Evening star., 1940-04-20
Far-Reaching Steps
To Check Despotism
Seen by Lord Lothian
British Ambassador
Apparently Sees Big
Post-Wor Role for U. S.
partial tert> on Page 49,
BY GARNETT d. HORNER.

A British suggestion that nation,
which believe in freedom may vel
have to take more far-reachins
steps than any of us yet realize
to end the threat of ruthless
world despotism stirred new specu.
lation today about allied war aim.
and this country's future role ir
world affairs.
The British Ambassador, Lore
Lothian, made the suggestion in 9
speech to the St. Louis Chamber
of Commerce last night, apparently
referring to postwar steps in which
the United States might take part
to build a stable basis for lasting
peace.
His address, the text of which wa.
made available here by the British
Embassy. was an exposition of the
allied side in the present war against
Germany and of his views of the
effects of the war on this country
He said German victory would
jeopardize the security behind the
Monroe Doctrine by robbing it OF
the support of British naval power
and would be fatal to free civii-
zation itself" by clearing the way for
totalitarian extinction of human
liberties and national rights in most
Of the world.
An allied victory, he contended
would mean that the foundations
will have been laid for the kind
Of free and liberal world in which
the democracies have believed,
though they have not yet seen
how to create"
Avoids U. S. Intervention.
He avoided any mention of the
possibility of direct United States
intervention in the war, but did
say he believed Americans "are op-
posed to a victory for dictatorship,
and asserted, in discussing i'm
portance of the diplomatic 'front.'"
that "a new friend may mean a
victory, without a battle for either
side" He appealed for leniency in
the American attitude toward allied
blockade measures, mail censorship
and import restrictions.
Declaring the allies are against a
patched up" peace now because it
would be no more than a truce and
only play into the hands of de-
potlsm," the Ambassador said 1t
probably would take three years for
the allies to mobilize their "over-
whelming mass Of offensive power"
and win a clean-cut victory over
Germany.
Although not mentioning Japan,
Russia and Italy by name, he linked
them with Germany in citing Man.
churia, Abyssinia, Albania, Fin
land, China, Czecho- -Slovakia, Po-
land, Denmark and Norway as VIC
TINS Of aggression by military die
tatorships'
Whose turn will it be tomorrow"
he asked. 1T is quite certain that
the process will not stop until it is
resisted by superior force.
Fight Against Dark Age.
"On a long view, therefore, what
the allies feel that they are fighting
for today is to prevent the extern
sion of this new ruthless imperialist
system, first over Europe and later
elsewhere, because its victory would
be fatal not only to their own free
dom and existence, but to free civil
ization itself. 1t would begin a new
Dark Age"
He defined the immediate allied
aim as either to knock out the
Nazi power" or to convince the
German people that the road to
freedom and prosperity for them
selves also is substitution for the
Nazi regime of government whose
main purpose is not aggression and
IN whose word the rest of the world
can trust"
Going beyond this immediate aim
In suggesting the possibility of sur
prisingly far-reaching steps by ma
tions which believe in freedom be-
fore their objective of a free world
'is made secure" he declared
THE real remedy for the present
tragedy is not mere victory in the
war but wiser thinking and better
organization, both political and eco
nomic. among ourselves"-that is,
among the nations supporting prin-
ciples of freedom and "decency in
the conduct of international affairs"
Lord Lothian blamed the break
down of the peace settlement after
the last World War on failure of
the democracieS to achieve sufficient
unity and freedom for trade to
maintain effectively the principle of
national freedom in the face of
totalitarian aggression, implying
that when peace comes again it
should be supported by much
stronger international unity than
that provided by the League of
Nations.
League Gallant Attempt"
He said the League was a gal
liant attempt" to supply necessary
unity and order in 1918, but that
1t failed for a variety of reasons,
and very likely the integration of
the world, when it comes, will have
to be on quite different lines"
The Ambassador expressed doubt
that the end of this war will see
another great peace conference like
the last" asserting "the basic con-
ditions of the postwar world will be
settled by the terms of the armistice.
by the fact of where the preponder-
ant power will lie at the time when
the cease fire sounds"
Peace comes only from superior
power behind law" he continued.
1--WE believed Gn 1919 that peace
would come from freedom carried
to the point of international anarchy
and from disarmament 1t did not
and it cannot =. The dictators
saw their opportunity, created power
for themselves and began to remake
the world in their own image.
What matters more than any
thing else Is that at the end of this
war the superiority of power should
rest unmistakable in the hands
of the free peoples so that
1t will be they and not the totalitar-
ians who will determine the future !"