Evening star., 1937-11-01
A Fateful Conference.

At no time since the peace" of Ver-
sailles made hash of the effort to lend
war" by laying the sure foundations of
future conflict, has the world faced more
fateful decisions than those confronting
this weeks conference of the Nine
Power treaty signatories. 1t is not going
too far to say that upon the action or
inaction resultant there, depends to
an immeasurable extent whether the
outraged conscience of mankind" Sec
retary Hull's gripping epitome of civil
1zauons resentment of aggression in the
Far East, is to continue to tolerate
brigandage in international relations or
will "set in motion forces which will
create unshakable order based on law"
Those words, used by the American
Secretary of State at Toronto on October
20, might well supply the text for i'm
pending discussion in Belgium. AS the
head of the United States delegation,
Ambassador Davis, is scheduled to speak
frSt, 1t is reasonable to expect he will
sound the conference keynote in a tone
attuned to the. Hull pronouncement.
There will have to be plain talk from
some quarter, if the parley is to end in
anything except new humiliation of the
Western powers in Japan's eyes, plus
clinching assurance that her armies
and war lords may proceed to impose
conqueror's peace" on their brave but
hopelessly handicapped foe.
Though our spokesman will open the
ball at Brussels, there is no danger that
he will signal American readiness either
to initiate stern measures against the
Japanese or even to make the chief
contribution to any military or economic
action to carry them out. Mediation is
the emblem on the banner which Mr..
Davis will unfurl. He may intimate
that, under certain circumstances, the
United States might be willing to go
beyond mere conciliation, but definitely
and only in the form of collective pro-
cedure.
In The Sunday Star, Sir Arthur Will
iert. former Washington correspondent
OF the London Times and one-time
director of press relations in the British
Foreign Office, asserts that London
would, OF course, be prepared to support
the United States in coercive policy if
Washington undertook to bear the brunt
Of it." In rejoinder to such wishful
thinking, let it be said at once that
washington" does not dream of "bear-
ing the brunt" OF punitive steps against
China's despoiler. Sir Arthur's candid
and probably authoritative suggestion
is designed all too solidly to support the
thesis that John Bull, in literal sense,
expects Uncle Sam to do not only his
own, but the lions share, of any chas-
tisement of Japan.
The ex-Downing Street spokesman
emphasizes Britain's reluctance "to
fight to save China from the Japanese"
He explains frankly that 'the British
attitude is dictated by the European
situation" As the great danger of the
moment is outbreak of another world
war In Europe" Britannia, despite her
protests against "Japan's piratical bru-
tality," her sympathies with China, and
even her vast interests in the Far East.
considers it her paramount duty to
safeguard the British stake on this side
OF the globe.
Matters, one ventures to think, might
be different If Japan, irked and op-
pressed by economic sanctions, were to
seize Hong Kong, now Chinas chief
base OF supplies. In that event Britain
could hardly dodge the necessity of
sending fleet to Singapore, just as this
country, unquestionably, would move to
counter any Japanese threat to the
Philippines. Short of such provocation
use OF A1glo-American force in the East,
singly or jointly, does not seem likely
1t is constellation of events calculated
to bring comfort only to Japan, but her
whole adventurous procedure since 1881
has been continuous story of capital
izing western absorption in purely west
ern concerns.
Perhaps Soviet Russia's decision to 60
to Brussels, in response to Belgium's
invitation, may stiffen the resolve of
the Nine-Power signatories not to let
the conference pass into history as one
more example of the worlds incapacity
to link its will and its potentialities in a
Gordon sanitaire against international
gangsterism-the quarantine" which
President Roosevelt mentioned at Chi
cago.