Evening star., 1944-12-31
Many Problems Face
New Stote Department
The Year Ahead Will Witness
Many Issues Dealt With.
By Joseph II. Baird.

Many Issues Dealt With.
By Joseph H. Baird.
Not since the turbulent days Of 1918-19
when the United States was attempting
rather futilely, as 1t turned QUITO
use its newly-found power and influence
to bring peace and security to war
shattered world has the State Depart
ment faced such an array OF delicate
and explosive problems as confront it
during the next year. They will tax
fully the patience and ingenuity of the
modernized department which Secretary
Stettinius has set up to deal with them.
The vexing questions to which Amer
ican craftsmanship must find an answer
during the coming year are not more
serious to the peoples affected than those
of 1918-19. But they are far more
complex and ramifled. Too, solutions
are being sought amid the strains and
stresses of war rather than in the
calmer atmosphere of victorious peace.
While the State Departments policy of
preparing for peace while the guns still
roar is perhaps wise one, 1t is also q
hard one.
That is true because each word spoken
in public must be weighed in the light
Of its effect on the enemy and on
morale at home. Thus, inevitably, the
inhibitions imposed on craftsmanship
are more severe than If negotiations
were being carried on in normal times.
Topping the list of problems awaiting
solution in 1945 is that of setting up the
long planned world security organiza-
ton. Although broad basis for this
new league of nations" was laid at
the Americana r tish- Russian Chinese
conference at Dumbarton Oaks last
summer, it left several highly
tious questions unanswered and some
observers believe that the State De-
partment has given the public an overly
optimistic impression of the accom-
plishments there. Prime among these
is the question of whether permanent
member of the potent Security Council
all major states-may vote on dispute
involving itself. Russia says yes"
America and Great Britain, with equal
emphasis, say no
Omitting further detailed disagree
ments, for which there is not space
here, there are four distinct hurdles
which the American-sponsored security
plan must clear before it Is transmitted
into an effective, functioning organiza-
ton
First, the "big four" powers must
complete agreement on the Dumbarton
Oaks plans. Second, the United States,
at the forthcoming Pan-American Con-
ference, must sell" the plan to the
Latin-American states some of whom
are irked at what they consider the
minor role assigned to small nations.
Third, delegates of all the United Ma
tions, meeting in great conclave,
must approve the plan or some modifi-
cation of it. Finally, each of the
states there represented must obtain the
further ratification of its own home
government In some, like the United
States, where the Senate must indorse
all treaties, there may be serious po-
Htical fights before ratification is given.
Some readers may object that the
organization of world security is no
more a responsibility Of the United
States than of any of the other United
Nations theoretically, that is true.
But, factually, the United States has
taken the leadership in organizing the
new league" and Secretary Stettinius
is known to feel deeply Washington's
-
turity. 1t is the one matter to which
he probably will devote most of his
time during the coming year.
Closely linked with the security prob
lem, but presenting some separable
questions, is the determination of
American policy toward the recently
evident rise of power politics in Eu-
rope. When Americans in the summer
of l94l read the Roosevelt-Churchill
Atlantic Charter promising each ma
ton in the postwar world the right of
self determination, they took 1t emo
tionally and seriously as the promise of
new DEAL in international relations.
For example, they understood it to
mean literally that the future of Po-
land would be decided solely by the
Poles.
1t has become evident recently that
Russia and Great Britain, particularly
the former, are attempting to divide the
small nations of Europe into spheres
of influence" with Moscow dominant in
Eastern Europe and the Balkans and
Britain in Greece and Northwestern Eu-
rope. The State Department has OPEN
ly disapproved this policy, but has given
no indication of what, if anything, it is
prepared to do If Moscow and London
persist in their present course.
Washington must decide in the near
future whether it will concur silently
in revival of realpolitik in Europe
or whether it will insist on observance
in both the letter and spirit of the
Atlantic Charter.
In the Western Hemisphere, the State
Departments most vital problem is to
mend the breach in Pan-American
solidarity which has resulted from the
rise of what Washington considers a
pro-Fascist regime in Argentina That
will be attempted quietly at the COM
ing Pan-American Conference, now
scheduled for early winter. Most of
the other American republics agree
with the State Department that Ar
gentina has not co-operated in the
United Nations cause, but they are
disturbed over the leading South Amer
ican powers exclusion from the hemi-