U.S. WORLD CONTACTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 151, 29 June 1939, Page 19

U.S. WORLD CONTACTS.

AMERICA'S SELF-INTEREST.

ADDRESS TO CREDITMEN.

' AmericaV Contacts with the World'' was the subject of a:i address by Dr. A. K. Botts, of the Cortland Normal School, New York, at the luncheon this School, New York, at the lunchcon of the Auckland G'reditmen's Association yesterday afternoon. Dr. Botts hasi completed a stay of some months in New Zealand and will shortly return to the United States. 'On the surface it seems that the difference between the United States and the British Empire in world affairs is that we stand. 011 the sideline and cheer, while British people are actual participants, said Dr. Botts. "Sometimes, of course, we don't cheer." proceeded to outline reasons whv the interests of his country were centered in North America. *The United States, he said, did not need to be interested in expansion, unlike such crowded nations as China and Japan. J-ack of fortified boundary lines gave the United States a sense of complacency, some times unjustified, said Dr. Botts. The i>eople, therefore, were apt to look across to Europe and wonder why those countries there could not get along. "Another reason for America's internal, rather than external, interest is that we have an abundance—more than our share—of the world's commodities," continued Dr. Botts. The country was, 'therefore, fairly self-sufficient. Railroads had played a most important part in making the country a single unit, he said, for rail development had kept apafle with internal migration. In conclusion Dr. Botts said that the underlying reasons for the admitted selfinterest of the United States lay not in the obstinacy of some of her leaders but were based on the geography and historical development of the country itself. '