trench would terrorize an enemy and if they are as successful as the English army claims them to be they will mean much in future engagements. ON THE WAR FRONTS ARYING reports have come from the Rumanian Theatre of war during the past week. The German troops are now making advances in the Dobrudja region and in Transylvania. According to German official reports General von Falkenhayn and General Mackensen are forcing the two fronts back. The advance in Transylvania at the present time seems to be of little value to the Central Powers. The Ru manians have occupied a territory which they desire to hold when peace is declared, but as Austria declared, she did not consider it worth the while to defend it in view of the great length of the line which would be involved. It is true that the occupation of this territory would bring the Rumanians nearer to the Oriental Railroad but it would be hardly be endangered owing to the intervening distance yet remaining. By permitting Rumania to hold this line in Transyl vania about 150,000 less men would be required by the Teutonic forces to hold the line. Though this might not be a very large number of men in comparison to the manner in which millions have been spoken of heretofore, at this period of the war it means a formid able force. In the Dobrudja region Mackensen, a general who has proven himself to be an able field officer, has taken up the offensive. Mackensen is a driver of men, accomplishing what he sets out for. One of the strategic points in the Dobrudja sector is the Cernavoda Bridge. A military expert says: "The whole situation in Dobrudja revolves about the Cernavoda Bridge and no matter what Germany may do in this country she will not have achieved a great success until this bridge is under her control. It is by this bridge alone that an invasion of Rumania can take place from this quarter. As we write word comes that the Teutonic forces have succeeded in forcing the Rumanian forces to retreat and the strongly fortified points of Cobadin and Toprai Sari are in the power of the Germans. It has also been reported that the seaport of Constanza has been captured. This means the loss of Rumania's greatest seaport and the cutting off the only railroad between the Black Sea and the Danube. In the Halicz region operations for the past few weeks have been to a large extent suspended. Attacks have forces but a constant pressure has been been less frequent by the Russian brought to bear with a high rate of wastage. This high rate of wastage in the present war and a policy which appears to be one of the big elements the Allies have pursued unremittingly. Unremitting pressure and wastage must sooner or later bring an enemy to the point where he will not have sufficient men per mile to maintain the same line. This will necessitate a re treat, a shortening of the lines and an increasing of the proportion of men in the trenches. On the Western front the situation remains very much unchanged. Recently the fighting has been of the hardest kind and very little ground has been gained. The village of Sailly has been the most important capture recently but it does not aid the Allies greatly except for the fact that in this particular district the villages have been used as the main centers of defense and there is no village east of Sailly for several miles. The fighting in this western front, therefore, has developed very much into an offensive on both sides. This has resulted in many casualties but in very little progress on either side. EDITORIALS A COURT OF NATIONS one can tell when the war will close or when the con NR structive work of rebuilding the international world may begin. Statesmen of both belligerent and neutral nations will face an unparalleled situation. The first thing will be an armistice, then will follow the work around the council table when those who have been in arms against each other must find some broad, general basis upon which peace may be arranged. This labor, difficult as it will be because of the necessarily unsatisfactory and repellent results of the war, is only a beginning. Numerous questions are yet to be solved affecting territory, populations and racial groups. The rehabilitation and safeguarding of small nations, the emancipation and protection of peoples of different religious faiths, the neutralization of territory and of waterways under sacred treaties-these questions are sure to arise and will have to be faced. Before the war considerable progress had been made in working out the beginnings of an international system. The two Hague conferences were great events in the world's history, being both practical in the results accomplished and prophetic in their intimations of future advances. The hopes and expectations which they inspired have indeed been clouded and almost engulfed in the smoke and welter of war. Some have said that the conventions there agreed to have been rendered null and void because international law and respect for treaties have failed to hold nations to faith and duty. But no sane person will subscribe to this view. Truth and justice are never crushed, are never put out of service. A great ideal clothed in the garb of utility will continue to attract the minds and hearts of men until its final triumph. The greatest achievement of the First Hague Conference was the Hague Tribunal for the settlement of disputes by arbitration. The crowning accomplishment of the Second Hague Conference was the practically unanimous vote in favor of the Court for the judicial settlement of questions that are justiciable. In spite of the war and the cracklings and crumblings of civilization which have accompanied it, that momentous action stands, and the devastation and the sorrows of the great struggle will only make the world more ready and more eager to fully establish and equip this piece of international machinery. Our American delgates, Messrs. Choate and Scott, especially, did all in their power to find an acceptable plan of selecting judges. This it was not their good fortune to accomplish, but it is believed that some plan will, at the proper moment be arranged. The question now is shall the calling of a Third Hague Conference and the inauguration of the Court be the first great objective in the direction of a durable peace. Does not every scheme that has been proposed dwindle when compared with the enthronement of Justice in international affairs? Those who have founded and have incorporated the World's Court League believe this and are pledged to work earnestly and seriously for the end in view. The League will co-operate with all persons and institutions in this and other countries that believe in the transcendent importance of a Court of nations. It will not oppose other plans for international betterment even though they may seem faulty and impracticable. The propaganda in favor of all such programs will help arouse public interest and discussions and lead the world to seek the abandonment of war and desire more humane and civilized methods of handling world affairs. Samuel T. Dutton. C A BLACK PAGE of the Armenians which gave some meaning and purpose to the industrial LOSELY related to the desire of life of the nation. the world for international peace and the establishment of justice between nations is the generous attitude of the United States toward all the sufferers by the war in manifold. ways. The spirit of sympathy and good will has found expression and while many think that considering our wealth we have done far too little, yet the aggregate of contributions for suffering humanity is larger than is generally supposed. Of all those who have been thrown into misery and distress by the great conflict, the Armenians and Syrians have been called to endure the greatest cruelty and torture. In their case it is not because they were belligerents or because they have been otherwise than loyal citizens in the Turkish Empire, but rather because of jealousy and the fear which the Turks have entertained, the fear that doubtless was to some extent felt by the Germans, that the Armenians, because of their ability and efficiency, because of their well-known ambition for a revived nationality, might prove a stumbling block by reason of the designs which the Turkish Government cherished. The attempt of the Turkish Government to destroy the Armenian race has brought to the surface the fact that the Armenians, and the same is true to some extent of the Syrians, have constituted the most substantial citizenship in the Empire. Their ability was recognized and many positions of public trust have been constantly held by them. When the war broke out many positions in the Government were occupied by Armenians of statesmanlike quality. Furthermore, they were the merchants, the mechanics and the skilled laborers; they were the shop keepers, the bankers, the engineers and it was the enterprise and trained ability The Turks in this effort to destroy the Armenian race have done little less than attempt suicide. They have in a way set about destroying the brains of the nation. They have deliberately undertaken to wipe out the most valuable part of the population. It still continues to be a matter of question as to just when and where this scheme of deportation and massacre was devised. Seldom, if ever, has any project been so thoroughly and so precisely administered as has this appalling attack upon the Armenian race. The program usually followed was the drafting of the men, ostensibly for service in the army, not usually as soldiers, but as laborers on the roads and in the trenches. They were assured, and their families were assured, that they would be thus employed and so were led away out of the village or city. In some cases they were actually set at work, but more often they were slaughtered like animals. In some cases they became victims of firing squads. In others they were bound together in groups of from five to ten and thrown into the river. Thus it was that the larger portion of the ablebodied and well-equipped men were ruthlessly destroyed. Then came the sadder and still more tragic story of the old men, women and children. They were given but a short time to make up the small bundles, clothing, food, which they were permitted to take and, in some cases after two or three short hours from the time the summons was given, they were compelled at the point of the bayonet to start on their long, wearisome and deathly march toward the mountains or the desert. The worst elements in the country were permitted to attack them, criminals, civilian peasants and even the soldiers who made a pretense of protecting them. Girls were stolen away and placed in Turkish harems or in many cases suffered death after repeated violations. The story of their journey was one of attack and deprivation of even food and water. Everything possible seems to have been done to cause torture, suffering and death. Thousands of those who survived these torments arrived in the Arabian desert absolutely stripped of clothing and usually reduced so that they were little more than walking skeletons. It is, of course, claimed, that the Armenians with their pride in their ancient nationality and in view of the sufferings which they endured for hundreds of years, when the Russians invaded Armenia, and particularly when the Turks began to attack them, were induced to take up arms against their persecutors. Disregarding entirely the great provocation which they had for thus defending themselves, the Turkish Government has tried to justify the crime of which they are guilty by accusing the Armenians of treachery and insubordination. In the final settlement which will come after the war it stands to reason that if justice guides the nations in their attempts to rehabilitate the world. it will be made impossible for the Turks again to take over the Armenian or Syrian races. Although it is well known that more than one-half million Armenians have perished and several hundred thousand Syrians in the Mt. Lebanon district have perished from famine and acts of Turkish oppression, there are still more than one million Armenians scattered throughout the Empire as well as in the Caucassas and Persia, the majority of whom are in need at present and will suffer greatly during the coming winter unless aid is speediy furnished. The American Committee on Armenian and Syrian Relief which has raised about one-quarter of a million and taken advantage of the President's Proclamation appointing October 21st and 22nd for the collection of relief funds, hopes to have at their disposal at least two millions of dollars during the next three months. The Rockefeller Foundation has been a generous contributor to this work and will continue undoubtedly to make large contributions. The Secretary of the Navy, under the advice of the President, has granted a collier to take food supplies to Syria. It is to be feared that this undertaking cannot be consummated as quickly as is to be desired but it is posed to spend at least three hundred thousand dollars for this particular demand. As suggested at the outset the action of America in trying to save those to whom the war has brought sorrow and distress is quite in line with the purpose of the World's Court League to bend its energies in providing such machinery for the settlement of international disputes, which will make war forever unnecessary if not impossible. 1 practical man. It carries with it a compelling force which is irresistible but which is devoid of physical factors. Only judicial settlement, backed by public opinion, can hold the scales of justice and the World Court is the, body capable of making such judicial decrees. In order to make this World Court possible; in order to be able to present it to the nations of the World, have them believe it; work for it; and assist in its creation, it is necessary to create sentiment,-public opinion, first, in the United States, and then in the capitals and cities of foreign nations. Organization and co-operation in conjunction with a clear-cut, concise, honest presentation of the plan are needed to enlist the aid of the people and secure their endorsement. The Loyal Order of the Moose, by its national endorsement, has made it possible for the World's Court League to reach their eight hundred thousand members directly through their individual lodges. It has enabled the League to present to them a plan which the organization. they believe in and stand for recommends. This endorsement paves the way. It makes it possible to reach men directly who might otherwise be lost. On October twenty-seventh a National World Court Day will be held in the Order. Every separate lodge will hold World Court meetings. Speeches will be delivered; literature distributed. The psychological effect of realizing that all over the United States, in sixteen hundred lodges, the same sort of a meeting is in progress will do much to further the cause. Its greatness and wideness of scope will be brought to the members' attention with added force. A National World Court Day is one of the most efficient ways to create sentiment favoring the movement, and will give it an impetus which it could obtain in no other way. As we said before, we are glad to know that the Loyal Order of the Moose has taken up the World Court Movement in the way it has. The endorsement will inspire others to work and make it clearer and bring to them. more forcefully than ever that the World Court is a good, common sense, practical, business proposition which can, and will, work out and by so doing establish International Peace. It is to be hoped that more societies will follow the very good example set by the Moose and will assist in promoting this great cause. AT a meeting of the Executive Committee held on October twenty-fourth Samuel T. Dutton, Emeritus Professor of Columbia University, was elected General Secretary of the World's Court League, Inc. |