Evening star., 1936-11-11

established for almost quarter OF a
century.
Today, as Is years have passed since
the armistice, the American Natlon
stands alongside of Great Britain ana
France as the only democracles among
the larger powers A war that was
fought to make the world safe Tor
democracy has failed. for the time
being, to win its objective. Inc rea-
son is clear to those of us who at
tended the Paris Peace Conference
and saw the indifference there 10
that essential spirit of accommooa-
tion and conciliation which recognizes
how the army of a nation might be
beaten but how its people can never
be vanquished.
Victors Sought Costs.
Failure to understand the view
point of the minority has been the
ultimate undoing of many majority
The spirit of the allied yictors was
one of extracting from the defeated
all the cost of the war, even though
from an economic viewpoint, such an
indemnity meant destruction oil the
economy of Central Europe.
But, worse than that, inability OF
the European countries from an eco
nomic standpoint to meet the war
debts they incurred in America pro-
duced bad feeling on this side OF the
Atlantic and impaired the co-opera-
zionist movement which it was hoped
would enable the democracies OF the
world to stand together in the post
war decade against the common
enemies-bolshevism and fasclsm.
Something more than the League
of Nations covenant grew weaker and
weaker in the years following the war.
1t was the solidarity of nations, the
community of interest that caused
America to send 100000 men over
seas because of a principle deemed
precious to the very existence OF free
government
Nations Recent Policy.
Today no such army would be sent,
not merely because there is an aohor-
renee of war but because the theory OF
world unity has received a damaging
blow from the very nations which
originally cared so much for inter-
national cooperation. America today
is much more in a mood of isolation
and non-entanglement in European af-
1airs than it was in 1920, when the
campaign was fought on the League OF
Nations issue and when even many
of the Republicans who supported Mr..
Harding believed his administration
would favor some form of international
association to prevent war.
In a larger sense, the Kellogg
BRAND treaty outlaWing war was the
substitute offered by powers which did
not believe IN rigid formula OF in
ternational cooperation. The strange
thing today is that people who are
so willingly accepting RECOMMENDATION
and yielding democratic privileges in
the interest of the supreme state are
unwilling to accept even the slightest
measure of internationalism.
Whatever is going to be achieved
for world peace in the immediate fu-
ture will depend upon how far the
heads of governments will be able to
associate themselves together in the
common interest. Before the elec-
tions Arthur Krock, Washington cor
respondent of the New York Times,
after a visit to Hyde Park, wrote a
dispatch predicting conference be-
tween President Roosevelt and the
heads of various European govern
ments. This was subsequently given
q form of official denial due to the
misinterpretation that was promptly
placed upon the contemplated move
by opposition speakers in the CAM
paign.
Prominent in Thoughts.
Undoubtedly Mr.. Roosevelt has
thought again and again of what
America could do at this time that
would contribute to world peace. The
example of a peaceful pan-America is,
of course, important and significant,
and the Presidents visit to Argentina
to the conference of nations there
may prove the first in series of steps
that will produce an atmosphere con-
ducive once more to thoughts OF in
ternational cooperation.
Certainly Secretary Hull's program
OF reciprocity, with notifications, OF
course to meet some of the valid OBJ
1ections raised against the method or
nature of the negotiating machinery,
Is step in the direction of better in
tercourse of nations and toward an
improved international economy.
Encouraged by the reception given
States, Mr.. Roosevelt is in a position
to speak about them now to all the
world through the instrumentality of
the pan-American conference In
Buenos Aires If the President sue
ceeds in developing an atmosphere of
receptiveness to world cooperation,
an exchange of views with the heads
Of other governments is not altogether
improbable. Without an increased
foreign trade, unemployment here
and abroad will not be diminished
materially. The presence Of 25.000,-
900 unemployed in the world Is
constant menace to the maintenance
Of established governments, and this
In turn means greater sums spent on
armament to keep the unemployed
occupied and finally means war in
order to provide opportunities for ex-
pansion by conquest.
Has Opportunity.
While the American people are
eager to have Mr.. Roosevelt avoid the
pitfalls of ENHANCEMENT in foreign
politics, he win find substantial sup
port for whatever he can do to mo-
bilize the moral forces of the world,
where the moral forces are still potent,
and the economic forces Of the other
countries where concrete benefits in
the form Of trade benefits may tend