THE WAR TERROR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 124, 28 May 1938, Page 7

THE WAR TERROR.

EUROPE'S OUTLOOK. AMERICAN WARNS HIS COUNTRY. CANNOT SIT BY AND ESCAPE The outlook for war in Europe, as a result of the rise of Nazi German}-, is discussed h?re in the first of a series of articles by the general manager of the San Francisco "Chronicle," who has just returned with cx-I'resident Herbert Hoover from an extended European tour. In their visits to 1"> countries of Europe they had conversations with nearly 20(1 statesmen, including the heads of many Governments, and Mr. Smith's observations here represent a composite picture of their views ulouig with his own conclusions. (By PAUL C. SMITH.) * XKW YORK, April 20. The thunder over Kurope to-day is no the herald of a distinctly new storn hut the crashing rumble of the liglitnin flashes which scorched the ileitis of th continent and the homes of the worl from 11114 to 1!>1S. There will be no new war. The i|uesti<>: to-day is how long will it take the ol< world war to return to the trcnchesthe old world war which the new Gel many is determined to win J There will be more lightning and mor thunder. But when? In my judgment just after sitting in on nearly 200 con versations with political, military air economic leaders in 15 countries, th world war will not return to th trenches on a large general scale fo from one to live years. This postponement offer* the mil; glimmer of hope in all Kurope tlia wholesale murder on an indiscriininati scale may not return to scourgi civilisation. But. at very best, it in ; faint glimmer. Not that anybody want. war. Nobody wants the war which i. now raging through the channels o trade, the dug-out* of economics, tin bomb cellars of politics. What Hitler and Stalin Want. Hitler does not want war. Neithe does (ioering. nor Goebbels, nor Rosen berg, nor Schacht. nor any of the res of the Fuehrer's satellites or followers All the new Germany wants are tin fruits of victory. Stalin does not want war. He ha: enough enemies to contend with withii his own borders. All he wants is t< advance the cause of Stalinism through out Russia, in the hope of deluding tin world's idealists into a faith that Stalii is the true prophet of Socialism. Al he wants is to control and direct tin machinery of revolution within Russia and. through Russia, within the world All he wants is to rid the world of iti last vestige of traditional institu tionalism. Fiance does not want war. All thai France of to-day wants is nationa security, economic potency, leisure an< the easy life. The key to current Frencl weakness and vacillation is to be fonm in this paradox. Further, all thai France of today desires is to escape tin penalties of a post-war policy of underground aggression which produced Hitler in Germany. England does not want war. All F.ng land wants is to be let alone. All Eng land wants is to preserve intact th< greatest Kmpirc in the wo.ld. to shieh it from the covetous aims of a dozei antagonistic forces. Italy's Shrinking Waistline. Mussolini does no want war. Al Mussolini wants is an outlet for a press ing population, and sufficient militar; and political diversion to keen th Italian's mind off a shrinking waistline Czechoslovakia does not want war. Al Czechoslovakia desires is to cling to ai insecure independence established les than two decades ago as a climax ti several centuries of effort. The Balkan States do not want wai All they hope for is the luck to selec the winner sufliciently early in the rac to benefit them at the finish. The Baltic States do not want war They only want to preserve their iden tities in the midst of relentless, grindin; forces beating at their political, socia and economic boundaries from ever side. And so it goes, throughout the com plex international relations of a eonti nent to-day gripped by the panic o fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of th known. Fear of the certain consequence of an economic and ideokyjical conflic which appears to be raging on to th inevitable bloody terror of a wholesal revision of the very basei of contem porary civilisation. It is not a hopeful picture. Bu America figures in it, too, so it is tim America got the whole blunt trutl America will pay the price along wit! the rest of the world. It is no longer t question of whether or not we pay° bu a simple question of "how much?" America's Job. America's job is to keep down to it niimmum the price of a world folly, th opening scene of which was enacted a Sarajevo in 1914. Realism calls fo the inspired construction of an island o relative security. Realism calls for < spirited fight, within our own borders to preserve the essentials of a free demo erae.y in a world in which the fre democracies either already are dead o mad with shell-shock. Meanwhile, although the World Wa has not yet returned to the muck an< scars of No Man's Land, it already is ii progress along lines every bit as ruth less in their effects upon human live and the traditional institutions whie make human life bearable. First on the casualty list of the hor rible war of the hour are intellectua liberty and spiritual freedom. The autarchic economies of Europe to day are war machines. Whole regi mented orders of industrial and agrariai life are being flung at each other b directing despots who have neithe thought nor time for the fate of th individual person or institution. Thi new war machine is disciplined beyom the fondest imaginings of history's mos ruthless soldier. Actual armies are bu a small part of its force. Armament are but incidental tools. Secret Police "Justice." The other composites, are controller currencies, economic planning, discip lined inflations, authoritarian directio: of the minutest detail of economic an social and political life. By-products are the concentratio camps, expropriation and suppression o racial and political minorities, the firin. squads, the guillotines. Traditional jurisprudence has bee: liquidated. " Justice " is meted out b; secret police who are accuser, judge an' executioner. Hard as it is for American ; to comprehend, this is no flight of th imagination, but a literal fact. Traditional morality has been liqui dated and one simple "moral manciple substituted for all others: Viiat is i the interest of the State, as I termine by the dictator, is right. -11l utile

: thoughts or acts are wrong, including argument, appeal, discussion and ; " unpatriotic prayer." A contract, under these orders, is a meeting of minds in force only so long as it is of clear benefit to the party of the first part. A treaty is a covenant only so long as it suits the individual programmes of the several signatories; then it is a scrap of paper. | A bilateral agreement is an agreement entered into for the purpose of unilateral ;, abrogation when as and if it ceases to be of material benefit to the controlled elements of the totalitarian State. I The Madness of Uncertainty. The impact of these explosives upon ~ the very foundations of twentieth century civilisation is shaking the contemporary world and driving its people to the madness of uncertainty and the tenor of instability. I Kponer or later the flying splinters will puncture the equally explosive l human emotions, and then great hordes jof men. in their panic, will take to bayoneting each other and bombing their ! women and children, j. ! But probably not just yet. The process of social and moral and political dis- '' integration appears to have a bit further i to go. (inns are not yet in firing order, e There is still some sanity left in the j world. Therefore, there still is some hope. 1 But there also are inexorable forces i in motion which must be stopped by a 1 wave of enlightenment and inspiration, - or these dark days will grow darker. ■ .Perhaps this enlightenment and inspira- : tiou is lying dormant somewhere, and L > perhaps it will be revived in time. ~ i Enlightenment and inspiration must - have more virility than is apparent anvil where to-day if intellectual liberty and e spiritual freedom—yes, and even "econob niic security"—are to survive the black r plague of despotism and oppression ! carried across the world by the rats • of demagoguery. totalitarianism, authot ritarianism, "planned economy," and ■ centralisation.— (X.A.X.A.) i I