Askov American., 1943-12-23
Stable Peace Needed

Continuing the discussion be-
tween Devere Allen, Worldover
Press editor, and Ely Culbert-
son on the latter's World Fedora
ton Plan, Mr.. Culbertson gives
his answers to several of the
questions asked by Mr.. Allen,
and published in the two pre-
vious issues of this paper. Next
weeks installment, also by Mr..
Culbertson, will conlude the
series, which is released by
Worldover Press.
Dear Devere Allen:
Thank you, first of all, for those
nice words that you lead off with.
/ appreciate the evident care and
thoughtfulness you have given 70
your study of my plan and / ap-
preciate too the opportunity which
you give me to answer certain
questions that arose in your mind
and which might also arise in the
minds of other intelligent appraisers
of this plan.
Taking your questions as you
posed them: queries One and Two
hang together. In both of them you
question the wisdom of the regional
principle which is one of the bases
of the World Federation Plan. You
point out. quite rightly, that there
will be "frictions and animosities
and sharp divergency of interests
and policies inside each proposed
federation" You point out that the
Norwegians might not like ''for a
long time to come, to be closely
linked with even a chastened Ger
many
My answer to you here is that
the Norwegians would not be close
Iy linked to Germany. If you look
carefully at the structure of the
Regional Federation you will see
that it is really nothing but skel-
eton organism on which much can
be built but which does not, as it
will stand at its inception, COM
NIT its members to the sort of
closely bound relationship which is
usually implied in the word "feder-
ation".
In the Summary of the World
Federation Plan 1 note that para
doxically, there is only one type of
world government that has any
chance of being adopted; the type
which, though powerful, does not
govern, in the usual sense of the
word; and 1 have therefore linn
tied the governmental activities of
the World Federation to one sphere
the prohibition of war The Region
al Federations have even less gov
erning to do, since activities con-
nected with the prohibition of war
do not fall within their spheres. And
since the Regional Federation Gov
ernments, at the outset, will do so
little real governing, it is quite clear
that their member nations will not
be bound into any very close re-
Iationship. These members will have
given up only the right to wage
war, and this portion of their SOW
ereignty will be vested in the World
Federation Government. Thus, al
though members of one Regional
Federation, their relationship will
not be much different from that
existing between ordinary sovereign
states in the non-federated world of
today.
It is just possible that some of
ihe countries which have suffered
German and japanese oppression
might not like even to be tied psy-
chologically in common Regional
Federation with their former ty-
rants. In that case, Korea in the
Japanese Federation and Holland,
Denmark and Norway in the Ger
manic could as you yourself
note transfer themselves, as is
provided in the plan, to neighbor-
ing and temporarily more congenial
Federation.
But please notice my use of the
word Temporary. And please re-
member that you imply the basic
soundness of the Regional structure
when you write as follows: "much of
the world is going to be cursed by
hatreds which are capable of upset
ting all the natural logic of territory,
economics, tradition and mass psy-
chology." That is very true, and
that is one of the reasons why the
World Federation Plan-which takes
the world as it is and not as it ideal
Iy might or should be - provides,
at the outset for only very loose
ly binding relationship among men,
bers of the Regional Federations.
But that natural logic of territory,
economics, tradition and mass psy-
rhnlnou,, iS still there and NV eleven