The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 1933. AMERICA TAKES A HAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 114, 17 May 1933, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 1933. AMERICA TAKES A HAND.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs rtsintanct, For the future in the distance, And the good that va can do.

In :i message addressed directly to the rulers of the world, President Roosevelt has appealed for definite steps towards disarmament. He suggests that weapons of aggression should be eliminated and that no Power send an armed force beyond its own borders. This last proposal is important in view of the Danzig - raid and the continued advance of Japan in China. Although no Power is specified in the President's message, it is clear that he had these incidents in mind. President Harding , and President Hoover made similar pleas for world peace, but in more general terms and without specifically addressing - any nation or ruler. There can bo no mistaking the implications of President Roosevelt's appeal or its application to the present situation at Geneva and in the Far East lie says that if there is obstruction it Avill be clear where the obstruction lies. Vague generalities for long - marked the resolutions of (ho Disarmament Conference. Mr. MaeDonald * brought down specific proposals for reducing , armaments and limiting tho size of mobile puns and tanks. At the very time whrti France and Italy were inclined to g'ivc favourable consideration to these proposals, Germany raised objections and stressed her claim to rearm. This naturally roused the suspicion of France and led to an agitation against any reduction of her armed forces. It seemed that the whole- of Mr. Mac Donald's proposed convention would be rejected, and a new armament race would be commenced. The President has now added tho weight of his approval to the original scheme. He connects the Disarmament Conference with the Economic Conference. America has always linked the question of debt revision with that of disarmament. Any real progress made at Geneva along - the lines of Mr. Mac Donald's scheme would undoubtedly cause the peojjlo of the United States to give favourable consideration to proposals for revision, put forward by the | debtor nations of Europe. These nations will ignore Mr. Roosevelt's appeal at their peril.