Evening star., 1943-09-08
Price of Greatness

When Winston Churchill told a
Harvard University audience that it
would be foolish and improvident"
act for the United States and Britain
to dismantle their smooth-working
military organization at the moment
of the wars end he undoubtedly
realized that he was treading on the
toes of some people in this country.
The British Prime Minister is too
good student Of American history
and American politics not to be fully
aware of the implications of his pro-
posal. But. whatever the implica-
tions, this is question which needs
to be brought into the open, and
that is what Mr.. Churchill has done.
The danger in suggestion of this
kind. coming from the Prime Min
lister of Great Britain, lies in the
possibility that it may be seized upon
and distorted in an effort to make
it appear as an attempt to meddle
into the affairs OF this country with
view to strengthening Britain at
our expense. But, happily, there has
been little of that In the reactions
of American political leaders.
Mr.. Churchill's argument is
reasonable one. The governments
of Britain and the United States,
under the compulsion of war. have
worked out an efficient and closely
knit joint military organization. 1t
may be doubted that any other allies
have ever worked together with
such harmony and unity Of purpose.
But some day the war will end, and
when that time comes Mr.. Churchill
believes we must continue to stand
together. For our own safety he
argues, "as we'll as for the security
of the rest of the world we are bound
to keep it (our joint military ma
chinery) working and in running
order for good many years, not
only until we have set up some world
arrangement to keep the peace, but
until we know that it is an ar
rangement which will really give us
that protection we must have from
danger and aggression. - We
must not let 60 of the securities we
have found necessary to preserve
our lives and liberties until we are
quite sure that we have something
else to put in their place which will
give us an equally solid guarantee"
Mr.. Churchill is saying in these
words that the shape of the world
after the war Is an unknown guam
tity. 1t may be world in which the
Four Freedoms can flourish around
the globe, and again it may not be.
He feels-and 1t Is difficult to see
how there can be any dissent from
the broad proposition-that the
United States and Britain, having
worked out a dependable means Of
security, should not throw 1t away
until an adequate substitute has
taken definite form. Until world
wide collective security becomes an
established fact, the British Prime
Minister would cling tightly to the
very considerable measure of security
that is to be found in the working
alliance forged from the wartime
association of Britain and the United
States.
This is not far from the postwar
military alliance between the two
countries which has been advocated
| by Governor Dewey of New York, and
II this seems too long step to take
| at this time, 1t should be emphasized
that neither the Prime Minister nor
Governor Dewey is urging us to sign
on the dotted line today or tomorrow.
What they are trying to do is to
bring the whole subject before the
! people for consideration and discus