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Show 245 244 the same cottrt that has rendered the decision. you reach a definite reach it. conclusion to a case. \Vith a mixed commission you may One of the cases that grew out of the mission it was tny pleasure to carry out in \‘enezuela recently is a case of the latter kind. \l'e are now going to The llague to determine, first, whetlter a decision given itt Ioog in Venezuela by a mixed commission shall stand. \\'e cottld have gone to The Hague in the all l)('f'll‘ll]itl§: and the question could have been determined for tin. :. l am not a believer in what is usually termed "compulsory arbitration." I am unable to conceive of such a thiner as com- p:tI~ory arbitration, .‘tll arbitration must be voluntary. liven \that is ltnrtwn 22s cv'tmpttlsory arbitration treaties must be volun- tatv; that i~. they must be entered into voluntarily and ratified by lmth sides before they become treaties. ln reality what we call compulsory arbitration does not exist. It seems to tne tltat the greatest step toward peace and toward a better understandingT between countries would be reached if all of us were more tem- perate and corner :ttive in our views with regard to disputes, that arise lt(l\\‘('t'!‘t our own country, let us say. and some other country. I believe that the best way to arbitrate is to prevent arbitration bv mat in; it unnecessary. Some of the most marked cases where :ti'bitrativ-ti finally sittltwl the dispute need never have occurred had tlnt't' bun any such thing as, temperate popular opinion on either std: in discus-inf; beforehand the question which finally gtew until it lt'itt hwl such a point that no solution was practicable. l.et nw illustrate. The rlitiir‘ufty that arose between the Argentini- lie} the and (bile itt the matter of their frontier line and brought :tlw: 't deltt of more than li\'t'Eli_\'7ll\‘c‘ million dollars tit and limite'tt those countries to the (in titlier wow i: r at: vi tee «t vtat‘ arose in t-e of ll ptisstl l ility and plausibility of twi dz ~llllt'll't Iiillt‘t‘t'lll interpretations and me: liners to one single turd ' . " , 'lhat word unfortunately had to do with the mat -- M ‘v' 'tliil lint- bettteen the two C-t‘tltltt‘it‘s should take. The \H‘l vtzt- "vtrzitnttg" \uhich happens to mean two things, tltklllt‘llt't‘\\‘1tlt'I'-llt‘tl.Itlllltl'.jitlllll1t‘ slope or side of I'lltl htuce ;: . ' "tit line without regard to water. .‘\t the t‘ . ll.t‘ trtstty \‘tle written the land in dispute was worth little. A» years \‘.t‘ltl by and the dispute grew. it became better known, very valuable, and hence personal and national interests became involved, and fittally it reached such a point that some solution had to be found to prevent war. To the great credit of both countries, it can be said that the solution was found, and it was one of the greatest honors of my life that I happen to have had part in connection with that solution. (Applause) Reference has been made to the Central American Court of Justice. May I say a word about that; J will not tire you"- A DELEGATE: Go on; let's have a lot of it. A Votctiz You can‘t tire us. MR. BUCHANAN: It is creditable to the five Central Amer- ican republics to say that they established the first international judicial court that the world has ever had. (Applause) Lest we may be too enthusiastic, may I say that even in that ittstance difficulties have been met with. The question of the number of judges was not an issue there because each of the five countries has a judge. That court has certain not very well known rights. It has the right, upon a case being presented to it by two of the signatory countries, to fix the status ([110 which shall exist and be maintained by each country pending the consideration and decision of the suit. That to my own mind is the greatest advance that has been made in any such work. It has the right not only to hear cases between ci lens of one of the signatory countries and another signatory country, but equally a right by mutual agree» ment to hear a case between, let's say, the United States and one of the signatory countries. liv‘ry precaution was taken in the designation of judges. They are designated by the Congress of each country and receive equal pay in gold from a common fund to which each of the countries binds itself to contribute a fixed amount. In this way it was believed that the influence of the executive or the obligations of a judge toward the executive of either country would be eliminated So far as possible, so that the, judge would represent the country rather than the ‘vecutive. his appointment coming from Congress. 'l‘hat court was inaugurated itt May last at (‘artag'vn the ancient capital of Costa Rica, and you may be interested to know that Mr. Andrew Carnegie, among: other notable acts, gave $too_ooo for the construction of a palace for that court (applause ), his wish being that by the construction of a permanent edifice for the court there might be no possibility |
