Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-25

international trade, and that they ought
to be lowered. What has been the cen
sequence? On the whole, tariffs are
higher than they were before, and we
have to console ourselves with the
melancholy thought that perhaps they
would have been higher still but for
the recommendations of the experts!
On the political side, things are no
better. Here We are on the eve Of the
disarmament conference. At that con-
ference the world in general and Eu-
rope in particular are 10 make great
effort to put in practice some of those
professions of friendiineSS and CO.
operation, which We so often rejoice to
hear at Geneva. Yet IN these very
months what do we find in more than
one of the chief countries that are to
participate in the heroic attempt?
Japan and China quarrel about Man
churia. Russia persists in its policy of
world revolution and hostility The
United States holds back from full CO.
operation in the only existing machinery
for maintaining better understanding
between nations. England still talks
about the dangers of foreign entangle-
ments. France and Germany have, it
Is true, made recent and very well
come approach to each other under
the guidance Of men whose names will
be remembered when many another has
been forgotten-Briand, Laval and
Bruening. But they have not got very
Tar as yet. The disastrous assemblies
at Coblenz and Breslau have not been
forgotten. nor can we ignore the raw
1ngs OF those sections of German opin-
ion which appear to think that the ira
dltlonal Chinese view OF Foreign devils Is
the test of political wisdom Much OF
the Paris press is not much better; and
even the French government, of which
M. BRAND is a member, has recently
sent to the League a memorandum of
disarmament full Of truly Bourbon in
ability to learn and TO forget.
Bored by International Politics.
All this sounds bad. An insular Eng
land, an arrogant France, a revenge
ful Germany, revolutionary Russia
and so on. 1t is bad. But it is i'm
proving. In the first place there Is a
vast and, could it only be organized,
overwhelming body of opinion in every
country which Is not greatly interested
in the supposedly official expression of
that country's national grievances
against It's netghborS. There are times
when one Is inclined to deplore the
fact that about seven ordinary men
and women out of ten are bored stiff
with international politics-indeed, the
many setbacks of international CO.
operation are largely to be attributed
to their indifference.
But the silence Of the multitude,
which obliges the political observer to
assume Gas I have done above) that a
nations attitude to others is that ex-
pressed by its government and metro
politan newspapers, must not delude
us into believing that the inarticulate
people do not matter Only by an
analogy do we speak and treat of a
nation as single person in interna-
tional life.
There are many varieties Of opinion
and interest IN every country. And
that great mass whose only interna-
tional interest Is the prevention of
war, whose main desire is to be left
undisturbed to earn its daily bread, and
whose aptitude for hatred of foreign
ers has been greatly reduced by the
unifying influence of the cinema, the
wireless and the increase of foreign
travel-that Is the body which, when
it Is reused by threats OF violence or
bewildering crisis, nearly always
comes out upon the side of peace The
result Of the recent Prussian plebiscite
was an instance Of this another was
the unanimous acceptance by British
public opinion of Mr. Hoover's war debt
moratorium, despite the immediate