ANGLO-AMERICAN RELATIONS.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 June 1921, Page 4

ANGLO-AMERICAN RELATIONS.

TAIL TWISTING AND FEATHER

PLUCKING.”

(From “English Speaking World”)

Several night ago the writer was present at a gathering of younger members of the British Mercantile Marine Service. Apropos of some remark, one of the Midshipmen observed that lie was glad to find at least one American who had a good word to say lor the British Empire. This young sailor had made the natural mistake of thinking that the foolish and harmful anti-Bri-tish propaganda so rife in New 5 ork city, is the real American feeling toward Great Britain. If “international relations” as expressed in New 5 ork city, were typical of the feeling of the country at large, God help America in her intercourse with other nations. Fortunately it is not.

There are in America, as in England, persons of shallow mentality who take great pleasure in “pulling the feathers out of the American Eagle, and twisting the British Lion’s tail.” This element, being noisy, is most often heard, hut it does not express the real sentiment in each country for the other. Eagles and Lions, fortunately, are too mighty to worry much about the howling of a pack of jackals.

We are not concerned in this article with the Stupid anti-American sentiment uttered by men of the type of Horatio Bottom ley and others. It- is disavowed by real British people, and thinking Americans give it no second thought. All cousins “call names” at times—it is human nature, and happens in the best regulated families.

The anti-British propaganda in America, however, is of a more complex nature and must therefore he subjected to a closer scrutiny. Primarily, of course, it bears the trademark “Made in Germany.” So long as the AngloSaxon race stands shoulder to shoulder, the Teuton must gnash his teeth in vain, and content himself with hurling insults and insidious slander, conceived in the warped and twisted German mind. But ‘ let the wedge he driven in the friendship of America and Britain, civilisation falls, and “Der Tag” is once more in sight. This is not a hypothesis—it is unfortunate fact, to which we must not remain blinded by German blandishment, or expressions of false repentance.

In this work of destructive propaganda and discord, the Germans are ably assisted by a certain class of Irish —the Sinn Fein. For the sake of their foolish and blind hatred of England, they are willing to plunge the world into chaos and destruction, too horrible to contemplate. Hatred of England, the nation to w hose protection and care they owe their very existence, has blinded this faction to any other fact. Even a portion pf the Roman Catholic clergy have prostituted their church, and their holy office to “politics.” Those clergymen could do much to alleviate this ill-feeling, if they would, and many of them do stand against it, to the credit of themselves and theii faith. There are' many Irishmen who are devoted to the Empire their fathers helped to build, and it is these sane men who will finally over-rule their financial brethren, and save Ireland from a condition of anarchy and murder worse than that of present day Russia. But we in America must he fair, and keep our hands out of what does not concern us. There are men in America who would lead us into war with Britain if they could, Init we are not blind and can see them in their true light. There are those of us in America who feel that the “Yellow Peril” is our worst menace at the present time. Whether this is true is a mooted point, but for the sake of hypothesis, we shall assume, for the moment, that it is true. While America and Britain stand ready to fly to each other’s aid against the common foe, no Yellow race will attempt to demonstrate “race equality” bv force of arms. Australia, Canada, and New- Zealand fear the yellow menace even more than does America, and w here the Dominions point, the Motherland is inclined to follow, as far as concerns this particular question. So what a glorious tiling it would be for the hopes of the yellow race to see had leeling, if not actual war, between the two great Anglo-Saxon countries. Thus we see the forces at work to discredit Great Britain in America. But our British cousins must not fool that America is a land subject to every propaganda which is foisted upon us. When it comes to a showdown, wc stand with “Cousin John” every timo, and in his heart of hearts, he knows it, and so do the enemies of the Englishspeaking race. Hence the extra volume of “hate.” Air Hearst, for example, is not a true American, for lie lends his aid to a cause which seeks to injure America in her international relations, and men such as lie must not be taken seriously. As more than fifty per cent of the population of the United States is of Anglo-Saxon origin, wo are certainly not going to let our country be led into a war against our own blood and brethren by “hyphenates” who unworthily abuse our hospitality and our citizenship. No, “Cousin johnny Bull” don’t worry —“Uncle Sam” is, and always will be, your loyal friend and blood relation. When the clouds are cleared away, and misunderstandings put into some American minds by “hyphenated liars with an axe to grind,” the Anglo-Saxon race having weathered this storm, as many others, will emerge in closer friendship than before.—-William Newman Chew. <