The sun., 1919-10-21

ing the most stupcndous International
redHOnmonts knotoh to history, the Ca
madam Section Of THE SUN invited an
expression Of vfetus from a disttn pushed
, Canadian, benjamin. Russell Of HdHfdr,
Justice Of the Supreme Court Of Noud
Scotia and recognised authority on
questions Of International lao and tcorld
| policy.
Too articles in the series in course Of
| publication III these columns from the
| Canadian jttriSt haze already appeared
J IN THE SUN. IN one Of these he said:
| To the United States is now presented
/ the opportunity OF playing the same great
part in the future history OF civilization
! that England has played in the past.
With no permanent alliances she can hold
| herself ready to take the part of the under
dog and save the world should 1t ever
again be menaced by perils such as those
we have narrowly escaped. 1t Is an
| alluring programme and I do not wonder
! that 1t has captured the imagination Of
prominent statesmen in the great republic.
! who would prefer Il to the more ambitious
project Of a league of nations. 1t is the
policy of splendid isolation" which at one
I time captivated tho fancy OF eminent
British statesmen. No one need deny or
minimize the splendor Of such n national
! attitude. Nevertheless. l hope
that in later Issue l shall be able to
show unto You more excellent way.
/ BcloW Is Judge RHsselFS third paper;
Ky BENJAMIN RUSSELL,
of Halifax. y. s., Justice of the supreme
Court OF Nova Scotia.
Written Especially for the Cdnddidn
Section Of THE SUN.
THIRD ARTICLE.
purpose dealing in this article with
| two of the obstacles to an enduring An
glo-American entente-the first arising
! out Of geographical situation, and the
| second based upon a traditional policy
popularity assumed to have had the de-
liberate sanction of the first and great
est OF American Presidents.
As to the first topic, / think that one
of the obstacles to an entente between
our two great nations can be clearly
traceable, in some degree at least, to n
geographical prepossession acquired in
childhood from the school maps by
means of which geographical knowledge
is impaired, and which probably would
not exist and certainly would not be so
profound and enduring II this branch of
knowledge were impaired by means OF a
globe, or by maps-drawn in a different
fashion from those universally in use
I am quite well aware that this sug-
readers very far fetched and perhaps a
little whimsical. But the Importance Of
maps and the danger of false impress
sions derived from them have more than
once been the subject of comment by
statesmen of the first rank. When Sir
Charles Dixie wrote his book on Greater
Britain, now many years ago. he alluded
to a false impression created as to the
area of Canada by maps drawn on Mer-
Gators projection, In which the merid-
ians run parallel to one another instead
of converging as they go northward un-
til they meet at the pole. When, at
later date, but stiIl\a considerable num-
Der OF years ago, the slow but glacier
like advance of Russia toward the Indian
frontier aroused the apprehension of
Englishmen. and. their humorous papers
described them AZ being in state of
Nervousness tMerv having been the
point just recently reached). Lord Sails
bury recommended his hearers to give
their nerves q rest by studying the Gues-
ton with the aid of large maps" on
which the geography of the situation
would seem less alarming than II APP
peared to be according to the smaller
ones, TO which recourse was usually had.
The Influence of Maps.
Now possibly, after rejecting for
moment on these Illustrations, it may not
seem an altogether baseless suggestion
that the political judgments OF Cana
dams and Americans alike, and their
conceptions of world policy, may often
be influenced by the enduring-although
of course, wholly Observation-Disclosures
sions derived in childhood from the wall
maps that have been continually before
their eyes in the public schools. on
. "a
two divisions described as the eastern
and the western hemispheres. Each OF
these divisions is surrounded by well
defined and apparently quite substantial
circle, having to the fancy of o child the
form Of ring fence. Does this not in
evitably suggest to the learner that there
is something intrinsic, essential and real
that corresponds to the appearance OF
the map?
OF course he will learn at a later stage
in his education that the customary d.
vision is purely arbitrary affair:
that there Is no reality that corresponds
with the circular wall; that this is a
pure fiction of the map maker; that the
division into hemispheres might just as
easily have been made with the equator
as the dividing line. In which case the
northern hemisphere would have pre-
sented the United States and Europe
and Asia, with most OF Africa, all in one
map, while what was left fc' the other
would be nearly all of South America,
part of Africa, Australia, New Zealand
and a number of iusular odds and ends
II it had happened that our early
conceptions of the geography of the
world had been derived from the use of
the globe. or gained by means of maps
| drawn in the fashion last suggested, is 1t
not altogether possible that we should
never have become obsessed with the
| notion that we were specially concerned
with the affairs OF the South American
States? And, what is of vastly greater
consequence. might we not have es-
capped the peril OF being victimized by
the deluslon that we were ordained by
nature or at least permitted by physical
| and political geography, TO live our own
| lives as u western world with r. sub
lime and selfish Indifference to the at
| fairs of the other hemisphere?
! The illusion to which L have referred
| is, as / have suggested. by no means