L. A. S by L. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Sep 7, 1905

L. A. S

By L. A. S.

AN Interparliamentary Congress was opened at Brussels, Belgium, August 28, representing a movement to establish a congress of nations, or sort of international legislature, to which would be added judiciary and executive branches, for the adjustment of international questions and the prevention of war. A proposition for a model arbitration treaty was presented and discussed before the congress. Congressman Bartholdt, representing the United States, urged the acceptance of such a treaty, and presented the following interesting view of the alternative which would be likely to follow its rejection:—

If Europe should refuse to adopt arbitration, if it should continue the increase of its armaments, might not the United States find it imperative, for the protection of its own trade, to rival with Europe in the matter of military and naval armaments? The question is: Shall the United States arm itself in proportion to its wealth and power, and become a menace to mankind and its own people, or shall the other nations enter into a union with it and with one another, and thus secure forever the rights they have been in perpetual dread of losing? This is the real political question in the international world to-day.

But can the United States, having become a world power with insular possessions to defend, now stop short of an armament which will be “in proportion to its wealth and power,” and thus constitute it “a menace to mankind”?