Detroit evening times., 1945-05-02
IN
REVIEW
BY Mai. Gen.
D. P. Barrows

Francisco, to which the Ameri-
can government and people are
making so great an effort,
means one very definite thing,
which we should all understand.
1t is the surrender by every
nation of its international poll
cies and its individual power to
realize them.
The war has raised American
armed power to a position Of
unrivaled might. On land, sea.
and in the air we have power
such as has never been seen
before in all time, and which at
the moment has no equal any
where
Yet we will agree not to use
this power in support of our
individual international policies,
or for ends that we may sepa-
rately believe are just.
We will yield this power TO
the determinations of the United
Nations, provided that all other
nations do likewise.
We are prepared TO do this
because we believe this is the
way to peace.
AS WE thus yield our own
IA conceptions OF Justice, we
must, OF course, make conces-
sions.
Certain concessions may be
right and advisable, providing
we do not sacrifice our own
principles Of international be-
havior, and adopt cynical con-
ception Of the relation between
power and right, which goes by
the term OF realism"
At any rate, in relinquishing
the freedom to employ our
strength in support of our own
conceptions, we must rely upon
something else, and that is per-
Suasion.
We must by the persuasive
ness of our beliefs and of our
conduct, bring other nations,
and particularly the most pow
erful ones, to have regard for
the rights and interests Of les
ser nations, and of peoples who
at present have no national
standing.
For if we cannot persuade the
strongest nations in the world
to act in accordance with COM
mon ideals OF what is right and
just, then we must either aban-
don our own political principles,
or stand aside.
II we abandon this faith. we
sacrifice what is most precious
in the ideals of our nation.
II we stand aside, believing
that certain dissentions are in
capable of solution, the organi-
Zation Of the United Nations
will be destroyed.
nUR representatives may pos
" SeSs no marked talents in
making luminous our political
views, but the most effective
element in persuasion is the
force of example.
And at the present moment
we are affording for the worlds
attention some good examples.
In the western hemisphere,
we have joined recently in a
regional understanding-the al
lance Of Chapultepec, Mexico.
1t is as yet only a temporary
alliance, for the duration of the
war, but if ratified by the
United States Senate it will be
permanent, and become a part
of the supreme law of the
United States.
The Chapultepec covenant
may be a model of the attitude
Of a very great power in a re-
gion containing many smaller
and weaker states.
The relationship stands on
the fundamental principle of in
ternational law that states exist
on a plane of equality, irrespec-
tive of their size, and that no
small state can be coerced or
interfere with internally
against its own will.
The states of the Chapultepec
alliance retain all sovereign
rights except that of aggression
against one another.
Here is an example OF the
rightful responsibility of a great
state in a region Of many states
of lesser size and power.
I HAVE spoken of this ideal
Il relationship between a power
full state and smaller states as
an American conception.
1t is this, but it is also
worldwide conception.
II is possessed by all of the
smaller nations represented at
the San Francisco conference.
1t has been given an imperish-
able form in the British COM
monwealth of nations.
1t is a form of peace and
security desired by every people
in the world which believes in
cooperation, not in subjugation.
The American people greatly
desire to see this pattern have
world recognition, and be en-
bodied in a world agreement.
We have committed ourselves
to this plan.
We have gone TO the point
where we will probably follow
it, even though unilaterally il is
binding upon ourselves alone.
But an action so momentous
as this rightfully should not be
unilateral.
IL should he adopted and COW