Evening star., 1934-12-31
Town Hall Audience Hears
Sir WiIImott Lewis
Views on America.
EXTENSIVE ELECTIVE
SYSTEM HELD FAULT
Journalist Avoids Striking Con.
trasts-Reciprocal Agreements
on Trade Advocated.

steadily changing political cond1tlonS
in the United States from the view
point of a foreign observer, Sir Will
mott Lewis, correspondent Of the
London Times, told Town Hall au-
dience last night at the Shoreham
Hotel that "the Civil Service is pos
sibly the future salvation of what we
may call a democratic government"
Sir Willmott declared that "the &C
cretion of powers by the President en-
bodying the spirit of nationalism in
this country, is not only proof that the
dual federaliSm-that of government
by Congress and Executives proving
insufficient, but must inevitably con-
tipue after the depression emergency
is gone"
This problem of nationalism, which
he declared is the lone central prob
lem before the American people to-
day" and has been eXemplified in a
slow but steady trend under the New
Deal toward the concentration Of addi-
tional powers under the executive
branch Of the Government and a
lessening of the powers of Congress.
Elective Fault" Seen.
He made his approach to the subject
of an unfettered civil service by claim
ing that one of the essential problems
of this day, under these changing
conditions, is the problem of admin
istration. "One of its most potent
faults" he said, sis the excessive
number of elective Offices"
The only progress made in Great
Britain in this respect in the last 100
years, Sir Willmott pointed out, was
when Gladstone set up a civil service
as offering a midway road between
that democratic form of government
and the proletarians of government,
characterized by him as the Com
munists and other radical sects.
Sir Willmott indicated that the de-
velopment of a higher type of COM
petitive civil service examinations, de-
creasing the influence of patronage to
beneficial extent, would be strong
factor in this country toward develop
ing spirit of nat;onalism.
For Is years Sir Willmott has view-
ed conditions in the United States
from the press gallery Of Congress,
the press rooms at the White House
and State Department.
In taking as his topic can English
man Looks at America" Sir Willmott,
whose position in this country closely
resembles that of an unofficial diplo-
matte observer, refrained from excit-
ing controversial issues. He spoke
more in the vein of a friendly analyst
and avoided as much as possible
sharply-drawn contrasts between the
American and British governments.
At the end of his address Sir Willmott
was questioned on political and eco
nomic phases by members of the panel.
The president of the Town Halls
board of trustees, Huston Thompson,
presided at the meeting, which was
attended by large and distinguished
audience Members of the panel were
Robert Lincoln O'Brien, chairman of
the United States Tariff Commission; !;
G. Gould Lincoln, political writer Of
The Evening Star; Albert Atwood, edi-
:, torial writer of the Saturday Evening
Post and financial writer for Review
of Reviews; Representative Sol Bloom
of New York; Raymond Swing, an
editor of The Nation and formerly
London correspondent for the Phila-
delphia Public Ledger.
Sees S-Area Nation.
Sir Willmott viewed the United
States as a continent divided into
eight great regions, each with COM
mon and sectional interests. They
are the New England the Middle At
lantic, the Middle West, the South
east, the Southwest, the Prairie, the
Mountain and the Pacific Coast re-
gions.
"a glance at your Congress" he
said, lis like looking at the United
States through the wrong end of a
telescope" 1t is body composed of
representatives from these diverse
elements, he declared, and the great
est force that moves Congress is
economic sectionalism."
"a foreigner asks what exists be-
tween the executive power at one
end of the Avenue and the legislative
power at the other end" he said. Il
am told it must be bridge of par
ties" but explained that the beliefs
of the present two-party system has
been reduced to the nomination and
protection of the President and the
securing of patronage.
He asserted that there are only five
main political issues before the Amer
ican people today and he explained
them in this order: Economic Sec
tionalism in the eight regions de-
scribed; second, the race problem,
emphasized chiefly in the supremacy
Of the white race in the South; third,
the question of religion; fourth, banker
versus farmer embodying the tradi-
tions of Hamilton versus Jefferson;
and fifth, the issue of worker versus
employer.
The injection of the civil service
into the general theme OF the speaker
interested Thompson. He expressed
the opinion that in England appoint
ment to a government position Is a
considerably higher honor than in this
country because of more severe eX-
aminations. The chairman also was
interested in the different steps the
United States and Great Britain have
taken in seeking economic recovery.
Reciprocal Pacts Urged.
In reply Sir Willmott said that the
key to recovery is in revival Of for
eign trade. He believed the solution
lies in reciprocal trade agreements
rather than in barter agreements. To
other questions he explained that the
agricultural policy of the two govern
ments differ, in that the United States
is trying to decrease production, while
Britain is endeavoring to increase it.
With this in mind, Lincoln asked
what would eventually happen as a
result of the different policies to the
American cotton business. Sir Will
mott ventured the explanation that
there exists in the world today great
population that needs shirts and that
this no doubt in the end would take
care of all the cotton grown in the
world.
Sir Willmott, while predicting that
the presidential powers would be ac-
celerated with the coming years, said
he felt no fear that centralism in the