since the earliest days of the—American republic the foreign policy of the United Bones has been based upon a series of Stions, which like the axioms of Euclidean fclematies, had at least the merit of being Workable hypotheses even if they were not wonjutely true. 'The first of these was that ae'xew World was not a mere phrase, but geonted a real condition; that there' was relvaw World (as opposed to an Old World) aXevn the United States could. play a in "emote from the traditional conflicts and sole yee which bedevilled Europe. In recent! strinees to this conception the New World elorteen praised as the repository Mmoeratie principles, and as the haven of we. It has also been assumed that. the Pierests of individual members of the New Work! in each other were greater than their interests in Europe.
Fact, however, is in direct contradiction to unary, There is scarcely a Latin-American Hate in which free elections in the Anglo-Saxon sense are a possibility, There has teen civil strife and border warfare in nary every Latin-American Republic, Finally the main flow of commerce and of interest both in Latin-America and the United States is not north and south, but] east and west.
This belief that the New World was, and continued to be, a reality and not a mere game. was closely associated with the prin-tiple known as the Monroe Doctrine. When popularly discussed the Monroe Doctrine sumed the appearance of a necromantic Spell laid upon the American continents, containing within itself some potent magic ality which would prevent any invading! nition from doing the New World harm. The nations of America were in popular parlance "protected" by the Monroe Doctrine.
Those responsible for the conduct of "American policy, who look behind the phrase for the realities which support them, have teen rudely jolted by recent European events, The automatic reaction of the public to each recurring European crisis, "America, should ignore Europe and pay closer atten tion tothe western hemisphere and the Pan-American ideal," does not, they realize, present a real solution, They remember that the Monroe Doctrine narrowly escaped being Jnunched asa Monroe-Canning doctrine and that it depended always for Its support on the British navy combined with the com-! forting remoteness which geographical accident afforded, But of recent years the remoteness has become less. Modern progress has so narrowed 1 the world, and so bound its parts together, that the conception of a new and an old hemisphere is no longer valid. As indicated above the flow of goods, news and passengers is greater, and usually speedier, between any part' of the American Continent and Europe than between the northern and southern parts of the Americas, 'Those newspapers which are most insistent' that the real interest of the United States lies in the western hemisphere contradict themselves in their news columns which display an abundance of matter from the European capitals and very little from the Latin-American, Isolation as a polley cannot any longer depend for its protection upon isolation as a geographical fact, Worse still it can no longer be taken as axiomatic that it will be Protected by the British navy. It was once felt to be the traditional and inevitable policy Great Britain not to permit any one Euro-can power to become extremely powerful.
If no European power was permitted to become dominant in Europe, then there was Mle chance that any European power would Steelch out its tentacles to seize upon any' Portion of the New World. The secondary {foult of traditional British' policy was thus assure the continuance of the Monroe Doctrine, Tt could be said truly that the Brith navy was the Monroe Doctrine's first line of defence. git however, observers in the United Talks believe they detect a change in British {iltional foreign policy. The Munich Con-{ketee appears to them to be a reversal of old tradition of not allowing any European Power to become predominant, It averted Mam, ut it left Germany in a position ang at, than she had ever enjoyed before Wee tance in a position of unaccustomed inertness: The threat to the New World is inshore one which must be met in the frst ince by the United States herself.
Yet the potiey a note Pou of bee condemned or criticized on this policy of the British, Government 8 bea of #8 im tact a development which Which naa ost entirely {gnored by the press, Of whethege neentrated upon tke moral issue ether or no Britain "betrayed" the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.