Evening star., 1924-07-31
BY FREDERICK WILLIAM VILE.

BY FREDERICK WILLIAM VILE.
American politics has always baffied
the Britisher,, and his interest in 1t.
even during a presidential campaign.
Is not lively. He considers such
things as primaries and the electoral
college far too complicated to be
worth understanding. and when you
attempt to explain to him what may
happen IL the election Is thrown into
Congress. he calls for help and
changes the subject. The nomination
OF John, w. Davis by the Democrats
naturally attracts attention In Lon
don. where he earned great popular
ity during his ambassa dorship at the
end of the war. Britons are too wise
to take even the appearance of sides
In an American presidential contest
in this year of all years. They re-
member what Grover Cleveland did to
Lord Sackville West on a historic
occasion. But our British friends are
ties has placed In the field a man who
knows Europe from first-hand knowl-
edge.
Wickham Steed, former editor of
The Times and now editor of the re-
juvenated Review of Reviews (founded
by the late William T. stead). tells a
story which. he says. established John
w. Davis reputation In England as
master of tact. The Prince of Wales
in 1921 was a guest Of honor at a
lord mayors. dinner on his royal
highness' return from Canada Davis
was down for the final speech on a
program which included addresses by
the lord mayor. the prince, and Mr.
Lloyd George uhen premier). Both
the prince and the premier deeply
stirred the distinguished audience
Davis turn came. Before him lay a
sheaf Of notes for a prepared address.
But the Ambassador. conscious that
Guildhall was under the spell of what
prince and premier had said. deter
mined TO avoid an anti-climax.- Lift
ing his glass. he said: MY Lord
Exceilencies, My Lords and Gentle
men; ! have the honor to propose the
health of the Lord Mayor" And that
was all. The great audience caught
the point and Davis took his seat
| amid thunder Of applause and
cheers. Many said 1t was the speech
of the night.
Little is known in Great Britain of
the personality Of President Coolidge,
but American visitors are often
pressed to discuss il. From what
they. have read of Cautious CAL
Britons are convinced he is a man Of
the type of mind and temperament
who would fit ideally into their own
public life. which Is the highest trib-
ute they can pay any foreigner. His
campaign utterances will be closely
studied here. Ambassador Kellogg
is an effective missionary in the Pres
tunity to depict Mr.. Coolidge in the
right light, and especially to contro-
vert the theory that the President is
Of ore the he.q sad s3
school. Senator La Toilette visited
Europe a few months ago and spent
some time in England. The La Fol-
upon here as more or less the coun-
terpart of the British Labor party
idea. If It should be any chance
prove triumphant, there would be
Britons to claim that America had
many. Great Britain and France
went respectively. with Marx. Her
riot and Macdonald.
y e..
1t is the common thing in London
to say that the Ramsay Macdonald
government is in ofrice but not in
power BY that. of course, is meant
that the Labor government has no
majority in the House Of Commons
and, theoretically, could be turned
out at any time by coalition Of
Liberals and Unionists. Everybody
says that is exactly what would
stun" i. e., enact socialistic or even
semi socialistic legislation. To date
acDonald has steered so mfddle a
course that he has kept wide of the
prestige is being enhanced from day
to day He has made no serious
hlunders. If he gets some order out
of the European reparations chaos.
his hold on public esteem Will De
very strong.
The shabbiest establishment in Lon
don is the untenanted American En-
bassy. at 12 and 13 Princes Gate.
Hyde Park-the gift mansion be-
slowed upon the United States three
wears ago by J. Pierpont Morgan. Al
though Congress appropriated $1s0.o0o
| for rehabilitation of the place. not a
stroke of work has been done to that
end. Nobody knows why. Meantime
/ the two houses. which are to be
knocked into one, are literally going
| to rack and ruin. The windows are
dirty. the lawns unkempt, the walls
| streaked with CRIME and dust, and
the whole aspect of the institution
that of a shack in the slums. On
either side are the splendid homes of