Arbitrage

( Com.) The buying and selling of the same thing simultaneously in different markets, as New York and London, so as to gain a profit from the difference between quotations in such markets. It is chiefly used in relation to such traffic as exchange, stocks and bonds. Arbitration, International. Arbitration, in addition to its use in the settlement of private disputes, is coming more and more into employment in the solving of questions between states, war having more than once been averted by it, while it is full of encouraging promise for the future. There are several ways in which international disputes or difficulties can be settled, without recourse to war, the first and simplest of these being diplomatic negotiations; the second, mediation, in which a third power offers its services to settle a difficulty between two states; and the third, arbitration, in which the points in dispute, which cannot be settled by negotiation, are submitted to the decision of a third party or parties, with the definite understanding that the decision of the arbitrator or arbitrators shall be binding. It has been particularly within the nineteenth century that this wise and economical method of settling national disputes has come into vogue, and several notable instances of it have taken place, particularly between Great Britain and the U. S. The first of these of high importance was the settlement by arbitration of the Alabama Claims (q. v.), which was followed, by an arbitration settlement of the fishery dispute. More recent instances of importance have been the settlement by arbitration of the Bering Sea seal fishing difficulties, and the formation of a board of arbitration, through the intervention of the U. S., to decide the long disputed boundary question between British Guiana and Venezuela. In 1883 Switzerland proposed a general arbitration agreement to the U. S. and other republics of America, and some instances of the incorporation of this principle in treaties exist. In the Pan-American Congre of 1889-90 an earnest effort was made to have the principle of arbitration adopted for the settlement of all the controversies that might arise between any two Amer ican states. Though no decisive action was taken, the proposition was favorably received by the members of the Congre . The most recent and most important example of the adoption of such a general principle is in the treaty of general arbitration arranged by the diplomatic representatives of the U. S. and Great Britain in 1897, with the desirable purpose of averting all danger of war between those two countries for the five years contemplated by the treaty, and for an indefinite period thereafter. It may be said in conclusion that the principle of I. A. has made great progre within the quarter of a century since the submi ion of the Alabama Claims to such a tribunal, and will certainly, in the near future, greatly decrease the danger of war between the civilized nations of the earth. Arbor Day. A day set apart in most of the States of the American Union for the voluntary planting of trees by the people, its object being to encourage tree planting and arouse a public interest in forestry. The day is made a school holiday and efforts made to interest school children in its observance, for the purpose of infusing a sentiment in favor of forest preservation, in the minds of the rising generation. Arbor Day was inaugurated in 1874, by the Nebraska State Board of Agriculturs at the suggestion of Hon. J. Sterling Morton, then Governor of Nebraska and subsequently Secretary of Agriculture during Mr. Cleveland's second term. At present the holiday is kept in 44 States and Territories, usually in April or May; but it occurs in the winter season in some of the Southern States.