The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. MONDAY, APRIL 19, 1915. AMERICAN ATTITUDE.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 189, 19 April 1915, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

MONDAY, APRIL 19, 1915. AMERICAN ATTITUDE.

(With whi-ci. ua The Taihape Post v.xia ‘Wnimafi&u Nevis.)

Efforts that anr being matV inlj quarters t!s« keep the XJaalted!| %-&U-h and their President in open. l with peenyo of the Bid-] tiif Empire close eve to accoxu-J ! pW, h. Home of success. I Itfu’i? 1 af present flu is r row is not | OTH*r>f the easiest tv hoe, as is 100 3 obvsn r,s by the diversity of mefh-| od g* d argument gaat various | supporters and' apologists think it ] advisable or discreet ?.o follow. 1 Those-4'ho asperse Br'&kh people ; with st:i;h terms as ignorance and malice are certainly not taking the line of least resistance to veostahlish fju most cordial r.-k----lioDshins. They aetu.se British journalists with being ignoarnt of the facts ami jit support ot in they instance how America is ,assisir'ug our Empire by inamifscturivjg and sell-eg to us inmieufcc | (inamiti.s of war munitions, and | clothing for our use, and particiv ' larly for the use of our Allies' soldiers/ hut wo Britishers do not forget, that the main trouble arose because America wanted to supply similar goods to our enemies, and because, oiirwarelum ufon!) e

by President Wilson to the Bri-tish-Government. However, there' is no present intention to rake up I past causes for difference, and j reference to the American Note to England is only made to indicate that American apologists will be more successful if they deal with the question both from the American and British points of view. The old saying, “Blood is thicker than water,” is as true now* as ever it was, and every true Briton will he eager to learn that his American brother is just as much his brother to-day as when the Pilgrim Fathers left our shores to people the new continent. ; About a fortnight ago an article appeared in The EveningPost over the signature of Mr. T. M. Wllford, M.P., but a writer in Stead’s' Magazine seems to have entered upon a mission to explain away the 'differences and restore the aid-time friendliness, and it is because we have the strongest possible wishes for his -success that .we think it weuld be more quickiy achieved were he to' avoid all that ’’ a rubs np the wrong

Way.’ ’ It cannot dm denied that AHiefiha Has soM interned ships to /Ammco-Germ'ans so that they inay He enabled-to carry American made gp®ds ’and other contraband of WHr. to . Germany, and however fttiich may be written ai'dund 'this 4adt it cannot be obscured. ’ "When the British took the right bf a "belligerent in search ing lof contraband they were handed A pretest, the nature of which Wits 'clearly disclosed by the great jubilation it caused in Gerr&iyfyybut we are assured by the writer in Stead’s Magazine (Mi^l >r *lbthV'tfiat we are quite ’ ’ Well, without discussing 'that further we hope that the future will prove the correctness of his contention. In his a’ftiele he furnishes some very interesting information concerning What Britain and her Allies are purchasing from America in connection with the war, and he quotes this as an act of friendship, but we can scarcely regard it as such, because America exhibited an equal desire to sell to Our enemies. We do not say that Americans favoured Germany more than Britain —the Stars and

Stripes wore never opposed, in this war, to the Union jack-—hut the desire for trade caused them to protest against Britain id lowing a course that was quite legitimate and necessary for our Empire’s safety. By the end of last year, it is stated, America had already supplied munitions of war and other war articles to th«e value of £60,000,000, and up to the present, war material from America will more than total a value of £100,000,000. We certainly ought to he grateful to the United States for the way its innambassadors have represented Britain’s interests in enemy countries, and for their extreme humane treatment of the starving Belgians. Generally, it is safe to say that Britons have- no wish to minimise American generosity arid thoughtfulness as displayed in their'feeding of homeless and destitute Belgians, for it is too horrifying to conjecture what must have happened to some million and-a half of absolutely starving people if America had not gratuitously given the food and hove the expense of its distribution. Their free canteens to-day will remain a monunion t to trieir magnificent self - sacrifice so ’long as the future history of this great war remains. To use the words of the writer in' Stead’s Magazine, ‘' It is one of the finest examples of humanitarian effort the work! has scent”