MORE TOLERANT THAN AMERICA

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 204, 23 May 1919, Page 7

MORE TOLERANT THAN AMERICA

UNITED STATES EDITOR'S IMPRESSIONS

Mr Oswald Garrison Villard, editor of the New York "Nation," who has been spending the last four weeks in London, loft for Paris recently. I saw him at tho Savoy Hotel, and he consented to say something for the "Manchester Guardian" about his impressions of England and tho way in which feeling here compares with that .of the United States (writes the London correspondent of the "Munclicser Guardian"). Mr. Villard said that the first thing that strttck him on his arrival in lingland was the much greater tolerance that oxisted here in comparison with America, and his impression in that regard had been strengthened during his stay. In America persons of minority opinions were treated almost as social outcasts, whereas it seemed to him that in England most people were ready to listen to opinions from which they disagreed, and did not allow differences of opinion to interfere with their social relations. The British- Government, Mr. Villard said, was also much more tolerant than the American, although there had been incidents such the interdiction of the dispatch of certain papers abroad. Such papers as the "Labour Leader" or tho Herald" would not have been allowed to exist in America during the war. nor would the American authorities 'have permitted public meetings in favour of peace such as had been held in England throughout the' war. Mr. Villard considered that this tolerant spirit honoured both the British Government and the Bi'iieh public. '" '

Conservatism Stronger in America. Mr; Villard said that he bad also been "profoundly impressed" by the keen intellectual interest shown in England in the problems of the future. There was, unfortunately, no sucli general interest in America in these problems. There was no Labour Party in America, and no such- large groups of. young thinkers and writers on international subjects as was to be found in Great Britain. Such writers and thinkers were very few in America. In fact, America was much more conservative than England; most peoplo were content to. iro on iii tho old way, and did not realise that a new world was coming and that there were problems of immense importance to lie solved.

I asked Mr. Villard > what be thought of the effect of the victory on tho public- temper in this country. Ho replied that there seemed to him to be less bitterness than in America against * our enemies, although, perhaps, he had hardly seen enough to form an- opinion on thnt point. Certainly some of the English newspapers were still very bitter, but he doubted whether they reflected public opinion in Eoneral. No doubt, Mr. Villard went on to say, tho very completeness of the victory had had the inevitable effect on feeling in England, as in-other Allied countries. However much we rejoice at tho destruction of tho German military power, nevertheless the sweeping character of the victory had inevitably strengthened Imperialist feeling and ambitions in all-the victorious countries, and England was. no exception to the rule. A victory rattier less complete might have been more healthy for tho victors.Labour and Mr. Gompers's Influence. "What ostounds zne particularly in England," Mr. Villard proceeded, "is tho rapprochement between Liberal intelligentsia and Labour. It does not exist in the United States, thanks to the stupidity of Mr. Samuel Gompere, whose views on Labour questions arc- at least a quarter of a century behind the times. Nevertheless, despite Mr. Gompers, and notwithstanding his opposition, there are the Tieginnings of a Labour party in the United States. In the near future the history of American Labour will be that of a fight between the Gonipers view and one more liko that of the British Labour Party, Unfortunately organised Labour in the United Stateu has been too often identified with lawlessness and violence. This has repelled a good 'many people who are sincerely desirous of advancing the cause of Labour. "On the other hand there is in America a complete misunderstanding of the Socialist party. The term Socinlist is still believed to be synonymous with Anarchist, and in New York a. man who declared himself to be a Socialist would be almost 'declasse.' There it: another eign of the lack of tolerance in the United States. Further, there is do political choice in America; no vital issues separate tho Republican and Democratic parties,( whioh have the same faults and tho saino tendencies. The only marked difforonoo between them is that the Democratic party has Woodrow Wilson, whereas the Republican Party is wholly reactionary."

I aeked Mr. Villard how he thought that the Press in this country compared with that of America. He snid that it compared very favourably. There was no groat Press of the Left in the United States, and scarcely a really Liberal 'daily paper like the "Manchester Guardian." the "Daily Ncwe," ov oven, the ."Westminster Gazette. ,, There was now a. daily Socialist paper in New York willed the "Call," which was getting on verv.well, but ifc stood alone. ,In this regard Mr. Villard considered that England lind an I'liormons advantage over America. ,