New Zealand Peace Department.

White Ribbon, Volume 43, Issue 510, 18 April 1938, Page 3

New Zealand Peace Department.

Dear Fellow-meinbers,-In this department we begin the yeur with many baffling problems facing us. problems demanding our deep and earnest consideration for they must seriously affect us. if not now, then certainly in the near future. Fn a time of crises, such as we are passing through, it becomes ever more difficult to arrive at any conclusion or any sort of definite pronouncement as to one’s own duty or that of the Empire <o which we Ixdong. Clear cut lines of cleavage lxdwe» n light ami wrong seems obscured every moment that passes. by th»* rapid march (if world events. No guidance, no inspiration comes to show us the true way for the salvation of the nations Nothing, save only our definite obligations under the Covenant of tlie* League, and our loyalty to Christ's teaching. Against aggression and for the maintenance of Peace —so called, what have the Governments of the world to offer •is? This only, armaments and yet more armaments! Armaments, the rising cost of which is dragging the verv life blood out of the nations, and preparing for them a future utterly crippled economically through the hundreds of millions spent annually on that which brings only death and destruction. Out of this mad race lot power ihrougli armed force, one thing emerges • early to all who choose to think, and that is the menace to Democracy, and to all democratic institutions, the existence of which is in greater peril with evoiy da\ that passes. To-day Democracy is in a position of unparalleled danger between dictators and their totalitarian states, their grievances and ambitions on the one hand. S'nd the refusal b> the democracies to employ mutual assistance and collective security, under the League, on the other hand. Force and (lie met boils of out-worn diplomacy, setting groups of nations in alliances one against another, seems all that can be offered io peace lovers in tlie world to-day, a method that has been tried through the ages and never brings anything but disaster, and fresh threats of war. The spectude of Central Europe In danger of lieing ground under the iron heel of a military ..espot—Spain on her knees in ihe last gasp of her democratic life —France, Koumania and Czechoslovakia threatened by Fascist armies must surely make us realize that freedom and security have no lease of life, and soon may have no meaning at all for us. Dictators with their armies are defying world opinion. They flout the democracies and scorn the League and the Covenant, while utterly defying the sanctity of treaties. Not only this, but

threatening all that we hold so dear unoei Democrats- rule, our free franchises, our liberty of thought, speech and religion, and security of life- all these the dictators stand to make subordinate to the interests of the State--the % \ claim that the State comes I tfore m ill's conscience or his God. It may be tiue that present conditions are the inevitable outcome of thr; injustices of the Peace treaties. It may be that we aie only now reaping the harvest predicted twenty years ago by Maynard Keynes in his tiook “The Economic Consequences of the Peace Treaties.” But. whatever the historical causes of the present upheaval, there is no reason for us to he hypocritical, and pretend to ourselves that we have done everything possible to bring about international good-feeling. Have we. for instance, denied ourselves anything, or very much, as a nation for the sake of other nations, if we thought we wanted it ourselves? Perhaps a littb* self-sacrifice in the interests of accord and brotherline.ss—a gesture of friendship here and there and understanding of other folks' point of view now and again might have eased the situation in days gone by; hut these have not been our strong ixiints, fear and selfinterest have too often coloured our dealings with other people and now fear has culminated in impotenceNevertheless, is it too late to go on 1 uilding towards a universal and lasting peace, are we powerless to face t he* situation except by threats of war or by tlic negation of moral resistance? Is Great Britain afraid to use her own great power and influence as a leader oi the democracies? Has she forgotten her own supremo position among the nations that she must isolate herself jiml recognize with complacency dastardly acts of aggression by Italy and Germany; and must she repudiate her commitments under the league as the British Foreign Secretary would have he*- do. instead of following th»* course Mr. Anthony Eden desired for her? If it is not too late then, let us. as followers of Frances Willard, do what little we tan to save democracy by our voice and by our vote. At least let us urge our New Zealand Government to stand fast by its own pronouncements on loyalty to the League and the Covenant. As your Superintendent I ask you ail to hold Peace meetings in the month of May and never forget to repeat at each of your meetings the words of our Sigil Prayer. "Our Father in Heaven, we pray Thee to send into our hearts, and into the hearts of all men everywhere, the spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ" —that spirit which alone can bring lasting peace. (Sgd.) ELIZABETH TAYLoR. Dominion Superintendent.