The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1942-07-02
WNU Service, 1343 H Street, NV.
Washington, d. C.

Washington, d. C.
President Roosevelt has complete
ly reversed the ancient slogan: In
time Of peace prepare for war; to
make it read, In time of war pre-
pare for peace"
Because it is an axiom that the
man behind the gun has to keep his
mind on the gun, and the man be-
hind the man behind the gun has to
keep his mind on the man behind
the gun, it isn't safe for people as
a whole to look too far beyond the
barbed wire. That is why there
hasn't been much talk about the
plan. A nation in the death grip
finds it risky to turn its attention
from the brutal needs of the mo-
ment to humanitarian hopes for the
future. But a formula is being
worked out that has the astounding
purpose of using the very fires of
war to forge a weapon for peace.
Hints of the program were re-
vealed, partly between the lines, in
a 42-page document which made up
the Presidents last quarterly state
ment on the lend-lease operations,
and partly in the Presidents ad-
dress to the assembled representa-
tives of the United Nations on Flag
day. Both references bark back to
an idea set forth in an article which
appeared in these columns long be-
fore we entered the war. That arti-
Gle said that Secretary Hull had a
peace machine" oiled and ready
for use when the moment arrived.
Secretary Hull" it stated, be
1ieves that the roots of war grow in
the soil of evil economic conditions,
that war cannot be prevented unless
nations indulge in mutually profit
able trade"
Mutually profitable trade, the
secretary believes, can only be
achieved when there are mutual
concessions and mutual benefits-in
other words, the basis of world trade
must be reciprocal trade, to be
brought about by means Of the
famous Hull reciprocal trade agree
ments.
The President in his last lend
lease report to congress clarified the
meaning of 'benefit," q meaning
which Of course has changed since
America entered the war-since
military cooperation with our own
fighting forces has now become a
very real factor. The President
made It plain that now that I'VE
are at war" the lend-lease principle
as it develops removes the pos
sibility that a condition Of finance
will affect the full use of all materi-
III resources" because the advances
made by America are not loans but
contributions to q common pool
with which the common wal Is be-
ing waged."
So much for the part lend-lease is
to play in wa Now to its role in
the peace plans. The President
said: If the promise Of the peace
is to be fulfilled, a large production
among nations must be restored and
sustained. This trade must be
founded on stable exchange rela-
tionships and liberal principles of
commerce."
Liberal principles of commerce"
a only refer to reciprocal trade
and the President concludes that the
lend-lease settlement will rest on "a
specific and detailed program for
achieving these ends which are the
material foundation Of the liberty
and welfare Of all peoples"
Practical Peace Machine
That word material is impor-
tant because in it is the promise of
a practical peace machine which
will supply the very quality, the lack
of which doomed the League of
Nations from the start. ALI the ex-
perts agree that no matter how ef-
fective the covenant of the League
might have been had it been carried
out, it could not possibly have
worked because it in the main ig-
nored economic relationships. It
was a political machine-and you
can't eat or wear politics.
The lend-lease policy. therefore,
although a dynamic part Of the war
efforts Of the United Nations, con-
tains in the belief of its authors, the
basis fer an effective postwar re-
construction plan.
And now we come to the second
evidence that its supporters believe
make it a two-edged sword, striking
for peace and victory at the same
time.
The recently promulgated Russo
British 20-year mutual assistance
treaty and the Observation-Disclosures
agreement both contain affirmation