International conference

“ THE FRENCH AT THE CONFERENCE The morale of an international conference is easily shaken in the public’s mind. Seeming delay will do it. Those who look on feel that whatever is to be done must be done quickly, that things must go in leaps. They mistrust days of plain hard work—work which yields no headlines. It must be, they repeat, because the negotiators have fallen on evil times, are intriguing, bargaining. ”

“ As a development of the constructive work of The Hague Conference, a permanent international conference holding regular meetings, in which women should take part, to deal not with the rules of warfare but with practical proposals for further international cooperation among the States. ”

“ It is the belief of the delegates of the United States that the results of the Second International American Conference will be of great and lasting benefit to the nations participating in its deliberations. ... That the relations between the American Republics have been improved as a result of the conference cannot be doubted. The intimate daily association for nearly four months, of leading men from every American Republic of itself tended toward this result. ”

“ Quite apart from the specific value of the conclusions reached by the conference, the example of the representatives of all the American nations engaging in harmonious and kindly consideration and discussion of subjects of common interest is itself of great and substantial value for the promotion of reasonable and considerate treatment of all international questions. ”

“ As to political interests, if there are any, our eminent colleagues who represent so worthily the diplomatic element in this assembly would see that they had due weight, and, thanks to this assembly of men distinguished, some in science and others in diplomacy, there was every reason to hope that the final practical solution of the question which we are seeking would not be long in being made clear to us all by the discussions. ”

“ Now as regards the demands under 4 and 5, the settlement of most of them belongs rightly to an International Conference of all the nations. In their good and efficient regulation all are interested. They are also of the greatest concern to the future of mankind as a whole. ”

“ You see, gentlemen, that we enjoy absolute freedom, and that we are in nowise bound by the decisions of the Conference held at Rome. It is even desirable that those precedents should be appealed to as little as possible, inasmuch as we have scientists among us who are regarded as authorities in both the Old and the New World, and who are perfectly capable of directing us in technical matters, and of furnishing all the information that we can desire. ”

“ To help the Governments of the Union in the preparation of international conferences for the study and progress of legislation and intellectual and industrial properties, for alterations which it may be proper to introduce in the regulations of the Union or in the treaties in force on the said subject, and in case such conferences take place the directors of the Bureaus, not appointed to represent any countries, shall have a right to attend the meetings and express their opinions at them, but not to vote ”

“ Those whose projected travel for abroad is in acceptance of an invitation to attend international conferences such as those of the UN and UN bodies, SEATO, ASEAN, ASPAC, and like conferences, under Agreements entered into by the Philippine Government ”

“ The international labor office is established at the seat of the league of nations as part of its organization. It is to collect and distribute information on labor through the world and prepare agents for the conference. It will publish a periodical in French and English and possibly other languages. Each state agrees to make to it, for presentation to the conference, an annual report of measures taken to execute accepted conventions. The governing body is its executive. ”

“ The congress or conference actually took place in that city in 1889-1890, during the secretaryship of state of Mr. Blaine. This is commonly called the International American Conference. All of the American countries, with the exception of Santo Domingo, were represented, and they agreed upon "the establishment of an American International Bureau for the collection, tabulation, and publication, in the English, Spanish, and Portuguese languages, of information as to the productions and commerce, and as to the customs laws and regulations of their respective countries ”

“ The speaker called attention to the hundred years of peace between the two countries and the plans being formulated for celebrating it, and said that international conferences such as this were the best guarantees of peace; that the more we know of each other the less liable we were to get into trouble. ”

“ It is quite clear that this new world order must be planned for in an intelligent and efficient way and that the very first step to be taken after the war is over is the calling together of a world conference comprising all the nations of the earth, including those now in conflict. ”

“ If such a conference, whose propelling motive would have been a desire to redress wrongs, to guard against their repetition and to avoid causes of international irritation directly or indirectly imputable to their perpetration, could have been held, some of us thought that Europe would have been ministering to the peaceful future of her own peoples as well as to that of the peoples of Africa. ”

“ There should be a conference of nations to consider the universal execution of treaties of arbitration; (2) a congress of nations should be created in which every nation shall have representatives. Such sentiments had been expressed before; but this seemed to be greeted with more enthusiasm than any other similar proposal of the past. After having closed the session at St. Louis, the members of the conference visited Washington and requested President Roosevelt to invite the governments of the world to send delegates to a Second International Peace Conference. ”

“ International conferences are a happy manifestation of that tendency, because, in the contact of representatives of the various states, hindrances and prejudices are dissipated, and there is shown to exist in the collective mind a common aspiration for the teachings of liberty and justice. ”

“ The Conference is in favour of making a comprehensive study of the various international unions and associations, in which the social and economic interests of all classes of society are now either organized or in process of organization, through official or private action. ”

“ Nothing great and new is ever accomplished without opposition. But just as the first Conference, in spite of everything, left behind it not only the fact of the tribunal established and the text of the agreements “for the peaceful solution of international conflicts by means of the Court of Arbitration, mediation, and commissions for intervention,” but also the solemn declaration that the moral and material welfare of the nations requires a reduction of the burden of armaments, so also the next Conference will certainly bring forth further and fresh results. ”

“ It will afford this Department pleasure to do all in its power to promote the convenience of the Congress and to facilitate its proceedings.
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By the unanimous voice of the Conference the Delegate of Sweden, Count Lewenhaupt, took the chair, and said that, for the purpose of proceeding to a permanent organization, it was necessary to elect a President, and that he had the honor to propose for that office the chairman of the delegation of the United States of America, Admiral C. R. P. Rodgers. ”

“ This Conference is composed of various elements, among which are scientists of the highest standing, but also functionaries of high rank, who are not familiar with scientific subjects, and who are charged with an examination of this question from a political stand-point. It is, moreover, our privilege to be philosophers and cosmopolitans, and to contemplate the interests of mankind not only for the present, but for the most distant future. ”

“ A standing international commission shall be appointed whose duty it shall be to summon all the members of the international community to the Conferences, to make previous inquiries as to the proposals and motions which are to be brought before the Conference and to inform all participants of them, and to prepare and carry out all other business which the Conferences may from time to time entrust to it. ”

“ The Executive Board shall make all necessary arrangements to consult the representatives of international organizations or qualified persons concerned with questions within its competence. Between sessions of the General Conference, the Executive Board may request advisory opinions from the International Court of Justice on legal questions arising within the field of the Organization's activities. The Executive Board shall also exercise the powers delegated to it by the General Conference on behalf of the Conference as a whole. ”

“ People at large scarcely realize the wonderful progress toward international understanding achieved at the first two Hague Conferences. The First Conference, which met in 1899, was in the nature of an experiment, which a number of doubting statesmen predicted would fail. ”

“ With respect to the question of a neutral meridian, Professor Adams wished to call the attention of the Congress to the fact that the Delegates here present are not a collection of representatives of belligerents; that they are all neutral as men should be in a matter purely scientific, or in any other matter which affects the convenience of the world at large, and that this Conference is not met here at the end of a war to see how [Pg 53] territory should be divided, but in a friendly way, representing friendly nations. ”

“ But there is naught to prevent a legislative conference from framing rules of general international law for those states which assent to it and leaving the dissentient states out of consideration. If the inclusion in a single convention of all the points under discussion be avoided, and if the method, adopted at the second Peace Conference, of dividing the topics of discussion among as many smaller conventions as possible be followed, it will always be found possible to secure the support of the greater number of states for the regulation of any given matter. ”

“ The fact that it has become necessary to introduce regulations for its control by national legislation and international conferences shows the supremely important position which it has taken in the short interval of one decade as a means of communicating human intelligence from place to place over the surface of the globe. ”

“ Above all, such a conference of neutral nations would in itself be a splendid example of international co-operation of the very sort for which the new internationalism is working. Furthermore, when the terms of peace shall be negotiated at the close of the war, the neutral nations acting together can have much more influence in seeing to it that the terms of peace shall not be such as to create a situation which might lead to future war or prejudice the interests of the neutral nations themselves. ”

“ For the purpose of defining the status of hospital ships when entering neutral ports an International Conference met at the Hague in 1904, where Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, China, Korea, Denmark, Spain, the United States of America, France, Greece, Guatemala, Italy, Japan, Luxemburg, Mexico, Holland, Persia, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, Servia, and Siam, were represented. Great Britain, however, did not [Pg 257] take part. ”

“ This International Congress of Women resolves that an international meeting of women shall be held in the same place and at the same time as the Conference of the Powers which shall frame the terms of the peace settlement after the war for the purpose of presenting practical proposals to that Conference. ”

“ The agenda for all meetings of the Conference will be settled by the Governing Body, who shall consider any suggestion as to the agenda that may be made by the Government of any of the Members or by any representative organization recognized for the purpose of Article 389. ”

“ Denmark: Mr. C. S. A. De Bille.
Hawaii: Hon. Luther Aholo.
Salvador: Mr. Antonio Batres.
The President. Some days ago a Committee was appointed to report on communications addressed to the Conference through the Chair. All communications that have been received from time to time, and they have been numerous, have been referred to this committee, of which the Delegate from England, Prof. Adams, is the chairman. He now informs the Chair that he is prepared to make a report.
The Delegate of England, Prof. Adams, then read the following report:
Letter from the President of the Conference. ”

“ In framing any recommendation or draft convention of general application the Conference shall have due regard to those countries in which climatic conditions, the imperfect development of industrial organization or other special circumstances make the industrial conditions substantially different and shall suggest the modifications, if any, which it considers may be required to meet the case of such countries. ”

“ I wish there could be an international peace conference of booksellers, for (you will smile at this) my own conviction is that the future happiness of the world depends in no small measure on them and on the librarians. ”

“ Fraternal delegates came to the Alliance from the International Council of Women, and from the National Councils of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden; and in addition to these fraternal delegates were sent by seventeen associations from the countries already mentioned and Scotland in addition; making in all twenty-one countries represented either by regular delegates or by fraternal delegates at the Amsterdam conference. ”

“ The Committees and Sections of different countries may meet in international assemblies to communicate the results of their experience and to agree on measures to be taken in the interests of the work. ”