Evening star., 1947-08-28
Bod News for Aqqressors

The Inter-American Defense Conference
at Rio de Janeiro has taken its last major
hurdle in full stride. Tentative approval
by the delegates of the United States pro-
posal for collective action against any
threat arising from within as well as from
outside reaching hemisphere security
zone leaves only minor issues to be decided
When these relatively inconSequential de-
tails are taken care of, nothing will remain
to be done but the signing of a treaty her
aiding new era in United States-Latin
American relations.
The ease with which the conference has
surmounted such potentially difficult OBJ
stacles as Argentinas veto proposal, the
defining of aggression, the question of in-
ternal threats to hemisphere peace and
the delimiting of a security zone has sur
prised even the more optimistic observers
Much of the progress undoubtedly can be
attributed to the TACT energy and per-
suasive powers of Secretary Marshall and
the other United States representatives
There is abundant evidence of good staff
work in preparation for this important
meeting and of effective Off the floor cam
paigning for full compliance with the call
for one, one for all" principles of the
Chapultepec agreement.
These principles actually were not new
with the adoption of the wartime under
taking at Mexico City in March, 1945.
They were embodied in the Pan American
Assembly declaration at Buenos Aires in
1886 that every act susceptible of dis
turbing the peace of America affects each
and every American republic" The 1886
agreement was implemented by little more
than provision for consultation whenever
a threat to peace should arise. The Inter-
American Conference at Lima two years
later reaffirmed the agreement, with the
specific provision that the foreign min
listers of the nations should confer In
times of crisis. Three such meetings were
held during World War 1.-THE one at
Panama in 1889, when an American neu-
trality zone wos proclaimed the meeting
at Havana in 1910 to consider the problem
of European colonies on this side of the
Atlantic. and the 1912 conference at Rio,
when the United States called for an all
American break with the Axis powers.
The treaty now being shaped at Petrop-
oils, suburb of Rio, is the first formal
agreement on the joint use of armed force
to preserve peace in the Western Hemi-
sphere. AS now drafted, this threat to
peace could result as we'll from an attack
by one American nation on another as
from the bombing or the invasion of
American territory by a European or
Asiatic power. Such an attack would call
for instant collective retaliation against
the aggressor.
In order to facilitate and make effective
the Joint military action authorized by the
treaty it will be necessary to work out
plans for co-ordinated defense setup,
composed of the military, naval and air
resources of all the signatories. This major
program will be discussed at subsequent
conference, to be held in Bogota, Colombia,
next January. Since the United States
inevitably must bear the brunt of the
military burden, the other nations will
look to this country for guidance and
assistance. prerequisite to such advice
and aid is congressional authority such as
was provided in legislation which fell by
the wayside at the past session of Congress-
This is matter which deserves the early
attention of the new session. Without full
military experimentation the treaty being
drawn up at Rio will have little real
meaning.