Evening star., 1942-03-15

sweeping that they must have surprised
the japanese themselves. And the new
factor grows in magnitude at the mo-
ment when Hitler, obviously, Is concen-
trating all his resources for blow de-
signed to complete the confusion caused
by his Oriental ally
With the customary Unconscious arro-
gance of the white race we have through
out tended to speak of this war as though
the fundamental issue is which white ma
tions should control in world perma-
nently dedicated to white supremacy.
In many ways we have demonstrated our
assumption that the fact of white DOM
ination is not itself called in question.
White Supremacy Always Assumed.
We have demonstrated IL by compla-
Gently adding up the number of square
miles, oil wells, steel mills and subject
peoples under the so-called democracies
and deducing therefrom that these ma
tions have overwhelming superiority.
Because India has some 350000000 in
habitantS We have assumed therefrom
that this enormous reserve of man power
Idll az Nlll NC lIl1O"Il IlUO IIic DdldlCc
to defeat Germany The reason is some
what oVersimplif1ed.
We have further demonstrated our as
sumption that the world belongs to the
white race by a contemptuous attitude
toward Japan which events have scarcely
justified. Japan, we reasoned, was vir-
tually exhausted by its skirmishings in
China, could not hope to compete with
us by air. sea or land and in any case
would soon collapse economically If it
ventured to engage in large-scale war.
The real enemy is Hitler and Japan
could be taken as an hors doeuvre on
the way to bigger things.
Still another demonstration of the
truly fatuous assumption of unchal-
lenged white superiority has been the
phrasing of war objectives in terms
which have no meaning, or only sardonic
meaning for the great majority of
Eastern peoples.
We have been fighting to save democ-
racy and the American way of life
forgetting that the countries East OF
Suez are interested in neither. We do
dimly realize that a major effort of the
British in Malaga and the Dutch in the
East Indies has already been to keep
democracy from being established there.
But whether we intend to force the prac-
tlce on these colonies, if and when re-
conquered, is one of the many issues on
which consideration waits.
This War No Parallel of 1914.
The war of 1914-1e18 actually was
war to determine which clique of white
nations should run the world But the
decision was so costly, and so ILL
managed, that it did not stick. The
present conflict, it may be well to suggest
again, is in no sense a parallel of its
predecessor and is far more funda-
mentally upsetting affair. Pandit Nehru,
the Indian Nationalist leader spoke
cogently on this point the other day,
describing the war as "a vast revolution
ending an epoch of history and ushering
in an order which will be entirely diff
ferent"
Since the United States entered the
war the general balance sheet has swiftly
altered to the material detriment of our
side. The fact is as indisputable as it is
surprising and shocking And precisely
because of the wholly unexpected nature
of the development, examination of how
such things can be should prove helpful
for eventual victory.
1t is possible that there has been some
unconscious British let-doWn since the
United States declared war. If that is
the case, it is wholly understandable, for
the British certainly carried the load
unaided for long time, and were none
too strong even at the outset Of the
conflict.
1t is also possible that the initial
psychological unpreparedness of this
country, and the predominant unwill-
ingness to be drawn into a struggle
of such unpredictable outcome, has ac-
counted in part for initial reverses Few
people have ever clearly understood just
what our objectives ir this war would
be and even since Pearl Harbor the aim,
except in terms of self-defense, has not
been greatly clarified. 1t is not easy to
(See MORLEY, Page B-3D