Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-08-06

The maintenance Of a large
military establishment has
become obsolete. Even II one
accepts the premise that a
government has the right to
subject its own people to al
most certain obliteration. its
right to do the same for the
bulk of the worlds inhabi-
tants is dubious, at least. We
are now responsible not only
for ourselves. but for the
very existence of mankind.
Do we still think Of war as
something that can be won?
If. as a people, we we're over
whelmingly to reject war as
a possible solution to our
problems, would any govern
ment still have the right to
lead us into one? Whatever
one thinks the will Of the
people would be, and no mat
ter what obligations such will
imposes on government, these
are proper subjects for ma
tional debate. Nor can it be
reasonably denied that the
people have a right to know
what the alternatives mean.
If war were to be re-
nounced, how would we con-
duct our foreign policy?
Those who say we would be
necessarily consigning our
selves to slavery, to the po-
litical and economic status
of the Russian and Chinese
peoples, are revealing their
lack of imagination, and their
lack of faith In the viability
Of democracy.
Somehow, Americans must
obtain insight into how other
peoples view the world. and
into the ways their aspira-
tons differ from ours. What
ever our economic problems.
they do not include any
perceptible worries over an
inability to produce. We are
flooded with things, the
acquisition of which seems to
us to be what makes life
worth living, and it is diff
cult to understand peoples
whose main problems center
around the possibilities Of
production. throughout Asia,
Africa and South America,
millions of people live at
levels so low we can hardly
imagine them. We can grasp
the significance Of the low
standards Of living in Russia,
where the people as a whole
simply have a lot less of the
same things we have-fewer,
poorer clothes: cruder but
much more expensive shoes,
cars, radios, alarm clocks,
and other paraphernalia of
modern life; less meat and
butter; shoddier houses. But
we cannot ever begin to
grasp the reality of millions
without shoes, with only rags,
without even a full bowl of
rice, and often without
houses so that thousands die
on the streets. These are peo-
pie whose leaders are i'm
patient, and to whom life in
Russia does not seem nearly
as bad as it does to us. In
countries where for centuries
until very recently, the rulers
did not bother to ever
promise rights to the people
the denial of promised politi.
cal and personal freedoms
must seem a minor detail
easily postponed another few
decades.
To these depressed anC
impatient people, partnership
in a cold war-which ma!
suddenly experience a rise il
temperature-must appear a,
a steep price for economi,
aid. And it is not easy to Sc,
how such bargains would VIII
us either friendship or graft
tude. In Indonesia, the initia
warmth toward us is dissipat
ing. Any reservoirs Of good
will we may have had II
North Africa are beinl
drained by our tacit supper
of French terrorism in AL
geria. We have reason
to doubt the friendship o
South Americans. Our back
ing and filling vis-a-vis Mas
ser, and our present cours
in Lebanon. may have ir
revocably solidif1ed Ara
hatreds against us. Our tol
Grafton of a recession, wit
its inevitable effect on worl
economy, plus the reSurgenc
of economic nationalism |
our foreign trade policy,
hardly endearing us to Euro
peans, or impresSing thel
with our stature as worl
leader.
If we were to renounce va