The sun., 1919-10-21

| Lord Grey was touring the western
provinces of Canada some years ago in
the interest of the British imperial
navy one Of his hearers, as / have
heard the story, interrupted his address
| by throwing in a chunk of bucolic WIS.,
dom to the eject that what we wanted
in this country was not battleships but
box cars. This wiseacre could not even
see as far as the circular ring fence on
! his school map, or he would have re-
fiected that the wheat which his box
.ars transported to the coast would give
him no return for his trouble II the
ocean lanes were not kept clear for him
ny the fleets on which the commerce OF
! his country was dependent FOR It's con-
tinuance and safety.
The events of the past five years have
permanently freed the most of us from
the geographical prepossession to which
1 have referred; but the indirect effects
are still evident in many places. just
as an overruled case will often have Its
effect on the Jurisprudence of the coun'
try perpetuated In the continued citation
of cases decided on its authority or by
analogy to its principle before the pro-
nouncement of the overruling decision.
EntangiinE Alliances.
am sure that | should have no diff
I Guilty In proving, from speeches liv-
cred in the Canadian House Of Commons
and the Senate of the United States. that
I.vir uo4 S If national and International
/ thinking are still continuing to be in
| fluenced to serious degree by this geo
graphical prepossession -- the rational
| grounds for which 1t should now be
universally recognized are as baseless
as the fabric of a vision.
Coming now to the second of my sug-
| gested topics. let me deal for the bal
ance of this article with the traditional
American objection to "entangling alli-
ances." popularity based upon the author
lily Of Washington's Farewell Address
| although, as Senator Lodge has acutely
| pointed out in the course of his debate
with President Lowell. the phrase quoted
is Jefferson's and not that OF Wash
ington.
The degree In which the average citi-
zen OF the United States still continues
to be impressed by the supposed advice
OF Washington, the depth and strength
of the impression even yet or until very
recently existing in the public mind of
the country. may be we'll measured by
the fact that when Mr.. Bryan appeared
at the Mohons Conference a few years
ago to combat the Peace League PROPOSE
ton of ex-President Taft, he placed In
the very forefront of his reasons for
opposing the programme the advice OF
/ Washington agnst "entanRllng ALI
ances." This was Of course before n
ator Lodge had called attention TO the
true paternity of the phrase
! Now, there could be no better way
possible OF aScerta lining the views Of the
average home keeping, peace loving, viz
tuous and well meaning American voter
of the central States of the Union than
/ to read the speeches OF Mr.. Bryan? His
eloquent and expansive demonstrations
of the obvious, his complete and con-
summate mastery Of the commonplace,
his fervid presentation Of sonorous. ora
toriCal banalties are the fitting platform
efforts TO accompany the campaigning
manners and methods described by sgd
ney Low, who has pictured him TO us on
his railway journeys as "beaming with
unaffected freshness on each new nonen-
tity presented to him
what Washington Meant.
When. therefore Mr. Bryan begins mis-
vigorous attack upon any political prop
osltlon with the argument that IL in
wolves r. departure from Washingtons
advice against political alliance, we NAV
safely infer that he is planting his seed
in soil eNcellently prepared TO receive
it. He is addressing his argument TO an
audience already convinced.
But what, after all. was it that Wash
ingtOn had in his mind? Against what
sort of alliances was he warning his
fellow countrymen? Did he mean his
advice. so admirably suited TO the time
and the circumstances in which - was
given, TO be as permanently operative as
an article OF the Congt tuition, or WAS the
advice applicable only 10 the particular
conditions amid which it was offered and
TO which Il was so well adapted? That
is the gist of the inquiry
And as TO this. it was my good for
tune to hear the truth finely expressed in
very homely way by one of the speak
ers at a meeting OF the World CouTt
League in New York few years ago,
who explained that Westinghouse adj
vice was just like the advice that a kind
father would give to his little boy :
Don't go out on the street TO get
knocked about by the big boys who play
there. Go into your own back yard and
play. You are too young and too small
to risk yourself among the bigger boys"
But when that boy grew up 20 be a man.
such counsels. said the speaker. would
be wholly out OF place. The case as
thus put by the old clergyman is the
very truth of history as demonstrated
by Prof. Usher OF Washington Uni
versity, st. Louis. in an article published
in the North American ReUietU in July,
1915
where Jefferson stood,
What were the public conditions in
which Washington gave this advice
against political alliances? He was
speaking to a people just struggling
into the consciousness OF national life.
with institutions unsettled with deep
| Jealousies between the various States OF
the newly established Union, strainlng
under n load of domestic and foreign
debts. with great problems to solve for
which time was requisite and which
could only be successfully solved II time
and peace were afforded I'm which 10
solve them. The Federal Constitution
was comparatively new and experiment
! tai and it had in the anti-federaliste
| busy and formidable enemies. jefferson
/ was their leader, and a forceful leader
| he was, with subsidized newspapers Tor
! the spread OF his ideas. Anti-national-
! ism had shown itself even among Wash
! ingtons own friends In Virginia and the
| Mississippi Valley.
| The nation that struggled with all