Evening star., 1936-05-03

winch IN many ways Str1klngly repeats
the dilemma occasioned by the out
break of the deadly and lawless Euro
pean imperialist duels of 19l4-19l7
and of 1793-1815.
Are the American peoples doomed
to be drawn into this complicated
European quarrel. as they were into
the World War, even against their will
and better judgment. by reason of
their assertion of neutral rights Of
trade and intercourse? Or Is there
to be discovered some wiser and more
effective way of defending legitimate
human rights and commercial inter-
ests. without surrendering honor or
peace? How many and how costly
will be the sacrifices of economic ad-
vantage that neutrals will be obliged
to make, temporarily at least, in order
to avoid collision with Great Britain
and her present or future allies, on
the one hand, or to become involved,
on the other, in their coercions Of
Italy, or some other colonial rival, to
the indignation and alienation Of sew
eral million of American citizens Of
Italian. or other, parentage?
Not So Simple.
In London. the other day, Sir Nor
man Angel was quoted as declaring
that the United States will have to
accept any blockade, or closure of the
seas, decreed by Great Britain and
the League of Nations against an ag-
greSsor. whether Senator Borah likes
it or not" But the matter is not
quite so simple as that. If there Is
no Qualification of maritime law with
which to illuminate the international
anarchy. no agreement as to contra
band and blockade, and no complete
acceptance of the theory Of sane
tons" against a particular state pro-
nounced an "aggressor" by a political
verdict, reached by a process in which
the United States and other neutrals
have not shared, then, it may be as
sumed, there will be very serious pro-
test and controversy, and quite pos
sibly retaliation and economic coercion,
from the raW-material producing ma
tions of the West, resolved not to sur
render everything to belligerent fiat
and pretension. That is why q con-
solidation of neutral purposes and
policies seems essential, and why the
sooner it can be reached the better
for every one concerned, and the more
hope there will be that legitimate
neutral commerce will not be swept
from the seas. and nations reduced to
starvation and warfare to total deprav-
ity and barharism.
The critical question is: What is
legitimate commerce? Belligerents in
control of the seas. enjoying a pre-
dominance of naval power, will assert,
as they have asserted in the past,
that nothing is legitimate If destined
or indirectly for the aid and
comfort of their adversary in war
time. Neutral exporters ard shipping
interests, on the other hand, will nat
urally seek to do the largest amount
of profitable business with all who
have cash or credit to pay for goods
Of all kinds. In the meantime.
forseeing the acute danger of this con-
troversy, the United States Govern.
ment has taken an important step to
modernize and redefine its conception
Of neutral commercial rights, and to
harmonic its policy with the great
pledge of the Kellogg pact, by pro-
hibiting the export, or sale, of arms,
and implements of war
and the opening of loans or CONNER
cial credits for the benefit of bellig-
erentS; and by Presidential declara-
ton that all trade with them shall
be conducted "at the trad
er's risk"
May Astonish World.
If this revolutionary policy be ac-
cepted and jointly enforced by all the
republics Of the Western Hemisphere
and If it be extended to restrict the
expectation of other commodities es-
sential or useful in warfare-the result
may astonish the world, by largely null
lifying the lawless potency of arbitrary
naval power, and by rendering warfare
exceedingly dificult and costly to con-
duct on any large scale anywhere. For
the raw materials of warfare-the De-
troleum, the copper, nickel, iron and
steel, the cotton and foodstuffs-haye
come, in the past. principally from
the Western Hemisphere. And If the
Western Hemisphere should close its
doors to all belligerents, without dis
tinction, and proposes to substitute
this new and sweeping sanction"
against war. as such. for the partial
and Intellectual sanctions against an
alleged "aggreSsor" contained In the
sixteenth article of the League of
Nations covenant-what then?
Obviously, the effective interna-
tional control Of international trade
at the source-especially of the muni.
lions and materials essential to war.
making-may become the key tech.
nique OF preserving peace, as it has
been for so long the missing link in the
organization Of the world against war.
Under creative and courageous neutral
it may become the ark
OF the new covenant of international
justice and peace, foreshadowed in the
kellogg pact, but not yet implemented
In practical policy. At the least, the
pan-American policy is
undertaking to do what DR.. Nicholas
Butler and many others have
declared to be indispersable-to substi-
tute moralized. enlightened and COL
lective neutrality for a traditional,
ldtsseztdtre and immoral commercial
policy. which was neutral merely in
name.
1t is not too much to affirm that
the future peace Of the world rests
largely In the hands of the tradition
ally neutral nations. Even as the
judgment Of a just. impartial and
conscientious man Is the basis Of the
civil law and the whole process OF
equity and justice in civilized society,
10 the organized and effective judg-
ment Of . group Of neutral nations
may become the best hope Of Justice
and Of law among the disorganiEed
and distrustful nations. armed TO the
teeth, who profess 10 believe In, and