PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2524, 30 July 1902, Page 69

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

ARE AMERICANS AND THEIR PRESS HOSTILE TO THE BRITISH EMPIRE? I daresay thai many of my readers heard i the prohibitionist lecturer, Mr J. G. Wcolley, when he was here ; and many will remember that after lie left New Zealand he was accused of being a pro-Boer. His defence appeared in the Daily Times last week. In my opinion, too much was made of his pro-Boer utterances, for there were many in Great Britain who stood by the Boers quite as much as, if not more than, Mr Woolley did. Besides, his political opinions had norhing to do with his uni doubted abiliLits in the way of bringing I about a social reform. But it is the question of public opinion in the United Staes that I am concerning myself with just now. Some weeks ago I rtferred to "Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope," by an Americanised Englishman. Frequently he refers to what the Americans and their press think of us, and as it is just as well to hear all we can about ourst'.ves, I have made a few extracts from the book. Here are some of them, either verbatim, or so condensed as not to alter t!i2 meaning of the context : — The Western press exasperates the travelling Briton, for things British are invariably eai icatureti. On tho French stage Milor i 3 always presented with big, protruding teeth and long, red whiskers, what were onco known as Piccadilly weeper?. Without these credentials, so to speak, he would not be accepted or recognised. In tho West the people know nothing about England, and the press faithfully records that ignorance. With infinite regret I state, as my profound conviction, that the majority of persons living west of the Rockies rejoices when Britain mourns. Salt it as you will (and as you must), abuse of England is greedily gobbled up. The demand creates the supply — a fact well understood by the editors of news-

paper 3 . The statement that a Boer, under the white flag-, has treacherously shot an Englishman is branded as a lie by most western journalists. The statement that Tommy Atkins has been guilty of a similar act of treachery is proclaimed as a truth, despite tho testimony of such witnesses as — let us say — Mr Julian Ralph, an American. A clipping lies before me as I write, in which the writer says that tho Boers are twico as bravo as th© British poldiers. Yet the American correspondents in the field have all testified that .the Bopr dares not face the British bayonet. An Englishman would not make any invidious distinction* between Spanish and American valour; a Westerner wallows in odorous comparisons, and the stronger the odour tlic more he likes it.

. The word "hireling" has been Applied again j and again to our soldiers most offenshely. 1 They, in a sense, are hirelings ; so were ' Roosevelt's soldiers, the Rough Riders ; so are the Boers, and the soldiers of every nation on the earth. The use of such adjectives plainly proves that the Western man in his heart wishes to insult and offend Englishmen. It is time, therefore, that England understood that the vapourings of after-dinner oratory upon the uuity of tho Anglo-Saxon race, upon blood being thicker than water, upon our kin beyond the sea, and so forth, are so much smoke. Tho Americans are not ' Anglo-Saxon, but an amalgam of Teuton, Kelt, Latin, Slav, and Anglo-Saxon. We have to speak a language somewhat similar to what passes current in the United States. We are also Uncle Sam's best customer and i his biggest creditor. We have ideals in com- | mon, laws in common, Shakespeare and Milton in common. England and America have, in short, what has been called a "manifest destiny" to work (not together, but apart) for that which makes for the enlightenment of the world and the progress of civilisation ; but we are not brothers, nor cousins, nor good friends — and that ia the naked truth. I am speaking of the Pacific Slope, although I am of the opinion that in the east also the masses are hostile to England : and I have yet to meet an intelligent Englishman who has lived his life in the West who does not share my views on this unhappy subject. In England the great newspapers direct and mould public opinion upon matters not to be apprehended without special study. In the West the busy man must do his own thinking. He might borrow the opinions of others ; but this, as a rule, lie is loth to do. Professor Hopkins, speaking of the Transvaal war, soys:—-"! hold mo brief for England, but while she serves God and man I rejoice in her triumphs. For God is served when man is bettered. This was the case in India. It is true of Egypt. It is true of the many lands she hold around the earth. It will be proved again in South Africa- when the Boer authority yields to the higher civilisation." Captain Mahan says of the Boers: "Their right to administer tho country as I they please depends upon the use they make, or have made, of that power. Personally, I believe that they have greatly failed, »nd have forfeited that right. I believe the Boer Government and general administration to conFtitute a corrupt and oppressive oligarchy. Is it possible that Americans, in face of records, really believe that the Transvaal rather than Great Britain stands for the cause of political liberty and purity of administration" Captain Mahan may well ask the ouestion. And the answer to it ought to stimulate the sense of justice and fair play upon tho part of his fellow-countrymen. The majority of Americans do believe that thn Transvanl stands for the cause of political liberty, and they would ooon^r listen, to tho impn"sioned rhetoric of a Pnckhurst than tho wellI weighed utterances of a Mahan, an Alper, i or a Hopkins. Quotations are given to back up the author's contention. Perhaps some great Continental war in whkh we are engaged will cause the United States to line up on one side or the other. Then we shall know if we are kinsmen.

A QUESTION OF STRENGTH.

I Which is the stronger — a lion or a tiger? ' This is a question some one sends our editor, and he kindly passes it over to me. I wish I could pass it on to someone else who could speak out of the fulness of his knowledge ; but I can't. I believe the lioji is the stronger. I fancy reading, however, that Selous, in one of his books or articles on Houth African game, says that the lion is, at times, an airant coward in spite of his si length. Ido not know if it is Sir Samuel Baker who writes that in a prolonged •stiuggle a tiger comes out on top; but I have read something to that effect somewhere. Possibly it is more agile, and \u-es its claws with "too great an effect to be overcome. Now that's about all I can say on this question. While on the subject of animals, however, I might ask the question. How many of my readeis are acquainted with '"Mooswa," a Canadian book on the animals in the Canadian plains, forest*!, and &trc-ams? I wrote a little about it some time ago. Tliere is another series of books on animals, written by Reton Thomson, also an American. One is called "Wild Animals I Have Met." For boys and girls who are lovers of animals I know of no better present. To my mind, there is a charm about them which makes the animal tales even preferable to Kipling's jungle tales. I was told that "The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals" is getting a set : ouf for the u^e of its members. .