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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 9, 1903)
,.-T? ..- ,T i The Commoner. Wt 6 Vol., No. 51; IK CURR6NT GOP1CS ' mzzmkzZ , "WfW1- Wrn' WtlwygS!MlfrrnS& ihy (fire'! I C.XJs ll 1 THE AGREEMENT TO SUBMIT TO ARBITRA Uon tlio controversy between the British German alliance and Venezuela has directed gen eral attention to yrat'Is known as The Hague, that being the terra popularly used to designate the international court of arbitration. The Hague is the name of a city in Holland and it was there that the representatives of the leading govern ments of the world mot on May 18, 1899 for the purpose of holding an international conference. This conference was suggested by the czar of Rus sia and its original purpose as defined by that ruler was to grapple with the evils of militarism and consider measures for disarmament. The dis armament proposition was not regarded as prac tical, but the result of tho conference was a gen eral agreement that the governments represented in that conference would co-operate for tho main tenance of the principle of arbitration. AT THE CONFERENCE HELD ON MAY 18 the following governments were repre sented: The United States, Great Britain, Franco, Germany, Denmark, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Switz erland, Sweden and Norway, Turkey, Persia, Siam, Servia, Japan, Roumania, and China. The repre sentatives of the United States at this conference were as follows: Seth Low, now mayor of New York and then president of Columbia university ; Andrew D. White, then ambassador at Berlin; Stanford Newell, United States minister at The Hague; Captain William Crozior of the ordnance department of the army; Captain A. T. Mahan, of the navy, and Frederick Holls. a? & ' AS A RESULT Ob' THIS CONFERENCE, A permanent court of arbitration was organ ized. An international bureau was established at The Hague and placed under the direction of a permanent secretary general. That official has the custody of the archives. It was agreed that each of the signatory powers should appoint four persons who should become members of this court of arbitration. The terms of the members of this court was fixed at six years. The Hague was chosen as the usual place for the" sitting of this court, but it was provided that by the consent of the contending parties the court might sit else where. It was further provided that the powers that had not signed this agreement might apply to the court under the prescribed conditions and avail themselves of the opportunity to have their diffreonces settled in an amicable way. UiVTDER THE TERMS OF THE AGREEMENT adopted at Tho 'Hague conference the court of arbitration will consist of five members. Two ot these will bo chosen by Venezuela, two will be chosen by the European powers and tho fifth member is to be chosen by the four first selected. The fifth member thus chosen will corve as presi dent of th5 court The expenses incurred by ar , bitration will be borne by the powers that aro parties to the controversy. The members of this court representing the United States as originally appointed were Benjamin Harrison, former presi dent; Chef Justice Fuller, John W. Griggs, former attorney general, and George Gray, a federal cir cuit judge of Delaware and now a member of the coal strike commission. Since the death of Gen eral Harrison, Oscar S. Straus, former minister to Turkey, was chosen as a member of this court THERE HAS BEEN SOME DISCUSSION AS to whether the Monroe doctrine would fig ure in these arbitration proceedings. Under tho terms explicitly stated by the representatives of the United States at the original conference and tacitly agreed to by the representatives of the other powers, the Monroe doctrine is not a sub ject for arbitration and cannot be considered in these proceedings. Article 27 of the agreement provided: "The signatory powers may consider it their duty to call attention to the existence of a permanent court to any of their friends between whom a conflict is threatening which must al ways bo regarded as a tender of good offices" 1 l?' tHe repreSa- luo uuueu oimes accepted it. but at- tached to their acceptance this declaration: "Noth ing contained in this convention shall bo so con strued as to require the United States of America to depart from its traditional policy of not in truding upon, interfering with, or entangling it self in tho political questions or internal adminis tration of any foreign state; nor shall anything contained in said convention be so construed ra to require a relinquishment by the United States of America of its traditional attitude toward purely , American questions." This declaration was mado for the specific purpose of omitting the Monroe doctrine from arbitration proceedings.' ONE CASE IN WHICH THE UNITED STATES was interested has already been settled by this international court of arbitration. That case involved the controversy between the . United States and Mexico concerning the Pious fund. The contending governments submitted the case to The Hague fn April, 1902, and a decision was rendered in October of that year. r 3? ONE OF THE SWEETEST OF POETS ONCE wrote, "Full many a gem of purest ray se rene, the dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear; full many a flower is born to blush unseen and waste its sweetness on the desert air." This verse is recalled by an unusually interesting story that recently appeared in the Chicago Tribune. This story related to men "truly great, but little known." By way of preface it was pointed out that many of tho achievements that have con tributed to the nation's greatness and the world's progress have been wrought out in quiet corners and "byways, and the world has known little of their authors until long after the achievement made the" world richer and better, or until after the worker had been dead long enough to get into tho cyclopedias. 3? 3? FIRST IN THIS INTERESTING LIST COMES John Fritz, the iron master of Bethlehem. According to this story teller, John Fritz lived long in obscurity before, through a dinner and a medal given to him at the Waldorf-Astoria tho other night, the world learned that it was his genius which practically revolutionized the iron and steel making of the world. But John Fritz is only one of thousands of men of genius in this and other lands who have lived and worked and achieved great things and the world has known little or nothing of them and their work. Since the dinner at which Mr. Fritz was the guest of honor the newspapers have made the Nestor of American rolling mills fairly well known to his fellow citizens outside the iron and steel trade. 3? $? - THE MOST IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION made by John Fritz was in the way of in venting rolling mill machinery. Tho Tribune writer says: "For instance, it was supposed for many years that a steel beam or a steel rail could be rolled only through two rollers. When the beam or tho rail had passed through these rollers oncd it had to bo carted back to its original position and sent through the rolls again and again until it had assumed the required form. Mr. Fritz made up his mind that if two rolls could be used there was no good reason why a third should not bo superposed on the second and some mechanism arranged by which the piece of steel might pass through the first two rollers and bo passed back automatically through the second and third. The foreign steel makers laughed at such a proposition and said it not only could not bo done, but that it was absurd. While the foreign ers were thus having their fun with the genius of Bethlehem, Mr. Fritz was at work upon the ma chinery and soon had it installed and in run ning order. Today his invention is used in every rolling mill of any consequence in tho world." ALEXANDER TD. BROWN OF CLEVJ2 land and Duane H. Church of Waltham, Mass., are also conspicuous in this list. Of Mr. Brown it is said that there is hardly a mine of any kird anywhere whose development has not been made possible, or at least much more profit able and easy, because of his inventive genius. He 'uae invented and made more heavy labor Bay ing machinery than any other man in tho world. All of his inventions have been wrought out on the principle of saving,time and saving money in the handling of materials at mines, docks', iron and steel plants, shipbuilding yards, structural works, and railway terminals. Of his inventions it has been said that they have so reduced the cost of transportation jn this country by water and rail, and have so reduced tho cost of labor at blast furnaces and steel works, shipyards, and bridge woiks, that, although the rate of wages is the highest, the cost of labor to the ton of product in the United States is now the lowest of any like industry in the world. Church is the master me chanician of a great watch company. Mr. Church's inventions, from the' nature of the busi ness which they have revolutionized, are infinite ly more delicate in adjustment than those of Mr. Brown. While a piece of Mr. Brown's mechanism will lift a ton of coal, a piece of Mr. Church's mechanism will pick up a hair. It has been said of Mr. Church's machines that they do every thing but talk. .' ALBERT A. MICHELSON OF THE DEPART ment of physics in the university of Chica go is not a well known man and yet it is pointed out by the Tribune writer that Prof. Michelson has measured the speed of light; investigated the ef- feet of the motion of the earth through space on that speed; showed how many waves of light could be utilized as an exceedingly delicate and " accurate method of measurement as well as a ' powerful instrument of research; devised a meth od whereby a "light wave may be made an abso lute and invariable ultimate standard of length and made a new spectroscope more powerful than any hitherto known. THE READING PUBLIC HAS BECOME greatly confused because of the claims mado against Venezuela by the governments of Great Britain and Germany. The Chicago Record-Herald undertakes to throw a bit of light on this sub ject That newspaper says that each little revo lutionary diversion in tho South American repub lic has added its quota to the ever-increasing con fusion of claims, private and public. The most important of the German demands relates back to a railroad speculation, which resulted in 189G in the placing of a foreign loan of 50,000,000 francs at 5 per cent About two-thirds of the sum was advanced by Germans, while French and British investors were also interested.- The road runs between Caracas and Valencia, and was ouilt by the Berliner Disconto Gesellschaft, which re ceived a guarantee from the Venezuelan govern ment that was capitalized to the amount named. Out of the total 7,000,000 francs was sent 'to Lon don in satisfaction of various claims, while 43, 000,000 francs was retained in Berlin. Suose quently a part of the debt was extinguished by Venezuela, but the Disconto Gesellschaft found it very difficult to do anything with its paper secur ities. Interest was defaulted as early as 1897, tho shareholders of tho railroad have received noth ing since 1898, and a year ago it was said that the only hope held out to them was a payment of 5G per cent of the amount due for the second half of that year. At tho same time the arrears , were calculated at 9,000,000 francs, of which two thirds were owing in Germany. a a? ASIDE FROM THESE DEMANDS THERE are also claims set up by German mer chants for goods sold to the Venezuelan govern ment Then there are many claims made by in dividual citizens, subjects of Germany, for com pensation for loss incurred during the various revolutionary wars. There have been so many of these revolutions that railroad, tracks and bridges and other property after having been replaced at various times has been as often destroyed. Tho British claims are somewhat similar to those made by the German government and this will probably apply to tho claims set up by other governments. THE REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA NUMBERS 2,600,000 inhabitants. It covers an area of 593,943 square miles. Great Britain provides most of Venezuela's imports and receives tho groater -