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CHAPTER 7 141
mean life or death; and they are led to war like steers to slaughter. Does America wish to be a "Columbus" to
the unknown worlds? To lead peoples to their conquest? To add another name to those of the forty-eight states
that comprise the Union? Take possession of the other worlds in the name of the United States? To colonize
them? To cultivate them? To people them? To transport thither all the prodigies of art, of science, and
industry; and to constitute them a republic, if they are not already one? I fear for the natives of these unknown
worlds considering our own history. The so-called "primitive people" of our own planet have undergone
brutality at the hands of their earthly brothers. Their lands have been stolen outright; their ways of life
destroyed. Would people of other planets be treated even as kindly? Man's inhumanity to man--when will it
cease?
The idea of extending our own violence into outer space is at this moment circulating all over the planet Earth.
The same pulp magazines that are influenced by creative space intelligences print monstrous tales inspired by
the opposite, or negative forces. Scientific articles published in leading journals add to the power of
confusion. If man on Earth can conquer space, then he will extend his miseries to the Universe. Humanity,
now having sufficiently corrupted this planet wishes to spread its poisons to larger areas. The vast
astronomical distances which are God's "quarantine" regulations must somehow be overcome.
A wild dream that planet after planet, system after system, and in the end, galaxy after galaxy can be forced to
come under the dominion of the planet Earth. The destruction or enslavement of other men in the Universe:
this is the "noble" goal. First they say other worlds are uninhabited "balls of gas"; yet, they plan to travel to
such "worthless" worlds. What good would it do to go there in the first place if this were true?
If men on Earth make it to Mars, there will undoubtedly be a West Mars and an East Mars. The American and
British Zones and the Russian Sector, of course! What a dither the United Nations would be in! Who is going
to own which planet? Will Russia try to take Jupiter by force?
In _Collier's_ magazine for March 22, 1953, there was an article called: _Who Owns The Universe?_ by
Oscar Schachter, Deputy Director, Legal Department, United Nations. He said: "Now that scientists have
shown that man can conquer space and that new worlds lie within his reach, the question of 'owning' the moon
and the planets no longer seems to be so much of a joke. Today, the question is not at all far-fetched and, in
fact, it may well have important consequences for all of us.
"Will governments claim 'ownership' (or, more correctly sovereignty) of the moon and other celestial bodies,
just as claims today are being made to the barren wastes of the Antarctic? Will there be national rivalry to
plant the 'Stars and Stripes', the 'Union Jack' and the 'Hammer and Sickle' far off in space, so that the
governments can then assert exclusive control and keep others away? A conflict may arise when the first
rocket ships reach the moon and other celestial bodies. The old story of territorial rivalry; but this time
extended into the heavens themselves.
"Although we have been talking about outer space, we have said nothing about where outer space begins; or
to put it in another way, how far up does the territory of a country extend? Whenever a country could prevent
or interfere with the movement of a rocket ship or space station it would have the legal right to do so. Would
this not, in effect, simply be a rule that 'might makes right'? And would it not place rocket ships and space
stations at the mercy of those national states which would be able to interfere with their free passage? Beyond
the airspace we would have to apply a system similar to that followed on the high seas."
The above quotation is ludicrous in the extreme! In answer to the question: "To what tribunal would questions
of space law be referred?" Mr. Schachter says: "A dispute in space that involved two or more governments
could be submitted to the International Court of Justice at the Hague, just as international disputes are today."
What a surprise is in store for those who would put their "brand" on the Universe--a much higher authority
exists in outer space!