Evening star., 1941-08-31


outset this has been the weary demand
of a great multitude Of people.
Up to the collapse Of Rudolf Hess
peace mission there had been real,
present danger that through mere war
WEAKNESS, meanness of spirit, class hate
and lack of hope and imagination, this
vast tale of human sacrifice and suffering
which unfolds before us day by day
would end in Illustration; that there
might be a foolish, old-fashioned diplo-
matte peace that would be mere BREATH
ing space for another still more destruc-
tive attack upon the developing social
order of the world
Hitler's hysterical assault on the gath
erlng threat of Russia, followed so
promptly by the great, statesmanlike
declaration of the Atlantic, has averted
that danger.
Nothing now but an entire military
collapse on our side can arrest the swing
of human affairs toward a greater
minded, happier world. The war is JUS
titled. No one in it lives or dies in vain.
Reality has prevailed
1t is quite evident that, in itself, the
declaration of the Atlantic is incom-
plete. Manifestly that was its intention.
1t is a mere framework of something
which must be necessary and complete
in winding up not only this present
warfare, but the obsolescent tradition of
warfare altogether.
War Merits Different Name.
War has changed its nature. 1t ought
to be known by some different name.
The comparatively quiet wars of the
past for minor frontier advantages have
given way to this new totalitarian war,
an intolerable and destructive process.
And now We come back to the neg
lected slogan of the earlier struggle: IF
we do not end war, war will end U.s."
the World War of 19l4-18 was war
to end war. Vainly did human intelli-
gence fight to establish that against the
levity. unimaginative stupidity and in
durable traditionalism of foreign Office
diplomats and party politicians to whom
the settlement was intrusted. Young
men died and unteachable old men put
things back again as old men liked them.
This time the world has more ample
and more bitter understanding of the
realities of the human situation. We
need only compare the points of the
new declaration with the petty IA points
of President Wilson to realize the pro-
fundity and vastness of the change.
Manifestly, the purport of this declara-
tion is to start working out the terms
of an acceptable world peace now; to
have those terms so fully and unambig-
uously stated that on the very day and
the terms shall go into operation
throughout the whole world. The arm
istice must, at the very moment of its
signing, end war, and inaugurate new
phase in the history of mankind.
Must Prepare Mind.
Now, how does the great Atlantic dec
laration frame that? 1t says that as
far as possible, countries, nations and
governments are to retain their present
distinctions and freedoms and also that
they are to be relieved forever from the
fear of renewal of war and given COM
mon, equal access to the raw materials
and natural resources of the whole
earth. This can be done only in one way
and for that we have to prepare human
minds round and about the earth.
We have to frame and organize now
in preparation for the armistice: First
world federal control of all that might
be treacherously and suddenly converted
into instruments of offenSe-that is to
say, federal world control of the air and
sea, of interstate transport and of any
sort of fuel secondly, survey and ap-
portionment of raw materials of the
earth, and, lastly, to insure the common
individual against any abuses by Or
ganized control, the setting up of a uni
versal declaration of the rights of man
as the fundamental law of the whole
world.
These are gigantic propositions but
they are absolutely necessary PROPOSE
tions if there is to be any hopeful re-
construction Of the human outlook
Manifestly, therefore, the common task
of every available brain in the world
and particularly of the great American
British, Russian, Chinese and Indian
communication the gag Of the old