Evening star., 1944-07-23
The Neu Books
The Time for Decision
BIZ Sumner Welles. fHar1

:
In this long. detailed work, Sum-
ner Welles states his ideas as to the
coming world. And they are his
ideas. He Is explicit about that
There can be no doubt that the
plan which he draws up for q fu-
ture international organization Isl
his brain child. It will be interest
ing to see to what extent 1t is
adopted, when the hour strikes.
Since he Is notably q cause and
effect type Of thinker, 1t is to be ex-
pected that he should preface his
recommendations for the future by
reference to the past. and 10 he
does. He opens his work with q re-
view Of the history between the wars
as seen from the diplomatic view-
point, showing the period pretty
much as a catalogue of errors. Every
body regularly did the wrong thing,
though generally with good enough
intentions. If some nation did the
right thing with reference to its
domestic situation, the course was
mistaken with reference to the in
ternational picture, and vice versa.
The trouble was lack Of cooper
alton, says Mr.. Welles. So he pro-
ceeds to offer cooperative plan.
It is another association Of ma
tions, but it differs widely from the
old League form. The weakness of
the League, In Mrs. Welles' view,
was that it was presented to the
then distracted world finished and
complete, the assumption being that,
since the plan was perfect on paper,
1t was already an actuality. An
other error, says Mr.. Welles. The
situation at the end Of world war
is altogether too confused to allow
for so orderly an arrangement. He
therefore suggests a provisional ex-
ecutive council to function between
cessation of hostilities and the
achievement of conditions basic to
lasting peace.
1t would be the duty of this body
to settle disputes, set up administra-
tions in the occupied countries and
establish a competent body of ex-
perts to take over the ornaments
problem, maintaining security and
disarming the Axis. The member
ship of this council would be di-
vided between representatives OF
the four great powers and repre-
sentatives of regional divisions OF
territory comprising a number Of
nations whose interests are the
same. The regional organization
would be the basis OF the permanent
world organization to follow
something like our own hemisphere
solidarity system extended over the
globe.
AS to Germany, Mr.. Welles recon-
mends its division into three states.
says that the formation of a fourth
Reich would be calamitous, warns
that the general staff. already con-
vinced Of defeat. is even now plot
ting its third war, and reminds us
that an entire generation of Ger
mans has been brutalized by Nazi-
ism so that many years must elapse
before we can look for normal con-
duct in the German people. To at
tempt another republic would be
sheer insanity.
Russia, he says, can be the great
est menace the world has yet seen
or the greatest force for peace. Our
own responsibility in deciding her
course is a large one and should take
the form of generous cooperation
In the Latin American, situation,
Mr.. Welles condemns our present
unsympathetic attitude toward Ar
gentina. ...,. ....
His book Is matter-of- fact in the
extreme Going over the conduct of
diplomatic affairs in our own coun-
try, he blames past Presidents for
their mistakes and absolves Mr.
Roosevelt for his. There were times,
he admits, when the latter's acts
were not perfect. but the fault was
that of the people. Their state of
mind would not have been SYM
pathetic to the needed diplomatic
move; hence some other move had
to be made. If this sounds to the
captious as If Mr.. Welles suggests
that Mr. Roosevelt put popularity
ahead Of national welfare. the sound
is misleading. His admiration for
the President seems to be un-
bounded. Indeed, it looks very much
like hero worship.