by him after the
Senate's butchering; also likewise by
President Taft in 1911. While the
United States Government has signed
the Pan-American treaty without any
reservations. what will be its fate when