The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-12-27
British Foreign office In Complete
Control Of Class Of Men Who
Know How to Bow n
Proper style.
WAR WITH GERMANY
II II Ever Comes, It VIII be Due to
the Sins Of the Aristocrats Who
Arc In Charge Of
Affairs.
! TBy Ed. L. Keen, London correspond
ent. United Press

TBy Ed. L. Keen. London correspond
ent, United Press.l
TCopyright, 1911, by United Press.l
LONDON. Dec 27-"War between
England and Germany, If it comes,
and it is more than likely it will come,
will be due to the sins of the British
foreign Office, which is made up Of
men Of aristocratic leanings who have
conducted the country's international
policies with utter disregard of the
British spirit of democracy"
This is the view voiced today to the
United Press by j. Ramsay MacDon.
aid, leader of the labor party in the
house of commons, in an interview in
which he throws new light on the cir
cumstances leading up to the present
delicate situation between the two
great powers and justifies the cam
paign now being conducted by himself
and his colleagues for the regenera-
tion of the foreign office,
Continuing, Macdonald said:
tPublic opinion in England is not
anti-German. however, frequently it
may suffer from German scares; Oft
cial opinion is. Public opinion is not
pro Russian; official opinion is. That
shows where the roads between the
national policy and the foreign policy
separate.
"Our diplomatic service is recruited
from among the sons of the society
people. The candidate for position
in the service must have $4,000 a year
OF his own, must speak with an APP
proved Oxford drawl, and must be
polished in courtly ways so as to bow
properly"
'sYou mean that although England
Is nominally democracy, its foreign
affairs are still controlled by its
aristocracy?" / asked.
precisely" he answered. @If we
had a stronger foreign minister who
had real policy Of his own and who
united that policy with big concep-
tion OF England's place in the world,
It might be different But these men
arise only about once IN century,
and although Sir Edward Grey is
personally very honest. he lacks the
rover to control his own subordi-
dates.
.'If we had the house of commons
control We could check these aristo-
cratic officials But now all tho ~ti.@,
wise men and stupid wise news
papers in the country say to the stu
pid wise renders who believe them:
we must allow onr foreign policy to
be given to us. We only pay the bills
and find the soldiers, but if we allow
whisper to get out of white hall be-
fore the treaties are signed and ir-
revocable contracts are made. then
we are committing a great wrong So
the house of commons knows nothing,
except by gossip until everything is
settled and then the foreign secretary
comes down and tells us that 1t is too
late for profitable criticism and the
aristocratic permanent officials laugh
in their sleeves and go on ruling.
.4This was we'll illustrated in the
recent crisis with Germany. It Is true
that from the fourth to the twenty
first of December there was a myster-
ious silence in Berlin, as far as we are
concerned, but If our foreign office
had been at all sympathetic to Ger
many. 1t would not have listened to
the tittle-tattle which it was hearing
from Paris and perhaps from Madrid.
sIt would have sent for the German
ambassador. repeated it's questions,
answer Immediately. What happened
instead? Our foreign office said to it
self. Germany is silent, therefore
she is plotting. Germany has given
guarantees. but We can't trust her.
and all the time the people were ignor-
ant of the silly game that was being
played by the denartment until Lloyd
George thundered the mansion house
speech across the North sea.
''The final form of that speech was
settled by the foreign office You can
rely upon that being an absolute fact"
"Do you think all this will lead to
war with Germany"
'If the present policy and the pres
ent men are retained, am afraid 1t
will. am reliably informed that Sir
Edward Grey's speech has persuaded
many friends Of England in Germany
that we have made up our minds to
thwart the empire in her political and
-