H a Durable Peace OLLAND brought together representatives of twelve nationsGermany, Belgium, England, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and the United States-to discuss confidentially a possible basis of lasting peace after this war. Here is the "minimum program" based upon principles of law and justice which they offer as a common foundation for action: 1. No annexation or transfer of territory shall be made contrary to the interests and wishes of the population concerned. Where possible their consent shall be obtained by plebiscite or otherwise. The states shall guarantee to the various nationalities included in their boundaries equality before the law, religious liberty, and the free use of their native languages. 2. The states shall agree to introduce in their colonies, protectorates and spheres of influence, liberty of commerce, or at least equal treatment for all nations. 3. The work of the Hague Conferences, with a view to the peaceful organization of the Society of Nations, shall be developed. The Hague Conference shall be given a permanent organization and meet at regular intervals. The states shall agree to submit all their disputes to peaceful settlement. For this purpose there shall be created, in addition to the existent Hague Court of Arbitration, (a) a permanent Court of International Justice; (b) a permanent International Council of Investigation and Conciliaion. The states shall bind themselves to take concerted action, diplomatic, economic or military, in case any state should resort to military measures instead of submitting the dispute to judicial decision or to the mediation of the Council of Investigation and Conciliation. 4. The states shall agree to reduce their armaments. In order to facilitate the reduction of naval armaments, the right of capture shall be abolished and the freedom of the seas assured. 5. Foreign policy shall be under the effective control of the parliaments of the respective nations. Secret treaties shall be void. This program has aroused international discussion for more than a year. The "Central Organization for a Durable Peace" with headquarters at The Hague publishes an official commentary on the program, has set research committees at work upon each section of it, and has an International Council of representatives of 34 states including several of the belligerent powers from each side of this war. In the treaty made by the belligerents at the close of the war, "in order that this peace may not degenerate into a mere armistic" it is insisted that principles of law and justice must rule. The program specifies two: The principle of Nationalities must be safeguarded, and equality of treatment for all nations ought to be guaranteed in the colonies, protectorates and spheres of influence. The peace-treaty further should provide for a Third Hague Conference to undertake the international work of establishing cooperation instruments and methods. for maintaining peace on principles of law and justice. A permanent World Court of international justice is essential to this program. A Conference of Peace Workers PRIVATE conference of peace workers called by the American Peace Society at the Hotel Biltmore, New York, February 22-23, turned itself into a public exhibition of strong differences of opinion widely reported by the press. The set program of discussion and procedure went by the board. At the outset the meeting determined that any action should be unofficial so far as some twenty organizations represented were concerned. But a determined majority of those who attended the sessions "recalled" the "Committee on Findings," passed a series of extreme antiwar resolutions, and ordered a committee to bring the resolutions to the attention of the President. These resolutions (1) unalterably oppose war not only as a general principle but in the present crisis, and call upon the government to authorize only conciliatory and judicial methods; (2) oppose clauses of the Senate espionage bill which would restrict constitutional freedom of speech or press; (3) oppose conscription in any form in peace or war; (4) oppose military training in public schools or colleges; (5) demand, "be- For a resolution voicing appreciation of the President's patriotic and conscientious struggles to avoid war, a substitute was passed by a vote of 24 to 23 declaring absolute confidence in the lofty sentiments expressed by the President in his Senate speech of January 22nd. At the closing session the meeting approved the program recently adopted by the American Institute of International Law at Havana for calling a Third Hague Conference of all nations to establish an international court and other supplementary institutions. A peace publicity campaign was also approved. This conference at the Biltmore which opened on Washington's Birthday was held separately from The World's Court League functions of the same date. and place. "Whatever that form of loyalty which is now patriotism expresses, must be in spirit preserved by the great community of the future. That unity within the national growth which the observers of the war watch with such fascination, when they see how each people is better knit and more serious, more conscious of the sacredness of its national life than it was before the great peril, that unity will not, and must not, be lost when the new international life comes into existence. There can be no true inter national life unless the nations remain to possess it. There can never be a spiritual body unless that body, like the ideal Pauline church, has its many members. The citizens of the world of the future will not lose their distinct countries. What will pass away will be that insistent mutual hostility which gives to the nations of to-day, even in times of peace, so many of the hateful and distracting characters of a detached individual man."-Josiah Royce. A and Dinner WORLD'S COURT LEAGUE luncheon and a dinner at the Hotel Biltmore, New York, February 22, furnished an appropriate and suggestive celebration of Washington's Birthday. By invitation of the Board of Governors some two hundred persons attended the luncheon and about three hundred were seated at the dinner tables. Speakers ably presented the principles and international policies favored by the League from many illuminating points of view. In the present tense situation the note of "America United in Patriotism and Faith in the Future" was sounded throughout the program. This telegram, approved by unanimous vote at the dinner, was sent to President Wilson: "The President, Washington, D. C.: "Members of The World's Court League and their guests, gathered at a patriotic banquet on Washington's Birthday, send greetings to the President. We call upon all true citizens of the Nation to reaffirm in no uncertain voice their loyalty and their unshakable determination to stand by the Government in the present crisis." Mr. William B. Millar, director of the Laymen's Missionary Movement, presided at the luncheon. Dr. Charles H. Levermore, Corresponding Secretary of the League, analyzed the League platform and the power of Public Opinion as the sanction for international institutions. Professor Paul Monroe of Columbia University spoke of the necessity for saving American educational methods from false emphasis in historical teaching and preparedness training. Mrs. Fannie Fern Andrews of the American Branch of the Central Organization for Durable Peace explained the development and significance of the proposals for a Council of Conciliation. Mr. Henry Clews, Treasurer of the League, emphasized the practicable contribution of the Supreme Court idea to the internationalism of mankind, the composed confidence of the nation in the wisdom and strength of the government as well as the resources and patriotism of the American people. Rev. Dr. Leighton Williams, pastor of Amity Baptist Church, exalted the moral and spiritual qualities required of public opinion that shall make effective nationalism serve true internationalism. Professor Samuel T. Dutton, General Secretary of the League, briefly closed the speech-making. Mr. Charles Lathrop Pack, a Vice-President of the League and President of the American Forestry Association, was toastmaster at the evening dinner. American flags predominated in the decorations of the banquet hall and tables; singing of "The Star Spangled Banner" and "America" varied the brilliant program of speeches. The standing toast to the President of the United States was proposed by Mr. John Barrett, Director-General of the Pan-American Union. Letters were read from Mr. John Hays Hammond, President, and Mr. Emerson McMillin, Chairman of the Executive Committee, both of whom were kept at home by illness. Mr. Hammond wrote: "I hope it will be clearly and emphatically stated that The World's Court League has no connection with any anti-war organization. The sole object of the League is to promote the creation of a World Court after the war to settle international disputes. "Even the most sanguine advocates of a World Court do not cherish the delusion that such an institution would absolutely guarantee world peace, but it would certainly minimize the danger of war by eliminating many issues that constitute a constant menace to peace, and in that way the proposed World Court would be no less effective in its particular function than is medicine in eradicating disease; education in abolishing ignorance, or religion in warring with wickedness. Yet who would contend that medicine, education and religion are not indispensable factors in human progress. "Those prominent in the World Court movement have from the first recognized the fact that an adequate military defence is îndispensable to our national security under the present deplorable state of international relations. One of the lessons we have learned from the world war is that political neutrality, when coupled with military unpreparedness, has not prevented the agony of Belgium. We believe that the greatest, though unwitting, enemies of our national security are those whose efforts create the impression abroad that our people are divided in their allegiance to their President in a time of national crisis." Mr. McMillin's communication is printed in full on other pages of this magazine. The following letter to Samuel T. Dutton, General Secretary of The World's Court League, from Andrew D. White, ex-President of Cornell University and formerly Ambassador to Russia, was also read: "Your letter regarding the purpose of The World's Court League interests me much. I have the honor to belong to two or three organizations having a similar purpose, and I watch them all with hope. It seems to me that there might be an advantage in having closer relations established between these various associations, for undoubtedly the establishment of such a league of some sort between the nations of the earth for the establishment of an International Tribunal is the greatest desire of really thinking men and women present in all nations of the earth. "In my own thinking upon the subject, I do not yet see the way very clearly to an enforcement of the decrees of such a tribunal, but believe that the continuation of the work of the Hague Conference is most desirable, and out of its deliberations there may in any case come in due time a public opinion which will give the nations of the earth what they really want as regards peace. "I regret that it is impossible for me to be with you at your approaching festivities, but I trust that there will be cordial cooperation in them, of all those representing organizations which aim to put an end to the monstrous inhumanity now prevailing over the earth." The speakers at the dinner were Dr. James Brown Scott, Secretary Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and President of the Neutrality Board; ex-Senator Theodore E. Burton, President Merchants National Bank; Dr. T. Iyenaga, Director East and West News Bureau; Mrs. Anna Garlin Spencer, Professor Meadville Theological School; Mr. William B. Millar, Director Laymen's Missionary Movement; Mr. Bernard H. Ridder, Editor of the Staats-Zeitung, and the Hon. James L. Slayden, Member of Congress. We begin elsewhere in this issue the publication of a number of the valuable contributions to World Court thought made by the Washington's Birthday speakers. Dr. Scott presented an unusual picture of George Washington's Washington's prescience of a court, later advocated by American delegates and adopted in principle at The Hague Conferences, as well as Washington's strict adherence to the use of proper government agencies and firmness in standing for defense of rights. ExSenator Burton called for solid backing of the government at the capitol, and emphasized the universal trend toward democracy in the more closely neighbored world which makes court bound to come. a Dr. Iyenaga reverted to the dramatic opening of friendly relations with Japan by Commodore Perry and cited the continued instances of such relations to this day. But he pointed "L to the current danger in "pin-pricking" by the press, and urged the necessity for a policy of justice in the treatment of aliens. Mrs. Spencer pleaded for some agreement among multi-varied peace societies and concentration of effort on common ground while at the same time preserving vital initiative and freedom among earnest advocates. Mr. Millar's contagious idea of What to Do? suggested talking about the League proposals, getting specific assignments from the League office, giving money to support the League work. Mr. Ridder called attention to sacrifice now freely offered in the loyalty of millions of German-American citizens as an unparalleled evidence of the quality of real American spirit. Congressman Slayden demurred to the soft impeachment of effeminacy expressed in the East against the rest of the country, and recalled the repeated declarations by Congress that the United States policy is one of mediation and arbitration. H. G. Wells' Religion of the World Republic World Congress and World Court ET us set up the peace of the World Republic amidst these ruins, wrought by war," writes the British novelist H. G. Wells. "Let it be our religion, our calling." He dares to conceive of God as "the Captain of the World Republic," and shows us Mr. Britling, the hero of his latest novel, talking of a World Congress meeting year by year "until it ceased to be a speculation and became a mere intelligent anticipation"; talking also of the "manifest necessity" of a Su |