The Press Thursday, April 7, 1921. Anglo-American Relations.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17113, 7 April 1921, Page 6

The Press Thursday, April 7, 1921. Anglo-American Relations.

Our Wellington correspondent sends us to-day an account of an interview with an American business man, who has spent much of his life in the Far East. Like most white people who have had much to do with Japan, he is strongly anti-Japanese. His criticisms of the Japanese are interesting, but more presently interesting to us is. his equally strong advocacy of Anglo-American amity. There are always at work influences tending to create discord be■'tween the two countries, and it is therefore always opportune to stress the importance of friendship between America and tfie British Empire. It will be remembered that early in February some excitement was caused by the publication,' in some American newspapers, of despatches stating that a high official in Downing street had told a number of American newspaper correspondents that Britain und America i were ''treading a path leading to war." Whai actually happened- was that Sir Auckland Geddes invited a number of correspondents to meet him for a frank and confidential talk. The conversation ranged over a wide field, and Sir Auckland Geddes aimed at emphasising the need for a close understanding between -the two countries, and', the service that newspaper correspondents could render by maintaining perspective, public ignorance, and avoiding exaggeration. He said* nothing that could possibly be construed into the sentiment attributed to him; on the face of it,, indeed, it was the kind of opinion that no responsible statesman would dream of making. Unfortunately some of the correspondents wittingly or unwittingly misreported the conversation, which, in liny, case, ought not to have been reported at all. In official circles : in Washington, naturally, the report was regarded as preposterous. There are several matters in regard to which British and American interests are in conflict, but not one of these is incapable of adjustment. No sane person, either in America or in Britain, believes that there exists the material for any serious quarrel between the two countries, but it is highly desirable, as "The "Times" recently urged, that Britain should not go on leaving the treatment of such problems as cable*, finance, naval affairs, oil and the Pacific, or of any differences of view upon them, to Atphazard diplomacy. "Our foreign "policy,*' added • 'The Times," "ought " to rest upon fundamental' principles, "so clear and so firm, that in no cir"cumstances can thty be denied or " paltered with." In this case AngloAmerican friendship should be recognised as the basis, or one of the bases, of British policy. There is, of ocurse, a Peace Commission Treaty devised for the settlement of Anglo-American disputes, but a Treaty is a less sure instrument of co-operation and peace than a settled national feeling and habit of mind*