Good-Will Tour

Like kippers, like cricket, like Punch, the annual feasts of the Lord Mayor of London are an established British institution. At them highly placed British officials are traditionally supposed to say something very important. Last week Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain made the two-mile journey across London from Downing Street to the financial district and, in the spacious Egyptian Hall of Mansion House, addressed "my Lord Mayor" and his 600 guests. The Prime Minister did not talk about the war; he talked all around the war, making an amiable goodwill tour among those whom Great Britain wants to have on her side. He:

>Regretted that "my friend and colleague, M. Daladier, had suffered an accident."*

>Lamented that the "Turks, those wonderful peasants," had been visited by a bad earthquake.

>Hailed the Finns's fight against the "forces of unscrupulous violence."

>Denied that Great Britain wanted the "annihilation of the German people," but said the "responsibility for the prolongation of this war is theirs as well as that of the tyrant who stands over them."

>Called Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir John Simon, the man responsible for the stiff wartime British income tax, my "heavyhanded friend and colleague." [Laughter.]

The Prime Minister's home-front theme: "What are we to do to win and if possible, shorten this war? We must save; we must control imports; we must do without commodities that are not necessary; we must, if required, ration them in order that all may share and share alike." [Applause.] Mr. Chamberlain called the present stage of hostilities the "quiet of the calm before the storm," warned that Britain "shall have to face a phase of this war much grimmer than anything we have seen yet." He wound up: "In his recent message to the Pope, the President of the United States declared that only by friendly association by the seekers of light and seekers of peace everywhere could the forces of evil be overcome. I profoundly agree. But I would add that if the forces of right are to prevail, we must not hesitate to risk our blood and our treasure to so great an end."

*French Premier Edouard Daladier fractured a bone in one foot while alighting from a car.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.