ITEMS OF INTEREST December 15, 1906 Issue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Only the few yet realize that there is no occasion or excuse, provided the legitimate provisions of the first Hague Conference are fairly put into operation, for any more wars among civilized nations. The immediate necessity is to bring this fact home to the knowledge of all the people in every country. Various efforts are already on foot to establish needful publicity and awaken general interest. First there is a great Interparliamentary Union, consisting of many hundreds of the active members of the Parliaments of the world. Another series of organizations is composed of business men and Boards of Trade in cities. In the United States about one hundred Boards of Trade are already committed in favor of the new method of justice as compared with the old method of violence. Moreover, the Labor Unions are giving their attention to this movement. The organizations of business men, of parliamentarians, and of working men are looking forward to the establishment of an International Congress or Parliament, which shall discuss, if not actually legislate upon, the subjects of common interest to all nations. It is believed that any general recommendations of such a World Congress, with a view to the common welfare, would soon be taken up by public opinion, and, so far as they were reasonable, would come to have, through growing usage, the force of law. It is now proposed to establish a Press Bureau, which shall serve to gather and convey interesting and popular matter favorable to the cause of arbitration and peace as against the use of violence. It is also proposed to hold public meetings and national conferences from time to time in the principal cities of the United States, as such meetings are now held in France and England, for the awakening of public interest in the new movement.

Various great subjects will come before the approaching Hague Conference: The limitation of armaments, a general treaty of obligatory arbitration, the immunity of private property at sea from seizure by belligerents, the establishment of a world Congress, and the provision that hostilities shall in no case begin before an opportunity is given for investigation through the mediation of one or more friendly Powers. The British Parliament has already voted with substantial unanimity that the first of these great subjects shall be urged by their Government.

In response to President Roosevelt's invitation to participate at the Jamestown Exposition these nations have accepted, and will be represented either by warships, detachments of troops, or civil delegations, while some will make industrial and technical exhibits: Great Britain, Germany, Russia, Italy, France, Belgium, Mexico, Venezuela, Denmark, Japan, Costa Rica, Argentine Republic, Chile, Guatemala, Switzerland, Haiti. Many of the States of the Union have erected buildings. Cities that will participate independent of the States in which they are situated will embrace Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Hartford, Syracuse, Milwaukee, Richmond, all of which will make extensive displays, combining municipal, commercial, and industrial features. The Exposition is within a few hours' travel of more than twenty-one million persons, and twenty-four hours of two thirds of the entire population of the United States, easily reached by seven great trunk lines of railways and twenty-six lines of steamships, which center at the tidewater cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Newport News.

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