ECONOMIC DISARMAMENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22541, 5 October 1936, Page 8

ECONOMIC DISARMAMENT

i The possibility of a French move at Geneva in favour of setting up a European economic and financial committee, along the lines suggested by M. Briand when he was in eminent leadership in the League, is |of more than ordinary interest. It !is brought within the scope of ! practical international politics by i the steps recently taken toward a | general currency agreement. M. i Briand had visions, at one time in his long service to the League, of a i comprehensive regional union of 1 European countries within the strucjture of the League. He failed to j achieve his "United States of j Europe " because of his critics' I fears that " a League within the League " would prove disruptive, but his idea was admitted to have merit. Since his death conditions have changed in a way favourable to the idea. Economic disarmament, as one of many converging roads to peace, has been widely accepted as a principle, and circumstances have made the European members of the League a relatively greater part of it. M. Briand's hope was to see some kind of federal bond " among peoples constituting geographical groups, like the peoples of Europe," and he looked to the work of technical experts as an essential aid. Herr Stresemann announced Germany's sympathy with the proposal, which British, Belgian and Italian delegates also favoured. This was Europe's mood—except for some of the smaller countries—at the time. If America had been equally prepared to act something might have been accomplished for both hemispheres. As it was, dread of friction—of which there were premonitory signs—held the hands of the promoters. If M. Blum can now persuade a number of League leaders to accept the idea in modest form —without the political corollary dear to M. Briand's heart yet in keeping with his wish for more than mere technical investigation—a promising advance should be made in Europe toward economic and financial collaboration, in which America may ] eventually be willing to join. J