The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1921-06-18
PACIFICIST OFFERS VIEWS
ON THE IRISH PROBLEM
How Open Sore of Anglo.lrish Rela-
tions Emhtoi AMERICAS
Parties To Scrap

economic tendencies and political pol
icies which will require much deli
cate handling in the years to
come and generous patience and
confidence. If we want to avoid
the development of serious cross pur
poses and understand how to do so,
we can probably accomplish our end.
But ii at every turn and crisis we
have to meet an embittered and de-
termined hostility to everything
British on the part OF considerable
portion Of the American population,
it will be immensely more difficult
to make the necessary adjustments
along the way
Boycott of British Products and
Service
Take the matter of imported Brit.
sh manufactures as an instance. II
Great Britain is to pay us the inter
est on her debt, she must sooner or
later increase considerably her eX.
ports to us Of manufactured articles
But there is a well.organized boycott
by the Irish against British services.
and goods which, it is said, has al
ready had a serious effect And the
movement to erect tariff barriers
VIII ch will have similar result, al.
though it originates WITH quite a diff
ferent group of our citizens and one
outwardly pro-English, will probably
be supported by the Irish sympathiz-
ers when they sec that its passage
will harass the Br fish II / proves
to be impossible or unduly dangerous
for us to insist on full payment of
tie British debt, the Irish sympatAiz
ers will be certain to oppose its lc-
duction by one penny.
1t is worth nothn ng that the Very
American Interests which support
most strongly movements for high
tariffs. large uuyi3s, full peHmaut of
the debt la:@c merchant marine
ana otler 20 lr,cs likely D emba.
rass the British are in general those
which are most adulatory OF British
imperialists and conservatives, most
yCciferOus in expressions of Anglo
Saxon solidarity and most bitter il
Their denunciation Of Sim Fein
When it comes to economic matters
Englishmen would do well not tC
pace their trust in this element o.
American society. In the long ru
it will be bad policy to do so. Al
the moment these lords of finance
and industry happen TO be in the sat
die, but they never have been anC
never will be popular with the major
ity Of Americans. The facts tha0
they are now the most indeiatgab''
and outspoken friends OF England IL
likely to create much unwarranteC
ant-British prejudice among the res
C rs
And it is the rest of us upon whom
Eugl shmen must count. in pinch
to support reasonable and concilia
tory policies against the greed o
the protiteers and the aggression o
the industrial clauyinists The place
Of Americans of Irish descent should
be normally with the liberal force
II our political life, and these liberia
forces will be robbed Of much o
their effectiveness if in matters af
fecting directly or indirectly Anglo
American relations the Irish sympa
thizers are forced into unnatura
alliance with the American imperial
istt.
Basis Of Good Relations
1t would be a mistake, moreove
to think Of the reaction of American
to the Irish problem purely in terms
Of the activities Of the Irish sym
pathizers The outstanding fac
with regard to the relations of Grea
Britain and the United States is tha
they are now leading financial, con
mercial and manufacturing nations
far ahead Of any others. Their nat
ural tendency is not only to become
inCreas .ngly competitive, but to en-
gage in a rivalry for mutually exclu
siye dominance.
If this tendency is TO be curbed
under the present economic order, il
must be curbed by comprehensive
understandings between the two pee
understanding so COmprehcl
siye as to amount almost to an al
lance. There must be substantial
harmony between them in information
al affairs if their purposes are no
increasingly to cross each other. Bu
such harmony presupposes broa(
basis of confidence
The Two EngIands
There are two possible conception
Of the British empire, one of whicl
arouses friendliness in the ordinary
American, and the other of which
does not. The first is the conception
OF worldwide commonwealth o
self.governing peoples, equal to eacl
other in pride and power, and helC
together voluntarily by their mutua
advantage. 1t is a vision of gr0uI
of liberal nations, open to the enter
lprise of all on equal terms If Amer
lean could feel toward the who'll
British empire as they usually fec
toward Canada, Australia, New Zea
land, they would have little hesitanc,
in associatng their purposes closel.
with it.
But there are enough discordan
elements in the British empire t,
evoke occasionally the other picture
/ 1t Is a picture Of a group of Tories
+ insens tive, bullying persistent
shrewd and often hypocritical, VIII,
through their enormous wealth an,
political power, backed by great ma
vies and armies, contriye to hole
large areas of the world in youn
tary subjection There is in Eng
lands historic development basis 70
both of these conceptions. The LAT
ter was the England we saw whel
we began, and when we emerge,
from our Revolution. 1t took nearl.
a century to begin to see the othe
England at all, and some cannot SCI
II Arnt