ROLE OF NEUTRALS

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 20, 24 July 1934, Page 9

ROLE OF NEUTRALS

NOW PLAYED AT GENEVA

HOPE OF DISARMAMENT

SEVEEE DIFFICULTIES

The World "Disarmament Conference , is within an inch of failure, anil if that, inch has not yet been crossed it is due to the pressure of public opinion and to the sense of responsibility that the Governments" of the several 'nations concerned fool beforo their own na.tionals and world opinion, -writes Salvador do Maclarjuga, chief of tlie Spanish delegation to the Geneva Conference, in the "San I'rruicisco Chronicle." If reasons for the gravo situation are sought in immediate, ovonts or even in events of recent years, nothing but confusion will result, because the vioivpoint will vary with the observer mid tho judgment of events will depend on training, political tendencies, information, and, above all, nationality. It will be safer.to try to understand the position in the light of simple ideas that are obvious to every one. That there are differences among the nations is, of course, obvious. That such differences are bound to exist is a simple . fact. There are only two ways of arranging differences—ons by war, the Other by negotiations. Thesi! two ways have been tried time and again. At present both timel'.oiioured methods have become complicated by the fact Hint, owing mostly to mechanical progress, the interdependence of nations lias grown to such an oxtent that negotiations tend to draw in third parties, and wars /easily become general, if not "universal. This is truo of wars, if not always in their strictly military sense, nearly always in their political and economic consequences. Such was the war that led to the establishment of the League of . Stations. _. The League of Nations is not a building, institution, or political church. -It is an essential method for pooling negotiations. If several States have to negotiate, their number need not bo very 'high before negotiations two-by-two become hopeless and round tables become indispensable. "THE ONLY WAT." The Disarmament Conference's round tables for negotiating offer tho only way to get rid of wars—which is by substitution of world negotiations for world armaments.' If that be so,'the reason, why this Disarmament Conference has eomo to such a dangerous phase becomes quite clear! Sufficient progress has not been made in. the substitution for war of the method of l'ound-tablo negotiations. The real causo of our troubles lies in thrco' events, which, in three difficult periods in, its history, have hampered the evolution of tho world in the direci.ion of round-table government—namely, the" refusal of the 'United States to ratify the League of Nations Covenant, the impotenco of the League in handling the Par Eastern conflict, and ihe withdrawal of Germany from .Geneva, Of these event's, evidently' the most important and the one from which tho -others flow is that which deprived the League of the. full membership of the •United States. % For,, after all, the work of disarmament is based upon Article VIII of tho Covenant, which in it» turn is only part of the machinery of peace that begins with itself and ends with Articles XVI and XVII—a machinery that includes disarmament, compulsory arbitration, judicial settle■ment> and collective action by all the States, to coerce Covenant-breaking members into obedience to the common ■law; It was;over-optimistic to expect that such a machinery, deprived 'of the coereivo action that the collaboration of the strongest nation in tho woild would have implied, should suffice to insure disarmament. : . Again; the world has but two alternatives for solving its conflicts—armaments or law. Until the machinery of laws is tried with success, it is too much to expect that nations are likely to abandon armaments. - No better example could be given of such a view than,the development of the Sino-Japanese xquestion. Hero wo have had a clear case of the weakness -of the League's machinery through the lack of universality. Despite the good will and tho statesmanship that the ■United States ■ Government displayed throughout the_ negotiations, the fact -that tho United States was not a full member of the League made it impossible for the machinery to work in anything like full efficiency. Therefore, the conflict had to be left to the arbitrament of arms. GERMANY'S ACT. ' The weakness of the League's machinery that this failure in tho ' Par Eastern conflict implied was aggravated by the decision of the German Government to leave. the League and the .Disarmament, Conference. The reasons that may have led tho Reich to such a decision are not discussed here, any more than those that led .the United States Government to ■ refuse to ratify the Covenant. Wo are concerned only with tho facts. By leaving Geneva, Germany made disarmament far more difficult than it was before she departed. - , It looks as if the conclusion from the aforementioned facts is Unit disarmament is not possible until Germany and the United States come into the - Loaguo of Nations and until the confidence in the methods of Geneva that wairshaken by the Par Eastern events • is restored by a change of opinion in Japan. 1 Fortunately, tho world is -not so . ambitious- as to expect complete disarmament soon. It would be content with a moderate measure of limitation ~ and reduction of its armaments, cast in' a convention that would give national public opinion in the most iinpo'rtant countries tho • assurance that they are not sacrificing security in thus curtailing their freedom of arming. Even at this late hour I am con- ■ vinced that solutions are still-possible, The Notes exchanged by the countries most concerned. during the bilateral negotiations-beginning in January and , ending April 17 arc far from revealing irreconcilable differences of opinion. A solution can bo found. It would be foolish to deny that at present there arc two or three points of political tension that may prevent tho formation- of an indisponsablo atmosphere of good will. But an effort that would seek to give equitablo pro- - minence to legitimate claims to secur- • ity, disarmament, and equal rights could surely obtain unanimity among . the delegations present in Genova and also the_ acquiescence of, Germany. It is in this direction that six neutrals, Spain, Sweden,' Norway, ■ Denmark, Holland, and Switzerland, have been working from the beginning of 1 this season. Their proposals are not .precisely those they would wish to adopt, but those they think might be agreeable to all to adopt. At any rate, the Conference has reached such a position that no words will obtain a hearing that do not carry with them a commensurate amount of deeds.

Bach ot the cable, news on. this pace at 18 so headed has appeared In "The Times" arid is cabled to Australia and New Zealand by special permission." It should be understood that the opinions are not those of "The Times" unless' expressly stated to be so.