The Press Saturday, November 5, 1927. Mr Borah and the Grand Tour.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19150, 5 November 1927, Page 18

The Press Saturday, November 5, 1927. Mr Borah and the Grand Tour.

One of the irresistible temptations thai beset journalists these days is, in commenting upon American affairs, tc quote Martin Chuzzlewit. Mayoi Thompson of Chicago, who is determined not to be a "stool-pigeon" oi King George V.; the American Legionaries at Buckingham Palace whc were astonished at finding the King crownless and human: and Senator Borah, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate, who, according to the Australian Commissioner in the United States, refuses to go abroad lest it should interfere with his " one hundred per cent. Ameri- " can " patriotism—these recall many passages in Dickens. Many of our readers will remember that when Martin tried to * correct General Choke about Queen Victoria and her "loca- " tion" in the Tower of London, he was waved aside. " When you say, " sir," said the General, " that your "Queen does not reside in the Tower "of London, you fall into an error, " not uncommon to your countrymen, " even when their abilities and moral "elements air such as to command re- " spect." To Martin's question whether be had ever been in England the General replied that he had been there "in print." "We air a reading people "here, sir. You will meet with much "information among us that will surprise you, sir." If Sir Hugh Denison's version of Mr Borah's mentality is correct, we have the strange spectacle of a man most influential in foreign affairs—for the Senate enjoys equal treaty-making power with the President—deliberately refusing to add to his knowledge of the subject for which he is responsible by travel. The traditional policy of "no foreign entanglements" could scarcely go further. The attitude is all the stranger for tho reason that Americans are great travellers. They swarm over England and Europe in the summer and they display an intellectual, aesthetic, sentimental, and economic curiosity, which often puts the Englishman to shame. Senator Borah, however, prefers not to go to England. He might be seduced by those terrible diplomatists of Whitehall, who, according to American opinion, 'are always " putting it " across " Uncle Sam. Possibly, however, he might, not learn much. William Jennings Bryan travelled abroad before he became Secretary of. State, arid it did not prevent him from being a dangerous donkey in that position. A nisn takes from travel what -he brings to: it. And in trying to shut his niind off from disturbing elements Mr Boraji has a precedent in; President Wilson, who at the beginning.,of the war refused to. read the official statements on both sides because he wished, to remain strictly neutral. It, is easier, however, to make fun of this American leader's attitude than to judge America's position in foreign relations soberly, and make allowance for circumstances. England has always been in much closer contact with Europe. In the old days it was the custom of young men of aristocratic bouses to make a grand tour of the Continent, and probably England has never had, a Foreign Secretary wholly without personal experience of Continental countries. It is so easy to " run across." Besides, the needs of tho country have demanded that foreign events shall be followed closely and foreign opinion understood. Americans" have been very differently situated. Europe is three thousand miles away* and the tradition of education and politics has pictured it as a place' effete and dangerous, from which it is most desirable that the Republic should hold aloof. The war and its consequences have brought about a new situation to which Americans are accommodating themselves slowly. One must not expect rapid adjustments. One may justifiably think that Mr Borah's frame of mind is deplorable and astonishing, but it is typical of a prejudice that is deeply rooted in the past and cannot be pulled' up in. a day. All this must be borne in mind in judging America. Proofs of ignorance and prejudice in respect to English and. European affairs abound. It is often astonishing to discover what in American journals passes for reliable guidance, in foreign affairs—the reputation, for example, of Professor . Elmer Barries,. America's foremost apologist for Germany. We must remember, however, that the United States is adjusting itself to new and distant conditions, and that the process is not only slpw, but gives us situations that are sometimes rather ridiculous.