Evening star., 1945-11-11
World Government
And Human Survival
Mankind's Most Urgent Task
/. Is to Make the UNO Effective
By William II. Harrison.

y
the atomic bomb made its appalling
debut at Hiroshima, talk of world
government was confined pretty much
to the starry-eyed. Practical people,
people with their feet on the ground,
tended to feel that the idea, though
perhaps not silly in itself, was hope
lessly premature in global society full
of such deep racial. cultural. political
and economic divisions that to speak of
an effective overall universal authority
seemed not less unrealistic than to
speak of taking trip to the moon.
Since August 6, however, the idea of
taking trip to the moon has ceased
being fantastic, and ever so many other
things, which were once regarded as
impossible, have become not merely pos
sible but probable as well. Correspond
ingly, because the eyes Of many prac.
tical people have been opened even more
to the terrifying than to the benencent
potentialities Of the harnessed atom,
there has been growing disposition to
pay earnest and respectful attention to
suggestions for world government, or
at least for universal authority far
stronger than anything of its kind ever
before attempted by mankind.
1t is scarcely necessary to elaborate
upon the reason for this change of view
point. BY now, literate and perceptive
human beings, having read the news
papers or listened to the radio, must be
generally aware-in chilled sort of
way-that should there be another war,
electronics and the atom could con-
ceivably destroy every trace of life on
this planet by setting off an uncontrolla-
BILE chain-reaction in the atmosphere
and thus producing that all-consuming
'fervent heat" of which Peter speaks in
his portentous second epistle. This is
admittedly the more pessimistic view Of
what could happen. but there is small
comfort to be found in what might be
called the silver-lining judgment of the
less Cassandra- like scientists, such as
DR.. Einstein, whose formula on matter
and energy started the whole business.
The most soothing observation he can
make, for example. Is that he believes an
atomic conflict would destroy only about
two-thirds of the human race and that
probably enough men and women, and
enough books, would still be around to
make possible an attempt to rebuild
civilization.
In the circumstances, it is not sur
prising that practical people have now
come to feel, along with the starry eyed,
that the most urgent problem before
the world is to establish an international
organization powerful enough to bride
and police nationalistic passions in such
way as to make another major war
impossible. This is no longer the ideal
1t was some 300 years ago when Henry
Nv Of France groped toward 1t with his
Great Design" for a European union.
1t Is no longer the ideal it was during
the past century when Victor Hugo
eloquently proclaimed: "A day will come
when you, France-you, Russia-you,
Italy-you England-you, Germany-all
of you nations of the continent, will,
without losing your distinctive qualities
and your glorious individuality. be
blended into superior unity .. A
day will come when those two immense
groups, the United States of America
and the United States of Europe, shall
be seen " IA" improving creation. under
the eye of the Creator, and uniting, for
the good of all, these two irresistible and
infinite powers. the fraternity of men
and the power of God"
A superior unity, supranational or
ganization really capable of preserving
peace, is no fonger an ideal, but the
greatest imperative of our time, for the
simple and terrible reason that the
world will be inviting its own oblitera-
tion if it insists upon governing itself
as it has always done in the past
with each country completely its own
master, jealousy guarding its "sover-
eighty" and following a wholly inde-
pendent course, until the irresponsibility
+ of all leads ultimately to catastrophe
4 ".
with overall legislative and executive
power, may still be an extremely remote
prospect in view of the stubborn fact
that mankind is torn by so many differ
ences. But still, whether or not the day
ever comes when the separate nations
will be related to single top authority,
more or less as our American States are
a1of 70
towering reality is that what was begun
at San Francisco must from this point
on be upheld and constantly improved
upon If we are to avoid the danger OF
total or near-total global destruction.
The United Nations Organization,
though far from perfect in its present
form. must be regarded as the indis-
pensable foundation for the edifice
which the world most urgently needs
to build-an edifice of international law
and order, backed by SUFFICIENT police
| force, that will be so directed as to
rule out the possibility of an atomic
conflict. There are only two alterna-
tives to this The first is that peoples
everywhere might begin at once to
emulate the inhabitants of "Erewhon,"
Samuel Buffers delightful Never-Never
Land, by Systematically destroying all
machines, by making it grave criminal
offense for any one to possess even
SO small a mechanism as watch, and
by establishing Colleges Of Unreason"
in which humanity could de-educate
itself into state of blissful ignorance
where none OF us would have to worry
any longer about the terrors Of mans