Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-08-29
Immediately our own ahipyards are

immediately our own shipyards are
put to work.
For the purpose Of dissent. whols
peoples relinquish civil rights, the re.
suit Of centuries Of painful evolution.
accept Caesarism, and turn themselves
into nations which are really one
huge army Of ofncers and privates.
regimented, controlled, organized and
rationed down to the last egg, and the
last idea. The emotional man Of warm
human feeling wishes to cry aloud in
the midst Of this wholesale drift to-
ward slaughter. this epidemic mad.
ness: stopl II he is also. like the
President, in o position Of great power
and international prestige, he may
certainly be tempted to cry 1t q
dramatically as possible and see what
happens.
Wishful Thinking Error.
But If the President could more
than once consider this idea Of . con-
ference Of his calling. to include the
men mentioned, some Of his weak
nesses are again revealed-lack Of
realism and often faulty Judgment Of
men and events, q tendency to wish
full thinking, and . belief that saying
something persuasively enough might
make it so.
The dictators whom, we are told, he
has thought Of trying to assemble, are
men whose imaginations are certainly
as grandiose as his own. They are
also men who have overturned states,
revolutionized governments, and are
holding their people on rein, for the
accomplishment Of their ideas. It Is
foolish and it Is dangerous to under
rate them or to underrate the vigor,
violence or scope OF their intentions.
They can be curbed. and they may
even curb themselves, when the demo-
cratic nations, still the most power
full and prosperous peoples Of the
world, are willing to say unequivocally,
This sphere Is ours; and here you
may not enter except over drawn
swords" But they cannot be cajoled.
It Is unthinkable that Stain and
Hitler could be persuaded to sit down
at q table together. Even II they
would, they could not. Hitler owes his
power to his claim to have crushed
communism In Germany, which was
presented as . world menace; Stain
has Just wiped on the face of the earth
is men, many Of them once the idols
Of world communism, on the ground
that they conspired with fascism, the
counter world menace. Shall the two
dictators now shake hands and say:
MY dear fellow. really didn't
mean it."
Peace Needs Qualities.
Nor can the United States assume
world leadership and ut the same time
wash her hands Of any world respon-
sibility. We have tried to do that ever
since the war, and every time we have
acted we have added confusion to
chaos, from the World War until the
present moment. Wars can be made
by gestures: peace demands other
qualities. It costs infinite patience,
fortitude. watchfulness, elaboration.
elasticity and wisdom.
There Is much that the United
States could do for world peace, but
only with added responsibility. We
could define more clearly for ourselves
just where our interests lie. To what
extent do they lie with those Of Great
Britain? Would this country. in q
showdown, sit by and see the British
Empire divided between other pow
ers? Or how far, conceivably. could
we see such disintegration take place?
If there is . point at which We would
interfere, then 1t would contribute to
the peace Of the world to stop Great.
ing the misleading impression that
under no possible circumstances, ex-
cept actual invasion, would we fight.
Must Pay for Neutrality.
II on the other hand We are to
pursue complete neutrality, we must
prepare ourselves for those conse-
quences, too. They will mean that
in another war we shall suffer as neu-
trails most Of the Disadvantages Of
combatants, except the actual curse
of war itself. That is also possible.
Holland remained neutral through
the last war. under intense provoca-
ton, and although the combatants
temporarily ruined her trade and par
alyzed her industry. in the end. how
ever, she Jared well for her cool
Medicines.
But by all odds the greatest con-
tribution which we can make to world
peace Is to make freedom and democ-
racy work upon this continent, with
greater economic stability, more diff
fused prosperity, and with social
peace. That is also difficult in .
chaotic world, but Holland and Den
mark, Sweden and Switzerland proved
that 1t Is not impossible.
Copyright, 1850