Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-22


TIME progress of the struggle kl
Manchuria has more and more
clearly demonstrated the fact
III that under the first clear and
definite test the whole Of the
postwar machinery for avoiding con-
f1ict has broken down.
The failure of the Kellogg pact and
of the Covenant Of the League both
have been disclosed in a fashion which
must constitute very grave dangers Tor
the future. In reality every protectlon
for peace which mankind with infinite
effort has constructed since the close
of the World War has proved Woefully
inadequate.
While the issue has been raised in
Asia and the whole world is too much
engrossed in immediate problems TO
spend much time or effort in conSld-
ering the complicated and obscure cir
rumstances of this remote disturbance,
the fact remains that at a moment
when the European situation is becom-
ing more difficult and threatening tnan
at any time since 1918. events have
demonstrated that all the safeguards
against international conflict are m
effective and even imaginary.
Based on New Spirit.
For at bottom, both the machinery
of the League and the method OF the
kellogg pact rested upon the assump-
tion that there was in the world new
spirit and a state of mind different
from that which existed at the moment
of the assassination OF SeraJeVo.
Wooorow wilson's basic assumption,
which has been adopted by all aoVo-
Gates of the League OF Nations, was
that new world opinion had peen
created by the experience oil the IasU
hi WOllld
more powerful than governments Sno
more potent for peace than any otner
conceivable force.
The kellogg pact, on its part, was
further extension OF this 1dea OF tne
mower of world opinion. ANY nation
whose actions constituted a menace 70
world peace was to be summoned Pc
fore the bar Of world opinion ano, II "
proved still recalcitrant, then TO mora
suasion there was; to be aooeo Inc
weight Of so-called peaceful COERCION
through economic pressure ana lsola-
ton. IL
But the Sino-Japanese crisis has dis
closed very clearly that the natlonS
concerned in the dispute are able sue
cessfully to defy outside pressure OF
purely moral character, and that the
rest of the world is totally unprepareo
to resort to combined economic ana
financial coercion. To the japanese,
whose action is based upon the defense
of treaty rights, to the Chinese, de-
tending their native soil, the moral
judgments Of the world are equally I'M
Now what does this actually mean in
European terrns2 Take, for example,
the case Of the Polish corridor, which
continues to attract attention. Poland
is today in possession Of the three
urovinceg of Posen, Pomerelia and
Upper Silesia, which belonged to Ger
many before 1919. Neither Poland nor
Germany desires war. But the unani-
NOUS conviction Of all Germans Is that
peace must be founded upon justice and
that Justice can only be achieved by
revision of present frontiers, On the
other hand, the Poles with equal
unanimity believe that the status quo Is
justice.
! HitIerites Would Use Force.
All Germans are therefore resolved
| 30 recover the corridor, al Poles to
| defend it. Legally the Polish claim is
absolute; morally the Germans feel
/ their case Is beyond challenge. Were
= Hitler dictatorship to come into
power In Germany its professions would
almost inevitably drive it to some ap-
peal by force to abolish the corridor
And, like the Japanese, the Poles, rely
ing upon their treaty rights, would
resist.
The point is that neither the Poles
nor the Germans are prepared to sub
NIT their case to the decision of any
outside authority. Neither nation
would recognize the moral warrant of
any external judgment. Each Of the
nations believes its rights are based
upon a higher law than that of the
League covenant or of the Kellogg pact
In a word, as the Sino-Japanese cpl
sode discloses, there does not exist in
the world today any legal or physical
means of iYnpoSin1 peace upon nations