New-York tribune., 1918-12-23
w ar Strain i'm
England Lifts
As Farley Nears
English Look to Wilson in
Confidence for Help to
Settle the Great Issues
Yuletide Spirit Is Real
Homecoming, Soldiers Add
to General Cayety After
Long Years of Hardship
MetU York. Tribune
EurOpe1n Bureau
'OnrriChi.. tN1S-

fMeW York. Tribune
European Bureau
Copyright 1918 New York Tribune Inc.)
LONDON, Dee. 22.-Thc keynote Of
the British people in their present mood
Of introspcction on the eve Of the
Christmas holidays and the prospect of
q few days. rest is "think clearly" The
intensity Of The activity Of the last four
years has given only slight chance for
abstract thought, but now the average
citizen finds himself, along with every
body else, an actual participant in the
problems battling statesmen, while little
has yet been done to clear up the de-
mands Of war and peace. The enormous
armies still remain mobilized, industry
is still at q standstil and wartime re-
strictions and wartime bureaucracies
stand like giants across the path of re-
construction and rehabilitation.
All Suffer from Strain
The ordinary citizen voter sees him
self confronted in his own country by
a naturally somewhat exhausted people,
mainly tired and suffering with over
strain. Nevertheless, from the western
frontiers Of Germany to the Pacific
Coast, across Russia and almost to the
Persian Gulf, he surveys a scene of
ruin and wreckage which the magma
tion fails to grasp. At this juncture
the average Englishman does not know
whether reconstruction ought to start
at home or abroad, but he vaguely un-
derstands that home and foreign prob
lens are interviewer, and is therefore
compelled to make decisions imme-
diately upon numbers of complicated,
difficult and almost insoluble problems,
the very consideration of which is dis
tasteful to him.
First of all there is the question Of
conscription, an institution which 90
per cent of Englishmen abhor. Yet,
how is Britain going to help maintain
an army of occupation in Germany,
participate in the inter-Allied action
in Russia and retain the status of a
continental power unless conscription
is retained?
. Insist on Keeping Navy
Then comes the question of the free
dom of the seas, to which ell Britain
subscribes; and yet again on one
hand, the overwhelming opinion is that
the navy has been the country's safe
guard for the past three centuries and,
the navy would be suicidal, and on tho
other hand the question is asked:
"Can any newly invented scheme of in
+o~ WI oh
the majority may theoretically accept,
preserve Great Britain's rights and en-
able her to fulfil her obligations in
peace or in war;"
Then follows the attitude toward
Germany. Lloyd George, while cleo
tioneering. first heard and then needed
the cry: make Germany pay; don't
let Germany dump goods here Mill
ions of Britons believe there will be a
sort of general levy among the Ger
mans for every penny Of the cost Of
the war for which Great Britain should
be reimbursed Still, a large section
of the public points out that Great
Britain has agreed to the armistice on
the basis of President Wilson's four
teen points, in which reparation is
mentioned, but nothing is said about
Germany footing the entire bill Of the
cost of the war.
Details Still Confusing
Further, this section of the public
is unable to see how Germany would
be able to pay except in goods, or how
she would be able to start paying until
lifted. The ordinary citizen has nc
feelings Of sentimentality for Germany
and fervently believes that such senti-
mentality would be useful only to
Germany. Nevertheless. he regards
the armistice conditions as binding on
Great Britain's honor, and does not
see how it would be possible to make
the guilty country pay If the Allies
refuse to do business with her.
Then there is the Russian question
Every war-weary citizen wants to have
an exact and convincing idea Of Rus
sia's necessities and Britain's obliga-
uons toward her before he csgns
himself to keeping large army there
and continuing to send large reinforce
ments. The interests of any section
or class trouble him little
Quick Peace Is Wanted
All these problems the average
British citizen wants to settle or find
some one to help him in the solution
before he begins to worry about bound
AAy iuiCt1tlOuS VI luCSIudi EuIOp0 OF
the strict rights Of the tiny naticnali-
ties. Above all, he wants preliminary
peace quickly.
IL is very favorable and receptive
atmosphere into which President viii
son Is coming, because the ear of the
country is wide open to all the counsel
Mr.. Wilson is able to bring.
Above all. there is vague, though
persistent undercurrent of thought that
the same issues in the main. when local
considerations are removed. await
America, and that, therefore, oo8pera
tion between England and America
is not merely likely and desir-
able, but perhaps inevitable. That
Is one of the reasons why
why President Wilson'S interview
given to the correspondent of "The
London Times" has met a popular vel
come here, for il proved that the Presi
lent wants to get to the heart Of things
and is striving to arrive at decisions
IN the same manner in which the ordi-
nary British taxpayer is.
Tfb;~ III H.