THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1922. LEAGUE AND DISARMAMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18207, 28 September 1922, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1922. LEAGUE AND DISARMAMENT.

An ironic fate surely decreed that the disarmament scheme of the League of Nations should be proclaimed to the world when armed camps are forming in the Near East and when agreement between the nations seems more difficult than ever of encompassment. What the world hoped for when peace came was a league to put an end to all wars. That was one of the ideals animating those who founded the League of Nations. For that body there may be claimed a considerable amount of good work already accomplished, but in the direction of making war impossible, or even less probable, its achievements have not been impressive. It may be a sad reflection, but events since the League was first established have shown more definitely than ever before that the one way to repress the exercise of armed force in many parts of the world at present is to dictate peace with overwhelmingly greater force as the sanction. For example, the United States has made a declaration on the Eastern situation, approving of the Allied intentions with regard to Turkey. Most of what Britain regards as essential is declared to be in accordance with American sentiment. So long as America confines herself to verbal adherence to a policy her expressions of opinion are not likely to weigh much with Mustapha Kemal and his following. Pious resolutions do not interdict turbulent humanity bent on making mischief. With America holding deliberately aloof, with Turkey and Kussia in their present condition, and with the other Powers far from tranquil at heart about their national security, the schemes of the League are not likely to produce results at present. However admirable they may be in conception, it appears as if their fate must be an indefinite postponement until more complete organisation of national sentiment and more propitious circumstances in world-politics render their execution feasible. The series of resolutions promulgated appear, in any event, designed merely to furnish a starting point for a more effective formula. The very first of them, for example, has been affirmed before, and found to suffer a serious defect. It is many months ago since it was first proposed that the nations should budget only for the amount spent on armaments prior to the war. To this it was objected that evasion would be too easy. Money voted for any other { object could be easily and secretly j diverted to the purchase of armaments and the organisation of forces i unless there were some rigid system ! of supervision. That objection still ! holds good. There is no means of assuring observance of such a pact in the letter and the spirit, and no reason to hope that the good faith of all the nations concerned would make others feel sufficiently secure. More hope appears to rest in the suggested international control of traffic in arms. If there were any such system now in existence the present defiance of Turkey would be 6hort-lived, owing to a curtailment of munitions. For that to be I an effective brake upon military | preparations, however, all nations would need to adhere to the pact. Any great industrial Power remaining outside might readily become an arsenal for the bellicose nations which were inclined to break the peace, and which could not supply their own munitions. The same consideration applies to the manufacture of arms and asphyxiating gas. The last-named factor alone presents especial difficulties. It has frequently been testified that certain kinds of industrial plants could be very speedily and efficiently transformed into manufactories of poison gas. While apparently most promising in results these portions of the scheme would be the easiest of

evasion, and the most difficult to regulate. Universal goodwill, both official and unofficial, in all nations could alone give any practical worth to the suggestion.

The Disarmament Committee itself has described a necessary condition tending to delay for a long time any effective disarmament. It has affirmed that reduction of armaments cannot achieve its full effect until it is general. The soundness of that stipulation needs little emphasising. Upon it hinge all the other suggestions which the League has advanced. Regional agreements, guarantees against attack, and reduction of land armaments, as well as regulation of the manufacture of, and traffic in, arms and munitions can be valuable only if all the great nations adhere to the principles. In that event, the less civilised peoples, however warlike, could not make extensive trouble for want of the means of waging war according to modern methods. The worst augury for the success of the League's schemes is that general acceptance of them is not in sight. Some of the non-adhering Powers are far from negligible in manpower, organisation, or resources capable of adaptation to war purposes. All these defects in the work of the League are as obvious as is the unpropitious nature of the time when the results of its labours have been made public. It need not bo deduced from that, that its efforts are all in vain. Many schemes for a general laying down of arms have been propounded in the past, and lie buried in history. Because they have failed does not make perpetual failure inevitable. The League is working earnestly to produce a formula aoceptablo to the world, and to secure general acceptance of it. Success has not yet been achieved, but the very fact of the work proceeding is hopeful. Opinion in favour of the ideal is being created and strengthened. No great scheme of reform has ever been produced without being stigmatised as impossible, and the reformer has often been indicted as impious. Unceasing persistence and steady endeavour have altered the outlook on ambitious projects before, and there is no reason why they should not do it again. So, despite the recurrence of war clouds, there need be no abatement of effort by the League to induce all the world to cease from resorting to force. War threats can be turned to its purpose, to emphasise the need for the accomplishment of its aims.