No War: No Blockade

"Canada is the greatest doctor on earth. . . . Is this Canada, or Paradise? . . . Oh, my friends. . . . Ah, my brothers. . . ." He kept it up all week, did James Ramsay MacDonald. Canadians, pleased, flattered, responded with such hospitable fervor that at last the Prime Minister of Great Britain mock-seriously cried: "Your kindness has been like that of the penguin, which stifles its young on account of its maternal love. I put in a plea . . . that your feasting may be restricted . . . tempered by charity to the delighted victim of your generosity." As he prepared to sail from Quebec, to reach London as near as possible to the opening date of Parliament (Oct. 29), the tall, tousle-haired Scot could look back on such a triumph as no avowed champion of Labor ever enjoyed in the Americas before. Toronto. Red Indians liked to meet and barter on the site of Canada's second largest city, called it "Toronto" or "Place of Meeting." Here Laborite MacDonald met the American Federation of Labor (see p. 14), raised a cheer by calling himself "still the old workman that I was born." In the afternoon he signed the Golden Book of the Rockefeller-gifted University of Toronto, received the crimson hood of an honorary LL.D. At lunch in the Men's Canadian Club he said: "Unless we can preserve the bond of reverence between us [Great Britain and the Dominions] nothing else can take its place." He asked their cooperation in getting more Canadian orders for British factories according to the plan recently outlined on a whirlwind tour of the Dominion by big, blarneying British Minister of Unemployment James Henry ("Jim") Thomas (TIME, Sept. 2). Ottawa. The quiet city dubbed Canada's capital by Queen Victoria is one-fifth as populous as bustling, industrial Toronto. But of Ottawa's 126,000 citizens a full 1,000 turned out as a mass committee of welcome marshalled by Dominion Prime Minister William Lyon McKenzie King. Canadians made a great point of the fact that Mr. MacDonald and Mr. King shook hands as absolute equals, colleagues under the Crown. Loud pealed the carillon in the great Gothic peace tower of Canada's Parliament House. Smartly Scot MacDonald was driven to be received by the personal representative of George V in Canada, vice-regal Viscount Willingdon (salary $50,000*). After luncheon chubby, jovial astute Mr. King suggested a motor ride, 25 miles out into the Gatineau hills to "Kingsmere," his country home. There, as with President Hoover beside the rushing Rapidan, Mr. MacDonald found an open hearth, a crackling log fire. Canadians hoped that during the long chat which followed he gave Mr. King pointers concerning President Hoover's reaction to three present causes of friction between Dominion and U. S.: 1) The proposed U. S. agricultural tariffs infuriating to Canada's farmers; 2) Control of liquor smuggling; 3) Allotment of radio wavelengths of which Canadians are sure they have received no fair share. Speech of the Week. At the State Dinner in Canada's Parliament House, candid MacDonald revealed a trifle of what had passed before the log fire at "Kingsmere." Host King, a stickler for Canada's rights, had warned him not to speak possessively of "our Dominions" or "our Colonies." With a twinkle, the Mother Country's Prime Minister explained that although he used "our" habitually in such connections he never used it in the "possessive," always in the "family sense."

In his main address Orator MacDonald touched on a novel topic vital to U. S. citizens: "Freedom of the Seas." If there should be another War would the British Navy again wield the weapon of Blockade? Weaseling well, he answered: "You have signed a pact of peace. And when I say you I mean Canada. . . . We have done the same, France has done the same, Italy has done the same and the United States has done the same! ... If there is to be no war there is to be no blockade. What is the use of bothering ourselves and wasting our time considering problems that will arise of a blockade when we have declared there is going to be no blockade?"

Other Ottawa keynotes: He assured the Dominions that they would all be represented at the Five Power Naval Parley in London next January (TIME, Oct. 21). He rejoiced that during the week Japan, Italy and France had joined the U. S. in accepting invitations to the parley unconditionally. He promised on returning to London to communicate soon with Tokyo, Paris and Rome "in the same free and open way" as with President Hoover.

An apt orator, Scot MacDonald left his listeners with an anecdote.

"There was in the village I come from an old man who was a very devout Catholic. The nearest chapel was six miles from the village, and in order to worship he had to hire a trap--it was before the days of motor cars. It cost him six shillings, and being a Scotsman, he was a thrifty man. His religion compelled him to spend six shillings a week to drive from Lossiemouth to Elgin. But his desire to get good value for his money compelled him to commit the sin of drunkenness on Saturday, in order that he might have some reason to go and interview the Priest and get absolution next morning." Instant were the repercussions of this story. "Considering his position as Prime Minister of Great Britain," thundered Father Dowd of Ottawa's St. Theresa's Church, "the words were an insult to about half the people of Canada, who adhere to the Roman Catholic Church." Montreal. Largest of Dominion cities, fifth most important seaport in the world, terminal headquarters of both the Dominion's great railway systems (Canadian National, Canadian Pacific), and busy mistress of nearly 3,000 factories, great Montreal* staged a mighty welcome.

Ishbel's "Engagement." Perceptibly reserved was Miss Ishbel MacDonald last week as she trotted in the wake of her tall, halo-headed sire. Perhaps she was repenting an exuberance. Jocularly, one morning, she had greeted the appearance of her father's middle-aged friend Lord Arnold with the cry, "Oh, look at the House of Lords!" Promptly and absurdly they were rumored engaged. Baron Arnold, British Paymaster General, is accompanying the MacDonald party at his own expense, has been mooted as the next British Ambassador at Washington--suspected of being a "Colonel House." Intensely embarrassed, especially by reports that newspapers in his home city, Manchester, were whooping the story, Baron Arnold said: "I wish to deny this as emphatically as I can without being discourteous to Miss MacDonald." Ishbel, soberly: "I never pay any attentions to such rumors or deny them."

*Canadian Premier $15,000; British Premier $25,000. *Population 1,000,000.