PRINCIPLES OF PEACE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 236, 3 July 1944, Page 4

PRINCIPLES OF PEACE

Honouring Of Atlantic Charter

SPEECH BY MR. FRASER IN OTTAWA

(Official News Service.) OTTAWA, July 1,. ' The principles for which the men of the United Nations have fought and died and the debt that that is owed them by the living were spoken of by the Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, in the Canadian Houses of Parliament today with an air of sincerity and depth of feeling that brought his audience to their feet with loud applause. He spoke-before a joint assembly of the Senate and Commons and crowded public galleries, and he told them of his satisfaction with -the progress of the war, his confidence in the future, and his “serious aud earnest” insistence that the sacrifices which were making victory possible must not be in vain. Mr. Fraser reiterated what he has said often in London —that it was the declarer! policy of the United Kingdom and the Dominion that they were not out for aggrandizement or to conquer or dominate anybody. They were out to free man-y kind! The nations that had been overcome by the enemy must be fully restored, and so must their territories, be restored in whatever sea they might be. Otherwise the very foundations of truth would be shaken and would fall, and there would be no resting place for honour in the world. . “The principles of the Atlantic Charter are not platitudes; they are principles that must be honoured, because thousands have died for them,” he said. “I heard it said once that there were two kinds of enemies of progress—the ones who stood still and looked backward, and the others who looked forward and stood still. After the last war promises were made in good.faith, but as the years came and went, instead of those promises being fulfilled there grew up an overwhelming sense of impossibility, and overpowering feeling that ‘it could not be done,’ and so instead of enthusiasm on the part of th e people, specially the young people who had fought the war, we had cynicism and disappointment and despair. Fruits of Victory. ‘“We must give faith this time to our young people. We must tell them that as they have fought and as they will win the war, so will they help garner the fruits of victory. If that is not done there can be no doubt that the forces or despair will develop into reaction, and once more the ground will be ripe for the seeds of Nazism and Fascism and democracy’s chance will be finally gone. “There are conferences being held to help the world toward a better day—conferences on commercial questions, monetary and financial matters, and food production —conferences that do much credit to the good heart of the democracies. There would be a black outlook for the world unless the mass of the people feel that in return for their efforts on land and sea and air, in workshops and on farms, in mines and factories, the new world is to be made a reality, and that the leaders of the nations were in earnest when they preached, fundamental democracy—not only political democracy, but educational, economic and social democracy.” Thirty youug New Zealand air trainees were among Mr. Fraser’s listeners in the gallery of the House. He and Mrs. Fraser met them later when they attended a reception given by the actingHigh Commissioner, Mr. R. M. Firth, and Mrs. Firth. During their two days stay in Ottawa the Frasers are the guests of the Governor-General, the Earl of Athlon?, and Princess Alice at Government House.