AMERICA'S DUTY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18387, 1 May 1923, Page 7

AMERICA'S DUTY.

I PEACE IN THE NEAR EAST. URGED TO TAKE MANDATE. PROFESSOR ELIOT'S ; VIEW.- ' ; \ .A . remarkable .pronouncement- on - the . j situation in the Near East, and America's responsibility for the maintenance : of | peace, has been made in -World's j Work by Professor Charles , W. " Eliot, president emeritus of Harvard University, one of the most ; distinguished of. American scholars and publicists. ;He says ■it has become, .obvious within the -last three i months . that the thinking . part • • of. the ; American people are . . inclined to/ abandon the, attitude of isolation • and withdrawnness which, they "assumed .in 1919. The American Government seems to-be wishing for a good chance to abandon its policy, of: non-intervention., -and to give the American people its legitimate in- - fiuence :in making, the earth a: better : place for mankind to live on. - . •' The readmission of the Turk Co Europe V m /consequence of divided interest • and action by Great Britain end Franco suggests strongly that the opportunity which the American people and the American Government have been looking for has ar- ■ rived," says Professor Eliot. .-. .: - Greatest Calamity Since Armisti^b, / _ "The coming back of' the Turk into Constantinople, the Dardanelles and Thrace is the greatest calamity; which has befallen civilisation since the'; armistice. It means the cancellation of a largo part of : the good done by the victory- of the Allies over Germany. It means- the re- •: vival of the centuries-old purpose of the . Turk to rule in Eastern Europe. It moans : the loss of ground won by. the. Balkan; • States against the Turks in a,. long series i' of sanguinary, wars. ;' It opens ./a long : . vista of future struggles between the barbarous and cruel "Turks ; and.-, the Christian peoples in the; Near East, which know by : bitter experience, the' . effects of : Turkish misgovernment. It •. means' tho. chronic apprehension, so sickening. > to- . tho democracies and constitutional monarchies,. that ; Germany, • Russia \ ■ and Turkey feeling strong again, " will '• •;' make a secret arrangement to settle: old Si: scores : and new ones with the. Allied . and Associated Powers at the first good opportunity. Whence another, great" war, oven i/, crueller and more destructive than tha - last. . ( . : America's. Opportunity. - ■■■■■■':'• "Into this tangle, so full of. danger; and 1 ; dread,' the American Gov«rnmentj : Adminis- i tration ~ and Congress-together,'; can Snow . step with immediate effectiveness; Revers* ;.. »ng her earlier, action concerning Armenia, , : let America now say, 'I will • accept ;a - mandate for Armenia, Constantinople, tlifo , Black Sea, the Bosphorus, . the Dardanelles,*- • the Sea of Marmora;' and'their shores. -As ; mandatory I will give to the ' causo' of - peace and order my moral influence, " my- > financial resources, and my industrial capacity forthwith, and a 'largo "pari , of' my fleet within four weeks.' 1 ."Great Britain would welcome America • to this ; mandate, because it.; would .relieva. . her from much anxiety ' with regard to her . own relation to the numerous ; Mahom» - medan populations within, tho new British 1 Commonwealth, extend common - action ;by - the : English-speaking ; peoples,;, arid; renew,i - ?; tho : co-operation between - Great. . Britain • and. Franco 'which is indispensable"- to J the security and peace of " Western.. Europe. France would bo . glad to. be i qiiit : of." th« . unnatural support which she lias given to the Turks against the Armenians, Syriins, ; and: Greeks:' for she has now become' con- '■■; ■ vinced that she can . .exercise' control over " no portion '' of .. Asia "'Minos -, or Syria without large expenditures f for the i maintenance in those ' conn- ( tries of a considerable French army, and she cannot afford those expenditures. The Turks themselves are lilMly, to yield ! to American influence as soon, air they are convinced that. Jorca can, and' will, , lift -! used in support of that influence. They will modify their present belligerent at- ; titude which resulted in their departure from Lausanne, and return -to ' tho safer - and more wholesome state of mind \ which ■ , characterised them in 19,19. The Cost to the United States. " The assumption of this mandate will cost the United States considerable - sums ■: of money, but nothing like -.what/ post- ;; ponement of the pacification and stabilisation of Europe and the Near East will''' "cost it from year to year,' and nothing, like what another war, either, in Europe or In the Near East;, will cost the United States. The American Navy is going to be maintained in a, high, state of efficiency any way; and it wohld be unnecessary to send from • America vany military' land force, because the near-by nations which are eager to keep the Turk;;, out., of rope would be glad to; supply.,' all ■ the garrison, patrols and' polr,co needed ■ in disturbed areas. " Abstention from going to the help of i Europe during the past four years has cost the United / States , something muchmore precious than money: or / goods, namely, a , serious : impairment ■ of self- ; ;, respect, a relapse - into selfishness Rafter * a glowing outburst of - unselfishness and/ of zeal for liberty and • „ justice among : men, and a 'miserable: period of discontent with itself, mankind and the world. To recover its natural disposition „ .'to take risks, -make sacrifices and - : Suffer . hardships in the .causa of political, industrial and social -.liberty "for , mankind would be worth to the American people V:' many-fold the . cost, ; both material. i. : ; arid spiritual,;: of the'acceptance of - this, mart" • date."