The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News. The Echo and The Sun. SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 1933. ANGLO-AMERICAN CONCORD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 99, 29 April 1933, Page 8

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News. The Echo and The Sun.

SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 1933. ANGLO-AMERICAN CONCORD.

For tht cause that lacks assistance, For the tcrong that needs rztistanc#, For the future in the distance, And the good that ve can do.

Few better ambassadors for promoting a new understanding between Europe and the United States could have been chosen than Mr. Mac Donald and M. Herriot. Mr. Mac Donald makes - a great personal appeal to the American democracy, because lie has risen to his present high position without any of the adventitious aids of birth or inherited wealth. He has been notably successful in his conduct of foreign affairs because he has understood the attitude of the people and not merely that of the diplomats and rulers. M. Herriot is of somewhat similar origin. He worked with Mr. Mac Donald on the matter of German reparations, and the two were largely responsible for the appointment of the committee of experts who drew up the Dawes plan. He has also shown an understanding of the American point of view on the subject of war debts.

Much of the misunderstanding which has arisen from time to time between Britain and the United States has been due to a misreading of history by both nations. Americans have been taught that in the relation between the two countries which led to the Declaration of Independence England was entirely in the wrong, and, curiously enough, Englishmen have been taught the same. Yet, as many historians in both countries now recognise, there was much to be said for the English point of view, even if tho methods used in pressing it were mistaken. No little misunderstanding has also been caused by the Irish question, though this has now died down considerably. Irishmen migrated to America in large numbers, and carried a conviction of bitter wrong. It seemed to many Americans that Britain, in her relations with Ireland, was using force to impose her will on a people who wished to be free to conduct their own affairs in their own way. It was for those who thought thus the story of Boston over again. Many people in Britain have a false impression of America because they fail to recognise the large foreign element in the States. They continue to think 6f , America as a kind of British colony, and take no account of the fact that many millions of the population are of foreign extraction and have the foreigner's outlook. It has been -tfell said that the first requisite for a better understanding between the two nations is a frank recognition of the fact that to each national the other, is a foreigner.

In the important matter of debt revision the Americans complain that their point of view has not been given proper consideration by the debtor nations, especially by France. They strongly object to being described as Shylocks. They say the money was lent as a purely business transaction, and that the debts incurred were legal obligations. They contend that they have already made large remissions both in capital and interest, but that the money was borrowed from their own people, that they are responsible to the lenders for repayment, and they cannot ask them to accept cancellation. They do not link war debts with reparations, and fail to accept the French contention that because the Germans were let off a large part of their reparation payments at Lausanne, therefore America's debtors ought to be similarly excused from payment. They object to being told that they must or they ought. Perhaps, this is some of the Boston spirit. I3ut Americans have always been generous, and this generosity may prompt them to make some similar sacrifice to rescue Europe from its present distress. It is partly a matter of approach. For this approach both Mi. Mac Donald and M. Herriot havo peculiar qualifications, and they appear to have reached a new friendship, "not of pacts and signatures,' but of heart and conscience. With a common inspiration implementing a common purpose, this friendship may make the forthcoming Economic Conference a very real instrument for world regeneration.