Is there honor among nations

Title

Creator

C. Alpisto

Language

English

Source

Panorama

Year

1939

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

l!There is honor among thieves,IS THERE HONOR AMONG NATIONS? THE great worry of thinking people today is the disregard shown by many national leaders for the plighted word in international affairs. Germany under Hitler denounced or violated the Treaty of Versailles. Japan under her military chieftains has paid no attention whatever to her treaty obligations to China and to states interested in China. Such powers as Italy and Germany have openly intervened in the internal government of Spain and have thus violated the accepted rules of international law that bind every state to refrain from interfering with the domestic problems of another country. Russia and France failed to live up to their treaty agreements to defend Czechoslovakia against external aggression. As a result about one-third of the territory and resources of Czechoslovakia were grabbed by Germany. It looks, therefore, that a treaty nowadays is a mere scheme to mislead the honest but weak party. This should be of special concern to the Filipinos now that they are about to be separated from the United States. A treaty of neutralization to guarantee the political independence of the Philippines 64 is likely to be denounced by any strong signatory state that desires to deprive this country of a portion of its territory or of any of its valuable possessions. Sometime ago in the near past, writers who were inclined to view international problems realistically argued that no country had any right to leave its territories undeveloped for a long time. The hungry, the indigent, and the naked elements of humanity must be fed and clothed and housed. Any other state having the ability and the willingness to develop unproductive regions in any place in this planet has the moral and cosmic right to fall upon them and make them serviceable to the needy millions of mankind. Many of us used to consider such conclusions brutal and harsh even when we admitted, to a certain extent, the validity of its logic. We felt that the strong and the able need not grab territory from its lawful owner to feed its famished millions because an appeal to the owner's sense of justice and humanity might be sufficient. Without, however, discussing further the alternatives of unlawful depredations, rePANORAMA cent occurrences have shown the insincerity of the old argument. For well-developed countries have not been overlooked by greedy and powerful governments. The outstanding instance is Czechoslovakia. In the light of these events, President Quezon's statements made before the coconut and abaca convention last month are significant. He said: "While I am President of th2 Philippines I shall not permit th!:; government to take its promises lightly. "We are in an age when the future of civilization is in danger, when the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse shall be let loose at any time. "We are in an epoch when the future of civilization and of progress may be destroyed in the next 1 0 years. If civilization and the future of humanity are in danger, it is because of the little respect in which governments hold their promises. I shall not permit the government of the Philippine-s to figure in the list of governments SHOP at which do not know how to honor their promises and obligations. "We are now establishing the foundations upon which the future of the Philippines shall be built and one of the most important of these bases is that the government should know how to comply with its obligations. We are not in the same condition as governments who laugh at their promises and forget their obligations. We do not have the power, we have no other protection but respect for law. "Other nations may do so because they have forces behind them. Our only protection is respect for our laws; and in order to have our rights respected we should first respect the rights of others." But, even if the Philippines were strong. it should be added, she should use that strength to fulfill her obligations. domestic and foreign, to prove to the world that there is such a thing as morality in might.-C. Alpisto. M. c. ESPINOSA WHOLESALE • AND • RETAIL • DEALER of REMNANTS • AND • READY • MADE • DRESSES 714 JUAN LUNA, MANILA MARCH, 1939 65 66 Earn P25 a Month ESTABLISHED SINCE 1899 foe Bush DYER & CLEANER In your spare time you can easily get two persons a day to subscribe for PANORAMA, the most widely read monthly in the Philippines today. Try how easy it is to earn P25 a month. We must be good or we'd be;' gone. Write /01· information to PANORAMA Bo:x: 685, Manila. 12!1 PLAZA STA. CRUZ MANILA TEL. 2-32-73 Another OPPORTUNITY to win Substantial Prizes EASTER SWEEPSTAKE April 16, 1939 P877,500 IN PRIZE MONEY PRIZES 2 First Prizes at P60,000 each 2 Second Prizes at 25,000 " 2 Third Prizes at 10;000 " And Thousands of Minor Prizes With an initial capital of P20.24 you can be an authorized seller and make mQlley during your spare time, with the added advantage that if you sell at least six booklets you may wiu any of the first liberal prizes for sellers of any of the first, secoud, third or fourth prizes. SAVE A LIFE AND WIN A PRIZE Philippine Charity Sweepstake Office P. O. Box 141 Taft Avenue, Manila Tels.: 5-71-60-5-69-46-5-58-46-5-51-96 PANORAMA :flt IMIA~ II i 11 l~IA ==~ ~OUTHERN l~LANDS Panorama Quiz-Answers 1. Wilhelmina 10. Jose Palma 2. The heat-producing value 11. Manud Roxas 3. Thoroughly chewing one's food 12. Cardinal Pacdli 4. Tercentenary 13. Jose Fernandez 5. An airplane cannot run backward 14. Storing fat 6. Graf Zeppelin I 5. Shell Oil Company 7. The northeast coast of the main- 16. Heart land of South America 17. Bronchoscope 8. Russia (By the Treaty of Brest- 18. Brazil Litovsk, March, 1918) 19. Austria and Bosnia 9. The blood circulates 20. Hai nan :{. :{. ¥ .C2J dpinsler A spinster is a woman who knows all the answers but has never been asked the questions.-Irish Digest. MARCH, 1939 67

pages

64-67

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