THE FALLIBLE INTERVIEWER.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1378, 2 March 1912, Page 9

THE FALLIBLE INTERVIEWER.

Maurice Maeterlinck, according to the latest dispatches, has given up his contemplated visit to this country (says the New York "Post"). I'ear of the American reporter is still strong upon him. It seems odd that e. man who has gazed steadfastly into the depths of Destiny, of Death, and of other unfathomable mysteries, should be afraid to meet the eye of so unpretending a person as the American newspaper man. But if M. Maeterlinck's sfate of mind is such that it is a question of entering this country miintcrviewcd or not entering it at all, he has acted wisely in deciding not to come. The idea that he could evade our interviewers by coming in disguise, or by way of San Francisco, Montreal, or Juarez, is preposterous. The distinguished author might dress up as a Dalmatian peasant and come by way of Ellis Island; ho would only find that his bunk-mate all the way from Trieste was one of Mr. Hearst's young men. At the present moment M. Maeterlinck is probably under constant surveillance; and his fate may ultimately be like the unhappy victims of the third degree. Surrounded day and night bv the' disguised emissaries of the Associated Pre.-s, the Belgian poet will end by engaging the royal suite on the Lusitania and summoning tho reporters to meet him at Quarantine. There he

will cry, "I am hero. Take me. Interview me. I can bear this no longer!" But there is an alternative. Provided he can hold out for six months, M. Maeterlinck can attain his ambition and land among us unnoticed. In six months his challengo to tho reporters will be forgotten. Iu six months the opera season will be over, the theatres will bo closed, the ."Blue Bird" will be stale news, and tho minds of men will be taken up with the puzzling condition of "Matty's" pitching nriu. Let tho distinguished Belgian then board a vessel for New York, without disguise and without ostentation, and enter his name upon flie ship's list as plain "M. Maeterlinck." He will pass the interviewers without arousing suspicion; or, if to someone anions the reporters the name Maeterlinck may bear a familiar echo, a few, discreet and kindly words will satisfy Hie num. If tho distinguished Belgian has any doubts on the subject, let him think of Dr. Wilhelm Bode. Two years ago, Dr. Bode and his 50,000 dollar wax bust by Leonardo da Vinci held the front pages of the newspapers for weeks. Unci ho landed in NewYork in 1909, he would havo been interviewed to a shadow. But Dr. Bode camo to the United States in 1911, and tho first intimation of this visit to most of us was a cable from Berlin giving Dr. Bode's impressions of America. What happened to Dr. Code is happening all the time to distinguished foreigners in this country. Men devoid of immediate news value are thereby rendered invisible to tho all-see-ing eye of the press. In planning a midsummer trip such as wo have, described, M. Maeterlinck might take the additional precaution of engaging passage on the same boat with a theatrical manager returning from Europe with a long list of new attractions for tbe approaching season; or with a party of young women from the Middle West who have been victors in a newspaper educational contest, in which the first twelvo prizes were a choice between a trip to Europe and a grand piano; or with a prosperous business "man from tho same Middle West who has been enjoying the hospitality of Europe's effete but exceedingly likeable aristocrats and royalties. Against such competitors it would need a very obtrusive man of fame, indeed, to win much attention in the public. prints. First place, of course, would go to the young women from the Middlo West, with a group photograph, individual impressions of the Vatican, the Louvre, the Tower of London, and the Rhine, and a general chorus of satisfaction at getting back to what is, after all, the finest country on earth. For second placo thero would probably be a close race between the theatrical manager with two hundred theatres, thirty stars, and .unnumbered plays at his finger-ends, and the business man from the West with his highly interesting views on the present state of European politics and' civilisation.

We confess to a particular fondness for this sturdy self-made gentleman from the West whom a single trip across, the Atlantic renders an authority on tho profoundest questions of contemporary interest. We read: "Mr. W. B. Sands of Milwaukee, who arrived yesterday on tho Ruritania, after a two months' stay abroad, in the course of which lie was introduced to the Grand Duke Michael at a luncheon at Monte Carlo, declares that never was the condition of the Russian Empire as satisfactory' as it is at present. The Russian peasants all love the Tsar, and the Tsar is constantly working for ( the welfare of the peasants. Mr. Sands declared that there is no basis for the rumours of a secret treaty of alliance between Russia anil Japan." Wo read:— "It is the firm opinion of Henderson W. Sloggs, of Omaha, who arrived yesterday on the Cetaceap, that Italy's measures fn Tripoli are regarded with extreme dissatisfaction at Berlin and Vienna. At the same time, Mr. Sloggs insists that Italy was justified in acting as she did. Tripoli is a land of infinite promise, and in tho course of timo can produce enourrh wheat to feed half the world. Mr. Sioggs's sojourn abroad was confined to Paris, London, and tho Lakes of Killarney." Wo read:—. . "W. Dexter Jones, one of tho lumberkings of northern Michigan, when sren on board the Wilhelm. at Quarantine, said that during a two-days' stay in Berlin he became convinced that Ibsen lias lost his hold on the German people. Whito at Berlin, Mr. Jones took in three musical shows- and the circus/' With so much news in the air, M. Maeterlinck would stand a very good chance of escaping notice.