The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1949-09-23

| Britain |
(Mr. Silver, chairman Of the his
tory department at Ole Miss,
sailed early this month for Brit
ain where he will teach for a
year in a Scotch university as
recipient of a Fulbright grant.)
BY James w. Silver
For a good many years my stu
dents and ! have batted around
the question as to whether scien-
tific history can be written. Our
conclusion has always been a re-
sounding No" OF course his
torians will continue to try for
perfection in reporting the past.
Right now a similar question
comes up. Can an American re-
port from Britain on the situation
over there without bias? For my
money the answer is still NO"
Though / see no reason for not
trying.
That is exactly what I intend
to do in the next IL months. This
may well be the most crucial year
in British history. Maybe the
people in that troubled island are
on the way toward becoming in
habitants of a second-rate nation.
They may come through as mag
nificiently as they did in the war.
In any case Southerners have
a big stake in the turn of the
cards. It's more than just a cotton
market or a sympathy for the
same kind of people we are. II
could be that the success or fail
ure of the democratic way of life
will be determined in Britain this
year.
It is natural for Americans who
go to Britain to find precisely
what they are looking for. / could
name a few who have done just
that. | plan to send back accounts
of what | find there without fear
and ! hope without bias. and I'm
not interested in pleasing any ed
itor or in cultivating any segment
of a possible reading public.
I'll be accused of considerable
prejudice. At least l hope the
same bunch won't jump on me
every week. To keep the record
straight Id like to mention a sim
pie preconception or two that !
happen to entertain regarding our
relations with Britain.
First. it seems to me that we
are sending billions to the Brit
ish not because we are big broth
ers to a people in obvious distress
but because we realize that they
have saved our necks twice in
this century and may be of assist
ance again.
Secondly. I'm inclined to be-
lieve that we should be extreme
lY wary of diciaiion on our part
as to how the British use what
we send them. MOI only does ii
indicate poor faith but ii plays
right into the hands of political
demagogues. Certainly a South
erner doesn't have 10 be remind
ed of the significance of the cry
of Yankee interference in local
politics.
Thirdly, | believe that how the
British govern themselves is their
own affair, II is illogical to claim
that they are in their present
plight because of a socialistic gov
eminent. Britain could not COM
pete with American mass produc-
ton before the war. Labor wasn't
running the show then.
l don't know the answer TO this
one but I do say we are lucky to
have someone else do a little ex-
perimenfing from which we can
profit If we have the intelligence
TO do so.
If this indicates a slanted atti-
tude, then | guess | have it. But
| think not. At least I'm going to
try my level best to give you in
the next IL months an honest pic
ture of what's going on in Britain.
I'll talk with all sorts of people.
I'll read their newspapers and
propaganda carefully. and III
travel all over the place. l shall
work hard to inform you as to
what the British people are think
ing. not what I believe they ought
to be thinking.