The Wilmington morning star., 1946-10-26
MORE O
LIPPMANN
FROM PAGE ONE

we CdH uSudIy So4i1iiio'io
a majority of votes.
Yet the result has shown how
right the President is in saying
that neither votes nor vetos can
make peace secure. In a world OF
sovereign states there is no sub
stitute FOR agreements that are ac-
ceptable-no substitute therefore
for diplomacy, which is the art Of
inducing and compelling agree
ments. The attempt to operate the
Security Council, the Assembly and
the peace conference as If they
were legislatures has INSTRUCTED
agreement and aggravated the dis
putes.
For the United Nations are not
a world government. Perhaps they
should be. Perhaps eventually they
will be. But until they are a world
government, important questions
cannot be decided by a count OF
votes. They have to be settled by
negotiation, and they are not set
tied until those governments which
have the chief interest in the ques-
ton are agreed on the settlement.
The more votes, the more vetoes.
The more vetoes, the more votes.
And, like the chicken and the egg,
no one can say which comes FIRST.
We are suffering from an optical
Illusion if we think that interna-
tional voting is democratic" 1t is
democratic to give all persons an
equal vote. But when you give all
governments an equal vote, you
get the greatest possible inequality
in the representation Of people.
The Ambassador OF Cuba, for
example, wishes to abolish the veto
and substitute rule by a majority
of. governments. His vote repre-
sents not quite 5000, 900 people.
Senator Austin's voice represents
49, C0, 900 people. Is it really DEM
ocratic that in international affairs
a.citizen Of Cuba has a voting pow
er equal to twenty-eight citizens
of. the Unietd States, to ten citi-
zens o. the United Kingdom, to
more than sixty Chinese, to per-
haps thirty-five Russians?
The rights of small nations are
very precious indeed. But they
need not be and should not be in
voked so to deny the rights OF
the peoples of great nations. Yet
that is the result when we confuse
the equality Of states with the
equality Of men.
If and when mankind is ready
for a world government, then ques-
lions can be decided by a count
Of votes. But the votes that are
counted will then have to repre-.
sent in some just proportion the
peoples Of the world. Until then
the use OF the vote, and its inevi-
table corollary the veto, should be
regarded not as a normal method
Of dealing with unsettled questions
but as a last resort and as coun'
sci Of desperation signifying that
diplomacy has failed.
For votes and vetoes among
sovereign states do not settle is
cues. They advertise the failure to
settle, and place the governments
hi a position where, once they have
voted, they can no longer agree
without surrender, retreat and ap'
peasement.
The only way to prevent the
abuse OF the veto is to couple i
with prevention Of the abuse o.
the vote. This is to the advantage
Of all, not merely Of the Russians,
For while Mr.. Molotov may have
been embarrassed in Paris by the
majorities against him, he has no
had to give in to these majorities
On the other hand, once the
field of interest is shifted from
countries in the Russian orbit tx
Germany, to japan, and to the
colonial and dependent res o.
the globe, the device of voting car
be, and most surely will be, ex'
plotted by Mr.. Molotov to EN-
barrass us considerably and to en-
barrass the British acutely.
1--WE shall then be %resorting to
the veto in order to avoid having