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THE ARMS RACE
“MUST BE ENDED

Says Cyrus Eaton

HE time has come when
civilized man must aban-
don war. As the proud

holder of the Lenin Peace Prize,

am dedicated to promoting
friendship and understanding be-
tween the world’s two super-
Powers, the USA and the USSR,
8s the surest means to this all-
important end.

Now that. I have passed the
Our-score mark in years, I in-
tend to devote my remaining
days ever more actively to the
Cause of peace.

In my long lifetime, I have
Witnessed numerous wars that
have brought deep suffering to

€ participants, imposed severe
‘economic burdens on them and
left little but anger and bitter-
Ness as a legacy.

Through constant reading of
istory, I have also been a close
Student of the conflicts of old.
ne of my favorite chronicles is

Gibbon’s monumental “Decline .

and Fall of the Roman Empire”.

Gibbon graphically describes
_the Roman Empire, as it stood
at the pinnacle of its power in
300 A.D., with: most of the na-
tions of Europe, African and
Asia included inside its far-flung
Orders. Emperor ~ Diocletian
Wielded influence and authority
Such as has rarely been possess-
€d by any ruler in history.

More than a hundred religions,
including Christianity, had long
€en practiced throughout the
Mpire, with official toleration.
locletian’s military advisers
Succeeded in persuading him,
however, that Christianity had
€come a dangerous conspiracy
hreatening the very existence
of the Empire.

In 303 A. D., the Diocletian
Edicts against Christianity were
'Ssued, and the Imperial Army
1N every part of the Empire was
instructed “to discover, to pur-
Sue and to torment” the whole
_ body of Christians. All churches

Were ordered demolished, the
Prisons were filled with multi-

Cyrus Eaton, famed Ameri-
can iillionaire industrialist,
gives a businessman’s point ©
of view on why the arms race
must be ended. His article
was first published in the
newspaper Moscow News.

tudes of believers and prominent
Christian leaders were beheaded,

This fierce and fanatical oppo-
sition to Christianity, far from
destroying it, served to bind to-
gether its adherents and win
them the sympathy of the
world. 3

Their position was so streng-
thened, in fact, that Diocletian
was forced to abdicate and,
within ten years, the new and
liberal Emperor Constantine
proclaimed Christianity the of-
ficial religion of the Empire.

The lesson of Diocletian is
one that history is still trying to
teach, but mankind still seems
unable to learn. The sword is
useless in controlling the mind,
the spirit and the emotions of
men.

Had the Empire’s philosoph-
ers, scientists, educators and

other leaders of thought raised .

the voices of reason and persua-

sion to drown out the fanatic
shouts of the militarists in the
days of Diocletian, the Christian
religion might well have faded
like the worship of Apollo. Six-
teen hundred years later, Chris-
tianity is now the subject of
searching analysis and investig-
ation, and the world is by no
means persuaded of its absolute
finality.

Down the centuries, regret-
tably, the leaders of Christianity
themselves have been guilty of

‘using force against those who

differed with the orthodox point
of view or were adherents to
other religions.

During the llth, 12th and
13th centuries, the Christian
powers of Europe convinced
themselves that they must elim-
inate Mohammedanism. They
mounted a series of costly but
ineffectual military Crusades to
the Holy Land until 300 years of
fighting and expense drained
away their excessive zeal.

The two sides finelly decided
on peaceful coexistence, and
holy warfare is farthest from
the thoughts of today’s practic-
ally equal numbers of practicing
Moslems and Christians.

Another example of the im-
possibility of influencing men’s
beliefs by. force is afforded by
the Thirty Years’ War, one of
the most devastating in the-en-
tire history of humanity.

From 1618 to 1648, Europe
was rent asunder into two arm-
ed camps stirred by the blind
conviction that the continent
could not exist half Catholic and
half Protestant. Again this is a
question that has become of
negligible concern with the pas-
sage of time.

A century ago, violent civil
war broke out between the
North and South in the United
States. Waged with bitterness
and destruction, it left scars on
the minds and spirit of men that
have not yet healed a hundred
years later.

A few reasonable and respon-
sible men from each side, sitting
down together and patiently dis-
cussing their differences, could
have reached a compromise that
would have averted this ravag-
ing war and its tragic conse-
quences.

The two global conflicts that
have taken place during my ma-
ture years have impressed me
deeply with the urgency of
Striving for peaceful ways of
resolving the problems that arise
between opposing systems,
whether political, economic or
philosophical.

World War I tore 30 of my
close relatives, including my
only brother, away from their
homes and professions in the
prime of their lives. Many mem-
bers of my family, including my
two sons, also answered the call
to arms in World War II.

When the sound and fury of
battle died away, neither of
those hideous struggles had us-
hered in the promised Golden
Age. Instead, the prizes won by
both sides were death, devasta-
tion and debt.

With the wonders of today’s
advanced science perverted to
the production of weapons cap-
able of obliterating man and all
his works, warfare has become
absolutely unthinkable. U.S. Se- -
cretary of Defense McNamara,
who should be in a position to
know, recently felt impelled to
state publicly that at least 149
million Americans would be
killed in a modern missile war.

A large majority of the people
of America are opposed to war
of any kind, make no mistake
about it. This is overwhelmingly
the case with the intellectuals,
the university leaders, the histo-
rians and the scientists them-
selves in the United States.

American industrial and finan-
cial leaders are coming more
and more to the same point of
view.

The biggest remaining ob-
stacle to progress toward peace
is the unworthy appeal to un-
due national vanity made from
day to day by much of the Ame-
rican press, radio and television.

With a few conspicuous ex-
ceptions, however, these media
of public information, which are
nevertheless privately owned in
the United States, are slowly
but surely veering away from
bellicosity and, once they come
all the way around, the poli-
ticians are bound to follow.

The arms race must be ended,
I repeat. Peaceful collaboration
between the two super-powers,

the USA and the USSR, is im-
perative. My greatest remaining
goal is to help persuade my
countrymen of the utter folly
and futility of war.

May 14, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5