THE ARTS OF PEACE.

Evening Star, Issue 19127, 19 December 1925, Page 6

THE ARTS OF PEACE.

There is justification for the belief that what may prove to bo a period of peace has been ushered in by the signing of the Locarno Pact. If the nations who aro parties to this monumental document keep faith, the sword will bo put aside for the ploughshare and the machine gun for the modern equivalent of the reaping hook. The exaggerated hopes of the enthusiasts who spoke of the late Great Conflict as a war to end war have not materialised. In the postwar years the international atmosphere has been clouded with bitterness and resentment, and in any case the history of our planet gives little reason to assume that the beat of the war drum can be for ever stilled. Notwithstanding this, heart of grace may be taken from the successes to the credit of the League of Nations, which at least has rendered war difficult and made possible the return of the piping times of peace. The achievement at Locarno is evidence of the potent influence of the League, for all its weight in the recent negotiations was thrown on the side of the actual peacemakers. In its infancy the League had a perilous time, but each year has seen an accession to its strength, and the fostering care of its promoters has built it up into a strong body. Viscount Grey, one of the strongest protagonists of the League, spoke confidently of its future this week, and declared that if ever Britain became engaged in a foreign dispute the world would know that the British public would insist on the utilisation of the world’s machinery, and ho added that Germany and her neighbors were of opinion that the grip which the League was obtaining on international affairs was beyond expectations. The developments in connection with the Mosul controversy have given abundant evidence of the willingness of the British Government to act in accordance with the spirit of the League objectives. The thing that stands most prominently in the way of the League at the moment in its efforts to achieve international solidarity is the attitude of the men who control the destinies ol Russia and Turkey, for their professions of peaceful desires fail to accord with their acts.

Having got so far along tho road to peace, it is hoped that tho nations in their relations with each other will give more thought to the cultural aspects of life. At tho moment economic and industrial development is naturally placed in the forefront. So much was destroyed in tho war period, and so greath was tho reconstruction process delayed afterwards, that before perfect recovery is recorded efforts must bo concentrated during the time of convalescence to overcoming many perplexing domestic difficulties. As these disappear more thought may bo given to those higher diversions that strengthen tho bonds of friendship by a column nity of intelligence. Before tho military caste became predominant in the country, tho people of Germany—learned, indefatigable, deep-thinking Germany, as Carlyle called her —were keenly sympathetic to all intellectual activities in the realms of education, science, music, art, and literature. Now that tho usurping gods are shattered wo may hope te seo a revival of tho arts of peace, and a general reaction throughout the world in that direction, Political cordiality and economic solidarity are powerful and necessary agents for peace, but the path can bo made smooth by intellectual and artistic interchanges. In Paris tho French people are establishing an International Institute of Intellectual Go-operation, by means of which efforts arc to he made to bring into closer relation people interested in cultural matters. Movements such as this aro in tho right direction, and will help to bring about a bettor understanding among tho nations of the world, for in the domain of tho mind at least there ought to ho no frontiers.