Evening star., 1936-05-17

HCt9ttty Ltc uLt W NULtOfto'
In the end, whatever their constitu-
tions, all governments have to con-
form to the expressed wishes of their
peoples.
For various reasons. attempts to
create effective League of Nations
Societies in different countries have
not been very successful. They exist
here and there, and have their in
fuence and importance. But speak
ing generally, they are not strong
enough to have much effect upon
national policy.
Nevertheess. there are many very
important bodies which. though not
League Of Nations societies, yet put
peace and even peace through the
League as one of their chief aspira-
tions. That is true of the great or
ganizations of ex-soldiers, such as
those known as fidac and ciamac.
Womens societies also are usually
convinced supporters of peace. So
also are the Christian churches and
especially. perhaps. the Protestants.
including for this purpose the Angli-
can Church, which has shown itself
very keen. and there are many other
societies that may be called semi
paciflst."
Idea of Utilizing Forces.
The idea has been to put forward
and utilize these forces for peace. 1t
is proposed that in each country
there should be formed committees
for advocating a peace policy based
on the League, and these committees
should be representative of all bodies
which have peace as one of their
objectives.
Constituent societies would not be
bound by decisions or advice of the
committees. which would be. as it
were, clearing houses for peace ideas,
But recommendations coming from
them would be of great authority in
unifying peace efforts of all repre-
sented on the committees. Similarly
there would be in Geneva a central
committee representative of all ma
tional committees, which would in
its turn commend to its national con-
stituents peace poicies or ideas. and
if the national bodies approved them,
they would be passed on to their
constituent societies. In this way. in
an international crisis, world opinion
could be organized and inspired.
The idea comes from Paris and has
been taken up in several countries, in
cluding ours. 1t has been agreed that
the general lines of the movement
shall be based upon certain broad
principles. First is the restoration of
respect for treaties, so seriously shaken
by recent events. The covenant of the
League and the Kellogg pact forbidding
war as an instrument of national
policy are the most important Of these
treaties.
Next comes the reduction and limi-
tation of armaments by international
agreements. The first step would be
abolition by stages of air armaments,
coupled with such control of civil avia-
tion as would prevent its being used
for fighting. Only in this way is there
any hope of arresting the horrors OF
poison gas. 1t is corollary of this
proposal that means must be found to
take the profit out of war.
Stronger Power Needed.
Thirdly, the powers of the League
to prevent preparation for war must
be strengthened and a clear under
standing must be reached that, If wars
do break out, the members Of the
League will combine to use whatever
measures, economic or military, that
may be necessary and effective to stop
such warfare.
Lastly, proper provision must be
made for redress of national grievances
by pacific means, so that there may
be no more cases of impatient OF
lawless powers taking the law into
their own hands.
Here is a modest and intelligible
peace policy. I firmly believe it would
be acceptable to the vast majority oi
intelligent public opinion and we hope
that. by the machinery which have
sketched. this may be made evident
tcopyrisht. 1886. by the North American
Newspaper Alliance. Inc)