The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1943-03-20
ISOLATIONIST CREDO

OF the plans OF all those VINO look toward postwar
world which will differ from the good old prewar
days when natonalsm ran rampant and the America
Firsters rode the range Mr. Knight believes that
America should be First and asks naively But in
doing the job is there anything wrong with main
tanning a strong pro-Amercan attitude? Need We
apologize for loving our own country and placing
our own interests FIRST?" The answer is clear, of
course that nations like individuals must curb their
selfish interests when these interests infringe on
the rights Of others.
The arguments Mr.. Knight raises have been
made through the ages whenever individuals, groups
Estates have been faced with the question of Or
ganizing for the good of all. Government of any
sort implies the giving up of certain rights in order
to secure greater protection of the rights of ALL We
have advanced to the stage in civilization when
it is laughable to even suggest that man should go
back to the days when each made his own law and
might made right Yet Mr.. Knight believes that
world affairs should be dominated by the rule Of
the fist:
"Why don't we resolve to settle our own domes-
tic problems and keep to the middle of the road in
world economic affairs? large standing army,
a f:ve-ocean navy and the worlds most powerful
air force do to keep the peace of the world
than all the Atlantic Charters ever devised" Mr..
Knight seems to forget that it was this same middle
Of the road policy which caught the dem0cracies nap
ping in the present struggle Has he forgotten the
Spanish Civil War, the treatment Of Ethiopia, the
Munich peace in our time; our coddng of Japan,
all monument to middle of the roadism. In fact,
our State department is still too close to the middle
of the road in its treatment of Franco and the
Vichyites.
Mr. Knight not only expresses his own idea but
does mindreading job for the American soldier:
"Any attempt to force our own civilization upon
other countries after this war will be as unpopular
with the servicemen as was the League of Nations
last time Not only will the returning soldier be
opposed to world cooperation, but he will also be
against unrestricted immigration of all races, Mr..
Knight propheses. This statement about race is
a little vague but it infers that immigration laws
should discriminate against certain races. Today
our immigration laws are such that Chinese seamen
cannot come ashore under their restrictions. Con-
tinuation of such policy Of discrimination against
any race can breed only greater wars.
Mr.. Knight wanders even further afield when
he talks of this country's being inherently national
istic. If Mr. knight will check with his history book
he will find that nationalism is not an American
phenomenon but development of the 10Th Gen.
fury in Europe and came to full flower in the first
World War. Like the'false concept of superior and
inferior races which also came into being in the
18th Century, nationaism served to pit one nation
against another and one people against another.
Like Mr., Churchill who states that he has not
become prime minister in order to liquidate His
Majesty's empire, Mr. Knight is not ready to give
up lone scrap of American sovereignty" The only
solace we find in Mr. Knights rawlings is that unlike
Mr. Churchill, his pronouncements hold no weight
in international affairs. However scornful he may
be of Roosevelt, Willkie, Wallace and others who
plan for better world order their thinking is geared
to present day world problems and will outweigh
the horse and buggy dreams of the Knights, Luces,
Wheelers ct al And despite Mr. Knight we think
that when Johnny comes marching home from Africa,
Australia, India, China and England he will have
a saner and more realistic outlook on world affairs
than those of his elders who are at home preparing
mentally for the third World War