TERMS FOR PEACE

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21371, 15 March 1941, Page 4

TERMS FOR PEACE

HITLERISM MUST GO OPINION IN UNITED STATES A writer in the Christian Science Monitor says:— There is a case for peace—yes, peace as soon as it can be consummated. There is no case for peace negotiations, however, with Hitler or his Fascist clique. That’s because Hitler believes in opportunism and not in morality. That’s because the Hitler philosophy is to argue that the end justifies the means and that a word or pledge given yesterday can be erased tomorrow through expediency and self-interest. The case for peace now rests on the broad, civilised foundation of common sense and sound reason. It assumes that sooner or later there must be an end to the war and a just peace established. It assumes, moreover, that a mere military decision does not mean a lasting peace. History has already recorded the sad truth that the only enduring peace must be a “peace without victory.” This writer would like to make a different kind of suggestion, namely, that the particulars about boundaries and territories be side-tracked for the present and that we establish what might be called the principles of a peace movement. These are: First, the British Government should announce formally and the United States should formally concur in the statement that there can be no peace or peace negotiations in the world as long as the present rulers of Germany remain in power. Ownership of Territories Second, that the United States Government will accept the position of trustee and preside over the de- ' liberations of each of a series of ! councils that must be set up to dej termine the ultimate ownership or sovereignty of the territories and colonies wrested from Germany at Versailles and the territories since wrested from Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Poland, Czechoslovakia and France by the Nazis. Third, the United States should announce that it will offer constructive aid of a financial and economic 'character to rebuild Europe and world trade. Fourth, that the United States act in a similar capacity as trustee in the Far East where the JapaneseChinese conflict must be resolved. Fifth, peoples everywhere must be released from bondage and given freedom of worship, freedom of speech, and freedom of information, and a government derived from the consent of the governed. These principles can be supple- ! mented by evidences of good faith I and reassurance to the people of I Germany. When the people of Ceni tral Europe have something better to turn to than Hitler and Hitlerism they will overthrow their dictators, and this will be equally true in Italy. Sense of Justice What we need is to reach into each other’s hearts and minds. We have here in America millions of German human beings. We know their worth and their sense of justice. Over in Europe are men and women just like them if we would only seek to reach them with kindliness instead of hate, with proposals that will win 1 their trust instead of their distrust, j with programmes that seem to give | them a chance for life in a distracted | economic world. i Let us start all over again in the j simple ways that peace comes to us ! in our homes, in our neighbourhoods, iin our own national sphere—-by ; proving- our readiness to be fair and ; by being willing—even at great sac- | rifice—to answer in the affirmative I the age-old cry, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” _