GEORGE WASHINGTON

Otago Witness, Issue 3911, 26 February 1929, Page 29

GEORGE WASHINGTON

ANNIVERSARY OF BIRTHDAY. WASHINGTON, February 21. President Coolidge, in the course of a Washington’s birthday speech, said: “ It is possible to say our foreign relations at the present time that they have rarely been in a happier condition. Our citizens, of course, meet citizens of other countries in commercial rivalry in the market places of the world, and that will always continue. It is a natural and inevitable result of foreign trade, but it does not r aise any issue between our Government and other Governments. We believe in a policy of national defence and maintain an army and a navy for that purpose. Other countries have similar military establishments. We are committed to the principle of limitation of armaments, but other great Powers, through public opinion and the binding obligations of their treaties, are more firmly committed to this principle than we are. It does not raise any issues between us.”

Giving warning "against too serious attention being given to statements made in this or other countries in the heat of political campaigns, President Coolidge then stressed the friendly relationship existing between the various Governments and the United States. He added: “ The people and the press should be friendly. While we are not associated with any particular foreign group in the last analysis, they all know they can apply to us when in need of friendly offices. Me do not keep our isolation for its own effect or in order to avoid responsibilities, but we cherish our position of unprejudiced detachment, because through that means we can best meet our world obligations.” Referring to Washington, the President said that the people of England feel that even in the defeat of “their arms abroad he carried their ideals to victory at home.

February 22. Praising the Kellogg Treaty" as an instrument which must weigh" heavily in the balance for the cause of peace, Sir Esme Howard (British Ambassador)’ declared on Friday that George Washington must eventually prove the greatest link in the chain of friendship and common understanding between the United States and Britain.

Speaking at the commemoration of Washingon’s birthday, the British Ambassador deplored any spirit of enmity, and criticised " those on both sides of the Atlantic who enjoy stirring up trouble and whose lips distill gall and wormwood, and whose pens are dipped in vitriol.”

February 23. In a remarkable speech, Sir Esme Howard discussed Anglo-American relations and the Kellogg Pact. The Ambassador pictured an imaginary conversation between himself and Geome Washington, in which he said to the general: “I have noticed that in political discussions regarding either domestic or foreign questions, there is a tendency in the United States, perhaps more than elsewhere, to indulge in somewhat unmeasured language.” The Amb. sador read portions of Sir Austen Chamberlain’s upeech at Birmingham, and said: “Is it not, then, unfortunate that now on this and now on that side we hear mutterings even of the possibility of war, of sinister design, and evil ulterior motive, when, judging by the utterances of those in really responsible positions, there is no foundation whatever for such storms.”

Of . the Kell °gS Pact. Sir Esme said: “This treaty has made an incalculable difference to world affairs, though this is not yet generally recognised.”