Evening star., 1937-06-27
BY LELAND STOWE.
ME dilemma OF contemporary
Canada lies In the fact that
she "a torn between inherited

she k torn between inherited
loyalties and her geographical
position, Today, AZ never before in
the Dominion's history, approximately
l0.500. 900 Canadians are tormented
by . question which Is OF supreme i'm
portance to them and may be almost
as significant for the entire continent.
Shall Canada be British Empire first
and North American second? Or
shall environment dominate the ira
ditional bond of blood and the SYM
Dol of the British crown? II another
ma jor war breaks out in Europe, Can
ada must choose-And she is no more
ready to choose than the United States
was in 1914.
1t is also true that Canada will not
Be obliged to decide in the same auto
matte fashion that she did then. This
was amply demonstrated at the recent
so-called imperial conference IN Lon
don, where the British dominions met
as independent nations on . complete
ly equal footing With their mother
country. In its concluding statement
that conference recognized that 1t is
the sole responsibility Of the several
Parliaments Of the British common
wealth to decide the nature and scope
Of their own defense policy"
But in actual fact 1t had already
been evident for 4 considerable time
that \ declaration OF war by Great
Britain could not swing the Dominions
into line. unless they desired to fol-
low. In word. the question of . neu-
trality policy for Canada new looms
as even more perplexing and momen-
tous than 1t is for the United States
Eventually and under the stress Of
circumstances. Canadians must choose
. British commonwealth neutrality or
North American neutrality. They
can only maintain . hybrid combina .
ton Of the two 30 long Is England
remains at peace.
Share Wish 10 Avoid War.
This explains the deep and growing
concern in Canada today over the
highly artificial condition OF the Euro
pean peace structure. In the same
fashion 1t accounted for the extraor-
dinAry amount Of concern which was
voiced last week by Canadian delegates
to the second Conference on Canadian
American Affairs meeting at Kingston.
Ontario, when they discussed the allied
subjects OF the Dominion's foreign pol
Icy and neutrality. The discussions
revealed that the average Americana s
burning desire to keep out of another
European conflict Is shared most ear
nestly by the average Canadian. And,
like their neighbors below the border,
the Canadians are far more certain Of
the desirability OF the goal than Of
how best to proceed to that end.
In fact, Canadian experts at the
Kingston conference registered i'm
pressive unanimity on the confusing
disunity which exists in Canadian pub
lie opinion on this vital issue, an issue
which may become = matter of life
and death to the inhabitants OF our
northern good neighbor country almost
over night. Speakers Of Sreat author
ity above the famous unfortifled bound
ary line agreed that Canadian opinion
is split four or five different ways at
the present moment. They were by no
means in accord, however, as to what
policy and what course the Dominion
would adopt should . major war sud-
denly impose the necessity OF Z def
mite decision.
Iselationism Strong.
The thoughtful analyses Of promi-
nent Canadians could not fail to i'm
press An American listener with the
striking similarties in the common
war-and-peace quandAry Of our North
American democracies. In both coun-
tries the instinct for isolationiszn runs
strong. Both governments recently
have sought to raise barriers against
involvement in foreign wars by quite
similar types Of neutrality legislation.
In each nation = great war would
create serious riffs between various
racial elements within the population.
Moreover Canada and the United
States are inspired BY the same con-
tent with their territorial lot and the
same destrs 70 b self-91pxtins and
10 esep out of othsr pespses' troubles.