U.S.A. & BRITAIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 April 1940, Page 9

U.S.A. & BRITAIN

NOT THE OLD AMERICAN SPIRIT , AUSTRALIAN PAPER'S LIVELY 1 REMONSTRANCE. SOME PERTINENT REMINDERS. The foilowing vigorous rejoinder to objectionable and unfair criticism of Britain that is unduly common in the United States was made recently by the “Sydney Bulletin": — Lines published at the end of 1938 in a magazine called the "New Yorker”:— Here's to Hitler, the Nazi thug. And Mussolini, the Fascist mug, And every other moral eunuch Who had a hand in the pact of Munich. This spirit seems to be rampant among the Children of the Melting Pot. They hate the dictators, but won’t fight them, being too high-mind-ed or something. They hate John Bull also, and despise him because he hasn’t done all the fighting that they called upon him to do. To the ancient sport of twisting the Lion’s tail they have added taunts of cowardice. John Bull was a coward because he didn’t fight the Japanese in 1931, when a Mr Stimson indulged in some verbal shadow-sparring, and in 1937 (and afterwards), when Mr Roosevelt spoke vaguely of “quarantining aggressors." J.B. showed his cowardice again when he failed to fight Italy in 1935-36 for the sake of the Abyssinians. John should have gone to war for the Chiang Kai-sheks and their Communist allies, and didn't; ergo, he was yellow. He should have intervened in the Spanish war on the Communist side and taken on Germany, Italy and Nationalist Spain at the same time —yellow again. He should have saved Cezchoslovakia (which an American President did more than any other man to set up). and had a smack at Germany, Italy, Poland and Hungary: but scurried away once more. Goaded at. length into guaranteeing Poland, he hid in his island dugout while the Poles were getting it in the neck. And now he has deserted Finland, the coward!

With that sort of writing. American novelists, editors, foreign correspondents, magazine contributors and reporters have stained paper for years; and the British Commonwealth is fed up with it. Bored to the back teeth. One of the American sooler’s excuses for non-participation in the German war, which is, in effect, a sequel to a peace treaty in which an American President had the largest share, is that Britain and France did not pay their war debts. This did not apply to Finland, yet 130,000,000 Americans left the little Republic to its fate. Fortyfive million British, though at war with 80,000,000 Germans, sent to Finland substantial supplies of weapons and munitions that they could iil spare and, in association with France, were ready to send 100.000 soldiers —which would have meant war with 180,000,000 Russians as well as the 80.000,000 Germans —conditionally only on the Finns asking for them and on the Swedes and Norwegians permitting the passage of the army. The appeal never came, and the permission was not granted. Well might Mr Chamberlain say that “it is not for individuals living in countries far from the seat of war to suggest that Britain and France

failed to do their utmost for Finland.” It is recorded that the House of Commons cheered the old P.M.’s protest for a minute and a half. And “On. Stanley, On!” was the sentiment of the whole British Commonwealth—Communists excepted —when the Minister of War took up lhe parable: — All over the world, even in America, people are asking why we are fighting and saying they can’t understand it. Yet, if we had not fought in September, the same people would ne asking, equally frequently and loudly, why we were not fight-

ing. Senator Borah, now with God. complained that it was “a phony war,” and that cry has been taken up by other Fireside Fusiliers on the safe side of the Atlantic. Mr Stanley, in reply:— We are fighting for our lives, not for the entertainment of others. It is not “a phony war” for the crews of destroyers, minesweepers and the battlefleet, nor for the airmen who gallantly bomb German bases, nor for the millions whose ordinary lives have been torn up and their professions, businesses and careers des-

troyed. What makes this American attitude harder to bear is the unconscionable Iving in which American publications indulge or of which they make themselves the willing instrument. A choice example was the "Hitler peace plan,” published as genuine by the New York "Times” and alleged to include a proposal for "an anti-Bolshevik policy aimed at the liberation of Russia —by force of arms, if necessary—from Communism." it. was asserted that the Vatican was privy to the plan; the Vatican immediately denied it. Mr Roosevelt himself said with just scorn: lhe report seems .to come from some tipster no more responsible than the man who scrubs the steps of St. Peter’s.” An earlier lie related to the removal of mail for Germany from one ol the Clippers, whose first stop is Bermuda. It was positively stated that the mail was seized by British soldiers "at bayonet point,” and the tale went round the world. Washington, for its part, presenting the familiar spectacle of Congressmen leaping with rage and uttering dark threats to J.B. The truth is that the job was done by ’a party of the Bermuda special constabulary got up in khaki shirts and riding pants. As a preliminary, the colonel of constabulary and the commander of the Clipper drank each other's health in lemonade. One oi the passengers a lady, whose baby was a centre ol attention—has placed it on record (hat “the whole affair .was one of the joiliest imaginable.” The only thing in the picture remotely resembling a lethal weapon was the lemonade bottle. What's the matter with the Children of the Melting Pot? Has there been too much Melting Pot or too much Itollywood or too much Communism.