TENDENCY IN BRITAIN.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 57, Issue 116, 26 February 1937, Page 8

TENDENCY IN BRITAIN.

FEELING OF SUPERIORITY.

ATTITUDE TO DOMINIONS

LONDON, January 28

Britain still lias a besetting sin, as far as the colonies and Dominions are concerned, said Mr Theodore Roosevelt in a lecture to-dav at London University. It is that the people at home tend to consider themselves infinitely superior, not only to the natives of the colonies, but to citizens of the Dominions. That did not contribute to good feeling, Mr Roosevelt added. Britain had been the greatest of all colonisers, and to-day she was practically at her peak as far as territory under her control was concerned, but Mr Roosevelt thought that the domination of the white races had reached its high-water mark. History showed, that it was impossible for nations to maintain control over and administer large alien populations indefinitely. Sooner or later the home country changed its policy or was weakened unless some new formula was found. It might be that the germs of this formula were contained in the British policy with reference to the [Dominions. “This is news to us,” says the “Evening News” in a leading article referring to the speech. “Our impression,” the article adds, “was that the fellow from the Dominions was just a bit inclined to look down on the antiquated and rather decadent folk at home, to concede them the past and allocate to himself leadership in the future. Is not that natural? .Does not the pioneer always look down a bit oil the stay-at-home ?

“We stay-at-home Britons rgcogni.se and rather envy the freedom, vigour and speed of the young Imperial peoples, and if, in order to keep our end up, we make modest claims to a culture and philosophic serenity that the younger people have scarcely had time to acquire, who can blame us?”