The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1927. OUTLAWING WAR.

Hokitika Guardian, 22 September 1927, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1927. OUTLAWING WAR.

At Geneva the Third Commission deal--1 ing with the disariuaiiient question, 1 accepted I:l.Polish propcsal outlawing | war. This 0 obviously a ten ot importance to Europe where the nations are so prone to fly at each others’ throats. How far the nations will observe the formal resolution i.s another matter. But all the same the nations are not likely to he lulled into false security by reason of the decision, and they are sure to lie as watchful of each other as heretofore. In the present dispute between Hungary and Roiimaniu in regard to boundaries the war spirit is there, and but for the relieving influence of the League of Nations debating the position, doubtless the two nations would have boon at each other long cro this. Great Britain earlier had made a pronouncement on the subject of tho burial of the war hatchet with the United States which it is interesting to recall at this stage. “For ourselves,” said Sir Austen Chamberlain, Foreign Secretary, in an address in the British House of Commons 011 July Ist., “I hope that between the United States and this country, war iff already outlawed—not on paper, but in the hearts and souls of every citizen. I know it is in Clio hearts and souls of every citizen of this country. I hope it i.s equally so in the great Republic of the United States of America.” Sir Austen also declared that it was unbearable to believe that there could he any race between the two nations For naval supremacy. It was hardly necessary to make a formal declaration of this character and it was brought out merely in answer to a direct question by a member of the Opposition. Tf there is 0110 sentiment on which America and England are in thorough accord it is that no matter what eventually may arise, they will never tie submitted to the arbitrament of war. There i.s nothing startingly new in this assertion. Perhaps it is superfluous to mention it at all. Rut the whole future of the world is dependent on what is really an unwritten pact that two advanced nations have reached that so far as they are concerned, war is outlawed. As Sir Eisme Howard, the British Ambassador to the United States pointed out in one or more recent addresses, before American audiences, treaties covering the point are unnecessary It is inconceivable that in either country any Government which attempted to go contrary to this sentiment could survive over night. And accord between the two Anglo-Saxon peoples will do more to hold the world peace than is generlly comprehended. No war could he carried on successfully for more than a brief period if the Commonwealth of Nations and the United States set their faces against it. And that is about what either or both nations would do regardless of the underlying causes. The days of brute force are drawing to an end. The ora of entangling alliances is now seen to have been a colossal mistake. The courts and humanity in the future will l>e substituted for them. The two nations have set an example in their relations that the whole world might well follow. In fact, the world may be compelled more or less to follow it. for with opposition to war a common creed of the two most powerful peoples on earth, war becomes an outlaw without further dictum. Assuming this to he a true summary of the international situation, then there is every hope of the Polish proposal being a reality.