Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-05-24
ANGLO-AMERICAN
UNDERSTANDING
1t Would Be Helped if a United
States Commission Returned
the Visit of Mr.. Balfour
BY GILBERT VIVIAN sELDEs

ONE phrase we have heard again and
~ again in the last month, "The hope OF
the world"
II sounds vague, romantic. II might
mean anything And yet from the day the
United States declared war on Germany
that phrase has been spoken. have heard
II In speeches, OF course. But l was more
impressed when n gentleman whose business
II is TO know more about high explosives
than anybody In Germany said the same
thing to me / have heard 1t from men In
tho ranks ! have heard It from men who
we're greeted in midocean by the news that
the United states had come to Join them
that when they reached their regiment from
New Zealand they would have another
ally. And l have heard It with a shade Of
anxiety
The United states has lost her reputation
here--her reputation Of being money
maker. Forgotten the ancient sneer sup
pressed the flppant remark. | have just
seen German paper several weeks old,
which refers to the United states. poor de-
luded nation. coming into war from which
she can reap no profit / do not know Of
any nation, unless it be Cuba, whose
mCdves are regarded with such unanimous
approval
People do not know exactly what they
mean by the hope Of the world" They feel
in general way that we reatllrmed the
original purpose of the war because we
chose the side Of democracy II things
come to a terrible pass we may put in the
I,yt Of ,t.in vi
tory instead Of defeat. And there is some
thing still behind.
Will Learn From Each Other
That is the union of our force with the
force OF British democracy. ! do not mean
! an alliance" because that is comparatively
| insignificant what ! mean was tersely ex-
| pressed recently by a man Of profound
| knowledge OF both countries, and Of some
| Imagination. lie foresaw from the entrance
! Of the United States condition in which
the United States and Britain would each
| teach the other what it knew best and
what the other most needed to learn, Brit
ain is democracy without real popular
government, because the habit of governing
is not yet with all the people. We can
teach her that And the United States Is
| a member Of the nationhood Of the world
with little practical experience in the gov
ernment Of nations In the end we shall
| probably teach Britain how to govern her
! self. Britain will teach us how to adjust
| our relations to the rest of the world.
Those VINO believe that the British Com
monwealth has served, and still does serve
/ 4 IL
| interchange Of habits as the very founda-
| tion Of future peace. We Americans have
| always felt that we could never again fight
| against Britain. We have also felt that
/ between us two we could dominate the
world The war has called us together not
| 70 dominate but 10 free the world. After
| II is over that process will continue Be-
| tween us we have all the strength, all the
! ideallsm. all the necessities Of rulers of the
| world II we choose not to rule we will stin
choose to see that the peace of the world
| and the justice Of the world are secure
| That is why our entrance into the world
| war marked the beginning Of the greatest
| epoch Of the worlds history.
| So people think OF 1t here, a few, up to
| the present but more and more will think
| so as the time passes, And that is why
| everything counts. That is why we who
| are here are so anxious and so nervous.
l ought TO say that we are not particu-
| Iarly nervous about what America does in
| the war. This country is still gaspng
| at the passage of the COnsCrption bill
| We are not particularly worried about the
| appearance of an American army on the
western front, although we should like TO
zee the Roosevelt army paradng down the
| Strand We are wonderfully confident of
the Administration and Of the country.
America Misrepresented
We are anxious about two things. That
| Americans should realize to the utmost
| what Britain means in this war-that Is
the first point. And the second is that the
! unofficial representatives OF America over
| here should be faithful.
| From the day the Lusitania sank to the
day the President made his war speech the
United States has been bitterly and cruelty
slandered abroad-by Americans They re-
| tain their papers and their passports. so we
have to call them Americans. In the months
| preceding the declaration Of war l read
| many unpleasant things about the United
| States. but none was so bitter, none 60
false none quite so mislnformed, as the
| things written by men who claimed to be
| American citizens The minds of people
here were positively poisoned, and from
some of the specimens have seen from
| France / should Judge that the case was
| even worse there. The pity Of II was that
our official representatives were all decent
enough to respect their office. They could
| not be pubicists and they were not In
the absence Of a leader, every one was per
mitted to talk. And nearly every one did
That is changed now, TO be sure. With
a rather wry smile this gentry confesses
that we have declared war on Germany
a concession 20 fact which surpasses any
thing they have made before. But there are
still dihiculties and still dangers in the way
Most OF us want, above everything else
that there should be no misunderstanding
between the two countries. Yet we shal
not avoid them entirely
For example, II is hard for many home
| rule Fnglshmen to understand our attitud
toward ireland They hardly realize that W,
want the good OF Ireland so that we shal
be all the freer in our friendship for Eng
land They sometimes feel that we are try
ing TO interfere, or that we are posing a
unco' guild and holding ourselves up as
model Nor will all Europe understand ou
attitude when the peace conference comes
After all the hailing and hurrahing ther
is bound TO be a sober time, when ever
step will be watched and when the best o
good will cannot smooth every roughnesa
n will be then that Americans in Britai
and France will have their most seriou
duty. Experience OF the past does not max
| one any too confident