Ef yo’ never fools aroun’ de bait you’ll never want to bite;
Turn f’um de things dat tempt de flesh en watch out fer yo’ souls
En yo’ won’t be ’mungst de suckers dat he fries upon de coals!
W. M. Goodman.
AMERICANS AT THE PEACE CONGRESS
By Hayne Davis
Secretary of the American Delegation
The fourteenth Session of the Interparliamentary Union was notable in many respects. First, it was held in the capital of the greatest country in the world, not only in its area, but in the fact that it is the oldest representative of the idea of Parliamentary Government. It was in the year 1253 that the first Representative Parliament of England assembled at London. This was the first appearance of this idea in the presence of the royal families which were then reigning in Europe. Indeed, it may be properly called the first appearance of this idea in the modern political world, though of course parliaments have existed in other parts of the world in previous centuries. But between those early efforts at democratic government and the modern regime, a long period of darkness came over the world, and it is perhaps safe to say that the modern era in the political world began with the assembling of the first Representative Parliament in England.
The fundamental idea of democracy is government in the affairs of to-day by persons who are elected by the people of to-day, whereas the fundamental proposition in all other forms of government is that the people of the past have a right to impose their ideas upon the people of the present, through the form of hereditary office-holding and established religious organizations. This being true, it is nothing but right that the United States should be strongly represented at this great conference composed of the people’s representatives from practically every nation in the world. The United States Congress has been represented by a delegation at only three previous conferences of the Interparliamentary Union, namely, the one at St. Louis, in 1904; the one at Brussels, in 1905; and the present one. At each of these, except this present one, the Democratic side of the American delegation has been much weaker than the Republican side, there being as a rule only a few Democrats in the delegation, and in no case a Democrat of national reputation. The Democratic side of the delegation at this fourteenth conference of the Interparliamentary Union was as large in numbers as the Republican side, and contained the leader of the Democratic party in Congress, Mr. John Sharpe Williams, and the leader of the Democratic party in this country, Hon. W. J. Bryan. This fact is of great importance to the cause of international arbitration, not only in the United States, but also in Europe, because it has resulted in perfect unity between Mr. Bartholdt, who is a Republican, and the leaders of the Democratic party in the United States. Mr. Bartholdt has taken the lead in this progressive movement, not only among the law-makers of the United States, but of the whole world, by calling for a second conference at The Hague, and by putting forward a proposition which has now received the express approval of the ablest leaders of the Democratic party in the United States. Both Mr. Williams and Mr. Bryan have expressly and powerfully espoused the ideas which Mr. Bartholdt has put forward, and which have now received the sanction of the Interparliamentary Conference. Furthermore, both Mr. Williams and Mr. Bryan have come forward with propositions of their own. With Mr. Roosevelt already committed to the plans of the Interparliamentary Union, and with the probable Democratic candidate at the next election committed even more strongly, the lovers of peace and justice in the Old and in the New World have a right to count absolutely upon the support of the next President of the United States, not only for these progressive steps toward permanent peace which have heretofore been advocated in Europe, but for more advanced steps than were deemed practical at any time in the past, either in Europe or America.
