FATAL IDEAS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXIX, Issue 9545, 10 March 1919, Page 5

FATAL IDEAS.

DESTROYING MANKIND

MR H. G. WELLS ON THE LEAGUE

OF NATIONS

Mr H, G. Wells, speaking at the Lyceum Club, London, on a League of Nations, said (reports the" Daily Telegraph*) that he had been asked to answer in general terms what was the spirit and essence of that movement. It was a movement to change the ruling habits of. thought about international relations thai now dominated the world. In. the '.first place, it had to clear away fc?i*> vast festering mass of .prejudice's and preconceptions-that were destroying mankind, and, in the second place, it had to build np a new world polity upon the clearer space. What: Was the mass of ideas against which the League of Nations movement set its face ? Ifc was complex in detail, but the broad outline was not difficult to define. The fundamental notion was that the world of men consisted, and must consist, of •States or Powers, which were'engaged in an: unending struggle—economic, diplomatic, and military— to get the better of each other, and if possible to destroy each other. It was not impossible to trace the growth of that notion in Europe. To such ideas we owed the present war, the slaughter of 25,000,000 human beings, and the bitter impover.ishment of the whole world. To destroy the power and grip of those ideas and to substitute the realisation of a commonweal of mankind was the first part of the task of the League"; of Nations movement. It was a task only possible if thousands of speakers and writers would work for that one common aim.

Hut vast as that task of destruction and mental cleansing was, it was the opening and the smaller portion of the work of the league. The idea of, a, commonweal .of mankind was in itself. only a sentiment, '■ a. desire, a. disembodied idea. Before them lay the task of giving the idea substance. If national affairs; were no ■ longer to be loft to Courts and Foreign Offices and secretive diplomatic methods working for dynastic interests, how were they to be carried on ? What was to be'the substitute for diplomacy ? What was to be the new world polity ? If the economic business of the world was not to be controlled, by the haggling of tariffs and commercial warfare, how was it to be controlled ? What Was to become of armies, and navies in a world of commonweal ? How were "attacks on the world's •;peace to be prevented or suppressed. ?■, Such were the problems which confronted the movement upon its constructive side. The League of Nations movement was called upon for a great effort of study and research for these problems. It was more than a, propaganda; it was an inquiry. It was not a scheme to put before the world to be accepted or rejected. It was a great idea of human solidarity which must be realised if mankind was to be saved from destruction—a grout idea calling I'or mental effort,, appealing for thought, for the ■ open, .mind and =bal-,j anced-.iuclgme.nt. (Cheers.') The need for decision was urgent, but he warned his hearers against hasty sketches of i constitution. There was need i'or purity | within the movement and i'or variety within that unity. It was an enter- j prise as great as the world. There was i surely room for all. (Cheers.) ! Professor Gilbert Murray said he was in absolute agreement with the • speech of Mr Wells. The nations of the world had sunk into a terrible condition of suffering and poverty. The question j was whether we were going to unite to have some common deliverance from our common misery. War was a crime. To defend oneself against war was a different matter. The League of Nations hoped to get mankind to recognise that war was a ■crime, and had to be prevented. Peace in itself was only an empty cup; it was only when we had got peace that we had a chance of filling the cup. Wn must not make a mere negative ideal our ;iim. We must realise when we get peace that it merely meant freedom to live and to build up life as we thought right. His first counsel to anyone taking n\y a League of Nations idea would he to try to be exceedingly sincere, and try to desire in the heart the nmnmon' welfare of mankind. As we had risen to a tremendous strain dtiring the war, so we must, rise to another strain. (Cheers.) i \