WORLD COURT Magazine. Each individual must realize how great a factor he is in its creation, and he must hasten to use his power toward its establishment. This he can do by very simple means. He can become a member of the New York State Branch, thus identifying himself with this movement. To do this it costs him, for membership, one dollar. He can further assist by keeping alive the local interest in his neighborhood or town by personal effort in securing memberships, and by talking about the League to his friends. He can also arrange local branches of this League in his neighborhood or town, through clubs or churches or civic societies. And if not able to do this he can send such in formation to the office of the New York State Branch as will in anywise enable the secretary to get in touch with important local factors, whose interest can be awakened. Every little helps. Just a word, a suggestion may be a very important matter, and far-reaching results thus may be accomplished. Let none fail in this time so opportune. We have advanced through ever-achieving experience, and now the present brings the truth nearer than ever to the public consciousness: "Let there be peace!" Concentrate your efforts for a short time and it will be accomplished. The People's Forum A SET OF ARTICLES E have received the following communication from Charles R. Russel of Philadelphia: "The writer begs to submit the accompanying articles. He hopes they He hopes they may help toward the desired end." The articles submitted follow: "It is proposed: "To establish an international legislative court of justice, the findings of which shall be final and obligatory on each and every nation. Each nation Each nation to have one representative for each. 25,000,000 inhabitants or fraction thereof. Each representative shall be known as a legislator in the international court of justice. "In order to separate the legislators from any and all political influence; their term of office shall be for life, unless impeached by the court; by a unanimous vote of all legislators, excepting the fellow countrymen of the member impeached. An impeached member shall cease to be a member and his place shall be filled by another duly accredited legislator. "The legislators may be selected by the chief executive's appointment or ruling crown head, or elected by the federal legislative bodies, or by a vote of the people as each country may prefer and provide for the selection of such international legislators. The court shall convene at a place selected, as provided by the rules governing the court; but never within the territory of a nation at war. "The legislators assembled, constituting the court of justice, shall annually elect by a majority of those present, a chief justice and two associate justices, who shall conduct the court; but shall have no vote during their term as a justice. No two justices shall be of one nation and all na "The court shall establish rules and regulations for the government of the court's proceedings; which rules shall be changed only after full discussion of a good reason, by a vote of ninety per cent. of all members of the court. tions must retain one voting legislator discipline of the school because the stuon the floor of the court. dents knew that it was there for use. So it will be in the World Court. That Court would indeed be an object of ridicule if, after a long, tedious and painstaking trial, they should give judgment, and then the contestants would be allowed to go hence, and at their pleasure decide whether or not they would obey the mandate of the court. This would be the situation that would confront the World Court if it were only a body in which the different nations could adjudicate their differences and would not be vested with power to see that their decisions were carried out. "The value of each legislator's vote having been determined by the representation in accordance to population, each preference may be granted, or acknowledged, or permitted to any legislator greater than that of any other legislator; all votes shall be of equal value. "The court shall make or approve all international laws and execute judgment of all international laws. Each Each and all nations may submit to the court any subject of international interest for judicial regulation; but, all nations MUST abide by the rulings of the court in every particular upon every question." HOW A WORLD COURT CAN BE PRACTICABLE. FROM Chauncey D. Pichel comes the following communication: The question: Can a World Court be practicable? might be answered in the method of that great Chinese diplomat by asking another: Is any court of law practicable? The answer immediately comes: Why of course a court is practicable, because it gives a fair opportunity for all sides to present their case, and have a judgment rendered by an impartial tribunal. Furthermore, the most important of all, the court has all the powers of an executive department of the government to back up its decrees, and all the executive forces of the government stand ready to see that the judgment of a civil court is executed. An educator once explained that permission to use the rod in the public schools was not only useful in its application, but was most beneficial to the To prevent such a state of affairs two things must be provived for in the plan for a World Court: First, that all the signatory nations to a World Court protocol would agree to abide by its adjudication; Second, there would be an agreement among the members of the World Court that they would, in certain cases, compel a member of the court, who refuses to obey its mandates, to do so. Provision should be made that all the armies and the navies of the world should be at the beck and call of the World Court. One of the big questions will be not so much the manner in which the nations shall be represented in this tribunal, but what power shall be vested in the court to enforce the execution of its decisions. The civil courts of the world enforce their judgments. Will not, I may venture to ask, great advantage lie in the knowledge that the World Court can call upon the other nations of the world, in making the recaltricant nation see the wisdom of accepting its adjudication? Waging war will be the only method whereby the World Court can bring a Power at fault to see the error of its way. A more powerful weapon lies in breaking trade relations and laying an embargo. All nations are now interdependent. This would bring them to time quicker than all the navies and soldiers of the world. World Court Advocates and Their Recommendations EDITOR'S NOTE: Readers of this magazine are invited to send us their personal opinion regarding the establishment of an international court where all disputes between nations may be settled upon a basis of a perfect justice. These expressions should not, as a rule, exceed one hundred words in length. One of England's Foremost Poets Has Something to Say About Internationalism. It is ridiculous to say weakly that humanity is unable to safeguard itself against the present condition of affairs, but to do so will require genuine preparation and a willingness to surrender all other considerations to the good of future humanity for a while, until a practicable plan has been worked out. Unless we are all willing to participate in this effort we simply will drop back into the old habit after this. war of sitting back and hoping that there won't be another and waiting for the next one to come. As modern civilization is constructed, no nation's interests are independent of the interests of other civilized nations. Unless some deliberate effort is made by the nations acting jointly to pull things out of their present chaos and to try to establish peace, I feel that we are nearer anarchy in Europe, and here, too, for all that, than we ever have been in the history of the world. With 20,000,000 casualties already as a result of the war, and the prospect of another 20,000,000 after two years more of it, the "Hun is at the gate" in more senses than one, and unless nations come to realize that they must stand together instead of trying to follow their own whims in the future I think that this war can be referred to almost as the epitaph of civilization. If we only could stop the business of the world for a year-perhaps six months-and forget private interests to put an end to the possibility of a recurrence of this awful sacrifice of life, it could be ended practically for all time. If the people can't be worked up to the stage where they will be willing to ignore private interests for a while, we may as well devote our lives to the philosophy of the expression: “Eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die." -ALFRED NOYES. A Preliminary Federation, Empowered To Extend the Monroe Doctrine. It is the clear duty of the United States and the States of South America to take take steps to complete a panAmerican program which would include international arbitration, with power behind it to enforce its operation. If such a program is in existence. it is probable that other neutral countries may want to join in it for their self-preservation. For the contrasting examples of unprepared Belgium invaded, while prepared Switzerland, with war on all sides, is intact, will drive them to preparation and involve them in the inevitable cycle of increasing armaments, increasing taxation to pay for the armaments, and the revolutionary protests that the taxation will in time produce, unless there is adopted some practical method for settling future disputes. EDWARD FILENE. QUOTING MR. CHOATE The Original Name by which the Tribunal was to be designated was the "International Court of Justice," suggested by the American Delegation, or the "High Court of Justice," suggested by the British Delegation. It was deemed best to make a concession by using the word Arbitral. Mr. Choate wisely and wittily said "Let us have the baby, and you can give it any name you please.” The name was a concession of form, not of substance. -James Brown Scott. NO NEED OF FEAR To promote International tranquility, relations must be adjusted so that "one nation needs not be afraid of another," and the more nearly the means to that end accord with those for domestic peace, the more hope we have of their efficacy. Therefore, in no way discarding good offices and mediation between nations, we must provide for Judicial settlement of International disputes and, in proper cases, not merely advise or recommend, but judicially decide as to rights and command what is just between nations as between men. Charles Noble Gregory. OUR PERSEVERANCE No country in the world has made greater efforts in the field of Arbitration than America. The great perseverance which this people has shown in the pursuance of its lofty ideals, justifies the hope that it will, in the future, continue to follow in this noble path for the welfare of humanity.-Hans Webberg. A NEW MEANING We are making, or hope to make, a World Court and a World Law and the term Arbitration had a different meaning under the Roman Law and to the Roman lawyer, than it assumes to the American lawyer. Arbitration is a matter of agreement between parties to abide by the decision of some one whom they select. A Roman Arbitrator was a Judge who had cognizance of certain classes of cases and before whom litigants were bound to appear. This World Conference at The Hague was dominated mainly by nations attached to the principles and traditions of Roman Law, and they naturally put in this word "Arbitral” before the word "Justice," which we Americans would have been glad to have left out. -Simeon E. Baldwin. PERMANENT AND INTERNATIONAL It is evident that the foundations of a permanent Court have been broadly and firmly laid; that the organization, jurisdiction and procedure have been drafted and recommended in the form of a Code which the Powers, or any number of them, may accept, and by agreeing upon the appointment of Judges, call into being a Court at once permanent and International.-From Report of American Delegates to the Second Hague Conference. BY COMMON CONSENT The permanent Court of Arbitral Justice is the goal for which we must strive, to be established by common consent of the great nations.-William B. Hornblower. RIGHT TO DECIDE The Court of Arbitral Justice is an attempt to realize the idea involved in Mr. Root's instructions. It is an attempt to set up a real Court composed of real Juries-consults with a right to decide questions of a legal nature. Henry Wade Rogers. SOLVING THE PROBLEM You will remember, if you have studied the subject, that the Second Conference voted unanimously that there ought to be such a Court. They prepared, adopted and approved a Constitution and procedure for such a Court as that; and the only difficulty was that they could not agree upon the mode of electing Judges. However, when we have the Third Conference, with the impulse and enthusiasm that would naturally accompany it, we will find some way of solving that problem and will find a method for the creation of Judges. -Joseph H. Choate. AN HARMONIOUS PARLIAMENT These triumphs of the gospel of "Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men," are sure precursors of the good times coming which shall see realized, if not the millenium, the federation of the World represented in the harmonious parliament of man, when the civilized world shall be wrapped in Universal Law administered by Courts of International Justice. Joseph Wheeless. CAUSE FOR REJOICING The thirty-five Articles passed by The Hague Conference, providing for the constitution of this Court, declaring in favor of submitting legal questions to the decisions of Judges, was an advance so far ahead of anything in the way of International Peace Progress that the world has ever seen, that every one ought to rejoice at such a spectacle. Robt. C. Smith. T MISS MABEL BOARDMAN PROMINENT WOMEN ADDED VERY GREATLY TO HE part played by the women, who both attended and addressed the Second World Court Congress, was of such great importance that it can hardly be given too much credit. The women delegates were by no means the mere companions of the men delegates. They came full of enthusiasm and full of ideas. Not a few of the vital measures discussed at the sessions were consequent upon questions raised by women. The address of Mrs. John Hays Hammond was one which moved the audience profoundly. This result was achieved both by the fine quality of the address itself and by the earnest, eloquent manner of delivery. "What part has woman to play in this World Court?" she demanded. "How can we best aid the judgment and support the strength of our sons, our husbands, in this time of our country's perplexity and trial?" And this was her own answer: "We are part of the Nation: We are in the drama; and whether we do ill or well we must act our part. "History is in the making. Shall it again chronicle the fact that woman has left her Paradise to be guarded solely by the flaming sword? If swords are needed, we must have swords and plenty of them. Events have shown that to be unprepared is to invite dis aster; but swords and guns and armament of war are only the primitive needs of a nation. "The home is the citadel of our national life. To safeguard its strength, to protect its moral soundness, to keep high the glorious standard of our National ideals; these are the duties which call to American women to-day. "Let the women of the world rise to the realization of the importance of their united effort against war. "Women are the moulders of public opinion and ideals. Women set the fashion in thought as well as in dress; and when their hands and hearts are united in the cause of constructive peace, their influence will be irresistible. "Let us organize to abolish war. It is impossible to humanize war. As "As civilization has grown, the humanities of war have decreased. compared with the cruel effect of modern shrapnel, the missile thrown by our savage ancestor of the Stone Age was a love-tap. Men to-day are tortured not singly, but in battalions. And we furnish the material for such wars in the flesh of our sons! "If differences between nations can be adjusted by arbitration and not by resort to arms, then, in God's name, let us stand for a World Court. |