Nelson Evening Mail FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 1928 "BIG BILL'S" WATERLOO

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 13 April 1928, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 1928 "BIG BILL'S" WATERLOO

THE ii.-w ihal the Hon. William Halo Thompson has been signally defeated in rhe primary flections at Chicago (ol which city Ik l is Mayor) is iif interest lo people "f i In 1 British Kmpirc because "Rig Rill." as he is commonly called, has made himself notorious by his anti British speeches. A little more than a year ago he decided hi contest the. Chi cago Mayoralty, and, casting round For somo policy which should arrest public attention ami arouse popular enthusiasm. !•( raised (lie question of the loyalty of the history textbooks issued for ice iti the. Chicago schools, which are attended bv over hali'-a million scholars. The re salt was exactly what Mr Thompson Loped. On tin- .5t I, of April. 1927. he was electefl Mayor of Chicago by an overwhelming majority. But during his campaign lie had not only attacked the text hooks bill then writers- who for 11nmost pail were learned Professors of well known American I'Diversities — and these took up the cudgels in self defence, , m ,| (..-laboured 'To" Bill" in the press and on the platform, and the controversy .•;ieed furiously. Finally, Thompson un masked his full battery by declaring the existence of a far-reaching pro-British propaganda, paid for by British gold, and <liicited against Americans' loyalty io theii flag and country.

\\Y ipinte from iiri artuii- written by ?dr Thompson three months ago: Tin' truth lit my charges that American school historti*s have hreri falsified and denatured, through pro-lirit islt influence. to the end that our children ma\ denationalised and fitted foi Anglo- American union, has been shown with start lint; cleat ness in the text hooks. . The Ctirnt'gie Foundation. lihodes Scholarship Fund. Kng lishspenkittg I’niott. Interdependence Day Assneinl ion. and ether pro-British and pacific propaganda, organisation*; have beeri shown to have direct connection with these alterations, their own ofhcials having wiitten several of the textbooks. The flood of evidence in the McAndrew trial, to which no answer has been offered because it is urta nswera ble. overwhelmingly pt oves that organised foreign itdluenees per vatic the colleges and public schools

of our country, and have caused these authors to rewrite American school history from the British standpoint.

It is unnecessary to quote in extenso the replies of those American writers who were attacked in this wholesale manner. Professor Hurt, of Harvard, whom Thompson stigmatised by name, very i ightly asked : By what right does he (William Hale Thompson) malign fellow-citizens who are as English of descent as lie is himself, who work at least as hard as he dors in behalf of their pountrv. and

who abominate such attempts to build up prejudices between the many races which have combined to make the country great.

The interest which the controversy had for Rritish subjects lay in the fact that I'hompson cited King George as being actively engaged in fostering this imaginary movement to undermine Americans' loyalty to their country and nation, and on more than one occasion he publicly defamed His Majesty, and mentioned his name with scorn and opprobrium. Hence the interest which the British tace all over the world takes in tie- results oi the present elections iu Chicago. "Bit; Rill" Thompson remainl - Mayor—-he still has three years of his term to run. But. prior to the Chicago primary elections, which have just been held, he declared that if his nominee. State Attorney Crowe, was not le-elecfed to his offiee, he himself would i.-sign from the Mayoralty of Chicago' The cablegrams told us that

The political faction led by Governor 1..-n Small. Mayor Thompson, and State-Attorney Robert Crowe, with the slogan ' America first." was buried under an avalanche at the Republican primaries to day. Small was defeated for the governorship'* enndida-

ture by Secretary of State bonis Emmerson - Crowe lost the State-At-—torney candidature: the faction !<>-.' the State Senator candidature, and many lesser offices : rind Thompson

was defeated for Ward Committeeman. The discomfiture of "Bill Bill" arid his political faction seems to be complete. It. is quitw ilear that their pretention to he the exponents of true Americanism is repudiated by their fellow-citizens. Tn a measure the result of this contest, is the answer which Thompson's compatriots have made m his defamation of the American Professors, of Great. Britain, and of the British Sovereign. His fel-low-countrymen have pronounced their verdict nt the polls, and Thompson's political prestige is shattered. Will he resign from the Mayoralty, as he said he would if Crowe wevc defeated? To

keep his premise would mean complete political ellipse. To fail to keep it would i.ii an moral eclipse Plainly William Hale Thompson has reached a nitieal joint in bis career.