The Waikat Times SATURDAY, AUGUST 7, 1937. PACTS AND POLICIES.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20266, 7 August 1937, Page 6

The Waikat Times SATURDAY, AUGUST 7, 1937. PACTS AND POLICIES.

The news cabled during the week contained items that must have created a feeling of depression among those who take an interest in the larger issues. President Roosevelt, in a message to Congress, said that he was doing everything in his power to discourage the use of gases and chemicals in warfare, and he hoped that the time would come when “the chemical warfare service can be entirely abolished." On the same day came a report that uninterrupted waves of bombing planes will swoop down on London for three days," the intention being to test the defences of the metropolis against air attack and to ascertain whether “ London can be made another Guernica." The reference was to the Basque town, the seat of the race, that was obliterated by a sustained attack from the air on the part of the rebel forces in Spain. These things call up an awful picture of destruction and carnage, yet the nations are pushing ahead with all possible speed the construction of armaments, and many are taking steps to protect their nationals against aircraft that would spill poison over the large centres of population.

In 1928 there was signed a treaty, known as the Kellogg Pact, which bound the signatories in a solemn pledge. They “ solemnly declare that they condemn recourse to war for the solution of internationl controversies, and renounce it is an instrument of national policy in their relations with one another." They agreed that disputes between them should be settled by peaceful means. This pact was ratified by sixty-five States, and thus had a wider range of support than the League of Nations. But there were reservations, made by several of the leading Powers, and the Pact made Httle if any difference in national policies. The only thing claimed for it is that since it was signed nations bent on aggression have taken care not to declare war. Japan did not declare war on China when it seized Manchuria, and Italy did not declare war when it invaded Abyssinia. Since then there have been efforts to conclude what are called regional pacts, but Httle if any progress has yet been made.

What, it may be asked, is the cause of this wide gulf between the ideals set out in these international agreements and the poHcies of the individual nations? The chief cause seemingly is that in so many countries the people have no voice in the administration of affairs or the control of foreign policy. The menace to world peace does not come from countries where the people—those who would have to suffer in war—can exercise control. It comes, rather, from those States where government is itself based largely, if not entirely, on force, and where war has again become, what the Kellogg Pact say it never would become, “ an instrument of national policy." Visitors who return from Germany all comment on the wonderful friendliness of the people, but that spirit cannot find expression in any national policy. The leaders, imposing a fierce discipline, are determined to create great armaments and the will of the people is of no importance. To-day there is the strange and disturbing spectacle of nations that have pledged themselves to renounce war, “ hoping" that the day will come when they can abolish their military chemical establishments, and experimenting to see whether their cities can be defended against attack from the air. If pacts really represented poHcies this would be a brighter world.