The Wanganui Chronicle. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." Friday, June 17, 1921. IS A WORLD STATE POSSIBLE?

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18206, 17 June 1921, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." Friday, June 17, 1921. IS A WORLD STATE POSSIBLE?

From the earliest times the dream of a World-State has fascinated agile thinkers. It is not, therefore, surprising that the theme should attract the brilliant pen of Mr. H. G. Wells, who is not to be debarred from daring speculation by the baffling perplexities of present-day politics. Briefly, Mr. Wells’ thesis is that, the world being hopelessly out of joint, its disorders can be remedied only through the medium of a closely-articulated scheme of worldfederation, and, having no liking for half-measures, he advocates in set terms the abolition of existing national boundaries and the establishment of a World Republic. Either the nations must come closer together, Mr. Wells argues, or drift wider apart, and in the latter event we may expect a tragic succession of wars, each more terrible than the last—the series finally culminating in a world debacle bringing the whole fabric of modern civilisation in ruins to the ground. It js a terrible picture, and one conveying sufficient plausibility to demand the earnest attention of thoughtful observers. As with the doctors who prescribe for our bodily ills, we have to ask, first, is the diagnosis correct, and, in the next place, is the remedy sound? Can we pin our faith to the creation of an all-embracing World-Republic? Mr. Horatio Bottomley, M.P., says "No!” And he not only says it most emphatically, but with characteristically incisive argument he proves the impracticability of the vision. At the outset he confronts the novelist politician with certain obvious trueisms. Unless the nations can agree better than they have done in the past they will fight each other as before, and in moment of international tension war will always be “on the cards.” Further, it may be argued that if by means of international treaties and similar diplomatic contrivances a loose form of "federation” among the nations can be established, the safeguards for peace will be Immeasurably enhanced. But when all this is admitted we are a long way from Mr. Wells’ proposition of a single World-Republic. The mistake Mr. Wells makes is in believing that the creation of new machinery can of itself solve the manysided problems of life on this crowd-

ed planet. Looking at the federated systems existing in the world to-day —the British Empire, the United States of America, the Swiss Confederation, and the rest—Mr. Wells seems to assume that these superstates were called into being at the bidding of some master mind, or in pursuance of some settled theory of government, whereas in point of fact they were the outgrowth of a compelling desire for unity on the part of neighbouring peoples. The distinction, pays Mr. Bottomley, is of immense importance. No such rigid form of government as that of the United States could possibly have been superimposed upon an unwilling or even an apathetic people, nor could the British Empire have assumed its present shape except as the outcome, of a desire earnestly felt by ail sections of a common stock. To put the matter in another way, these federal systems were not established in order to create an atmosphere of goodwill. It was the other way about. Amity paved the way for unity. History presents us with no exception to this order of precedence. Nor is it to be too hastily assumed that a federal system affords complete safeguards against war. Mr. Bottomley,recalls that in 1861 the United States was torn asunder by civil strife on a question of principle that brooked no compromise. The struggle between North and South was waged as relentlessly as any between rival nations, and it was many years before the smouldering embers of resentment were finally extinguished. Despite the federal link, Switzerland did not escape her share of the disorders that spread over Europe in 1848. jNor was this the only attempt at revolution which has threatened the peace of the united cantons. And these are the most successful examples of federal union. In Norway and Sweden the system broke down utterly, a bitter quarrel culminating in the severance of the two monarchies, while in the former Austro-Hungarian State relations had been so strained that the Versailles Conference flatly declined to reorganise the "ramshackle old empire” on a federal basis. In a word, the federal solution, as applied to the problems of a single group of nations, has conspicuously failed to eliminate the risk of war. Obviously, then, there is no apparent warrant for the assumption that it would be more successful under the aegis of a World Republic. Mr. Bottomley examines the situation broadly. He bids the dreamers think of the obstacles in the path of a political world-unity; to with, the language problem, which is among the chief barriers that separate the different races of mankind. True, an international language of some sort may in the distant future be adopted, but it will not be yet awhile, and it is to be feared, therefore, that, like the famous Tower of Babel, Mr. Wells’ dream castle is likely to come to grief through confusion of tongues. Then there is the colour problem, already acute in America and in some British Dominions. The coloured races threaten to expand in districts where white men will not tolerate their presence, and Mr. Bottomley fears i-t would tax the powers of a World-Legislature to exterminate those fundamental racial antipathies that are found among the most highly civilised peoples. The more one regards the problem, the more complex it becomes. Still, we need not be without hope, even though we are compelled to turn away in some disappointment from the speculations of the novelist politician. There are at least two potent agencies at work making for peace and progress, and it is premature to predict the ruin of civilisation provided the British Empire exists as a united Power, linked in friendly cooperation with the freedom-loving nations of Europe and the democratic citizens of the United States of America.