Evening star., 1935-06-23
CHACO PEACE MACHINERY
SETS WORLD PRECEDENT
Refusal of Both Countries to Recognize
Territorial Gains May Put Nations
on New Anti-War Path.

governments that all territorial diff
ferences must be settled only through
juridical means, irrespective of the
present positions of their armies, has
more than a purely ethical and
temporary meaning.
This is the first time in history
that two nations which have fought
tragically during three long years for
the possession of an area of land
formally recognize and agree that
their claims must be submitted to
tribunal Of law and final SOW
ereignty decided, not by the force of
arms, but by the wisdom of Or
ganized international justice. 1t is
the first time that the two parties
to an armed conflict implicitly admit,
at the conclusion of the conflict,
the futility of their efforts at war,
and the necessity of letting law pre-
vail upon mere violence. OF course,
in previuoS occasions, there have been
wars which ended without victors
and vanquished. It is almost axio-
matte in our days to say that in a
modern and prolonged war, all--in
the long run-are losers. But this
is the first time that, even as the
firing ceases at the front lines, the
two contending parties renounce to
the spoils of war and actually call
it draw"
Peace Machinery Set Up.
Besides discarding any settlement of
the territorial question by force. The
Buenos Aires agreement establishes
the machinery to carry out the peace
full and juridical solution of all
Emergencies between the two coun-
tries. 1t provides, first. for a military
commission to arrange the definite
terms of the truce, the lines at which
both armies should remain, and,
later, to supervise demobilization and
maintenance of the military status
quo. 1t provides, then, for peace
conference with the participation of
several neutral American republics
under whose auspices representatives
of Bolivia and Paraguay will attempt
direct negotiations and, If these fail,
will proceed to draw the terms for
submission of the territorial question
to arbitration, naming in advance
the arbiter, the Court Of International
Justice at The Hague. The Buenos
Aires Peace Conference is not to ad-
journ until the arbitration accord
has been reached.
League Formed Basis.
Then the agreement calls for ne
gotiations of an economic character
between the two parties and their
neighbors, in order to cement their
future friendship on bases more prac-
tical and more stable. In this, as in
the previous steps, may be recognized
much of the recommendations ap-
proved before by the League of Ma
tions when it attempted to solve the
Chaco conflict. 1t is only fair to
admit that the League prepared the
ground for the present agreement,
much in the same manner as it pre-
pared the way for the settlement of
the Leticia incident between Colombia
and Peru, even though the later
phases of it were the result of direct
negotiations between the parties.
Finally, the Buenos Aires formula
provides for the creation Of special
commission which is to investigate
the responsibilities for the war, and
in this, as well as in the above-men-
toned provisions, the future student
of international law may discover the
beginning of novel method of out
lawing war by making illegal its gains.
and by stressing a sense Of response
bility to the community of nations
at large In the maintenance Of In
ternational peace.
(copgrisht. tss6.A q