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NO. 3,169,
PER= WEDNESDAY,FEBRIIIARY i8, 19{8.
P1i110E TSRElPENCl.
. SEVENTYBlCOND YlAR,
American hierarchy Condemn ... "Tragic fallacy of Power Politics" , Causes of War referred to False Philosophy Divorced from Morals Freedom From Hatred,Greed. Public opinion in our country can exert a tremendous influence in making the peace and determining the manner of international collaboration for its maintenance . If public opinion is indifferent or uninformed,' we shall run the risk of a bad peace and perhaps return to the tragedy of "power politics," which in the past di• vided nations and sonved the seeds of war. If public opinion is alert and informed ,we can have a lasting peace and security . It is imperative that all our citizens recognise their respon• sibility in the making and mainten• ance of the peace . They must inform themselves on the issues and form their judgments in the light of sound reason and our Christian democratic traditions. They must free themselves from hatred, from distrust, from the spirit of mere expediency, from national greed , and from indifference to right in the use of might, and they must form their judgments on the basis of stern objective realities.
No Confidence in Peace Not Based on Atlantic Charter *No Nation Must Judge Its Own Case There has been quick and general recognition that the statement on the International Order issued by the Bishops of the United States recently, is one of the most powerf ul documents to come out of the war period, and one that goes straight to the heart of the world' s desperate longing for an e8ective,just peace. Giving concise counsels that are stern,yet calm, the statement was made in the names of all the Bishops, at the annual meeting at the Catholic University at Washington, and was signed by the ten members of the Administrative Board of the National Catholic Welfare Conference. • In general,it utterly condemned "power politics," demanded a ptteae with the (Atlantic Charter as its keystonle, recolmanended an International Organisation with all nations included,and , with a strong World Court, insisted on rights of weak nations ,asserted the principle that no nation within its own borders may infringe the innate rights of men and families, and counselled that judgements be formed based on "Christian democratic traditions."
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official Answer of Church. It was observed bythe Bishops that following the Dumbarton Oaks pro• posals for an international organise. (ion for peace and security ,the Secretary of State asked the leaders of na• tional thought and opinion to discuss these proposals " in the spirit of constructive effort." This, then, is the united, considered answer of the highest authorities of the Catholic Church in the country. Moreover , it was in answer, the statement itself said, to questions uppermost in the minds of the men of the armed forces and of the masses of citizens of the country , and in evidence of good fault to "our heroes .. . in this war of freedom" and to future generations. "We have no confidence in a peace • which does not carry into effect, without reservations or equivocations, the principles of the Atlantic Charter;" • was the vigorous assertion of the Bis• hops. The " tragic fallacy of ' power poli• tics'," was excoriated,with its balance of power, spheres of influence, and puppet governments, ' •
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War Blamed on Bad Education. Appeal was made that the peoples free themselves "from hatred, from distrust , from the spirit of mere ex• pediency, from national greed, and from indifference to right in'the use of might." The American people were told they must face "stern objective realities." "This war came largely f rom bad education ;" Raid the Bishops and not " unlettered men," but " scholars" were responsible . It arose, they said, out of•a false educational philosophy which discarded moral principles.
"International law must govern in* ternational institutions ," declared the statement in endorsing an inter• national institution which would in elude all nations, " large and small, strong and weak :" The constitution of this organisation must be demo. cratic. There was condemnation of " selfish monopolistic control of raw materials;" and the Bishops insisted that the world lanes of commerce and communication be kept open . The international organisation must also see to guarantee concerning weak nations, and that poor nations have the neces• nary economic resources. Innate Rights of Men. The World Court should be "strict. ly judicial," said the statement, and there should be a codification of inter• national law . Obligatory arbitration must be brought about when peace is threatened . The international institution must never violate national sov. ereignties. Within the State , national sovereignty "is limited by the innate rights of men and families;" asserted the Bishops,and the international in. stitution should demand that "every nation guarantee in law and respect in fact the innate rights of men, families and minority groups in their civil and religious life:" It was warned that otherwise there would be a con• stant thread against peace. "It is a Christian hope we want to realise ;" the statement avers of the efforts for a sound peace at the end of the war. The statement concluded, by quoting President Roosevelt when he said: "We shall win this war and in victory we shall seek riot vengeance but the
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This war came largely from bad education . It was not brought on by primitives or unlettered peoples. The establishment of an international order contemporary philosophy which asin which the spirit of Christ shall rule serts the right of aggression is the the hearts of men and of nations:" creation of scholars . Discarding moral The text of the statement follows: principles and crowding . God out of We have met the challenge of war. human life, scholars produced the monShall iwe meet the challenge of peace? strous philosophies which ,embodied in This is the question uppermost in political and social systems, enslave the minds of men everywhere who in human reason and destroy the' consuffering and hardship have stood out sciousness of innate human rights and against ruthless aggression . The men duties . In these systems the notion of our armed (Drees the masses of our of the common good is utterly distortcitizens, our leaders, all want to be ed; it is no longer conceived as the true to our heroes who have given so consequence of the common enjoyment much , some even their lives, in this of rights and the common discharge war for freedom. They want to be of duties,but the creation of the cap• true as well to future generations on rice of a dictator or a group or a whom we have been forced to place a party. The gilded dreams of a new heavy burden as the price for their era, which these systems heralded. freedoms. Honestly, earnestly we have proved to be a hideous nightmare. want to garner from the sacrifices If we are to have a just and lasting hardships and losses which have gone peace, it must be the creation of a into this war , the full fruits of victory, sane realism ,which has a clear vision in a good peace. The foremost pro• of the moral law, a reverent acknowblem in postwar planning is how to ledgment of God its Author, and a secure for ourselves and all the world recognition of the oneness of the a just and lasting peace. human race underlying all national Recently representatives of the distinctions. United States, the United Kinkdom, ,Atlantic Charter.Without Equivocathe Soviet Union ,and China at Dum• tions. barton Oaks formulated and present• We have no confidence in a peace ed to their governments broad tentawhich does not carry into effect, withtive proposals for an international orout reservations or equivocations, the ganisation for " the maintenance of principles of the Atlantic Charter, We peace and securit y and the creation of feel, too that it should provide assistconditions which make for peace. ance for prostrate nations in recon• "These proposals have been given to structing their economic, social and the public for full study and discuspolitical institutions. If justice is sion by peoples of all countries. Our compromised , if unreasonable concesown Secretary of State has expressed sions are made to might, grievances the hope that leaders of our national will hankie in the hcwom of aggrieved thought and opinion will discuss them (Continued on Page 17,) in the spirit of constructive effort.
E. LUISINI
Retistered at the G. P.O. Perth,for transmission by post as • oawap•pa.
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