Evening star., 1934-02-18
Agreement Gives Hope.

Agreement Gives Hope.
This friendly agreement between
Ecuador and Peru, announced while
Peru and Colombia are also negotiat-
ing peacefully at Rio de Janeiro for a
settlement of their dispute over Le-
ticia, and following soon after another
arbitral decision, that of Chief Justice
Hughes. put an end to the Guatema-
n-Honduran boundary controversy,
gives renewed hope of those who have
been calling this Western Hemisphere
the continent of peace" and en-
deavoring to justify that name
And, in spite of temporary sethacks
and isolated instances of uncontrolled
nationalism, which have interrupted
the peace of America from time to
time, it must be admitted that no
where in the world has there been
more constant and sincere advocacy
Of the methods of diplomacy and
arbitration than in this continent,
When the Latin American coun-
tries were born to a life of independ-
ence, the ambiguous and uncertain
titles which they inherited from Spain
gave rise to a series Of disputes over
boundary lines which even then
stressed the need for a peaceful sys-
TEN of adjustment. Not one of the
republics which grew out of the war
Of independence had its border lines
clearly defined, nor did it possess suf-
f1ciently sound titles to define them.
The newly-born states, which were
constituted following the territorial
division of colonial Spanish America,
were seriously hampered by duplicate
documents, obscure grants and in
adequate surveys, a natural conse-
quence of the rudimentary geograph-
ical knowledge of the epoch and of
the carelessness and administrative in
efficiency characteristic of the Spanish
colonial regime.
Bolivar Laid Corner Stone.
These boundary disputes had to be
settled. And when the southern
countries were trying to establish
themselves on ideals of liberty and
human rights, the way to settle them
could not very well be that of the
sword.
That is why, even in the first quar-
ter of the past century, when abso-
lutism and unbridled force reigned
over Europe, America saw more
humane and more liberal method of
adjusting international conflicts tax
ing shape in this part of the world
In contrast with the Congress of
Vienna, the Congress Of Panama,
called by Bolivar, laid the corner stone
for continental union and took the
first steps for the adoption of concili-
alton and arbitration as the basic
rules of American relations.
The treaty of confederation signed
at Panama in 1925 explicitly con-
denned the use OF force among the
signatory powers and directed them
to seek "conciliatory solutions" of
their differences in the Assembly of
Plenipotentiaries created for that pur-
pose and for their common defense in
case of foreign aggression. Even in
the event of a conflict between one
of the members of the confederation
and an outside power, the former
could not resort to force before the
good Offices and mediation of the
assembly had been tried and before
this had passed upon the justice of
its cause.
Although the factors which pulled
for disunion in Latin America-po-
litical differences, the spirit of local
ism, personal intrigues and lack of
communication IN an early
abandonment Of the agreements
reached at Panama, the seeds of
arbitration there planted were never
forgotten by the statesmen Of the
New World.