Evening star., 1936-12-25
Peace and Neutrality.

Peace and Neutrality.
Deadly civil war grips one European
nation this Christmas day. The con-
flict threatens to draw the others into
the vortex. In the Far East unrest Is
growing among hundreds of millions of
people. The Western Hemisphere-the
New worlds fortunate. 1t has peace.
It has just concluded an Inter American
Peace Conference. with great hope that
Its deliberations will result In Q pro-
longed peace in North, Central and
South America, and that the Americas
will be able to set an example to which
the rest of the world will give heed
1t is Of vital Importance to the people
of America-and to the peoples Of all
other nations in this Western Hemi-
sphere-that peace be maintained in
Europe and in the East. No longer is
it reasonable to suppose that the world
can exist half at peace and half at war,
so interrelated are the interests of the
whole. And yet if war comes. the Gov
ernment Of the United States and the
people should and will endeavor to keep
aloof.
When Congress meets in January one
of the most pressing measures will be
that to supplant the present neutrality
act, which expires in May. 1t does seem
that in the drafting of such a measure
American legislators should be able to
agree, no matter what their politics.
Yet what constitutes true neutrality is
different problem. A prohibition
against the shipment of arms and NUM-
tions of war is considered by some as
insufficient. They would extend it to
other materials, including foodstuffs.
And yet to decline to export foodstufis
to nations that need them is scarcely
friendly act, particularly if those nations
have been accustomed to draw imports
from the United States.
The neutrality act as it now stands
requires the President to prohibit only
the shipment of instruments of war"
There are other materials, however, es-
sential to peoples at war, among them
coal, iron and oil, for example. And
certainly no nation can long make war
without a supply of the necessary food
for its people and for its armies. Already
proposals to make the neutrality law
much more drastic are being formulated.
The Government Of the United States
resisted for three long years the efforts
and the impulses-which constantly
grew stronger-to bring this country
into the conflict which had engulfed
most of the rest Of the world, before it
was finally dragged into the last World
War. The President. in those days, was
not required nor given the power to lay
an embargo on the shipment Of all kinds
of materials needed by the warning ma
tions. 1t was through the shipment of
such materials, and the consequent sink
ing of American vessels and the loss of
American lives, that in the end this
country entered the World War.
The world has struggled-indeed, it is
still struggling-out of the morass of
the last great war. Another such con-
flict may well wipe civilization, as it is
known today, from the face of the earth.
If the United States can take steps to
prevent breakdown Of the peace as it
now exists, how much more effective 1t
would be than the mere enactment Of q
law which is designed to keep America
from being entangled in a conflict be-
tween foreign nations.
This country has sought for years to
set to the world an example for peace.
1t has sought to convince other nations
that peace lay in a reduction of arma-
ments. All its efforts appear today of
little avail, when Europe and Asia are
largely armed camps. Nevertheless,
America has not given up the struggle.
It is still dedicated to the cause of peace.
May it always be so.