THE REFUSAL OF Mayor Wagner to extend a Not York
welcome to King Saud has evoked a quan- tity of comparable incidents ranging from Big Bill Thompson threatening to punch King George 11 on the snoot to the defenestration of Prague It seems to me that Mr. Wagner has some justi- fication for his attitude. It was a little tactless tc expect a city with so large a Jewish population tc give a big hand to a monarch who has declarel his intention of destroying the State of Israel' and it is one of the disadvantages of democracl that this kind of feeling tends to get expresses —no doubt, much to the regret of the diplomat' who always dislike any too overt manifestatiot of popular sentiment. I suppose that the Sot, Department are hoping to work upon the ruler o Saudi Arabia and induce him to put his mono; into 'a savings bank instead of gold-plate' Cadillacs and sub-machine guns, but I can pre diet that they have a hard job on their hands. friend of mine who knows the Middle East 'one remarked that the only move towards Wester' civilisation made in Saudi Arabia under t beneficent influence of the oil companies then was the use of sterilised knives to cut off the Ban of thieves.
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