AMERICA AND ENGLAND.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9550, 23 July 1909, Page 4

AMERICA AND ENGLAND.

The tension existing between England and Germany has led, writes Mr Maurice Low, in the "National Review," for June, some of the leading American newspapers to speculate upon what would be the position of their country in case of hostilities between the two great European Powers. It is gratifying to note now, which is in marked contrast to what would have been the tone of the press a decade or so ago, that the question is discussed soberly and without lancour, as far as England is concerned, and with an intelligent and sympathetic comprehension of the vital interest ihe United States has in the welfare of England. Two leading newspapers, for instance, the "New York Sun" and the "Washington Post," while insisting that their country would maintain strict neutrality, and seek alliance with neither Power—nor, for that matter, with any other Power—frankly say that any disaster that might overtake England would be an injury to the United States, as while England does not in any way threaten the well-being of the United States, the same cannot be said of Germany. It is made plain that the Americans are suf-

picious of Germany, and fear that if she should triumph in a war with England, German ambition would not be satisfied, but would next turn its attention to South America in defiance of the Monroe doctrine, which would be a challenge to the United States and make the avoidance of hostilities impossible. No American fears that England has any designs on South America, but a great many Americans cannot escape the thought that Germany only bides her time to defy ths American prohibition against European colonisation in the western hemisphere.