Mr. LODGE. The point I am trying to get at is, if you think of the world outside of Russia and her satellites, you think of western Europe and South America, the British Commonwealth of Nations, China, India, and the Middle East. Except for a few islands here and there, that is just about all there is to it. Now, if you get the 16 participating nations in Europe organized into a western union, and gradually that develops to include nations in the Middle East, and then you get the South American nations organized, I take it your idea is that by means of such organizations, a superorganization could be constructed. Mr. BATT. I would assume you have that already. I am not writing the United Nations off, Mr. Lodge, as the thing which may eventually encompass this world. Mr. LODGE. No; but you are thinking of a union now. You say we should not destroy the United Nations, and you realize there are obstacles in achieving the union through the United Nations. Mr. BATT. That is correct. Mr. LODGE. As I understand your statement, it is that we keep the United Nations intact and we endeavor to form a union of those nations willing to engage in such a union. Mr. BATT. That is correct. Mr. LODGE. Based on the principle that their governments must be responsive to the will of the people. That, of course, would not be true in the case of Soviet Russia. Mr. BATT. It is not true of many Latin-American countries either. Mr. LODGE. The point I am trying to get at is that the administration and we in the Congress have in a sense begun this thing, by the very organisms which have been set up, and are being set up, regionally throughout the world. Mr. BATT. We have made a start, but the situation, it seems to me, is so full of dynamite that, continued at that rate, they do not give me the hope I look for. Mr. LODGE. You believe that it should be done much faster? Mr. BATT. It seems so to me. Mr. LODGE. It would be interesting to have the opinion of Winston Churchill, who made such a brilliant address to the European Congress at the Hague, as to how fast you can proceed on a matter of such complexity. Mr. BATT. Of course you cannot make actually great headway in a short time but you can make clear the direction in which you are going. I do not like this direction of limited, piecemeal military aid to the 16 nations of western Europe. I indicated I thought it was ineffective, and being ineffective, possibly dangerous. This is the greatest poker game-that is a bad word, I presume, to use, but everybody knows what I mean by it-that the world has ever sat in. The stakes are terribly high and people sitting in the game ought to make it perfectly clear what their resources are and how they intend to mobilize them. I do not greatly care what kind of a meeting of the United Nations you call or when you call it, provided Soviet Russia and its satellites on the one hand and the other troubled and worried nations on the other know that the United States is in the world picture up to its neck from the very drop of the hat. Mr. LODGE. You believe that we should give official recognition to the fact that we are involved in the world situation. Mr. BATT. The moment our diplomats begin talking with the foreign offices of these governments-and if they began next week I would think it would be splendid-as to how far you are ready to go, because we are ready to go very far, I think a great step has been taken. Mr. LODGE. Thank you very much, Mr. Batt. Mr. CHIPERFIELD. Thank you very much, Mr. Batt. The Chair would like to suggest to members of the committee Mr. Bishop, vice president of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, is here. Should we proceed? STATEMENT OF ROBERT J. BISHOP, VICE PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES JUNIOR CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Mr. BISHOP. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, my name is Robert J. Bishop, of Orlando, Fla. I appear before you in behalf of the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce, of which organization I am currently serving as vice president. I think I should appropriately preface my statement with a few facts about the organization I represent. We number today over 150,000 young men between the ages of 21 and 36. Although our membership age limits fell precisely on the bracket set for selective service, our organization strongly advocated, on the record, the program prior to its enactment by Congress. As a result of selective service and volunteer enlistments our ranks were decimated. Although during the war years we were relatively few in numbers we still were able to collect more scrap, sell more bonds, and donate more blood than any other national group, as the home-front phase of our contribution to the national war effort. Our membership today is composed 85 percent of men who wore uniforms in the recent war. We are and have been for a long time vitally concerned about the success of UNO and the prevention of a third world war. I need not say here, for I am convinced that the one thing on which there is unanimity of opinion is, that a third world conflict will erase the civilization we have known from the earth. Our concern on this vital issue has manifested itself in an extended program of discussion and study by our international relations committee. And, while I would not pose before you as an expert or as a representative of experts on the technical legalistic details, I do believe that we have approached the problem with a comprehension and a clarity of vision born both of personal observation in world-wide contacts and a long study of the fundamental principles involved. We, the Jaycees and I might interject at this point that "Jaycees" is a colloquial name by which the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce membership are known in certain localities-we, the Jaycees of America, have a creed. It was first proposed in the State of Ohio, and after adoption there it became the official creed of our national organization. It was subsequently adopted by the Canadian Jaycees, and was, on March 26 last, unanimously adopted by the delegates from junior chambers of commerce of 37 nations assembled in Rio de Janeiro-which adoption, incidentally, was made in the selfsame room in which the foreign ministers had their Rio meeting, which was mentioned here this morning,-when it was presented to this Congress of Junior Chamber International by the Brazilian delegation. We believe: That the brotherhood of man Transcends the sovereignty of nations; That earth's great treasure That, gentlemen, is the ideal to which our members across the Nation are giving of themselves in practical application. Its opening statement sums up very aptly our considered judgment on the matter of world government-"That the brotherhood of man transcends the sovereignty of nations." We are convinced that if the nations of the world continue down the road of nationalism, each jealously guarding the ultimate bit of its socalled sovereignty, they will one day be very rudely shocked into recognition of the higher "sovereignty" or power of the atom. On that day it will be too late for us to recognize and put into effect a world government based on law and order. For the world government ushered in by that means will ignore law and order and be based on terroristic totalitarian principles. Our analysis convinces us that a world government, to be strong enough to accomplish the task, must encompass three things not now encompassed by the UNO Charter. First, it must possess sufficient power to regulate armaments. This regulationc can only be accomplished by the nations surrendering to the world government a sufficient degree of their sovereignty to permit constant inspection and regulation. Secondly, its limited but adequate power must be defined by law within the framework of a constitution. This constitution should include the main features of our own Federal Constitution, since this Federal system is the only system which has demonstrated its applicability to a diversity of conditions similar to those with which the world government would be faced. It should provide for a division of functions as does our instrument, and it should set out the areas in which world government would operate, and define those areas reserved to the member states. Its legislature should be empowered to enact world laws, enforceable directly upon individuals. This, of course, entails also the surrender of some degree of national sovereignty. Thirdly, it must be adequately financed. Neither of the two previously enumerated essentials is possible of accomplishment without the third. Since taxation requires proportionate representation, this brings into the discussion the matter of changing the voting structure of the present Charter. If the great powers pay the major share of revenue they should have a greater voice in the deliberations. This in turn should compensate, at least in a measure, the surrender by the great powers, of the veto. And the veto power must be surrendered as one of the primary steps. Further evidence of Jaycee thinking on this matter is furnished by the following resolution which was unanimously passed by our national board of directors last August. Every section of our country was represented by the almost 500 directors present and voting: RESOLUTION PRESENTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNIOR CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Since the will of the majority should be the guiding force in the United Nations Organization, and since the great power veto provided in the Charter is no longer necessary to provide for military unanimity, and since abuse of the veto power has on numerous occasions thwarted the will of the majority: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce recommends to Congress that our delegation to the United Nations Organization be instructed to vigorously and affirmatively advocate immediate amendment of the Charter to abolish the great power veto and that the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice be made mandatory for arbitration of those differences between Nations which cannot be resolved in the Security Council or General Asembly of the UNO, in order to assure the enforcement of peace. Unanimously passed by the board of directors of the United States Chamber of Commerce in meeting at Tulsa, Okla., this 30th day of August 1947. We, the Jaycees of the United States, composed largely of the generation which fought the last war, and the generation which would be most directly affected by another war, feel that time is running out. If the United States does not soon exert the positive and aggressive leadership for which the nations of the world are looking, we are afraid it will be too late. Delegations of Jaycees from 30 other countries have personally assured me that the peoples of their countries look with longing in their eyes and hope in their hearts to the United States for this leadership. We should immediately set upon the task or their hope will turn to despair. We need not immediately set in motion the machinery for amendment, but we should, by working with the delegations of other nations, proceed with all possible haste, looking to amendment at the earliest possible time. The soil is fertile. The seed is ripe. Planting time is now. By a little effort in properly preparing the ground to receive the seed, we can be assured of a vigorous tree. The fruits of victory will be the sweetest and most nourishing yet tasted by man. The fruits of failure are horrible to contemplate. Mr. CHIPERFIELD (presiding). Thank you, Mr. Bishop, for a very interesting statement. I certainly agree with the conclusions which the Jaycees have reached. As a practical matter, how are we going to accomplish some of your suggestions? For example, on page 3, you say, first, it must possess sufficient power to regulate armaments. I certainly agree with that statement but only last week the Atomic Energy Committee reported to the Security Council that they failed in reaching agreement. Mr. BISHOP. They said that No useful purpose can be served by further discussion. Mr. CHIPERFIELD. What are you going to do in a case like that? Mr. Austin has repeatedy tried to get the Charter amended and has failed because of the veto power. What can we do about situations like that? Mr. BISHOP. Mr. Chairman, we think that by calling a general session of the United Nations for the purpose of amendment, this purpose can be accomplished. We hear a lot of assumption that Russia will not come in. It certainly is not a foregone conclusion that Russia will not come in. As a matter of fact, there has not been an offer made, the bona fides of which are above question. If the United States, exercising the leadership which all of the countries are looking for and hoping for, will call this meeting, having previously "laid it on the line," so to speak, to the delegations, by saying in effect, "We are making an honest effort to do these things," in such a way that we are above suspicion in our offer, there is certainly no question in my mind, from conversations I have had with delegations of young men from these other various countries as I mentioned in my statement, that we would find an acceptance which has not even been considered possible by several of the witnesses I have heard here. Mr. CHIPERFIELD (presiding). Mr. Vorys. Mr. VORYS. Mr. Bishop, your reference to the origin in Ohio of this perfectly splendid creed of the national organization is very interesting to me, since I come from Columbus, Ohio, and we have visitors in the room from that neighborhood here today. I am very much interested in your statement and in the fine work of your organization. I have no questions. Mr. BISHOP. I might mention, for your information, sir, that the young man-I believe he was from Columbus-who drew this creed, traveled all the way to Rio de Janeiro to personally present it to this Third World Congress of Junior Chamber International. We worked out a very beautiful translation of it into the various languages of the delegations and when it was presented by the Brazilian delegation it was accepted unanimously. Mr. VORYS. I think you are correct in your statement as to where it came from. Mr. JUDD. Mr. Bishop, I want to associate myself with the note you struck perhaps more emphatically than any other witness we have had, that we have no right to foreclose the possibility or even probability that the nations which at present seem recalcitrant may come along. I have had the strongest confidence from the beginning that if we will agree on and present a generous and just offer that is obviously backed up by the great majority of the large and small nations of the world, the Russians will come along because their own common sense will require them to come along. Certainly we ought not to begin an operation with the assumption that it is going to fail, before we even get the patient on the table. I would like to ask, however, assuming Russia will not agree to amendment, have you in mind any second line of action or an alternative course of action? Mr. BISHOP. As a matter of fact, I do not, for the simple reason of my confidence that the offer properly made, will be favorably received. As one of the previous witnesses said here this morning, there was grave doubt that our Federal Constitution would be accepted by the Thirteen Colonies. As a matter of fact, Rhode Island did not come in until a year afterward. |