Evening star., 1937-10-06
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

While the United States Government
would undoubtedly prefer to be spared
even the remote risk of Anglo-American
official unpleasantness over the Duke
and Duchess of Windsor, Washington
officialdCm expects no embarrassment to
result from their presence on our soil.
The question of whether Mr. and Mrs.
Roosevelt will or should entertain the
visitors is bridge which White House
and State Department will cross when
they get to it. 1t is the practice of the
President of the United States, hallowed
by habit and tradition, to extend hos
pitality to distinguished foreigners. The
abdicated King of England and his
American consort certainly come within
that category. AS British subjects, it
would accord with the rule to have them
presented by his Britannia majesty'S
Embassy. either at their own request or
on Sir Ronald Lindsay'S initiative. This
is the established precedent, but it is
not binding on the President, so F. D. r.,
who burns no SlaviSh incense at the
shrine of hide-bound custom, may do
the purely human thing and bid Edward
and Wallie to the executive hearth and
table, regardless of the diplomatic pro-
tocol. AS there's nothing in the past
anything like the Windsor case for
Uncle Sam to go by, there's a good deal
of head-Scratching and heart-searching
among Secretary Hull'S experts as to
exactly what should or shouldn't be
done.
Britain, government and nation alike,
continue unrelenting in their attitude
toward the former monarch. The single
exception is the man in the street. While
he, too, for the most part is unforgiving,
Washington'S information is that an
Edwardian party might spring into ex-
iStence overnight if the populace got it
into its head that the eX-King and his
wife were the victims of persecution.
That, John Bull thinks, simply would
not be Cricket" The Chamberlain
government conscious of this situation,
did not dream of interposing any OBJ
lection to the Windsors transatlantic
trip, although Downing Street would
probably have been pleased if they'd
sought travel diversion somewhere else
and in territory not so close to a great
British dominion like Canada. Both
London and Washington expect the
Yankee sojourn of the Duke and Duchess
to take place in such whirl of pub
licity and blaze of excitement that
there's only slim chance of an interna-
tional complication.
4 X
President Roosevelt's proclamation at
Chicago of Americas anxiety to keep out
OF war, in the Far East or anywhere
else, conspicuously omitted any hint of
the Administrations one overshadowing
fear, as far as the Sino-Japanese con-
f1ict is concerned. That is the pos
sibility of boycott of Japanese goods,
the proposal of which has just aroused
enthusiastic approval at the A. F.. of L.
convention in Denver. Mr.. Roosevelt
signals American readiness to support
concerted measures" for suppression of
aggression. If there were a League
inspired worldwide sanctions program
to isolate Japan economically, the
United States might join in it, But the
Presidents Far Eastern advisers are
persuaded that for this country alone,
or even in conjunction with Great
Britain, to boycott Nippon's wares would
invite grave consequences, perhaps even
revenge reprisals by an angered Japan,
with war as the possibly inevitable
result.
Dr. Glenn Frank, former president of
the University of Wisconsin, will be
guest Of honor of the Washington Board
of Trade on the evening Of October Is.
E. F. Colladay, president Of the board,
has invited group of distinguished
Washingtonians. together with Its off,
oerB and Executive Committee, to meet