A WORLD COMMUNITY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 14 June 1930, Page 13

A WORLD COMMUNITY

“One of the chief obstacles in the path of that great reform of our age, which aims to eliminate international war between civilised countries, is the oversimplification which comes from thinking of a’i! countries as essentially alike,” writes Dr. James T. Shotwell in the New York “Outlook.’’ “The differences and not the similarities of nations create Iho problems of international politics. There is no very great difference in the fundamental desires of all the civilised nations. But when wo translate these ideals into practice, we find that what one nation regards as liberty another thinks of as anarchy, and the pursuit of happiness may be conceived of either as tlie disciplined subordination of the individual to the welfare of the State, or the forceful assertion of personal desires. And even the guarantee of personal safety may reach all the way from the prevention of national and international violence to preventive medicine. The terms are universal, hut the practical measures for their attainment are never quite the. same in any two countries. The supreme problem of international politics is the building of a world community, which will give effect to_ those ideals in terms that each, constituent nation will understand and apply.”