The Wilmington morning star., 1943-11-05
Views On Conference

cow. the Asheville Citizen finds that Amer
cans who have doubted Russia's good faith n
longer have reason for fear. The Citizen
views are so clearly voiced and Sc sound W
quote extensively from them. In part. tn
Asheville paper says:
Mondays overwhelming news from Mos
COW continues alternatively to amaze and
dismay the whole warning world. Allied
capitals have received the tripartite COM
munique of the foreign ministers as they
> would the glad tidings from a field OF
battle. In Berlin it is called surrender
to Moscow or yielding to Britain and
America, depending upon which beam OF
DR.. Goebbels' propaganda broadcasts
reaches you.
For the American people in particular
a gnawing fear is allayed. The unspoken
question on many minds before the Moscow
conference met was, frankly this: Will
Russia make peace when the Germans
have been driven beyond the Soviet border;
or, conversely will Russia invade and
occupy Germany without regard to the
wishes of Britain and America?
This was in reality curious dilemma.
1t represented two headed fear, first
that Russia might make a separate peace
and, second, that Russia might occupy
Germany and attempt to dictate the future
of all Europe.
The Moscow four power declaration
settles both of these points, once and for
all. IN the one case the great powers are
pledged to fight until the enemy BOWS IN
unconditional surrender to all OF them. In
the other it is specified that they will ''act
together in all matters relating to the sur
render and disarmament of the enemy
and that after the termination of hostlll-
ties they will not employ their military
forces within the territories of ether states
except for the purpose envisaged in this
declaration and after joint consultation"
The Durham Herald finds the conference
brought the chief Allied nations nearer har
nony than had existed before, but sounds {
tote of warning against expecting too much
rom it, saying:
The Moscow agreement is as compre-
hensive and definite as anyone had
right to expect and as the initial step
toward the ideal of world collaboration
is more than many anticipated
1t seems to u.s. however, that, as is
their wont in such matters, some of our
columnists and radio commentator folk
are calling today the agreement what it
will be in its day of maturity, when and
if pledges exchanged are supplemented
and promises implied are fulfilled.
In other words, by this time expert
ence ought to have taught columnists
and commentators that swinging into a
chorus of superlatives in euloges of an
infant success not only betrays their ap-
petite for surface thinking but also tends
to make it harder for those in charge of
bringing infant successes to full bloom,
What we have in the Moscow agree
ment is joint promise that the null
tiple problems confronting the sigma
tory powers will be threshed out mu-
tually md decisions reached mutually
accepted and enforced.
That means, if it means anything, that
more than solving differences, current
and potential, we have decided how they
shall be solved and establish the
framework of machinery for handling
problems as they arise
In Fayetteville the Observer finds the ''im.
lacable fury of the warning tina, war Grim
la1s will be punished of especial interest in
lat it will be a tonic in )Nazi-concuered coun
les. Mr.. Roosevelt's comment that the con.
erences had met with tremendous success
erver. The Observer puts il thus:
British commentators this week were
inclined 10 lift their eyebrows in sur
prise at President Rooseve]t's remark
that the Moscow conversations had
been tremendous success The official
declaration of the conferences, however.
and the war punishment statement sign
ed by Roosevelt, Churchill and Stain
amply justify the term tremendous sue
cess
The cold, implacahle fury Of the
warning that Axis war criminals will be
hunted to the ends of the cart, if neces-
sary and handed over for punishment to
the people they have outraged may dam
age German morale even though the
Nazi propagandsts will scott loudly
for the record. 1t will, however, steel
the submerged peoples in their will to
fight on little longer until the time of
deliverance
The Evening Telegram Of Rocky Mount be-
ewes the world nearer that Utopan state
allied eternal peace as result OF the parley
he four-power declaration, 1t adds "pales
he former League of Nations" and adds:
Taking the join. statement item by item,
the full depth of its meaning is so great
mat 1T is hard to grasp. The united action
pledged to win unconditional surrender of
the enemies of the United Nations is to
continue in organizing for peace and Sc
curly That one statement in itself
pledges the four strongest nations which
make up the nations fighting the Axis to
iron their own differences among them
selves and 10 make every effort to let