Evening star., 1947-02-10
HaveWe eLearned OurL lesson?
Universal Military Training Says Seasoned Dplomatist
Is Our Best Guarantee of Continued Peace
By Joseph C. Gre0
Formerly undersecretary

Formerly Ambassador to Japa
(Reprinted with some condensation By
permission OF the magazine Logistics.)
The preservation of international
peace is subject that profoundly con-
Germs us all. This indeed Is the para
mount issue In the thinking and striv-
ing Of thoughtful men and women
everywhere today, and it is not over
stating the case to say that on the sue
cess Of our efforts will depend not only
the future welfare Of humanity but per-
haps even the future existence Of the
ajority of mankind.
In approaching this most perilous sub
ject, our thinking will be clarified If we
proceed from the basic fact that the
great wars OF this and the last genera
ton were not led up to and brought
about by peoples. They were led up to
and brought about through the spread
Of hatred and lies by small groups OF
irsanely ambitious men holding the
reins of power and lusting for greater
power.
In my intimate experience with for
eign affairs over q period Of more than
forty years, have often had occasion
to consider the close analogy between
the problems Of international relations
and the problems presented in the field
OF medicine and surgery. In an address
at the dedication of q new unit OF st.
Luke's International Medical Center in
Tokyo in 1888, compared our in
ternational ills with the ravages Of in
sidious disease, especially cancer, which
often begins on small scale as q re-
suit of long irritation on a given spot.
Here the physician may seek to eradi-
cate the disease by curative treatment
long before operation becomes unavoid-
able, and in that connection visualized
at some time in the future the estab-
nshment Of a sort of Faculty of Inter-
national Political Health which would
sit constantly, studying international
relationships from every point Of view,
much as the family physician studies
his individual charges, prescribing from
time to time the needed treatment.
An Alternative to World Chaos.
At last I am encouraged to believe
that my flight of fancy was not so far
fetched and that 1t is being realized,
especially in the creation of the Sc
curity Council and the Economic and
Social Council of the United Nations
That Faculty Of International Political
Health" is today going concern. It's
founders profited by the lessons and
experience of the League of Nations;
its members will continue to profit from
its own lessons and experience, and only
q hopeless philosophy would predict
that whatever may be its future mis-
takes and however grave its future fall
ures, the United Nations will not grow
into full maturity as time goes on, for
the alternative is world chaos.
In the meantime, how shall we, the
people, act in the situation that con-
fronts us today? What insurance can
we take out against future international
war? I list four basic concepts, and as
an American I address these concepts
to our own people although they apply
in varying degree to peace-loving peo-
Piles everywhere.
First, the spread Of education-uni-
versal, liberal, untramnleled education.
That is one of the highest of all goals,
most devoutly to be sought, for only
through the dissemination Of truth can
permanent international peace be en-
sured. In this 7 feel that spiritual truth
Is fundamental factor.
0CCOItO, q WllllIlSIlCco W 1dCC IldIu,
cold, disagreeable facts. We can afford
to and we must hold our idealism and
our principles high, but we must keep
our feet firmly planted on the ground
and not be afraid to recognize those
facts apd to call spade a spade. This
Is no time for moral anaesthesia. We
in America have played the ostrich all
too much in times past, burying our
heads in the sand, refusing to see and
assess what was going on about us, and
refusing to take common sense measures
on the basis of factual estimates. The
lessons Of history have been all too soon
forgotten. do not see how we or any
other peace-loving nation can, in this
day and age, stand by while other
peoples are absorbed into totalitarian
conquest, their basic liberties suffocated,
their hopes for q better future rubbed
out. World peace cannot be preserved
on any such basis.
Third, there must follow a willingness
on the part Of the American people to
accept the responsibility of power and
the leadership which that responsibility
imposes. Short-sighted improvisation
of our foreign policy on the basis of
expediency rather than shaping 1t on
sound principle will not result in Amer
ican leadership in building a lasting
peace 1t must be positive, not
negative policy. Our contribution to
world peace must be a clear-cut blue
print, subject to adjustment but not to
fundamental change.
A Vital Form Of Insurance.
Fourth, a vital measure of insurance
is preparedness, for preparedness by the
nonaggressive democracies is the most
effective of all guarantees against world
war;
Not long ago the United States News
asked me to express my opinion, yes or
no, on the extension of the selective
service draft Here it is:
Had Great Britain been adequately
prepared in 1914 and had Sir Edward
On the