The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the west Coast Times. WEDNESDAY OCT. 8th, 1924. BRITIAN AND AMERICA.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 October 1924, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the west Coast Times. WEDNESDAY OCT. Bth, 1924. BRITIAN AND AMERICA.

'l’m: Sulgiave Instiuition (named alter .Sulgiave .Manor, the home oi Wa.siimgti.n's am est.iis m Northnlils.) exists lor tile | III'! ii r ol | lollioiiim belle, relations hot .icon, Britain ami Ameiica. Ii has I.ram lies on either side ol the Atlantic, and in 1922 a British delegation visited America untier ihe lioad•sliip of Sir Cuuiles Wakeliebi, a one time Lord .Mayor of London, who lias in “Ameiir.i, To-dav and To-niori or.”

pivcit :111 account of liis pilprimapc mid i!’«* imp!r.ssiTiiiN termed therein. ’I Ik* party included several well known ptililiiists and joiiri.ii!i.sts, and was met in New York hy the Mon. !). ]!. Kdward.s, "ho represented Australia mi the dele.tsitioii. and l>v representatives of ( an;id.i and Newl'mindland. its ohjeet was t!i ] .-uselit |he Aliielieau 1 1111 ■ii with '•lists ot William i 1 i ll . liurke and Hrvee, and a'mi to enpapc in prepagmidt work 1 hrooplemt the Union. Su ( limit's Wakoliehl travelled many thou, sands el miles in America, and his .shrewd observations should serve as a corrective to the rat Iter pratiiilous assiimpt ions and loose thiiikinp which are often associated with the <|iiestion A nplo-Anieriean relationships. Our attitude in this matter is poverited hy sontimentiility. We invoke pi if, eateli"ords such as ■''! he ties ot eonimon lanpuapo ami common forhears.” or “Anphi-Naxin solidarity”; hut Imw far do these thi tips really count ’ Why should Amerinds enormous Inrcipu element led tiny atta hment to Kapland The tonpne that Shakcspcate spoke is not the lanpttape of many millions of Americans. Sir Charles Wakefield litis no illusions upon the paint. When his forty wa.s aheut to visit the .south and the middle west to speak on Itehalf of Aup 10-A nieriean Iriemlship. he was Wiirned that in certain nails their reception mipht he less than kind. He "’as also told that in others propapaiida was superfluous. So evidently there was no uiiilot mity in American opinion. Friendship and uiulerslandiiip an the two t ltinprs desired, and there is a tendency to take it for prattled that they must needs prow from strenptli to strenpth as the ycais wear on. lint will they ? The author does not think that in either country amoup tlie preat mass ol the people there is any lack ol friendship, latent or active. But he does think that there is in Knpland at least—he does not venture to dopmati.se about America—a plentiful lack of understandinp, and lie was fonviii:ed hy the experiences that the .spirit of

mutunl goodwill which we ail hope tv •see grow in intensity, and as a matter of course lias lint yet ] assed beyond the stage of propaganda. The first

reason for “the still slightly wavering friendship” between England and America i.s “the somewhat irrational expectation in many English mim’ that some sort of accepted sentiment should automata a!lv preserve a specially intimate relationship hot ween I 1 two peoples.” AVe exaggerate this influence of mere .sentiment, vague and

undefined. It i.s necessary tli.it M basis of mir friendship .should he “consciously appreciated and applied bv each individual thinker in the right spirit of understanding. The second reason i.s the ignorance that exists in each country of contemporary life and thought in the other. ‘-We on this side particularly fail to grasn the comparatively small place which the affairs ol England and Europe, oven today. occupy in the mind of the average American. A\ e are an island-kingdom, and nil outward looking hnhit of mind is part of our tradition, hred in our very holies. Wo are the nerve centre of a great Empire. For centuries we have keen accustomed to watch our scattered, brethren in five continents and to study the trend of tilings on the Continent of Europe as affecting our varied interests. Tn the United .States the national tendency is otherwise. Until recently its pre-occupation

has heen with the domestic affairs of what i.s a great self-contained Empire —the union of forty-eight separate States. To realise this it is only necessary to look at a map of America.

The longest continuous journey in Great Britain would only suffiie to span two or three of those States, and to the great hulk of the American people the affairs of their fellow-coun-trymen in the entrance West or South are only less remote than those of far-distant Europe.” This self-alisorp-tion was a factor with .which Woodrow Wilson, did net sufficiently reckon when he returned from Versailles. Sir Charles pays a tribute to the cx-Prc-

sklent, and believes Hint liis dream, though frustrated for a space, "ill ultimately be realised. Sir Charles’ book throws a great deal of light upon the question with which it deals, and should help to clarify our opinions. We may note in conclusion that a chapter is given to the methods and achievements of Mr Henry Ford, “one of the few men of vision in these matter-of-fact days.” Sir Charles believes that the spirit of service, the quality of idealism in business that lie calls Fordism. is the principle; which must guide modern industry in general if our civilisation is to advance.