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(9) The principal of freedom of religion must be a point of adoption among these nations. This to be the constitutional right of all the peoples of these respective nations.

(10) The principal of freedom of trade, of the seas, and in the air must be adopted.

(11) Any nations not joining this association or union, by adoption of agreement as set forth in paragraphs 5, 6, and 9 shall be cut off from international trade, postal exchange, and diplomatic relations with all nations of this association. Citizens of the outlawed nation will not be permitted to enter the boundary of any of the associated nations.

(12) Each nation of these United Nations, both large and small, shall have only equal representation in this association. Territorial claims and boundary disputes to be settled by the association.

(13) A sizable international police force or army to be maintained in readiness to occupy any aggressing nonmember nation. Also to see that the laws of this association are justly maintained.

Hon. Toм CONNALLY,

By: FRANK E. VANDERHOOF,
Washington, D.C.

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF FARMER COOPERATIVES,
Washington 6, D. C., July 10, 1945.

Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations,

United States Senate, Washington 25, D. C. MY DEAR SENATOR CONNALLY: I am enclosing a statement on behalf of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives urging prompt approval by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the United States Senate of the United Nations Charter.

As you know, the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives was one of the consultant organizations at the San Francisco Conference, being represented there by Mr. Homer L. Brinkley, president of the council, and by associate consultants C. C. Teague and Earl W. Benjamin.

Sincerely yours,

JOHN H. DAVIS, Executive Secretary.

STATEMENT OF JOHN H. DAVIS, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF FARMER COOPERATIVES BEFORE THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE ON RATIFICATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS CHARTER

The National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, one of the consultant organizations at the San Francisco Conference, urges the prompt and unqualified approval of the Charter of the United Nations, including the Statute of the International Court of Justice, by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and by the United States Senate. In the same spirit we are also urging that the Senate approve as soon as practicable the companion resolutions establishing the Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Fund and International Bank. While these documents admittedly are not perfect, they are clearly steps in the right direction-provided all nations honestly approach the future in the spirit set forth in the preamble of the Charter of the United Nations: "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war * * * and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, and for these ends to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors, and to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and to insure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples."

As has been true of our own Constitution, the Charter will doubless require amendments from time to time. It will also require interpretation and supple

mentation by law and court decisions which will require patience and understanding of the type demonstrated at San Francisco.

Far more important and determining in the long run than the written documents themselves will be the attitude and spirit of the peoples and leaders of the participating nations-particularly the larger nations such as the United States. Certainly the experience following World War I amply testifies to the necessity for world-wide cooperation if peace is to continue unbroken. It is appropriate that a liberty-loving and peace-loving nation such as the United States assume a prominent and leading part in the proposed world organization. While the international road ahead will be tedious and difficult we must approach it with the same indomitable courage and devotion to the principles of right, justice and law, and individual liberty and well-being as was adhered to by the founders of our own nation. Although compromise may frequently be necessary in the interest of agreement, we must ever avoid compromising with the fundamental principles of law and justice upon which a sound civilization must rest.

The United States Senate has already made an important contribution to world peace through the work of Senators Connally and Vandenberg at the San Francisco Conference. We urge that this committee and the entire Senate further contribute to permanent world peace by ratifying the Charter of the United Nations as promptly as possible.

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Hon. Toм CONNALLY,

United States Senate,

Washington, D. C.

Washington, D. C., July 13, 1945.

DEAR SENATOR CONNALLY: While the Senate is absorbed in the United Nations Charter, you will no doubt be interested in knowing that the board of directors of the United States Chamber of Commerce, at its meeting on June 29, approved that Charter and urged its speedy adoption by the Senate.

The board at the same meeting also recommended that the United States, by duly ratified agreements with the Security Council, agree to provide an appropriate contingent of armed forces to maintain peace and security, and that the United States representative on the Security Council, as the President's representative, be authorized to vote with the Council as to the use of such national contingents as shall have been established by international agreements.

The board commended the interim arrangements that have been made for joint consultation and action, pending completion of agreements necessary to permit the Security Council to function as intended; and it expressed gratification over the fact that the International Court of Justice has been made a major organ of the United Nations.

The board of directors also adopted a recommendation favoring United States membership in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as outlined at the Hot Springs Conference.

This action by the board was taken upon the recommendation of the chamber's special committee on international postwar problems, headed by Mr. Harper Sibley.

We believe that these recommendations offer the best road to enduring peace.

Sincerely yours,

ERIC A. JOHNSTON, President.

No. 9, Two Hundred and Eighteenth Board Meeting, June 29-30, 1945

To the Board of Directors:

The United States Chamber special committee on international postwar problems, presents to the board of directors the following recommendations adopted at its meeting on June 28:

UNITED NATIONS CHARTER

On January 3, 1944, the membership of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States in Referendum No. 76, took the affirmative position that "an international political organization is necessary for the purpose of maintaining peace and security among nations." This vote was thereupon officially reported

to the Department of State of the United States Government, and to the appropriate committees of Congress.

On June 26, 1945, 50 United Nations, after meeting for 9 weeks of intensive study and debate, unanimously adopted a new charter for a general international organization to promote and to maintain world peace.

Happily, at the invitation of the Secretary of State, the special committee of this chamber was represented at the San Francisco Conference by its chairman, acting as consultant to the United States delegation, as well as by other members of the committee.

Now, therefore, this special committee, having read the full text of this new Charter, and having listened to the reports of. its members who were present at the United Nations Conference, recommends that, inasmuch as this document clearly conforms in principle to the position taken by the chamber in said Referendum No. 76, the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States express its approval of the Charter of the new International Organization, to be established for the promotion of world peace and security; and further.

That the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States urge the Members of the Senate without delay to consent to the ratification of this Charter of the United Nations.

SECURITY CONTROL

The membership of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States in paragraph 2 of said Referendum 76, approved the following statement: "This peace and security may best be safeguarded through the use of the armed forces of peace-loving nations acting through the Combined Chiefs of Staff organization, developed to meet future conditions."

Pursuant to this resolution, your chamber committee recommends that the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States urge that the United States assume its reponsibilities as a permanent member of the Security Council and that the United States, by a special agreement or agreements to be entered into with the Security Council and duly ratified, agree to provide an appropriate contingent of armed forces for the purpose of maintaining peace and security. Further, that the United States representative on the Security Council, acting as the representative of the President of the United States, should be authorized to vote with the Council as to the use of such national contingents as shall have been established by international agreement.

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

The Chamber of Commerce of the United States has always advoctated membership by the United States in the World Court, and reaffirmed this position last year in Referendum 78. The board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States is gratified that the International Court of Justice has been made a major organ of the United Nations.

INTERIM ARRANGEMENTS

Referendum 78 stated that: "The Chamber of Commerce of the United States favors the exercise of interim powers by the United States and other United Nations, in close collaboration as trustees of the peace, during the period between the cessation of hostilities and the establishment of a general international political organization, such powers to be designed to prevent further resort to arms by the defeated enemy and to restore and maintain a regime of freedom under international law and order."

The board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States is gratified to recognize that pending the completion of all the agreements necessary to permit the Security Council to function as intended, the parties to the four-nation declaration of Moscow and France shall consult with one another, and as occasion arises with other members of the Organization, with a view to such joint action on behalf of the Organization as may be necessary to maintain international peace and security.

UNITED NATIONS FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION

The committee recommends that the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States favor membership by the United States in the Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations as outlined at the

Hot Springs Conference, which Organization will become one of the specialized agencies to be brought into relationship with the new United Nations Organization, and advocates passage by the Senate of House Joint Resolution 145 providing for such membership by the United States, which resolution was passed by the House of Representatives on April 30, 1945.

CONSULTATION AMONG UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT AGENCIES CONCERNED WITH FOREIGN AFFAIRS

In the new responsibilities which the United States is undertaking in the family of nations, the committee recommends that the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States emphasize that, to form a proper basis for the instructions to be given the American representative on the Security Council, there be maintained by the United States Government effective machinery for consultation between high officers of the Department of State, the Department of Commerce, the Army, the Navy and other interested Government agencies.

CONSULTANTS

The committee recommends that the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States congratulate the Department of State on the arrangements made at San Francisco for representatives of national organizations to act as consultants to the United States delegation, and recommend that this program for consultation which proved constructive at the United Nations Conference be continued in the future, when appropriate.

FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE,

United States Senate, Washington, D. C.

WASHINGTON, D. C., July 7, 1945.

GENTLEMEN: The purpose of this letter is to state wherein the United Nations Charter departs from basic principles of justice and democratic ideals and, also, what can be done to remedy this situation without withholding ratification.

*

* *

I

1. President Truman stated, speaking of the Charter, "Justice remains the greatest power on earth. To that tremendous power alone will we submit." A century and a half ago George Washington stated, in similar vein of noble thought; "It will be worthy of a * * * great nation to give to mankind the * example of a people always guided by an exalted justice * * "" Neither of these statements can be reconciled with provisions in the Charter for military enforcement whereby people generally-men, women, and children indiscriminately-are to be starved or murdered by bombing from the air. Indeed, it is contrary to simple justice, if not reprehensible, that people who are innocent of direct political power to act in any nation should be so punished for that which they cannot control.

2. "Exalted justice" in a democracy holds those who control the power of the state individually responsible to protect, defend and not violate the rights of the people as expressly stated in the Constitution. This is the foundation of democracy.

It is not consistent with democratic ideals that those who control the power of the state shall remain free to again lay careful plans to regiment their people and to conquer the world, the Security Council included, with new and terrible weapons of misdirected science.

"Freedom from fear" is a people's right. The mandate of the people that something be done to prevent war in the future is a demand for a people's right.

There is no provision in the Charter, anywhere, to restrain those who control the power of the State to agress.

3. Throughout the history of mankind, the only successful method of deterring crime has been that which applied the principle of individual responsibility under law.

Thomas Jefferson stated this principle when he wrote: "No government can be maintained without the principle of fear as well as duty. Good men will obey the last but bad ones the former only."

Franklin D. Roosevelt said: "Somebody should be held responsible for firing that first shot."

The Charter provides for responsibility en masse. The thought that this will deter aggression is comparable to the Nazi belief that the slaughter of innocents would stop the underground. It is as great a delusion as the concept that a state can be held responsible for war.

People will obey a law they understand and accept and which punishes the individual violator. History is replete with refusals to submit to compulsion predicated on the slaughter of innocents.

The Charter does not hold "somebody" responsible. It is lacking in law specifically prohibiting aggression. It is without means for applying the principle of individual responsibility.

The Charter is lacking in true enforcement means. As it stands, it is the agreement of a military alliance.

II

We can easily remedy the situation by following the path of the Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights.

We can ratify the Charter with the understanding that a "People's right” will be offered as the first amendment to the Charter. We have a precedent for this in the adoption of our own Bill of Rights.

A "People's right" would empower justice operating under specific law to pierce the veil of state sovereignty to hold those who control the state individually responsible for criminal acts of aggression.

Presently, the power to defend and protect the people is also the power to compel the people to serve the "will to conquer." The "People's right" would withdraw the latter power. In other words, we would stop the crime of aggression from the top down instead of the reversion to military barbarism from the bottom up as provided for in the Charter.

The "People's right" would eliminate the objection that the Charter creates a military alliance, also the objections relating to the veto power.

CONCLUSION

Where exalted justice rules, there tyranny is reduced to servitude. If the United Nations Charter is to be a permanent monument to those who fought tyranny in this war, we must eliminate the possibility of a recurrence of tyranny in the domain we seek to establish by the Charter. If we do not, the next generation may suffer the tempest generated by the ill winds of this war.

We must apply the principles of democracy to make this world safe for democracy. Respectfully submitted.

HENRY M. KANNEE.

A PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO VITALIZE THE UNITED NATIONS CHARTER (NOTE. The author was official reporter to President Roosevelt from 1932 through 1940 and saw the President almost daily during that time)

I

It was late in August 1939. President Roosevelt sat in his study in the White House. The messages on his desk summed up to one word, "War!"

Now he was silent and his eyes were reflective, telescoping the past. Then he spoke. There was anger in his tone and manner but frustration and sorrow were paramount.

There was cause for anger: With grim memories of World War I, he had pleaded with Hitler to think of humanity but had been treated with contempt. There was deeper cause for frustration: He had long sought means for enforcing peace, much as a doctor seeks a cure for cancer. He had invited the friendship of leaders and peoples. He had taken counsel on the World Court and the League. He had proposed outlawing aggressive armaments under policing of an international commission. He had urged Baldwin of Britain to offer Mussolini the choice of arbitration with Ethiopia or a barred Suez. He had told an apathetic world to quarantine aggressor nations. There were the peaks; long valleys of thought witnessed his stubborn search.

His sorrow resulted from foresight. War had come.

It was too late for

a vaccine because the dread disease had struck and must run its course. He termed this "The War for Survival" and refused to discount its ultimate

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