stubbornly. “I do propose just that. All aircraft. All.”
The President had been listening without comment to the discussion. He now
cut in. “How about aircraft on which some groups depend to stay alive,
Colonel, such as the Alaskan lines?”
“If there are such, they must be operated by American Army pilots and
crews. No exceptions.”
The Secretary of Commerce looked startled. “Am I to infer from that last
remark that you intended this prohibition to apply to the United States as
well as other nations?”
“Naturally.”
“But that’s impossible. It’s unconstitutional. It violates civil rights.”
Killing a man violates his civil rights, too Manning answered stubbornly.
“You can’t do it. Any Federal Court in the country would enjoin you in five
minutes.”
“It seems to me,” said Manning slowly, that Andy Jackson gave us a good
precedent for that one when he told John Marshall to go fly a kite.” He
looked slowly around the table at faces that ranged from undecided to
antagonistic. “The issue is sharp, gentlemen, and—we might as well drag it
out in the open. We can be dead men, with everything in due order,
constitutional, and technically correct; or we can do what has to be done,
stay alive, and try to straighten out the legal aspects later.” He shut up
and waited.
The Secretary of Labor picked it up. “I don’t think the Colonel has any
corner on realism. I think I see the problem, too, and I admit it is a
serious one. The dust must never be used again. Had I known about it soon
enough, it would never have been used on Berlin. And I agree that some sort
of world wide control is necessary. But where I differ with the Colonel is
in the method. What he proposes is a military dictatorship imposed by force
on the whole world. Admit it, Colonel. Isn’t that what you are proposing?”
Manning did not dodge it. “That is what I am proposing.”
“Thanks. Now we know where we stand. I, for one, do not regard democratic
measures and constitutional procedure as of so little importance that I am
willing to jettison them any time it becomes convenient. To me, democracy
is more than a matter of expediency, it is a faith Either it works, or I go
under with it.”
What do you propose?” asked the President.
“I propose that we treat this as an opportunity to create a worldwide
democratic commonwealth.” Let us use our present dominant position to issue
a call to all nations to send representatives to a conference to form a
world constitution.”
“League of Nations,” I heard someone mutter.
“No!” he answered the side remark. “Not a League of Nations. The old League
was helpless because it had no real existence, no power. It was not
implemented to enforce its decisions; it was just a debating society, a
sham. This would be different for we would turn over the dust to it.”
Nobody spoke for some minutes. You could see them turning it over in their
minds, doubtful, partially approving, intrigued but dubious.
“I’d like to answer that,” said Manning.
“Go ahead,” said the President.
“I will. I’m going to have to use some pretty plain language and I hope
that Secretary Larner will do me the honor of believing that I speak so
from sincerity and deep concern and not from personal pique.
“I think a world democracy would be a very fine thing and I ask that you
believe me when I say I would willingly lay down my life to accomplish it.
I also think it would be a very fine thing for the lion to lie down with
the lamb, but I am reasonably certain that only the lion would get up. If
we try to form an actual world democracy, we’ll be the lamb in the setup.
“There are a lot of good, kindly people who are inter-nationalists these
days. Nine out of ten of them are soft in the head and the tenth is
ignorant. If we set up a world-wide democracy, what will the electorate be?
Take a look at the facts: four hundred million Chinese with no more concept
of voting and citizen responsibility than a flea; three hundred million