THE PRESS AND PEACE IN THE PACIFIC

Otaki Mail, 27 February 1922, Page 4

THE PRESS AND PEACE IN THE PACIFIC

VIEWS OF THE LATE HENRY STEAD.

Stead's, of February 4, publishes a paper written by the late Henrv .Stead for the Pan-Pacific Press Con-

ference ai Honolulu. Remarking that . the world's centre has shifted from Europe to the Pacific, the writer appealed to Governments and to the controllers of the Press to work for • better understanding among the- na--1 tions. "Millions of dollars are spent 'on building gigantic superdreacluoughts which will be obsolete in tlve years," Mr Ste>ad wrote, "but not one dollar is set aside with the object of promoting better relations between ' the na.tions. getting them to know each other better, thus making war . less likely. It was a weLl known American statesman who, at a time of I crisis prior to the late war, declared: I 'Give me the price of a single battleship, and I will undertake lo make ; this threatened struggle impossible.' •■Just suppose lor a moment that the Administration were to set aside no more than one per cent ol its war i appropriations for use in peace proI paganda: Why .there- would l>e no i war! Tn.-rlay it costs at. least 25,000,OOOdollars to buiiu a dreadnought. What could not be done wtih one per cent, of that huge sum for the cause of peace.' But no Government at pre- ' sent set* aside even u.l per cent oi . its war expenditure for peace purposes." . . . ".What is needed in every country is a Ministry oi Friendship, , in charge of a man whose duty it j should be to apply 'he grease of truth to the international machinery when the triction between its pans becomes acute." . . . "We are, 1 think, all seized, with the fact that wars are almost always dye to misunderstandi ings which, had time permitted, couiu | have been cleared up. But whilst the j machinery for making war is always well oiled, efficient, and up to date, no special machinery for preserving peace ..sxtsi.- at all. It. =eems to m« 1 that we migijt v.el/ work for the seti ting up oi such machinery, eu:<l urge, ! our respective governments to 3d j aside a mere fraction oi the huge sums ;hey spend on getting ready ior war j to be used ;a bringing a better understanding i/eiween 'Faeific peoples tn I running a campaign of truth to counteract the wild and foolish fuel for misunderstandings and mutual distrust. "But whilst 1 think it is the hounden , duty of governments to systematically work for peace, and not concern themselves only in preparing for war, it will be difficult to bring them to a . realisation of that fact, Meanwhile, --coy. we not do something cilKi-ivas to counteract these lies and rumours which work =>o much mischief in our relations with other Pacific countries We are seveiely handicapped, because we ourselves Jo not know the truth about our neighbours, and not knowing the truth, we cannot contradict the lies. It would be weli if every large newspaper, or group of newspapers, were to have a reliable corlesponaent in each country washed by :he Pacing v no could be relied On to give accurate iiiicrmauon himself, and to refute false news which ;-i~being circulated in the country where he was living about that one where the papers he represented were located. Expense is, oi course, the cmei argument against this plan, but already some of the Austraii&JQ papers bave made a beginning, and a reliable represents the Melbourne Herald in Japan.

- "It is to be hoped that oiher pa- j pers will follow suit. Bui correspondents are a luxury which great news-' papers only can indulge in, the lesser • journals have to rely upon what 'they- S'et from the large dailies, and from chanC?- lexers. The Pan-P&cihe , Union, which has' 1-ready done muiJi to promote a better feeling & • the Pacific, might he of use here." j