t was provided
that such nations who desired could sign an agreement to submit all
cases of dispute to the court with all others who similarly signed.
Nearly all of the smaller nations have so signed, and President Harding
urged the United States, though not a member of the League, to sign.

The judges of the court, eleven in all, are nominated by the old
Arbitration Court of the Hague Tribunal, and elected by the League of
Nations, the Council and Assembly voting separately. Only one judge
may be chosen from a nation, and of course every nation may not have a
judge. In cases where a dispute involves a nation which has no member
in the court, an extra judge may be appointed. The first court was
chosen from the following nations: Great Britain, France, Italy, United
States, Cuba, Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, and Brazil. So
the Court of International Justice is functioning in an incomplete way,
born of the spirit of {491} America, and the United States, though not
a member of the League of Nations, has a member in the court sitting in
judgment on the disputes of the nations of the world. So likewise the
League of Nations, which the United States would not join, is
functioning in an incomplete way.

_International Agreement and Progress_.--But who shall say that the
spirit of international justice has not grown more rapidly than appears
from the workings of the machinery that carries it out? Beneath the
selfish interests of nations is the international consciousness that
some way must be devised and held to for the settlement of disputes
without war; that justice between nations may be established similar to
that practised within the boundaries of a single nation.

No progress comes out of war itself, though it may force other lines of
conduct. Progress comes from other sources than war. Besides, it
brings its burdens of crime, cripples, and paupers, and its discontent
and distrust. It may hasten production and stimulate invention of
destruction, but it is not constructive and always it develops an army
of plunderers who prey upon the suffering and toil of others. These
home pirates are more destructive of civilization than poison gases or
high explosives.

_The Mutual Aid of Nations_.--In a previous chapter it was shown that
mutual aid of individuals was the beginning of society. It now is
evident that the mutual aid of nations is their salvation. As the
establishment of justice between indivi