Tlie “utterly memoi-abie” liiatory of Bng-
)and eiititled 10€G a^id 411 That by Seller and
Yeatman, Oxon ;it al, refers at one point tc
tlie “sootliin?” meftNC-es of Parlainent in raeet-
iny the challenge of tiio Industrial Eevolution
by j)a.ss;ngr the “Toiy Arts, Factory Acts, Satis
factory Acts and TJnfiatisfacto:’y Acts.”
T "nfortiirsately the chaos engenderc.-d by the
transition from the Indusir.lal Revolution per
iod to t!iat of the Atoniic' Tlevoliition, loaves
very little in the way o:*^ con^roling, but very
hit or miss niej.'ur'';;. I'iais has ran oi'jt otj
tbing-s “soothinsr.” , Today we must choose
(Juii'klj’ and intelligently, one among the sev
eral possible “altejnatives”—that one which
offers at least some guarantee that most of us
will be on hand for subsequent choices.
Yv^liat are the various routes open to v»s
in our day?
1. Y e can allow ourselves to become Commun
ists.
2. We can drift, hoping to avoid war.
3. Y^e can become a completely mechanized,
armed and. decentralized economy and nation.
1. Y^e can make “preventative” war on Russia
today.
4 5. Y^e (?an form a federal world government. ,
with or without Russia.
Y hat are the consequences of each ])ossible
path? .
1. For the T^nited S.tates to l)ecome Communist
requires a monstrous stretch of the imagina
tion, involving incidentally a Ibng drawn out
bloody civil war, and a loss of our civil liber
ties-^-not so good. , '
2. For the United States to drift, as is the pre
sent course, is to build np a supersc'usitivity
to things.communist, dividing the world into
two armed camps wiiich, in the nature of ,
things, overlap. Finally, we will find ourselves
'■ in a strategic position (Greece?) from which
vre cannot back out v/ithout beginniuir to drop
atomic and epidemic bombs—not so good.
3. For the United States to arir;' to the teeth
means decentralization of all major industry
Siiul urban populations, unprofitable to private
'Miferpriso, ai'd so to be undertaken by a super-
New Deal government, with consequent loss
, of civil liberties—a dreary prospect.-
4. We can beat Russia to the draw now, before
she builds any atomic bombs, but as we attack,
lier soldiers will occupy Y^estern Europe'
vrhose cities we would also be forced to oblite
rate, Then -we would have to n:le f>, world
filled with hatred for Americans. Y^e might
not need our vanished moral prestige, however,
in the .subsequent collapse of our economy and
our civil liberties, as avc tried to feed and i;Iothe
tiie whole world—an appalling prospect.
And we can as people of the T'^mted States
petition our Congress to call an Tnteriuitional -
Constitutional Convention, similar to that
which met in 1787, tq delegate from every na-,
tion that measure of sovereignty winch would
constitute a body of International Law in the
area of war-making and prevention-^witli-. jur
isdiction over inftividuids. An'^international
FBI is an intelligejit answer to irresponsible
war agitation and preparation. To date tlie
only international weapon has been the “sanc
tion”, a polite term meaning international an
archy and war.
If Russia does not join at least she ^vill
be grt'atly inhibited from initiating wai% know
ing all- the rest of the woi’ld is united^'under
one responsible . and effective government.
And there,is every indication that stark poli
tical realism governs Soviet policy. Ru.ss'ia .
and the T%itc(l States have everything to gain
fl’om a common allegiance. , France has already
nvr itten in the idea of international govermnent
in her new constitution, and BritafeJs known
to favor the principle.
^ Our country 'is the pivutal force in the
movement eitJier for or against resjionsible.
international governmi nt. If've do not choose
te interrationaline, we will in all probability
■;ow one of the other four roads—all of '
hich lead to inescapable oatastropho, in niv
iiinion. ' '
Y’"e are once again in the situation de-
5r^ribed by-the aforementioned Scllar and Yeaty
•un, apropos of World 'War 1, “Though there
re s- veral battles in tlie Y"ar, none were so
lorriijle or costly as the I’eai^e that was signed
afterwards ...”
If one of the Salem faculty may gently
suggest a couve of action-^it is that all of us
"PT'Tously examine the possible “alternatives”
.^■nd write our Congressmen' our sLiicere cW
r.::ioiis as to wliat course we want onr g>ov-
to follow.
Kobt-rt J. Leach