Evening star., 1955-09-23
'HeoIinq Decade

4uClC was q Ulk ~ AZ 0CNtEO0Ay
of State Dulles tenth anniversary address
to the United Nations.
He indicated his belief that we may
be about at the end Of the Geld war
period-the period characterized sue
cessively by Western disarmament. Soviet
bad faith, little wars, massive rearma-
ment and. inevitably, hardening Of
national positions which could have led
to total war.
Mr. Dulles thinks turning point
may have been reached at the Geneva
summit meeting II would say" he told
his audience. that III the Spirit of Ge-
neva' is to be permanent, then all the
world must be the gamer"
Given this condition, an era Of
peaceful change logically should lie
ahead. Mr.. Dulles emphasized that 1t
will not be an era of placidity and stag
nancy In the sense that the status quo,
with its manifold injustices, is accepted
as permanent" There will be plenty OF
stresses and strains. But" Mr.. Dulles
said. peoples and governments will re-
nounce the use of war and of subversion
to achieve their goals" This hopeful
view, of course, is qualified by the 'if."
Still, subject to this reservation, 1t Is
quite possible that the 10 years ahead
will come to be known as, "the healing
decade of peace"
It may be useful at this point to
take note of what seems to be slightly
different view expressed by Mr.. Dulles
opposite number in Britain-F Foreign
Secretary Harold Macmillan. Mr.. Mac
milan spoke to the Foreign Press AS
sociation in London at about the same
time that Mr.. Dulles was speaking in
New York.
Mr.. Macmillan agreed that new
and more hopeful phase in international
life seems about to open. But he also
stressed the point that the potentialities
of thermonuclear warfare are so frightfm
that men will shrink from using such
weapons-even against unprovoked ag-
gression. This means, he said, that ruth
less men, counting on this reluctance,
may risk substantial acts Of aggression,
circumstance which makes 1t necessary
to maintain what we call conventional
forces"
MI. Dulles is perfectly aware Of this.
But it's also fact that he put some
stress on gradual disarmament as one
test Of the permanency Of the Spirit OF
Geneva" Urging acceptance Of the Pres
ident's aerial inspection proposal as a
first step adequate to insure against dev-
astating surprise attack, Mr.. Dulles said:
"As such, 1t would open the way TO fur
ther steps toward inspection and dis
armament which we all, and emphati-
cally include the United States. want to
see taken"
Mr.. Dulles did not specify the "fur-
ther steps," Nor,did Mr. Macmillan de-
fine conventional forces'-a phrase OF
uncertain meaning in an age when whole
families of nuclear weapons have been
and are being devised for use on land,
sea and in the air.
This, however, Is not time to take
undue counsel of ones fears. The doubts
and the misgivings must be kept in mind.
But they should not be permitted to DOM
mate our thinking. AS long as there
appears to be a chance for peace, or for
better world than In the past, we should
grasp It, II the Russians do not share
this aspiration, If they are insincere. If
their adherence to the spirit OF Ge-
neva" is sham, the things that they do
or refuse to do soon will reveal the fact.
Meanwhile, the evidence encourages
belief that there may be much to be
gained and little to be lost by pressing
on in the spirit in which Mr.. Dulles has
spoken.