THE
ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD.
BY EVELYN WRENCH.
THE United States Chamber of Commerce has launched a nation-wide Anti-Litter campaign, and it is one which might well be copied in this country. The carelessness with which the American public treats- its parks, streets and country roads can certainly be matched on this side of the Atlantic. We are all familiar with the terrible state of disorder in which our parks are left after Bank holidays ; The World's Work does not, in my opinion, overstate the matter when it says that "civic tidiness is a virtue almost as important as political honesty." By means of an educational campaign the United States Chamber of Commerce hopes to create a desire for neatness and cleanliness ; it is especially going to direct its attention to the picnicker who leaves refuse scattered about the grass in public parks, and the motorist whose luncheon place is marked by a miscellaneous debris of empty bottles, tins, banana skins and paper. A. special appeal has been made to the cartoonists and editorial writers in the leading newspapers to back up the campaign. Untidiness, like our other woes, is caused by lack of thought here at least is a reform, whatever our political beliefs, in which we can all co-operate, for the essence of good citizenship is co-operation.
* * * * Is it not time that a real effort was made to end the -Newcastle Consulate episode ? It will be recalled that in August, 1922, the United States Consulate at Newcastle was closed as the result of the withdrawal by the British Government of its recognition of the Consul and Vice- Consul, because it considered that they had been attempt- ing to divert passenger traffic to the United States from British to American ships. The New York Outlook anticipates that an early settlement of the problem will be made, as Mr. Harvey is said during the last weeks of his stay in London to have worked out a solution. The State Department at Washington has recapitulated its position, and its spokesman last week remarked that the American official inquiry into the circumstances had disclosed " no basis for the charges." If there were insufficient grounds for the British action the sooner we acknowledge the fact the better ; if, on the other hand, the Foreign Office maintains its position, a public state- ment should be made without delay. Whatever happens, the sending of notes will not advance matters, and this is surely a case for the getting together of the " principals " concerned. If an American and British business man were at loggerheads, and if the matter were sufficiently serious, they would take the first opportunity of person- ally comparing notes and settling the matter. Our diplomatists should do the same.
* * * At the banquet given in his honour at Johannesburg, General Smuts took occasion once again to develop his favourite theme—that of co-operation between the British Empire and the United States. " I expect," he said, " that in the near future the British Empire and the United States will take a far more active part than hitherto in securing European peace." " It may be," he added, -" that before things become better they will become much worse, but knowing all I do after my intimate recent discussions with European leaders, I do not despair." The political situation in South Africa is not unlike that in Great Britain, namely, that there are three parties in the field. Those who imagine that General Smuts has returned from his European visit covered with glory are not familiar with South Africa ; here certainly is a case of the prophet being without honour in his own country.
* * * • The ordinary South African voter is probably more concerned with the hard times through which his country has been passing than with the great European problems with which General Smuts' name has been so largely identified over here. Trade has been bad in the past year in South Africa, and as the Observer's correspondent points out, in a white population of only one and a-half millions, there have been over two thousand insolvencics. The unpopularity of the present Government is therefore considerable, and the South African voter, like his brother in the Old Country, is apt to lay most of his troubles at the door of the Government in power. The Nationalists and Labour are both strongly entrenched in their respective communities, and unless the unforeseen occurs, it is difficult to perceive how the South African party will obtain a majority over its two opponents in the next election. Though how a Nationalist-Labour Coalition would work is another story.
* * * * The Journal of the American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers, New York, contains an imaginative article by Mr. Samuel R. Lewis, of Chicago, on the group- heating of buildings. The writer .envisages nothing less than a residential section of the city half-a-mile square, roofed over with glass and with one system of heating in it, so that perpetual summer will reign within. As the Literary Digest remarks, " The plan holds out the alluring prospect of a population of from 15,000 to 65,000 living in a giant conservatory, and doing away with such annoy- ances as ashes, radiators and all other heating problems." The author's idea appears to be to erect very high flat- roofed buildings, on the top of which would be a promen- ade, which in its turn, would be roofed over with glass, the glass roofs extending over the street. As far as this coun- try is concerned, I am afraid it would be a long time before the British public, with its devotion to fresh air, would take kindly to the idea of living in an enlarged Crystal Palace.
* * a The subject of West Indian unity is once more being discussed both in the West Indies and in Great Britain. It is a matter which has been ventilated in the West Indian Press for many years, but the difficulties have been considerable and little headway has hitherto been made. Early this year the Jamaica Legislative Council proposed that a central body consisting of delegates from each colony should meet from time to time for the dis- cussion of such common problems as finance, commerce, education and public health : an admirable suggestion. "The colony of St. Vincent has now agreed to the plan of the resolution,and the Press comments on the scheme in British Guiana, Trinidad and other colonies are equally favourable," according to the Times West Indian corres- pondent. If such a central body could be created it would certainly go a long way towards hastening the day of federation. There are, of course, local jealousies, just as there have been on every occasion when an attempt has been made to confederate some section of the British Empire. Very much the same problems existed, only on a larger scale, when the confederation of Canada took place in 1867, in Australia in 1901, and in South Africa in 1910. Certainly to the outsider it seems ridiculous that the little community of fewer than 150,000 people in the Leeward Islands should subscribe to the expensive luxury of six executive councils and five legislatures. Let us hope that a central council of the West Indies may soon be a reality.
Previous page
