Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. IV.djvu/155

THEODORE ROOSEVELT 119 scope of the Treaty of New Granada. Had Mr. Roosevelt waited any longer for Colombia, the canal would be waiting still. You could as easily pin Colombia to any position, said Mr. Roosevelt, as you could "nail a piece of currant jelly to the wall." After a month s conference in Washington in 1907, six treaties were drawn, in addition to an agreement being made for the establishment of a permanent international court, to be termed the Central American Court of Justice. Early in 1908 a convention signed August 23, 1906, in Rio de Janeiro was ratified by the Senate, pro viding for the establishment of an international commission of jurists to prepare draft codes of private and public international law regulating the relations between the nations of America. This was followed in June of the same year by a formal opening of a joint tribunal of arbitration which adjusted a dispute between Honduras, Guatemala and Salvador. The Sixtieth Congress (first session December 3, 1907, to May 30, 1908) had created already two new diplomatic posts, Honduras and Nicaragua, giving us a minister at each of the five Central American Republics. These provisions against disorders did not end disorders forever, but they furnished better means for dealing with them. The first arbitration treaty between the United States and South America was that signed