MAJOR ROAD AHEAD
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—A member of the Government is reported to have said, "halt, major road ahead." These words were addressed to a member of a neighbouring country, but I think it might be well to address them to ourselves. This feverish preparation for war must result in the disaster we are all so anxious to avoid. There are the same appeals being made to everything within us that is base and utterly loathsome, and—most criminal of all forms of deception—these appeals are, as twenty-five years ago, uttered as if demanding of us that which is highest. It is imperative that before it is too late steps should be taken to replace this spirit of hatred by one of love and understanding. Honesty to examine ourselves is necessary, and to see what contribution we can make to secure world peace and happiness.
Our contribution may be hard to make, but we must make it if we are determined that absolute honesty is to be our guiding principle. If we are agreed that, in spite of sugges- tions to the contrary, present world conditions are due to economic factors, we must solve those problems. None of us would willingly acquiesce in the claim to possession of property gained by improper methods, and I am convinced that few have studied the colonial question from that standpoint. Claims to possession of colonies gained by force of arms or by financial exploitation cannot be recognised by those governed by a sense of honesty and Christian morality. It is not only desirable, but demanded by us, that we urge the calling of a world conference to arrange that the world's essential commodities shall be used for the benefit of the whole of mankind, not for the financial profit of a few.
This conference would be easy to arrange, as would the setting up of a permanent committee, on the lines of the I.L.O. for distribution of commodities.
The continual accusation of others—in my lifetime Oom Paul (Kruger), the Kaiser, Hitler and Mussolini—can never result in peace, and it is our duty to discover wherein we constitute a menace to world peace, and having made the dis- covery, see to it that we reform ourselves.—Yours, &c.,
R. D. LITTLECHILD.
46 Harvey Goodwin Avenue, Cambridge.
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