Arbitration Treaty

Charles E. Hughes, Secretary of State, and Sir Auckland Geddes, British Ambassador to the United States, signed an agreement to renew the arbitration treaty of 1908 between the two countries. The treaty has already been twice renewed for five years, in 1913 and 1918, and the third renewal is for the same duration. The treaty provides that any legal disputes which cannot be settled by diplomacy shall be submitted to the Hague Court of Arbitration--provided that the matter does not affect the "vital interests, the independence or the honor of the two contracting States." A new feature embodied in the last renewal is an exchange of notes, whereby if the United States becomes a member of the World Court, the two Governments will consider submitting disputes to that body instead of to the Hague Tribunal.