Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, SATUBDAY JUNE 11, 1927. PEACE WITHOUT FORCE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16364, 11 June 1927, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, SATUBDAY JUNE 11, 1927. PEACE WITHOUT FORCE

Jn a world ruled by ideals "peace without force" would be permanently established. In a world, so ruled, armies would be disbanded; arsenals would turn out ploughs instead of guns; gaols would be emptied, for there would be no crime. There would be no unemployment; preventible disease would be held in check. It is a little difficult to sec under such condi* tions what need there bo for governments. It is true "that without government every man would be a law to himsolf, but he would use his freedom so as not to injure his neighbor. That wo arc very far from such ideal conditions is only too evident. The mere passing suggestion of such a state of itossiblo perfection will bo at once discarded as sheer nonsense. Because ideals are unattainable the nations of the older world arc staggering under international debts of such huge dimensions, that economists are being forced to the conclusion that tho only way out may bo mutual cancellation, and a fresh start. When we pay for the soldier and the policeman, we pay tor the degree in which we fall short of the highest ideal. But the highest ideal attainable in any age falls far short of what is possible. The ideal of the child is altogether different from that of thp parent: the ideal of yesterday is tho prose of to-day: the ideal of to-morrow will bo us far sho'rt of possible perfection as the cast is distant from the west, or light is removed from darkness. While the,, nations are wearily bearing the bur-' dens which their own weaknesses en- i tail, their respective Governments! have to, be strong enough not to be afraid, while the world's education is proceeding, to maintain reasonable force. Moral force alone should suffice to preserve peace. Moral force is a plant of slow growth. It grows better under the baton of the policeman. In, tho recognition of this unpalatable truth lies the whole secret of the curious position at Geneva, whero the Conference, in pursuit of seme basis for international disarmament, had the will to agree but not the power, and so, at first, appearance, failed altogether to advance the 'great object for which it met. It was only in appearance that tho Conference failed. The road is a long one and

pot to be traversed at a bound. Hartley Coleridge's vision still stands true:-

Far is the time, remoto from human sight, When war and discord in the earth shall cease; Yet every prayer for universal peaee Avails tie blessed time to expedite.. •And "so, a genuine effort by so many rations to attain and preserve peace without foree, cannot have been wasted: it has perceptibly narrowed that great chaotic gulf, stretching between what is practicable in our day and that which may be possible in a still remote future. Mr. Baldwin has, while Prime Minister, by speech ami action, done more than any other statesman to bring about peace between .employers and their workmen. Events havo proved too strong for him. While he was attempting to conciliate the trade .union organisations of Great Britain, they at the first fctriko, made his efforts useless. To help the minors in a strike, whichj however unwise, was quite within their rights, they resorted, to the general strike, which if successful would have coerced'the Government and intimidated the community. The effort failed. It had no legal base, "it was economically unsound. In design it was hopeless: it assumed that the great middle classes would consent to stand' neutral"while their interests were being sacrificed. A Prime Minister, however weary he may be, when his desires for . the welfare of-the people' are thwarted by human passions, heated by fear, has,to' stick to his post; he is in honor, bound to the people who placed him in power. A wfak man 'tri .such case runs- away:, Tfic strong, inun.bphhsfen."" , The challchgo of "the trade unions ' was too pointed to be ignored. The Trade, Unions Bill is a reversal to force to preserve peace. In this objective it may wholly fail. The critics in England are divided. Where, this is so the looker-on from a distance can hardly uretend to hold the scales. This generalisation may be permitted: unless a fire, which is burning strongly can certainly bo put out by smothering it up, the attempt to smother only delays and probably widens the area of final desolation. The fire is more likely to be kept within controlable bounds if it is allowed to blaze freely within those bounds. There was no want of principle in emphasising the fact which appears not, to have been very widely known that a. general strike is not sheltered by law. A declaratory enactment with unenforceable penalties has this merit: no one will be able to say in future that they do not know that a general strike of all workers intended to force a demand made in one branch of industry is illegal. As the Act when passed, as no doubt it will be, can really do no more than declare the law, the extraordinary heat engendered by its introduction may be expected to soon die, out. Labor! in the Hou*e of Commons, will once more be free to attend to the differences within the ranks of its party, and the approval by its redwing, represented by Mr. Lansbury and Mr. Saklatvala, of the scarcely concealed treacheries of the accredited Soviet onvmissaries at London. In the severing of political relations with the Soviet Government, the atrocities of which appear in to-day's cables to be unending, a step, which amounts to the use of force had to bo taken in order to maintain peace. There can be little doubt but what Avar with Russia was appreciably nearer when the Russian Government was allowed, under the cover of ambassadorial relat;ons. to engage in a determined propaganda to create revolutionary conditions among the colored people of India aad Africa. How near to the brink the Empire was brought by Soviet treachery can be seen by the position in China to-day. It is difficult to imagine any sphere of public or private influence wherein which peace, in the widest sense, can be said to exist apart from some measure of force. No man can do always just what, at varying times, he feels prompted to do. He is hedged in by law, by custom, by environment, and by the same countering instincts, for personal freedom which arc dominrnt m others. And.after all, life would be intolerably dull, and wholly lacking in interest, if the ideal of universal placidity were to be reached. It is difficult, to imagine a community of persons, all of whom did exactly what thev ought to do. It is even more difficult to imagine a coterie of nations existing in perpetual agreement. No cno would wish to be good if it were impossible to be bad. Goodness in human beings is only possible, because its converse is also at least possible. Peace without force will be brought nearer when ill-will, hatred, jealousy, suspicion, and greed can be brought under subjection to the expulsive power of a new affection. History and literature do testify to improvement under the reign of law. Mr. Churchill in his great feat of legerdemain, in the disposal of his deficit, reached the summit, and went over the top on the crest of a camouflaged taxation, which we are told made the members of the House of Commons gasp at the audacity displayed, and which inspired Sir Bernard Partridge to draw his delightful cartoon of "The Broken-hearted Highwayman." No waving of the conjurer's wand will enfranchise peace, and set her free to top the summit of international- morality uncontrolled.