Grey River Argus THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1927. WORLD PEACE.

Grey River Argus, 1 September 1927, Page 4

Grey River Argus THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1927. WORLD PEACE.

Although it is still to be regarded as the centre of civilisation, signs of disintegration are now no less evident than before • the Great War in Europe. It is said the continent is virtually split, there being a distinct difference in spirit between the East and the West. The root of this menace is what requires to be dug out. From a British standpoint, the most significant consequence of the canker has been the action of Lord Cecil, the spokesman for the Empire at Geneva, who has tried to make the League of Nations work, and, by his resignation from the Cabinet, has confessed virtually that it does not yet work as the arbiter of international relations. For all his imaginative dogmatism, Mr H. G. Wells has recently indicated a way out. The League of Nations can never function as the Parliament of man until there is a genuine world democracy, an equality, not of imperial regimes, but of peoples. The army which the, Western Powers maintain on the

Rhine still demarcates the divi-T sion between East, and West. The * ?reat Russian Federation of Pro- ” letarian States is the bete noir of * the great imperialistic Powers. J Behind Germany, they see Rus- a sia. There is evident to every- i, body a sinister world-wide propa- cl ganda against Russia, and this r takes as one of its forms a universal outcry against the millions who uphold the principles on c which the Union of Soviet Repub- ‘ lies has been established. These , are made scapegoats for all , classes of anti-social elements, whether greedy capitalists, or j avid militarists. It is argued, ad- j mittedly, that such a philosophy ; as that underlying the Soviet regime must be intellectually hos- . tile to capitalistic society, but there is no attempt to give a reasoned apology for such societv. ; the expedient adopted in its defence being simply a denunciation of the alternative advanced. This explains the growth of the ranks of those who see no means of social amelioration except the most radical remedy. It doubtless would be found, once a defence were attempted, that a great deal is positively indefensible. Militarism, for instance, is suicidal. That is the argument even of Lord Cecil. Yet the fear is not groundless that militarism is menacing Russia, and that, unless saner counsels prevail, another clash is coming in Europe. The root of the whole trouble is a world-wide phenomenon. It is a thing which invades not merely international relations, but all classes of society, and it must take its rise from a principle which inheres in the existing social order. It may not be easy to define this root from which springs the uncertainty issuing in mutually hostile propaganda, refusals to limit armaments, armies of occupation, class domination, and enormous expenditure on air fleets and other mechanical implements of slaughter. Yet it is possible to indicate the idea underlying the difficulty which renders the League of Nations nugatory and puts a premium upon secret diplomacy, espionage, and preparations for war. It is simply the spirit of distrust. The world seems far more ready to believe all the evil it is able than to credit itself with good. The Goyernments send their delegations to confer, but as Lord Cecil and many another altruistic pioneer in the international sphere has to confess, there is lacking a fundamental unity of aim without which peace and justice cannot be an ideal or an inspiration. Until every nation or state is given credit for its good intentions, and there is a common adherence to governing principles of universal justice, peace, as the French Foreign Minister asserts, must always prove harder to work for than war, and the League of Nations will remain no more than the caricature of world unity so long as some countries are barred by others from admittance to international comity.