Evening star., 1943-03-04
Revival Of Isolutionisn,
Considered DeplorobIe
Major Eliot Declares Efforts
To Make U. 5. 'BursIorproof
Would Prove Futile Wuste
BIZ Mai. George Fielding Eliot.

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By Maj. George Fielding Eliot.
It is q sad and even pathetic
commentary on the ability Of some
Americans to learn anything from expe-
rience, to find, right in the midst Of
great war, the same old discredited ideas
about the foreign and military policy
Of this republic, which were so largely
responsible for bringing the war about,
being loudly advocated as those to which
Americans must return when the war
Is won.
In other words, having followed
weak and disastrous course Of action,
or rather inaction, and having been
dragged into world catastrophe rs a
result, and having by the most violent
efforts and the most painful sacrifices
escaped the worst results OF that catas-
trophe, we should 60 right back to the
same policies which brought our country
and the world we live in to 80 sorry q
pass, rather than cooperate with our
fellow sufferers to try to work out .
sensible plan for preventing the recur-
renee Of the catastrophe.
I think the time has come or win
come very soon, when that sort Of
talk will be taken by the average Amer
lean citizen as nothing less than an
insult to his intelligence, to say nothing
of his horse sense and even to the
workings Of his primitive instinct Of
self-preservation.
We are told that we must make the
United States burglar proof" That is
an unhappy simile for the advocates Of
isolationism. How do you set about
making your possessions burglar proof?
BY putting them in a strong safe, say
the isolationists, into which the burglar
cannot break. That Is what Is called
static defense, and that is the military
policy which was advocated by the
isolationists before this war, and which
is now being urged upon US as the best
policy after this war, as opposed to
collaboration with other nations for the
prevention Of war anywhere in the
world.
Now all experience shows us that
static defense does not win. It is the
dynamic policy which wins In war, and
In those international power politics Of
which war Is only the ultimate express
sion. The possession Of dynamic power
gives q people strong voice in the coun-
sels Of nations; by the use of dynamic
power, aggressors and prospective aggreA
sors may be restrained They can never be
restrained by static power A potential
aggressor Is not deferred for fear that
his attempt will fail: he can make his
preparations against failure in perfect
security, and at his leisure, 50 long as
he is not threatened by dynamic power
while he Is doing so.
So it has been with both Germany
and Japan during the last is years.
Given time, such an aggressive nation
will seek out the weak points in any
static defense-and find them, too. Have
we 50 soon forgotten the Maginot Line?
The aggressor can be restrained only
by imminent peril to his own vital
interests and not merely by the fear
Of being unsuccessful in his aggresson.
Let US take the burglar proof" anal
ogy. A man contemplating burglary
is not restrained merely by anxiety lest
he be able to break open his victims
safe. He will provide the necessary
means for doing that. He is restrained,
If at all, by fear that the watchman
will shoot him, or If not that the police
will capture him and lock him up In the
penitentiary for long term Of years.
Safes would be very little use except
against amateur criminals and sneak
thieves, unless they were part of a
general system of society for the re-
straint Of criminals, including watchmen,
burglar alarm systems, police forces,
courts Of justice and prisons.
Take, for example, a boom town" in
the lawless days Of the old West. The
banker. the express agent, the merchant
might provide themselves with good,
strong safes for their valuables. But as
long as each acted singly, he would be
helpless against q gang Of outlaws who
might break into his establishment by
night, smash open his safe or carry It
of and kill him If he resisted. In other
words, static defense was q failure. It
was only when the law-abiding citizens
combined against the outlaws formed
themselves into Committees of viz.
lance" took weapons in hand and took
the offensive against the outlaws, that
any one Of them could call himself
secure.
Sometimes these combined efforts were
sporadic; one gang of outlaws having
been strung up or run out Of the COM
munity, the committee Of vigilance dis
solved or fell apart owing to disputes,
and therefore the old conditions soon
returned.
What would we say Of . banker in such
q town, q man of greater influence and
greater resources than his neighbors.
who after combining with those neish-
bors for bloody and desperate struggle
with the outlaws, which was only brought
to success after long fight, should draw
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