Evening star., 1936-09-13
BY BRENT DOW ALLINsON.

- DHALN Do" hAAAINooN
Mr.. Sumner Welles, who was Presi-
dent Roosevelt's special representative
in Cuba during the liquidation of the
Machado regime, and is now an As
sistant Secretary of State, is credited
with having originally suggested to the
President the proposal of a special
american conference for the
improvement of inter-American re-
lationshipS. He is known to have dis
cussed it With various Latin n-American
Ambassadors more than year ago and
before the termination of the Chaco
War.
Studied preparation is being given
here to the Buenos Aires conference
this summer. An atmosphere of quiet
optimism surrounds these preparations
at a moment when prolonged world de-
preston has produced foreign dictator
ships and vast armament programs,
together with renewed threats of war
and social chaos in Europe and Asia,
and the moral humiliation or political
disintegration of the League CT
Nations and its system of sane
tions," for the maintenance of things
as the last war left them. Under
these circumstances, it is refreshing
to consider the potentislities of con-
crete good and gain presented by the
increased moral and economic CO.
operation of the American republics
Mr.. Welles is as aware of them as
any one.
Reaction Favorable.
The reaction to the Presidents
notable initiative was overwhelmingly
favorable in every quarter of this
hemisphere" said Mr.. Welles recently.
1T would seem that there had already
existed a community of ideas and
ideals throughout the American re-
publics. The President has now re-
ceived from every one of the other
American Presidents the offer of his
hearty cooperation, desiring that the
purposes mentioned by the President
might be achieved"
Mr.. Welles finds two schools of
thought wherever American foreign
policy is considered. One he terms
the storm cellar, isolationist psy-
chology which argues that the safety of
the United States lies solely in ignor-
ing the existence of any other nations
on this planet" and that a Chinese
wall of exclusion can be erected about
our frontiers. The other he describes
as one of extreme internationalist per-
suasion, which appears to be obsessed
with the conviction that the political
and economic interests of this country
must be subordinated to the interests
Of the rest of the world"
His own view is that the vast ma
jority of people in the United States
believe in a foreign policy which.
while first safeguarding and promoting
our legitimate interests, does not
ignore the fact that we ARE Nation
living in world of nations, and that
we would be recreant to the spirit Of
our heritage if we shirked the re-
sponsibility of playing our part in up-
holding the sanctity of treaties and
furthering the spreading of the doctrine
of peace and good will among the
peoples Of the earth"
U. S. Could Set Example.
Our responsibility, he believes. does
not imply any fatuous belief on our
part that facts can be changed merely
by our dictum; but "it would seem to
be self-evident that If, in q moment
OF grave international crisis, by Joining
with our fellow democracies Of the
Western Hemisphere, we can provide
an example-f1rst of cooperating to-
wards removal of the fundamental
causes which lead to war, and secondly
in perfecting the machinery for the
arbitration and conciliation of con-
troversies when they arise-that ex-
ample will have powerful effect
upon the history of the rest of the
world and will strengthen and supple
ment the efforts Of the League Of
Nations and Of all other peace
agencies"
Mr.. Welles appears to believe that
the fundamental causes of war lie
principally in the field Of economics
and Of the material well-being Of
nations.
He emphasizes the importance of
increasing commercial as well as cul-
tural interstimulation among the Amer
ican peoples and Latin.
Sitting Trade Aids War.
EFT would be q purblind student OF
international affairs" he said. who
would not admit that the sitting OF
international trade and the creation
of artificial barriers Of commercial re-