The Wilmington morning star., 1940-09-16
WASHINGTON
REPORT.
BY CHARLES p. STEWART
Central Press Columnist


WASHINGTON, Sept. 15-Of course Mayor
Fiorello H. LaGuardia Of New York is the es.
sence Of the Yankee-Canadian joint commits
sion which is fixing up that mutually defensive
compact etwee Uncle Samuel and Our Lady
Of the Shows. Not that the other commission.
ers aren't all right, but Fiorello can no more
be anything but the real hub Of any activity
he's involved in than sparks can fly downward.
In principle the Yankee Canadian dicker is
easy enough to arrange, for both sides want it.
There are some details, however, which re-
quire a certain amount of fixing.
On the one hand, the Canadians don't want
to be assimilated into the United States, re.
gardless of what may happen to the British
empire. IN the opposite hand, a Yankee who
has given the subject due consideration doesn't
altogether like the idea Of assimilating them
literally.
Canada Prefers Independence
There's been talk to the effect that, should
Germany over-run the British isles, the next
step would be the transfer of the present Lon
don government to Ottawa, Canada to be the
imperial hub thenceforward
Canadians, the Yankee members of the joint
commission now discover, don't favor this ar
rangement. They say they'll always be glad
to entertain British royalty and folk like Win
ston Churchill and others as refugees, but they
absolutely veto the notion Of turning over Can
ada government 10 uleIl. lev, uASoS ueJ
do so, they don't see how Ottawa could be-
come imperial headquarters.
Canada, to be sure, has a governor general,
appointed from London, but he hasn't a partl-
Gle of authority. The actual head OF the
Canadian government is its prime minister
chosen by the majority party in the Ottawa
house of In the event OF the collapse
of the empire, now conferred IN London, the
Canadians scheme is to 60 it alone thereafter
- ~ J. s-~~ ~r yynl . NJ fafI6
Naturally they couldn't consider themselves
even nominally subject to a German-ruled
London. Neither would they care to yield con-
troll to a set of refugees from the original nome
land. They wouldn't like to be federaly die
tated to from Washington, either.
Let EN- Go 1t Alone
The only alternative would appear to be
complete Canadian independence.
But the Canadians do realize that they I'M
peratively need an alright alliance with uncle
Samuel.
Well, they know they can get it, because 1t
also is vital to Sammy.
Australia, for instance, is different. Let the
empire blow up and the Australians VIII De
left at the end Of a long limb. The united
States probably wouldn't stand lndl11erenty'
illustratively, by a Japanese grab OF Aus'rana'
Still, even that wouldn't hit us as hard ana I'M
40 Gil oVSAoNoo var
So the Australians might be disposed to accept
whatever terms we offered 'em.
The Canadians, though, are quite aware that
we've got to protect them anyway.
Assimilation Can Be Overdone
As previously remarked, maybe there's a
Yankee objection to assimilating the Canadians
over-literally.
II we take 'em in, we'll have to take 'em in
as states or territories.
Now, would we enjoy having the states OF
Quebec or Ontario sending senators and rep
resentatives to congress in Washington? And
suppose q Quebecer or an Unitarian were to
become a presidential aspirant?
Pan American Union
And here's another thing.
W. have a Pan American Union. 1t includes
all of the new worlds republics. Canada never
has belonged to it, for it isn't a republic.
IN take Brazil to draw a comparison, Tor
Brazil's our best friend in the western henl-
sphere.
Without any assimilation Of the Brazilians,
we can make a fine alliance with en-, since an
our interests, jointly, are new worldly. It's
the same with the rest of the western heml-
spherical republics. Some Of them don't ike
US as well as the Brazi1ians do, but at least
none of them are ~governmentally Ieo Dy ue
leg to any overseas power. .,.
Canada, however, always has been-ueo 10
England.
Hence, it's been impossible to class the
| Canucks nominally Britons )as Fan Atnerl'
cans.
Maybe we can if the British empire busts
up. ..