The New York herald., 1921-06-26
Americans need
not say "cahnt"


~ NE of the many paradoxical charac-
j teristics of the English people is their
relish for, hearing home truths about
themselves told in the frankest and most
urcompromisng manner, always provided, or
course, that their critic is one of themselves.
The secret of all Galsworthys vogue and
most of Shaw's is to be found in this curious
predilection which might be compared to the
eagerness with which visitors at a fair make
for the Hall of Laughter where they may
see themselves in every variety of caricature,
reflected in the distortjng mirrors with which
the tent is lined. With delighted compla-
cency they regard these aberrated pictures
of themselves, and the knowledge that every
body's doing it saves them from feeling ridic-
uous. Emerged into the same outer air,
in unimpaired symmetry Of form and feature
they look at each other and laugh, "Well,
wouldn't 1t be awful if we really did look
like that!''
1t Is in much the same spirit that the Eng
lish love to read books and see plays in which
they are represented as Pharisees, Philistines
or Erewhonans, but they do not take these
portraits seriously, and least of all do they
exrect other nations to see them through
the eyes of their home critics. Unhappily.
however other nations are only too prone
to take the caricatures for granted and In
stead of going to the originals for their I'M
pressions accept the satirical grotesques as
faithful likenesses which is as unjust as 1T
is natural and the more damaging In that
the falsehood obviously rests upon basis
of truth Not until the English realize that
the un1atterng pictures are more than
comic parodies will they bring the rest of
the world to truer understanding of their
real character
The thankless task of holding the mirror
a.. ,-lxN dor hx,M Nv A
Gardiner in "The Anglo-American Future"
little book the Importance of which is not
to be Judged by its size. He makes an ad-
mirable attempt to establish fair balance
Of esteem between his own country and the
United States. He tells the English what
Is wrong with them and right with the
Americans, and by implication America Is
informed what Is wrong with her and right
with England.
The best things in the book are the chap
ters on the English Manner and the Amer
lean Mind. Here he deals In some OF the
plain speaking so much appreciated by the
English, and If he offers a pretty stiff dose
of the same to Americans his attitude Is
one of such wise and sincere conciliation as
completely to disarm resentment.
THE first fact for really to drill into
our mind is that the Americans are n foreign
people and hate above everything the arro-
CANT assumption so common in our tone and
attitude tnat tney are really OURSELVES III
rather cruder state of development.
We succeed in giving the impression that we
are the superior branch of the family visit
ing poor relation, who says can't where
we say cahnt' and gotten where we say
got and perfectly inexcusable things like
that We ought to remember that
the American practice in speech, as in other
things, is not necessarily inferior to our own
because 1t differs from ours"
The future ciyiliZa tiOn, Mr.. Gardner
declares is in the hands of the two English
speaking nations, whose power the break up
of the European system has made dominant
In the world, and "the capital problem or
mankind is whether this domination Is to be
exercised in rivalry or in agreement, In
friendship or in hostility for the well being OF
the world or for the selfish ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
of the respective nations"
Americas participation in the war demon
strated the incompatibility of the isolation
policy with the conditions of the modern
world and admitted her responsibility in the
future of the new order she helped to create.
From this to an ultimate acquiescence in the
League of Nations principle is but a step.
His suggestion of the pooling of the two
navies Is as unlikely of fulhment as II Is
obvious in theory. But there Is not much
use in refusing to look realities In the face,
and the reality of the rivalry existing be-
tween the two nations has been far more in
war than before That this rivalry should
exist Is sad enough. but none the less In
eyitabe in a world which lives by compeu-
ton When tempted to insist upon the
closeness of the bonds that join the two coun-
tries the common language, the Anglo
Saxon tradition and so on. IL would be WELL
in the light of a warning. to recall the words
of Darwin that the struggle for existence is
always fercest between individuals of the
same species.
THE gravest source of anti-British feeling
in America is the Irish question" 1t Is to
be regretted that in this book. clearly writ
ten with one eye on the British public and
the other on the American. the author did
not explain certain aspects of this conflict.
the illumination Of which might help toward
a better understanding of the difficulties 1t
involves On ethical grounds England's at
titude is utterly indefensible, but here again
the struggle is not ethical but political.
What every person knows Is that the Irish
after centuries of unwilling subservience TO
England have at last come to the end OF
their tether and staked everything on SUI
preme bid for freedom, and that England is
making them pay. to the last man, the slow
price of their glorious folly. This Is a spec
tacle which, sufficiently revolving In any cir
cumstances is rendered a thousand times
more so in the light Of the principles for
whose sake the war was fought and whose
sanctity the League of Nations was created
to protect All of which is profoundly true,
but there is another side to the question,
and although nothing can condone the in
humanity Of England's Irish policy yet con-