& urope
Plays
with
Her
Destiny”
They meet at
Geneva to
decide the
world’s
destiny.
International
Newsreel
Arms Parley 70 Decide he World's Fate
By ARTHUR S. MAXWELL
Our Special Correspondent at Geneva
EBRUARY 2nd, 1932. Mark the date well.
| Europe plays with her destiny.”
So wrote M. Paul Boncour in Le Journal
of Paris, referring to the opening of the
great Disarmament Conference.
But more than the fate of Europe is at
stake. Civilization is making its last stand at
Geneva. With almost superhuman efforts, mankind
is struggling to save itself from the overwhelming
catastrophe that it sees looming up ahead.
As I have listened during the past ten days to the
utterances of the leading statesmen of the nations—
to Sir John Simon, Mr. Gibson, Dr. Bruening, M.
Tardieu, Sgr. Grandi, M. Litvinoff, and many
others, I have been more deeply impressed than
ever before that we are living on the eve of world-
shattering events.
Not one of these men has failed to point out that
if this Conference fails to reach its objectives there
is nothing to prevent a new race for armaments,
another world war, and universal revolution.
This amazing, unprecedented gathering of the
nations is one of the most remarkable signs of our
times. And the enormous importance of its results
to every man, woman, and child on the earth de-
mands that it should receive the closest attention.
PAGE TWELVE
The fate of millions of homes and families is being
decided here.
For many years we have been looking for the
day when all nations would gather together and say,
“Let us beat our swords into ploughshares and our
spears into pruning hooks.”
We need look no further for the fulfillment of our
expectations. That time has come.
I do not claim to understand in every detail
that strange and wonderful prophecy in the second
chapter of Isaiah, but I do know that here at Geneva,
amid the mountains of central Europe, all nations,
for the first, and probably the last time in history,
have come together to say, ‘Let us not learn war
any more."
It is most remarkable that no nation or state of
any size or importance has failed to send delegates.
Not only does one find all the Great Powers repre-
sented, but also all the South American republics,
the Balkan States, and places like Liberia, Haiti,
and Costa Rica. According to the estimate of the
president, Mr. Arthur Henderson, more than
1,700,000,000 people have their spokesmen at this
meeting, or 95 per cent of the world’s population.
Come with me to the Salle du Conseil General
and let me reveal this extraordinary assembly to
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