Evening star., 1923-11-30
PAC|F|STS SEEK
T0D|SARM NATION
''Western Hemisphere Peace
Women" Want Army and
/ Navy Abolished.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE,

BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE.
Pacifists, not content with the
steady reduction of the Army ana
Navy, now want to abolish them
altogether. Amazing proposals to
that end have just been brought to
the attention of the Department OF
Justice They take the form of ma
ton wide propaganda to bring about
q constitutional amendment whereby
Congress would be deprived of the
power to vote money for national de-
fense. The movement is sponsored
by the "Women'S Peace Union OF the
Western Hemisphere" Its united
States section" with offices at ~
5th avenue, New York city, is now
broadcasting literature asking women
to write to Senator Borah and TO
shower their representatives In Con-
gress with letters demanding enact,
ment of an amendment which Will
make preparedness unconstitutlonal.
The proposal asks that Congress be
denied the right even of taking
measures to resist invasion or sup
press insurrection.
Identity Not Established.
Just who the "Women's Peace
Union" and its working committee"
are. federal authorities have not yet
ascertained They do not appear to
be officially connected. with the ma
tional paciflst organization. known as
the National Council for Prevention
War" whose headquarters are in
Washington. The latest activity of
the council to be brought to the at
tention of federal agencies is the re-
ported presence in Moscow of ). T..
Nicholson, the so-called associate
secretary" of the council The exact
nature of Nicholson's sojourn in soviet
Russia can only be surmiSed. The
councils official bulletin, monthly
publication, openly proclaims itself
"an advocate of soviet Russia" Fred
erick j. Libby, the executive secretary
of the National Council for Preven-
t!on of War, lately returned from Eu-
rope At the recent meeting held In
Washington to welcome DR.. Fridtjof
Nansen. Mr.. Libby appealed for public
support for a S1,000,000 fund which
his organization is raising. The pa
cifist leader did not detail the pur-
poses of this fund. Libby's published
budget" for the year ended Septem-
ber l. 1928. called for only s250,00o
Anti-pacifist authorities allege that
the pacifist crusade in the United
States is financed mainly from
abroad
The Women's Peace Union of the
Western Hemisphere was founded in
Canada in 1921. to unite the women
of Canada, the United States. Central
and South America and Mexico. Its
prospectus tnal the
Zation is composed of women who
believing that the destruction of
human life is unjustifiable under all
circumstances. are ready to take an
absolute stand against war and all
forms of coercion by violence" To
that end the unions Immediate pur-
pose is to outlaw war by constitu
tional amendment" 1t would deprive
Congress of the following powers
now vested in it by the Constitution:
1. To declare war.
2. To raise and support armies.
8. To provide for organizing, arm
ing and disciplining the militia,
4. To make rules for regulating
land and naval forces.
s. To call forth the militia.
8. To provide and maintain navy.
T. To appropriate money for war
OR preparation for war.
8. To protect the individual states
from invasion or domestic violence.
The Women's Peace Union pretends
that If the United States thus leads
the way in "outlawing war" other
nations will follow and other peo-
pies be encouraged to ''demand SINH
lar action from their governments"
The suggestion that women should
write to Senator Borah" evidently
springs from the fact that the Idaho
senator, in December, 1922, intro
tion No. AL, calling for the codifica-
ton Of international law and the out
lawry Of war. Mr.. Borah, of course,
did not propose, and did not have In
mind. anything so revolutionary as
the abolition of the United States
Army and Navy or robbing Congress
of the right to provide for national
defense. What Borah mainly pro-
posed was "a judicial substitute for
war in the form of an inter
national court modelled on our Fed
eral Supreme Court"
The extremes to which the Wom-
ems Peace Union is prepared to go
are indicated by the membership
Affirmation which must be signed by
women who join. 1t reads as follows:
'I affirm it is my intention never to
aid in or sanction war, offensive or
defensive, international or civil. in
any way, whether by making or han
ding munitions, subscribing to war
loans, using my labor for the pur-
pose of setting others free for war
service or helping by money or work |
any relief organization which sup
ports or condones war"
Copyright, 1921