The Wilmington morning star., 1945-01-20
Senator Wheeler
BY CARLYLE MORGAN
In the Christian Science Monitor
BY CARLYLE M

Comma mutantuT, ct mutarnur in H.
lis
So chanted the old Romans through their
classical noses, up the sleeves OF their
impressive togas, when something like Sena-
tor Wheeler's latest speech reverberated over
their marble-columned forums.
'All things changing and We are chang
ing with then,'' the Romans said. But Ameri-
cans, busy winning a global war, will only
look up and say, what next" They haven't
time for magnificent Latin cadences, nor to
investigate the extent of the change which
may may not have come over Mr.. Wheel
ers views about international cooperation
All they know is that he has apparently
joined the movement for internationa feder-
proposed in Congress that the United States
should support federation of Europe.
There are two ways of looking at proposal
of this sort. You can look at it from the point
of view of national self-interest. You can look
at it from the point of view of the general
good. Usually, if the view is long-range enough,
these two considerations merge into one.
Well, speaking from the long-range vantage
point, if Mr.. Wheeler's suggestion would serve
Americas true self-interest it would also serve
the general good. and vice versa. But it
doesn't matter how you look at this proposal
for federated Europe. The fact remains that
unless the plans for federation include the
United States, it is dangerous proposal. Mr..
Wheelers phrase federation of Europe
would seem designed specifically to exclude
the United States.
Now surly Mr. Wheeler doesn't like the
Nazis? And at times he seems to like our
Russian ally even less. Yet if there is one
thing the Nazis could welcome as by-product
Of lost war it would be Europe organized
into a political entity but without a power
factor equal to that which resurgent Ger
many could exert. Has Mr.. Wheeler consider
ed that the way to insure that German ener-
gy, German numbers, German industrial
might and German military ruthlessness could
not dominate his federation would be to count
err the German weight by inviting the Rus
slams to act as sponsor?
Possibly Mr. Wheeler believes the British
could furnish this counterweight If he studies
the problems Of the Commonwealth, he will
that Britain cannot afford to make stu
pendous commitments on the Continent with
out consulting the self-governing Dominions.
He will discover that these are not ready to
commit themselves in advance to support Brit
ish foreign policy in unforeseeable crises Can
ada keeps one foreign policy eye cooked on the
United States, and Australia looks more and
more in the same direction to complete its
design for security. So a system for organic
ing Europe with British aid, but without the
direct participation of the United States, is
bound to get snarled up in the web of the
Commonwealth at the outset.
If an International federation IS to be form
ed. the United States for its own sake needs
to be a member Of it. It's political and econom-
c future could be seriously threatened by or
ganizing Europe independently
True, Mr.. Wheeler suggests United Nations
cooperation in plebiscites, boundary settle
ments, improving living standards. n d so
forth. But can this offer us much assurance
so long as his attitude on the question of
checking aggression remains that the United
States should not empower its delegate on
an International security council to act with
out referring each case to Congress?
Yes, the times may change, as the Romans
observed but not all of us change with them.
Mr.. Wheeler, fede1atonist, should not be mis-
taken for Mr.. Wheeler, internationalist. And
he probably would not want to be. But ever as
nationalist he cannot consistently propose
that the United States should encourage the
organization of Europe in way which might
be turned to the future disadvantage of the
United States