WRIGHT— POWER TO MEET RESPONSIBILITIES. 311 



seen they may then be settled by poHtical negotiation and agree- 

 ment or submission to a pohtical body such as a council of con- 

 ciliation. However, the department may submit them to arbitra- 

 tion or an international court and under the provisions of certain 

 treaties it is bound to so submit certain types of controversies. By 

 a treaty with various American states adopted at the Fourth Inter- 

 national American Congress in 1910:"^ 



" The High Contracting Parties agree to submit to arbitration all claims 

 for pecuniary loss or damage which may be presented by their respective citi- 

 zens and which cannot be amicably adjusted through diplomatic channels, 

 when said claims are of sufficient importance to warrant the expense of 

 arbitration." 



" The decision shall be rendered in accordance with the principles of 

 international law." 



By the II Hague Convention of 1907 armed force cannot be used 

 for the recovery of contract debts between governments unless an 

 offer of arbitration has been refused, and by a large number of 

 treaties concluded in 1908 for five years, most of which have since 

 been renewed, the United States has agreed to submit to arbitra- 

 tion " Differences which may arise of a legal nature or relating to 

 the interpretation of treaties existing between the two contracting 

 parties and which it may not have been possible to settle by di- 

 plomacy " and which " do not affect the vital interests, the inde- 

 pendence, or the honor of the two Contracting States, and do not 

 concern the interests of third parties." '- The League of Nations 

 Covenant (Art. XIII) recommends the submission of specified 

 types of cases to arbitration or to the proposed International Court 

 of Justice but does not require it. 



In making such submissions, if no general treaty exists, a special 

 treaty to which the Senate has consented is necessary for the sub- 

 mission to arbitration of national claims or claims by foreign states 

 or individuals against the United States.'^^ Claims of American 

 citizens against foreign states may be submitted on the basis of a 

 compromis under authority of the President or Secretary of State, 

 since it is within the discretion of these officials to decide whether 



■^1 Charles, Treaties, etc., p. 346. 



'2 Alalloy, Treaties, p. 814. 



■^3 Foster, Yale L. J., 11: "77; Moore, Digest 5: 211. 



