Conferences. Is the name "Court of Arbitral Justice" quite in harmony with the reality? The word "arbitral" implies that the judges are chosen on the occurrence of a certain dispute, and that their powers expire afterwards. As, however, in this case it is a question of permanent judges, would it not be better to call it a "Court of International Justice"?

In principle this Court ought to be optional, and only recommend itself to the use of States by the convenience it offers them. In certain disputes, however, would it not be better to have it acting as an obligatory jurisdiction? It would seem that the restricted subjects that give occasion for obligatory arbitration would find judges already marked out in this Court; would it not, therefore, be advisable for the States to come to an understanding to bring certain disputes before it on account of its exceptional competence and its permanence?

Lastly, just as a special Court has been created to deal with questions of maritime prizes, we may hope to see special Chambers to deal with certain other subjects which require a particular competence in the judges. In this way we should have a judiciary organisation properly adapted to the various contingencies of conflict, with a unity that may be shown in the following table :

I. Arbitration Court (optional).

II. Court of Justice (obligatory in certain cases, optional in the rest).
Chambers: (1) of private international law;

(2) of administrative disputes (matters of universal Unions);
(3) of tariff questions;

(4) of maritime prizes, &c.

Elements of an Administrative Power.-Up to the present the Powers have expressed no desire to create, outside each of them, a permanent power representing the international collectivity, and capable of arriving at decisions in the general interest. It goes without saying that no such power yet exists, and the difficulties of a political character that might oppose the creation of it are such that we cannot even think of discussing them here.

But there are already international administrations charged with the execution of certain decisions or with certain services of interest to all States collectively. We may be permitted to see in them the germ of a real international authority, which the future will develop.

There are, in the first place, the "offices" of the Unions which are organs with functions of an administrative character applying to the international community. (For instance, the offices for the following matters: literary copy. right, industrial ownership, weights and measures, geodesy, postal union, railways, sanitary questions, agriculture, &c.) There are also international organs to which certain States have delegated a partial executive power, such as the Danube Commission, or a full right of decision, such as the Commission of the Sugar Union.

Moreover, the Peace Conferences have created other elements of international administration. They are :—

The Administrative Council;

The Arbitration Bureau: (1) The official name of this Bureau is, in accordance with the 1907 Convention : "International Bureau of the Permanent Arbitration Court"; and

The Preparatory Committee.

The first, composed of representatives of the States at The Hague, has the task of administration and control in matters affecting international justice (Arbitration Court, Prize Court, and, eventually, Court of Justice). It is this bureau, in particular, that controls the expenditure, and divides it among the

States.

The Arbitration Bureau has several duties. It serves as a registry to the Court which it has to convoke, when the occasion arises. It forms the archives, and must keep in them all the official documents relating to arbitration (sentences, treaties, &c.). Lastly, and especially, it has, in case of a conflict between two Powers, to transmit to the interested party "the note containing the declaration" that the other party "would be disposed to submit the dispute to arbitration." Modest as this character of intermediary is, it has a certain importance from the fact that it is exercised in the name of all the other States.

As to the " Preparatory International Committee," its duty is, according to the final Act of 1907, to draw up the programme, and to settle the form of organisation and procedure, of the next Conference. The Committee is therefore invested with two functions: the preparation of international laws, and the organisation of the periodical meeting at the Hague.

Thus, at the present time we have a sort of fragmentary distribution of the international authority among four kinds of elements. There seems to be an obvious need of co-ordination between these administrative institutions, which are now scattered and disunited.

In what form could this co-ordination be effected? Would it be well, for instance, to set up an International Committee, of which the first function would be to watch over the maintenance of the Society of States and secure respect for the principles on which it is based? Should the Committee for this purpose fuse together certain functions of the Administrative Council, the Preparatory Council, and the Hague Bureau, establishing at the same time a connection between the offices of the Unions?

The third Peace Conference will have to settle these questions, and find the best means of securing unity of direction in all that concerns the common interests of States. That may be one of the most interesting tasks of future Conferences.

It goes without saying that the future will have to decide whether it is advisable to seek'means of enforcing respect for international laws. It is useless now to look so far ahead. It is enough for the present to affirm that force should be placed more and more at the service of the law of nations. We have only to glance at the actual evolution to see where it is leading us. By a distinctly modern procedure the nations have in several cases formed international forces: the Chinese expedition, the occupation of Crete, the policing of Macedonia, &c. The formula has been found. When the opinion of neutrals becomes conscious of itself, when it is accustomed to define itself with perfect clearness on the eve of a conflict, the moral force that results from it will be only a prelude to the material force that is at its command.

The periodical Peace Conferences will thus see their activity extend in the direction of an organisation of the Society of States.

[Paper submitted in French.]

EIGHTH SESSION

POSITIVE SUGGESTIONS FOR PROMOTING INTERRACIAL FRIENDLINESS (continued)

THE PRESS AS AN INSTRUMENT OF PEACE

By ALFRED H. FRIFD, Vienna.

NEW ideas need publicity in the struggle for their realisation. In earlier times the number of those who were concerned about public affairs was much smaller than it now is. Publicity was, therefore, easier to attain. The propaganda of new ideas went from mouth to mouth, and was effected in meetings and by means of books. Great revolutions were brought about in this way. To-day it is otherwise. Interest in the development of things has permeated nearly every stratum of the population in civilised countries. There are now few who stand aside indifferently. The spoken word, oral propaganda, and the printed book, are now far from adequate to attain this very extensive publicity. The instrument we must use for this purpose is the Press. It is the Press that influences public opinion; but it is also the Press that puts the greatest obstacles in the way of new ideas.

Men of different countries and zones generally know each other to-day by means of the Press. Only the very few have occasion, in spite of the enormous development of commerce, to make the acquaintance of foreign peoples and lands by personal observation. Whatever they hear of them they hear from the daily papers. In this way the Press has become the most important medium of communication. It forms views and judgments which spread with extraordinary speed over the whole earth. The overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of our planet hear and see through the Press what is occurring in various parts of the world.

But the extreme importance of the Press has no fitting recognition in the way in which it is organised to-day. As a rule, the newspaper

is a business concern, like any other commercial enterprise. It serves either the material interest of the publisher or the interest of somebody that uses it for influencing the masses. This interest colours all its news and comments. Only what is to the interest of the controllers of the paper finds its way into the Press. Anything else is suppressed or what is worse-misinterpreted. Hence the views of most men are to a great extent influenced by the interest of the few who run the paper as a commercial concern.

Certainly there is in civilised countries a Press that is conscious of its civilising mission, and does not need to flatter the moods of the masses or pander to their lower interests. These organs, however, are not yet as numerous as they ought to be in the interest of civilisation. Moreover, their influence on the masses is limited by the preponderance of organs that make a speculation of the lower tendencies of the general masses. The bulk of the people demand sensation. The journals, therefore, which pander to this demand will have the largest editions and make the most profit.

Hence it is that the far greater part of the Press in all countries, and especially those journals that appeal to the largest number of people, and are hungrily swallowed by millions of readers, take no interest in promoting civilisation and the peaceful development of peoples and races. Their only interest is to oust their rivals in providing the greatest possible sensations, and so secure the largest editions.

The consequences of this are most mischievous. In the first place, millions of readers learn nothing of the great activity of civilisation in our time; for this action is not sensational, but slow and silent. Secondly, they learn all the more of uncivilised activity-of crimes, violence, and unrest. They are led to form the erroneous opinion that the world is full of crime and is simply kept under control by force. Thirdly, the great haste with which news is published, in view of rival papers, leads to a good deal of inaccuracy, and the reader has a very bad account of the real events. Fourthly, the announcements very frequently do not correspond to facts. They are inventions. But when they have once been put in circulation by the Press, they persist obstinately in the minds of the readers, and things that never happened at all are regarded as realities.

The most mischievous effect of journals of this kind is in running counter to the peaceful development of nations and races. Peace and the normal tenor of international life are not interesting as a rule. Peaceful events have no element of sensation. Hence the Press that needs sensation as a condition of its existence has no interest in serving the cause of peace. It has all the more interest in inflaming

!

peoples against each other. The mere danger of a bloody encounter, a war, or a revolution, attracts curiosity and ensures millions of readers. Any occurrence, therefore, that has an anarchic character, and is calculated to engender hatred and agitation, is described at the greatest length. The slightest embittered utterance is telegraphed. The most trivial detail that suggests the possibility of an international conflict is exaggerated and drawn out until the reader fancies that there is immediate danger of an armed conflict. These journals do nothing to allay public feeling and promote a better understanding when there is a conflict. Their interest is to fan the excitement and inflame the people. The worse the international agitation the more business will they do.

Although no war has taken place in Europe for forty years, and the majority of its inhabitants are, like the majority of civilised people everywhere, opposed to war, this section of the Press has, nevertheless, announced that war was about to break out at least two or three times every year. The failure of their prophecies does not seem to injure them. The general masses whom they reach have short memories; they see and hear only the events of the day. They have already forgotten the events of the previous week. But while they have poor memories, they have very acute feelings. The hatred that is preached and instilled into them from one end of the year to the other takes deep root in their subconsciousness, and to-day the majority of the inhabitants of any country regard the inhabitants of other countries as wicked and criminal, and worthy only of their contempt.

In this way all the views of a generation are poisoned. The Press to which I have referred is a poisoner of civilisation. The man who kills by poisoning is not only he who pours out the poison that may kill a man, but also he who prevents an antidote from being administered in time. That is the tendency of the sensational Press. They prevent the general masses from obtaining the information that would pacify them, and give them a more correct view of the life and activity of neighbouring nations.

This demand for sensation and the satisfaction of the demand by inflaming the masses are responsible for the frame of mind which now maintains the illusion of armed peace-an illusion that keeps alive the possibility of a warlike conflict.

In this we have a very grave menace to civilisation. All the achievements of our civilisation are without effect as long as it is possible for a certain commercial Press to poison the mass of the people in all countries. The most brilliant discoveries, which might raise humanity to a supreme height, lose their significance as long as there is a Press that can bring minds down to the level of the man of the lake-villages or the prehistoric cave.