of safety held up all shipping about to pass through the straits. Above the straits millions of bushels of Russian and Rumanian grain was awaiting shipment to England and other countries; there, also awaiting shipment, were the great supplies of petroleum which Russia furnishes to European markets. But the closing of the straits by Turkey, owing to Italy's threatened attack, made it impossible for these supplies to be moved. On May 2, 1912, as many as one hundred and eighty-five vessels were anchored around Constantinople. Russia was losing millions of dollars because her grain could not be moved, and much of it was spoiling. From April 18 to May 18 no vessel was allowed to pass through the straits, and altogether the closing of these straits cost neutral nations, who had no concern in the war, as much as one hundred and fifty million dollars. Those neutral nations protested, and the result was that Italy was unable to carry out her plan of attacking Constantinople. War had to give way to the pursuits of peace. To make justice the unswerving rule of the nations would save to the world for the pressing needs of civilization two billion dollars annually, which is now spent on armies and navies, and would at the same time release the four billions of dollars now tied up in the battleships of the world. Suggestions for study Why does war exist? Can it be avoided? Do nations want war? Why do they maintain armies and navies? Did kings in former times seek to avoid war as rulers do now? Who controls nations now? Who fights in war? What proportion of men are killed in battle? If the same army fights five battles, how many men will be lost? Describe a modern battle. What game is it like? When war occurs what are the peaceful nations called? Do they suffer? Illustrate. What does the war system cost? Does it accomplish a necessary modern purpose? Can it secure beneficent results among civilized people? Apply to American School Peace League, 405 Marlborough St., Boston, for illustrative literature. If two great nations wage war upon one another, in what ways are other nations affected, and why? What evil effects have proceeded from war besides death, wounds, and physical suffering? Reading for the teacher On modern war, see "The Most Up-to-Date BusinessWar," by Frederick Palmer, in McClure's Magazine, September, 1913, vol. XLI. The Future of War, part 1, chaps. I, III, V, VI; part II, chaps. V-VII, Jean de Bloch. World Peace Foundation. Read: "A Voyage to Lilliput," chap. v, Jonathan The Forces Warring against War, p. 15, Havelock Friendship of Nations, pp. 16, 17, 18, 100, 166, 167, 193, 208, 209, 218, 219, 220, Lucile Gulliver. Ginn & Co. MARCH: GROWTH OF LAW AS AN AGENCY FOR PROMOTING GOOD WILL Peace is the permanence of law. Under peace the affairs of nations as well as the affairs of individual men will be settled by judges, or by juries, or by both. DAVID STARR JORDAN. Till the war-drum throbb'd no longer, and the battleflags were furl'd In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world. ALFRED TENNYSON in "Locksley Hall." We do not know when the people of the earth first began to have laws. All that we know is that the study of ancient history constantly reveals codes of law of earlier and earlier dates. Egypt, Assyria, and Chaldea had laws, many of which differ but little from our own of to-day. Why did people in those far-off times have laws? They found them necessary, in order to live together peaceably, for laws are a means to secure justice. When families began to have dealings with other families, they became a tribe, and the strongest man of the tribe became its chief. When the chief made a decision which seemed right and just to the tribe, that decision resulted in the growth of a custom for the tribe; and that custom was law. When the tribes were closely united among themselves, they reached out to control other tribes. Each obeyed the customs it had found good, and each stood together. When the chief decided that it would benefit his tribe if it could conquer another, all the tribesmen went out with him and loyally fought for the glory of their own people. After a while, many tribes were conquered and there resulted larger units, or nations, in which it became customary to recognize single rulers, or kings, and this custom became a general law. It was not until the latter part of the sixteenth century that the relations of nations came to be a matter of study for scholars or to be subject to rules that might by any stretch of the imagination be accepted as genuine law. Hugo Grotius, a brilliant Dutchman, was the first to reduce the rules which existed in his time to a sound basis. His great work, The Rights of War and Peace, was published in 1625. In this book he sought to state the rules which should govern the relations between nations. In doing this he followed what he called the law of nature, or "natural human law," which corresponds in all essentials to the customs which were followed by early peoples and which in time hardened into rules of law. We have seen how the Treaty of Westphalia solved many problems that had been troubling Europe. From this treaty is dated the modern period of diplomatic history. Among other things, it laid the basis for freedom in religious matters, and established the principle of the independent or sovereign state, two most essential elements in securing justice in the family of nations. From that time until the present, international law has developed, and this is due to the rapid growth of international relations, and the consequent sense of world unity with a world will and a world conscience. Fifty years ago the slave trade in Africa outraged the best instincts of all civilized peoples, who were agreed that it should be stopped. It was a question on which all civilized nations felt the same, and in 1885 at Berlin means were taken by the nations as a whole to prevent it. In 1890, at Brussels, Belgium, the nations made a general treaty to carry out the principles agreed upon at Berlin, and as a result it is now unlawful for the citizens of any Christian nation to traffic in slaves. The rapid means of communication has made it necessary for the nations to protect themselves against flight from justice by an individual. All nations recognize that when a man commits a crime in one country and flees to another, he should not escape justice, so they have made agreements or extradition treaties, as they are called, providing that persons who are citizens of one country and are charged with certain enumerated crimes shall be handed over to the authorities of that country by the authorities of any other to which they may flee. A great deal of law has grown up around the right of nations to do business with other nations. This right is exercised by means of diplomatic agents, ambassadors or ministers, and consuls who represent their governments at foreign capitals. The duties of ambassadors and ministers, who are sent to other countries by the chief executive, consist in looking out for the interests of their own country in the foreign state, and this is done by means of negotiation and treaties, about which a large number of rules of law have been adopted. The great bulk of the intercourse between nations is conducted in a friendly spirit, seeking only justice and a proper solution of the questions involved. Just as in commercial life, most business among nations is transacted without friction; probably nine tenths is dealt with in this pleasant manner. Disputes, however, do |
