WORLD'S LAST CHANGE

Evening Star, Issue 25470, 28 April 1945, Page 5

WORLD'S LAST CHANGE

CONFERENCE MUST SUCCEED MEN WHO DIED CANNOT BE LET DOWN SAN FRANCISCO, April 26.' Addressing the conference after paying a tribute to Mr Roosevelt, Mr Anthony Eden said: " It was he who named us the United Nations, and we can best honour his memory by proving ourselves worthy of that proud title. Let us be clear about the purpose of this conference. We are not here to draft peace treaty terms. We are met to establish a world organisation which will help to keep peace when victory is finally won.

" In spite of the earlier failures of international machinery to solve disputes, a further attempt must be made. This time we must succeed. All the causes that made international machinery desirable after the last war make it indispensable to-day. " We have entered an age.when no natural barrier, whether mountain or ocean, can guarantee.security against the new weapons which science has placed at mankind's' disposal. San Francisco is as close to Berlin and Tokio as New York was to Washington a century ago. The world to-day is one large city, and our countries are its- several parishes. Either we must find some means of ordering our relations with justice and fair dealing, while allowing nations, great and small, full opportunity to develop their free and independent life, or we head for another world conflict, which must bring the -utter destruction of civilisation in its train. It is, therefore, no exaggeration to say that this may be the world's last charice. COMPROMISE PROPOSALS.

" The proposals placed before you admittedly. constitute a compromise. They do not constitute an attempt by four Powers to dictate what form the future organisation should take, nor are they intended to stand unchanged until the end of time. Security is not itself the final end, but it is indispensable if we are to make true freedom possible. In no other way can we hope to realise a world in which justice for nations as well as its individualscan prevail." Mr Eden warned against attempting too much, and pointed out the impossibility of completing a perfect scheme. The great Powers, carried a correspondingly, heavy responsibility. They should set themselves certain standards of international'conduct and observe them scrupulously in all their dealings with other countries.

After stressing the importance of the two immediate tasks, political and economic, Mr Eden concluded: " World events of unprecedented magnitude, both east and west, crowd upon us every hour. If we order our labours efficiently and work to the utmost of our strength, it should surely be possible to agree on a charter within four weeks from now. •

" In the earlv days of this war I went to Egypt to greet soldiers from Australia and New Zealand'who came to protect the Suez canal -against Mussolini's aggression. I spoke ■ to them of the motives inspiring them to volunteer for this adventure.. One man remained silent. I asked him what.made him come, and he replied, ' I guess there is a job of work to be done.' . We now have a job to do if we are not to fail the unnumbered men who died to give humanity another chance "