Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1942-07-30


world scale and realize that perhaps
General Rommel might be the log
ical choice for it's commander, we are
bound to realize that an honest-to-
goodness International Police Force
is in the dream stage as yet. Prob
ably most of it's ardent advocates are
unconsciously thinking only of the
coercion of other nations by force
under our leadership. III
Details Are Tough 10. "a
Problems, Too. 1t
We have not discussed such details
as the makeup of the international
police force, whether it should be
an air force only, to bomb recall
citrant Berlin or Washington into
submission, or should contain all
branches of the military services of
the nations; how big it should be
in relation to national armies; how
it should be enlisted; whether it
should be stationed, as British SOL
diers and our Marines have been,
all over the world to the great dis
content of the countries policed, or
whether it should reside inconspic-
uously in remote places. More i'm
portant than these practical difficult
ties is the method of choosing the
directing body of the "World Govern
ment," whose will will determine
where and when the international
police force shall go into action. It
is an interesting problem for specu-
lation to wonder what would have
happened if an international body had
been in existence in 1888 to tell
President Roosevelt that he must
not torpedo the London Economic
Conference and to threaten the United
States with grave consequences if he
did. We think one can safely say
that it may be some time before
the postwar nations and blocs of
nations will entrust both their secur-
ity and their vital interests to a
world committee on which their pres
ent enemies have equal representa-
ton with themselves Only after "a
long era of mutual confidence will
the great powers, or the blocs of
which they are leading members,
submerge their sovereignty in true
United States of the world.
Our Federal Union
Not Analogous.
It remains to comment briefly on
the federationists' favorite analogy,
the formation of our own Federal
Union in America, which seems to
them parallel with the consumma-
ton of their dream. The flaw in the
analogy is the fact that our Federal
Union would never have succeeded
even in getting started if it had
been bloc of seven or eight states
uniting to coerce the others. The
federal army was not set up by the
member states for the coercion of
one another but for protection from
foreign nations. What the analogy
teaches if anything is that our en-
phasis now must be, not on agencies
of coercion but on agencies of
peaceful change and, still more,
OIL spiritual IcSSlCI dtlOii, WiilSL Wal
makes difficult. Understanding, CO.
operation, confidence are the fruits,
not of war but of peace. The fruits
of war are suspicion, bitterness and
hate. Not until we end the destruc-
tive processes of this war shall we
be able to put into action the con-
structive and healing processes that
will make world organization and
increasing cooperation possible.
Must Learn Cooperation
BY Practice.
The nations now enemies must
first become friends. They must gain
practice in working together, as the
nations have already learnt that they
can in the International Labor Or
ganization and the League of Ma
tons commissions. They must first
set up international commissions for
the feeding of starving millions in
Europe and Asia, for progressive and
equal disarmament, for equitable con-
troll and distribution of raw materials,
for international supervision of i'm
migration problems, for the handling
of international investments and in