Abstract
NOTHING could demonstrate more completely what the Prime Minister recently termed the madness of re-armament than the fact that in the recent debate on defence in the House of Commons, Government spokesmen failed to reply to the two questions which are uppermost in everyone's mind: What is the limit of the expenditure involved, and against whom is the programme directed? The questions indeed cannot be answered. There is no limit; and to express one's fears in definite words might well be to start the conflagration universally dreaded. Unless intelligence once again takes control over passion and prejudice in the relations of nations, and force is relegated to its proper function of maintaining law and order, there can be no escape from a conflict which would involve ruin for all. Nor can we hope for peace among nations any more than among individuals if we encourage the view that wrongs cannot or will not be dealt with by reason or persuasion and can only be redressed by force. Even the staunchest supporter of the present programme of re-armament and defence in Great Britain can scarcely avoid misgivings as to its eventual outcome. Unless at the same time we can ensure that some real attempt is made to eliminate the root causes of international friction and misunderstandings, to control the mischief wrought by economic nationalism, and to secure a settlement of difficult economic and racial questions on a basis of social justice and not of force majeure, the attempts to strengthen armaments, however sincerely aimed at national defence, can only bring conflict nearer. Collective security is in fact the only possible form of security to-day. All else is merely a matter of relative insecurity and how soon the crash will be.
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Science and Armaments. Nature 138, 261–263 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/138261a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/138261a0