Evening star., 1934-03-11

and of the means of rapid conmuni-
cation and travel must help the cause
Of peace and of international under
J standing In the days of unenlight-
eminent and misunderstanding. when
a tour Of the leading countries of
Europe or a trip to America was a
! long. painful and laborious under
! taking even the most prejudiced of
| the few who could travel brought back
with them a less ignorant impression
of their neighbors than is now thrust
upon hundreds of thousands by means
of cheap tours. news reels, broadcasts
movies" and newspapers.
In remote parts of France so years
ago there were mountain villages in
the Cevennes where it was believed
| that Huguenots had eyes in the CEN
| ter of their fOreheadS. But the views
of these peasants were not solicited
! by the press and camera men made
no attempt to catch them. The bar
! barous notions of ignoramuses we're
! once their own exclusively. They
were not consulted on matters Of state
and their sphere Of harmful activity,
| if any was limited.
| Our fallacy today is that the ignor-
ant cease to be so because they can
, read tabloids and detective stories
travel more rapidly and comfortably
and exercise the power Of the vote
| In fact. it is this delusion which .
| causes all the pother about interna-
| tional peace. The plain man, We are .
told, is a simple. kindly fellow If .
| he were not LED astraV by the wicked
oil interests. or Wall Street. he .
would fall upon the neck of his for
eign brother and they would be
friends for life
! Dislike for Unfamiliar.
The facts are quite irreconciIable (
| with this beautiful dream. While il /
may be-indeed. often is-true that .
war fever can be aroused deliberately .
| by those who have a motive in so do .
| ing. there is a deep dislike and suspi-
| cion in the average man confronted .
| by what is strange, novel. unfamiliar.
different" to use what has become, ,
| in common American parlance a .
| term of abuse. In the Great War /
! when for the first time millions of /
! average men from various countries ,
encountered people Of other nation
| alitieS, tastes, temperamentS and
| speech than their own, they were an
| tagonized rather than attracted The
vast majority thanked God that they
were not as other nations.
Only average people arc different"
! in the profound sense Of that word.
| That is. only they are so equipped by
habit, training and lack of education
and experience that they differ vio-
lently from their kind once the i'm
! mediate common bonds Of language. /
| propinquity. religion and so forth are
removed. Just as. amongst them /
! selves. they object to the man or .
woman who does not conform who is /
| different" SO a fotiori they are re-
| PEELED BY foreigners. who are totally
or in a large measure disSimilar from
| themselves.
That is why true cosmopOlitans, /
men and women who are really at
! home wherever they travel. are neces- F.
sarily a fraction of any given popu-
| lation and constitute the only frac-
tiCn that understands the true mean
! ing of international understanding.
| The inhabitants of most countries
| would be more candid if they rankly
admitted that foreign devils best
describes what they really feel about
other people.
| When Intelligent Led.
When the world was smaller, fig
uratively speaking, it was actually
! larger because its civilized area was
thoroughly known to an educated and
relatively travelled minority, whose
| opinions and activities determined the
course of events. Intellectual hooli-
ganism was rare and the fighting was
| left to professional soldiers. who are
notoriously free from the chauvinistic
Mysteries OF civilians whether in uni
form or out of it. And the diplomats.
| artists, scholars and scientists were
by instinct and definition au-deSSuS
| 6e la melee Profteers had no in
centive to stir up animosities for their
own benefit. SO that the masses were
left in blissful ignorance of what was
actually afoot. and contented them
selves with the superStitionS natural
to their class.
The same ignorance still prevails,
but it is far from blissful. and its
| victims are the last to know it. Con-
| seuuently we are increasingly faced
. by the dilemma that the few people
| everywhere who could promote and
practice genuine internationalism are
| swamped by those incapable Of it and
rendered even more so by the ma
chinery theoretically designed to en-
tighten them.
| !, IN, no rollp1OllS
and dynastic warfare. kings were
obliged to make a show OF decency,
and they did not expose their weak
nesses before the public gaze. In
profiteering warfare, such as we know
it. all pretense at dignity. decency.
fair plav. must be thrown aside. The
| profteers are all "onto" each other,
thanks to that very machinery which
| enables them to go through the mo-
| tions of taking the mob into their
confidence: to wit. cables. long dis
tance telephones, airplanes, radio and
the rest.
Out for Loot.
At the very outbreak OF hosulltles
they describe their opponents as such
rufians and potroons that the COM
batants simply refuse to believe them'
or doubtless regret that they nave not
been asked to face foe worthy OF
eentleman's steel. In truth, every
BODY is more or less aware that the
warning prohteers are out for loot
and those who did not suspect 1t at
the time have ample leisure afterward
to convince themselves of that fact.
Facilities for propaganda being no
longer the monopoly of one side, it is
evident that modern warfare cannot
be invested with the noble attributes
which once consoled the innocent
warriors who perished, or the still in
nocent survivors, who were never
made privy to the real issues for
which they risked their lives.
1t was not so long ago that superb
example of international understand
ing was presented to world which is