Evening star., 1923-09-30

a word or so about purely strategic
possessions. Malta, Gibraltar and so
forth; they are part of our armament
and their destiny is dependent upon
the possibility of a world associa-
tion sufficiently convincing to make
disarmament possible. But there
still remain great areas that are
neither populated by kindred com
munities nor subject civilizations.
barbaric regions that have been
taken over in order to exploit their
natural resources and prevent their
being monopolized and closed against
US by some hostile power. The great
overseas empire of Spain in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
was of this type. Such areas of eco
romic subjugation are very ancient
type of foreign possession.
Calls Tariff a Form of War.
The Americans decided a century
and a half ago that one necessary
condition of existence for federal
union Of sovereign states was uni
versal free trade. All interference
community's trade, all tariff barriers
and the like, are a mild form of war.
1t must be plain to every one that
the present division of Africa Is ex-
tremely unstable and that IL the sys-
tenn of competitive powers in Europe
is to go on, it is only a question of
how long it will take France TO feel
secure enough against Germany to set
about fighting for the whole Of raw
material Africa. The organized peace
of the world, the coming world civili-
zation, demands not only a cessation
Of ornaments, but a cessation of
commercial discrimination and such
like material injuries.
But these areas of undeveloped
natural resources, of unexpected
forests and minerals and the like.
sustaining only a sparse or under
civilized population, must have ad-
ministration and development form
without. If that is not to be the
dangerous task and privilege of
single exploiting state it must be the
task of some as yet nou-existent
| body acting in the common interest.
Until that federal body can be de-
veloped and equipped with forces and
resources of its own-it is the most
urgent of all necessary precautions
against a future great war-there is
nothing for US to- do but to go on
holding these possessions of the third
order, without trading discrimina
tion or settlement discrimination
against any other race or people.
1t is part of the fantastic nation
alism that still plays so astonishing
a part in the political life of the
world, to hold that every def1nable
region of the earth's surface belongs,
from sky to center, to the inhab-
itants 1t supports. But with every
increase in facilities of movement
this becomes constantly more impos-
sible. It would, for example, place
the vast mineral wealth of Labrador
at the disposal of a few hundred
wandering Red Indians.
The World for the World.
The conception of federated world
system carries with it the idea that
all the land and sea of the world,
animal, vegetable or mineral, belong
to all the people of the world, and
J that any assignation, reservation,
, mandate or monopolization of this or
/ that region is entirely a temporary
arrangement for the universal good.
| The British empire" in respect to
| this class of possession, is therefore
| in the position of trustee for an
| unborn but inevitable heir.
In any world federation that may
| arise in the course of the next CEN
tury or SO, the English-speaking
communities. which already number
| over 100000 600 people. must neces-
sarily play leading part.
! Copyright, 1923. United States and Canada,
/ by North American Newspaper Alliance.
| Copyright IN Great Britain and South Africa
by the Empire RevieW.l