DILEMMA OF DIPLOMACY

With troops marching along European borders, thunderclouds forming over the Saar, Japanese diplomats threatening to serap the Washington Treaty, the eyes of the world are turned to the small knots of statesmen at London and Geneva whose current decisions will materially affect the security and peace of the world. In order to understand the problems which these groups must solve, it is essential to recognize what one writer has called "the dualism of international diplomacy."

In a speech delivered several years ago before the journalists at Geneva, the German Foreign Minister said that every diplomat who comes to international conferences plays two roles. In one role he is the representative of national interests, and it is his duty to safeguard and forward those interests as far as possible. His attention to those demands is continually compelled by the press and political administration in his own country. "National honor" and "American interests" are some of the vague phrases which are hurled at him if he appears to pay too much attention to the intelligent demands of other countries. In the other role, the statesman is the architect of a new international order. It is his duty to examine problems in the light of their possible effect on the peace and security of the world.

Current diplomats appear to have forgotten completely their duties as guardians of international security. Lacking the broad vision of Kellogg, deprived of the stimulating leadership of Briand, their eyes are blinded by selfish nationalism to the pleas of all classes for peace. Saito's uncompromising demands for parity, Benes' threat of war in the Chamber of the League, Laval's antagonizing oratory, are all evidences of the failure of current diplomats to grasp to broader demands of statesmanship. Indeed, until they do learn to view the narrow policies of egoistic nationalism in the light of world harmony, international conferences are doomed to be sources of national jealousies rather than effective agencies for peace.