Evening star., 1944-09-09
Dewey's Peace Plans

foreign policy address at Louisville
last night.
He ruled out any effort to with
draw or isolate ourselves from the
rest OF the world. There must be
unity of purpose" within this coun-
try if the United States is to play
an effective part in the preservation
OF peace. He condemned the "hush-
hush" approach to this problem.
The steps by which we seek to pre-
vent another war must be taken in
the open. The people must under
stand them If they are to support
them. Governor Dewey emphasized,
and rightly so, that mo document
we sign at the end of this war will,
of itself, preserve peace" It is of
the utmost Importance that this be
made clear, for any peace treaty or
any agreement that we enter into
will be worthless unless the people
of this country understand it, be-
lieve in it and stand ready to make
the sacrifices that will be necessary
to maintain it. There is no easy
road to collective security, as we
shall find out soon enough, and a
people who are divided, embittered
or indifference will make little
progress toward that goal.
The Republican candidate has
moved we'll out in front Of the Re-
publican platform. He has supplied
the article that the platform max
ers refused to use. They advocated
participation by the United States
lin postwar cooperative organiza-
tion ." Governor Dewey says
that we must have "a" world or
ganization. The platform advocated
the use of peace forces" to prevent
aggression, and no one could say
what was meant by that. Gov-
ernor Dewey dispenses with the
adjective and says that we must be
prepared to use force-not peace
forces-if necessary against would
be aggressors. These may seem like
small distinctions, but they can be
important when our intentions are
put to the test.
Governor Dewey went on, how
ever, to say that we must not rely
on force alone, and in that, too, he
is right. Mere repression of con-
f1ict will not be enough, for force
breeds revolt unless it is the servant
of the law and the servant of JUS
tice." AS he put it, we should and
must work to create conditions
under which peace will be desired
and not merely compelled.
Governor Dewey concluded with a
warning against any attempt to buy
the good will of other nations. Good
will, he said, flows to the man (or
nation) who successfully manages
his own affairs, who is self-reliant
and independent. yet who is inter-
ested in the rights and needs OF
others. There can be no doubt that
this is true. If we are to bring to
bear upon the maintenance of peace
the influence of which we are capa-
BILE we must do better job of
managing our own affairs than we
have done in the past. We will
have to stop fighting among our
selves. Those who have found 1t
politically expedient to divide the
Nation by playing group against
group must be made to see this will
surely weaken the United States in
its relations with other nations when
the war ends. We must have faith
in our own future, and we must
apply that faith to the restoration
in America OF an economic climate
in which we can attain the growth
and expansion of which we are fully
capable.
In saying these things, Governor
Dewey was on firm ground. They
need to be emphasized, again and
again. But unfortunately he did not
stick to his important theme. At
the end of his address he interpo-
lated few remarks of dubious
political character. He said last
night, for instance, that the New
DEAL would be slow to discharge
the soldiers when the war ends be-
cause they can be kept in the Army
about as cheaply as they can be
cared for by some agency. He i'm
piled that this was evidence of
defeatism on the part Of the
President. ~
When Governor Dewey first made
this point, sat Philadelphia, he cor
rectly attributed it to a remark made
by General Hershey, the selective
service director. Later in the Phila-
delphia speech it became the policy
of they" and then the policy Of the
administration. Last night it was
the policy of the New Deal. The
fact is that General Hershey is a
Republican. He is not the New Deal.
He is not the administration. He is
not even they" Governor Dewey
would be well advised to drop this
issue" for it is wholly lacking In
substance apd sensible people
know it.
The Rhine