RICHARD BARTHOLDT Member of Congress from Missouri; President of the Interparliamentary Union for 1904; author of the Resolution asking the President to call a Conference of Nations; organizer and President of the Arbitration Group in the Congress of the United States men have not considered carefully what the constitution of this court at The Hague really means. When that court was organized, a political union of nations was actually formed, feeble but alive. It includes twenty-six nationsall the world except Central and South America. The treaty of The Hague is its first Constitution, just as the Articles of Confederation were the first Constitution of the American Union. The nations that united to constitute this court have reserved their right to try their contentions on the battlefield instead of by submission of evidence to this court. But the court is none the less a reality, and therefore there is now a Union of Nations, very imperfect in form and endowed with but a small measure of power; but it exists and has begun to operate. And the Conference to convene soon will be charged with the duty of doing something to make this existing Union of Nations more perfect, thus hastening the day when judicial decisions, according to recognized principles of law, can, through its agency, take the place of war. The things that can be done are clearly outlined by the Interparliamentary Union. Reasonable rules can be added to those that already exist for mitigating the horrors of war, by exempting private property from seizure during war, by forbidding the bombardment of undefended places, by clearly defining property that may lawfully be seized during war, also the rights and duties of neutrals, the rights of the belligerents in regard to intercepting mail, etc. But all these mere mitigations of the evils of war will fail to satisfy enlightened public opinion of our day. And the demand of the Interparliamentary Union for treaties of arbitration so drawn as to found the Hague Court solidly as a permanent part of the world's judicial machinery by giving it jurisdiction, just as State and National courts have, and for a World's Congress, will awake, response in the depths of the human heart in every land. Men will be quick to see that this is the practical plan for perpetuating peace, and a little reflection will show that' this would permanently secure for every Nation without cost all the legitimate and right things which they now spend vast sums to keep by force, and which are really insecure until the war era has come to an end. When this Conference convenes, the delegates will not be insensible to these facts, nor to the great things achieved by the delegates sent to The Hague in 1898. That was the first General Assembly of the nations. The delegates arrived at The Hague with a confused idea as to what they had come for, and many of them were without hope of accomplishing anything of permanent or great value. But they were impelled by a power that was beyond their comprehension, and out of this Conference A into one body composed of many members fitly joined together." When the movement for treaties of arbitration, which he foresaw, is at its climax, he sees, from this height, the inevitableness of a perfect political organization coextensive with humanity's widest commercial activities. And he has proven that he is a true political prophet. The Hon. Richard Bartholdt, President-elect of the Interparliamentary Union and author of the resolution of St. Louis, said: "The first Conference of the nations was called by the Czarthe representative of autocracy; the autocracy; the second will be called by the great representative of democracy-the United States. And every shade of political opinion between democracy and autocracy will be represented at the Conference, and will be found in favor of international arbitration as the practical plan for perpetuating peace and securing justice among nations." Dr. Gobat, Secretary of the Interparliamentary Union, and President of the Swiss delegation, said: "As a court for applying principles of law to controversies between nations issued out of the Hague Conference, so a Congress or Parliament for discovering those principles of law can issue out of the Conference contemplated by this resolution." Vladimir Ritter von Gniewosz, Chamberlain to the Emperor of Austria,,said: "The members of the Interparliamentary Union have all been chosen by the people among whom they live to represent them in their most vital political interests. They know nothing which will so contribute to the welfare of their own nation and of all mankind as the carrying out of the resolution of St. Louis." Count Albert Apponyi, Chamberlain to the King of Hungary, said: "This resolution calls for the application of the fundamental idea of democracy to international affairs by the constitution of a Congress of Nations in which every nation shall have representatives. It is right, therefore, that the United States the greatest representative of democracy in the world-should lead in this movement," John Lund, ex-President of the Norwegian Senate and Vice-President of the Nobel Peace Prize Commission, said: "The call for this World's Conference is the most important political move ever made. We do not expect the International Parliament to come into being perfect in form and power. Every national parliament has grown gradually. So the International Parliament, once created, wiil grow in usefulness and power with the centuries." The Marquis di San Giuliano, exCabinet Minister of Italy, said: "It is a great step forward that this idea [a World's Parliament] was accepted by representatives of almost the whole civilized world. ilized world. The United States is the Nation to lead in this work, being great and powerful, and renowned for its practical spirit, and at the same time predisposed to peace both by tradition and character." Sir Philip Stanhope, the President of the British Delegation, said: "Members of national parliaments must stand for an International Parliament, or deny the principle on which their nation is founded. How can they stand for a parliament for State affairs, a parliament for inter-State or national affairs, and for something else for international affairs, when that something else must be chaos always and war periodically?" M. Georges Cochery, ex Secretary of the French Treasury and Vice-President of the Chamber of Deputies, said: "France believes in her principles for application to international intercourse as well as to the intercourse between her own citizens. France and the United States are brothers, born of the same movement of ideas. And it is right that the United States lead and that France and all nations join in the application of these ideas to international affairs." Ernst Beckman, President of the Liberal Union party of Sweden, and author of standard works on America and on social and economic questions, said: "The resolution of St. Louis and the President's call for the Conference mark the beginning of that long period in which international jurisprudence will be developed by a system of interna |