A Misconceived Agitation The agitation about the so-called National Declaration -
argues some perversity and considerable lack of pro- portion: Three reasons for the declaration are put' forward by the organizers. Whatever its result. it will set the average citizen of this country thinking on the responsibilities of the country as a member of the League. If the i-epliet are numerous and predominantly favourable' it will demonstrate to the world this country's unshaken faith in the League at a moment when considerable pessimism regarding the League's future is rife, and at the same time strengthen the hands of the consistent supporters of the League- in Parliament and in the Cabinet. All that is obviously to the good. What is there to set against it ? Apart from the question on the private manufacture of armaments, which a great many people would hesitate to answer with a simple Yes or a simple No, potential signatories are simply asked their view about certain provisions of the Covenant and a proposal—for the all-round abolition of national military and naval aircraft—which the British Government itself put forward at Geneva, subject to the important proviso (with which signatories arc quite free to qualify their answers) that some scheme for the international control of civil aircraft must be evolved. The ballot itself could at the worst not do half the harm that the con- troversy stirred up in regard to it may.
