Evening star., 1935-08-25
BY ALBIN E. JOHNSON.

BY ALBIN E. JOHNSON.
PARIS.-Whethe one likes TO ad-
NIT 1t or not, Americans are no longer
the tin gods" in Europe that they
used to be, and the United States Is
not unanimously considered as
workers paradise to which all OF the
Old Worlds struggling masses should
emigrate. Nor do the utopian schemes
for making the world safe for de-
mocracy," Inauguration of reign OF
permanent and universal peace and
hammering of swords into pillow shares.
which used to originate In the United
States, cause much more than a weary
smile among the rank and file OF the
common people in Europe today.
In Germany, Hungary, Italy, Rus
sia-and Japan, China and Ethiopia.
too-mention Of Woodrow Wilson's
League covenant and self-determina-
ton of peoples. Andrew Carnegie's
Hague peace palace, ex-Secretary
Kellogg's outlawry Of war pact and
Harding's, Hoover's and Coolidge's dis
armament ambitions. bring the ma
tional equivalent to "Oh. yeah" In
Great Britain and France. and to a
certain extent In the Scandinavian
countries. the skepticism Is perhaps
more polite and diplomatic.
Since the armistice the writer has
roamed from one end Of Europe to
the other-Scotland, Finland, the
Baltic, Germany. France, Portugal.
Spain and through Central Europe
and the Balkans to Istanbul-back and
forth and back again. Almost every
year changes in European public psy-
chology are noticeable, even to the
most casual observer. And when one
fingers among the peasants OF Prov
ence, the mountaineers of Switzerland,
and the "just ordinary folk" Of Den
mark, Sweden or Spain, to say nothing
of following politicians and diplomats
in the multitudinous international
conferences and foreign offices. the
change is striking Things aren't at
all what they used to be!
Most Are Ignorant Of Y. s.
One inescapable conclusion in siz-
ing up what Europe thinks of the
United States and Americans these
days is the realization of the colossal
ignorance of the 800 ,O00. 900 common
people" of the Old World, realiza-
ton that the rank and file know little,
If anything, about the real America
and true Americans. Their concep-
tions Of what lies across the Atlantic
are as varied as their sources Of in
formation. The sources of informa-
ton these days, unfortunately, in many
countries are tainted with government
propaganda. One French friend OF
America that know reads the Amer
ican newspaper assiduously and. at
his own expense, sends a resume of
the news to several hundred other
Frenchmen so that they may know
the facts rather than be Influenced by
the one-sided reports that appear in
most of the Partisan press.
Russians see the United States,
through the eyes of the Soviet press,
as capitalism at its worst and the ma
chine age at its best. They initiate
one and excoriate the other. They
read Of lynch law rampant, class
hatreds and vested interests in
trenched behind a system of brutal
industrial peonage. One hundred
million Russians have learned to read
and write since the Bolshevists seized
power two decades ago, but they had
a chance to read only the Communist
press. They know what Moscow and
the Third Internationale wants them
to know-about political conditions
in other countries-and little more.
In the Third Reich the Nazis pic
ture the United States as a hodge
podge Of racial elements, Jews domi-
mating. After the armistice and be-
fore Hitler took over the government,
the Hans and Gretchens of the
Weimar Republic saw the United
States as Croesus, rolling in wealth
and plenty as a result Of Germanys
misery. Their relatives and friends
in the United States wrote to them
about country where even newsboys,
street cleaners and day laborers played
the stock exchange and where
workers drove to the factory In auto
mobiles. In the Hofbrauhaus at Mu-
mich sweet motherly waitress proudly
showed me, on the wine list, the vim
tage that "Mr. Jimmy Walker" has
ordered. It was the most expensive.
She also priced, above all things,
gold coin New York's playboy ex-
mayor had given her as tip. To her
Jimmy" personified America.
Versailles Blame ON u. 8.
In pre-Hitler days the Versailles
treaty was blamed for most Of Ger
many,s ills-and America was re-
preached for not having forced q
peace based upon the IA points. Re-
publican Socialistic Germany sur
rendered to the Americans, not the
French, the people said. Had they
not believed in Woodrow Wilson's
promise of just peace their armies
could have withdrawn to the Rhine
and held out for better terms. There
is q good deal Of truth in their asser-
tions that the French and British SOL
diers had had enough and that the
Americans would have found It diff
cult and costly to march onward to
Berlin.
Then--largely Is . result Of British
and French propasanda-the Ger.