A WOMAN'S PEACE PLEA.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3101, 9 January 1922, Page 8

A WOMAN'S PEACE PLEA.

(Mv • Viscountess Astor, AJ. I*.)

When the hopes of the whole world are centred on any one thine ns they nre to-day on the Washington Conference if is vital thnf we should take stock both of d and of ourselves, lor unless we have some Fairly definite ideas in our minds of what we expect to gain from the Conference if may fail jo its purpose altogether. There arc, i. think, at least two essential conditions ol success. The first is enthusiasm, a real desire for peace, a world-wide stirring of hearts and minds. The other is a clear-sighted, scientific facing of facts, a complete frankness and a tifcjthfulness which is outspoken even to the verge of brutality. I do not think it is easy to achieve both these states of mind simultaneously. They sound lines cancel each other. In moments of great popular entlmsia.'iii hard tacts are apt to he lost sighl of. and in I he scientific investigation ol material facts enhnsiasin and idealism are apl lo wither. I>lll after all ill" strength of the English-speaking races is this very power ol coming idealism and common-sense. It has been alternately admired, abused and misunderstood, but everyone knows that it is the secret of I heir genius for government and i( is to-day the greatest need oi tiie world. As far as the wave of enthusiasm goes (here is no douhl ol iis existence all over the world and very specially in (Ireat Britain and I he I’nited Stales. The women of America at any rate are solid for peace, and I can assure their' Unit English women are with them hear! and £oul. There is besides a real yearning for peace in the minds of the general ion which (ought and snlfered. No one who ever saw war at close quarters wants lo sec it again. It is only T

among the stay-at-home, armchair warriors that there is still to be found talk of the glories of war. It is greedy citizens, selfish citizens, suspicious men and women, hard-faced and hard-hearted people who breed war and I’m not sure that fools do not sometimes do more harm than knaves. But if behind the Conference we can get not only clear thought but spiritual impetus it may-make all things possible.

The difficulty is to get the people with spiritual vision to take the trouble to know the facts and to get the people who know the facts to have the spiritual vision. Experts are often cynics with too little heart. Enthusiasts are often sentimentalists with too little head. And they don’t always mix round a conference table because they don’t always understand each other.

To put it bluntly,' how far arc the United States and the other countries at the Conference prepared to co-oper-ate in giving that security to the distracted and war-ravaged States of Europe? Peace will never, come from a. policy of universal isolation. Unless our enthusiasm takes account of hard facts such its these it is likely to he either dangerous or futile. To be frank once more, are you in the United States ready to give .a fair hearing to the case for Japan ? Are we in England ready to give an equally fair hearing to the case for China It is useless to 1 think that the Pacific question can be solved in any other way. It will therefore only be by a deliberate effort of heart and head, by letting our small-mindedness and our national pride and prejudice be swallowed up in something much greater than ourselves, greater even than our countries, that we can rise to heights of spiritual and practical achievement and comradeship that can help the Conference to become a real landmark in the progress of mankind.