Evening star., 1941-09-28
Blunders Leading to Warfare
Started the Cycle 10 Years Ago
Failure to Apply in 1881 Pressure We Are Now
Using Against Japan Held to Blame for
Snowballing Aggression
Hp Felix UOrIPr


turc by failing to take the risks involved
in checking Japan's aggression against
China The later enactment Of rigid
neutrality legislation was a direct end
open encouragement to further acts Of
aggression.
We encouraged the spread Of war by
passage of that legislation. Now we are
inclined to encourage its further spread
by eleventh-hour repeal Of what is 1T
OF the act The necessary prelimin2~v
for rectifcation Of our bungling is real
ization of its scope,
Peace and United States Role.
What sort of peace system Will eyen-
tually replace that which has Crumbled
at Geneva and what role will the United
States play therein? These are the
questions which are really paramount
today and which demand the most
Thoughtful consideration that Americans,
as individuals or in groups, are capable
of giving.
They are questions, moreover. provid-
ing common ground for both "interven-
tionists' and 'isolationists The former
are increasingly insistent on an open and
/ unequivOcal declaration Of war against
Germany. The latter are clearly deter
mined to block the dispatch OF an eXpe-
dictionary force to Europe. Africa or Asia
even if American warships begin shooting
al sea. But neither party seems 10 be
giving thought to the fundamental ques-
/ ton Of the type Of international order
which the United States will be willing
! to underwrite when exhaustion finally
/ brings the war to a close.
Nevertheless, even without popular
/ elaboration. two alternative systems are
obviously taking form amid the hostIl-
/ tiles. And it is evident that if either Of
/ these systems triumphs or even if there
/ is eventual compromise between them.
! the resulting arrangements will be very
different from the vanish, Structttr1
. established by the Treaty Of 'erSailles.
! The Two Alternatives.
| On the one hand there is Hitler's "new
/ order" which seeks. at whatever cost in
individual liberty and democratic ideals,
/ TO achieve political unifcation Of Eu-
/ rope under German domination. And
in the Far East Japan now openly
espouses the same objective with the
substitution Of Nipnpnese for Teuton as
the regional "Ferrenvok"
On the other hand there is the less
well defined. but no less realistic, ob-
jective of continuous Anglo-American
cooperation. This was officially spon-
sored a few weeks ago in the common
principles of national policy laid down
by President Roosevelt and Prime Min
lister Churchill in the Joint statement
defined by the latter as The Atlantic
Charter"
There are clearly plenty Of difficulties
ahead for Hitlers new order The
/ present state of suspended revolt and
ruthless repression in many Of the oc-
cupied areas is doubtless only portent
of conditions to be expected in per-
manently Nazified Europe. The problem
for Germany, however is not undcresti-
mated IN current American discussion.
What is insuf7ciently stressed in popu-
lar considerations in spite of the efforts
Of the union now group. is the broad
implications of Anglo-Ameucan unity
for the political. social and economic
future Of both these nations II has
been the function of Clarence STREET and
| his followers to urge union now" as
an end in itself. Relatively few seem TO
have anticipated that the substance Of
union might be imperceptbly achieved
under war conditions by the present
method of continuous executive CO.
operation.
Few have as yet realized that the real
problem may not be how to secure CT
fective Anglo-American cooperation but
rather how to establish the long-range
ends to which it will be directed when
! achieved
In Anglo-American cooperation, says
Winston Churchill, lies the sure hope
| Of saving the world from merciless
! degradation To review the blunders
of the past is to strengthen conviction
| that it is high time for some crystali-
cation and definition of that hope.