THE WORLD STATE 15 1 



is ready to contribute what is perhaps a very satisfactory means of 

 maintaining this much-desired universal peace. 



3. The World Executive. — To the present time no definite plan for 

 a world executive has been proposed ; no movement to establish this has 

 been put on foot. Provisions for this department will no doubt be 

 made later as the occasion requires. No one knows what form it will 

 take. It will hardly be delegated to one man, or even a few men. 

 The international parliament may appoint a committee for all neces- 

 sary administrative work ; this may be divided into a number of bureaus 

 having charge of the various kinds of administration. If any armed 

 coercion is necessary to enforce international laws, the combined fleets 

 of a number of powers may be used, as has been the case in the last 

 century when the powers coerced Turkey. 



4. The Purpose of the World State. — We have been discussing the 

 origin, organization and characteristics of the proposed world state — 

 now a few words as to its purpose and the place it will fill. Its pur- 

 pose will be: (1) To provide a definite recognized code of international 

 law; (2) to establish a tribunal which will apply this law, which will 

 arbitrate disputes arising between nations and prevent the disagreeable 

 and disastrous clashes between the peoples of the civilized world. In- 

 ternational law at the present time is unsatisfactory. It does not have 

 the force of law as does municipal law; it is not uniform. There is 

 need of a legally constituted body to weed out inconsistencies, to bring 

 in uniformity, to make new laws for the numerous points which are 

 still undecided and which are bound to appear as the intercourse of 

 nations becomes more and more extensive. No one will dispute that 

 the world state will fill a definite place. 



5. Why the Present Movement for a World State ought to succeed. 

 — A proposal to establish a world state will naturally have its critics — 

 many will doubt the success of such an undertaking. But there are 

 a number of reasons why success can be hoped for some time in the 

 future. Immanuel Kant in his ' Perpetual Peace '* declares that the 

 following things are necessary for a world state: (1) All nations should 

 have representative government; (2) successful systems of federal gov- 

 ernment must have been established in part of the world; (3) there 

 must be a moral force to support the effort. This statement is mere 

 opinion, but the opinion of this writer may well be cited as worth con- 

 sideration. It seems to us that these things are essentials. To what 

 extent are these requirements fulfilled at the present time? 



Representative government has been attained by all the christian 

 states of Europe except Russia; and undoubtedly the Russian people 

 will also secure some measure of political liberty before the present 

 disturbances are permanently allayed. All important nations and 



1 ' Saemmlliche Werke/ Vol. VI., pp. 416-427. 



