The proposal to form an organisation to be called Friends
of Atlantic Union, with Sir Hartley Shawcross and Professor Lionel Robbins among its more prominent sponsors, is certainly well-intentioned, but it is by no means so certain that it is well-conceived. The world, and this country in particular, is pullulating with organisations, and anyone bent on starting a new one must furnish convincing reasons for the diversion of time and 'energies and money which the addition to the existing mass must inevitably entail. Is this organisation really necessary ? There are numbers of organisations which include Atlantic Union within their pro- gramme of still wider union. In particular it is of the first importance to broaden N.A.T.O. till it makes for a general understanding—cultural, social, economic, as well as military— between the United States and Western (indeed, more than Western) Europe. The Association for International Under- standing, or certain of its leading members, took a wise step some months ago in organising a study conference, to be held at Oxford in September, on the Atlantic community, with a special view to making clear the full implications of the North Atlantic Treaty. This development of an existing organisation seems preferable in many ways to the creation of a new one. Actually Americo-European understanding can be better furthered by the Press than by any official or unofficial body, and individuals of weight can do more to stimulate the Press to that than any avowedly propagandist organisation can.
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