THE
ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD.
BY EVELYN WRENCH.
THE publication of Sir Auckland Geddes's report on the conditions on Ellis Island is taken in many quarters as implying his early resignation from the Wash- ington Embassy. Without any question, the British Ambassadorship to the Government of the United States is the most important post in the British Diplomatic Service, and it is to be hoped that the Government will make the right selection when the moment comes. What we need is another Lord Bryce, or James Bryce as he was affectionately termed by innumerable Americans. Of all the long list of British workers for British-American friendship none has ever won a more lasting place in the affection of the American people than Lord Bryce.
Welcome, indeed, is the news that the American and Canadian Governments are to hold a Conference in Ottawa early this month in order to check the export of liquor from Canada to the United States. The present scandalous state of affairs is a constant menace to the relations of our two peoples. Let us hope that it may be possible subsequently to arrange a similar meeting between the British West Indian authorities and the American Government.
Considerable attention has been focussed on the affairs of British West Africa, as a result of Lord Leverhulme's outspoken criticism of its administration, in his speech at the annual meeting of the Niger Company the other day. Some ill-informed comments have appeared on the subject in the British Press, and specially stupid analogies have been made between the existing form of Colonial Office rule on the West Coast of Africa, and that of George III.'s Government in the American colonies. We are solemnly informed that methods which broke up the British Empire in the eighteenth century may lose us British West Africa in the twentieth ; we are also told that fiats imposed on West Africa by the Colonial Office would never be tolerated by the " progressive " sections of the British Empire—such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
* * I am not necessarily defending Colonial Office methods, nor am I asserting that there is not room for im- , provement. One reform, for instance, which many regard as long over-due, is the establishment in London of a British West African Council, consisting of commercial and missionary representatives with first-hand knowledge of West African conditions to assist the Colonial Office with its advice. But the fact I wish to emphasize is that it is not possible to, compare portions of the Empire populated by white communities with those where the white settlers are a small minority among the .indigenous population. The Colonial Office in the past has often had to play the unpopular part of looking after the interests of the aboriginal inhabitants, and it would be a very dangerous experiment to hand over the adminis- tration of vast areas of tropical Africa and elsewhere to the white trader. While the trader's advice must be eagerly sought the final word must rest with the Colonial Office, as the trustee for the native population. The natives' welfare must be the paramount consideration. The carefully-drawn-up regulations concerning mandated territories at Versailles recognized this obligation.
The New York New Republic is responsible for the - statement that the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World, who are to meet in -Landon next year, have announced their intention of spending £120,000 in furthering "the movement for truth in advertising "- a very worthy purpose. Part of this sum is to be used in seeking to secure "honest advertising" laws in the small number of States in the American Union, which do not now possess such statutes. A special onslaught is to be made on the promoters of fraudulent oil and other undertakings. Great headway has been made in the campaign for "honest advertising "since it was launched at Baltimore ten years ago. Indeed the leading American magazines are much more careful than the British about the class of advertisements they accept.
How far is Government-organized propaganda in times of " peace " a desirable thing ? Is the British attitude or the French one in this matter towards America the right one ? When the War ended the British Govern- ment, in the opinion of the writer, did a very wise thing when it closed down its Bureau of Information in the United States and withdrew its personnel ; nevertheless a good case can be made out for those who think that Great Britain is too ready to leave other nations to form their own conclusions about her acts—very often, alas ! wrong conclusions—rather than stoop to methods which she does not like. The lack of appreciation of the British Ruhr policy, "pound sterling policy" it has been called in America, is a ease in point. In many quarters British policy, owing to lack of correct information, has been regarded in the United States as based on purely materialistic considerations and not on moral grounds as it is. Witness the New York Outlook's mis-statement of the British attitude, which I was glad to notice was commented on in the Spectator two weeks since. * * It is instructive to note the great efforts which the French Government makes to create an atmosphere favourable to French policy both in the United States and among the many distinguished American visitors to France. The French are certainly pastmasters in this matter, and they leave no stone unturned to further their cause. Thus we have the organizing of the Alliance Francaise throughout America ; the liberal distribution of the Legion d'honneur to distinguished Americans ; the attention which is shown to American visitors to France by the Government and the ease with which interviews with the highest in the land are obtained ; the presenta- tion of sets of porcelain from the famous Sevres factory to distinguished visitors ; the erecting of statues and monuments to America's part in the War ; the sending to America of a succession of distinguished War heroes. These are but a few of the methods employed, all of them, be it noted, perfectly legitimate.
France and Great Britain are both desirous that their respective points of view should be understood by the American democracy, but the two nations set about the task of enlightening it by totally different methods. The usual official British attitude is one of silence ; if America misunderstands Great Britain's acts, more's the pity, but the affairs of State press and all " glad-handing" must be left to unofficial organizations such as the English. SpeakingUnion and the Pilgrims.
Time alone can prove which methods are the right ones. From the standpoint of the average Briton, how. ever, there is something ominous in an attempt by a Government to create opinion favourable to themselves by all and any means—the War taught us to mistrust all forms of propaganda. In the long run, and despite the risk of temporary misunderstandings, I believe that the British attitude is the right one, and the less interference there is by a Government in creating opinion the better.
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