SCIENCE. 



[X. S. \'0L. XXL Xo. 5:34. 



The Mercliant JMarine Commission has 

 given some attention to the free ship 

 policy. In reply to inquiries addressed to 

 the chief American owners of foreign-built 

 steamships, these companies one and all 

 declare that they would not bring their 

 foreign ships under the American flag if 

 they were given an opportunity, unless Con- 

 gress by subsidy, bounty or discriminating 

 duty enabled them to meet the higher wages 

 •of American ofiScers and seamen. The 

 ^Merchant Marine Commission, therefore, 

 Jias been forced to turn to the alternative 

 'of direct national aid and encouragement 

 to our merchant shipping. The exact con- 

 clusions which it has reached will be re- 

 vealed when the report and recommenda- 

 tions are presented to Congress. 



Unconsidered Phases of Foreign Trade. 



Harold Bolce, Washington, D. C. To 



be published elsewhere. 



This paper was presented orally and 

 •dealt with the inadequacy of efforts on the 

 part of the United States to secure a more 

 favorable cormnercial position in the Far 

 East, in South America and elsewhere, 

 Avlicre the best efforts of rivals were making 

 i1 more difficult each year for the United 

 States to obtain a footing. 



Analogies Between the Evolution of Inter- 

 mational and of Private Laiv. Edward 

 X/iNDSAY, Warren, Pa., Academy of Sci- 

 <ences. 



As the ethics of a people are in advance 

 of its laws so are the ethics of the individ- 

 ual always in advance of the ethics of the 

 people as a whole. The individual is al- 

 ways in advance of the crowd, tho group 

 or the state. We would, therefore, ex- 

 pect to find the laws governing nations in 

 their intercourse with each other in a less 

 developed state than those governing in- 

 dividuals in their relations with each other. 

 •Such is in fact the case. A comparison of 



international law with the growth and 

 progress of private law will afford infor- 

 mation as to the stage and development 

 international law has reached and some- 

 thing of what we may expect from its 

 future growth. This comparison was made 

 between : 



1. Treaties and Contracts. — Treg^ties are 

 contracts between nations. In inter- 

 national law in respect to treaties the bind- 

 ing force of the engagement is determined 

 more from the formalities of the declara- 

 tion of the treaty than from the agree- 

 ment itself. In an earlier stage of private 

 law this was also true of contracts; origin 

 and history of contracts. 



2. War and Trial by Combat; War the 

 Recognized Means of Settling a Dispute. — 

 In private law at a certain stage was em- 

 ployed the judicial combat which degen- 

 erated into the duel and has now become 

 obsolete. 



3. Arbitration and an Action at Law; 

 Arbitration a Rudimentary Judicial Proc- 

 ess. — In private law we have it to-day as a 

 survival in some instances and there is 

 much reason to think that it was a stage in 

 the evolution of law courts and legal pro- 

 ceedings which was passed through by 

 these institutions. International law may 

 be expected to follow the same course of 

 development in general as private law. 

 International legislation, however, prob- 

 ably is inadvisable. Growth of inter- 

 national law best assured by international 

 court to ascertain and declare the law in 

 concrete cases. 



The Meaning of Maritime Expansion. 

 John Franklin CroW'Ell, Washington, 

 D. C. 



The upshot of it all is that we as a people 

 are in the tropics. Moreover, we are there 

 in all probability to stay. Ten or fifteen 

 years ago a professor of history sneered at 

 the idea of the annexation of Cuba. But 



