DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 187, 28 October 1927, Page 14

DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

INTERNATIONAL FOLLY

(Copyright, 1927)

OY the time this article is published it may seem out of date. And yet the general principles of it are true all the time. If the Geneva Conference does not arrive at some satisfactory agreement among the three nations, Japan, Great Britain and the United States, for the limitation of armaments on sea, it will be an instance of almost incredible international folly. As has been repeatedly pointed out, the matter of international armament is after all one of ratio and not of an absolute amount. If all nations would agree, each one could have 200 battleships as well as 1,000. The trouble comes when one nation has a preponderance of arms over the other. Previous to the Great War there was a spirit of rivalry among the nations. England and Germany were pitted against each other, both striving to build the largest ships. There is no end to this. Every nation in the is trying to be the most perfectly armed. Not only are the United States and Great Britain, Japan and France struggling, but they compel the other and poorer nations to take part in the contest. Preparedness is economically almost as disastrous as war. In Italy at present the conditions are alarming and there is much unemployment, the exports are steadily dropping off in value and the debts are enormous. Things are not much better in other countries. There is a vast horde of unemployed in England, France is complaining about her debts to the United States and Germany is groaning under her burdens. And now they propose to increase all this trouble by acting to the cost of armament. What for? No nation can be prepared against all the world and nothing but national pride, tradition and stubbornness prevents the nations from getting together and all agreeing to a reduction' all around. Mutual agreement is a much better preparation against war than individual armament. ’ Every country should protect itself, but it secures better protection by world agreement than it ever can secure by independent bellicosity. Every war, every strike, every lock-out is a blow to business. Everybody is injured. Men pay an enormous price for vain isolation.