Baxter Doubts Possibility of An Anglo-American Alliance

Asserting that it's one thing to talk about collective security and another to "realize that it no longer exists," President Baxter of Williams last night doubted the possibility of cooperation between England and American in both Europe and the Far East.

Attacking Walter Lippmann's plea last year for cooperation between the two countries, Baxter argued that it was difficult to accept the columnist's reasoning after what has happened at Godesburg and Munich. He pointed out, likewise, the difficulty of "making joint action work in the Far East," since English interests there are in the long run secondary and public opinion in both democracies is opposed.

No Basis for World Policy

In concluding his series of lectures on Anglo-American diplomatic relations since the Civil War, the former professor of History here told the New Lecture Hall audience that "the two nations lack a common fold for much of their world policy." Because of the growth of European air power England's home security, he contended, has been destroyed, he contended, and she is more than ever a worldly power." On the other hand, America has become increasingly unwilling to involve herself in Europe.

If used in China, Baxter continued, "force political or force economical" would result in negligible gains. Although he called himself a long-time partisan of Anglo-American cooperation, Baxter felt "the time is not ripe" for such a culmination of the friendly relations established back in 1901. "Japan has bitten off one of the largest mouthfuls in history," and we can expect, as a result, a good measure of "indigestion." A war in the Far East "is an impossible thing for either of us singly and unwise for us jointly." Only when a more pacific policy is shown by England and America in the Pacific will it be time for a diplomatic movement toward unified action on the part of England and America.

Assalls Neutrality Act

Assailing the cash and carry provisions of the 1937 Neutrality Law, the historian said it has set the stage for a repetition of what occurred in 1914-18. They have made it inevitable for us to give "even greater economic support to England and her allies." The United States is now "a partner of Great Britain" in any war in the Atlantic, as well as in any between Japan and China in which England participates.

In addition, Baxter discussed the questions of the Irish Free State and the renewal of the Anglo-Japanese alliance, which worsened our relation with Great Britain in 1920-21. He termed the 1921 conference in Washington on naval limitation "most successful" and described how "parity in all classes of ships was made the standard of Anglo-American relations" at the London Naval Conference of 1930.