Lv Si f "?( I )K ,: Exi:gggi 'MJSfrfrf$ HI n i I'llllHW Devoted to the Progress -of the Pacific Vol. I. '-HONOLULU, JULY 8, 1899. No. 4. Progress of the Pacific. Peace Conference and the Pacific The activities of the twentieth century will be concentrated in the ra cific Ocean. Russian Siberia, China, Japan, the Philippines, Aus tralia, New Zealand, South Africa, South America, Mexico and Cen tral America, Alaska and the Pacific States, is the field for the exploitation all future commer cial energy and civilizing influences. The two great civilizations, one under despotism, the other, more modern, under institutions of liberty, are moving toward each oilier, one to the eastward, The other to the westward, with an irresistible force which no power on earth can stay. When they meet one. must succumb to the dthe'r.' Can anyone doubt that the ancient and des potic civilization will be swept " 'out of existence. But will the invasion of Asia and Russia by modern civilization be accomplish ed peacefully or will there be recorded in the coming century the greatest and most terrible war in the world's .history a war so devastating.and frightful in its results that universal peace must of a necessity be mutually arranged. Of the ancient and des potic civilizations Russia alone has any power and energy. Under centralized bureaucracy, intelligently administrated, with vast hordes of ignorant serfs or ganized under one con trolling will, she wields a subtle .influence upon the world that is hard to define. If she is permit ted to reorganize the decaying-civilization, Asia, with its uncounted hordes, under her systeq tfi government, Russia could master the wbrld without fighting a battle, simply ')v be over powering moral influence such a position would give her. For years there has been a restless foreboding among the nations of the West as if some dire calamity were imminent. Is it not due to the subtle influence of Russia's rapidly in creasing power under centralized organization? Under the constitution of the United States pow er cannot centralize in the Federal government except ip time of war. But the reaj influence and power of the United States lies in her wealth and potential resources, in agriculture, manufacture and commerce. As soon as it became apparent through the Spanish war and the acquisition of the Philippines, giving the United States an arm reaching to the very door of the theater of the future activities, that she must beepme world power, wealth began to centralize until within the short space of one year nearly every prom inent industry is now managed by a trust' cor poration. Recently comes the news of the feder ation of Australian colonies making that conti nent rather an ally of England's than a colony thus strengthening her influence. Next will come the federation of the British Empire with h " ..nperial parliament. Such is the situation of -. e hour when the peace conference is deliber ating upon a plan to insure the future peace of the world. The matter being considered by the confer ence, is the establishing of a permanent court of arbitration to decide all cmestions between na tions which cannot be settled by diplomacy. There seems to be considerable probability of agreement on some plan as all the nations repre sented acquiesced in the principle of arbitration. In sneakmr of the scheme broturht forward by the United States the London Times says: "No Government or people have devoted, tjieni- ' selves with greater ardor to the study of the theory of arbitration than the Government and people of the United States. The Americans not only possess great lawyers, but they are a com munity in which the knowledge of legal princi ples is perhaps more widely spread than in any other. American jurists have done much to .mould the doctrines of international law. in the 'past, and in their treatment of large questions .they have often displayed a luminous insight, a firm grasp of fundamental principles, and a solid .erudition unsurpassed by the legal writers of any modern State." Dr. Edward Everett Hale in an article entitled, "A Plan for the United States of Europe," in June Cosmopolitan, com pares such a court arbitra tion to the Supreme Court of the-United States, thus: "The peace of the Unit ed States for one hundred years out of one hundred and ten has been guaran teed by the Supreme Court of the United States. This court is indeed supreme. It is higher than the Presi dent, it is higher than the Senate or the House cf Representatives. 1 1 is higher than any governor or any State. It speaks, and what it says is done. It is an international court between forty-five sover eignties, each of which has its own local pride, many of which are wholly differ ent from many others in origin, in race, even in language and religion." In speaking of the ques tion that would come be fore such a court he con tinues: "There is no danger but that two nations who have some difficulty which es capes the clumsy meshes of our old-fashioned diplomacy will be glad enough to try a court of such prestige and dignity. Here is this knotty question of the Newfoundland fisheries between England and France. It is the curious question whether in the language of diplomacy in 1783 a lobster was a fish. The treaty of 1783 gives France the undoubted right to cure fish on the uninhabited parts of the western coast of New foundland. May she therefore can lobsters there? If the lobster is a fish, ves! Tf he is a crustacean, no! This must be decided bv a court. And if such a court had existed this question woujd, liaye been submitted years ago.,"