IS PEACE POSSIBLE?

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21910, 20 September 1934, Page 15

IS PEACE POSSIBLE?

Sir,—ln view of your recent interesting news item revealing the opinion of a certain German general regarding war preparations in Germany, serious people want to ask: "Is peace possible?" Is peace possible when statesmen and observers are talking about the "next war," when gases of deadly destructiveness are being manufactured in great quantities—when the East is thoroughly awakened to a sense of war-preparedness? Is peace possible when Europe is like an armed camp, when it seems, moreover, that the business of the entire world is to prepare for war? And such a war that the struggle of 1914-18 will be as a honeymoon by comparison, according to the aforesaid general. Can any of your readers assure us, and tell us how peace is possible in a world haunted by fear, torn by international jealousies, distracted by economic stress and rivalry and sown broadcast by seeds of race hatred? Mr. A. Fokker, maker of many of Germany's war-time air machines, recently said, "The most appalling thing about the next war in the air is that no country will be able to defend itself adequately against modern air attacks, which will take place like lightning. The attacker will not wait the formal declaration of war, but will strike as soon as he has decided to go to war. A great part of London would be doomed if attacked." We want to know what all these things mean; will peace conferences prevail, or will the world soon march to a new and a final Armageddon? Kaikohe. E. Graham.