CHAPTER IX INTERNATIONAL GOVERNMENTAL ESTABLISHMENTS The system of diplomatic representatives of each government residing at the seat of government of every other state has resulted in the formation of a diplomatic corps in each capital, but this corps performs no function as an organized body. The members of it act separately under instructions from their respective governments and their duties are ordinarily confined to dealings with the government to which they are accredited. Unless acting under special instructions from his government the intercourse of an ambassador with members of the diplomatic corps from other countries is social rather than official. Nevertheless, matters of general interest are often discussed informally by members of the diplomatic body and to the interchange of their personal views many of the general conferences owe their origin. These have been called by the government of one or another nation and attended by plenipotentiaries of such and so many states as see fit to respond, there being no obligation on any of them to respond to the invitation. As a result of conferences so called and of the conventions agreed on and ratified in due form a number of international governmental agencies with well defined functions and continuing powers have been established at different places. The International Bureau of Weights and Measures established at Paris under the treaty of 1875 called for an initial outlay of 400,000 francs for building and equipment and an annual expenditure of not exceeding 100,000 francs. Within its limited sphere the Bureau acts and speaks for all the nations that have joined in its creation and support. The distribution of the small burden of expenses is based on population expressed in millions among the countries divided into three classes; those in which the use of the metric system is obliga tory multiplied by three, those in which it is optional by two, and the others by one. The operations of the bureau are under the direction and supervision of an international committee composed of fourteen members, which in turn is under the control of a general conference of delegates of the governments which are parties to the convention. The International Postal Union with its Bureau at Berne is peculiar in the principles of its organization and operation in several ways: It connects a great department of each government with a like department of every other government; it authorizes these departments to deal directly with each other without the intervention of either the foreign office or the diplomatic corps; it allows the postal administrations to confer with each other and make changes in the regulations governing the international service; it provides for the division of the income from a continuing business in a most surprisingly simple and satisfactory manner; it also apportions the burdens of the service in like manner; it is a great international department of government for a world that as yet has no general government; its general office is the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union at Berne, the ordinary yearly expenses of which are limited to 125,000 francs, irrespective of the special expenses of meetings of a congress or conference. It seems almost incredible that so small a sum can be made to defray the expenses of this service. This expense is apportioned among the nations divided into seven classes. Loose as the bonds holding this organization together appear to be they have stood the strain of the great war and at its conclusion the exchange of mails goes on as before without any need of change in the system. The Universal Postal Union seems to be as firmly established as any existing governmental structure. The International Bureau of the Telegraph Union also has its seat at Berne. By the conventions of Berlin, November 3, 1906, and London, July 5, 1912, radio telegraphy was placed under its supervision with a limitation on the expenses of the Bureau in connection with this service to 80,000 francs per year. International supervision of the service of the wireless telegraph is even more imperative than of the transmission of mails, and this international organization appears to be a permanent one, subject however to changes and modifications. Connected with the Foreign Office of the Government of Belgium two international bureaus have been established: one under the General Act for the Repression of the African Slave Trade; the other under the convention providing for the publication of customs tariffs. The latter provides for an estimated expenditure of 125,000 francs per year. The Slave Trade Act also provides for an international office at Zanzibar. The International Institute of Agriculture with its seat at Rome is another governmental organization joining all the nations for the performance of a limited, though very useful service. It is declared to be a permanent institution, organized with a general assembly of representatives of all the adhering governments. The expenses are paid by the nations divided into five groups with units of assessment ranging from one to sixteen and are not to exceed 2,500 francs per unit. Paris has a second permanent international bureau, that of Public Health. Its purpose is to collect and distribute information relating to public health and especially to infectious and contagious diseases. The annual expenses of it are estimated at, but not strictly limited to 150,000 francs. All the foregoing organizations are designed to be world wide in their operations and some of them are so in fact. The Western Hemisphere maintains three bureaus, one at Washington, one at Habana, and one at Rio de Janeiro. These discharge useful functions under the treaties above mentioned but their operations are intended to be confined to America. The great Hague conferences established one international organization which may in time prove to be at least the beginning of the most important of all, the Court of Arbitration, with its permanent Bureau and Administrative Council at The Hague. Aside from these organizations with local home establishments there are others of importance: The Permanent International Commission of Congresses of Navigation; The International Geodetic Association; and the International Prison Commission. All these are designed to serve all the nations and to promote concord among them. Neither of the above mentioned establishments exercises any arbitrary or sinister governmental power. They serve only such nations as desire and accept their services. They have no power to compel the observance by a nation of any rule, however necessary, yet the manifest advantages resulting from compliance with them affords all needed sanction for their observance. This statement applies, however, only to the operations of the international establishments. It does not apply to the rules of conduct prescribed by the great conventions relating to navigation, to sanitation, to the slave trade, to property rights, to salvage or to the performance by any nation or by any person of any duty imposed by a treaty or convention. The Hague Tribunal can act only when both parties to a controversy agree to submit their dispute to its determination. Having decided the case it has no power to enforce its judgment. Yet the advantages of the system of determining controversies by the judgment of impartial arbitrators are so great that no people ought ever to prefer a resort to war. SUCCESSES AND FAILURES OF THE GENERAL WElfare CONVENTIONS The first of the general welfare conventions to which attention has been called is that signed at Geneva in 1864 for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Time of War. This convention was not promulgated in the United States until 1882, nearly four years after the promulgation of the treaty creating the Bureau of Weights and Measures. It is only a little more than forty years since the United States first took part in this kind of general international legislation. Since then the negotiation of general international conventions has proceeded at a rapidly accelerating pace. These conventions may be divided into two general classes, those relating to war or its incidents and those that do not. The conventions relating to war may be subdivided into those designed to prevent war and those designed to mitigate its barbarities. In these the only measures proposed prior to the great war for the purpose of preventing war were arbitration, commissions of inquiry, mediation and good offices. That these alone are insufficient to prevent a nation armed and resolved on war from carrying out its purpose has been demonstrated very conclusively by the course of events in Europe and Asia since the first Hague Conference. All thoughtful men and women realize that far more thorough and drastic measures must be applied if wars are to be prevented. Mediation and good offices have never been put forward as of any compelling force, but only as a means of conciliation under favorable conditions. More has been hoped from arbitration, but it has been demonstrated, if demonstration were necessary, that it also is wholly dependent on the consent of the parties. To be effectual arbitration must not only be compulsory, but the conditions which render wars practicable must be prevented. Compulsory arbitration by a nation provided with a great army and navy, fully equipped and ready for war, can be nothing less than war waged by the supervising power to compel submission to arbitration. The formality of agreeing to arbitrate and selecting the judges will always stand as a serious obstacle to anything like the judicial administration of international law. Within each nation courts are constituted in advance and their jurisdiction defined. Either party to a controversy may invoke judicial determination of the matter in dispute not only without the consent, but in spite of the opposition of, the other. To summon a great and powerful nation into court to answer the complaint of another may appear inconceivable to those accustomed to the exercise of arbitrary power backed by military force, but when once all nations agree to be under instead of above the law, the strength or weakness of a party to the controversy becomes unimportant. A court, to be worthy the name, must enforce the law against the most powerful just as it does against the weakest litigant. It ought to occasion no feeling of humiliation for any nation to submit any question of law or treaty obligation, or of controverted fact, to the decision of an impartial tribunal. Where the alternative of such submission is offered there can be no possible justification for resorting to war instead. The |