ISOLATION AND PEACE

The blessings of peace are so apparent, the terrors of war so appalling that it is small wonder Americans are prone to let the wish be parent to the thought and to dream of isolation from terrestrial troubles. If it is possible for America to withdraw behind her coastline while the world rushes to destruction, it would be a convincing moral argument indeed which would persuade us to leave that sanctuary. But if, in the end, we are to be dragged, however unwillingly, into the conflict, it is shortsighted policy which prevents us from exerting our tremendous force on the side of those governments whose manifest desires, altruistic or not, are for continued peace.

Attempts at isolation necessarily involve curtailment of our foreign trade activities, if not complete cessation of them. What will the American cotton farmer say when his markets are destroyed, when he sees prices skyrocketed outside the country while they crumble within? What will laborers say when wages fall and prices rise? Who elect our Congressmen, anyway? The more efficient our control of foreign commerce becomes, the greater the internal pressures which rise up behind those barriers to destroy them. The dream of isolation, upon which rests the arguments of keeping hands off, is sheer moonshine.

If we let a major fight start, we're sure to go in. Our best chance is in the policy toward which our government is moving, to apply our pressures wherever possible upon the side where, they will tend to repress aggressive action, realizing that to be effective in this desperate game means being not afraid to call a bluff when it is made. The best way to stay out of war is not being afraid to go into it. --The Yale News.