Life — November 20, 1919 — page 16: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

" While there is Life there's Hope” No. 1934 Published by LIFE PUBLISI"ING COMPANY ANDREW MILLER, President and Treasurer James S. METCALrR, Secretary 17 West Thirty-first Street, New York English Offices, Rolls House, Breams Bldgs., London, E. C. RITISH flags fly- ing at this writing in the streets “of New York an- nounce the visit of the Prince of Wales. Since early in 1917 we have been used to the sight of the Union Jack, as also of the tri-color and other friendly ban- ners. But of late we have got back to the habit of flying our own colors unless some special occasion brings out those of some of our late Allies. The visit of the Prince offers a happy reason to bring out the Union Jack again. He is a cheerful and agreeable young man, who adapts himself well to all comers and all circumstances, and seems to have a large capacity for having a good time and ample strength to sustain the fatigues of doing so. He fought in the war, and that makes him a comrade of millions of our young men, and that is no slight tie. He seems everything that a Prince of Wales in the middle twenties ought to be. As far as his personal attrac- tions and deportment go, the papers have been full of his praises, with hardly a word of detraction. But of course his visit is more than that of a cheerful young man on his travels. He ‘as sent here for a purpose. He rep- resents the British Empire and the wish of its peoples to live on terms of friendship and political co-operation with the people of the United States. And as the representative of the British Empire, he stands for democ- racy. Though a King’s son and of the blood of the kings of England for much more than a thousand years, he does not stand for royalty. It was the British government that sent him here, and the British government, though it has preserved the forms of royalty and the tradition that likes to see government incarnate in a royal family, is in fact like ors, a govern- ment of the people by the people, and that it should send its King’s son abroad as its social representative is really an evidence of the complete stability and security of the demo- cratic foundations that its ancient throne now rests upon. AlMost everybody has been glad to have the Prince come here, and interested, if possible, to get a glimpse of him. Not so general is the dis- position to stand in politically with the British Empire. From that, large and sometimes noisy elements in this country hold off. There is an Irish element that does so, and doubtless a German element, and another, pretty big, with no obvious hyphen in it, that pictures in its mind a perfidious Albion playing always for her own hand and aspiring to dominate the world. The mass, robust, good- humored, and friendly, of the Ameri- cans have no use, of course, for a closely co-operative relation with any power that aims to dominate the world. They will not even stand in with it to share that domination. They don’t want their country to be catspaw for anyone, nor acquire any catspaw for its own use. They don’t want the world to be dominated by anything less than what will represent the whole of it and respect all lawful hopes and desires included in that whole that are compatible with world order. So while, like hospitable folk, they will cheer the Prince of Wales when he passes, they look with some hesitation at the British Empire. That is neither unnatural nor un- reasonable; but, after all, in sight of people who want order kept in this world with justice and by consent of all populations that have capacity for such consent, the British Empire stands as the greatest existing machine for the attainment of that end. It is the greatest force for order in the modern world, and in spite of many sins and overreachings and_ short- comings, the greatest force for justice. In any great international effort to improve the condition of mankind, the British Empire is an indispensable partner. Suck an effort is now mak- ing, and we have all felt the pangs and heard the outcries of it for these many months. It cannot succeed without the earnest and sympathetic co-operation of the British Empire and the United States. Spiritually and morally these powers must join hands, not primarily for the advan- tage of either of them, but for the protection and relief and betterment of all the world. HAT is what it comes to when cheers go up as the Prince of Wales goes by. And for people who say: “Yes, this is a nice young man, but there are hard heads and hard hearts and mighty greedy hands back there in England” the answer is “Yes, there are.” In that country, as in all other countries, there are all kinds. But anyone here who cares for humanity and justice and human freedom, can count with certainty on there being in Great Britain due proportion of minds that see these things as he does, and will go as far as he will go to attain them, and to that end put in as much devotion end as mant sacrifices ond comichooks.