Word: streits
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Method. Ultimate objective of Federal Union would be a world federation of democratic states. For a beginning - the U. S., the United Kingdom, Eire, New Zealand, Australia, Union of South Africa, Canada. Pending a Constitutional Convention, Author Streit would set up an Inter-Continental Congress with one representative for each member democracy, plus an additional representative for every 5,000,000 inhabitants. (The U. S. would have 27 votes, the remainder 22.) Until direct elections of intercontinental congressmen could be arranged, the President could appoint them, with Congressional approval, or let Congress pick them from a list of Presidential recommendations...
Executive of this Inter-Continental Congress might be a five-man board, might be a single chairman: President Roosevelt or Prime Minister Churchill. Clarence Streit likes the idea of two men, like Roman consuls, and names them: Roosevelt and Churchill...
Constitutionality? Only a Congressional resolution, says Streit, is necessary to establish Union Now. Congress would still legislate domestic affairs, and although it would surrender a few powers to the Union, these are less than it will be compelled to surrender under the concentration of power in the executive if the U. S. goes to war. under any other structure...
With Union established, says Streit, Hitler could be blockaded in Europe ; the conquered nations could be given an incentive to throw off his rule ; the Axis powers could be tempted to come to terms individually with the Union. With Union established, no nation could make a separate peace, as France surrendered, any more than New York could have surrendered its army when that State was invaded by the British in the Revolution...
...Author Streit is sanguine. He does not look too hard at the difficulties, suspicions, confusions, the interests that would be threatened, the prejudices that would be aroused: he wants democrats to be up & doing to solve these problems, to sharpen their wits, meet their obstacles, let their imaginations flower. Most powerful chapter in his book asserts that in recent history the U. S. has not played a heroic part. "Our policy has brought upon us the gravest economic, social, monetary, political and moral dangers Americans have ever faced...