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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 8, 1944)
8 THE NEBRASKAN Friday, December 8, 1944 Peace Conference Previews BY PROF. L. V. LANCASTER (Editor's Note: This is the first of a series of articles by UN professors to help acquaint stu dents with the background neces sary lor creating the coming miniature peace conference.) CAN PEACE BE SECURED THRU ORGANIZATION? In a sense, this question can be answered by the single word, yes i know, nowever, that this is no answer at all unless a very long footnote is added to the "Yes." So far as we may be said now to have peace between men and communities and nations, that condition depends upon some sort of machinery, some arrangement of devices which make peace pre ferable to conflict, or which at any rate make conflict relatively harmless. Courts are good ex amples of such machinery. They do not prevent conflict; what they do is to see that conflict is con ducted by argument and not by battle-axes or pistols or howitzers. People still like to quarrel or, at any rate, they still think they can get something by quarreling but they are compelled to do it by rules which they are content to obey with a minimum of grumbl ing. The constitution of the United States is another sort of machine an amazingly delicate disposi tion of forces designed to regu larize the incipient quarrels of units with a memory of an earlier "sovereignty"' and a good deal of local pride. I do not need to point out that the record of neither of these or ganizations has been perfect. In the case of the first, persons oc casionally "take the law into their own hands" and resort to force to get what they think the law will not give them. In the second in stance, well, there was the war between the States. Must Have Power. The inference for international affairs to be drawn from these examples is fairly clear. If an in ternational organization is to be effective in preventing war, I think it must be given power to handle precisely those matters over which controversy normally leads to war. For if individuals resort to personal vindication of their "rights" when the sense of injury is overwhelming, this is even more true of national states endowed as they are with that mystical but potent property called "sovereignty." To date the only successful examples of in ternational co-operation have been in those fields with respect to which there is a general con sensus as to desirable ends com munications, port and river ad ministration, and so forth and out of which armed conflict is not likely to arise in any case. I do not know that this area of general agreement has been enlarged to any significant degree. On the contrary, I am inclined to think that the current war has made nations even more "touchy" than they were before about sov ereignty" and "national honor." If this is correct, it means that the task of statesmen in finding an area of agreement will be more difficult than it has been in the past. 'Sovereignty is Drawback. What this. comes to, I suppose, is that any truly hopeful organ ization for keeping the peace will be very hard to maintain as long as the present system ot sov ereign" national states exists. Since I see no prospect of this system changing radically in the near future, I am skeptical as to the promises of a "just and last ing peace" so widely expressed by orators and statesmen. As I see it, peace in the future will be pre served by the use of force or at least by the probability that force will be used by those possessing it. This means that peace is the result of a balance of power. By this term I understand such a recognition of the rights and in fluence of those likely to break i the peace as will seem to them to embody substantial justice. Such a recognition of rights demands of the possessors of power a wis dom and a forbearance in its use not always forthcoming. But so long as the world consists of three score nations each conscious of its rights, its legal equality and its "sovereignty," I see no other way to organize the world for any thing like order. My own best hope is that the victors in the present war may put it beyond the power of our enemie to make war in the calculable future and in the meantime seize every op portunity to remove pretexts for the latters' taking the law into their own hands. If it be said that the balance of power does not keep the peace, my answer would be that it has done it better than any other device. This does not mean that inter national organizations for ends less vital than the preservation of peace are not worth while. If they did nothing more than habituate men s minds to the idea of con ference and debate and the ap plication of reason, they would be important in preparing men for more daring ventures. This Week . . . (Continued from Page 1.) that this difference will be as easily settled as all former ones. Churchill's government is meet ing more bitter opposition in par liament on the question of Greece. Clashes between British troops and Elas, the militia of left-wing EAM, have occurred in Athens as a result of British insistence that Elas be disbanded by Dec. 10. Eden has announced a full-dress debate of the crisis in Greece for Friday. After having approved Stettin- ius as new secretary of state to replace Hull, who resigned be cause of ill health, the senate Wednesday rebelled by declining to act immediately upon President Roosevelt's nominations for four high slate department posts: Joseph E. Grew as undersecre tary; William L. Clayton, assist ant secretary of state in charge of economic affairs; Archibald Mac Leish, assistant secretary in charge of public and cultural affairs, and Nelson Rockefeller, assistant sec retary for American republics. Most of the opposition is aimed at MacLeish, a' member of the inner circle of the white house. The move may be an effort to as sert senate power in determina tion of foreign policy. House passage has sent to Presi dent Roosevelt legislation extend ing the statute of limitations in the Pearl Harbor case until June 7, the time during which legal ac tion or court martial may be in stituted against Short and Kim mel. The action followed reports by separate army and navy in vestigating committees which de clared there were no grounds for courts martial proceedings. Altho final results have not been announced, the air confer ence which met at Chicago did not fulfill completely state depart ment hopes. According to some observers the resignation of A d o 1 p h Berle, who Headed the American delegation, as assistant secretary may have been partially due to U. S. failure to attain its obiec tives, as well as due to a desire to let Stettinius form his own de partment. Berle may be given a post as ambassador. On the third anniversary of Pearl Harbor, allied troops were advancing on all fronts except in China. U. S. troops have been particularly active in the Saar under Patton and on Leyte under MacArthur. Authorized Electric Sharer Service Sal Sbavenastar wi Bcaaiagtaa New Fart, f rrt astiautea. Baaaat war (aclarv traiara aaaa. Om day aarriea. 14S 8. IS S-7M4 of Dollars from Heaven . . . Money saved by having your clothes cleaned at FlightTraining Government Approved School Flight lessons arranged at the Union Air Terminal by ap pointment. Night classes for ground school instruction. 2415 O Street Phone 6-2885 or 2-6124. 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