Show kathleen athle en norris says war Is eternally a mystery to worten women bell syndicate service r 40 4 ve 1 0 A b women il if they had anything to say about it never would permit the nations thy th y represent to go to war it 11 a natural thing to them as it is to men by KATHLEEN NORRIS OMEN if they had anything ago WOMEN to say about it it never would go to war they never would permit the nations they represent to go to war it a natural thing to them as it is to men we W e think women have pretty well established their rights as citizens in the last 50 years but it will be another years before they are given any voice in guiding the affairs of state no woman was consulted or quoted in the prel preliminaries imin aries of the fire that is consuming europe today no woman in the world is powerful enough to have said anything that would have been in Muen fluen bial it was men all men who wrote the notes and flew fl ew the channel and laid down the terms of the ul tima tums men say they hate war deplore it they say that they love peace and having said this they do nothing no th for 20 years except lament the senseless slaughter that wrecked so many of their own lives and lay plans for the future slaughter that will destroy their sons when international trouble starts we hear a great deal of peace there are special prayers tor for it important statesmen and diplomats still hope for peace newspapers headline it from day to day it is coming it is not coming it is fading it is strengthening and our frightened despondent hearts keep time we will pay anything tor for peace except honor said an imposing editorial the other day like m most ost talk in wartime this was a flat lie nobody is ever willing to pay anything for peace everyone feels and every nation feels that peace ought to be tree free like water and air wart can cost billions and nobody murmurs but appropriate one billion for peace and we ohp a have up roar peace could haab been bought for the world at any time during the 20 years since the armistice was signed r if it had been bought 10 years ago naturally we never would have heard of adolf hitler he would today have been an elderly obscure house painter in some small austrian town to wn intolerable conditions but we all went merrily on letting the conquered nations suffer shame and starvation and despair not one nation offered her back a single inch of her confiscated lands not one nation stood as her hei friend it if we had made an appeal for her and backed it with just one of the billions we have wasted on armament since that time we might have changed the history of the world we might have started a new style in international relationships A style dimly patterned upon the one great pattern of forgiving your enemies doing good to them that hate you and despitefully use you she may resist bombs and guns today she could not have resisted help and friendship that would have broken her hardened heart softened her won her but the world so dramatically clamorous for peace never cared enough for that peace to buy it to pay tor for it the pulpits that call themselves the voice of christ were silent except for a general plea for world pe peace ace general pleas are not jI liddle europe is soaked deep in young blood and has been or years vl enough there must be a purpose and a plan behind them A war sick world would have accepted any plan that seemed to lead to permanent peace the women of the world would have been passionate in their gratitude to whomever had proposed it it was the great opportunity of the churches and they never saw it they never saw that times have changed that we have all lost faith in murder and hate that we are willing to sacrifice our children and ana homes and wealth today only for a higher ideal than the ideal of war why was there no committie committee working faithfully and patiently through all these years upon an honest no more than that a generous adjustment of all the claims of all the nations that might years ago have been formed into a prosperous secure steadily disarming united states of europe why was wai no map drawn to be submitted in turn to all the countries to lie be altered discussed to be balanced by a compensating pen sating gift of an island here and a port there by a trade concession and a money grant until everyone was satisfied and the boundaries of each and everyone settled tor for ever nothing like that was suggested middle europe is soaked deep in young blood and has been for years apparently there is no such thing as mutual respect and understanding over there they win will waste life and waste money but every country will continue to grab whatever she can when a war ends and cling to that stolen property fiercely ax ai long ling as she has a son left to iare k a gun when alen this war ends wont some oe 0 e over there draw a map and let us all help to make it a reality it if we had to buy one nation an island and give another oil lands and compensate a third with a billion or two in endless credit it would be so cheap such a map respected for a span of 20 or 30 years would come to be a fixture just as our states boundaries are our 70 different races and nationalities have learned to live in peace we are not eternally surging over each others borders to steal and destroy to be sure we have a central government ern ment but so might europe have we send representatives to washington and she might have her washington i too and her international houses of parliament there Is nothing fantastic or unrealizable in this idea hate destroys but love builds in all affection affect ionI I 1 wish we could begin now to construct the new united states ackois across the seas it could soon grow to such strength that no one notion nation could break it and when that happy day came we could begin to disarm and enter upon an existence tree free from fear an existence not very tar far from that kingdom for which we daily pray otherwise europe confesses to the world her inability to manage her own affairs the strongest nations are not strong enough and must cry out but for help the wisest nations are not wise enough to produce men who can formulate a plan whereby this deplorable waste and agony can be averted ever ted if I 1 were a citizen 0 of any european country I 1 would feel bitterly ashamed 0 of f the tear fear weakness helplessness and stupidity that result in these continual outbursts of unavailing hate yes the only way out is a PLAN let somebody make it and let us at least discuss it let the nations that dont like it say so and then perhaps somebody will have an inspiration I 1 and offer them this concession or that compensation lets argue about it quarrel about it hear what stalin and mussolini and chamberlain and hitler all think about it lets change aang it aada adapt P t it and finally through the th grace g r 0 of f th the e prince of peace lets adopt it create the U S of europe and egin begin to disarm |