Evening star., 1940-06-03
BY H. G. WELLS,

opportunities of observing the re-
actions of a number Of human
minds, including my own, in the
face OF an advancing certainty.
These observations have a very di-
rect bearing upon the problem Of
how to get humanity out of its
present phase OF distress and de-
struction. There Is a very evident
way out, but whether we shall be
able to pull our minds together and
take it is an altogether more de-
batable question.
War III the air has been foretold
for more than a century. I need
scarcely quote Tennyson's Airy
Navies Graphing in the Central
Blue" What have more particu-
larly in mind is a book I published
in 1908, THE War in the Air" and
the spirit in which it was written
and read. 1t told of German sur
prise air raid upon the world Gin
zeppelins), of the supersession of
the airship by the airplane, of the
extension of the air war to the
whole world and the collapse of
civilization under it.
y X X
The peculiarities of air war. evil
dent from its very dawn-Bleriot
flew the Channel in 19O9-were this:
That it was war in three dimen-
sions and not two; that it abolished
war fronts and spread the conflict
over the entire countries of the
two combatants, so obliterating the
distinction of combatant and nom
combatant; that since it's opening
blows could be prepared for in pro-
found secrecy and delivered with
unprecedented swiftness no coun-
try could henceforth feel safe from
attack without warning; and that
consequently it must dominate the
world from now on, either in the
apprehension felt by nominal neu-
trail or in full and declared belliger-
ence, until 1t is made impossible.
Necessary Adjustments.
Advances in the science of tao
tics, of explosives and of destructive
inventions generally have merely
enforced and sharpened the edges of
this forecast. 1t becomes more
and more plainly evident to every
clear intelligence that at any price
the possibility of air war must be
banished from the earth. Either
man will put an end to air war, or
air war will put an end to mankind;
that is the plain choice before us,
and it is by no means improbable
that man will fail to produce the
necessary mental vigor for his con-
tinuance.
This is where the fact that our
minds are made up of imperfectly
reconciled strands of thought and
motivation becomes cardinal. Had
we the undivided energy of our con-
Vlctlons we should be planning al
ready the necessary political ad-
1ustmentS to take at least the con-
troll of the air out of the scheme of
national and imperial politics and
entrust it to fully empowered
world directorate Federal govern
ments are not unlimited supergov-
ernments. They are special unity
ing authorities to which the con-
stituent states have relinquished
certain carefully specified powers
and it is plain that war in the air,
latent or active. can never cease
now until the whole world is fed
Grated in this sense, so far as this
particular power is concerned.
p This much of world federation is
plainly a necessity we ought to be
discussing now with the neutral
powers, and not only with the neu-
trail powers but with our antag-
onists through the neutral powers.
Such discussion need do nothing
to qualify the vigor and acerbity Of
the actual warfare. Whichever
combatant gains the advantage of
the fighting or whether that comes
to a stalemate, the whole world
should be aware of and prepared
for this issue to which no state in
the world can be Indifferent.
War for Mastery Of Air.
This present war is not a war
for oil or iron or gold. 1t is now
primarily war for the mastery of
the air, and the world at large can
not suffer that to remain in the
hands of any single power or group
of powers. The less downright
victory" there Is, indeed, the
greater the prospect OF a reason
able settlement. Either by con-
quest or intelligent arrangement
this much Of federation at least
must be established on earth and
the sooner intelligent people set
about discussing that everywhere,
war or no war, the more hopeful is
the outlook.
That IS the rational long-ranee
view OF the world situation. But
here again We encounter the same
unresolved conflict of the main
groups of strands in our minds. be-
tween the strands that can fore
cast and prepare for things that
are still not real for most of us until
they happen, and those more i'm
mediate systems of habits and as
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