The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-05-16

with them as much as many of his read
ers. His articles serve the good purpose
of making people Think
By WEsTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright, 1s4S, BY King Features Syndicate
Inc.)
SAN FRANCISCO There has been some
little argument here as to whether MIR. Molo-
TOW. of Moscow, does or does not understand
English Some diplomats pretend not to be-
cause ours is one of the most difficult Ian
auaqes in the world and a man may make
unintentonal commitments or errors OF gram
mar which, coming from a pretty countess
with an accent may be regarded as delicious
w quaint, but, uttered by statesman, con-
stitute low-comedy dialect. Our Henry Wallace
is uninhibited and undertook to express him
self in Russian to Russians in Russia on the
basis of few hurried lessons, relying. no
doubt, on the generosity of his hosts to under
stand his mistakes and give him great credit
for trying.
This was brave and bold gesture but by
no means as audacious and, we may nope, not
as calamitous as the exploit of Maurice Mae
terlinck when he came to the United States
after the first war to lecture in Engnsh with
insufficient preparation. Realizing this over
sight only few days before the tour was to
onen at Carnegie Hall, Mr.. Maeterlinck's
American friends undertook to teach him in
few easy lessons with strange results 1t
appeared however that they forgot to warn
him of some eccentricities OF our tongue so
that his audience heard many weird ;, e1aect .s
such as 'telep-a-hone' for telephone, toe
for s.tough'' and 'Illin-wah for the proud
state of Illinois.
However well Mr.. Molotov may understand
formal English I doubt nevertheless that ne
could have caught the meaning OF conVersa-
tons and remarks in our own native tongue
in the crowds which came to the motel lopoles
and the conference in the early days. Would
he have been able to translate for himself.
indeed would his interpreters have under
stood the question of girl standing in one
Of the double lines of the st. Francis one after
noon?
"Oozagguy?" She asked and her friend said,
"sprobly Muzzletoff."
Ain Muzzletoff," The first girl said.
'Eea ill biddy guy. Koodiby Eden?"
cain Eden" the other girl said Eden
zuppadamark' which, even to Americans who
do not know San Francisco, must be trans
lated It mean Anthony Eden was at the Mark
Hopkins hotel locally known as the Mark.
oh, know the first girl said, "Smanch-
err Sdan London. Spurdiern Eden!"
'Sure Spurdy But Purdy Budeeden Spurdy
too -
OF truth Dan London, the manager of
the ST. Francis, is, as the belle allowed, but
pretty and whether he can out-pretty Anthony
Eden, whom Bento Mussolini called the Eng
lish charm boy, is matter of artistic opin-
ion Personally, I doubt that Mr.. Eden is call
ed on for more snap judgments IN crises
calling for tact, the correct decision in split
seconds and firmness once decision has
been made, than the manager of big hotel
in San Francisco these days At present Mr..
London is relieved of much of that responsible
ty for the hotel has been Communicated, so
to speak, by the State Department for the
visiting dignitaries. But before they came, it
was the task and responsibility, ever since
San Francisco became great war port for
traffic going and coming, to discriminate, to
placate and accommodate with consideration
for the parents Of young men outward bound,
for the men themselves and many young
brides come to lands end to see them away
and then for men coming back, and wretched
families, come to be near badly wounded TAX
| en- from the ships to the hospitals. A hotel has
| only SO many rooms, there are no rubber walls
and old clients turned away must be soothed
with an appeal to their nobility without that
Grass reminder that there is a war on. For the
| day will come when there will be no war and
the hotels viii be back on a competitive basis
| The Russians have been downright Thibetan
in their mysterious aloofness, which is mat
ter of no resentment to the mancher OF the
house because it relieves the manchment OF
worry over casual comings and goings OF per-
sons unknown. They guard their own portals
and premises and keep their own secrets IN
language as obscure to us as our slurred and
telescoped argot is to the best OF their school
taught linguists Their attendants are not
necessarily grief or grim but just story like
the giant robots in the old play who
seemed to wear football pads and never
changed expression because they had none
to change. And, not knowing where Mo-
lotov sleeps or has his meals, whether in the
St. Francis, on the caviar frelghter IN the
harbor, at the consulate or whether the
manchment has no confidential information Ell
Their to guard betray. Any mishap to Mr.
Molotov would be an international incident OF
the utmost gravity, as the cult of diplomacy
would put it, but nobody could blame h e
mancher
Perhaps the Russians too have dialects and
slang with which they could mask their con.
versations. although they would seem not to
need such, speaking so little outside their own
circle in country where so few know even
their alphabet much less their formal Ian
guage.
l suppose Mr.. Stettinius did not resort 10
slang in opposing Mr.. Molotov on the Polish
matter. But how do you suppose his official
Interpreter would have conveyed our States
mans meaning had Mr. Stettinius fallen into
idiolnatic Americanese and like the defiant
American general in the battle OF the bulge,
| SI!ccint1v tNlltS'2