BRITISH PEACE APPEAL

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20718, 31 January 1939, Page 6

BRITISH PEACE APPEAL

Freed from diplomatic restraint or political influence, the voice of a nation is heard in the appeal for peace issued by public men of England in all walks of life. Wearied at the inability of politicians and diplomatists to bring about international co-operation, this group of Britain's best known men in the professions and general public life feels the need to “speak across the frontiers to those who feel as they do in order that they may use together their gifts of heart and mind to eo-operate in preventing a supreme catastrophe and in breaking down the artificial barriers of hatred by which they are in danger of being divided.”

The signatures to the appeal dispose of any suggestion of political bias. The document is indeed the cry of humanity for deliverance from a nightmare existence that only the co-operation of the peoples of the leading nations can end. The question inevitably arises whether politicians with all their handicaps are the best men to seek international settlement. It is, of course, impossible to avoid the present channels of communication, but there is no good reason why private citizens, as- in the present case, should not make a serious attempt to increase goodwill amoug peoples., and with bright hopes of success. It is certain that the common people everywhere would prefer peace to war, and the more they can “get together” the greater hope will there be of a settlement of the differences that cause the present continual strife.

One difficulty that has probably been foreseen by the signatories to the appeal is in having the document brought to the notice of those whom it is most desired to reach. In the “totalitarian” states the system of censorship and official propaganda is very thorough, and unless the appeal has the approval of the dictatorial regime it may never reach the German and Italian peoples in its original form. Perhaps success may be achieved by broadcasting. If the appeal is widely distributed, and if the public mind is receptive to it, the action of the British group may be a powerful agency for the peace of Europe.