36 BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



integrations are stretching across political boundary-lines ; and the 

 demand for the interchange of mineral products will be satisfied in spite 

 of fiscal barriers. 



It would have been a shock to our members if, before the war, political 

 problems were discussed from this Chair, and party politics may always 

 be inconsistent with the mental products of culture. But the results of 

 science and technology now limit the efEects of national ambitions, and 

 therefore dominate the international political atmosphere for good or 

 evil. One is justified always in suggesting non-controversial measures 

 that tend to good ; and this it is proposed to do very briefly as the direct 

 suggestion'of the new configuration of the mining and metallurgical world. 



The League of Nations has accomplished a large measure of inter- 

 national understanding in questions of social value ; its influence in fore- 

 stalling possible causes of war has raised new hopes ; but fortunately, so 

 far, it has not been compelled to use any such instrument of force as a 

 blockade, and any such measure that clashed with the vital economic 

 considerations of first-class powers would probably cause stresses well 

 beyond its elastic limits. The more recent and simpler pact of Paris 

 associated with the name of Mr. F. B. Kellogg wants equally an ultimate 

 instrument for its practical enforcement. 



It was with this ultimate object in mind that the outline of my argument 

 was drafted after the Glasgow meeting last year ; but I am glad to find 

 that my views have since been expressed independently. Senator Capper, 

 of Kansas, in February last submitted a resolution to the American 

 liCgislatare recognising this shortcoming of the simple treaty, and pro- 

 posing to supplement its moral obligations by a corollary which, if passed, 

 will empower the Government on behalf of the United States to refuse 

 munitions to any nation that breaks the multilateral treaty for the 

 renunciation of war. 



Senator Capper's resolution, however, still leaves unsolved a residual 

 problem of practical importance. Those of us who had the painful duty 

 of deciding between civil and military necessities in the Great War, know 

 well that there is now but little real difference between the materials 

 required to maintain an army on a war footing and those that are essential 

 to the necessary activities of the civilian population ; materials essential 

 for one purpose can be converted to articles required for the other. Thus, 

 if Senator Capper's resolution be adopted by those who have signed the 

 Kellogg Treaty, either sympathy for the civil population would be stirred, 

 or the armies would be still supplied with many essential munitions : the 



