OCR Text |
Show Preparedness Is a Symptom of International Non-Cooperation By MISS RUTH MORGAN, National League of Women Voters. Why does military and naval preparedness enter into any modern discussion of foreign policies? For one reason, because it is the outstanding out-standing sympton of international non-co-operation. Every new demand for increased preparedness, every danger suggested and every suspicion aroused echoes and re-echoes in other countries. What one nation does compels the action of another country. What is done on other continents influences our military and naval plans. So long as one nation prepares to attack, we must prepare to defend. But we can restrict ourselves in alarms, in hates, and even in preparations, not only for the sake of ourselves, but for the sake of the rest of the world. We can with consistency prepare to defend ourselves in the) remote contingency of our being attacked and at the same time go ahead ta build a system of world order of which our nation shall be a part. In this field we have the leadership of great statesmen and responsible heads of governments the world over and President Coolidge has offered us the most emphatic leadership for this double responsibility. We can back his disarmament plans and we should do so in the most whole-hearted fashion. |