Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-03

legitimate business. national business,
as we'll as national politics, tends tc be-
come diseased.
We have not yet erected anything
like an adequate machinery to deal with
the nationalism of business when cup
ported by government.
The fact is that this problem which.
if it is unsolved heads almost inevitably
for war, can never be solved by any
country acting for itself alone It is
an international problem and the solu-
ton lies in the participation of the
civilized world in those international
activities and agencies which are capa-
BILE of dealing with it. How to do this
| and yet. at the same time. retain for
each State the freedom of action which
its own business interests apparently
demand is perhaps the supreme prob
lem in politics; and yet this is the very
! problem which the incoming admins
tration OF the United States will have
| to deal with, or at least will have to
| face.
! Problem Seems Hard of Solution.
When this problem is approached
| from the national standpoint it frankly
| looks insoluble; but it presents an en-
tirely different aspect when taken up
from the international point of view.
The reason for this Is that the prob
lens themselves are not national, but
international i'll character There is a
mutual interest of the country that i'm
ports capital and the one that exports
it, for the one must keep good its credit
in order to lessen its interest charges,
and the other prospers as its returns
! increase
Even the tariff is not merely a matter
OF home concern, for the protection of
native industry may affect the buying
power OF customers abroad. The size
of our country prevents us from seeing
clearly this international character Of
modern business, but the new wealth
| which is coming in as result of the
new methods OF production and the I'M
! orecedented Harvesting OF power in these
last years is rapidly creating even for
us the need Of close articulation with
what is called the world market" and
as that process of business growth pro-
ceeds, the political orientation of the
country must follow in the same direc-
ton A world market means world
politics, and the nation which leads in
the one cannot ignore the responsible
ties in the other.
Now, the world problem in politics
cannot be approached by the old ma
cllinery Of routine diplomacy. state de-
partments and foreign Offices are in
adequate to deal with it. The Depart
ment of Commerce, like the Board of
Trade. can serve effectively as the Ma
tons agent In the statement and as
sertion Of its case, but these organiza-
tons do not provide machinery for
solving disputes either between them
selves or others. They are still linked
up too closely with a procedure that
ends in battleships and ornaments in
stead Of with one that looks toward
business ways Of settling business
things.
Pacific Means" Considered Vague.
The business way Of settling business
things is that indicated by the Kellogg
BRAND pact. Article of that treaty
which is the heart of the contract
states that il dispute is to be settled
at all, it must be settled by pacific
means" This is vague phrase and
very well expect to see 1t supplemented
SO as really to mean something in times
of crises.
There is World Court OF Interna-
tional Justice, entry into which is now
being worked out by the greatest OF our
iurists. Mr.. Elihu Root. There is the ar
bitration tribunal, both at The Hague
and in the other treaties to which the
United States Is party. and then still
more important for cases of hot dispute
when national passions are aroused, the
procedure of conciliation and Of confer
ence. where the issue at stake is ana
lived and talked over without pledging
the disputants to accept any given de-
cision.
In the perfecting of these instruments
of pacific settlement there are some
definite steps already clearly indicated.
The treaties recently signed with the
Central and South American States for
arbitration and Cancellation should be
ratified. Entry into the World Court
is SO obvious duty as TO need no
argument. The procedure in both court
and arbitration are well established.
But we are still in the experimental
stage in the field Of Cancellation and
conference, which Is the very field In
which are the two techniques most
pertinent to those disputes from which
wars arise.
Technique Conference Is Needed.
There should be an international con-
ference on the technique of conferences
themselves. For instance, 1t will be a
surprise to most readers TO know that
there practically never has been a sue
cessful international conference when
the different governments participating
failed to have beforehand a quiet inter-
national conference Of their experts,
who then shaped up the terms OF the
discussion not as attorneys for their
governments writing briefs to strength
en- case, but simply as technicians
concentrating on a solution.
The disarmament conference in
Geneva in 1927 failed for this very
reason. Locarno succeeded because the
experts had done their work together
weeks before. There is, Of course,
false appearance Of success sometimes
when one party browbeats another into
momentary submission, but the real
conference method calls for &C. opera
ton upon both sides, not merely in the
hour of conference but in continuing
policies
These are great objectives-the up
building OF those international institu-
tons which from their very natural
ness grow more and more into the
position OF pacific substitutes of war.
There Is no doubt that an international
community is beginning to come into
existence In our day which calls for
institutions OF this kind, TO be used not
merely In the hours Of crises but in the
normal conduct of affairs To the his
torian this international community
looks very much as the national state
looked in the twelfth or thirteenth CEN
! tury, when national anarchy gave way
10 those instruments OF government
which made for domestic peace by as
surfing stability and security at home.
Action Is speeded Up.
| International institutions are not
| likely to be mere copy OF the parlia-
! mentS and courts in which the grow
ing Inconsistencies of the native
found expression; they will be adjusted
| to somewhat different task, but the
same kind OF process is at work be-
tween nations as formerly took place
! within them. The chief difference and
the most marked Is that the interna-
tional organization will not take SO