Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1952-04-03

lGIllo l4IpOICd cId.
Servant to Public Interest.
! I see any task of being a serv'
ant to the public interest-beine
one myself-as one of the finest
but also as the most difficult anc
responsible. You as representa-
tives of the people carry this
great responsibility both toward:
the general well-being of YOU
country, and consequently espe-
cially in our modern interviewer
conditions, towards the world al
large.
This places on each of you the
full burden of a responsibility no.
body will envy you. as your de-
ciSionS have enormous repercus-
sions all through the world.
It is my personal wish for you
that each of you may experience
individually the gratifying feeling
of satisfaction that your decisions
will have proved in the end to be
essentially and ultimately the
right ones.
I do not want to be so short
sighted as to ask you to bear in
mind the interests of the Neither
lands in particular. or even those
of Europe. What I want to plead
flor. though, are the interests OF
the world as a whole.
With you, I realize keenly how
IAN apparently trif1ing interest
may represent a great principle
and. on the other hand, how a
necessary sacrifice in the local
sphere may mean greater we'll
being for the greater community,
to the ultimate good even of those
who made the sacrifice.
Let me assure you that the
Dutch people will accept, for a
common, cause the full share OF
their burden.
Pillar Of European Unity.
We have been so fortunate as
Ito live in social peace and stabil-
lily, and so we feel we can be a
reliable pillar of European unity,
Ia unity which is growing by means
Iof the Schuman Plan, other eco
nomic and defensive and-per-
Ihaps eventually-political integra-
ton. Constitutional amendments
have been voted lately by the
Netherlands Parliament. in order
to remove some remaining OBJ
stacles to our partnership in fu-
ture supernatural organizations.
There is a growing strength in
this growing unity of free and
democratic Europe, necessary for
the very strength of the world.
Only such a vision can lead to
that greater unity which the world
Iyearns for.
Only a great vision will some
day find the way out of the uni
lversal fear of war and annihila-
ton.
Many of us believe we are in
Ia downward spin.
How can the trend downward
become the trend upward?
I think that the challenge of
our time is to start a definite up
ward trend to a higher unity and
well-being than we ever reached
before. Judging from the results
of all our endeavors, however, the
right answer is still to be found.
I anne not referring to idealism
here. I am referring to practical
solutions.
Some Sacrifices for Us All.
Most likely they will mean some
sacrifices for us all. If we all
could only really train our minds
(and may I also say: wake up our
hearts, to this idea of sacrifice
Not only our financial. our eco
nomic and our political interests
worse, our sovereignty and pres
tige are involved in all this. We
may succeed in working out plans
for coordination which will at
least make a closer cooperation
possible between those countries
which are aware ofthe overriding
interest of Indignation. We still
seem far away from this Utopia
and yet it remains hard to under
stand why we do not achieve
greater results with the magnifi-
cent tools with which modern
science has equipped us with the
many superior minds which we
have in our midst. If we could
only use the tools properly and
place the best minds in the most
difficult posts we might be able to
achieve results which would
demonstrate that the sacrifices
which we made in reality proved
Ito be blessings in disguise.
I am not thinking Of any par
ticular form Of coordination or