FALLACIES AFTER WAR

Western Star, 6 April 1939, Page 3

FALLACIES AFTER WAR

THE PENALTIES OF DEFEAT ' SENDING OLD MEN TO FIGHT (By New Zealand Defence League) In these critical days, when the British Empire is faced with the gravest peril in its history, and when clear thinking has become so essential, it is necessary that some of the postwar fallacies should he removed. The greatest of these fallacies, so often heard during recent years, is. that the allied victory meant nothing, and it was therefore not worth while winning the war. This is answered very simply vby pointing out that, while the victors continued to enjoy all their rights and privileges, Germany was disarmed and dismembered, lost all her overseas possessions and had to pay enormous sums in reparations, and that the Powers associated with her had to sacrifice large portions of their territories. If Great Britain and her Allies had lost the war they would have suffered much ■ greater penalties and today much of their territories, including many of their overseas possessions, /would have been under the rule of Prussian militarism. - What that means is being emphatically brought home to ns by current events ih Europe. Under the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo axis it is the peril that faces us today. . - The next fallacy is that the Great War-was a “war to end war” and that, because wars-have, been in progress almost continuously somewhere ever since; the nations have been deliberately deceived. The actual truth is that the “war to end war” did not start Until 1917, which was when America came into the war. Actually the war then had been in progress for close on three years, and its aims and objects, so far as the British Empire was concerned, were the restoration of Belgium and the crushing of Prussian militarism. THE ROLE OF AMERICA The phrase “The war to end war” was the -slogan with which America entered the war. Everyone naturally -w hoped that such a desirable aim would ~ , be - achieved. A’ sincere attempt was made by President Wilson to accomplish this by the Covenant attached tc the Versailles Treaty and the establishment of the League of Nations at Geneva, but—it failed. : The disarmament conference failed; .Japan defied the League in Manchukuo , and China; Germany rearmed; - Italy defied the League over Abyssinia, and when sanctions were applied by the League - against her they failed. • So 20 years after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles we have arrived at the position we are in today. The truth is that the League of Nations ' never had a real chance of becoming effective. Another fallacy is to suppose that anyone can bind posterity. Traditions can be handed on to posterity, but posterity must take care oi itself. . / , Still ’another post-war fallacy is that if the old men were sent to the wai there would be no wars. The answer is that even if that could be arranged the nation which sent the fittest men 'would win and no one would abide by . the result. So it would come immediately to a decision between the fii -v men.of military age of each nation. • An equal misconception is that by , being very vigorous in condemning war we shall do away with war. The trouble. .is that war may be thrust upon us whether we like it or not. And—we shal; , . not'even be consulted. It will come without notice, like a bolt from the blue. It has also been represented that " the Great War was waged in order tc “mal' J the world safe for democracy” atJSgJPlat this was fraudulent* because has evanished’in so many %gj(fntries since. The undisputable fact . Is that when the Allies won the Great War the world was made safe foi democracy, but democracy has beef, bent so much since ,on having a good time that, in many countries it has “sole » the pass” to dictatorship. -In the remaining democracies the danger now is that, unless they adequate precautions forthwith, they, too, may find that they have lost their rights and privileges. No one in the British Empire desires

war, because they have no cause to dc so. We have every possible reason•.for V: desiring peace, not only for ourselves but for others. We want to develop *tht . highest possible standard of living for everyone with the highest type of, citizenship. We wish"to. continue all our rights and privileges; all the good thing? that have been handed down to us. We wish to hand these over to posterity not only untarnished, but improved But there are. things for which the British Empire will fight. It will figh' for the retention of British liberty anc all its rights and privileges, and it wil fight for a better ordered world ir which the weak will have equal right* and privileges with the strong.