Askov American., 1943-05-13

ment signed by an extraordinarily
representative group of prominent
citizens, banded together under the
aegis of the Citizens Conference on
International Economic Union (105
East 22nd Street, Room 423, New
York;.
Since all nations will have to pool
their economic resources after this
war if they are even to prevent mass
starvation, the statement says, eco
nomic organization of the peace will
necessarily be more comprehensive
than anything we have ever known.
Governments will be the only ade-
quate and trustworthy source of
credit and finance. They will need
to set up: U) an international lend
ing agency to stimulate the reorgani-
zation of industry and the rebuilding
of the world; (2) an international
tariff agency to protect all nations
from competitive tariff barriers on
the principle that tariffs must in
future be treated, not as the sole
concern of the nation that establishes
them, but as barriers to world trade
which should be lowered as rapidly
as differences in wages and living
costs permit; (3) a monetary stabili-
zation service to stabilize currencieS
on an international basis; (4) an in
ternational bank that will tie together
the banking systems of the world
and give credit information and pro-
vide credit control.
Batch" Resolution Goes Too
Far Too Fast.
The resolution which is getting
the most publicity in the press just
at the moment is one introduced by
Senators Ball, Burton, Hatch and
Hill Is. Res. ll4). We may call
it the Batch, Resolution for short
1t proposes that the United States
take the initiative in calling together
representatives of the United Nations
for the purpose Of forming IAN or
ganization" of the United Nations
with certain limited powers: U) to
assist in prosecuting the war; (2)
to establish temporary administra-
tions for liberated areas; (3) to ad-
minister relief and aid in economic
rehabilitation wherever needed; (4)
to establish procedures and machin-
cry" for peaceful settlement of dis
putes between nations; and (5) to
set up a UNITED Nations military
force" to prevent future military ag-
gression. Finally, the resolution pro-
vides for the modification and ex-
pansion Of .the functions of this
United Nations organization and for
admission of other nations to men,
bership, which involves a commit
ment to seek no territorial aggran-
dizement.
Analyzing the proposal, we shall
have no quarrel with international
commissions to. handle Points 2, 3
and 4. Point falls within the pro-
vince of the War Strategy Board.
Point and the general conception
of United Nations Organization"
seem to us worse than questionable.
We believe in the progressive or
ganization of the world but for this
very reason we don't believe in
starting with United Nations Or
ganization. The so-called UNITED"
Nations are haphazard aggregation
of big and little nations scattered
around the world, held together only
in a more or less common enmity.
They are not agreed even on who
their enemy is, since Russia main
tains friendly relations with Japan,
while the Latin American states diff
fer widely in the degree to which
they have broken relations with the
Axis powers: and are deeply anti
Communist Nor does the Atlantic
Charter unite. them, as the President
hoped it would, since already wide
differences of Interpretation have
been revealed by the public state
ments of Stain, Churchill and Roose-
Welt, not to mention statements that
have been made by the head of the
Polish government-in-exile and 9TH
erS
United Nations Organization Hides
A Triple Alliance.
The United Nations are too un-
stable a grouping to become the
nucleus for world organization.
Moreover, the attempt to make them
fulfill this function would be as divi-
sive in the postwar world as an at
tempt to make the Axis into such a
nucleus One can see how the two
groupings together would supplement
each other economically and would
at the same time be a check on each
other when negotiating at the con-
ference table; but either group sepa-
rately would be quite unable to offer
the world even a faint hope of per-
manent peace.