The Wilmington morning star., 1940-01-04

done so much as III our recent east
to establish and maintain the policy
of the good neighbor with it's sister
nations.
The second is that in almost every
nation in the world today there is
a true public tNlief that the United
States has been, and will continue
to be, a potent and active factor
in seeking the re-establishment OF
peace.
Clean Record
In these recent years we have had
a clean record of peace and good.
will. 1t is an open book that can
not be twisted or DETAINED. 1t is a
record that must be continued anc
enlarged.
So I hope that Americans every,
where will work out for themselves
the several alternatives which lie
before world civilization, whic h
necessarily includes our own.
We must look ahead and see the
possibilities for our children if the
rest of the world comes to be domi-
mated by concentrated force alone
even though today we are a very
great and a very powerful nation.
We must look ahead and seq the
effect on our own future if all the
small nations throughout the world
have their independence 'snatche6
from them or become mere appen.
dages to relatively vast and pow er
full military systems.
We must look ahead and sea the
kind of lives our children would
have to lead if a large part of the
rest of the world were compelled
to worship the God imposed by q
military ruler, or were forbidden to
worship God at all; if the rest OF
the world were forbidden to read and
hear the facts-the daily news OF
their own and other nations-if they
were deprived of the truth which
makes men free.
Must Look Ahead
We must look ahead and see the
AASNS ia oo4 4AIo4C 6CllC1 dllOllS IL
world trade is controlled by any ma
ton or group of nations which sets
up that control through military
force,
1t is, of course, true that the rec.
ord of past centuries includes de.
struction of small nations, enslave.
ment Of peoples, and building of
empires on the foundation of force.
But wholly apart from the greater
international morality which we
seek today, We recognize the practi.
cal fact that with modern weapons
and modern conditions, modern man
can no longer live a civilized life il
we are to go back to the practice OF
wars and conquests of the seven
teenth and eighteenth centuries.
Summing up this need of looking
ahead, and in words of common
sense and good American citizen
ship, I hope that We will have fewer
American ostriches in our midst. 1t
is not good for the ultimate health
Of ostriches to bury their heads in
the sand.
Only an ostrich would look upon
these wars through the eyes of
cynicism or ridicule.
Right To Choose
OF course, the peoples of other
nations have the right to choose
their own form of government. But
we in this nation still believe that
such choice should be p%redicated on
certain freedoms which we think are
essential everywhere. We know
that we ourselves will never be
wholly safe at home unless other
governments recognize such free.
doms.
Twenty-one American republics,
expressing the will of two hundred
and fifty million people to preserve
peace and freedom in this hemis-
phere are displaying a unanimity of
ideals and practical relationships
which gives hope that what is bei1.g
done here can be done on other con-
tinents. We in all the Americas
are coming to the realization that
we can retain our respective ma
tionalities without, at the same time
threatening the national existence
of neighborS.
Such truly friendly relationships,
for example, permit us to follow our
own domestic policies with reference
to our agricultural products, while
at the same time we have tn ,
privilege of trying to work out NIL
tual assistance arrangements for a
world distribution of world agricul-
tural surpluses.
Same Principle
And we have been able 20 apply
the same simple principle to many
manufactured products surpluses
of which must be sold in the world
export markets if we would continue
a high level Of production and EN-.
ployment.
For many years after the World
war blind economic selfishness in
most countries, including our own,
resulted in a destructive mine-fie..d
of trade restrictions which blocked
the channels of commerce among
nations. This policy was one of re
contributing causes Of existing
vars. It damned up vast unsafe
able SURPRISES, helping to bring
about unemployment and suffering
in the United States and everywhere
else.
To point the way to break up the