New-York tribune., 1909-09-05
London, August /

moan that, though English and American men
may not like each other. English men and
American women may? A good many instances
might be alleged to prove it, whether he meant
,t or not And If the converse is not so gen.
oralF1 true if English women do not like Amer
.csp men, the article in the June Atlantic
Monthly on Some Faults of American Men, "
nv Mrs. Anna Rogers, may explain why. I pre-
sure this lady to be an American, and if there
we're much of that English i'll will TO Americans
which Mr.. Price Collier imagines. the English
papers would he been quoting her criticisms.
Mrs Rogers is not disposed TO spare anybody.
She says. for example. that "the responsibility
for the present humliating slave trade in which
rich American girls are sold to the titled
decadents Of England and the Continent Is al
most wholly the fault of the men of this coun-
try" She says again: Our young men are not
good lovers, however in the end they may be
good husbands, and what girl Of twenty has the
foresight to comprehend that?"
OF the Continental "decadents" 1 need say
nothing But, with all respect for Mrs. Rogers 8
plain speaking and evident sincerity. it is nom
sense TO write of the Anglo-American marriages
OF this last and present generation as IL the
English husbands OF the American girls were
decadents. l must avoid personalities nor Is
there any need of them. The whole matter may
be left to the judgment OF those who know the
facts. There is no against the husbands
unless you say the eHCepuOn proves lIe iulS'
And all that an exception ever proved was the
existence of the rule 10 which it is an exception
Moreover. Mrs. Rogers's statements are mutu-
ally destructive. If the American girl marries
the Englishman because she finds him more at
tractye than the American, ii is pretty clear
she is not sold to him. and equally clear that he
cannot be a decadent. Most American young
men," says Mrs. Rogers ''are not especially In
teresting" They do not, she tells know
4l,ar- do mot a
lecture and make speeches and tell stories. But
none of this is conversation, and women like
conversation like its courtesies. which at least
pretend a little interest when their turn comes
In the game" Then;
''Our girls are accustomed to amusing these
tired men That joy OF being amused, or being
interested by man OF the world, is not to be
omitted in any just weighing OF the question
why they find foreigners attractive; and. as time
passes in spite Of all the bitter Establishments
OF the past our rich girls will make more and
more unfattering selections from among suitors
across the seas"
Perhaps even more remarkable is Mrs Rog-
ers's discovery that not only are American girls
captivated by the courtesies and good breeding
Of the Engshman. but the girls mothers are
inst as sensitive as the daughters to the attrac-
tions in which the young American man is de-
fcient And with the American mother on the
:
Mrs Rogers therefore disposes Of at least half
of Mr. Price Golfers case, and perhaps the most
important half, for with the American women
on the side Of the Englishman the American
men must sooner or later follow. Are we not
forever saying that in no country Of the world
IS the influence of women 50 potent as in Amer
ica2 If 1 wished to qualify that should quail
ify il only by saying that the country in which
the influence OF American women has been most
Totent for a generation is England. 1t dates
from the earlier Ango-American marriages. 1t
so happens that of all the American girls who
have married IN England. some Of those who
came earliest among the most accom-
plished, the most brilliant, the most original
They were novelties too and they were de-
lcious surprises. They entered upon new
heritage They brought with them gifts and
qualities OF a kind less common here than at
home. They shone in drawing room. They
shone-one or two of them did-in a bear fight,
and they taught new art of bear lighting in
houses where any novelty was welcome.
They did not always have money. or much
money; that notion Of great riches as an essen
tial condition OF Anglo-Amerioan marriage
will not bear examination. Often and always
mean two different things. AS MI Winston
Churchill has told us in that masterpiece Of
biography which narrates the life Of his father.
Lord Randolph Churchill. the story Of his
mothers marriage I may refer to II. There
no question Of millions here. There was on
the girls side a very moderate fortune The
son is authority for saying IL was a love match.
Nor, ] suppose, would Mrs. Anna Rogers or
anybody else suggest that Lord Randolph
Churchill was "decadent" He was one OF the
few Of genius in public life.
Everybody knows that, but perhaps not every
body knows that his American wife had a
genius of her own. Hers was not political. but
social; was and still is. She gained footing at
once, and more than a footing-a position OF
authority due to a kind of capacity always rare
here at home. anywhere-the capacity for
leadership in a world Of fashion which has an
tnexorable code OF it's own, applied strictly in
all cases. more strictly TO q newcomer than TO
any other. most strictly Of all when the new
conner is alien in race and disposed to be in
dependent. Most women would have submitted.
would have conforned TO existing laws. To
those which are elementary, which lie at the
root Of every best society, this American girl
cid conform. She none the less made others for
herself, and became attractive a figure that
there were points IN which, to use the common
phrase, she set the fashion. But the secret or
her ascendency not one OF method: II was
personal and in so far il copied-well,
Rochefoucauld has a saying that the only good
copies are those which make us see the faults OF
The original And whether the original have
faults not, the copies are certain TO have.
Lady Randolph was one Of many If i were TO
30 into the social history of London during the
iast thirty years, the opportunities for indis-
ceilons would be too numerous. 1t may be
enough TO say that from the beginning to the
present time-I do not say the end, for there is
no sign of any end-and from the first conner
20 the latest, these American influences have
been Of many kinds but they have always been