PLAIN SPEECH

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 42, 17 August 1929, Page 21

PLAIN SPEECH

CANADA AND AMEEICA

A DIPLOMATIST'S BOOK

(From "The Post's" Representative.) VANCOUVER, 24th July. Tho age of the idle compliment in the after-dinner speech, as between Canada and the United States, is passing. A precedent of frankness was caused by Mr. Frederic Castle, Assistant-Secre-tary of State at Washington, in a speech he delivered recently at Montreal. It was followed by an equally frank utterance by the Canadian Minister, to the United States, speaking at Washington. Now a general interchange of frankness is going on, and Americans hear, possibly for the first time, what Canadians really think of them, in an atmosphere not altogether friendly to the United States, with its threats of tariff and shipping subsidies that will be first- felt by Canada. A book that indulges this plain speaking has appeared from the pen of Dr. Hugh Keenleyside, recently appointed Charge d'Affaires at the Canadian Embassy at' Tokio. His observations are all the more likely to be noticed in the United States as he was educated at American universities. He expresses wha^t most Canadians have long thought but believed it impolite to say. Beginning with the war of 1812, the author sa3'S it did more than the American Revolution to preclude the union of the. two countries. Among tho most serious causes of friction have been the disputes concerning the boundary, especially those fixing the limits of Maine, Oregon, and Alaska. The Maine affair remains unpleasantly in .Canadian memory as a symbol of Britain's early readiness to sacrifice Canada for the sako of unpleasant relations with the United States. Notoriously friendly to tho Americans, Lord Ashburton, who represented Britain in tho negotiations, married one of them and remarked to John Quincy Adams that he. wished Great Britain would give all Canada to the United States immediately. The award gave the United States seventwelfths of the disputed area. THE WHEELS WITHIN. Dr. Keenleyside brings out the, fact that both parties wore unscrupulous. Jared Sparks found in Paris a map unfavourable to, the Americans, and Webster suppressed it. Similarly, Mitchell's map, unfavourable to Britain, was suppressed by them. When the American State and Federal Governments refused to ratify tho award, Webster held his map over the heads-as a club to force acceptance, saying he would otherwise show tho Canadians how they were being cheated. When the award was'attacked mv tho House of Commons at Westminster, the Minister replied by producing Mitchell's map, to bliow how good a bargain Britain had got over the Americans. A bad taste was loft over the more recent Alaska boundary dispute. The Americans sincerely believed that Canada's' claim had been trumped up since the territory had become valuable. It was agreed that lawyers, not diplomats, should represent the countries. Boosovelt appointed thred violently partisan politicans, and Canada, who lost tho awai-d, felt that tho. jury had been packed. , ■ ' On tho third issue between the two countries, under which the Canadian border was lifted from tho mouth of the Columbia River to the 49th parallel, oven tho senior children at school will tell you to-day.that all that valuable territory that is now Washington and Oregon was given to tho United States because- tho fishing was not suitable to the English noblemai^ who conducted tho ueogtiations for Great Britain. If you- want to hear real condemnation of Britain's lack of interest in Canada's claim on the Oregon issue, you want to speak to any Canadian editor in the West. . . . OLD ANNEXATION TALK. . At the reciprocity election of 1911, annexation of Canada to tho United States became a very live issue. Taft said it "would make Canada an adjunct to the United States." The author shares the view of the great majority of Canadians, and Britishers generally, when ho says that "it is inconceivable, if history has any meaning whatover, that Canada, should unite, politically, with the United States." He arrives at tho striking conclusion that'"it is Canadian nationalism, rather than Canadian imperialism, that will* proservo the independence of tho Dominion, , Canadian emigration to tho United States is always a thorny point of discussion here. The cause of annexation draws its ■ only lifo from tho support of Canadians who have beeu so long domiciled in tho United States that' they havo almost forgotten their Canadian traditions. Kecnloysido draws an arresting conclusion, that, whilo once Canada's better type of citizen was lured away, those leaving now are unfit, have not' been able to. gut work in Canada, and are no asset xo the Dominion. Alarmists fear, the £600,000,000 of American capital invested' in the Dominion. Against this, he says it is only 8.5 per cent, of Canada's total wealth. Anti-American feeling in Canada reached its peak during the Groat War. Dr. Keenleyside drops the delicacy with which Canadians always approach his sensitive topic-and is utterly truthful in recording minutely tiro original resentment that the United States was not in it, the added irritation when she was, and the final Canadian distress over American boasting and exultant checking of credit items in tho national war ledger. "Canada suffered, fought, sacrificed her prosperity and her sons. America counted her profits; Canada buried her dead. It is questionable whether the book will servo any real value, but it will at least give Americans an opportunity to learn how Canadians think and feel about many matters. It is also questionable whether it is good policy for such a book to be written by a man on the evo of taking up a diplomatic mission for Canada, in which ho will be called on to work in harmony with American diplomatic officials..