World Affairs Institute

The Trees That Died in the WarAuthor(s): ANGELA MORGANSource: Advocate of Peace through Justice, Vol. 90, No. 3 (March, 1928), p. 184Published by: World Affairs InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20661861 .

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184 ADVOCATE OF PEACE March the American public. It ought to be pos sible to reach a clear understanding on this point, and there is no reason to sup pose-in spite of the present setback, in

spite of the launching of a big American naval program in a presidential election

year, when political excitement runs high -that in time, with care and under more favorable conditions, the narrow contro

versy over tonnage and guns will not be

forgotten in a broader mutual comprehen sion of vital issues. The world is small and in that world the British Empire and the United States must play too large a

part together to quarrel seriously. It may not indeed be altogether a disadvantage that this naval misunderstanding has once

more concentrated attention on the very important question of Anglo-American re

lationships and has made it necessary that

they should be reviewed and established afresh on a firmer basis.

The problem, of course, is far easier to state than to solve. Our correspondent sums up his impressions by declaring that

many difficulties will be overcome through fuller and franker intercourse between Great Britain and the United States. He is obviously right. As we pointed out at the time, the failure at Geneva might have been avoided if there had been any opportunity for informal and confidential consultation beforehand. But it is just this question of intercourse that presents peculiar difficulties. In a general sense, the intercourse between the British and the American peoples is fuller and more constant than between any other two peo ples on the face of the earth. Through frequent visits, through associations in business and finance, through literature,

science, and philanthropy, contact between British and Americans is close and in tense. What is seriously lacking is a cor

responding facility of political intercourse, and this defect may easily lead to politi cal misunderstandings which would jeop ardize all the rest. It is perfectly true, as our correspondent points out, that there is little direct contact between British statesmen and the statesmen of the United States. Europe has found a

remedy for many of its ills in frequent meetings between its foreign ministers. The condition of Europe is far better than it was a few years ago, largely because Sir Austen Chamberlain, M. Bri

and, and Herr Stresemann are close per sonal friends and continually exchange views on a variety of problems. It is not so easy to meet American statesmen. They are far away, and for them, in view of the present state of American opinion, Geneva is forbidden ground. Yet it is of the greatest importance for the immediate future of the world that political con tact between the British Empire and the

United States should be full, frequent, and easy. It is important not merely for our own country and for the Empire, but for Europe, which is scrutinizing in some

perplexity the rapid growth in the United States of a new type of civilization. The methods for promoting political inter course cannot be invented in a day. The Dominions can help, particularly Canada. The essential thing is that attention should be directed at present, not to the different shipbuilding programs, but to the broader possibilities of promoting an ultimate and deeper understanding.

The Trees That Died in the War

By ANGELA MORGAN To G. H. G.

So gentle they, yet glorious, Living their lives unseen;

Treading the soil, victorious, Brave gods with banners green.

They asked for naught but the pleasure Of serving the sons of men,

Lavish with leafy treasure When Spring should come again.

What answered we to their yearning? What gave we for their cheer ?

Hatred and shells and burning, Death in the Spring of the year.

Gone like a vanished city, Tragic and far as Greece.

God! Shall they give us pity? Men ! Shall they bring us peace?

-From London Spectator.

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