SIR GEORGE REID IN AMERICA

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 81, 29 December 1917, Page 11

SIR GEORGE REID IN AMERICA

AN INTERESTING INTERVIEW AMERICA INSPIRING ENGLAND Tho lit. Hon. Sir George Reid, formerly Prime Minister of Australia •ltd High Commissioner in I-ondon, and now member of Parliament for St. George's, London, arrived in New York Mm other tiny during tho height of the drivo for the second Liberty Loan. The liiornmg after uis arrival ho looked out of his window on the blaze of street banners and signs printed in high black letters with fingers pointing at "You Buy a Liberty Bond," and spoke to an Interviewer of fiis profound admit ation for the way America had

"slmpwl" during the few months sinco slio entered the world war. Tho vigoa" and boldness of the young Aniericai; nation was, he .said, a great inspiration to England. It interested Sir Georgo to see how characteristic was tho Americans' metnod of floating tho big loan. They went at it hamliiei- and nail with big letters taking up far more space on the printed sheets than ever was appropriated for similar purposes in England. "Second War for Independence." "America is nobler to-day ttian sho has over been," said Sir George Beid. "She is fighting her second war for j independence. But to-day she fights not only for but for the indepeudenco of the world. It is a glorious thing that the soul of the nation has come out at last. The United States for many j'ears has set the world an example of peace. She has been detached from the rat of tho world in her serenity, nnd greatly to her discredit., because she has loosed upon the struggling nations of the world with a benevolent, but nevertheless an indifferent, eye. "J have always been an admirer of America. When lam a long way away from it I see dark spots in American greatness. But when I come near, tho marvellous prosperity of the country makes it all seem very different. America is the soundest, healthiest proposition in the world.

"Not the biggest, though," said Sir George with a chuckle! "England's the biggest, of course." ■'■_' • ... "America's coming into this war at tho present .moment has brought jbh'e two democracies, England and the United States,- more closely togother than ever before. 'Even . these few months of American collaboration lias shown- England the heart .of America, and America the heart of England, , more, clearly than has been done during any of the hundred years of peace. You can have ho caricatures now , about twisting the British lion's tail. I have come over as a colonial in an endeavour to tell people here, as well as I canj about the prodigious amount of work tho British nation has done since the war began. You in America aro not coming intoaa alliance in •which there is shirking. England has done her noblest. "And England's Tommy Atkins, considering his handicaps, is a wonderful man of war to-day. The English workingman never has had a fair chance. The feudal principle and the slow course of English education have kept him down. The national grant for education was made only eighty years ago. Seventy years ago only half the people who got married in England could sign their own names to the contract. That was the state of things when America waged war for independence. England got more out of this war than America ever got. The inspirations from it moved the world. And wo are just as free as you are to-day. The form, of our• democracy is differ-, ent, but the spirit is the same. It as the spirit which has mado Tommy Atkins, a quiet sort of a fellow in his trade, meet a supreme test out of which have come tho most glorious qualities of human nature."

Australia's Reconstruction Problem. ' Sir George answered a question about present affairs in Australia, particularly regarding the rumour of dissatisfaction among the Australian people arising from the lack of attention and funds for the plans of re-establishing men invalided homo from war. Sir George lived in Australia from. the time he was two months old until manhood. He was born in Scotland. Ho said that he believed no serious situation existed in Australia from such a cause, or he would know of it. "It takes time to deal satisfactorily with this great matter of economic roconstitution," he said. "It will take arduous work. The Colonial Government has .made most liberal provision for its soldiers. It pays them six shillings a day to begin with, which is moro than the pay of any other soldier. Tho Australian troops are worth it,, but it is not every country that can

afford it. Tommy Atkins gets liis shilling a day, and is the finest soldier tha world lias seen. They tiro now trying to got him an increase But t'no Australian soldier IB not a grumbler, "Australia is a, young country, and it is difficult to; place shattered men over there. Wlion America has ton thousand disabled men back from tho war, j'ou will find tho same difficulty. Moreover, some of tho men invalided homo don't want to go to work right away. Thoy feel that they arc entitled to a rest. Thoy do not wish at once to begin a now trade: somo even feel that tho country should support them. England is talcing up this great problem in a largo way. Tho Minister of Labour is going iieart and soul into tho worlc of trying to find employment for them. And it is not always a feasible thing to try to assign them to a country life with all i<p. rigours and its need of full man-power, as has been suggested frequently. A man without an arm is a greater disadvantage on a farm than ho is in work in tho city. These men must bo placed in town fife.

Labour In tho Commonwcaith. Sii George touched upon tho labour situation in Australia. Ho said it had been some timo since his !«at visit to the Commonwealth, but his best knowledge and belief was that tho supremacy of the labour unions in Australia had resulted in making some of the labour factions "sour." "A lot of them are sour, but. tho # bulk rre as sound as a bell," he said. "I respect tho Labour party. I respact tbe trado unions. The men in iliem are a healthy, fine lot. But Labour constituents are not yet as clever as the fellows on the Stock Exchange in knowing how to manage their own affairs Some day the Labour • men themselves will bo as clever as their leaders. They have suffered, os have oiler Englishmen, from ancestral ignorance duo to neglect of national education." Sir George concluded bv sayin;; a, word about the Liberty Loan, "lt'o tho same great patriotic move hero that it was in England,"' be asserted. "Only with bigger printed headings everywhere. But the millionaires ought to do more. What they have subscribed has been child's play compared with tho loans given hy tho poor people. "I wish you would say, too. that to Mr. Bonar Law must belong vho credit for tho successful floating of the large British War Loan. The bankors told Mr. Bonar Law that he must ;,ivo six per cent. Ho refused, and said he would give five per cent. Furthermore, they told him he could not move tho English people in one month. He sain, he could. And the loan went through for five billion dollars. "But here in America you must consider that you are now. at. this business England is not. She h.is been tho centre of trouble all her iifo. The way America lias shaped during the fow months since she canie into the war has given England inspiration ai;d unbounded admiration. Wβ have been bending our backs for three years, and nlicng comes a young giant to nslp us."