BRITAIN AND AMERICA

Taranaki Daily News, 1 February 1927, Page 6

BRITAIN AND AMERICA

THEIR POWER FOR PEACE POSSIBILITIES OF CO-OPERATION. MORE THINKING PEOPLE NEEDED. The possibilities for the maintenance of the peace of the world through the co-operation of Great Britain and° America in matters of foreign policy, formed the subject of an address to members of the New Plymouth Rotary Club yesterday by the Rev. J. L. A. Kayll, of Stratford. “I believe,” he said, “that there is in the combined experience and wisdom of the Anglo-Saxon peoples, the resource from which ean be developed justice, equity and a fraternal regard for one another’s moral, spiritual and substantial welfare.”

“The immense demand for power to turn the wheels of industry, has caused men of science to realise that the known measures of the chief sources of power, coal and oil, eannot hold out indefinitely,” said Mr. Kayll, “and they are now directing their investigations to the discovery of economical and practical jncans of turning to account the immense resources that exist in the rivers, tides, winds and other forms of natural energy. When success has crowned their efforts in this direction, their whole attention can be given to the perfection of the machine as a member of industry. But the problems of civilisation are, to-day, greater than those which affect the development of industry in its mechanical aspect. These problems extend to the organisation of man himself and they have as their object the stabilising and the advancement of our civilisation.

A POLICY OF WAITING. “Governments and peoples, as a general policy, wait until abuses and contentions arise and become intolerable. They then seek for some means that will meet with the present exigency. “It seems that now is the time in which all thinking men should begin to take stock and consider whether there are not resources available for our use which would solve many of our problems and accomplish a reorganisation of many departments of our life and complete their establishment upon a basis in which justice, equity and fraternity would be the stabilising elements. These resources exist in the combined experience and the united wisdom of the English-speaking races. Since the Boer War, we have been constantly appealed to to think imperially. There is, however, a still higher call, and it is to think universally. So far as the terms of humanity prevail at the same time, not neglecting the Imperial, national and domestic considerations.

“Nearly 40 years ago, a well-known publicist, Mr. David Christie Murray, visited this country and in the course of his lectures expressed his belief that the constitution of the British Empire would reach a stage in its development very similar to that which has now been set out in the declaration of the recent Imperial Conference, and, that subsequently, a confederation would ensue which would embrace the whole AngloSaxon race, including the United States of America. Such a confederation, he maintained, would be able to ensure the peace of the whole world.

AMERICA’S IMMIGRATION PROBLEM “Mr. Murray’s conception appears to have been to ensure to nations the right to live in peace, and peaceably to develop their own nation life. If we add to this conception the Anglo-Saxon policy of protection and development of the backward races and giving them such measures of self-control as accord with their governing capacity, we have surely an ideal worthy of enlisting the whole strength of Anglo-Saxondom in the effort to effect its realisation.

“The Balkan war produced a great shock to the American mind. America had opened her doors wide to immigration and had conferred the rights and privileges of citizenship and nationality upon those who settled in her great country. Among these settlers were many Balkan nationals. When the war broke out America was amazed to see bhese settlers drop their American citizenship and return to their own countries to join the colours. She then realised that all that she had done was to extend to these peoples the right to form colonies in her midst; colonies which enjoyed her protection, but retained their own national integrity and allegiance. She had not macle Americans of them. During the Great War, the huge German population in U.S.A, began to detach itself from the American commonwealth and stand revealed as a distinct foreign element. She had not made Americans of them. “These experiences have convinced the thinking Americans that their civilisation is not so cosmopolitan as supposed, but that in reality its character is definitely Anglo-Saxon and England, as the Mother of Nations, has distinct significance for them. “Notwithstanding the prejudices still existing on both sides of the Atlantic and the feeling over the repayment by Britain of her Allies’ debts that she had guaranteed, there is very solid ground for the belief that we have not done with America yet, and America has not done with us. The mutual esteem between the two countries is steadily gaining as the esteem between great and honourable men will grow, and it emphasises iny belief that these two great countries can reasonably be expected to unite in a federal effort and employ their united experience and wisdom and win the confidence of the whole world in a truly unselfish and altruistic effort to deliver the world from many of its afflicting evils. COMBINED FORCES. “More than one American has declared that the theory of the balance of power among nations could be reduced to a figment if Britain and America were to combine their naval and military forces in a policy to secure the world’s peace. There is certainly something in this that strikes the imagination very forcibly, and what more is required than an identity of foreign policy to bring it about? Britain’s foreign policy may be attacked at certain points, but as national history it is rich in experience, illustrious in deeds and wise and humane in its conception. America has practically no foreign policy, except her Monroe Doctrine, but her need for one is daily becoming more insistent, and she will not be able to avoid foreign relations and responsibilities for long. “The statesmen of both countries do in reality see eye to eye ’n the general principles of foreign policies. But what is needed is more thought, greater breadth of thought, and more people

thinking. We citizens have our part to play. If we leave everything until the emengeney arises, we shall be for ever trying to rectify our mistakes. Emergencies may call forth the man the hour, but they never compensate ioj the lack of preparation on the part or tne man. France failed to produce the man of the hour in 1871. Russia produced no man of the hour in 1916, Neither country had prepared. NUT A REUNION. “I do not suggest the possibility of a reunion of the Anglo-Saxon peoples under any form of central government, nor even that their fighting forces should be combined under any central direction with the object of threatening with hostilities any bellicose nation that started burning powder; but it must be recognised that in the government of man, the final appeal will always be to physical force. The fundamental weakness of the League of Nations is that it eannot enforce its decisions.

“With an effected understanding on matters of foreign policy between tdiese two nations, the League would become, not their creature nor their servant nor their tool, but a definitely and distinctly independent and impartial tribunal Which could function inspired with the greater sense of moral responsibility gained from the knowledge that the greatest power in the world would ensure the acceptance of its decisions. “Otherwise there is not much hope of the League surviving a really menacing situation. Its very composition is a source of weakness. Nations which range in importance from small States to mighty Empires, whose degrees of civilisation and culture differ widely; who have different forms of government and, above all, whose ideals, especially regarding war, bear little in common with one another, are not likely to form a homogeneous party when the issue for consideration is a particularly delicate one. Add to this the age-long fends and prejudices that exist, and the matter is further complicated.

“But I can say no more on this point except to emphasise that the collective experience and combined wisdom of the Anglo-Saxon races provides a resource from which might be developed measures of primary importance for the peace" of the world.” PROBLEM IFOR SOLUTION. Discussing labour problems, Mr. Kayll said: “Practically everybody in the Taranaki province suffered from the New Plymouth waterside strike of a few months ago, and yet the originating trouble concerned but a few persons who, rightly or wrongly, felt that they had no other way of presenting their case to the public than that of creating a disturbance that would compel attention. Obviously such methods are abused far more often than they are legitimately used, and the opportunity plays right into the hands of the revolutionaries. All that I can indicate is that here is a problem pregnant with possibilities for good or evil to the whole of the English-speaking world, and to ask whether the combined experience and united wisdom of the Eng-lish-speaking peoples is not sufficient to undertake its thorough investigation with the object of securing to all sections of the community representation and government based upon justice, equity and fraternal regard.

“It is little more than a generation since we have seen the artisan leave his little shop adjoining his dwelling to go to work in the factory at the machine. In turn the factory came under the control of the company, the company merged into the syndicate and now the trust or combine is forging huge associations in industry. Something similar is taking place among the retail idlers of goods. Production on a large scale and. at a cheap rate has much to commend it, but in the system that has arisen, there are potential evils of the first magnitude. If manufacturers can fix the prices that they will pay for materials, and the prices that they demand for their commodities, the primary producers will soon become no better than serfs. The question as to whethey they will be well paid or badly paid serfs fades into insignificance against the question that they will be serfs. THE POWER OF TRUSTS. “Trusts will undoubtedly have enormous power and it is natural to suppose that they use it all and sincerely believe that they are acting beneficently. The amount that they pay in income tax will prove that. They will be able to crush all opposition and they will brook none. Their immense fortunes will place political control within their grasp and they will have nothing more inspiring to place before the ambitious of their employee than that he should make it the aim of his life to become proficient in greasing the hub of a motor-car. The employee, stultified in one direction, will certainly be stimulated in another, and there’s the rub.

“Morally, financially and politically, the trust promises to become a gigantic evil if left to develop uncontrolled. Mr. Roosevelt tried to crush it, and succeeded in compelling it to change the spelling of its name. But its day has come, for it has much to commend it and can be made a legitimate and beneficent expansion in industrial enterprise. But it will assuredly be the herald of revolution unless its evils are eliminate'd.

“Imagine the result when the Taranaki ironsand deposits arc developed and the new iron age is centred on this coast. New Plymouth will become a huge industrial centre carrying an enormous population, every member of which wili be, more or less remotely, connected with the industry. I say no more than that these people will demand, and rightly so too, some representation and some control, where their interests are so completely bound up. “Civilisation never had greater opportunities than it has to-day, and it was never in greater danger than it is today. The time has passed for indulgence in national prejudices or thinking in terms of national self-sufficiency, When we think that during the Great War the clumsy diplomacy of one man very nearly resulted in America and Britain facing each others guns, we can realise the staggering magnitude of the

evils which result from a failure to understand. These failures, so far as they belong to the Anglo-Saxons, must be cleared up and the understanding created that as we are of one blood, one language and one civilisation, so should we be of one purpose in making the world safe and prosperous.” Mr. Kayll was accorded a "vote of thanks on the motion of Rotarian James McLeod. President Penn was in the chair during the address.