Balkan War And The Hague.

New York Times 100 years ago today, November 4, 1912:
Mr. Marks Bids Prof. Gottheil Not Despair of Ending Nations' Combats.
To the Editor of The New York Times:
    Yesterday you published a letter from a prominent professor who sadly deplores the inefficiency of The Hague Court. Surely the author would not wish his letter to have the effect, which I fear, of deepening the pessimism of some who believe that wars will never cease and that The Hague Court is a dream of the idle theorist who does not reckon with human nature.
    Now, let us be fair. Are we not a bit impatient of results from the new machinery of a great world movement before it has been set into working order?
    Until the nations have agreed by treaty to recognize The Hague as a court of last resort in the settlement of their differences, how can we expect The Hague to prevent wars?
    The earnest efforts of our Administration to bring about this relation with Great Britain, France, and other nations have, for the time being, failed; meanwhile The Hague Court is without the necessary powers.
    It is not so long ago that individuals carried swords and by their use settled personal differences. The establishment of our judicial system practically ended this physical combat and substituted the enlightened methods of courts of law.
    When The Hague (which, it must be remembered, is yet in but the elementary stage of its development) will have been adopted by the nations as their official court of justice, in the same degree that we as individuals have recognized our local courts, then, and not till then, shall we have the right to expect The Hague  to prevent wars.
    We have not yet given it the power.
    Let us not, therefore, be impatient or lose courage. We must hold fast to our optimism.
    The spectacle of the present bloody conflict in Europe reminds one of greedy dogs fighting for a bone. It is a disgrace to our vaunted civilization. Our only hope for the prevention of such degrading struggles in the future lies in the development of The Hague Court of International Justice. May the practical men of the world put their weight behind the movement for a world-wide agreement to vitalize The Hague Court, and thus substitute law for force in international relations!
            MARCUS M. MARKS.
            New York, Nov. 3, 1912.