The Disarmament Conference has become the focal point of a great struggle between anarchy and world order... between those who think in terms of inevitable armed conflict and those who seek to build a universal and durable peace.

It has become impossible to give up the enterprise of disarmament without abandoning the whole great adventure of building up a collective peace system.

Let me remind you that nuclear disarmament is not just an ardent desire of the people as expressed in many resolutions of the United Nations. It is a legal commitment by the five official nuclear states entered into when they signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Certain it is that a great responsibility rests upon the statesmen of all nations not only to fulfill the promises for reduction in armaments but to maintain the confidence of the people of the world in the hope of an enduring peace.

If the history of the past fifty years teaches us anything it is that peace does not follow disarmament - disarmament follows peace.

The question of armaments whether on land or sea is the most immediately and intensely practical question connected with the future fortunes of nations and of mankind.

That is not to say that we can relax our readiness to defend ourselves. Our armament must be adequate to the needs but our faith is not primarily in these machines of defense but in ourselves.

As a first step there must be an offer to achieve equality of rights in disarmament by abolishing the weapons forbidden to the Central Powers by the Peace Treaties.