Evening star., 1945-05-02
Headlines Fail to Tell
StoryBehind PorIey
Observers Letter to Molotov'
Points to u. S. Peace Ideas
Bv David Laurence

~ O0Df0 Laurence
Sometimes the news can best be re-
ported in the form Of letter because
the news sometimes reyolves around one
personality. Certainly the news Of what
tions Conference is not expressed by
the 31-to-4 vote in favor of admitting
Argentina nor by the headlines saying
Molotov was defeated"
There's different story behind it all,
and it has q great deal more to do with
finding way to preserve peace than
appears on the surface, So here Is the
letter that this correspondent would
write to Foreign Commissar Molotov:
I'm America we believe In frankness
and even in expressing criticism Of our
own government when we think it is
wrong. BY the same token, we do not
hesitate to agree with the argument
Of foreign government If We think
it is right.
Vulnerable on Vital Point.
"In your speech against admitting
Argentina you had good case. but
you lost 1t because you were vulnerable
on a vital point. It's point so inti-
mately related to the maintenance of
peace that it is bigger than the question
of admitting Argentina or Poland.
For you were arguing-and rightly
that the internal government of Argen-
tina has been Fascist and totalitarian.
Conversely, Foreign Minister Padilla Of
Mexico and the other speakers from
Latin America were mistaken when they
insisted that, as a matter of principle,
there should be no examination or in
quiry into the form of government Of
another nation as condition of entry
into the United Nations organization.
what the Latin American statesmen
were arguing was an old principle. 1t
| may have been considered right prior
to the rise of Mussolini and Hitler, but
it is 100 per cent wrong in the world
that we have been living in since those
dictatorships were imposed. The best
proof of this is what has happened to
Germany and Italy. The world is today
being let in on what has been going
on behind the scenes there Millions
of persons inside and outside of Ger
many, for instance, are learning today
| for the first time to what depths of
bestiality the Nazi party had descended
in its terror rule of the German people.
A controlled and intimidated press in
| Germany has kept the truth concealed.
| Observers everywhere are saying that
the German people should never have
countenanced what the Nazis did
What of Rest of World?
"Its easy enough to say that the Ger
man people were at fault. But what
does that really signify? Only that the
world considers that the German people
should have long ago dehed the Nazi
Gestapo and revolted even If 1t meant
bloody civil war But what about
the rest OF the world? Were the other
nations right in washing their hands
of Naziism between 1888 and 1899, when
they did nothing to influence the action
Of the German people? Were the other
nations right in taking the position that
this was merely an internal matter con-
corning Germany alone?
But IL you are right now that the
composition of Government Is q
proper subject for discussion here and
that as a condition Of membership q
government must conform to certain
basic principles, then what shall We
say about the government of Russia,
which is still totalitarian, still forbids
! freedom Of speech and suppresses criti-
| cism and news dispatches from other
! countries, and still maintains an atti-
tude OF hostility toward certain
churches? II it is proper to examine the
| Argentine government, it is proper to
examine the totalitarian nature OF the
Russian government. That is why your
case was weak.
! But We liked your willingness to
carry the whole matter into public de-
bate. We liked the fact that YOU called
press conference to explain your view
We liked, above all, your sportsmanship
in accepting the decision of the full as
sembly here when it outvoted you, and
particularly we have been glad to learn
that you didn't take offense at any Of
the points made against you in the de-
vate but participated Immediately aft
erwards in four-power conference at
which harmony and unity gratifyingly
prevailed. II the episodes of the last
lew days mean that We shall settle all
our controversial questions by a vote
OF all governments after full and frank
debate. then indeed We have made re-
markable progress toward world peace. a"
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