ANGLO-AMERICAN FACTS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3132, 28 August 1922, Page 2

ANGLO-AMERICAN FACTS.

Mr James W. Gerard, American Ambassador of Berlin during the early years of the war, whose great work on behalf of British prisoners in Germany will never be forgotten in Britain, was entertained at luncheon in London recently. Responding to the toast of his health, he spoke out in plain terms.

Mr Gerard! said 1 he had for a short time the privilege of being British Ambassador, and/doing what he eould for those of mir countrymen who, by the fortune of war, fell into file build's of tilt* German military authorities. The English-Speaking Union had at its head in America Mr Davis, one of the most popular Ambassadors ever sent to this country, while, on this side, the Earl of Balfour was at their head. Since ho had been here on iiis present visit he had had the pleasure of playing tennis with Lord Balfour. Wellington once said! that Waterloo was won on the cricket field's df England l ; perhaps history would say that the diplomatic victories of England were won on the tennis courts where Lord' Balfour played. There were other societies, such as the Pilgrims, engaged in the good work of bringing Americans and Britains closer together. Sir Auckland Geddes. who so skilfully and well represented this country in the United States, was doing splendid work, and then there were distinguished visitors from one country to the other. Some of them were diarists. There was a custom In the hunting field on this side of distinguishing with a red ribbon a horse that was liable to kick. It would be a good idea if diarists were compelled to weir a red l ribbon, so that those who sat next to them at the dinner table would know whether their conversation was lo be reported or not. Americans who conic to this country, Mr Gerard went on to say, always entertain you with stories and tell you America. i« exactly like England. They aire not alike. We are still in the process of assimilating a great and vast foreign population, and yon cannot deny that among many peoples of mainlands in America there is a deep-seated hatred of England. You have two races there at the present moment who are embittered with hatred, and even among the Scotch you have recollections of the Sutherland clearance when people had to he cleared out to increase the deer forest of flic Duke of Sutherland. These feelings do exist, and they make associations of this kind all the more important. We have a great foreign popultaion in New York, and we have in the schools hooks which toll the story of the revolt of the colonists against Great Britain in a way calculated to show the children at their most impressionable age that the English were acting in an arbitrary manner and violating even the rules of war. Wo have had insidious propaganda from the German side in our schools. A spell-ing-book devised 1 by the Chicago education authority, and used iif all the schools, contained only one piece of reading matter, and that a fulsome eulogy of the German Kaiser. If a, student took up German as part of his course he was hound to continue it so long as lie was at school at Chicago unless he was excused by the head of the educational system of that city. Today there is more need than ever for unity amongst those who lately stood shoulder to shoulder for civilisation, and the problems of peace are far greater than those which we faced during the war. British industry, Mr Gerard said, had to compete against countries where wages, owing to the rate of exchange trouble, were half those paid in this country. The first problem wc bad to face was the exchange. Another problem which confronted this country was to find markets for its coal, because France and Italy were both developing their water power in order to make them more independent of foreign coal. All the same, Mr Gerard said, I believe in fifteen years yon will be lending ns money, and money yon have won from flic United States, such is the skill of your financiers and bankers here. We are asking you to-day to pay the enormous debt you owe to America, at the same time holding all the gold in the world, and erecting a tariff wall so high that none of your goods can come over it. so I do not see in fairness how you can pay in the gold we possess or in the goods which we will not allow yon to send into onr country. As an instance of British skill in international trade, Mr Gerard mentioned that while most of the silver was produced in Mexico and the United States, the world price for silver was fixed by the three men who met daily iu a side-walk in the City about 1 ..‘lO p.m. Mr Gerard next declared 1 that Franco "'as not the Imperialist country she had been pictured, her concern being to protect horse II from the possibility of invasion by a million and a half “Reds” from Russia, armed and trained by (icimany. America did not go to the Geneva Conference because they refused to sit down with a crowd of murderers. Until they could 1 behave like a civilised nation, any money sent to them would be used probably for propaganda. ’When they bad solved their own problem si and were ready to stand by the law of nations then was the time to give them international help. Of course, where the women and children were concerned they would be helped' as much as possible. The crying need in the world today was the unity of the old Allies, and no concession from Russia could ever pay for disunion. We must stand together, Mr Gerard concluded, and put more idealism into the relations of the nations to-day. Idealism does pay; and what the nations waul to do is to forget the seeking for possessions and trade, and throw out the moneychangers from the Temple of Peace.