The Temple Of Peace

Difficulties In Way of Erecting a Building to Belong to the World

It must be plain to any one who looks at all sides of Mr. Carnegie's project for a temple of peace at The Hague that its execution is not to be devoid of difficulties, says the Washington correspondent of the New York Post. The gift is not, as many commentators seem to think, to the kingdom of the Netherlands or the municipality of The Hague. The temple is not to be built by Mr. Carnegie except in the sense that any one is the performer of a deed who furnishes the means for its performance, otherwise unattainable.

The gift is to the world - to mankind. The location happens to be The Hague, because the signatory powers designated that city as the site for their Joint tribunal of arbitration. The medium through which the money is presented is the government of the Netherlands, and that government's acceptance of the trusteeship is, of course, contingent upon the consent of the other powers. When it is remembered that the temple is as much the property of the czar's government as of Queen Wilhelmina's and of the United States and France as of either, it will be plain that a good many tastes and preferences must be consulted before the actual work of building can be begun. Doubtless the way the matter will be settled will be like the settlement of the international postal arrangement, the routine part of which is carried on always at Berne, in Switzerland, by the general consent of the other parties. The Berne office is practically dictator as to many postal questions which depend on discretion rather than the laws adopted at the congresses. The Hague temple business will probably resolve itself into some system of the same sort.