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Show A Real Advance Toward Peace. The American Society of International Law, which recently closed its second annual meeting in Washington, is an organization through which we expect a code will be finally crystallized which will pretty nearly end wars among civilized civil-ized nations. It was organized by a few men From the first no discussion has been indulged in save of the highest. It has grown until the so ciety numbers nine hundred members, made up ot some of the great lawyers of the nation, includ ing the Chief Justice and other distinguished members of the Supreme Court, cabinet officers Senators and Representatives, men eminent In the diplomatic service and prominent lawyers fiom all parts of the country. It claims no gov ernmental power or authority to give direction to any international policy; it is entirely indepen dent In' discussion and criticism, but a dull man can see at a glance what effect a declaration ot opinion must be from such a body. Not onb will our own Government heed It, but it will have a diiect effect upon other governments; it will not be long until like bodies in other nations will undertake the same themes, and doubtless reach tho same conclusions; In turn they will b accepted by the Hague tribunal and the moral effect will be something which no nation will dare reject. The officers of the society are an indication indica-tion of its character. Secretary of State Root is the President, and Mr. James B. Scott, solicitor of the State Department, and who rendered eminent emi-nent service at the Hague, is secretary. Secretaries Secre-taries Taft and Straus are members, so are Senator Sen-ator Cullom, chairman of the committee on foreign for-eign relations in the Senate, and John Sharp Williams, th.e Democratic leader of the- House. The opening address this year was by Secretary Secre-tary Root, and his theme was "The Sanctions of International Law." He held that "it is the same decent respect for the opinions of mankind, to which appeal was made in the Declaration of Independence, In-dependence, that is and will be the great force in influencing the conduct of nations; that there is no civilized country which is not sensitive to the influence of general public opinion. Nations dread the moral isolation created by adverse public pub-lic opinion." The force of nine hundred such men as make up that society, all working on high planes, cannot can-not help but be felt wherever ciyilized men are. And when what they consider is of the same interest in-terest to every other nation as to our own, the effect of a conclusion by such a body will be felt " 'round the world." We think it is equal in importance im-portance to the Hague tribunal itself, and that it doubles the efficacy of that tribunal, for on many themes that will come before that tribunal argument argu-ment will have been already exhausted and an irresistible conclusion reached. Before the ten yeais are up through which two battleships a jear are promised the President, Presi-dent, there will be a general dispelling of the lage for more war engines, and to keep the relative rel-ative strength of the world's navies as they are, will be accepted as sufficient, for the decree jsvill be that there must be no wars until every means of arbitration shall have been exhausted. |
