"GIRD LOINS FOR PEACE"

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 788, 8 October 1929, Page 9

"GIRD LOINS FOR PEACE"

MACDONALD’S APPEAL TO SENATORS EARNEST AND ELOQUENT Australian and N.Z. Press Association (United Service.) Reed. 1.45 p.m. WASHINGTON, Mon. Mr. MacDonald, on his return to Washington, was greeted by a special session of the House of Representatives, briefly meeting each member present. He stated that bis presence in the American legislative halls made him feel again “how close akin we are.”

The Speaker of the House, Mr. Nicholas Longworth, returned from his home in Cincinatti for the occasion. Mr. MacDonald next visited the Senate, where he made an appeal to “gird our loins for peace.” He spoke in a very friendly manner. He stuck his thumb in his vest. His tone was soft and pleasing, and he glanced occasionally at his notes on the Vice-President’s desk. He smiled broadly. The dominating theme of his address was that the signing of the Kellogg Pact had brought a new understanding among the nations. Mr. MacDonald filled the Chamber with applause, with a declaration that the Kellogg Treaty would stand out like a monument in history. . . . “Deep down in my heart is a conviction that nothing will ever remove, that the many understandings, small but so deplorably effective, that have grown up and are existing between us, do not belong to the substance of things, but belong to appearances of the substance. 1 have come full of faith to try to reduce the misunderstandings to substance, because I know when that is done all misunderstandings will be completely charmed away. “I have come in consequence of one great event, which I believe will stand up like a monument in history. That event was the signing of the pact of peace at Paris, iu the construction of which America played such a magnificent and such an honourable part. “An American united with France, j Mr. Kellogg alongside M. Briand, gave | the word that renewed the hope and j energy which is encouraging us to I gird our loins together with more | determination than ever before and | pursue the path of peace. | "Where do 1 find the great differ- ] ence that the signature of that pact \ has made? It is this: You signed it; i we signed it; other nations signed it. When they put their names, or the name of their representatives, at the bottom of that pact, did they mean it to be merely an expression on paper, j or did they mean it to be a guiding [ idea, in policy. We mean it to be a S guiding idea in our policy, i “Speakers in our country and J speakers in your country innumerable | times have said that war between the I United Spates and Britain is unthink- : able. What has hapened, what has ! made a great change in the prospects of peace, is this, that up to now the \ proclamation has never been made | solemnly, with all dignity, all the authority and all the backing that can 1 be given when two Governments and ! the representatives of two Govern-

ments made it. I think, Senators of the United States, that that declaration can be made now. “There can be no war. Nay, more, it is absolutely impossible, if you and we do our duty in making the peace pact effective, that any section of our arms, whether on land or sea or in the air, can ever again come into hostile conflict. Think upon that. “When we face many of our own problems they all disappear, and in virtue of the fact that they have disappeared, we have met together, and we have said. ‘What is all this bother about parity?’ . . . Take it without reserve, heaped up and flowing over. That was the only condition under which competitive armaments could be stopped, and we could create a public psychology which could pursue fruitful and successful avenues of peacefril co-operation. That is one o£ the results of this visit. Another result is that we have come to understand each other.”