001133 For Union Now A Proposal for a Federal Union of the Democracies By Clarence K. Streit FLOR IDAATLANTI C.UNIVERSITY LIBRARY SOCI AUST - lABOR COUEGTlON The greatest political and economic opportunity in history. -Fortune. The possible answer to Hider's "Mein Kampf". -St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Published by The Union Press, National Union Building, Washington, D.C. Single Copies, 25c each. In quantities, We each, postpaid. Editorials and Reviews Washington (D. C.) Post: Those who read Mr. Streit's book will be im­ pressed with the logic and persuasiveness with which he meets many of the obvious criticisms that come to mind.... Here is a proposal, breath-taking but in no sense silly, to challenge fundamental thinking in our own and other democracies.... Resident for 10 years at the seat of the League of Nations, he watched the panorama there with the cool detachment of the first-class newspaperman and the objectivity of the Midwestern American who feels personally remote from Old-World frenzies. For Mr. Streit, while reared in Montana, is a native of Missouri, with all thereby implied. (Editorial.) Philadelphia Inquirer: Wars, rumors of war, threats of war; militarism, rearmament and back-breaking taxation; economic uncertainty and universal jitters - In the mind of virtually every man and woman today is the unanswered question: Can nothing be done to end these recurring terrors? ... Union Now • .. is one man's answer so daring in concept, so sweeping in its implications that it merits all the attention it will receive.... The idea of federated states is not fantastic. It is a reality spectacularly successful in our own country.... Is it too much to believe that sometime, somehow, the democratic nations of the world will unite in a federation somewhat resembling the United States? (Editorial.) Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser: It is a grand idea. Mr. Streit himself recognizes the barriers that must be crossed. But.the peril of the present situa­ tion demands action... What better solution to the indirection of the present can anyone suggest? What hope of a peaceful existence can one offer if Mr. Streit's essential idea is not finally adopted? (Editorial.) The New York Times Book Review: The vision is a great one, which at least points the way to a better world than this ghastly one we are now all living in.... Someday ... something like what Mr. Streit suggests will have to come to pass, either now or after we and our children's children have waded anew through flowing rivers of blood in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. We may say that such a solution is only a dream, but the reader of Mr. Streit's book will feel Fate marching on. -James Truslow Adams. Chicago 'Daily News: This book is the moststimulating piece of hard­ boiled political reasoning you are likely to run across in many a day.. , . It may be the inception of a movement which will make it possible for peaceful and liberty-loving people to enjoy the sort of life they want to lead without forever facing the muzzle of a loaded gun. (Review by Sterling North.) St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The possible answer of the democracies to Adolf Hitler's ," Mein Kampf." ... It is a thought-provoking document, one to be read and debated by all concerned with maintaining Western civilization. ... He has the distinction of placing before the world the first and most complete proposal for .reversing the present trend which seems to be leading to another great war. (Review by Raymond P. Brandt, ex-President, Na­ tional Press Club.) A PROPOSAL FOR A FEDERAL UNION OF THE DEMOCRACIES FOR UNION NOW By Clarence K. Streit T he first chapter of the book, Unio n Now, wa s written by the au thor as a pamphlet giving the essence of the volume. It is no w published here separately as a pamphlet. To it is added a preface spec ially written for this pamphlet and dealing with the latest develop­ ments; also the foreword of the book , its "last word," and its complete table of con ten ts. A glance at these contents will show that the pamphlet serves as an appetizer rathe r than as the meal itself. The pamphlet is published by spec ial arrangement with H arper & Bros., N ew York, publishers of Union Now. European publishers are Jonathan Cape, Ltd., London, and La Librairie de Medicis, Paris. Published by The Union Press, National Union Building, Washington, D. C. Foreword Today the problem of securing indi vidual freedom, democracy, peace and prosperity is a problem in organ izing worl d govern ment, and to that problem this book brings a fresh solution backed by fresh analysis. Its essence may be fou nd in the first chap ter. T h is may lead some to assume that in writing this book I began with th is chap ter, too. T he op posite occurred . T he first chap­ ter was written last. T he conclusio ns it expresses are not to be taken as a thes is wh ich the book was written to prove. Instead I have drawn them fro m it and have sough t for the reader's conven ience to say at the star t as conc isely as I could the essence - not the summary - of what I have to say. I have drawn these conclusio ns from much more than th is book, in fact from all my expe rience. T hey have grown in me since you th -" th is is what I have lea rnt from America " - and especia lly since the war, particularly durin g the period since 1920 which I have spent working as an American newspaper corresponden t in a score of countries of the Old and N ew W orlds, and more particularly since 1929. T h is last period I have spe n t reporting mainly fr om Geneva and Basle the effor ts of mankind to solve the problem of livin g together less precariously and meanly, to organize and apply world governmen t and law. I have followed these effor ts day in and out fo r more th an 3,000 days; I wo uld give in th is book not my experiences but what I have learned from them. In re porting what I have found I have followed bro adly the America n rules of my p rofession which require the reporter to pi ck ou t, boil down and tell a t the start in the order of importance the essen tia ls he has to tell. My method may be criticized as journalistic, but the quantity of speeches and documents and vo lumes I have had to wade throug h in my dai ly newspaper work in order to find the essentia ls thei r authors had to say has convinced me tha t th e id eal for the presentation of all serio us thought is th e id eal that Ameri can news reporters seek, far from it though we fail. In a worl d so full and wi th a life so short as ours it seems to me to be hi ghly in the in terest of everyone - layman or ex pert - to get and give hi s essen tials in eve ry field as quickl y as the dangers of over-sim plifying permit. Since everyone re ads much more th an he writes and has far more to learn than teach, it see ms to me that this journalistic method is to the general advantage - though it does make the writer's work much harder. Certainly I have encou n tered the difficulty that Pa scal expressed long ago : "The last thing that we find in making a book is to know what we must put first." 2 Preface T his pamphlet comes to answer a wide dem and for some thing giVmg briefly the essence of the proposal made in th e book, Union Now. It is not meant to re place the book bu t to help spread more quickl y its basic ideas. Certainly there is eve n greater need for speed now th an wh en th is book was first printed during the September crisis. In th e few mo nths since th en di sasters have already swept aside th e. Munich meth od and moved on toward ca tastrophe on ly m or e rapidly th an was foreseen in the pages before you. Since th en have come th e October pogr om, the sudden ri se of th e Tunisian war th rea t, th e weakness of th e Bri tish pound, a flight of gold to us 27 times faster tha n a year ago, a fall in Ame rican cotton ex po r ts below even depression levels, deepening recession, more frenzied arms racing on all sides , the victory of the Fascist and Nazi cause in Spa in, the reduction of th e Czechoslovak democracy to the sta tus of a European colony of Germany in brazen violation of th e Munich accord and th e most solemn pl edges of Adolf Hitler. And who now says this is th e end? Events have serve d to bring out on ly more sharply th at our on ly choice is between organizing th e world peacefully by mutual agreement or being ruth­ lessly organized under the military force of di ctatorship. In Sep tember Hitler was preaching pure nationalism and it was still po ssible to dream that he would limit hi mself in practice to uniting under him all th e Germans and would leave the other na tional states independent.