The Daily News. FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 1917. BROUGHT TOGETHER.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 April 1917, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 1917. BROUGHT TOGETHER.

We are apt to measure the assistance the United States can give the Allies in terms of ships, men t-.nd money. These are considerable., and wero there any doubt as to the issue these forces would dissipate it completely. But the most potent effect of America's entry is tne moral one, which is incalculable. That it has been long delayed docs not detract from its value or significance. America's intervention stands us the moral judgment of the world against the German nation. The whole British Empire, since the 4th August, 1014, had been waiting for America's active support in their fight for liberty and democracy, the very ideals for which America stands. The British felt that the fight, was humanity's, not altogether the Allies*. German success would Lave made freedom impossible in any part of the world, in America as in Europe; German victory would have given civilisation a setback from which it wouid not have recovered for centuries; it would have dethroned righteousness and exalted wrongdoing. We realised all this, and coull not understand why America was seemingly so indifferent to the,issues. We knew, however, that her thinking men and women were with us, and for that we were truly thankful. The President is an eminently peaceful man; ho did not desire.to see h'n country embroiled, and no one could have done more to avoid the war than he. The British Government did hp< bring at any time, oven in her dark hour-;, imy influence to bear upon America to join the Allies, She preferred her to act upon her own judgment and her own conscience. But now America has made the great decision there 1b little doubt >jat the two Eng-lish-speaking nations will come together

as they have not done since the days of Washington. In this connection, the eloquent words of the London Spectator are worth quoting:—

The force of circumstances has saved two countries from the rocks of a long estrangement. If a further pressure, should drive the United States in to war, we shall have the supreme satisfaction of knowing that she is fighting on our side without either our°Government or our people having ever said a word or moved a finger to drag her into the fray. It was always her understanding and her appreciation, never her physical help, great though we think that might be, which Knfilishinen desired. Not the persuasion of the Allies, hut the diaholical excesses of the predatory Power at Berlin, have forced Mr. Wilson to his present position. ] t i, nn i(lcal R0 „/. tion of the problem which weighed so heavily upon us. In a single minute, and as it were- almost by accident, the German Kmperor has cut the knot for us. The danger is past. We are certain that whatever happens we cannot again during this war drift into the old mood of resentment. The generous instincts of the A merican peoph are caught up in the acts of their Government. Napoleon united the German-speaking peoples, and we think it probable now that the head of the German-speaking peoples will reunite the English-speaking peoples. For our part, we are profoundly thankful. The support of America is of rmmeasurab'e value; but we want it not merely in its physical aspect, but for its naturalness, its appropriateness, its seemliness. The English-speaking peoples acting together to save> freedom and international good faith for the world cannot possibly fail.

It cannot fail in this struggle and will not fail in keeping the world's peace a»'tcrwai'ds if the nations but keep together, as they most certainly will. Washington warned his countrymen against "foreign entanglements," but just as Britain had by the growing menace of Germany to alter her ideas of "splendid isolation," so will America have to modify her conviction regarding foreign entanglement. She cannot help herself, as we see from her present action, Anxious as she was to steer clear of the European nmelstorm, the timo came when she had to decide whether she was to live on Teutonic sufferance or live as a flree people. An American authority, Mr. J. P. WheJpley, referring to Win question of an alliance between his country and Britain, recently said that America would never consider an alliance with any country other than Great Britain. No two nations speaking tno same language are fighting against each other in this war. It is also true that there can never be a perfect alliance between any two nations which do not speak the same tongue. There can be strong economic and military alliances between countries, these alliances being arranged by the respective Governments, he benefits fully appreciated by the peoples, and a mutual understanding existing between those individuals who are able to communicate with each other. A perfect alliance between two nations, if such a thing is possible, mear.a that the people of each nation are able to visualise the habit of thought of the other, this npt applying to the few who are particularly well informed, but to all, farmers, workmen, and business men, as well as scholars, diplomats, or social cosmopolites. Between America and England, therefore, exists a bond like that between no other two great countries in the world, with the exception of Germany and Austria, and the closeness ot the alliance between those two countries is tribute to the binding power of a mutual tongue. It may seem that too great stress is laid upon the common tongue, but this is not so for many reasons, most of which ij.te peculiar to America. The Government of that country is denied the privilege of secret diplomacy No treaty can be made every word of which and every shade of meaning that might be put into those words are not known to every citizen and fully discussed in public before it is allowed to .w into effect. The late John Hay, when the American Secretary of State, negotiated nearly thirty treaties that wero rejected by Congress., Mr. Whelpley concluded by saying.—"To propose an offensive and defensive alliance with a country whose people spoke a lan-nag* other than that employed in America would be a waste of time.". Germany set out to subjugate France and Russia, and in the process risked war with Britain. When Britain joined France and Russia, the Tuetons sought to smash the British Empire. Instead they have welded the Empire into one united whole ready for any 'task, prepared to make any sacrifice, in the interest of the Empire and humanity. The Germans have done more. They have brought the Eng-lish-speaking nations more closely together than they have been since the American secession and consolidated the nations as nothing else could possibly have done. The cost of the war has been terribly heavy in life and substance; but that it will not be without some compensation is shown even in this one fact—the coming together of the whole of the English-speaking' world in the face of a I'i'inmoii danger, with benefits the extent of which it is almost impossible to visualise at the present time.