Evening star., 1941-03-02
Britons Invade Capital Again,
This Time to Secure Our Help
Titles Are Dime Dozen Among Military and
Civilian Experts With Their Clerks,
Secretaries and Inspectors
By Marqnis ". ChiIdS.

land. Sir Give is another colonial, a
vigorous Australian, who took an active
part in the last World War, serving first
with the Australian Imperial Forces, be-
ginning in 1915, and later with the Royal
Air Force He held the rank of major
in 1918 and was cited for bravery.
One of the remarkable Britishers now
on service in this country is Sir Henry
Self. He is that rare specimen, a lower
class Englishman who has risen to the
top in the sphere where the old school
tie has been, theoretically at least, the
badge of admission. Six feet four and a
half, Self is one of those gaunt, bony
Englishmen who for many centuries have
wandered, with seeming aimlessness but
actually with great tenacity of purpose,
through the pages of history.
Serving with the Air Commission Is
another individual with an interesting
career-Air Marshal Sir Hugh Caswau
Tremenheere Dowding, known to his
friends as "Stuffy." Beginning with his
education at the Royal Military Acad-
emy, he has been a professional soldier,
serving with the Royal Artillery, begin
ming in 1900 In 1914, with the outbreak
Of the war, he joined the Royal Flying
Corps and today it is said that he knows
more about military flying than almost
any man in the world.
Worked His Way Up.
Another member of the Air Commits
sion is c. R. Fairey. The famous Dick
Fairey is Britisher who has worked his
way up from the bottom. His companies
have made most of Britain's fighting
planes, developing the speed and the
fighter resistance that have made the
Spitfires and the Hurricanes famous
around the world. On his assignment in
this country, Fairey moves from one
American plane plant to another, talk
ing with the chief technical and business
brains of the industry.
The British press setup in America
represents a compromise between Two
schools of thought with respect to propa-
ganda in this country. Alfred Duff
Cooper, head of the Ministry of Informa-
ton, favored setting up a large propa-
ganda bureau in Washington and New
York which should do mass propaganda
job. The late Lord Lothian, then British
Ambassador. was stoutly opposed to es-
tabliShment of such bureau.
Lothian argued that a propaganda
bureau would be an immediate and OBJ
vious target for anti-British and anti
interventicnist leaders in this country.
7 at o,,p ooorl friapJc ~, Ayoar;oo tar o,,~
story for US. Lothian insisted Consider
able acrimony developed in this dispute,
with Duff Cooper demanding that a
force of propagandists be installed in
the United States.
Lothian's View Prevails.
Lothian's view finally prevailed, or,
rather, the outcome was compromise.
with Duff Cooper giving way on his
main contention. Instead of a propa-
ganda bureau, there was established a
press counsellor whose chief function
is merely to supply answers to the
hundred and one questions that news
paper correspondents ask every day. Up
until such an Office was created, it was
SANASA1C4y Niu4SuIL W BeI even L1e
simplest fact out of the Embassy.
The numerous Offices in New York and
Washington are humming with activity
as the war reaches a critical phase. In
addition in every large manufacturing
center, and particularly centers of air.
craft industry, there are inspection
staffS. In large factories there may be
as many as hundred examiners pass
ing on planes or material to be sent to
England. Many of these inspectors are,
OF course, Americans, as are numerous
employees Of the major commissions.
AT the top of this pyramid is Lord
Halifax, who is still a member of the
British war cabinet. Naturally if an is
sue OF basic policy arises, then the AM
baSsador must take it up with the State
Department or with President Roose-
welt. The field of diplomacy still belongs
exclusively to the professional diplomats
in the big. mansion on Massachusetts
avenue. But in dozen other fields re-
sourceful, industrious Britishers are do
ing job for Britain even though they
are 5000 miles from the firing line.