The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-27

The star wishes its readers
to know that views and opin-
ions expressed in this article
are those of the author and
NAV not always harmonic
with it's position.-The Editor.
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
NEW YORK, Dec. 26.-1t is
pretty silly to argue the PROPOSE
ton that the British people do or
don't love the Americans or vice
versa, and I would be willing to
concede that they hate our very
tripes, and that this feeling is
mutual to get at the only ques-
ton that matters in our present
problem which is whether they are
fighting our enemy. Often on a
ball club there are men who detest
one another and don't speak in
the clubhouse, on the trains or in
the hotels and speak no more than
they have to when they are on the
field. But they cooperate in the
ball games, because each man has
to play his best to hold his own
job, and if the club is in the run
ming for a pennant any little failure
by one of them impairs the
chances of all to catch bonus Of
several thousand dollars out of the
players pool. So, although two
men may be enthusiastic personal
enemies they will back up one an
other instinctively at every oppor-
tunity.
Truths
There is no particular reason
why we should love the British,
and anyone who thinks they have
no reason to dislike us must have
been way off somewhere during
the late campaign when we were
telling ourselves and the world
some very unpleasant truths, but
truths, about ourselves. If you take
your own word for it we are not
so hot, either.
But whether or not we are fond
of the British in the, so to speak,
personal sense, they certainly do
deserve the admiration of anyone
who respects bravery. I doubt that
any other people in the world, in
cluding the Germans, would have
stood up under the intimate ham,
mering that the British have en-
dured since Hitler cleared his
enemies out of France and went
to work on their homes. I think
New York would have panicked
very quickly under the same kind
OF punishment. I would expect Chi
cago to be much tougher.
Aside from the effusivesness of
the French, who never seemed to
me to be at all sincere, no people
really loves the Americans, but we
are always getting crushes on
others, and we seem to think that
we, have to kid ourselves into
romantic state about an ally or
partner before we can cooperate
effectively. In that respect we are
perpetual sophomores, and conse-
quently we are always fetching
deep sighs and burning the gals
picture in the crate. No other ma
ton in the worl1 has reached into
its pockets for dough and into the
larder for hams and canned goods
to rush help to stricken sister ma
tons as often as we have. We even
get into fights with ourselves about
this impulse as, for example now
when we are having a domestic
spat over the proposal that we
should undertake to feed the mil
lions of captives who face hunger
and perhaps famine for no fault
of ours but only because those in
durable and incorrigible disturbers
OF the worlds peace, the Germans,
started world war for the second
time in quarter of a century.
If high wind blows down a covey
OF haystacks or houses or a river
runs wild or the earth gives her
hide a little twitch and shakes
down a city somewhere abroad,
the Americans have a lot of COM
mlttees going all over the country
before the flash is cold on the
wires and are raising money to
overwhelm the victims with ear
muffs and drawers, condensed
milk, canned soup, toothpaste and
night shirts.
But when did the people of any
foreign country ever do the like
of that for us? They may send us
a telegram of coincidence in the
case of an extreme disaster, but
the odds are that it will come
collect at that.
OF course, the British don't love
US, and it would be foolish to say
that we do Or should love them,
but If it is recognized that Adolf
Hitler is our enemy, and certainly
nobody is crazy enough to suggest
that he is our pal, we owe
it to ourselves to do everything we
can to help the British. That isn't
favoring the British, although we
may tell ourselves that that is the
way of it just for vanity and emo
tlonal fun. 1t is smart doing. They
do the fighting and take the Jumps
while we stroll down to the gym
and take some exercise and learn
some >holts from the professor.
Then, if they be licked, we are
in shape to do our own fighting,
and if they win we are in a posi-
ton to give them the glare when
they start saying we threw them
down.
Is this a sordid viewpoint? You
bet your sweet life it is sordid.