HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT.

First of all, the fundamental point must be that the material force of arms be substituted by the moral force of right, from which shall arise a fair agreement by all for the simultaneous and reciprocal diminution of armaments, according to the rules and guarantees to be established, in a measure necessary and sufficient for the maintenance of public order in each state.

Then in the substitution for armies of the institution of arbitration with its high pacifying function, according to the rules to be laid down and the penalties to be imposed on a state which would refuse either to submit a national question to arbitration or to accept its decision.-(From the message to the belligerent governments: August 1, 1917.)

T

GOVERNMENTS PLEDGE SUPPORT TO A LEAGUE OF NATIONS

(Official Correspondence and Resolutions)

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In the measures to be taken to secure the future peace, of the world the people and government of the United States are as vitally and as directly interested as the governments now at war. Their interest, moreover, in the means to be adopted to relieve the smaller and weaker peoples of the world of the peril of wrong and violence is as quick and ardent as that of any other people or government. They stand ready, and even eager, to coöperate in the accomplishment of these ends when the war is over with every influence and resource at their command.-(From President Wilson's identic note to the warring nations: dated Washington, December 18, 1916.)

THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE ENTENTE ALLIES

In a general way they (the Allied governments) desire to declare their respect for the lofty sentiments inspiring the American note (of December 18th) and their whole-hearted agreement with the proposal to create a League of Nations which shall assure peace and justice throughout the world.

They recognize all the benefits that would accrue to the cause of humanity and civilization from the institution of international arrangements designed to prevent violent conflicts between nations, and so framed as to provide the sanctions necessary to their enforcement, lest an illusory security should serve merely to facilitate fresh acts of aggression.(From the joint reply to the American Note: dated Paris, January 10, 1917.) ̈ ̈

THE GOVERNMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN

The people of this country .. do not believe peace can be durable if it be not based on the success of the allied cause. For à durable peace can hardly be expected unless three conditions are fulfilled: the first is that the existing causes of international unrest should be as far as possible removed or weakened; the second is that the aggressive aims and the unscrupulous methods of the Central Powers should fall into disrepute among their own peoples; the third is that behind international law and behind all treaty arrangements for preventing or limiting hostilities some form of international sanction should be devised which would give pause to the hardiest aggressor.-(From a letter from Foreign Secretary Balfour to Sir Cecil Spring Rice· dated London, January 13, 1917.):

THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT

The Chamber of Deputies, the direct expression of the sovereignty of the French people, expects that the efforts of the armies of the republic and her allies will secure, once Prussian militarism is destroyed, durable guarantees for peace and independence for peoples great and small, in a league of nations such as has already been foreshadowed.(From a resolution adopted by the Chamber of Deputies and approved by the Senate: Paris, June 4 and June 6, 1917.)

THE GOVERNMENT OF SWITZERLAND

You regard as one of the most efficacious means to that end a treaty of arbitration conceived in the same spirit as the treaty of February 13, 1914, between Switzerland and

the United States, a treaty which all the countries are to sign and by which they will undertake to submit to the decision of a supreme international tribunal the conflicts which may arise between them in order to avoid, as far as possible, a return of the catastrophe which desolates the world to-day. Switzerland is so much the better placed to appreciate the work of which the United States has taken the initiative, because, surrounded on all sides by war, peopled by the race and inheriting the language and the culture of three among the combatant nations, she is better able than any other country to realize the fact that war is inhuman, and is contrary to the superior interest of civilization which is the common patrimony of all men. If, then, at the conclusion of peace, the occasion should present itself for us to unite our efforts to yours, we will not fail to do so, and we will be happy to.-(Letter from Doctor Arthur Hoffman, Division of Foreign Affairs, to Hon. Theodore Marburg, December 11, 1916.)

THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT

His Majesty's Government is following with keen sympathy the idea of establishing, after the end of the present war, an international league for the purpose of preventing the peace of the world being again disturbed, and when the opportunity of doing so arrives, with a guarantee of success, will lend its concourse to the realization of such a humanitarian and lofty project.-(A cablegram from Don Amalio Gimeno, Minister of Foreign Affairs, to the League to Enforce Peace: dated Madrid, January 13, 1917.)

ECONOMIC PRESSURE AS A MEANS TO PREVENT WAR

(From a report of the special committee appointed by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States to consider economic results of the war and American business. This recommendation was endorsed by a two-thirds vote of the 282 commercial organizations constituting the membership of the chamber.)

Many states that, for various reasons, might not be able to cooperate with military force could cooperate by their

economic force, and so render the action against the offending state more effective, and that, in the end, would be more humane.

The President:

The next is the report of the Committee to consider the advisability of establishing an American International Court, Mr. Wickersham.

AN

REPORT OF COMMITTEE TO CONSIDER THE ADVISABILITY OF ESTABLISHING AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL COURT

George W. Wickersham, of New York:

The Committee appointed pursuant to the following resolution adopted at the annual meeting held January 12-13, 1917, as follows, viz.:

"Resolved, That a Committee of nine be appointed to consider and report at the next annual meeting as to the advisability of establishing an American international court as a means to effect peaceable settlements of controversies between nations on the American continent ",

report that it held a meeting at the office of the Chairman on November 14th, and after considering the subject of the resolution, the Committee was of the opinion that the subject of an American international court is but one phase of the larger subject of an international court, concerning which a good deal has been said by the President of the United States and other officials of this and other governments, and the establishment of which appears to be a definite part of the program of those who hope to prevent in the future the recurrence of war as a means of settling disputes between nations. In view of these facts,

notwithstanding our continued belief that international arbitration, or international courts in some form, provide a better remedy for all justiciable international differences than is found in war, your Committee does not consider this to be a propitious moment to bring forward any suggestions looking to the establishment of a merely American international tribunal.

I respectfully submit the report and move that it be accepted and placed on file.

The motion was duly seconded and carried,

The President:

The next is Report of the Committee on Amendment of Procedure in the Federal Courts.

Arthur H. Masten, of New York:

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Association: The situation regarding this legislation which your Committee has been looking after is practically the same as it was last year. We have, however, made a very brief report in order that the progress of the bill may be made a matter of record in our proceedings.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON AMENDMENT OF PROCEDURE IN THE FEDERAL COURTS

To the New York State Bar Association:

Your special Committee on Amendment of Procedure in the Federal Courts which was appointed pursuant to resolution adopted at the annual meeting in January, 1911, and has been continued at each succeeding annual meeting, submits the following report: :

At the last annual meeting of the Association, your Committee reported as to the status of House Bill 7572