"GETTING TOGETHER."

North Otago Times, Volume CV, Issue 30938, 23 July 1917, Page 7

"GETTING TOGETHER."

i. *■ \>- POINTS FOR BRITAIN AND AMERICA., lAN HAY'S TOUB OF THE STATES. i ..Englishmen anil Americans folk the came language—we Ainorioafte think we ~do, anyhow—bnt'every'Englishman in the United States and every American in England has'daily proof that they do not yet undersiand one another. . ■"lan Hay" (Captain lan Hay Beith, of' the Argyll, and Sutherland Highlanders) has been spending the past six months ■■•in "God's country," endeavouring to explain and interpret Britain to. Americans.' In the course of that highly commendable (and necessary) campaign of education, the author.of the delightful "First Hundred Thousand "has discovered that England .has; something"to learn about Jtniericans too. In "Getting Together," a little booklet recently published in the .United States, Captain Beith has written a most. incisive and instructive compendium on how Britons and Americans can learn to know one another better, It is worth more than all the hands-across-ihe-sea gush and blood-is-thicker-tkau-water "tosh" ever uttered, It deals with concrete realities, eschewing pious abstractions. Written before the Americans decided to stake " everything we are, everything we have,"

Jot the overthrow of Hohenzollernism, 1 jteas never so timely as at this hour. Britons and Americans are .now shoulder to shoulder in arms; in mutual understanding the alliance is still far from complete/' Here are extracts from Captain | Beiih.'s commandments on AngloAmerican, "getting together." Let the Briton remember—1. Bemember you are talking to-a friend. '. ?. Remember you are talking to a man who regards his nation as the greatest nation in,the world. He will . probably tell yon this. 3. Bemember yon are talking to a . man whose country has made an enormous contribution to your cause' in nieu, munitions, and money, besides puttingiip wi.li a good deal of inconvenience and irksome supervision at your hands. Bemember, too, that your own", country- has made little or no acknow-' ledgment of its indebtedness in this matter.

;4. Bemember yon are talking to a man who believes in "publicly," and Tvlio believes further that if yon do not. advertise the fact you cannot possibly be in possession of "the goods." :5. Bemember this man is not so impervious to criticism as you are. Don't oyei'-criticise his apparent attitude to the war. Don't ask him whether he is too proud to fight, or he may offer you convincing proof to the contrary. 0. Bemember you are talking to a man whose, business has been considerably interfered, with by the stringency ' of .the. Allied; blockade. So don't invite him to was' enthusiastic over the vigilance of the Royal. Navy or the promptness of ihe censor in putting the mails through. Let the American remember—.l. Remember you are talking to a friend. , 2. Bemember yon are talking to a man Who regards his nation as the greatest in v the world. He will not , tell you this, because he takes it for ■. granted that' you know already. : 3. Bemember you are talking to a .man who is a member of a traditionally reticent and unexpansive race; who says abou. 1 one-third of what he feels; • who is obsessed by a mania for understating his country 'sjase, exaggerating its weaknesses ami belittling its efforts; who is secretly shy, so covers • .up his shyness with a cloak of aggresiveness which is offensive to those who art not prepared for it. 4. Bemember yon are talking to a man who is fighting for his life. Today his face ia turned' toward Central Europe, and his back to the Unjted States. Do not expect him to display an intimate or sympathetici understanding of America's true attitude to the war. He is conducting the war according to his lights, and is pre--•■■pared to abide by the consequences of ; what he does. So lie is apt to be resentful of criticism, .5. Enemy propaganda to the eon- . tra'ry, remember that this- man is not a.hypocrite, He is considerably stupid; he is at times'obstinate; he is frequently high-handed; and often he would rather be misunderstood than explain. But he is neither tyrannical nor cornipt.- He went into this war'because •he/'felt it his duty to do so and not because be coveted any Teutonic vineyard. 6. Bemember that your nation ta done a great'deal for this man's na- . tion during the' war. ■ Tell him all I about it; it will interest him, because %he did not knew.—Prom a review by Frederic William Wile in the Daily Mail..