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.This would mean a financial relief andincreased security for both of them.Such a process of amalgamation mightextend to larger and larger combinations, and finally lead to an "internationalpolice," which would be bound gradually to degenerate as internationalsecurity increased.Will you discuss this proposal with our friends by way of setting the ballrolling? Of course I do not in the least insist on this particular proposal.But Ido think it essential that we should come forward with a positive programme;a merely negative policy is unlikely to produce any practical results.Germany and FranceMutual trust and co-operation between France and Germany can come aboutonly if the French demand for security against military attack is satisfied.Butshould France frame demands in accordance with this, such a step wouldcertainly be taken very ill in Germany.A procedure something like the following seems, however, to be possible.Letthe German Government of its own free will propose to the French that theyshould jointly make representations to the League of Nations that it shouldsuggest to all member States to bind themselves to the following:--(1) To submit to every decision of the international court of arbitration.(2) To proceed with all its economic and military force, in concert with theother members of the League, against any State which breaks the peace orresists an international decision made in the interests of world peace.ArbitrationSystematic disarmament within a short period.This is possible only incombination with the guarantee of all for the security of each separate nation,based on a permanent court of arbitration independent of governments.Unconditional obligation of all countries not merely to accept the decisions ofthe court of arbitration but also to give effect to them.Separate courts of arbitration for Europe with Africa, America, and Asia(Australia to be apportioned to one of these).A joint court of arbitration forquestions involving issues that cannot be settled within the limits of any one ofthese three regions.The International of ScienceAt a sitting of the Academy during the War, at the time when national andpolitical infatuation had reached its height, Emil Fischer spoke the followingemphatic words: "It's no use, Gentlemen, science is and remains international."The really great scientists have always known this and felt it passionately, eventhough in times of political confusion they may have remained isolated amongtheir colleagues of inferior calibre.In every camp during the War this mass ofvoters betrayed their sacred trust.The international society of the academieswas broken up.Congresses were and still are held from which colleaguesfrom ex-enemy countries are excluded.Political considerations, advancedwith much solemnity, prevent the triumph of purely objective ways of thinkingwithout which our great aims must necessarily be frustrated.What can right-minded people, people who are proof against the emotionaltemptations of the moment, do to repair the damage? With the majority ofintellectual workers still so excited, truly international congresses on the grandscale cannot yet be held.The psychological obstacles to the restoration of theinternational associations of scientific workers are still too formidable to beovercome by the minority whose ideas and feelings are of a morecomprehensive kind.These last can aid in the great work of restoring theinternational societies to health by keeping in close touch with like-mindedpeople all over the world and resolutely championing the international cause intheir own spheres.Success on a large scale will take time, but it willundoubtedly come.I cannot let this opportunity pass without paying a tributeto the way in which the desire to preserve the confraternity of the intellect hasremained alive through all these difficult years in the breasts of a large numberof our English colleagues especially.The disposition of the individual is everywhere better than the officialpronouncements.Right-minded people should bear this in mind and not allowthemselves to be misled and get angry: senatores boni viri, senatus autembestia.If I am full of confident hope concerning the progress of internationalorganization in general, that feeling is based not so much on my confidence inthe intelligence and high-mindedness of my fellows, but rather on theirresistible pressure of economic developments.And since these dependlargely on the work even of reactionary scientists, they too will help to createthe international organization against their wills.The Institute for Intellectual Co-operationDuring this year the leading politicians of Europe have for the first time drawnthe logical conclusion from the truth that our portion of the globe can onlyregain its prosperity if the underground struggle between the traditionalpolitical units ceases.The political organization of Europe must bestrengthened, and a gradual attempt made to abolish tariff barriers.This greatend cannot be achieved by treaties alone.People's minds must, above all, beprepared for it.We must try gradually to awaken in them a sense of solidaritywhich does not, as hitherto, stop at frontiers.It is with this in mind that theLeague of Nations has created the Commission de coopérationintellectuelle
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