Arresting Phrases in Executives Message May 17, 33 WASHINGTON, May 16 Arresting phrases from President Roosevelts message to world leaders and to congress It has become increasingly evident that the assurance of world political and economic peace and stability is threatened by selfish and short sighted policies, actions and threats of actions. The deep rooted desire of Americans for better living conditions and for the avoidance of war is shared by mass humanity in every country. It is high time for us and for every other nation to understand the simple fact that the invasion of any nation, or the destruction of a national sovereignty, can be prevented only by the complete elimination of the weapons that make such a course possible today. The way to disarm is to disarm. The way to prevent invasion is to make it impossible. Our people realize that weapons of offense, are needed only if other nations have them and they will freely give them up if all the nations of the world will do likewise. The happiness, the prosperity, and the very lives of the men, women and children who inhabit the whole world are bound up in the decisions which their governments will make in the near future. The economic conference must establish order in place of the present chaos by a stabilization of currencies, by freeing the flow of world trade, and by international action to raise price levels. Our duty in the disarmament conference lies in the direction of bringing practical results through concerted action based upon the greatest good to the greatest number. A selfish victory is always destined to be an ultimate defeat. The furtherance of durable peace for our generation in every part of the world is the only goal worthy of our best efforts. I believe that the overwhelming majority of peoples feel obliged to retain excessive armaments because they fear some act of aggression against them and not because they themselves seek to be aggressors. If all nations will agree wholly to eliminate from possession and use the weapons which make possible a successful attack, defenses automatically will become impregnable, and the frontiers and independence of every nation will become secure. I propose that all the nations of the world should enter into a solemn and definite pact of nonaggression.