WORLD ONE FAMILY

Taranaki Daily News, 12 October 1929, Page 17 (Supplement)

WORLD ONE FAMILY

FUSION OF THE NATIONS

(By

“Plato.”)

“Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, Prime Minister of the United States!”- announced Mr. Hector Fuller, official reader of the scrolls of welcome to the British Prime Minister in New York. And then he collapsed. Blit- Mr. Fuller need not have blushed'in shame for, though lie may lose his pleasant occupation as official announcer on such occasions, since erroneous announcements might well lead to embarrassing situations, he announced to the world in a few words the remarkable trend of international. relations. When such an important person as Hector Fuller is not sure whether Mr. MacDonald is Prime Minis’ter of the United States or President of Great Britain or vice versa, one begins to realise that the nations have travelled far along .the road to permanent' peace and co-operation since the days of war and such outrages. Hector has reminded us, in fact, of the possibility of the whole world becoming one huge family within a measurable space of time. There are indeed unmistakable sigiis .that the lion and the lamb are fraternising with the dove. Even in the obscure Balkans King Alexander is icalling his flock together and has made it known that in future the scattered Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and!; Slovenes will -rejoice under the common name of the Kingdom of Jugoslavia. Leaders of thought and politics in Europe -are already talking very seriously of a united states of Europe and the abolition of tariff barriers.

Mention of tariffs, of course, rather spoils the picture of Anglo-American amity, but that phase of the situation has tactfully been allowed to drift into the background while Americans have been busily gathering rose petals to strew in the path , .‘of Ramsay MacDonald. In any . base Britain and America are already, one, according to the official announcer.

Even the poor, maligned Russian bear is coming back' to (the fold. The British and Soviet Governments have “defined their attitudes’’ regarding the 1924 treaty in five clauses, only one of which conveys any thing )to .the ignorant layman. * It is a singdlarly eloquent clause pithily stating: “Fisheries.” That seems to place the whole - question <of AngloSoviet relations on a definite basis, so that the two Power’s may now proceed confidently with their peace-making.rap-prochement. - > Russia, of. course,/is. perfectly,'Sincere in her negotiations oh the western .front, but unhappily she ‘is glaring ferociously out of the back door at, her. yellow neighbour across the- Manchurian border. That is no new experience for China, but even in that land of strange contradictions, we are told, the average of civil wars and foreign 1 invasions per annum has in the pftst few months considerably decreased. . China has flourished a big stick and shouted defiance at Russia m their recent trouble, but then she knew her little .yellow neighbour just across the ivater was behind her “ready to protect her interests in China at all costs.” But Japan’s attitude for several years . towards ■ international peace lias* been perhaps more honest, at least publicly, than that of any other Power. Japan has agitated at divers conferences for drastic steps towards disarmament.

Who remains outstanding from the general trend? Possibly Australia's objection to the importation of New Zealand pork, and potatoes without heavy duties may yet lead to resounding conflict in the Pacific, but generally speaking the world is joining the procession towards the one big family ideal.

The reasons are various, but none is more potent than the modern development in transport and communications. The affairs of each nation are becoming the common knowledge of them all through the medium of newspapers, telegraph, telephone nd radio. A state-, ment or a happening in any corner of the world is flashed to every other corner in an amazingly .short space of time.. And the advent of* aeroplane travel has brought about an intermingling of peoples that will go on increasing. The next war, if it ever comes, will have to be called a “civil” war, should this internationalising, process continue for another decade or so. And when the conflict is. lost and won, wc will have! a reparations problem much more thorny•than the. last, for who amongst the one' great. family will have.to pay? . ® why raise such puzzling possibilities?: The Labour Government in Britain is, making war impossible. - It is . joining the Kellogg peace- pact to the League of Nations Covenant; it is going to disarm (providing everyone else agrees); jt is radiating peace and goodwill in a manner that would shame any militant nation. Having established the one great family, bur troubles will really begin. Not the least of the difficulties, of course, will be to select the king, president, dictator, or whatever he is to be, for every well-ordered family must have its head. From lawless Chicago comes a strik-. ing lesson in peace-making. Four times this year Sam Fiddle’s roadhouse had been * raided and stripped of its valuables by armed brigands. .Four times Sam Fiddle had had the temerity to forcibly object, but, so the cable told u 3 the other day, even militant Sam has now given up the ghost and declared himself one of the common brotherhood. When the robbers called for the fifth time —when, in fact, as the cable says, they announced their presense by risincr from the wine table and firing a volley through the floor—Sam simply sighed and opened his safe. That magnanimous action witnessed the passing of one of the few remaining diehards who have dared to presume they had a right to withhold from their brethren the common wealth. If all. the Sam Fiddles in the world would follow that noble example and throw open their coffers to-all the bandits who demand a share everyone would become rich and-satisfied, and there would be much.more hope for the fruition of the one big family ideal.