PROGRESS OF THE ENGLISH SPEAKING IDEA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 181, 4 September 1909, Page 3

PROGRESS OF THE ENGLISH SPEAKING IDEA.

The celebration of Independence Day in America was signalised i u the London Daily Telegraph by a significant leading article on tlic question of AngloAmerican union.

"Whatever may have occurred in one disastrous epoch of fratricidal strife," said the Writer, "however mingled may be the elements of population in a now Continent, whatever the future may bring forth—and we venture to antici-j pate the best—nothing can alter what is perhaps predominant among all historic facts, that England and the American | Republic are sprung from one root, speak the same tongue, and are still mentally and spiritually nourished in the main by the same literature." A CAUSE FOR REGRET.

And then, after reviewing what each country owes to the other, the Daily Telegraph went on to say: "Wc do not share the pessimism with which AngloAmerican relations are sometimes discussed. We admit, and regret the fast, that England is far better known to our Transatlantic visitors than is the United States to British travellers. The Mauretania and her sister ship have rendered an excellent service, not so much bv the actual number of hours they have knocked off the Atlantic passage, as by the effect of their achievements in impressing imaginatiou with the nearness of America. But it h even yet iiot realised enough that in less than' a week of his holidays any man mar pass from London to New York. We wish it were possible to extend by any means nm.,ng all persons of tolerable means and leisure on this side a personal knowledge of die Republic.

CHANGING CONDITIONS "If there is a real danger ii lie* m this, that after a few years our experience or ideas o? the United States tend to fa!l behind the facts. For Americans belong to a country which, if no longer so young as it was, is still passing swirriy through phase after phase of transition. Emigration decade after decade pours in millions upon millions of alien men. Tkt-y arc received, absorbed, assimilated. But it is the greatest mistake in the world to imagine that in acquiring American characteristics they contribute no influence to American society. They modify insensibly, but inevitably, to a greater or lesser extent, the collective psychology of the United States as a nation. Wc 'must always remember this circumstance, and it is worthy of more thorough study amongst ourselves, than it has yet received. "Then economic conditions are changing. As the vast industrial population under the Stars and Stripes intercepts for its own consumption more and' more of the when t which formerly supplied our food, the character of the trade between the two countries tends to change. It remains as remarkable as ever in mass and value, but it represents an interdependence of a fes vital and a less exclusive character. A-'acw-can intercourse with Germany gains rapidly each day in every respect, ma; terial and mental, and as interests strengthen, sympathy does not decrease. This plays in, considerable part in modifying the American attitude.

"Above all, an enormous change has been brought about in the last ten years by the fact that the Republic has emerged from the Continental seclusion recommended by Washington, and uas become a World Power. There has been amongst us from the first every sympathy with that development, but it is necessary to understand its whole scope and meaning. Nothing docs more harm to Anglo-American relations than .'nI cautious attempts upon this side to emphasise the idea of mutual advantage m terms -which suggest that we are chiefly seeking our own. 'Help' from America is the last thing we think of. Cocme what may, be are always prepared to face our crises by our own means in our accustomed manner. > ~ I

THE POWER OF KINSHIP. "But we are convinced that ajl the great international forces working in the world tend to strengthen the Eng-lish-speaking idea. We believe that the powe* of kinship mill grow of itself if only we refrain from attempts to scratch ,1m the seed to see if it is living; and that the associations, the sympathies, the hopes associated with Independence | Day and Empire Day will move together imore and more effectually with time,'' i