Mar, 12.
Tue letter that we publish today, under the heading "Fairy:
Tales of China," gives us, must confess, somewhat painful feelings. The writer is undoubtedly entitled to his opinions and the correspondence columns are so far free for all that it is only for exceptional reasons that letters are barred out. At the xame time we are averse to having either those columns or y part of the "North-China Duily News" used to make unpleasantness between the British und Americans; and still there ix the feeling that the writer of tonday's letter does not alto xether lack reason, There appears no doubt that when Mr. Porter withdrew from the geneva Conference he spoke in away that he should not have done and which it needed all Viscount Cecil's forbearance and sense of the decorum of the occasion to pass over.—With certain members of the American Senate the pastime known as "twisting the lion's tail" would seem still to be a eurite practice. And speak quite frankly, apart from the particular case of the relations of Great Britain and America, the apparent—reluct~ ance, not to use any stronger phrase, of American politicians to take even the smallest part in the rebuilding of the world occasions bitter feelings abroad, expecially when the great prosperity of America and the small extent to which she was injured the war—if she was not actually benefited by it—are contrasted with Europe's ruinous and poverty stricken state.
words fly farthest; and a part al least of the profound wisdom of "judge not that Jo not judged" lies in the fact that we are invariably judged Cly our worst prodyets. For years an Englishman and a Frenchman were to each other, respectively, a knicker-bockered hooligan in' a tweed cap and a frog-eating seducer of other men's wives. And the mutual conceptions of Britons and Americans, where there has been no meeting between them, is probably not much more eomplimentary, Yet when they do niece and get to-know each other, there are no two nations who would seem to find each other more attractive. During the wa we British heard all the things that the Hearst!
papers and a certain section of the politicians had to say' about us, but not so much of the unvarying friendliness of papers like the "New York Times" and "Life;" and it needed the death of 2 man. like Dr, Walter Page and the publication of his "Letters" to make us realize how many warm supporters we had in the United States. There is no country in which money i generously given for chan able purposes as America nor: is this giving at all restricted by: national borders. But to the world it appears" that she is showing something decidedly less than generosity in respect of war debts, Yet here.again there is a point of view not to be ignored. As one American said not long ago to the present writer: "Many people in America, who follow what goes. on abroad, believe that if we let you off any of your debts Europe, you will start fighting again. As soon as we are convinced that Euvope is making a real effort to forget the war, to live at peace and get down to something useful, you will see a change." And it was a New York paper, we think, which said recently that, just as the: American people had to be educated up ty the idea of joining in the War, so the best thought among them was already fully alive to the ultimate necessity of an adjustment of war debts and it was only a matter of time before all. the United States perceived it. Also it has to be remembered that America is a vast country, many of its inhabitants drawn from. races traditionally hostile to Britain and that it is by no means the only country in which politicians think first of pleasing their constituents. Which brings us back to Dr. Page and his half-laughing, half-indignant comment on the way in which English people would congratu late him on the charming ware of his compatriots, while condoling with him on the pestiferous nature of his Government all under-the evident impression that they were saying something complimentary.
To come nearer home, it may be felt that the British and American communities of Shang hai can well afford to take no undue notice of the misunderstandings that pass to and fro across the Atlantic. In the year 1917, followin on the United States' entry into the war and prompted from both London and Washington, there cxme what was known as the "get together movement," signalized by a great deal of rather super-ted oratory and unnatural demonstrativeness. After the armistice there was, it is no use blinking facts, a distinct reac-But since then we are convinced the relationships of the two communities have taken a kindlier turn than ever before: there are fewer after-dinner speeches, but more genuine feeling. lers embracing on the house-tops, but more individual association and mutual regard.
This, we do not for a moment doubt, is a true image of what the future holds for the larger relationships of nation and nation. On both sides of the Atlintic there is an iner conviction that and America hold the pence of all the world and more and more influential people are striving to remove those causes of irritation which must exist as much between countries as between individuals. A great al of history has been made Britain and America in the last ten years and we are not yet at the millennium. But the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.