The Wanganui Chronicle WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1950. AMERICA AND A STATE OF EMERGENCY

Wanganui Chronicle, 20 December 1950, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1950. AMERICA AND A STATE OF EMERGENCY

W/HAT are precisely the implications of President Truman’s declaration that a State of Emergency exists involving the safety of the United States is by no means clear. It can be taken for granted, however, that the declaration dears the decks legalistically and gives to the Executive wider powers than are operated by it in peace time or times that are not subjected to any abnormal stress. That a dangerous condition does exist in the world involving the safety of the United States of America is difficult to deny. But why deny it? It will be urged that to acknowledge this state of tension in the world today is to be alarmist. What of it? There is cause for alarm, although that being so does not justify anyone engaging in panic action. The Government in Peking lias reacted to the peace moves in respect to Korea in accordance with the anticipations retailed in this column, namely, the recognition of Peking’s right to a seat on U.N.O. and to the evacuation of Formosa by the United States of America. Were these two concessions made there would be no reason for the United States continuing to refrain from acknowledging the Government of Peking as the de jure government of China. The Kremlin continues to move along a path which only an aggressor would tread. Every opened door is now dosed; every move made towards arriving at an understanding is frustrated every action that is capable of distortion is twisted out of recognition. Each time an opportunity occurs for making the people of Russia war minded that opportunity is employed in the most malign manner. The poor harvest of the current year and the creaking of the Production Programme at. its illoilecl joints may have caused Russia to delay her aggressive action in the military sense but everything is being done from the purchase of wool for war requirements to the mental conditioning of her own people and those of the rest of the world insofar as that can be achieved, to prepare the way for an open breach with the west. This effort is not being hidden in any way; it is being pursued with an openness and candour that is breathtaking. To ignore such a situation is to fly in the face of obvious facts. This President Truman is not prepared to do. He is intent upon meeting obvious facts with obvious endeavours to counter such fell action as the Russian Soviet rulers openly contemplate and prepare for. That Russia means to make war in the not distant future is so obvious that to ignore it is to play traitor to one’s own responsibilities. That which is true for America is equally true for New Zealand. THREAT OF RAILWAY STRIKE T’O negotiate at the pistol point may seem to be sound practice 1 for the holder of the pistol, but the fact remains that people have to live together. They cannot stand inert but alert for long. This obvious fact should be borne in. mind by those members of the Railway staff that have voted in favour of a strike. Such taeties have the weakness of their own strength; compulsion is not negotiation. The public will see in the staging of a strike or even of the threat of a strike a species of conduct which is akin to blackmail. Assuming that the men in the lower ranks of the. railways service have a legitimate grievance, and it would appear from the length of the negotiations that the Government has some opinion in that direction, to bring the element of compulsion into the situation is only to prejudice that good ease. The public could hardly be deceived by the action of the strikers assuming that they become such in depriving their fellow workers of their annual holidays when wouldbe holiday makers require the use of. the railways. In some centres wiser counsels have prevailed and the strike action has not been endorsed. Reliance is placed upon the railway servants executive to continue the negotiations. Should these negotiations fail—and there is no reason for assuming that they will—then other means might be considered for bringing about a rectification of grievaices. Direct action is action 'not against the government but against the community. Each direct act, which is an act of non cooperation loosens the bonds which bind the comipunity together. Other sections, of the community are encouraged to take action whe'n one section and particularly when an important section engages in a strike. Direct action or more correctly inaction does not always show itself in the open, it can operate in various ways the slowing down of effort, the erecting of difficulties in the way of achievement the indulging in all those small nets of frustration which are open to each and every individual in the community. The total result of these non cooperative or destructive acts is carried by every member in the community without exception. . It V-ay be and generally is expressed in the high cost of living. Without any alteration in the wages and price structure the standard of living in New Zealand could be appreciably improved by the elimination of these incidents of inaction in the field of community cooperation. It is an inevitable law that everything must he paid for and strifes and threats of strikes are no exception to this rule.