QUESTIONS FOR AMERICA

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 50, 22 November 1937, Page 6

QUESTIONS FOR AMERICA

Shall we Amerlcaus creep into tke isolationisfc shell? asks Mr Geoffrey Stone in the Nation of New York. Djemocracy will never be tko samo if we do. Shall wo arm to the teetli, match sliip for sliip, cannon for cannon, with the aggressor Powers? A niilitaristic, rogimontcd ,goosestep influence hithe^o absent- from our national life would make its appearance. Shall we support the League or soino other agency of collectivo action ? This, too, requircs a wrench in our- traditional way of thinMng. "Why must we choose? Because we are no longer free, beoause we are not itolated, because forres beyond our eontrol are forcing us io chooso. In tho context of our time isolation is an unreal ,a classroom solution. I think the road that offers tho least change, thc bcst chance of peace, the greatest possibility of preserving the free institutions that, with all their frequent Ihpses from the ideal, remain our proud possession, is the path of international co-operation, Democracy depends in large part on the freedom of the market which is international. The international market is being destroyed by fear of war, the haste of nations to make themselves self-sufficient. Political security is necessary for economic security, for the revival of international trade, for the easing of nationalistic hatreds. it can come only through international co-opera-tion. The weight of our power might "turn the trick, bait the aggressor nations, prevent war. Nothing elge. c? c