ch
will approximate in some degree to that by which a nation, composed of
conflicting classes and economic groups, manages to secure a degree of
common interest and action among such groups. There must be an
international executive, an international legislative body and some
approach to an international court. That there are immense
difficulties in the creation of such a machinery is obvious and
admitted. That the machinery cannot work perfectly, that it may
repeatedly break down; that it can be perfected only through trial and
error, are facts, which though in themselves discouraging, need not
lead to the abandonment of the effort. There is nothing inherently
impossible in the gradual creation and elaboration of such machinery.
The development of the future lies in that direction.[2]

Let the machinery be ever so perfect, however, it is useless unless
principles are formulated which meet the requirements of the nations
which are to be bound over to keep the peace. A league to enforce
peace is a futility unless it is also a league to determine
international polity. Peace cannot be negative, a mere abstention from
war. It must be a dynamic process, an adjustment of the nations of the
world to their international environment.

[1] Hobson (John A.), "Towards International Government," New York (The
Macmillan Co.), 1915, pp. 90, 91.

[2] It is not pertinent to this book to discuss in detail the plans
which are being formed for the gradual evolution of such international
machinery. For readers who desire to secure a _precis_ of such
arrangements, the book of John A. Hobson, "Towards International
Government," is recommended.

{246}

CHAPTER XVIII

THE FREEDOM OF THE SEAS

We have seen that the problem of peace cannot be solved without at the
same time avoiding the economic conflicts now sundering the nations.
We have seen that these divisive interests which are real and vital,
can be accommodated neither by the force of good will alone (although
good will is essential), nor by an appeal to national unselfishness nor
by proposals which merely mean the perpetuation of the _status quo_.
We have also seen that in the last instance force, or at least the
threat of force is necessary, that this force cannot be applied by the
United States alone or by a group of two or three beneficent powers,
but only by an all-inclusive league of nations, acting according to
established rules and with a machinery previ