The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-28
It Wouldn't Work
reforms abroad.

All persons who advocate negotiated
peace are urged to read an article which
recently appeared in the Christian Science
Monitor as a letter to Dear linn >, The
writer, Carlyle Morgan, ostensiby is replying
TO communication in which peace with
Hitler on easier terms than unconditional
surrender are proposed. Says Mr.. Morgan.
You have asked me what 1 think of vo,,r
letter and the newspaper clipping Urging in
effect negotiated peace on the basis that
all the wrong can't be on the Axis side.
This is how my thoughts ran as I read #.
Here IS man whose professional stand
ing must give him some influence in anv
community he chooses to serve of whose
genuine interest in the public welfare 7 have
had evidence, and for whom I have deep
personal regard.
Then I read your letter again
I couldn't help wondering If you realized
how different this missive was from tho ones
you used to enclose when sending vo,,r
checks to the butchers, the BAKERS and the
subscription department of the local paner
Remember? You showed me the folders me
evening. You said you put one in every
envelope you sent out to business houses
Those folders advocated Clarence Streit,s $
plan for federation of the democratic world
Il could agree you were working for last.
ing peace when you did that But I cannot
feel you are working for peace if YOU Urge
negotiations with an unbeaten Axis There
is all the difference in the world, to nv wav
OF thinking, between efforts to organize and
enforce peace under law and attemnts
merely to bring about an armistice with an
enemy who attempted to destroy such Or
ganlzation as we had already achieved
There is just one reason why we could
even dare to negotiate a peace with the Axis
today, and that is because We are So much
better armed than when the democracies
made the peace of Munich It was because
We would not Or. could not risk war in 1888
that we finally failed to preserve peace
"You can figure that out by looking down
your own quiet street; there is someone in
uniform ready to take the risks of physical
combat just around the corner
Il admit our armies are not policemen in
the sense that they will bring alleged crimi-
nails before an impartial court. But they are
the next best thing we have. In fact if we
had the court, We might call them policemen
And so I come to another reason why Il
cannot agree with you about peace short of
complete victory. There is nothing in 'Mein
Kampf' to make me think Hitler wants any
thing like the kind Of world Clarence STREET.
wants. Hitler processes no respect for Bills
Of Rights, for individual rights or national
rights. What is right for the German people
has to be right for the world, if we ask
Hitler. Clarence STREET is urging voluntary
organization of all democratic peoples to Sc
cure peace. That means that what is right
for any must be right for all.
I'VE should have little more to. talk about
with he--Axis-aftef a negotiated peace, I'M
less you intend to count on our armed might
to keep the talk going. If So we must pre-
tend to demobilize our power before real
peace had been won.
"Now, I would not have you understand
that believe a victory over the Axis will
provide world federation. Far
from it. We shall not do badly if we just
to hold together the nucleus of order
ly power we have managed to concentrate in
the military association OF the Big Three
the United States, Britain, and Russia. But
I am convinced % that in the preservation
Of this power lies our best earthly hope of
developing peaceful agencies to settle inter-
national disputes and (2) that when Ameri-
cans urge a negotiated peace they tend to
destroy this nucleus of order.
I'VE shall not, by negotiating peace with
an unbeaten Axis, gain anything toward the
kind of world we want We shall give the foe
an opportunity to re-organize his power, re-
build his war factories, and reform his
alliances for the kind of world he wants.
.If you are talking about any other kind
Of peace-a peace in which he would be de-
prived of the ability to do these things-then
you are talking about the kind of peace he
is now fighting so hard to prevent, and the
kind of peace we must still fight for"
-V-
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