MAIL TRIBUNE, M4ferf, Or.
Sunday, July 12, 19S9
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Ic5iin
Flight 'o Time
Medford and Jackson County
History from the files of The
Mail Tribune 10, 20, 30, 40
and 50 years ago.
10 YEARS AGO
July 12, 1949 (Tuesday)
Medf ord's 1949-50 city
budget is up for public hear
ing tonight, but Mayor Diam
ond Flynn predicts a short
council meeting.
Census bureau enumerators
for the business census arrive
here and gird for action.
20 YEARS AGO
July 12. 1939 (Wednesday)
Joe E. Wood, prominent
Medford resident, is named
assistant state purchasing
agent by Gov. Charles A.
Sprague.
From Arthur Perry "Ye
Smudge Pot" column: "Dial
telephone systems have been
installed, and are now operat
ing in Gold Hill and Ashland.
After the user becomes con
vinced he is not sticking his
finger into an electric fan,
they work fine."
30 YEARS AGO
July. 12, 1929 (Friday) .
Medford wastes as much
water each day as it uses, the
city water superintendent re
ports. Lydia King, resigns as the
Jackson county health nurse.
40 YEARS AGO
July 12. 1919 (Saturday)
Roasting ears arrive on the
local market a month ahead
of the normal timetable.
The Crater Lake rim road
is finally cleared of snow. . ,
SO YEARS AGO
July 12, 1909 (Monday)
Mountain water enters
Medford's gravity system at
Bradshaw drop and heads to
ward the city.
Medford asks Gov. Benson
for a special court term for
condemnation pr'ocee dings
against M. F. Hanley for a
right of way for the new city
water system.
What's Your I.Q.?
Nine or ten correct is superior;
seven or eight is excellent; five or
six is good.
1. Of which country was
Catherine the Great the Em
press? 2. Is treacle seaweed,
treachery, molasses, or treas
on? . ,
' 3. How many heads has a
kettle Brum?
4. In which of our four con
tinental time zones is the city
of Denver, Colorado?
5. Name the General who
commanded the Union Army
at the Battle of Gettysburg?
6. Which South American
country sent troops to fight
with the Allied armies in Italy
in World War H?
7. Is a yawl a carpenter's
tool, a kind of sailing vessel
or the cry of a male cat?
8. Correct the following;
"The sleuth quickly caught
he and I."
9. What novelist's middle
name was Fenimore?
10. Is the Bank of England
privately owned, or govern
ment owned?
Answers: 1. Russia; 2. Mo
lasses; 3. One; 4. Mountain
Standard Time; 5. Meade; 6.
Brazil; 7. Sailing vessel; 8.
".. . him and me;" 9. James
Fenimore Cooperi 10. Govern
ment owned.
She's
If it becomes certain that Medford School Su
peintendent Leonard Mayf ield will be unable to
go to Russia this fall, because of the ruling against
using school district funds for travel outside the
state, this school district
We are not quarreling with Attorney General
Kobert Y. Thornton s
He's probably correct What we are quarreling
with is a law which puts such a short-sighted re
striction on travel by school administrators.
IE ENTRUST to our
T T trators and teachers
ing, as well as the education, of our children. To
do this job we should insist on the highest-calibe
individuals we can obtain. And a hign-caliber in
dividual is one who has a breadth of vision suf
ficient to take advantage of every experience
which comes his way.
If, then, we shut them off from experiences
which are going to make
tive in the vital jobs they
penny-wise and pound-foolish.
This applies to conventions and conferences
out of state. It also applies to a trip to Russia
the nation which is our chief adversary in the
"cold war," and one about which we must, to
survive, know as much as possible, about its
strengths as well as its
IT WASN'T long ago that there was a consider-
able hoo-raw raised about Russia's being ahead
of us in this or that field,
If American school administrators are to do
the job we want them to do, they must be able to
take advantage of every opportunity to improve
themselves, their understanding of their jobs,
and of the world situation in which their jobs are
of such tremendous importance.
One woman, who feels this wav too. called
the other day to suggest
funds can't be used to pay
it . 1 J v to.-
ii wuum ueuexit patrons oi me aisincii to raise
the amount by public subscription. ,
And she's right. E.A.
Budget Time Past
County, city and school district officials can
relax a little bit, now that budget season has
passed.
The period between about April and late
June, or a little later, is a period for stepping a
bit lightly, for weighing as carefully as possible
the costs of future needs, and for a fairly good
balance of courage, to ask for what is necessary,
and caution, to avoid what isn't.
A budget, come right down to it, isn't a sacred
document. It is a plan of operation and an esti
mate of costs. To prepare a good one requires
the combined talents of a crystal gazer, an ac
countant, a hard-headed banker, a tightwad, and
a free-spending idealist.
IN JACKSON county, we've been fortunate to
have good budgets, most of "the. time and in
most of the budgeting units.
J? or example, the Medford city buderet was
passed with hardly a ripple earlier this year, be
cause it was a good one. It was adeauatelv tub-
licized, people knew what
eitner approved, or objected only to details.
The same was true with the countv buderet.
which was approved at
inursday. borne individuals could quarrel with
certain of the budget's provisions, but no one had
A -1. m
a sumcient kick to maKe any major revision
necessary.
IN THE case of school districts' budgets, virtu
1 ally all of which are far in excess of the 6 per
cent limitation, a vote of
memory serves, only two
son county were voted down this year, and had
to be brought to a second election.
This speaks well of the budgeting of a major
ity of the school districts,
fidence in them.
Not so, elsewhere.
In Salem this year the school district budget
was voted down twice before it finally sneaked
by a third election, and Ihis only after drastic,
and perhaps serious, trimming.
In Roseburg a few
trict had a difficult time
HESPITE these difficulties, school off icials gen-
erally seem to favor
elections. ; This is so for several reasons, but
among them is the feeling that it keeps the oper
ation of the school district closer to its patrons
and taxpayers which is the way it should be.
In Roseburg, the school crisis of two years ago
resulted in far more attention being paid to school
matters, the formation-
groups interested in schools, and a Better under
standing of what the schools are " attempting to
do, and why they cost so much.
Nonetheless, we'd hazard a guess that budget
officers at all levels are glad that the difficult
and sometimes delicate job is done until next
spring rolls around. E.A.
Asking
There is satisfaction
person a question, but
asking someone who THINKS he knows. Sher
man County Journal.
Right
will be the loser.
interpretation of the law.
school people adminis
with much of the train
them even more effec
do, we are simply being
weaknesses.
among them education,
that, if school district
for Dr. Mayf ield s trip,
j- i i
it contained, and they
a public hearing last
patrons is necessary. If
school budgets in Jack
and of the people's con
years ago the school dis
getting a budget passed.
the idea of annual budget
of several continuing
in asking- an informed
it isn't as much fun as
Dennis the
Today & Tomorrow
By Walter
JOHNSON AND
HIS CRITICS
We have been seeing once
again that this country can
not be governed from the
other end of
P ennsylvania
ave., that is
to say from
Congress. The
Democrats
have big ma
jorities in
both houses
but they can
not mobilize
them - to im
pose a postitive program on
the President. They can deny
him what he asks, and he can
deny them what they want.
But the center of authority
cannot be moved from the
White House to the Capitol.
This being a presidential
system of government,', only
the President can govern. The
Congress can oppose him, it
can obstruct him, and it can
stop him from governing. That
is why Congress government,
as Woodrow Wilson said in
his book 75 years ago, is bad
government. The Congress
cannot take the place of the
President in order to govern
Instead of him.
T bottom of this is, as
linrJprstanr? it naenn
why Sen. Lyndon Johnson de
fers to the President so much
on bills dealing with expendi
tures. The Democrats with all
their majority cannot compel
the President to spend more
than he is willing to spend.
They could compel him to
spend less. But they cannot
compel him to spend more.
For spending is a positive act
of governing and Congress
cannot itself govern.
If, therefore, Congress
votes money bills that the
President vetoes, and if nei
ther then yields to the other,
there is a deadlock of mutual
obstruction which in the field
covered by the bill brings the
government to a standstill.
A responsible party leader
ship will not, in Senator John
son's philosophy, bring the
government to a standstill.
THE Democratic critics of
Senator Johnson's leader
ship are, at least most of them,
aware that these are the facts
of life. They know that in the
housing bill, for example,
they cannot compel the Presi
dent to spend more than he is
willing to spend. They know,
too, that in the final show
down they will have to choose
between letting the President
have the smaUer bill which
he wants and getting no house
ing bill at all.
What they would the critics
have Senator Johnson do?
They say .they would have
him use the Democratic ma
jority to pass bills that they
believe in, and then to let
the President veto them, and,
having made this demonstra
tion for the record, to accept
the President's half-loaf rath
er than no bread at fell. -
In discussing this proposed
tactics in Tuesday's article I
pointed out that it is insincere
and unconvincing in a time
of boom like the present to
enact a bill to spend more
money unless it is accompan
ied by a bill to raise more
taxes. If the tactic is insin
cere and also unconvincing it
is surely not good politics,
and Senator Johnson has been
right to avoid it.
BUT is that all? I think not.
The political tactic pro
posed by Senator Vohnson's
critics would be a mistake.
But surely they are not whol
ly wrong in their feeling that
somehow a Democratic Con
gress should be doing some
thing of its own besides
choosing between obstructing
the President or giving in to
him. What could that some
thing be? It would be to pre
Walter "
Lippmann
pare public opinion for the
Menace
' don't look like Tarzam to mbi
aw stop calung m 'jwe'i '
Lippmann
future, which is not yet here
but is near at hand. It would
be to prepare public opinion
for the decade of the sixties
which, assuming that there is
no war, is bound to be an era
of great innovation and de
velopment of our public ac
tivitiest .
' For it is inconceivable, to
cite a few examples, that a
country can spend what we
spend on luxuries should tol
erate much longer the shame
ful neglect and starvation of
public education. It is incon
ceivable that this country will
put up with inadequate medi
cal care, with blighted areas
in its big cities, with the pol
lution of the air and of water
with inadequate airports and
failing railroads. The public
facilities of this country are
not keeping up with the
growth of the population, the
congestion in the cities, and
the rising standards of private
life. It is as sure as anything
of this sort can be that in the
decade of the sixties will be a
great modernization and ex
pansion of public facilities.
WITHOUT doubt, this will
require more taxes out
of a more rapidly growing
economy.
It is here that Senator John
son and the Congressional
leadership are missing the bus
and are failing to hold the
confidence of the new gen
eration of Democrats in Con
gress and in the country. Not
only do they accommodate
themselves to the Old Guard
Republicans on the spending
bills, which is in the circum
stances correct, but they give
the effect of thinking and
talking like the Old Guard
Republicans, which is a pity.
For while the Democrats
in Congress cannot, and
should' not try to, govern the
country, they can and they
should be leading and teach
ing the people to realize what
the future is going to be like,
(c) 1959. New York
Herald Tribune Inc.
In the Day's News
By FRANK JENKINS
Foreign affairs:
Averell Harriman, who was
our wartime ambassador to
Russia, returns from a visit
to Moscow in the course of
which he interview Khrush
chev. He told reporters who
met him at the airport in New
York that he hopes a summit
conference will be held in the
United States so that Mr. K
can see this country for him
self. He said:
"I think no one makes an
accurate report to Khrushchev
on the United States. In any
case, you can't learn about
the U.S. through someone
else's eyes. And . . . Khrush
chev is calling the signals for
Kussian foreign oolicv."
He added:
"Whenever there are load
ed weapons there are dang
ers. The situation is danger
ous and therefore I think
Khrushchev should be in
formed FACE TO FACE of
our position."
LET'S do a little supposing.
Snnnosp Mr v Tioc u-
X-X . 1. ixot) UCCil
told the United States is bluf
fing. That its people are fat
and soft and won't fight the
kind of war that will have to
be fought if we are to win.
Suppose he WANTS to be
lieve that. That he WANTS
SO MUCH to believe it that
he will believe it.
That would be dangerous.
Such a belief might lead hirn
to be so tough in his demands
that war would be inevitable.
We must remember that Mr.
K is Russia. There is no opin
ion there to hold him in check.
HE is said to be a shrewd
observer. If he IS a
Matter of Fact bv jos aisoP
"INTERMEDIARY" NIXON
The nation wiU shortly be
told whether there is to be a
crippling strike in the steel
industry. The course is still
b r e a thlessly
4 l uncertain as
these worda
are written.
Yet this un
certainty only
increases, the
interest of the
government
behind the
Jnspb Alsop scenes.
Ostensibly, the Eisenhower
administration has played no
role at aU in the steel dispute,
except when the President
asked the industry and union
negotiators to keep talking.
President Eisenhower rightiy
considers that government in
tervention in industrial dis
putes generally ends in gov
ernment arbitration. Hence
the elaborate show of nonin
tervention in the steel dispute.
Behind the scenes, however
Secretary of Labor James
MitcheUand, more recently
Vice President Richard M.
Nixon, have pressed for the
adoption of a different ap
proach by the steel industry's
negotiators.
WRAPPING themselves in
' , the mantle of the White
House has been their ap
proach to date. Conrad Coop
er, Chief U.S. Steel Co. rep
resentative in the bargaining
sessions, has refused to- talk
about any wage increase for
the steel workers because, so
he has said, any steel wage
increase must mean a steel
price increase. A steel price
increase, he has added, would
run directly counter to Presi
dent Eisenhower's great anti
inflation drive.
Thus the refusal to bargain
about wages has been repre
sented as "holding the anti
inflation line for the Presi
dent." This formula has been
repeated by the Chairman of
U.S. Steel, Roger M. Blough
and the heads of all the other
major steel companies. Among
ine latter, the President of
National Steel, George M.
Humphrey, has spoken with
an especially powerful voice
as President Eisenhower's
great crony and mentor.
According "to well authen
ticated reports, Secretary of
Labor Mitchell has sharply
disagreed with the Blough -Humphrey
- Cooper line, for
three main reasons. First,
Mitchell does not believe that
any steel wage increase would
necessarily require a steel
price increase. He is con
vinced, on the contrary, that
the industry can quite easily
absorb a modest wage in
crease, in the range of nine
cents an hour. He is also con
vinced that the Steelworkers'
Union, which wants to avoid
a strike, would be glad to
make this kind of bargain at
this time.
-
SECOND, Mitchell is equally
convinced that the union
Support- Grows, But
Slowly, for Use of
International Law
By LORNA MORLEY
(Editor's note: The grow
ing part played by force
and threats of force in
world affairs is directing at
tention to the possibility of
making more use of judi
cial processes to settle the
points of disagreement
among nations. The Eisen
hower administration and
the American Bar associa-
shrewd observer . . . and if
he comes here in person and
gets a good look at America
and Americans ... I don't be
lieve he will go back to Mos
cow with the idea that Ameri
cans are soft and flabby and
incapable of fighting the kind
of war that in the end would
destroy Russia.
Such a visit as Mr. Ham-
man suggests could be a good
idea.
MORE foreign afairs:
Rv a vote of BS to 26. the
senate of the U.S. passes a bill
authorizing about 3V4 billion
dollars in foreign aid. The
President has asked about
four billion. The house of rep
resentatives has already pass
ed a bill approving slightly
less than the amount named
in the senate biU.
It seems improbable, Wash
ington dispatches indicate,
that the house - senate con
ference committee will make
any considerable changes in
the senate bill.
r
S that good?
Or is it bad?
Let's put it this way: The
reduction in the Presidents
request amounts roughly to
about 10 per cent - or a dime
out of each foreign aid dollar.
It isn't at aU improbable that
there is that much WASTE in
our foreign aid spending.
That is to say:
By cutting out the . waste,
we could break even.
will strike long and hard, If
the workers are offered no
wage increase at all. Third
Mitchell foresees that a pro
longed steel strike will end
by raising steel wages by
much more than nine cents
an hour. And this much high
er future wage increase, he
argues, wiU indeed force an
inflationary increase in steel
prices.
According to the same well
authenticated report, Mitchell
pressed these decidedly un
palatable arguments on both
Blough and Humphrey some
time ago. In both cases, ap
parently, the result was an
extremely lively scene. The
Chairman of the Board of U.
S. Steel is reliably stated to
have left Mitchell's office in
dignantly proclaiming that he
was more anxious to support
the President than the Presi
dent's own Secretary of La
bor. On Tuesday, Vice President
Nixon was brought into the
act by the President of the
Steelworkers Union, David J.
McDonald. Knowing Mitch
ell's viewpoint, and knowing
that Nixon largely agreed
with the Secretary of Labor,
McDonald went ; to Nixon in
Pittsburgh to warn him of
imminent danger of a steel
strike.
NIXON in turn went to the
former Chairman of U.S.
Steel, Benjamin F. Fairless.
Once again, according to well
authenticated reports, the
Vice President repeated to
Fairless the argument - warn
ing of Secretary Mitchell. He
told Fairless in effect, "Bet
ter talk about a small wage
increase now, than take a long
strike and have to grant a big
ger increase later.
It is further stated on good
authority that Nixon showed
willingness to act as an inter
mediary, though most em
phatically not as an arbitra
tor, between the two aides in
the steel dispute. Both sides
in the dispute are now rigid
with mutual suspicion and
hostility. An impartial, non
irritant 'transmitter of mes
sages could therefore be very
useful. The union, still hoping
to avoid a strike, is eager to
use Nixon in this manner. But
an intermediary who will not
arbitrate has little work to
do, if all the messages he has
to transmit come from one
side only.
Normally, one might pre
dict that the steel industry's
leaders would end by being
swayed by the Secretary of
Labor and the Vice President.
But there is an additional
actor in the equation. The
President asked none other
than George M. .Humphrey
to spend last week end with
him. With this additional fact
or, so potentially strong yet
so difficult to assess accurate
ly, the equation can only be
solved by events.
(c) 1959 New York
Herald Tribune Inc.
tion are advancing
sals to that end.)
propo-
Washington - President Eis
enhower said in his State of
the Union message last winter
that he was determined, dur
ing the final two years of his
administration to intensify ef
forts "to replace force with a
genuine rule of law among
nations."
All peoples of the world,
he observed,, were "sorely
tired of the fear, destruction,
and the waste of war." Vice
President Nixon went into
more detail before the Acad
emy of Political Science in
mid-April. He pointed out
that the primary problem was
"not the creation of new in
ternational institutions but
the full and more fruitful use
of the institutions we already
possess."
Signed Clause
When the United States be
came a member of the World
Court in 1946, it signed the
optional clause accepting the
compulsory jurisdiction of the
tribunal in certain types of
cases.
But what it gave with one
hand it virtually took away
with the other. The so-called
Connally reservation except
ed cases involving essentially
domestic matters and said the
United States would be the
judge as to what matters were
domestic. With this country
leading the way, numerous
others similarly qualified
their acceptance of the com
pulsory jurisdiction clause,
and the Communist nations
failed to sign the clause even
with reservations.
This reluctance to agreen in
advance to adjudication of in
ternational disputes has been
in good part responsible for
the World Court's compara
tive idleness. In a dozen years
it decided only ten cases.
Seek Modification
The vice president made it
GWILUCCC
(By M-T Staff and Contributors)
As this is written, it's warm.
No, let's be factual. It's hot.
The mechanical contriv
ance which we hopefully refer
to as an air conditioner - an
arrangement of fans, ducts
and wet pads it doing it's
valiant but inadequate best. '
The thought of a tall, frosty
something in fist after we get
home is almost overpower
ing. Perhaps the nudists, about
whom you can read elsewhere
in today's paper, have some
thing. Then again . . .
Even they admit that not
everyone is so arranged psy
chologically to adapt to such
activities.
The reporter who wrote
the story, incidentally, is not
a member of the group, and
says he has no plans to join.
But he was impressed with
the obvious sincerity and
wholesomeness of the nudists,
which is so much at variance
with the sly salaciousness of
much of the stuff one finds on
the news stands these days.
Beards, as you know, still
remain a few of them
even though most have van
ished. A staff writer on the
Salem Capital Journal
shaved his off the other day
and remarked to his col
leagues, "Boy am I glad to
get those whiskers off! I
was getting tired of shak
ing hands with my wife."
The Portland Oregonian
and the Oregon Journal of
Portland arrive in this office
at about the same time of
day. One is the . earliest edi
tion of the morning paper,
the other is the last edition of
the evening paper.
One day. last week each
had a picture of the Russian
dog and rabbit which were
shot up in a rocket and re
covered. One picture was
credited to the Associated
Press, the other to United
Press International.
The pictures were identi
cal - except that one had been
reversed, and printed back
ward. We knew the AP and the
UPI (not to mention the Ore
gonian and the Journal) are
in competition. But can't they
stand having just-alike pic
tures ONCE in a while?
Overheard on a golf
course, Caddiemaster to
Caddie: "Well, don't just
stand there looking dumb
like you were a member.
Grab those bags and start
moving!"
"Shortage of beds" is J
phase heard much throughout
the land in' these days of hos
pitals which are too small to
accommodate all the patients,
and doctors know the prob
lems such a shortage brings
But local medicos are. re
portedly, faced with a dif
ferent kind of shortage of
beds. The Medical Society
convention is going to be
held in Medford this fall, and
those making the arrange
ments are afraid there may
not be enough places for all
the delegatets to sleep.
We had an item about a
horse - car accident in the
clear in his April speech that
genuinely domestic matters
must remain within the juris
diction of domestic courts but
he said the Connally reserva
tion should be modified. A
Democratic senator, Humph
rey of Minnesota, has intro
duced a resolution to revoke
the privilege now claimed and
let the World Court determine
whether a dispute is essential
ly domestic or essentially in
ternational. The administra
tion has not yet taken a stand.
But Nixon suggested that
future international agree
ments, political as well as
economic, should include pro
visions (1) requiring suDims-
sion to tne wona uoun vl
disputes over interpretation
of their terms and (2) binding
the parties to accept the deci
sion of the Court
ABA Campaigns
A committee of the Ameri
can Bar association iea Dy
Charles S. Rhyne, former
ABA president, is campaign
ing for modification of the
Connally reservation.
Rhyne has proposed also
that the World Court be
moved from its present seat at
The Hague to United Nations
headquarters in New York,
and that it make arrange
ments to hear future com
plaints in or near the country
where they arise. Another
Rhyne proposal, which the re
cent Atlantic Congress in
London agreed to study,
would have the North Atlan
tic Treaty Organization set
up a court to handle economic
disputes, including claims
made by individuals, that in
volve NATO nations.
Various reasons have been.
advanced for failure of na
paper the other day. Actu
ally, it was a story about
a car hitting a horse. But
that alert fellow down in
Phoenix leaped for his scis
sors with glee, clipped it
out, and mailed . it to us.
commenting: "Covered
Wagons. Pony Express rid
ers and now a horse-car on
the Pacific highway add to
the hazards of motorized '
traffic. Isn't this overdoing
the Centennial theme a
bit?"
And what's a horse-car?
Our friend thoughtfully
went on to discuss them,
thinking that some of the
younger generation might
never have heard of one. Ac
tually, it's just a street car
pulled by a horse Instead
of propelled by electricity.
(What's that son? What's a
street car? Well it's sort of
like one car out of a passen
ger train . . . What? A pas
senger tram? Oh, thats- a.
freight train that carries peo
ple instead.)
Our friend discourses fur
ther: "Market tstreet in San
Francisco used to be crawl
ing with them (and I do mean
crawling), but I doubt that
Portland ever progressed that
far. So that squelches the
above comment as far as its
relationship to our Centennial
is concerned."
Come, now, Fletch. No sec
ond thoughts.
A couple of county offi
cials were discussing the
misdeeds of modern - day
youth, and one of them
said, "Why, I'd never have
done such a thing!" "You
just have a short memory,"
replied another, a trifle
cynically. but very likely
with some truth.
We found the following -er
composition on our desk
the other day, motivated by a
communication recommend
ing calendar reform:
Time doesn't run by
calendar.
Where it comes, from, no
one knows. -It's
how to use it, that's the
point,
Not how or where it goes.
Pullman porter, looking
thoughtfully out the win
dow of a train passing
through the desolate plains
of Wyoming: "If I had a
thousand acres of that land
out there, I'd be a lot poor
er than I is now!"
A family we have heard
about were out of town, but
were due back soon.
A couple of (shall we caU
them friends?) knew of this,
and dropped by the house a
few hours before the time of
their return. They filled the
bathtub with about 25 gallons
of water and mixed in enough
Jello to make a nice firm mix
ture. Next they drained the hot
water tank and disconnected
it.
Then they left hurriedly -
just as the homeowners drove
up and found themselves with
the chore of scooping 25 gal
lons of gooy mass out of the
bathtub.
Glug.
tions to make greater use of
international law and legal
procedures as a means of set
tling disputes among them.
For one thing, resort to law
is not a promising way to
ease East-West tensions. Com
munist doctrine holds that in
ternational law protects the
status quo which Communists
want to overthrow, so the So
viet bloc countries are scorn
ful of Western traditions of
jurisprudence.
Fear for Interests
But the basic reason why
all nations, especially power
ful nations, are loathe to
make advance commitments
to submit to judicial process
is their fear that a court deci
sion might gravely impair vi
tal national interests.
It is more realistic, some
observers assert, to seek ne
gotiated settlements of politi
cal disputees, for a judicial
determination of what is pri
marily a political question
may not result in solution or
the underlying problem. It is
contended also that law can
not be regarded as a true sub
stitute for force or threat of
force so long as a government
believes that force may assure
more complete attainment of
its objectives.
Practical considerations like
these suggest that internation
al law now has no more than
limited usefulness in the criti
cal relationships of nations.
However, international law,
compared with national law,
is in its infancy. As time goes
on, it may become increasing
ly an agency and force for
peace, assuming that other
measures meanwhile keep the
world from holocaust.