Evening star., 1944-07-26

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BY, GEORGE BERNARD SHAW.
written for the Associated Press.1s
LONDON.-Do believe q lasting
peace can be assured by close
working and vigorous postwar al
hance of the big four"-Great
Britain, the United States, Russia
and China?
No. A lasting peace cannot be
assured by any measures at present
possible. Even postwar alliance
of the big four cannot be assured.
The people who clamor for as
surances and security are public
nuisances. Whatever arrangements
follow the war we must still live
dangerously, whether we like it
or not.
ITO a series OF questions, Mr..
ShaW ,Grote the tollo,uing re-
plies.D
Question-Should Germany be to-
tally disarmed and split into small,
separate states such as existed
before they were united under
Bismarck?
Shaw-No. II disarmament and
disintegration are desirable for Ger
many they are desirable for all the
big powers as well. None Of them
will consent to it. The sort of
armament that decides modern wars
| is SO enormously expensive and needs
such big organization OF industry
that small states are virtually dis
armed at present. and America and
Russia hold the balance Of military
power.
All this talk about disarmament
Is hundred years out of date.
Election Of Government.
Question Should the German
people be permitted to choose and
elect their own form of government
Immediately after the war? Or
should there be an interim govern
ment of Great Britain. the United
States and Russia? For how long a
period?
Shaw-If the German people are
not permitted to choose and elect
their own form of government, the
government must be imposed on
them by the Allies, in which case it
will not be their own form of gov
ernment. 1t will be like our Indian
civil service, the only available mod
ell. except that the nationality Of its
members will be mixed. This would
end as the Indian service Is ending.
AS none of the Allies except Rus
sia has yet succeeded in governing
itself decently or even feeding It's
whole population sufnciently-India
has just lost two millions Of people
through preventable famine-we
could hardly pretend to be better
able to govern Germany than the
Germans. The interim government
will be simply martial law.
Question-What should be Ger
many's postwar relationship to the
rest of the world? Should she be
treated as criminal, brought to
book and taught a lesson she never
will forget? Or should she be for
given, once Nazism has been cast
out, and freely accepted into the
family of nations?
Shaw-If Germany is defeated,
her relationship to her conquerors
will be that of q wounded prisoner
of war to his captors. When we take
such a prisoner we give him every
care and attention until he is cured
exactly as If he were one of our own
soldiers.
That is how we shall treat Ger
many If We have any sense. She
cannot be treated as a criminal
at least not lawfully-because war
Is not a crime by the law of nations
Punishment Of Leaders.
Question - What should be thu
punishment of German war leader.
and how far down into the ranks
should the punishment extend?
Shaw-Punishment for what? Fo]
being war leaders? Do you think
that the heavy job of restoring half
ruined Europe could be done by per.
sons with their heads full of pun.
1shment? The least hint of such a