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THE 
 
 World War 
 
 An Editorial Record of 
 American Participation 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 Editorial Columns 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Si iforis (&\abt - ^zmatmt 
 
 Published by 
 
 The Ghbe Printing Company 
 
 St. Louis, Mo.y U. S. A. 
 
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 COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY THE 
 GLOBE PRINTING CO, 
 
 ©CLA525671 
 
 26 191 I 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 History is a chronicle of events with the com- 
 ment and interpretation of the historian. The 
 daily newspaper is a history of the day, a chron- 
 icle of its occurrences, with comment and inter- 
 pretation in its editorial columns. The events 
 so recorded are for the most part of ephemeral 
 interest, and the editorial comment upon them 
 seldom has any greater permanence. But in 
 the* events of the day history in the larger sense 
 is always making. Time is but a succession of 
 days and all history is founded upon diurnal 
 things. In the events of each day, therefore, 
 there is, or may be, matter of lasting interest, 
 and during the last four years the daily news- 
 paper has been the chronicler and historian of 
 prodigious movements of undying import. But 
 the issues of a newspaper have no permanence 
 in themselves. They go out to their readers 
 today and tomorrow they are waste. The im- 
 pressions they make may be lasting, but their 
 words are lost, save for the bound files preserved 
 in the newspaper offices and in the libraries, and 
 an occasional clipping for a personal scrapbook. 
 Ordinarily this is at it should be, but the pub- 
 lishers of the Globe-Democrat feel that the rec- 
 ord of this paper in the greatest event in the 
 annals of mankind is one that should be pre- 
 served, not only for their own satisfaction and 
 
IV INTRODUCTION 
 
 the satisfaction of their readers, but as a con- 
 tribution to the history of these momentous 
 years. 
 
 So was conceived the idea of compiling a vol- 
 ume of editorials covering American participa- 
 tion in the war, so arranged as to make a con- 
 tinuous and connected narrative of the primary 
 events of the war from the sinking of the Lusi- 
 tania to the signing of the armistice. It is his- 
 tory told in the contemporaneous expressions of 
 editorial opinion from day to day, without fore- 
 knowledge of the events of tomorrow. The his- 
 torian looks back upon a completed past, and 
 calmly considers the relation of events that are 
 finished. The editor is largely bound by the 
 day. As a rule, he discusses what is occurring, 
 and turns his eye upon the past only to bring 
 it into relation with today. He deals largely 
 with incompleted things, with history in the 
 making, and his face is set toward the future 
 rather than toward the past. So, such a com- 
 pilation as this becomes a progressive develop- 
 ment of fact and of opinion, and while it has 
 the merit of the freshness of contemporaneity, 
 of close attachment to the timete, it lacks the 
 knowledge of the future which to the historian 
 has become the past. However, view it as one 
 will, it is a contribution to history. At any rate, 
 it is the record of a newspaper that realized its 
 duty, its privilege and its responsibility, and 
 endeavored loyally to play its part in the great 
 drama. 
 
INTRODUCTION V 
 
 Bmt it was no easy matter to make a con- 
 nected narrative of a series of events that 
 brought whole peoples into action in one way or 
 another, and that demanded discussion of a 
 thousand things intimately related to the war, 
 many of them vastly important in themselves 
 but yet subordinate to the main theme. After 
 a consideration of the difficulties involved in 
 covering the whole field it was decided to limit 
 the compilation to the primary essentials of the 
 war — the approach to it, the raising of an army, 
 the fighting, and the peace. It was also decided 
 to confinei it to the war with Germany. This 
 eliminated the discussion of Austria-Hungary, of 
 Russia, of Italy and of other countries with 
 which we had little to do militarily, and it left 
 out the vast auxiliary activities which occupied 
 the time and much of the attention of most of us 
 at home. These have been sacrificed, for if any 
 one of them were included it would be hard to 
 justify the elimination of others, whose discus- 
 sion would necessitate many diversions from the 
 main path. Larger works of real history will 
 cover these. The purpose of this volume is to 
 tell a straight story that leads direct from the 
 Lusitania to the armistice, and to present the 
 record of the Globe-Democrat on the funda- 
 mental issues of the war. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 1. The Lusitania 1 
 
 2. The Approach to War 36 ^ 
 
 3. Creating an Army 95 ^ 
 
 4. The Passion of Patriotism. .... JL19 
 
 5. In the Fight 150 
 
 6. The Road to Peace 241 
 
THE WORLD WAR. 
 
 i. 
 
 THE LUSITANIA. 
 
 American participation in the world war began, 
 in a sense, with the sinking of the Lusitania. There 
 had been divisions of opinion among Americans as 
 to the merits of the contest of arms in Europe, but 
 they were the opinions of aloof spectators, warm 
 perhaps in their sympathy for one side or the oth- 
 er, yet but spectators. Our geographical remote- 
 ness, our ancient policy of isolation and our ha- 
 bitual attitude toward foreign affairs long pre- 
 vented most of the people from realizing that we 
 were directly concerned. It was a great and ex- 
 citing spectacle, but it was not our affair. The in- 
 terferences with commerce that gradually devel- 
 oped irritated us a little, but generally they were 
 looked upon as new phases of a new warfare that 
 affected us only because we happened to get in 
 the way. The president's " strict accountability ' ' 
 note of February 10, 1915, aroused little appre- 
 hension in the minds of the people, nor did the 
 sinking of the William P. Frye and the attacks 
 on the Cushing and the Gulflight disturb us great- 
 ly. But on May 7, 1915, the Lusitania was sunk 
 with its great and precious cargo of human beings, 
 and then America was aroused. We did not know 
 it then, nor for long afterward, but on that day we 
 entered the war. Germany sank other ships, 
 stopped for awhile, then, resumed its destruction, 
 but no act of all the years wounded America so 
 deeply nor so irrecoverably as the Lusitania. And 
 when finally we took up arms, back of all the in- 
 centives, and stronger than all, was the Lusitania 
 with the pleading arms of its women and children. 
 
2 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 And so we begin our record here. The Globe-Dem- 
 ocrat had opposed an embargo on arms, had con- 
 demned the submarines as cowardly assassins and 
 had declared that our rights on the seas must be 
 maintained, but still we think this editorial record 
 of American participation should begin with the 
 sinking of the Lusitania. 
 
 When the news of the Lusitania aame the United 
 States realized for the first time that it was actual- 
 ly confronted by the possibility of war. The coun- 
 try was instantly divided into two great camps, 
 those who condemned the action of Germany, most 
 of them passionately, and those who defended it, 
 the latter a smaller body but louder. No one knew 
 what stand the government might take. Technical 
 questions were raised by the friends of Germany 
 that sought to obscure the main issue. Newspapers 
 of influence, realizing their responsibility, felt it 
 necessary to do what they could to allay popular 
 passion. The Globe-Democrat discussed the event 
 calmly but without attempting to conceal its indig- 
 nation, which grew greater as the unmitigated hor- 
 ror of the act became plainer; but in our first 
 amazement we were disposed to give a small share 
 of our condemnation to Great Britain for not pro- 
 viding a convoy for so important a ship, sufficient 
 warning having been given. In the series of edito- 
 rials on this event which follows one can see the 
 development of feeling and opinion as the facts 
 gradually clarified the situation and the crime 
 stood out unrelieved. The ship was sunk on the 
 7th, but the news was not received in America un- 
 til the 8th, the first reports in the Globe-Democrat 
 appearing in the late issues of that morning and 
 the first editorial comment was printed the follow- 
 ing day. ! | ] 
 
 Sinking of the Lusitania. 
 
 (May 9, 1915.) 
 
 The sinking of the Lusitania at the mouth of St. 
 George's Channel, ten miles southwest of Old Head 
 
THE LUSITANIA 3 
 
 of Kinsale, Ireland, Friday afternoon, startled 
 Americans more than any other act of the war. 
 That the vessel, carrying 1253 passengers, was tor- 
 pedoed, seems clear. That such a large number of 
 the passengers were Americans, and their fate in 
 the face of the assuring tone of the first dispatches 
 was in doubt, added to the pain and indignation of 
 the people of this country} The indignation was 
 directed at the kind of warfare which sinks steam- 
 ers bearing noncombatants and at the nation that 
 failed to take steps to guard a ship with such a 
 precious cargo when the danger was known. That 
 the Lusitania had been singled out for attack by a 
 submarine is evident. The sending of anonymous 
 warnings to prominent Americans who had booked 
 passage on this vessel and the advertisements in- 
 serted in Eastern newspapers by the German em- 
 bassy, warning Americans not to become passen- 
 gers on vessels flying the flags of the allies, should 
 have put Great Britain on its guard. With its 
 abundant naval facilities it should have taken ev- 
 ery precaution to insure a safe passage for the ves- 
 sel singled out for destruction. That the vessel was 
 torpedoed so close to the entrance of St. George 's 
 Channel and within ten miles of the Irish coast 
 seems almost inconceivable. 
 
 With the sinking of the ship itself America is 
 not concerned. But if ample time was not given 
 passengers to leave the doomed vessel, the case will 
 become one of grave importance. We have not con- 
 ceded the German contention that American citi- 
 zens take passage to Europe "at their own risk." 
 
4 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 The death of Thrasher, a single American, as a re- 
 sult of the sinking of the Falaba, provoked much 
 bitterness. It is claimed that vessel was warned 
 and that its sinking before passengers and crew 
 were saved was due to its use of the wireless in 
 calling for aid. At present writing the case of the 
 Lusitania seems worse, both in character and in de- 
 gree. Again we must caution suspense of judg- 
 ment until the facts can be ascertained from 
 sources that are beyond question. Much as we may 
 condemn this kind of warfare, our national obliga- 
 tion is restricted to the protection of the lives and 
 property of our own citizens. This has been the 
 consistent course of our government and we may 
 presume that it will continue to pursue it. 
 
 Some of the Aspects. 
 
 (May 10, 1915.) 
 
 While a wave of indignation is sweeping the 
 United States over the sinking of the Lusitania, 
 and it is futile to oppose legal arguments to out- 
 raged sentiment, we should bear in mind that our 
 government itself must follow recognized princi- 
 ples and a consistent policy. At the outset it is 
 well to remember that our note of February 10, 
 with its "strict accountability" provision, cannot 
 be applied to the case of the Lusitania without do- 
 ing violence to rules of interpretation. That note 
 dealt solely with our attitude in case Germany de- 
 stroyed an American vessel or American lives 
 through a mistaken conjecture that the vessel be- 
 longed to a belligerent and was flying our flag for 
 
THE LUSITANIA 5 
 
 purposes of deception. We did not state our atti- 
 tude in case American lives were lost through the 
 sinking of a vessel owned by a belligerent and fly- 
 ing its flag. With the present understanding of 
 the facts, the Gulflight was torpedoed, either as an 
 accident or in open defiance of the American posi- 
 tion as set forth in the note of February 10. But 
 the sinking of the Lusitania was not covered by 
 that note. Our action and the action of other neu- 
 tral countries that lost citizens in the Lusitania 
 disaster must be based on the general policy of 
 submarine warfare announced by Germany. It is 
 a departure from the ancient customs of nations 
 and from Germany's own practices, when it was 
 attacking commerce by use of cruisers. Its cruis- 
 ers always saved the lives of crew and passengers. 
 But the submarine has no facilities for passengers. 
 Its effectiveness depends on its being able to sur- 
 prise a vessel. 
 
 We have not admitted that this peculiar type of 
 submarine warfare is civilized. Yet we have not 
 formally protested against it, except to warn Ger- 
 many of the consequences should it destroy an 
 American vessel or the lives of American citizens 
 while on the same. The argument that Germany 
 discharged its full obligation by warning Ameri- 
 cans not to sail on a British vessel would be valid 
 provided the United States and other neutral na- 
 tion^ conceded the attacking of merchant vessels 
 by submarines without warning to be civilized war- 
 fare. But if the United States should hold such 
 warfare outlawed, the argument would go only to 
 
6 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 the lack of discretion, of the American passengers. 
 It would not exonerate Germany or relieve the 
 United States of its responsibility. The Lusitania 
 disaster is a terrible illustration of the possibili- 
 ties of submarine warfare on unarmored vessels. 
 That all neutral nations will vigorously protest 
 this style of warfare, particularly when directed 
 against passenger vessels, may be taken for 
 granted. 
 
 The Pressing Question. 
 
 (May 11, 1915.) 
 
 We have sought to show just where this nation 
 stands in its relations with Germany, so far as they 
 have a direct bearing on the Lusitania incident. In 
 the position of the United States one big ques- 
 tion is dominant: Shall the torpedoing of mer- 
 chant vessels, without warning or search, be rec- 
 ognized as civilized warfare? It never has been 
 heretofore. It was not attempted early in this 
 war. Vessels were searched and crew and pas- 
 sengers removed to the raiding cruiser and car- 
 ried to safety. The Emden, Prince Eitel and 
 Kronprinz Wilhelm all followed this course. When 
 the Emden was captured its captain and crew were 
 saved. Even if every individual on a captured 
 vessel is a combatant, his life is saved. Civilized 
 belligerents do not kill prisoners of war. In land 
 warfare noncombatants are warned to flee before 
 an attack. 
 
 Under the plea of military necessity, which has 
 often covered a multitude of cruelties, Germany 
 
THE LUSITANIA 7 
 
 announced its new submarine policy. Heretofore 
 submarines have been used against battleships. It 
 was hard to believe that they would be employed 
 against merchant vessels, regardless of cargo, crew 
 or passengers. Our nation sent a protest, but, un- 
 der ordinary rules of interpretation, it was special 
 rather than general. One clause, toward the close, 
 has been construed by some as applying to loss of 
 lives of American citizens, regardless of what ves- 
 sel they were on. The full text, in our opinion, 
 does not support this construction. Its only plaus- 
 ibility arises from the fact that our government is- 
 sued no special warning to American citizens 
 against taking passage on vessels under belligerent 
 flags. This fact, strangely enough, is emphasized 
 most by the people who are arguing that the sink- 
 ing of the Lusitania was justifiable. Senator 
 Stone's suggested argument about a foreign vessel 
 being foreign soil is not pertinent. American citi- 
 zens on the soil of a belligerent must be treated ac- 
 cording to the usages of civilized warfare. They 
 must be similarly treated on the sea. So all the is- 
 sues revolve around the question as to whether the 
 new style of submarine warfare adopted by Ger- 
 many is recognized as civilized. If our first note 
 on the subject does not cover the case of the Lusi- 
 tania, will our next note announce a policy for the 
 future? What will be Germany's reply? If de- 
 fiant, what will the United States do ? These seem 
 to be the questions with which the president is 
 wrestling. 
 
8 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 On the same date as the preceding the Globe- 
 Democrat printed the following editorial announce- 
 ment : 
 
 Reason Should Rule. 
 
 The Globe^Democrat has received a great many 
 communications from its readers in regard to the 
 Lusitania. Some of them are calm, judicial dis- 
 cussions of the facts of the case ; some of them are 
 passionate appeals for action ; but virtually all ex- 
 pressive of profound indignation, not only at the 
 destruction of Americans, but at the destruction of 
 innocent noncombatants of any nation in such a 
 manner. With these sentiments we are in accord, 
 but we feel it to be our high duty in such a crisis 
 as this to do what we can to restrain rather than to 
 excite the emotions of the people, and public dis- 
 cussion of the momentous issue, when nerves are 
 tense and pulses beat high, is more likely to in- 
 crease than to allay the irritation. For this reason 
 we do not think it advisable at present to publish 
 such communications. 
 
 The course to be pursued by this government 
 must be fixed by the authorities at Washington, 
 and their action should be dictated by reason unin- 
 fluenced by passion. We do not want war. We 
 have before us now, and have had for months, an 
 illustration of the unparalleled horrors of war in 
 this day and time. The United States is happily 
 outside of that maelstrom of murder. We will not 
 be drawn into it if we can, with honor, avoid it. 
 The government, we are confident, will find a way 
 out of the difficulty without loss of dignity or sur- 
 
THE LUSITANIA 9 
 
 render of rights, if it is permitted to pursue its 
 way undisturbed by popular clamor, which might 
 easily, if unrestrained, force us into hostilities. 
 There are times when the power of public opinion 
 needs to be asserted. The need has not yet arisen 
 in this case. 
 
 On the 12th Washington gave out a semiofficial 
 outline of the note to Germany, lipon which the 
 Globe-Democrat commented as follows : 
 
 The Vital Issue. 
 
 The reports from Washington indicate that the 
 president in the government's communication to 
 Germany takes a firm stand in behalf not only of 
 American rights and American dignity, but in be- 
 half of the interests of humanity as well. In this 
 attitude he will undoubtedly have the support of 
 the nation, whatever may be the consequences. 
 There can be no quibbling over technical distinc- 
 tions in this matter. We can do no less than to de- 
 mand satisfaction for the deeds of the past and 
 definite guarantees as to the future. The incidents 
 -of the Cushing, the Fallaba and the Gulflight, con- 
 sidered alone, might have been passed over with a 
 protest and the acceptance of a sufficient indem- 
 nity, in view of the extraordinary exigencies of 
 this amazing war. 
 
 But the sinking of the Lusitania is another mat- 
 ter. While technically a less direct offense to us 
 than the attack on the Gulflight, the deliberate de- 
 struction of so many lives of innocent noncombat- 
 ants brings home to us the iniquity of this form of 
 
10 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 warfare. It has aroused the indignation not only 
 of the people of this country, but of the entire neu- 
 tral world. It has abruptly brought us face to 
 face with a definite and vital issue which we must 
 settle now and settle with finality, or else back 
 away from it. That issue is the legitimacy of sub- 
 marine warfare against merchant ships when it in- 
 cludes the destruction of crew and passengers. The 
 submarine is a recognized arm of every modern 
 navy. It has a proper and important place in at- 
 tacks upon ships of war, but it has never before 
 been used to prey upon the mercantile marine. The 
 Globe-Democrat long ago condemned this use of 
 the submarine as nothing less than assassination. 
 No excuse that has been offered justifies it. For it- 
 self an,d for all humanity the United States de- 
 mands that this form of warfare shall cease; that 
 there shall be no more Gulflights and no more Lu- 
 sitanias. 
 
 In the same issue the Globe-Democrat com- 
 mented editorially on a speech made by ex-Presi- 
 dent Taft, and we present this comment here to 
 show how one of the wisest and most patriotic 
 men in the nation viewed the situation and the 
 public duty at the moment in the same light as 
 the Globe-Democrat : 
 
 The Bigness of Taft. 
 
 The speech ex-President Taft made to the Union 
 League Club of Philadelphia Tuesday night was a 
 model of patriotic wisdom and propriety. It was 
 calm, deliberate, firm and logical. Yet it was warm 
 with patriotism. Other men of prominence have 
 
THE LUSITANIA 11 
 
 warned us against haste and have expressed conr 
 fidence in the president. But there was something 
 stereotyped about their utterances. From what 
 they said it could not be detected that anything of 
 a very serious nature had happened. They seemed 
 to be trying to maintain neutrality on the sinking 
 of the Lusitania. There was none of this in Mr. 
 Taft's speech. He did no logic-chopping. He 
 sought no possible extenuation. It could be seen 
 and felt that he recognized a crime against civili- 
 zation had been committed and that this country 
 could not and should not dodge its responsibility 
 in the premises. Instead of merely saying that we 
 should uphold the president, he gave the reasons 
 why we should be patient — reasons filled with per- 
 suasive logic and supported by vivid historic inci- 
 dents. In cautioning deliberation he said: " A de- 
 mand for war that cannot survive the passion of 
 the first days of public indignation and will not 
 endure the test of delay and deliberation by all the 
 people is not one that should be yielded to. ' ' 
 
 He went on to suggest the possibilities of avert- 
 ing war without loss of dignity or honor, again cit- 
 ing historic illustrations. He is not for peace at 
 any price, recognizing that there are things worse 
 than war. But he is for war only if the national 
 honor and interests ultimately demand that "for a 
 hundred lives and the method of their taking we 
 should lose thousands and hundreds of thousands 
 of lives.' ' His conclusion is fit to go into the 
 schoolbooks of our country : 
 
 "Weighing the consequence will not prejudice 
 
12 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 the justice of our cause or the opportunity to vin- 
 dicate it, and the president may be counted oU to 
 secure it. It is the people's cause, not his alone, 
 and he does well to allay excitement and to await 
 the regular and studied action of the people's rep- 
 resentatives. 
 
 ''Let us stand by him in this juncture. Our 
 honor is safe with him. 
 
 ' ' I give you the toast, the president of the United 
 States." 
 
 The text of the note, the first from the American 
 Government on the submarine issue, except the 
 " strict accountability" warning of February 11, 
 was given to the American public on the 13th, and, 
 having touched upon its vital point the day before, 
 the Globe-Democrat turned in the issue of the 
 14th to the theme which was later to be the chief 
 inspiration to American action. 
 
 A Call of Humanity. 
 
 (May 13, 1915.) 
 
 The cynics of the world have often laughed at 
 what they style American spread-eagleism. Men 
 incapable of understanding American ideals have 
 called ours ' ' a hypocrite nation. ' ' Narrow officials 
 of other countries have distrusted our altruism. 
 They have accused us of hidden purposes of territo- 
 rial aggrandizement. They have imagined our deity 
 is the Almighty Dollar. That a statue of Liberty en- 
 lightening the world is placed in our chief port 
 they regard a bit of poetry, without vital meaning. 
 They cannot realize that the average American be- 
 lieves that our fathers dedicated this nation to the 
 
THE LUSITANIA 13 
 
 principles of liberty and humanity and that these 
 principles are his chief heritage. While we have 
 observed the rules of nations and have not inter- 
 vened in the affairs of the world except when we 
 had an immediate interest which justified such in- 
 tervention, we have not been actuated by sheer 
 selfishness. We have responded to the call of hu- 
 manity. 
 
 When we went to war with Spain we had enough 
 interest to justify the step, but our chief purpose 
 was to free a little neighbor which had suffered 
 long and cruel oppression. The Philippines fell 
 into our hands by fortune of war. We could not 
 give them back to a country like Spain. We paid 
 for them after having won them by conquest. We 
 could not turn them over to the exploitation of a 
 small band of ambitious natives. We have been 
 transforming the islands, enlightening the natives 
 and teaching them self-government. We stood out 
 bravely for protection of China from dismember- 
 ment and we turned our part of the Boxer indem- 
 nity over to the education of Chinese boys and 
 girls. Our Monroe doctrine, of which the benefici- 
 aries have often been suspicious, had self-interest 
 as its justification, but its enforcement has been 
 for the good of the people on this continent. When- 
 ever flood, earthquake or famine has brought suf- 
 fering to people anywhere on the earth, America 
 has gone to their relief, giving more than any other 
 nation, because having more to give. In every 
 great catastrophe, on land or sea, American men, 
 rich and poor, have set an example of chivalry the 
 
14 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 world cannot forget. They have been taught from 
 their youth up their duty to humanity. Our ac- 
 tion against submarine warfare on merchant ves- 
 sels, without warning, is taken with a full realiza- 
 tion of all the possible consequences. And it is 
 prompted by the dictates of hearts that throb for 
 humanity. Had we not taken it, we should have 
 been unworthy of our glorious history, a history 
 which has made the name American so precious to 
 every enlightened student. 
 
 The note having been sent (it was not given out 
 in America until it was assumed to have been re- 
 ceived in Berlin), this nation waited impatiently 
 for Germany's reply. 
 
 What Will Germany Do? 
 
 (May 15, 1915.) 
 
 The vital point of the American note to Ger- 
 many, as we have already pointed out, is the de- 
 mand for the cessation of submarine warfare 
 against merchant ships without providing for the 
 escape of crew and passengers. ' ' Manifestly, ' ' the 
 note declares, "submarines cannot be used against 
 merchantmen without an inevitable violation of 
 many sacred principles of justice and humanity,' ' 
 and it is upon these principles of justice and hu- 
 manity that the American Government bases its 
 demand. Reparation for what has been done is re- 
 quired, but this, it is made plain, is impossible to 
 give in full measure, and it is properly subordi- 
 nated to the more important requirement that such 
 acts shall not be repeated. No claim of the necessi- 
 
THE LUSITANIA 15 
 
 ties of war can, be admitted as justifying a gross 
 and inhuman violation of the recognized laws of 
 civilized warfare, and no measures adopted under 
 pressure of such assumed necessities can operate in 
 any degree as "an abbreviation of the rights of 
 American shipmasters or of American citizens 
 bound on lawful errands as passengers on mer- 
 chant ships of belligerent nationality. ' ' 
 
 The German Government has already expressed 
 its willingness to make reparation for the destruc- 
 tion of American ships by submarines. Whether it 
 will accept responsibility and consent to make 
 amends for the loss of lives on the Lusitania, a bel- 
 ligerent ship, is another question. Its message of 
 sympathy, cabled the other day, attempts to throw 
 the entire blame for that horror upon Great Brit- 
 ain. But it is the demand that it "take immediate 
 steps to prevent the recurrence of anything so ob- 
 viously subversive of the principles of warfare" as 
 the submarine attacks, upon which the German an- 
 swer must be founded. That it will willingly come 
 to our terms is not to be expected, but it must real- 
 ize by this time that the United States does not 
 stand alone in this matter. The indignation of the 
 entire neutral world is aroused, and if Germany is 
 wise it will look into the future and consider the 
 possibilities of universal enmity growing out of its 
 policy of ruthless destruction. 
 
 It was not until the 30th that the reply came, 
 and it found no favor with this paper, which said : 
 
16 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 An Unyielding Reply. 
 
 (May 31, 1915.) 
 
 The text of the belated German reply to the 
 American note of protest against the carrying on 
 of submarine warfare on merchant ships without 
 warning does not quite bear out the unofficial sy- 
 nopsis previously published. Germany pleads jus- 
 tification of the sinking of the Lusitania, setting 
 up an alleged condition of facts in conflict with the 
 assertions of the collector of the port at New York. 
 It announces its willingness to offer indemnifica- 
 tion for the sinking of neutral ships when they are 
 not themselves at fault. It says the cases of the 
 Gushing and Gulflight, American ships, are still 
 under investigation and suggests that its investiga- 
 tion, if necessary, may be supplemented by an in- 
 ternational inquiry under Article 3 of The Hague 
 Agreement of October 18, 1907. It does not suggest 
 arbitration of the Lusitania affair. It announces its 
 intention to> persevere in submarine warfare against 
 British merchantmen, without observing ' ' the cus- 
 tomary regulations of the prize law ' ' Germany has 
 always followed. The only hint at a change is 
 contained in the closing reminder that the Impe- 
 rial Government "took cognizance with satisfac- 
 tion of the mediatory proposals submitted by the 
 United States Government to Berlin and London 
 as a basis for a modus vivendi for conducting mar- 
 itime warfare between Germany and Great Brit- 
 ain. ' ' The note adds that the realization of these 
 proposals was defeated by the declinatory attitude 
 of the British Government. It is possible to infer 
 
THE LUSITANIA 17 
 
 that Germany might renew its satisfaction at the 
 reopening of our mediatory proposals, but even 
 this is not clear. The German reply does not alter 
 the position taken before the American note was 
 drafted. "While not an ultimatum, since the Impe- 
 rial Government ''withholds its final decision on 
 the demands advanced in connection with the sink- 
 ing of the Lusitania until receipt of an answer 
 from the American Government, ' ' there is not the 
 slightest concession to the principal contention of 
 the American Government. No more unyielding a 
 reply could have been written, with proper regard 
 for diplomatic amenities. That the answer will not 
 be satisfactory to the United States goes without 
 saying, nor is it at all probable that this govern- 
 ment will consent to a prolonged discussion of 
 more or less irrelevant details while the subma- 
 rines pursue their bloody way undeterred. 
 
 Clouding the Issue. 
 
 (June 1, 1915.) 
 
 The German Government, in its note to the 
 United States, takes the position that it was justi- 
 fied in sinking the Lusitania, because, as it alleges, 
 it "had cannon aboard, which were mounted and 
 concealed below decks," and carried Canadian 
 troops and ammunition. It also repeats the claim 
 that the British Admiralty had, in February, is- 
 sued confidential instructions to mercantile ship- 
 ping to seek protection under neutral flags and, 
 while thus disguised, to attack German subma- 
 rines by ramming, and directs attention to an 
 
18 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 American law prohibiting the transportation of 
 ammunition on passenger vessels. 
 
 The collector of the port of New York declared 
 some time ago that he had inspected the Lusitania 
 before its departure on its last calamitous voyage 
 and that there were no cannon aboard, mounted or 
 unmounted. No organized Canadian or other for- 
 eign troops could or would be permitted to embark 
 from a port of the United States, but there is no 
 way to prevent unarmed individuals from so do- 
 ing, nor is there any law, international or munici- 
 pal, against it. The United States has no statute 
 prohibiting carriage of fixed ammunition on pas- 
 senger ships, but it has one, and a very proper one, 
 against the transportation of explosives, meaning 
 such materials as gunpowder, dynamite or nitro- 
 glycerin. There were no such explosives on the 
 Lusitania. As to the British instructions, that 
 country has officially denied that they were ever 
 issued, and such is the peril and difficulty, not to 
 say impossibility, of ramming so elusive and de- 
 structive a vessel as a submarine, that the charge 
 would seem to be absurd on its face, without con- 
 sidering the fact that such instructions would 
 withdraw merchant ships from the protection of 
 international law and give them no compensating 
 advantage. 
 
 The object appears to be to obscure the main is- 
 sue by the presentation of a mass of exculpatory 
 claims that would lead to a prolonged discussion of 
 minor questions of fact, and thereby indefinitely 
 postpone action upon the essential principle that is 
 
THE LUSITANIA 19 
 
 involved in the dispute. Germany, in this note, 
 makes no concessions whatever to American rights 
 or American feelings. It gives us very plainly to 
 understand that submarine warfare against mer- 
 chant ships will go on, and that Americans who 
 sail the seas will do so at their peril. We do not 
 for a moment believe that the government at Wash- 
 ington will permit itself to become entangled in a 
 maze of diplomatic evasions. On the contrary, we 
 are confident that it will press the point at issue, 
 and in this it will have the support of the country. 
 We want no quarrel with Germany ; we much pre- 
 fer to continue to be, as we have always been, her 
 friend; but she must be given to understand that 
 the United States is not to be trifled with. 
 
 Then arose the disagreement between Mr. Bry- 
 an, the secretary of state, and Mr. Wilson over the 
 second note to Germany, and Mr. Bryan's resigna- 
 tion on June 8. 
 
 Mr. Bryan's Resignation. 
 
 (June 9, 1915.) 
 
 The resignation of Mr. Bryan, at this time and 
 under such circumstances, is a matter for pro- 
 found regret. His action is said to be the result of 
 differences of opinion growing out of the German 
 note which has been in course of preparation for 
 the past week. The nature of these differences is 
 not clearly revealed in his letter of resignation, but 
 they are presumed to be due to the strong insist- 
 ence by the secretary of state upon the application 
 of his extreme views in regard to arbitration to 
 
20 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 this particular case. Mr. Bryan has long been con- 
 spicuous as an advocate of peace, an attitude which 
 has had the support of the president, and, for that 
 matter, of the large majority of the American peo- 
 ple, up to a certain point. But that point was 
 reached when it became a question, seemingly, of 
 peace at any price. There is no doubt about the 
 feelings of this country as to war. We do not want 
 it. We are willing to sacrifice much to avoid it. 
 But we are not willing to sacrifice eternal princi- 
 ples of right and justice to obtain peace; and the 
 honor of the country is involved in the mainte- 
 nance of these principles which it is the duty of 
 the president to uphold. He, we are sure, is as 
 strongly desirous of a settlement of the present 
 •differences with Germany without a rupture of 
 friendly relations as is Mr. Bryan, but he believes 
 firmness to be a stronger influence toward that 
 consummation than pliancy, and he is, moreover, 
 not disposed to submit the national honor to the 
 care of a board of arbitration. He holds, we are 
 informed, that principles should be settled first, 
 questions of fact afterwards. The difference be- 
 tween the president and Mr. Bryan seems to be, 
 therefore, one of method rather than one of pur- 
 pose, and, this being the case, it would appear that 
 the disagreement could have been and should have 
 been reconciled within the cabinet council. Mr. 
 Bryan says he resigned in order to relieve the 
 president from embarrassment. He could have 
 found no better way of causing him embarrass- 
 ment in this crisis. 
 
THE LUSITANIA 21 
 
 Conscience and Patriotism. 
 
 (June 10, 1915.) 
 
 Mr. Bryan's letter of resignation conveyed this 
 veiled threat : ' • I consider it to be none the less my 
 duty to endeavor as a private citizen to promote 
 the end which you have in view by means which 
 you do not feel at liberty to use. ' ' He has lost no 
 time in putting his threat into action, and his first 
 day as a private citizen finds him giving to the 
 world his views of what ought to be done and what 
 ought to have been done in relation to Germany. It 
 must be assumed that he intends to follow this up 
 with a campaign in opposition to the president's 
 policy, with the sole purpose of creating a division 
 of the American people and thereby weakening the 
 government and frustrating its plans for a settle- 
 ment of the difficulties upon the broad basis of 
 American rights. Every man has a right to his 
 opinions, and every man has a right to express 
 them, but there are times when it is not only be- 
 coming, but a duty, to hold that right in abeyance ; 
 and Mr. Bryan's act and utterance, when all the 
 circumstances are considered, is little short of 
 treasonable. 
 
 It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that he is 
 influenced more by personal considerations than 
 by patriotism. He is acting, we may concede, in 
 accord with the dictates of conscience, but con- 
 science is personal, and no man's conscience is in- 
 fallible. A man may be perfectly honest in his 
 views of right and yet be absolutely wrong. Mr. 
 Bryan takes the position that his duty to himself 
 
22 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 is greater than his duty to his country, and at a 
 time of stress he deserts the high office which he 
 holds because his inward conceptions of right 
 could not be accepted by his superior officer, who 
 also has a conscience and a responsibility much 
 greater than Mr. Bryan 's. He is in the position of 
 an army officer who resigns under fire because he 
 does not approve of the commander's plan of cam- 
 paign. Millions of men have fought and died for 
 their country when they believed it to be in the 
 wrong. Mr. Bryan, it seems, is not of that charac- 
 ter. 
 
 As to his views expressed in the statement issued 
 yesterday, they are in harmony with his well- 
 known ideas of peace at any price. The funda- 
 mental principle that American life and property 
 upon the high seas must be respected does not ap- 
 peal to him. Americans should stay at home. They, 
 at least, should not be permitted to sail on belliger- 
 ent ships. He raises a number of points that are 
 beside the question. In fact, he does not seem to 
 have grasped the essential issue of our inherent 
 rights at all, and it is that essential issue whose 
 recognition the president firmly insists upon. Re- 
 gardless of Mr. Bryan's acts or words, Mr. Wilson 
 will have the country's support. 
 
 Quickly following Mr. Bryan's disappearance 
 from the State Department and from the affairs of 
 government came the president's second note to 
 Germany on June 10. 
 
THE LUSITANIA 23 
 
 The Note to Germany. 
 
 (June 11, 1915.) 
 
 The American Government's second note to Ger- 
 many does not recede in the least from the position 
 taken in the first one. On the contrary, while it is 
 no less courteous and friendly in tone, it is per- 
 haps more emphatic in its presentation of the prin- 
 ciple upon which the original protest and demand 
 were based. It expresses gratification at the atti- 
 tude of the German Government with regard to the 
 Cushing and the Gulflight, discusses briefly the 
 sinking of the Falaba, denying that its effort to es- 
 cape capture justified its destruction, and then 
 proceeds to the consideration of the case of the Lu- 
 sitania. It assures Germany with emphasis that 
 the Imperial Government had been misinformed as 
 to the presence of masked guns on that ship, that 
 she was not serving as a transport and did not 
 carry a cargo prohibited by the statutes of the 
 United States. If the Lusitania had been in fact a 
 naval vessel of Great Britain she would not have 
 received clearance as a merchantman. The United 
 States, it is asserted, performed its duty and en- 
 forced its statutes in relation to the Lusitania with 
 scrupulous vigilance. 
 
 But these details the American Government 
 holds to be "irrelevant to the question of the legal- 
 ity of the methods used by the German authorities 
 in sinking the vessel.' ' It is pointed out that the 
 sinking of passenger ships involves principles of 
 humanity "which lift such acts above the ordinary 
 subjects of diplomatic discussion or international 
 
24 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 controversy, ' ' and minor details are put into the 
 background by the principal fact that this ship 
 was torpedoed and sunk without warning and its 
 passengers, men, women and children, sent to their 
 death. Only her actual resistance to capture, it is 
 declared, would have justified even the putting of 
 the lives of those on board in jeopardy. 
 
 The government expresses a willingness to use 
 its good offices at any time to effect a change in the 
 character and conditions of the war upon the sea 
 by a mutual understanding between Germany and 
 Great Britain, but in the meantime it solemnly de- 
 clines to abandon any of the rights of American 
 shipmasters or of American citizens "bound on 
 lawful errands on belligerent ships, ' ' and asks f ot 
 assurances that Germany will adopt the measures 
 necessary to the safeguarding of American lives 
 and American vessels. 
 
 It is difficult to see how Germany can controvert 
 either the logic or the facts in this calm presenta- 
 tion of the American case. The absolute right- 
 eousness of our position and the wholly untenable 
 character of theirs is made convincingly clear, and 
 the German Government is politely but firmly in- 
 formed that the destruction of the lives and the 
 property of American citizens must cease, because 
 their right to sail the seas is inalienable, and no new 
 circumstance of war can be permitted to take it 
 from them. There is no waving of flags and beating 
 of drums in this note ; there are no threats and no 
 expressed demands ; but there is in it a quiet deter- 
 mination that the fundamental principle of the 
 
THE LUSITANIA .25 
 
 American position shall be recognized and con- 
 ceded without further diplomatic evasion. 
 
 The country awaited an anxious month before 
 the answer to the second note came from Germany. 
 It was less satisfactory to us than the preceding 
 one from that government. 
 
 Germany's Reply. 
 
 (July 11, 1915.) 
 
 The note from Germany is bitterly disappointing. 
 This country had been led to expect, from the re- 
 ports coming out of Berlin, that a serious effort was 
 being made to accommodate the differences between 
 the kaiser 's government and ours ; that there would 
 be some recognition of the righteousness of the prin- 
 ciples for which we are so earnestly contending, and 
 that upon this recognition could be founded an un- 
 derstanding creditable to the enlightenment and 
 humanity of both countries. But there is not a 
 line in this note to indicate such an effort. It con- 
 cedes nothing. It denies, in effect, the justice of 
 the American position. It accepts responsibility 
 for none of the acts committed in violation of our 
 rights in relation to belligerent vessels. It declares 
 that " German and American statesmen have al- 
 ways stood together in the struggle for the free- 
 dom of the seas," and stubbornly insists upon its 
 right and duty to annul that freedom by a contin- 
 uation of its policy of submarine warfare against 
 merchant ships. It expresses the hope that "some 
 way will be found, when peace is concluded, or, 
 perhaps earlier, to regulate the law of maritime 
 
26 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 war in a manner guaranteeing the freedom of the 
 seas," but in the meantime it assumes the right to 
 control the seas subject to regulations of its own 
 making. 
 
 Germany reiterates the provocation upon which 
 it justifies its undersea war upon commerce — the 
 British food blockade. There are features of that 
 blockade which we hold to be violations of interna- 
 tional law and of our privileges thereunder. We 
 have had, and will again have, something to say to 
 Great Britain upon that subject. But there seems 
 to be no evidence that the blockade has yet caused 
 any serious inconvenience to the people of Ger- 
 many in lack of food. All the reports coming out 
 of Germany, from official as well as private sources, 
 indicate that there is no general suffering from 
 that cause, and the Disconto-Gesellschaft of Berlin, 
 one of the greatest financial institutions of the 
 country, has just issued a pamphlet on "Economic 
 Life in Germany During the War," in which it 
 states that in respect to the feeding of the popula- 
 tion "Germany is, thanks to her efficient agricul- 
 ture, not exposed to any serious danger. This is 
 due to the fact that she is in a position to dispense 
 completely with foreign import, if economy is prac- 
 ticed, and to feed the country out of her own pro- 
 duction." It is thus apparent that Germany's plea 
 that it has been forced to submarine warfare by 
 the "choice given them of perishing from starva- 
 tion or of relinquishing its independence" is spe- 
 cious. 
 
 The German note evades the question of respon- 
 
THE LUSITANIA 27 
 
 sibility for the Lusitania, or, rather, shifts it, and 
 ignores the principles involved in its destruction, 
 npon which the American note laid stress. It again 
 suggests that the ship would not have sunk if it 
 had not been for the presence on board of "highly 
 explosive materials, ' ' although our government has 
 declared there were no free explosives on board. It 
 pays no attention to the principle upon which our 
 protest in respect to the Lusitania was founded, 
 that ' ' only her actual resistance to capture, or re- 
 fusal to stop when ordered to do so, for the pur- 
 pose of visit, could have afforded the submarine 
 any justification for so much as putting the lives 
 of those on board in jeopardy.' ' "It is upon this 
 principle of humanity," continued the American 
 note, "as well as upon the law founded upon this 
 principle, that the United States must stand." 
 
 But underlying the principle is the more specific 
 and individual one that — 
 
 The Government of the United States cannot admit 
 that the proclamation of a war zone from which neu- 
 tral ships have been warned to keep away may be 
 made to operate as in any degree an abandonment of 
 the rights either of American shipmasters or of Amer- 
 ican citizens bound on lawful errands as passengers on 
 merchant ships of belligerent nationality. 
 
 This was the solemn declaration of the closing 
 paragraph of the last American note to Germany. 
 This is the fundamental contention of the sacred- 
 ness of American rights upon the high seas. Ger- 
 many, by implication, refuses to accept this princi- 
 ple, contending that "accidents suffered by neu- 
 
2& THE WORLD WAR 
 
 trals" in the area of war at sea cannot well be 
 judged differently from accidents to neutrals at 
 the seat of war on land, forgetting that the lands 
 belong to the nations, while the seas are common 
 property, our property as well as theirs, and our 
 rights thereon are inalienable. 
 
 In the absence of the acceptance, or even the se- 
 rious consideration of these principles, the meas- 
 ures of regulation proposed by Germany are irrel- 
 evant. To consent to such regulations without a 
 definite understanding as to principles would be, 
 in effect, to indorse and approve the German posi- 
 tion and make us associates in the violation of in- 
 ternational law. 
 
 The president 's answer to this communication ap- 
 peared on July 23, upon which the Globe-Dem- 
 ocrat commented as follows : 
 
 America and Germany. 
 
 (July 24, 1915.) 
 
 America's third and, perhaps, its last note to 
 Germany, is in accord with the first and the sec- 
 ond. It is politely but firmly insistent upon the 
 recognition of their rights previously declared. It 
 declines to consider any excuses of extraordinary 
 circumstances set up to justify an admitted viola- 
 tion of international law, and stands upon the 
 principle that war gives to no belligerent the right 
 to transgress the rules established for the protec- 
 tion of the powers and privileges of neutral na- 
 tions. It points to Germany's recognition of the 
 illegality of its acts by its reference to them as 
 
THE LUSITANIA 29 
 
 measures of retaliation, and retaliation, it declares, 
 is per se an act beyond the law. It calls attention 
 again to the principles upon which these rules are 
 founded and expresses "keen disappointment to 
 find that the Imperial German Government re- 
 gards itself as in large degree exempt from obliga- 
 tion to observe these principles." The conduct of 
 other belligerents is held to be beside the question, 
 which is the maintenance of the rights of a nation 
 not involved in the war, and therefore not subject 
 to any conditions created by it, so far as the com- 
 mon territory of the high seas is concerned. It rec- 
 ognizes the fact that this conflict has developed 
 unusual circumstances of war, but it declares with 
 emphasis that the United States Government ' * can- 
 not consent to abate any essential or fundamental 
 right of its people because of a mere alteration of 
 circumstance. ' ' 
 
 In short, the note briefly and succinctly declares 
 that the German position is untenable either in 
 law or in justice; that it would sacrifice principle 
 to expediency, and abrogate for the purposes of 
 the moment the laws which are as essential to its 
 being as to ours. The freedom of the seas, which 
 is the basis of the entire contention, is a right for 
 which Germany has contended and still contends, 
 and for that same right, the note declares, the 
 United States will continue to contend, "from 
 whatever quarter violated, without compromise 
 and at any cost." And after this emphatic decla- 
 ration it invites the co-operation of Germany in 
 this common object, and expresses a willingness to 
 
30 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 act as the mediator who may be privileged to sug- 
 gest a way for the achievement of this object, even 
 before the present war ends. In conclusion, while 
 asserting the friendship of this government and 
 people for the Government of Germany and its 
 people, it gives warning that further contravention 
 of American rights by commanders of German na- 
 val vessels will be regarded as deliberately un- 
 friendly. 
 
 There can be no misunderstanding of this note. 
 It is as plain as a pikestaff. It at once brushes 
 aside all irrelevant controversy and rests its case 
 upon the simple and righteous principle asserted 
 in the first note, and reaffirmed in the second — the 
 inalienable rights of the high seas. That principle, 
 as we have previously pointed out, is as important 
 to Germany as to us. Reverse the conditions and 
 Germany would take the same position we do now. 
 So would England, so would France, so would any 
 nation having interests on the seas and that was 
 not wholly invertebrate. The principle this coun- 
 try is contending for is a right not only ours, but 
 one which is common to all. The note, firm as it is, 
 and final as it seems to be, yet holds out an invita- 
 tion to Germany that her own interests should for- 
 bid her to ignore. There can be a settlement of all 
 these difficulties without humiliation or loss of 
 honor. The way is open to Germany. This coun- 
 try still desires to be friends, but it cannot for a 
 moment abandon a right that is fundamental. The 
 president has stated the case for the American peo- 
 ple. They will stand behind him. 
 
THE LUSITANIA 31 
 
 The Open Door. 
 
 (July 26, 1915.) 
 
 The American note to Germany not only opens 
 the door for a satisfactory settlement of our dif- 
 ferences with that country, but it points the way 
 to it. The whole trouble has grown out of the ille- 
 gal use of submarines. Germany has contended 
 that submarine warfare against merchant vessels 
 was an absolutely necessary measure of protection 
 of its people from starvation resulting from the 
 British blockade. It insisted that such warfare 
 could not possibly be conducted within the rules of 
 international law ; that to be effective it must de- 
 stroy without warning, and that the consequent 
 loss of life and property was an incident of a sys- 
 tem forced into their hands by the stern pressure 
 of circumstances. Time has shown that this rea- 
 soning, however sincere, was at fault. There is no 
 serious inconvenience in Germany from lack of 
 food, and the country has proven its ability to 
 provide for its entire needs in that particular. The 
 evidence that there is no starvation, and no pros- 
 pect of it, is overwhelming and unimpeachable, a 
 fact which justifies German pride in its self-reli- 
 ance, but removes the chief reason given for the 
 submarine campaign against merchant vessels. 
 Time, too, has shown that submarine warfare can 
 be effectively carried on against merchant vessels 
 without violation of the fundamental principles of 
 international law. 
 
 The German Government has itself admitted 
 that the acts which offended the United States 
 
32 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 were contrary to the agreed rules of maritime war. 
 It has itself proven that these acts were not justi- 
 fied by the necessities it proclaimed. Why, then, 
 should there be any difficulty in coming to an 
 amicable understanding with this country upon 
 the questions at issue ? The United States does not 
 demand the cessation of submarine war. It de- 
 mands only that it be conducted in accord with the 
 established principles of justice and humanity. It 
 is as much to Germany's interests as to ours, as 
 we have several times asserted, that these prin- 
 ciples be maintained, for upon them are founded 
 that freedom of the seas for which she as well as 
 we have always contended. Germany can lose 
 nothing that is essential to her welfare by conced- 
 ing the righteousness of our position, while on the 
 other hand she can gain much in the retention of 
 friendly relations with the most powerful of neu- 
 tral countries, and in the fixing of precedents for 
 the future. 
 
 A month later, after a period in which Germany 
 did nothing to add to American resentment, came 
 the report of the sinking of the Arabic. 
 
 The Sinking of the Arabic. 
 
 (August 17, 1915.) 
 
 "The very value which this government sets 
 upon the long and unbroken friendship between 
 the people and Government of the United States 
 and the people and Government of the German 
 nation impels it to press very solemnly upon the 
 Imperial German Government the necessity for a 
 
THE LUSITANIA 33 
 
 scrupulous observance of neutral rights in this 
 critical matter. Friendship itself prompts us to 
 say to the Imperial Government that repetition by 
 the commanders of German naval vessels of acts 
 in contravention of those rights must be regarded 
 by the Government of the United States, when 
 they affect American citizens, as deliberately un- 
 friendly. ' ' 
 
 These were the closing words of the American 
 note of July 21. A month has passed and Ger- 
 many has yet given no answer, unless the sinking 
 of the Arabic can be so construed. The intervening 
 period has been free from submarine attacks af- 
 fecting Americans, and we were beginning to be- 
 lieve that Germany was endeavoring to avoid giv- 
 ing us further offense, by way of preparation for 
 a response to our note that would be friendly and 
 conciliatory. The destruction of the Arabic dis- 
 abuses us and disappoints us. The evidence seems 
 to be conclusive that the Arabic was sunk without 
 warning, and that most of her crew and passen- 
 gers were not destroyed was due wholly to rapid 
 and skillful work with her boats. No effort ap- 
 pears to have been made by the submarine to ren- 
 der assistance. No one, so far as reported, got a 
 glimpse of the assassin. It began and ended its 
 work in concealment, and left its victims to their 
 fate. 
 
 At this writing it is not positively known that 
 American lives were lost, although at least two of 
 the twenty-nine Americans who were on board are 
 missing. But in view of the facts that the Arabic 
 
34 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 was primarily a passenger boat; was westward 
 bound, and therefore could have had no cargo that, 
 even from the German standpoint, would justify 
 an attack ; and that Americans might be presumed 
 to be among its passengers, it is difficult to see 
 anything but deliberate unfriendliness in its de- 
 struction. 
 
 And then on September 1 Germany announced 
 its acceptance of the general principles of the 
 American contention. 
 
 Germany Yields. 
 
 (September 2, 1915.) 
 
 The official notice given to Secretary Lansing 
 yesterday by Ambassador Bernstorff marks, it 
 may be believed, the beginning of the end of our 
 difficulties with Germany. We have contended 
 from the first for the recognition of certain prin- 
 ciples involving rights which we held to be inalien- 
 able. Those principles have now been officially 
 accepted by Germany. " Liners/ ' says the am- 
 bassador's note, "will not be sunk by our subma- 
 rines without warning and without safety of the 
 lives of noncombatants. ' ' That is to say that here- 
 after no trans- Atlantic ships will be sunk as was 
 the Lusitania, but due notice of attack will be 
 given and the safety of the passengers and crew 
 provided for. It remains but to arrive at a satis- 
 factory understanding as to the reparation for 
 acts committed in violation of that principle, and 
 that will be a matter of diplomatic negotiation that 
 can now be carried forward in an amicable spirit. 
 
THE LUSITANIA 35 
 
 That this is a victory, a great victory, for the 
 United States, for the American people, and for 
 President Wilson, cannot be disputed. We could 
 very easily have been drawn into a war over this 
 matter. All the elements of a conflagration were 
 present and it needed but the touching of a match 
 to set the countries aflame. That the match was 
 not struck is largely due to the calm, deliberate 
 course of the president. Firmly, courageously and 
 skillfully he upheld the cause of the government, 
 and the cause of humanity, and he won, as he de- 
 served to win. For right was on his side. There 
 was never for a moment a doubt of that in the 
 minds of the people of this country. We opposed 
 the German method of submarine warfare not 
 from selfish interests, but because it was wrong in 
 principle, a wrong against civilization ; a violation 
 not merely of our rights, but of human rights, the 
 rights of all people, the rights of Germany herself. 
 And Germany will one day thank us. 
 
 So ended the first chapter of our controversy 
 with Germany over the submarine warfare. It was 
 a surrender that postponed our entry into the war 
 more than a year, and it was received with great 
 relief throughout the country, for America was 
 still unwilling to abandon its policy of neutrality. 
 But the Lusitania was not forgotten, and the sym- 
 pathy for the cause of the allies that had been in- 
 creased by the nearness of our association with 
 them did not cease to be an active force. 
 
II. 
 
 THE APPROACH TO WAR. 
 
 America hoped that no more trouble would arise 
 from the submarines, and, indeed, there were no 
 violations of Germany's promise until the fol- 
 lowing March, when the Sussex was sunk. Mean- 
 while, however, we engaged in a brief controversy 
 with Austria-Hungary over the sinking of the An- 
 cona by an Austrian submarine in the Mediterra- 
 nean. This was ended satisfactorily to the United 
 States with a promise somewhat stronger than that 
 which Germany had given. But on February 10, 
 1916, the submarine issue was raised again by a 
 new ruling announced by Germany that after 
 February 29 submarine commanders would treat 
 armed merchantmen as auxiliary cruisers. 
 
 Germany's Latest Notice. 
 
 (February 12, 1916.) 
 
 Germany's notification of the world that it will 
 hereafter sink without warning any armed mer- 
 chant vessel its submarines may encounter con- 
 tains the implied promise to rescue crews and pas- 
 sengers of unarmed merchantmen. This would be 
 satisfactory to neutrals, except for the difficulty 
 submarine commanders may have in determining 
 whether a merchant vessel is armed or not. Sub- 
 marine commanders have, according to the admis- 
 sions of Germany and Austria, been guilty of er- 
 rors under much slighter difficulties. 
 
 If all vessels were disarmed the submarine would 
 
 36 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 37 
 
 still run the danger of being attacked by "ram- 
 ming/' a practice Germany complained much 
 about in the early discussion of the Lusitania. The 
 character of the cargo was also brought into that 
 dispute. The new order seems to ignore both of 
 these old contentions. Unofficial Washington dis- 
 patches indicate that our government may accept 
 this modification of existing international law to 
 the extent of warning American citizens not to 
 take passage on armed vessels. If there were abso- 
 lute certainty that no unarmed vessel would be at- 
 tacked, this would, in practice, put the submarine 
 on the same plane with cruisers, except that the 
 right to sink seized vessels would be exercised gen- 
 erally instead of only in emergencies. The prac- 
 tice of arming merchantmen is a survival of the 
 days when there was need of protection against pi- 
 rates. The guns are never used against an attack- 
 ing cruiser in time of war. 
 
 It is not likely that the entente allies, which 
 failed to respond to our recent suggestions of this 
 modification, will give heed to the Teutonic decla- 
 ration. Hence the United States cannot, without 
 shutting off foreign shipping, accept the declara- 
 tion as international law. If it should limit the 
 stay of armed merchantmen in our ports to twen- 
 ty-four hours, it would greatly hurt this country's 
 commerce. Warning citizens not to take passage 
 on armed merchantmen would be taken as a guar- 
 antee that passage on unarmed merchantmen 
 would be safe. But if any of these should be sunk 
 by mistake, the situation would be as bad as ever. 
 
38 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 The government took the position that merchant 
 ships had a right to carry arms for their defense 
 and our citizens had a right to travel on them. Then 
 began one of the most remarkable political strug- 
 gles in American history between the president 
 and Congress. A resolution was introduced in the 
 Senate by Senator Gore and in the House by Rep- 
 resentative McLemore warning American citizens 
 to refrain from traveling on armed ships and de- 
 claring that if they did travel on such ships it 
 would be at their own risk. The president was 
 bitterly attacked for the position he had taken, 
 particularly by the Democrats in Congress, and a 
 delegation from the House of Representatives vis- 
 ited him to enter a protest. ' ' I told the president, ' ' 
 said Speaker Clark, "that this warning resolution 
 would carry two to one if they ever got a chance 
 to vote." The Globe-Democrat agreed with the 
 president. 
 
 The Revolt of Congress. 
 
 (February 25, 1916.) 
 
 The president of the United States is confronted 
 by a situation that is virtually without precedent 
 in the history of American government. He is 
 threatened with a revolt of Congress directed by 
 the leaders of his own party, which is in numerical 
 control of that body, over a question of interna- 
 tional policy and at a critical point in the diplo- 
 matic negotiations. It is reported that he purposes 
 to "stand pat," and there are indications that if 
 he does so he will have the majority of the Repub- 
 lican members with him. The condition grows out 
 of Germany's notification that after February 29 it 
 will consider armed merchant vessels to be ships of 
 war and therefore subject to destruction without 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 39 
 
 notice. This is to set aside well-established princi- 
 ples of international law, principles which the 
 American Government has supported and adhered 
 to from its earliest days, and which have been defi- 
 nitely asserted during the present controversy. An 
 effort was made, it is true, to obtain an agreement 
 of the contending nations prohibiting merchant 
 vessels from carrying any armament whatsoever, 
 but, regardless of the doubtful wisdom of this at- 
 tempt to alter international law in the midst of 
 war, it emphasized the fact of the existence and 
 force of the law pertaining to such armament and 
 in no way abrogated it. The State Department cir- 
 cular of September 19, 1914, fully recognized the 
 right of a merchant vessel to carry arms for the 
 sole purpose of defense, provided that guns were 
 few in number, of not more than 6 inches caliber 
 and not mounted on the forward part of the ves- 
 sel, and it has maintained that principle in its cor- 
 respondence with Germany. 
 
 To recede from that position now would weaken 
 our whole case against Germany and would in- 
 volve us in controversies with other nations that 
 might be as serious as or more serious than the one 
 now troubling us. There is no reason yet to believe 
 that Germany will insist upon this new principle 
 to the point of war. That it is an effort upon its 
 part to evade future responsibility seems apparent, 
 but it is hardly probable that it expects this policy 
 to be sufficiently gainful to justify hostilities with 
 us in its defense. However that may be, we can- 
 not well deny the right of an American to travel 
 
40 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 upon any merchant ship that is actually such 
 within the accepted definitions of international 
 law. To do so would be to stultify ourselves, to 
 surrender a right common to citizens of every na- 
 tion, to retreat, as it were, under fire. The conduct 
 of diplomatic negotiations is the exclusive prerog- 
 ative of the president up to the point of treaty 
 ratification. The interference of Congress is more 
 likely to start a conflagration than to prevent one. 
 
 Congressional Hysteria. 
 
 (February 26, 1916.) 
 
 "The just rights of the citizens of any nation 
 cannot be maintained by their surrender," said 
 Senator Lodge the other day in an address to the 
 Senate on armed merchant ships. Either Ameri- 
 cans have a right to passage on any merchant ves- 
 sel, armed or unarmed, belligerent or neutral, or 
 they have not that right. This government has 
 maintained the right for a century or more, and it 
 is supported in its maintenance by the uniform 
 rulings of international law. The insistence upon 
 the recognition of this principle is the basis of all 
 our diplomatic controversies with Germany, and 
 that country has recognized it in effect. To warn 
 Americans to keep off of armed merchantmen is to 
 serve notice to the world that we are unable or un- 
 willing to take care of our own, and that we are 
 receding from a position involving not merely our 
 own rights, but the rights of neutral citizens 
 throughout the earth, because we are afraid of the 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 41 
 
 risk incurred by standing firm for the principle of 
 a free sea. 
 
 But, after all, is there any adequate reason for 
 the hysteria of Congress in this matter? None of 
 the British merchant ships sailing between this 
 country and England are armed, and the French 
 merchant ships are not armed at all, so that the 
 danger, if Germany actually puts its sinking order 
 into effect, will be limited to British ships plying 
 between ports wholly outside of the United States, 
 and therefore not likely to carry American passen- 
 gers. Moreover, although Germany has been ex- 
 ceedingly dilatory in coming to a definite agree- 
 ment in relation to submarine warfare, it has at no 
 time shown a hostile disposition toward the United 
 States, and the president is probably justified when 
 he expressed the belief that " explanations will 
 presently ensue which will put a different aspect 
 upon" the notification as to sinking armed mer- 
 chant ships without notice. It is to be remembered, 
 too, that submarine warfare against merchantmen 
 has not been at all active for some months, and 
 there is much reason to think that the purpose of 
 the notice is mainly psychological. If the Deim> 
 eratic leaders in Congress will remain calmly in 
 their seats we have no doubt that the situation will 
 be cleared without loss of American lives or Amer- 
 ican honor. 
 
 Senator Stone, chairman of the Committee on 
 Foreign Relations, wrote a letter to the president 
 in which he said : ' ' Much and deeply as I would 
 hate to radically disagree with you, I find it diffi- 
 
42 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 cult from my sense of duty and responsibility to 
 consent to plunge this nation into the vortex of 
 this world war," to which the president replied: 
 "For my part, I cannot consent to any abridg- 
 ment of the rights of American citizens in any re- 
 spect. The honor and self-respect of the nation are 
 involved. We covet peace and shall preserve it at 
 any cost but the loss of honor. ' ' And on February 
 29 he wrote to Mr. Pou, acting chairman of the 
 House Committee on Rules, urging ' * an early vote 
 upon the resolutions with regard to travel on armed 
 merchantmen, which have recently been so much 
 talked about, in order that there may be afforded 
 an immediate opportunity for full public discus- 
 sion and action upon them and that all doubts and 
 conjectures may be swept away and our foreign 
 policy once more cleared of damaging misunder- 
 standings. ' ' 
 
 Putting It Up to Congress. 
 
 (March 2, 1916.) 
 
 President Wilson is not seeking light for guid- 
 ance in asking the House to vote on the resolution 
 warning Americans against taking passage on mer- 
 chantmen armed for defensive purposes. He re- 
 cently indicated, in his note to Senator Stone, that 
 he will persevere in his course, demanding that ev- 
 ery right that belonged to American citizens at 
 the outset of the war, under international law, be 
 respected by belligerents. He does not expect the 
 House to vote against his maintenance of this posi- 
 tion. But the moral effect of the agitation of the 
 warning resolution has been pronouncedly bad, in 
 view of the prediction of Speaker Clark that it 
 would be adopted by a two-to-one vote if it ever 
 came to that stage in the House. It has made the 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 43 
 
 outside world feel that the country does not up- 
 hold the president. The members of the House 
 were elected after the war began, and it may be 
 argued, even as Mr. Bryan has argued on the sub- 
 ject of preparedness, that they have fresher cre- 
 dentials from the people than those held by the 
 president. 
 
 Sticklers for parliamentary etiquette object that 
 the president's letter was sent to the acting chair- 
 man of the House Committee on Rules instead of 
 to the chairman of the House Committee on For- 
 eign Affairs, to which the resolution was submitted. 
 But the president signified that immediate action 
 was essential and that this could be accomplished 
 only by the presentation of a special rule for a 
 vote. He does not ask a vague resolution of confi- 
 dence, which might be interpreted as a perfunc- 
 tory performance. He demands that the vote be di- 
 rectly on the subject of armed merchantmen. In 
 any ordinary matter the president might properly 
 be charged with trying to dictate to Congress. But 
 he finds himself embarrassed in the discharge of 
 his constitutional duties by the widely advertised 
 threat that Congress will antagonize a position he 
 has taken. Consequently he is justified in demand- 
 ing that the House act one way or the other on the 
 resolution, so that he may continue to speak on 
 foreign affairs without his authority being ques- 
 tioned. 
 
 On the 3rd of March the Senate voted to table 
 the Gore resolution by a vote of 68 to 14. 
 
44 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 Let the House Do Likewise. 
 
 (March 4, 1916.) 
 
 The action of the United States Senate yester- 
 day in tabling the Gore resolution, warning Amer- 
 icans to keep off of armed merchant ships of the 
 belligerents, by the decisive vote of 68 to 14, while 
 not a positive approval of the president 's policy, is 
 a definite announcement to the world that he is not 
 to be embarrassed by that body in the stand he has 
 taken in support of American rights upon the high 
 seas. It now remains for the House of Kepresenta- 
 tives to express itself in similar fashion, that the 
 governments at war may understand that the 
 United States is not divided against itself. Wheth- 
 er it will do so or not cannot be determined from 
 the information that comes out of Washington. 
 Speaker Clark's impolitic statement the other day 
 that the House would be two to one against the 
 president was probably an unconscious exaggera- 
 tion, and is less likely to be true now than then, for 
 the House leaders as well as their followers have 
 heard somewhat from the country in the meantime 
 and are not so much disposed to express their opin- 
 ions publicly as they were, even where they have 
 not modified them. 
 
 This whole movement of opposition seems to be 
 due to an inability to grasp the reasons for the 
 government's stand. The real question before Con- 
 gress, and before the country, is, "Shall the right 
 of American citizens to sail the open seas under all 
 conditions sanctioned by international law be up- 
 held ? ' ' Whether Americans ought or ought not to 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 45 
 
 sail upon armed merchant ships of the belligerents 
 is not the point. It is not a matter of expediency, 
 but of principle. The United States cannot go out 
 of business during a war between other nations. It 
 must ship its goods, and its people must travel for 
 many reasons of real necessity. They must be per- 
 mitted to sail upon any merchant ships that offer 
 them passage, and they must be protected in their 
 rights so to sail. To relinquish that right in the 
 present exigency, or in any other, is to establish a 
 precedent most dangerous to our future welfare. 
 Such a warning as that proposed would be in effect 
 a notice to the world that we abandon the right of 
 passage in the face of danger. 
 
 As to the matter of offensive or defensive arma- 
 ment on merchant ships, that is a question of fact 
 to be determined in each individual instance that 
 may arise. A merchant ship armed for attack, or 
 that if, defensively armed, resists capture by an 
 enemy war vessel, forfeits the rights of its passen- 
 gers. If American lives are lost under such cir- 
 cumstances, our government has no recourse. The 
 right the president is contending for extends only 
 to ships defensively armed, and it cannot apply to 
 those if their arms are used in violation of interna- 
 tional law. 
 
 The House Committee on Foreign Affairs, fol- 
 lowing the action of the Senate, reported back the 
 McLemore resolution with the recommendation 
 that it be tabled because "Under the practice and 
 precedent in this country the conduct of diplomat- 
 ic negotiations has been left with the president, 
 
46 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 and with this practice the committee does not feel 
 it proper for the House of Representatives to inter- 
 fere/ ' The Globe-Democrat was not satisfied with 
 this, desiring a more definite and positive stand, 
 which seemed to be particularly needed in view of 
 the doubt as to the actual effect of the Senate 's ac- 
 tion. But the House on March 7 passed the com- 
 mittee resolution tabling the McLemore resolution 
 by a vote of 276 to 142. 
 
 A Negative Victory. 
 
 (March 8, 1916.) 
 
 The action of the House of Representatives in 
 tabling the McLemore resolution warning Ameri- 
 cans from armed belligerent ships is a victory for 
 the president, for constitutional methods of pro- 
 cedure, and, in a way, for the American people. It 
 is not, however, the sort of action that should have 
 been, or should be, taken by an American Con- 
 gress. It is, like that of the Senate, a negative pro- 
 ceeding that amounts merely to a declination to 
 act in opposition to the president's policy in this 
 particular matter. It is neither an expression of 
 approval nor of disapproval of that policy. There 
 is nothing in it to reveal the true feeling of Con- 
 gress. It simply stands aside and, for the moment, 
 permits the president to proceed without congres- 
 sional interference upon the course he has laid out 
 and which it is his constitutional right to fix. 
 There is no assurance that Congress will not yet 
 interfere, no certainty that the question will not 
 be raised again. It is so far satisfactory that it re- 
 lieves the country for the time being from an em- 
 barrassing and unprecedented situation, and 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 47 
 
 should dash the hopes of those who saw in the sit- 
 uation the possibility of the development of condi- 
 tions inimical to the interests of the United States. 
 The issue was one that should never have arisen 
 in Congress. Whatever may be said of the presi- 
 dent's foreign policy, and the Globe-Democrat has 
 been, and is, one of his severest critics, it cannot be 
 said that he has been disposed toward war. No sat- 
 isfactory reason has yet been given for the sudden 
 alarm in the Senate and House, and it is difficult to 
 understand the feelings that brought forth the 
 warning resolutions and the threatened revolt of 
 the Democratic leaders. But even if the danger 
 had been real and immediate the passage of the 
 resolutions would have accomplished nothing but 
 the humiliation of the nation. Americans who had 
 business on the seas would have sailed on them, 
 notwithstanding, if not from our own ports, from 
 others, and if they had been destroyed the govern- 
 ment would have had to demand reparation or else 
 present to the world the spectacle of a great and 
 powerful country repudiating the just rights of it3 
 citizens and abandoning an important principle 
 for reasons of expediency. 
 
 It was not a satisfactory settlement of the issue, 
 but it put an end to an embarrassing and danger- 
 ous situation and served to impress the people with 
 the continuing difficulties of our position as a neu- 
 tral people. It was hardly out of the way when 
 the submarine question was again raised by the 
 torpedoing on March 24 of the French passenger 
 steamer Sussex in the English Channel. Twenty- 
 five of the several hundred passengers were Amer 
 
48 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 icans. This was immediately followed by the sink- 
 ing of the steamer Englishman with Americans on 
 board. 
 
 Another Submarine Crisis. 
 
 (March 27, 1916.) 
 
 Hopes that the retirement of Admiral von Tir- 
 pitz as German minister of marine meant a modi- 
 fication of submarine warfare on merchantmen are 
 shattered by the torpedoing of the Sussex and the 
 Englishman, following the sinking of the Dutch 
 liner Tubantia and the attack on the French ves- 
 sel, the Patria. All the accounts of the disaster to 
 the Sussex, which attracts greatest attention be- 
 cause of the number of fatalities, indicate that the 
 vessel, which was bound from Folkestone, Eng- 
 land, to Dieppe, France, was torpedoed. The evi- 
 dence is not absolutely conclusive as to this, but 
 there is abundant proof that if the Sussex was tor- 
 pedoed no warning was given. Much of the loss of 
 life arose from a panic among the passengers. It is 
 possible that more of the passengers might have 
 been rescued if there had been better discipline. 
 But criticism of the crew is forgotten in the horror 
 with which the primary responsibility for the ca- 
 tastrophe is regarded. 
 
 Several Americans lost their lives. Some were 
 on errands of mercy, to join the ambulance corps 
 in France. Some were on business. Some may have 
 been "joyriders," as passengers on belligerent ves- 
 sels have been flippantly called. But all were with- 
 in the law, as announced by Secretary Bryan in his 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 49 
 
 note of February 10, 1915, and often reasserted. 
 They were not on battleships or transports, but on 
 a channel passenger vessel. Under the law, as it 
 has existed for two centuries, they appear to have 
 been wantonly murdered. Washington must pa- 
 tiently await full information. If the facts are 
 found to be as they now seem, more drastic action 
 must be taken than heretofore. This country can- 
 not be put off forever with perfidious promises. If 
 the central powers wish to maintain friendly rela- 
 tions with the United States they must give some 
 evidence of friendliness. Their diplomatic assur- 
 ances of friendship have been so strong that it is 
 difficult to believe that the Sussex was torpedoed 
 by imperial orders. 
 
 Germany denied that the Sussex had been at- 
 tacked by a submarine, but after several weeks ' in- 
 vestigation the president became convinced that it 
 was a deliberate German offense, and, having dis- 
 patched a note to that effect to the German Gov- 
 ernment, he went before Congress and presented 
 the facts. The note amounted to an ultimatum, 
 and on its warning was based the declaration of 
 war that came a year later. 
 
 America and Germany. 
 
 (April 20, 1916.) 
 
 "Unless the Imperial German Government 
 should immediately declare and effect an abandon- 
 ment of the present methods of warfare against 
 passenger and freight carrying vessels, this gov- 
 ernment can have no choice but to sever diplomatic 
 
50 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 relations with the Government of the German Em- 
 pire altogether. ' ' 
 
 Such were the words in which President Wilson 
 yesterday announced to the joint assembly of Con- 
 gress the position and intent of the American Gov- 
 ernment with respect to German submarine war- 
 fare. It is in the nature of an ultimatum, declar- 
 ing action of an unfriendly nature to be inevitable 
 unless the course that provokes it is immediately 
 abandoned. There is no time limit set, but the 
 word "immediate" is specific. There is no demand 
 for a modification of submarine warfare, but for a 
 definite abandonment, a complete cessation, of its 
 present methods. 
 
 The president's address to Congress is a plain 
 yet eloquent statement of a series of facts that are 
 eloquent in themselves. He reviews the events of 
 the past fifteen months in relation to submarine 
 warfare upon merchant vessels, and the continu- 
 ous efforts of the American Government to effect 
 a friendly agreement that would confine such war- 
 fare to the established rules of international law 
 and to a recognition of the rights of neutrals upon 
 the high seas. He points to the solemn assurances 
 repeatedly given by the German Government that 
 passenger ships, at least, would not be destroyed, 
 and to the repeated disregard of these assurances 
 by German submarine commanders. He calls at- 
 tention to the growing extent and increasing feroc- 
 ity of this warfare which does not confine itself to 
 the vessels of belligerents, but includes those of 
 neutral nations, and even those plying between 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 51 
 
 neutral ports. "And the roll of Americans who 
 have lost their lives on ships thus attacked and de- 
 stroyed,' ' he adds with concise emphasis, "has 
 grown month by month until the ominous toll has 
 mounted into hundreds. ' ' 
 
 The Sussex is linked with the Lusitania as an in- 
 stance "so singularly tragical and unjustifiable as 
 to constitute a truly terrible example of the inhu- 
 manity of submarine warfare as the commanders 
 of German vessels have for the past twelve months 
 been conducting it." No doubt is expressed of 
 German guilt in the case of the Sussex, and no ref- 
 erence is made in the address to the fantastic re- 
 port of the German Government in regard to this 
 vessel, but the note itself pronounces the evidence 
 conclusive. 
 
 But the tenor of the entire address is the impos- 
 sibility of carrying on submarine war against ves- 
 sels of commerce without violation of the rights of 
 neutrals and the principles of humanity. It eon- 
 cedes the sincerity of the German Government in 
 its explanations and assurances, but points to the 
 record as incontestable proof that such warfare 
 cannot be conducted in observance of these rights 
 and with adherence to these principles, and there- 
 fore demands its abolishment. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to say that the people of 
 the United States will indorse the president's 
 words and will support whatever action may be 
 necessary for the protection of American rights 
 and the preservation of American honor. We do 
 not desire a war with Germany, or with any other 
 
52 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 nation, and we may hope that even a severance of 
 diplomatic relations will not lead to that dread 
 eventuality, but the destruction of American lives 
 in the sinking of peaceful ships of commerce is in- 
 tolerable, and the government would be false to its 
 trust if it did not take vigorous action when meas- 
 ures of diplomacy have been exhausted, as they 
 seem to have been in this case. No one can say that 
 America has been hasty. No one can say that it 
 has not been patient under great provocation. But 
 there is a limit to just forbearance, and that limit 
 appears to have been reached in our relations with 
 Germany. 
 
 In reply to this the German Government on May 
 4 admitted that the Sussex might have been sunk 
 by a submarine and stated that "German naval 
 forces have received the following orders: In ac- 
 cordance with the general principles of visit and 
 search and destruction of merchant vessels recog- 
 nized by international law, such vessels, both with- 
 in and without the area declared as naval war zone, 
 shall not be sunk without warning and without 
 saving human lives, unless those ships attempt to 
 escape or offer resistance. ' ' 
 
 Germany's Answer. 
 
 (May 6, 1916.) 
 
 The German note thunders somewhat loudly in 
 the index, probably for home influence, but the 
 core of its answer is in the new instructions said to 
 have been given to its naval commanders. These 
 instructions direct that merchant vessels, "both 
 within and without the area declared a war zone, 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 53 
 
 shall not be sunk without warning and without 
 saving human lives, unless ships attempt to escape 
 or offer resistance." Nothing is said about vessels 
 being armed or unarmed, and it may be assumed, 
 therefore, that Germany has abandoned the prin- 
 ciple set forth in its last preceding declaration that 
 all armed merchant vessels would be considered 
 auxiliaries and subject to sinking without notice. 
 In its note of May 13, 1915, our government said 
 that "no warning that an unlawful act will be 
 committed can possibly be accepted as an excuse 
 or palliation for that act, ' ' but it has also conceded 
 that refusal to stop when ordered to do so for the 
 purpose of inspection, or actual resistance to cap- 
 ture, constituted a legal justification for attack. It 
 has, however, never accepted the position that mer- 
 chant ships not resisting and not attempting to es- 
 cape could be legally sunk indiscriminately even 
 though warning was given and lives saved. But as 
 loss of life has been the chief source of irritation, it 
 seems probable that if "Germany had put such an 
 order as it now declares has been issued into effect 
 at the beginning of its submarine campaign, and 
 enforced it, our relations would not be now in dan- 
 ger of severance. 
 
 Whether the American Government will consid- 
 er this modification of the German submarine war- 
 fare a sufficient concession to its demands remains 
 to be seen. If these instructions could be enforced 
 to the letter the chief ground of our complaint 
 would be removed, but it must be remembered that 
 the burden of the president's condemnation was 
 
54 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 the apparent inability of the German Government 
 * ' so 1 to order and control the acts of its naval com- 
 manders as to square its policy with the recog- 
 nized principles of humanity as embodied in the 
 law of nations." It is also to be considered that 
 these instructions are conditioned upon our de- 
 mand for the observance of international law by 
 Great Britain and upon its acquiescence to that de- 
 mand. That this government can accept such a 
 condition is hardly conceivable. It is possible that 
 the concession made may open a way to a continu- 
 ance of relations, and if those relations, which 
 have never yet been broken, can be continued with 
 honor we earnestly hope that they may; but the 
 tenor of the note that bears the concession is not 
 conducive to friendliness, the conditions that ac- 
 company it are not agreeable, and the patience of 
 the government and of the people has about 
 reached its limit. 
 
 The United States on May 8 replied, declining to 
 entertain the conditions as to Great Britain, but 
 accepting the German Government's "declaration 
 of its abandonment of the policy which has so seri- 
 ously menaced the good relations between the two 
 countries. ' ' 
 
 Our Reply to Germany. 
 
 (May 9, 1916.) 
 
 If the German note of May 4 had made the un- 
 conditional promises that the prompt American re- 
 ply assumes it did, there would have been no neces- 
 sity for any response except a felicitous accept- 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 55 
 
 ance. The American reply is admirably phrased, 
 although supersensitive Germans may feel that the 
 references, "the future," "now happily aban- 
 doned," "newly announced policy" and "now al- 
 tered policy," unduly emphasize American disa- 
 greement with German professions as to the care 
 shown by submarine commanders in the past. Our 
 note assumes that the German definition of mer- 
 chant vessels coincides with that of the United 
 States. It also assumes that the determination to 
 impose upon all commanders at sea "the limita- 
 tions of the recognized rules of international law 
 upon which the Government of the United States 
 has insisted ' ' is unconditional, in spite of the allu- 
 sions to the possibility that the German Govern- 
 ment, in event that "steps taken by the Govern- 
 ment of the United States should not attain the ob- 
 ject it desires, to have the laws of humanity fol- 
 lowed by all belligerent nations," would then be 
 facing "a new situation in which it must reserve 
 to itself complete liberty of decision. ' ' The Amer- 
 ican reply sums up the impossibility of agreeing to 
 a conditional acceptance of the principles for 
 which this country has contended when it says: 
 "Responsibility in such matters is single, not 
 joint; absolute, not relative." 
 
 The American reply does well to avoid all inci- 
 dental matters and confine its scope to the single 
 question, put in the form of an assumption, as to 
 whether Germany has yielded to our demands un- 
 conditionally. We cannot even promise to be more 
 vigorous with other belligerents without implying 
 
56 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 that we have been negligent heretofore. fThat the 
 British have modified some of their practices, sus- 
 piciously timed in announcement, will make it 
 easier for Germany to confirm our assumption of 
 its meaning. The reply shows that President Wil- 
 son is not eager to sever relations with Germany, 
 but that he is firm in his defense of the rights of 
 citizens of the United States upon the high seas, 
 which cannot be violated with impunity by one na- 
 tion on the ground that another is violating them 
 in some other respect. 
 
 So ended our second serious controversy with 
 Germany over submarine warfare. Through the 
 remainder of the year Germany adhered to the 
 agreement and America was permitted to concen- 
 trate its thought and attention upon other issues. 
 It had a national campaign to wrestle with, a great 
 labor problem and a state of war with Mexico, hi 
 all of which the Globe-Democrat was resolutely 
 opposed to the administration. It was not until 
 after the election that the submarine began again 
 to disturb us. On the 28th of November we print- 
 ed the following editorial : 
 
 Another Submarine Scare. 
 
 Rumors of a revival of unbridled submarine 
 warfare on merchant vessels persist, although 
 nothing in the way of plausible proof has yet been 
 offered;. The last set of rumors began when Am- 
 bassador Gerard returned to the United States on 
 leave. A New York newspaper man who returned 
 from Germany about the same time was very posi- 
 tive in his declaration that the Von Tirpitz party 
 was again influential in the German Government 
 
THE APPROACH TO W.AR 57 
 
 and that a discussion of the threatened revival of 
 attacks by submarines without warning was Mr. 
 Gerard's real mission. He insisted on his theory 
 in the face of a positive public denial by the am- 
 bassador. He is doubtless sincere, but it is possi- 
 ble that an American newspaper man might be 
 misled in Germany. Occasionally one even gets an 
 erroneous impression of domestic affairs. 
 
 The rumors rested for some time, but were re- 
 vived in New York Saturday. They took on a 
 more definite character Sunday night. It was re- 
 ported that some fighting German submarines were 
 already nearing the eastern coast of the United 
 States and warnings were flashed to all vessels. 
 Secretary Lansing expresses the suspicion that the 
 rumors were inspired by sinister motives. They 
 have had an effect on the market, whether so in- 
 tended or not. The bears may not be responsible 
 for the rumors, but they have been profiting from 
 their circulation. The belief in the danger has 
 also aided certain ocean insurance agencies. 
 
 The renewal of the Von Tirpitz policy is possi- 
 ble. Germany has not made any permanent pledge 
 on the subject. But there are no indications that 
 it contemplates such a move. The recent official 
 change in the government denotes increasing 
 friendliness to the United States, for Zimmerman 
 has always opposed Von Tirpitz. The central pow- 
 ers are greatly pleased over the military situation 
 in the East. Nothing but desperation would drive 
 them to break with the United States, and they 
 seem to be enjoying a new confidence.' 
 
58 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 There was foundation for these rumors, however. 
 On January 31, 1917, Germany announced that "a 
 new situation has been created which forces Ger- 
 many to new decisions'' and gave notice of the re- 
 sumption of unrestricted submarine warfare. 
 
 Germany's Declaration. 
 
 (February 2, 1917.) 
 
 The German Government has announced to the 
 , United States, and through it to the world, that it 
 has adopted as its rule of conduct on the seas that 
 ancient saying, Necessity knows no law. It has for. 
 mally declared to this government that beginning 
 today an unrestricted submarine warfare .will be 
 waged against the ships of all nations coming into 
 the waters of defined zones around Great Britain. 
 France and Italy and in the Eastern Mediterra- 
 nean. "The Imperial Government," it says, after 
 reviewing the events of the past few weeks, ' ' must 
 now continue the war of existence, once more 
 forced upon it, by using its weapons. The Impe- 
 rial Government is therefore forced to do away 
 with the restrictions which until now it has im- 
 posed upon the use of its fighting means on the 
 sea." It requests the American Government to 
 warn American ships from entering the barred 
 zones and its citizens from taking passage on ves- 
 sels bound for such zones. 
 
 We are thus again confronted by the submarine 
 question, which we had hoped was definitely and 
 finally settled. This time, however, it is presented 
 in such shape that there seems little probability of 
 a continuance of friendly relations between this 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 59 
 
 country and Germany. That government deliber- 
 ately sets aside the promise it has made to us in 
 relation to the conduct of submarine warfare, and 
 tells us that from now on our ships and our people 
 sail the seas at their peril. It tells us that it has 
 entered upon an "unrestricted" policy of destruc- 
 tion within the war zone, and that all ships, neu- 
 tral or enemy, merchant or naval, armed or un- 
 armed, will be sunk. It is to be presumed that they 
 are to be destroyed without warning and without 
 effort tot save lives, for these were "restrictions" 
 insisted upon by the United States Government. 
 It tells us in effect that we must abandon all inter- 
 course with the greater part of Europe; that no 
 respect will be paid to the American flag or to 
 American citizenship, and that, if we venture with- 
 in this zone, ships and goods and lives that belong 
 to us will be destroyed with the same certainty as 
 the ships and lives of its avowed enemies. It is a 
 program of utter and unrelieved ruthlessness. It 
 offers no opportunity for modification, no opening 
 for argument. It is a defiance — courteous, excul- 
 patory, regretful, but none the less a defiance. 
 
 The American Government expressed this atti- 
 tude in the Sussex case : " If it is still the purpose 
 of the Imperial Government to prosecute relent- 
 less warfare against vessels of commerce by the 
 use of submarines without regard to what the 
 United States must consider the sacred and indis- 
 putable rules of international law and the univer- 
 sally recognized dictates of humanity, the Govern- 
 ment of the United States is at last forced to the 
 
60 THE WORLD WAft 
 
 conclusion that there is but one course it can pur- 
 sue. * * * The Government of the United States 
 can have no choice but to sever diplomatic rela- 
 tions with the German Empire altogether/ ' That 
 warning resulted in the adoption of restrictions 
 acceptable to the United States. Those restric- 
 tions, and all restrictions, are now removed, and 
 removed in such a way that the avenues for pro- 
 test or further negotiations seem absolutely 
 closed. There appears to be but two things the 
 American Government can do — stop all inter- 
 course with the belligerent countries, or make 
 good the warning in the Sussex case. Either arm 
 of the dilemma is burdened with regret. A great 
 responsibility rests upon President Wilson. 
 
 The president did not hesitate. His response 
 was an immediate rupture of diplomatic relations. 
 
 The Severance of Old Ties. 
 
 (February 4, 1917.) 
 
 The president has done the only thing that in 
 honor could be done under the circumstances. To 
 have retained friendly relations with Germany 
 after the notice of January 31, issued in deliberate 
 defiance of our warning in the Sussex case, would 
 have been a shameful subservience to the dictates 
 of a form of prudence that is difficult to distin- 
 guish from cowardice. It would have been a with- 
 drawal from the righteous position taken by us at 
 the beginning of the submarine controversy; an 
 abandonment of American rights, and of the rights 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 61 
 
 of all humanity, upon the high seas ; a surrender of 
 principles of international justice and equity that 
 are essential to international intercourse ; an abase- 
 ment of a nation that has faced every difficulty 
 that has confronted it in its career with dignity 
 and courage. Germany knew and had weighed the 
 consequences of its decision to abandon the rules 
 of law and the principles of humanity. It expect- 
 ed nothing less than the severance of those rela- 
 tions, relations of blood as well as of commercial 
 and political interest, that have bound the two 
 countries together from their beginnings. It had 
 counted the cost, immediate and future, of thi3 
 breaking of immemorial ties ; the cost of our enmi- 
 ty, passive or active ; and it deliberately abandoned 
 the sentiments of friendship, the policies of mutual 
 interest, the solemn promises it had made, and the 
 instincts of humanity, to embark upon a course of 
 ruthless and indiscriminate destruction. There 
 could be but one answer to this, and the president 
 has given it. 
 
 The severance of diplomatic relations is a for- 
 mality by which one nation expresses displeasure 
 with the conduct of another without going to the 
 length of active hostility. It is not necessarily a 
 preliminary to war. It has occurred without seri- 
 ous consequences. But when it grows out of a con- 
 tinuing offense, when the offending nation an- 
 nounces its determination to persist in its offenses 
 and to commit them with greater frequency and 
 violence than before, there can be little hope for a 
 maintenance of passive conditions. With that na- 
 
62 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 tion hurling itself in berserker rage upon the com- 
 merce of all countries, including our own, destroy- 
 ing the ships, the goods and the lives of friend and 
 foe indiscriminately, it is unreasonable to expect 
 that we can avoid a state of war, although actual 
 conflict of proportions may be prevented by the 
 peculiar circumstances that exist. 
 
 The president has spoken with the voice of the 
 American people. There is, there can be, no sig- 
 nificant opposition to the stand he has taken, and, 
 having taken it, the country will be behind him as 
 one man in support of the consequences, whatever 
 they may be. And yet there is no gladness in its 
 feeling. Anger there is that this should be brought 
 to pass, but it is an anger mixed with sorrow and 
 regret. America does not seek war. It has no am- 
 bitions that war can assist. It would much prefer 
 to be the friend of all nations, particularly of a 
 nation whose blood is so plentifully and richly 
 mingled with its own. We have endeavored 
 through two years of unexampled patience and 
 forbearance to maintain our friendship with Ger- 
 many. That it is now broken is due to no act, no 
 word, of ours. Yet it is broken, and no one can 
 now say to what the break will lead. The immedi- 
 ate future is filled with possibilities that only the 
 young and heedless can contemplate with pleas- 
 ure. But whatever it holds, the American people 
 will meet with the courage, the fidelity and the 
 loyalty that has ever distinguished them. 
 
[ THE APPROACH TO WAR 63 
 
 Germany's Great Mistake. 
 
 (February 6, 1917.) 
 
 This war is likely to see the ending, as it has seen 
 the beginning, of the submarine as a commerce de- 
 stroyer. A certain consequence of the war will be 
 the formulation of international laws relating to 
 the conduct of war which will be more definite 
 and their observance more effectively insured than 
 at present or in the past. The experiences of this 
 conflict will lead to drastic regulations such as 
 have been unknown before, for never before has 
 the need for such regulations been so forcibly im- 
 pressed upon the world; and in the unity of na- 
 tions that must follow this cataclysm the necessity 
 for clearly defined laws will be fully realized and 
 some means provided for enforcing them. In that 
 international legislation it is inconceivable that 
 the submarine should be recognized as a permissi- 
 ble arm of the military power for use against 
 commerce. It is in its very nature a violation of the 
 rules of civilized warfare and any effective use of 
 it outside the field of strictly naval combat, where 
 its attack may be expected and some measure of 
 defense provided, is in essential violation of the 
 humanitarian principles that have been generally 
 observed in most modern wars until the present. 
 
 No euphony can disguise the fact that the sub- 
 marine is an assassin. It steals upon its victim un- 
 awares and discharges its fatal bolt without warn- 
 ing. It operates from concealment and in compar- 
 ative immunity from danger. It needs but to lift 
 
64 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 a tiny periscope above the surface of the water to 
 guide its course or its aim, and if seen and attacked 
 it can sink to the depths where it cannot be fol- 
 lowed. It is difficult to justify its use against ships 
 of war ; against commerce it should have no stand- 
 ing or recognition. As a commerce destroyer it 
 should be put eternally outside the law of nations. 
 To Germany, which is the first nation, as, we think, 
 it will be the last, to put it into operation against 
 the noncombatant vessels of the sea, it has brought 
 nothing and can bring nothing but disaster. Its 
 use has aroused against that country the indigna- 
 tion of the world, and an opposition, passive or ac- 
 tive, that promises to become, if it has not already 
 become, equally universal. Nations as well as indi- 
 viduals must fight fair, else they lose the respect of 
 all observers. Submarine warfare upon commerce 
 is not fair fighting and it cannot be made fair. If 
 the world is to advance it must be absolutely and 
 forever abolished. 
 
 The question now arose as to the policy to be 
 adopted by the government for the protection of 
 our commerce from the enemy. 
 
 Protection for American Ships. 
 
 (February 14, 1917.) 
 
 Now that the days of grace given neutral vessels 
 in the so-called war zone have expired, according to 
 Germany's official announcement, it is time for the 
 adoption of the American policy relative to pro- 
 tecting American vessels in their international 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 65 
 
 rights. Inspired statements declare that the presi- 
 dent purposes to ask Congress for authority to 
 take whatever steps he may choose, short of war, to 
 extend such protection. It would be more consist- 
 ent with the theory of division of governmental 
 powers* under our constitution for Congress to pass 
 upon a formal program, if the president expects to 
 use any methods outside of diplomacy or some oth- 
 er realm within the presidential prerogative. But 
 if Congress chooses to empower the president to 
 use his own judgment, it doubtless has that right. 
 
 The main thing is the speedy adoption of a pol- 
 icy, so as to relieve the intolerable conditions 
 brought on by the German threat. The whole 
 country is suffering from the congestion of freight 
 in the railway yards at various ports. Belligerent 
 vessels have sailed, some under convoy, but most 
 American ships are tied up, waiting for " some- 
 thing to happen/ ' If this status could be pre- 
 served, the theoretical assertion of American rights 
 would be meaningless. Germany would have its 
 way just as effectually as if the Government of the 
 United States had accepted unrestricted submarine 
 warfare as within international law. Germany has 
 not resumed its policy merely for the pleasure its 
 submarine commanders may derive from sinking 
 ships. Its purpose is to prevent vessels taking sup- 
 plies to the enemy. If it can accomplish that by 
 intimidation it will be well pleased. 
 
 If there is to be a practical embargo on Ameri- 
 can vessels, the sooner the fact is known the bet- 
 ter. Business could then accommodate itself to it. 
 
66 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 It is the duty of Washington to act at once. The 
 delay makes our diplomatic attitude worse than 
 useless. Assertion of a right that cannot he exer- 
 cised would be childish enough, but it would not 
 entail the unnecessary losses to business the pres- 
 ent uncertainty is daily causing. 
 
 Plainly the proper course to pursue was to main- 
 tain the right to navigation, and if this were done 
 the arming of merchant ships for defensive war- 
 tare against submarines seemed to be an essential 
 action. The term of the existing Congress was 
 about to expire, and this paper believed the new 
 Congress should be called into session at once to 
 handle the grave questions of the war that was 
 rapidly nearing. There was an impression abroad. 
 which we shared at the time, that the president 
 would not call an extra session if it could be 
 avoided, and this feeling was strengthened by his 
 sudden appeal to Congress, within less than a 
 week of its expiration, for authority to supply the 
 ships with arms, an authority he already had and 
 later exercised. 
 
 The President's Message. 
 
 (February 27, 1917.) 
 
 The president asks an expiring Congress to do 
 that which he admits he already has the right to 
 do. "I wish to feel," he says, in explanation of 
 this request, "that the authority and the power of 
 the Congress are behind me in whatever it may be- 
 come necessary for me to do. We are jointly the 
 servants of the people and must act together and 
 in their spirit so far as we can divine and interpret 
 it." Within a week the Congress to which he ap- 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 67 
 
 peals will have neither authority nor power. On 
 the 4th of March it passes out of existence; and the 
 things he asks for specific statutory power to do 
 will be done, if done at all, when it has ceased to 
 be * ( the servant of the people, ' ' when he and it can 
 no longer "act together' ' in the spirit of the peo- 
 ple or in any spirit whatsoever. The new Congress 
 was elected with the thought of the people upon 
 the conditions that now exist, and may be pre- 
 sumed to be truly representative of the views and 
 desires of the people in relation to the situation the 
 president discusses, but unless he chooses to call it 
 into special session it will be forced to remain si- 
 lent and inactive until next December, while the 
 president, under the authority no doubt to be 
 granted by a dead Congress, and given to him by 
 the constitution, conducts the affairs of the gov- 
 ernment absolutely alone, in one of the most 
 critical periods in its history. 
 
 The president's request is for authority to sup- 
 ply merchant ships with defensive arms, "should 
 that become necessary," and with the means of 
 using them, ' ' and to employ any other instrumen- 
 talities or methods that may be necessary and ade- 
 quate to protect our ships and our people in their 
 legitimate and peaceful pursuits on the sea. ' ' He 
 also asks for a sufficient credit "to enable me to 
 provide adequate means of protection where they 
 are lacking. ' ' All this would indicate a purpose to 
 do something for our protection were it not virtu- 
 ally nullified by his assurances of inaction. I want 
 to be fully empowered to do what I think best, he 
 
68 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 says in effect, but I am not going to do anything at 
 all if I can avoid it. He speaks of an ' ' armed neu- 
 trality " as a dire possibility, but there seems noth- 
 ing in the term but a buckling on of a sword for a 
 siesta in a rocking chair. It suggests gold-laced 
 warriors gazing calmly out of club windows, and 
 even that is spoken of as a dernier ressort, the ul- 
 timate of our intentions. 
 
 There is nothing in the address that indicates a 
 firm and unfaltering purpose to uphold the rights 
 of American citizenship, nothing that promises 
 certain action for the maintenance of American 
 honor, nothing to impress the German Govern- 
 ment with the strength of American spirit and 
 American determination. We do not fear the pos- 
 itive acts of Mr. Wilson when Congress adjourns 
 and he is left the single solitary power upon which 
 we must depend. We are quite sure that he will 
 not rush us into war. Our fear is that, in the ab- 
 sence of any advisers whom the people can trust, 
 he will do things to delay or prevent positive ac- 
 tion that might prove disastrous to our self-respect, 
 to our place in the ranks of nations, and to the 
 preservation of our international rights. 
 
 In response to this appeal of the president bills 
 were introduced in the Senate and House giving 
 the president the authority he asked for, but the 
 Globe-Democrat still urged an extra session. 
 
 An Extra Session Needed. 
 
 (March 3, 1917.) 
 
 The president took a tactical advantage of Con- 
 gress in the matter of an extra session by asking it 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 69 
 
 to grant him certain powers in a crisis, knowing 
 that it could not refuse his request without leaving 
 an impression that the country was divided on a 
 question affecting the national honor. We all know 
 that under such a test Americanism arises supreme 
 over party, faction or pride of personal opinion. 
 But there will be nothing in the response of Con- 
 gress which will impair the validity of the argu- 
 ment that Congress should be in session during a 
 time of such international uncertainty. We have 
 no right to assume that any one man will be ade- 
 quate to meet any conceivable emergency. The 
 whole theory of our government is against such an 
 assumption. 
 
 It is amazing that the president himself does not 
 see this. It would be to his advantage to have Con- 
 gress always backing him up. It would give the 
 best assurance of unity of American opinion. If 
 the president, acting under blanket authority, 
 should try some experiment that did not appeal to 
 the popular judgment, it would be impossible to 
 prevent free discussion. He might not be in a po- 
 sition fully to show his hand. There is no way to 
 hold an executive session of the American people. 
 Believers in the president's omniscience might 
 have faith enough to give support, sight or unseen, 
 but there would be millions who would be worried. 
 But if Congress were in session and leaders of ail 
 shades of thought, acting on confidential informa- 
 tion, should rally to the president's support, all 
 bickerings would cease. All Americans would then 
 
70 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 know thai the safety or the honor of the nation de- 
 manded the step. 
 
 The president need not distrust Congress; It will 
 not fail in a crisis. But it has a right to know what 
 is being done and at least to pass on proposals it 
 does not initiate. It is still a part of OUT scheme of 
 
 government. Representative government has not 
 broken down in America. We are not yet ready 
 for a dictatorship. Such an extraordinary situa- 
 tion exists, in the meaning of the constitution, as 
 to make an extra session of Congress necessary. 
 
 And then on the morning of March 4 the coun- 
 try was astonished by the news that ' ' a little group 
 of willful men," as the president termed them, 
 had prevented the passage o( the ship-arming bill 
 in the Senate by a filibuster in the closing hours of 
 the Congress. 
 
 A Stain Upon Congress. 
 
 (March 5, 1917.) 
 
 The Sixty-fourth Congress has passed out of ex- 
 istence with a dark blot upon its record, put there 
 during its expiring moments by a little group of 
 senators who took advantage of a rule of the Sen- 
 ate, or the lack of a rule, to defeat the almost unan- 
 imous wish of the Congress and to leave the nation 
 in a perilous state of uncertainty at a moment when 
 certainty is essential to the proper maintenance of 
 our position before the world, as well as for the re- 
 tention of our self-respect. The House of Repre- 
 sentatives, by a vote of 403 to 13, had passed a bill 
 specifically empowering the president to arm nier- 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 71 
 
 chant ships. A bill for a similar purpose, but grant- 
 ing somewhat larger and less definite powers, 
 was before the Senate and was strongly favored by 
 nearly all members of that body. Republicans and 
 Democrats alike supported it, but the absence of a 
 cloture rule made it possible for a few men to pre- 
 vent its passage. And they not only prevented the 
 passage of this bill, but they made it impossible to 
 pass other bills of the utmost importance in this 
 emergency. That this opposition was led by the 
 chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, the 
 senator from Missouri, adds to the shame the coun- 
 try must feel in this disgraceful fiasco, and partic- 
 ularly to the shame of the people of the state whom 
 he so unworthily represents. 
 
 There was a question of the right of the presi- 
 dent to act without the authority of Congress, and 
 there was a question of the propriety of Congress 
 granting definite powers to the president, but that 
 body with almost complete unanimity had agreed 
 that the circumstances demanded that the presi- 
 dent be upheld, and with this attitude the country 
 was undoubtedly in accord. But it was not upon 
 these questions that Senator Stone based his oppo- 
 sition. He was opposed to the purpose of the act, 
 and sought by every means in his power to defeat 
 that purpose. He knew that failure to pass the bill 
 would not only stultify Congress, but would stul- 
 tify the nation, but he persisted in the opposition 
 to the end, and, with the assistance of the little 
 band who for one reason or another supported him, 
 
72 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 he succeeded. The work of Senator Stone of Mis- 
 souri in this crisis will fill a malodorous page in 
 our history. 
 
 The failure of this measure, and of other neces- 
 sary measures that went down with it, seems to 
 make the calling of a special session of the new 
 Congress absolutely necessary. We believed this 
 to be highly desirable before this occurrence; we 
 are unable to see now how the president can pro- 
 ceed without a Congress at his back. The events 
 of the last few days ought to be proof to him that 
 he need fear no partisan opposition to any action 
 he may take to uphold the rights of the country. 
 The Republican members of both houses stood by 
 him almost to a man, and so the Republican mem- 
 bers of the new Congress will do in every matter 
 that involves their patriotism. President Wilson 
 should make the first act of his new administration 
 a call for the immediate assembling of the Sixty- 
 fifth Congress. 
 
 On the day this was published Mr. Wilson was 
 inaugurated, the -4th falling on a Sunday. 
 
 Mr. Wilson's Inaugural. 
 
 It is peculiarly as a representative of the whole 
 people of the United States that Woodrow Wilson 
 begins his second term as president. The questions 
 of domestic policy that give rise to partisan divi- 
 sion are for the moment overshadowed by the cir- 
 cumstances of our foreign relations that make 
 Americanism the dominant issue, and in that issue 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 73 
 
 there is no party. Whatever differences of opin- 
 ion we may have as to the qualities of Mr. Wilson, 
 however much we may disagree as to the value of 
 his achievements in the last four years, the fact re- 
 mains that he is the president of the United States, 
 the one man authorized by the constitution and the 
 votes of the people to direct our course in the in- 
 ternational emergency that now exists, and in such 
 an emergency it is happily characteristic of the 
 American people that they cease to be Kepublicans 
 or Democrats and present to the outside world a 
 united front. To a national audience, drawn close- 
 ly together by external menace, President Wilson 
 delivered his inaugural address yesterday, and he 
 appropriately confined his remarks, after a brief 
 introduction, to the situation which now dominates 
 the public mind and unifies the public sentiment. 
 
 With the general terms of that address we are in 
 entire accord and we are quite sure that it voices 
 the feeling of the nation. It is true that ' ' matters 
 lying outside of our own life as a nation * * • 
 have drawn us more and more irresistibly into 
 their own current and influence. It has been im- 
 possible to avoid them." It is true that "we de- 
 sire neither conquest nor advantage," that "we 
 wish nothing that can be had only at the cost of 
 another people." It is true that "we are provin- 
 cials no longer," that "the tragic events of the 
 thirty months of vital turmoil" have "made us cit- 
 izens of the world ' ' and ' ' there can be no turning 
 back." The principles he enunciated are, as he 
 says, American in essence. How far we may be 
 
74 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 disposed to impress them upon other peoples we 
 are not prepared to say, but for ourselves they 
 must command approval. It would have pleased 
 us better if the president had expressed a deter- 
 mination to ' ' stand firm ' ' in something more defi- 
 nite and understandable than "armed neutrali- 
 ty, " or at least to have given us an interpretation 
 of that phrase that would give a larger force and 
 meaning to it ; but we will not be critical of terms. 
 The president must know now what the country 
 wants and we must trust him to do it, euphoneous- 
 ly if he can, but cacophonously if he must. 
 
 "The thing I shall count upon," said the presi- 
 dent in his conclusion, "the thing without which 
 neither counsel nor action will avail, is the unity of 
 America. ' ' He can safely count upon that. Sena- 
 tors may fail, but the American people have never 
 failed in a crisis. 
 
 The Globe-Democrat at once urged the president 
 to use the authority he had to arm the ships. 
 
 Arm the Ships. 
 
 (March 7, 1917.) 
 
 That a law passed a century ago and directed 
 against piracy could be permitted to paralyze the 
 foreign commerce of the United States at this time 
 is an incredible thing in a government supposed to 
 be founded upon reason and common sense. When 
 President Wilson went before Congress and asked 
 for an authority which he believed, and most ev- 
 erybody else believed, he already had, he did so for 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 75 
 
 the purpose of getting the sanction and support of 
 that body. ' ' I wish to feel, ' ' he said, ' ' the author- 
 ity and the power of Congress are behind me in 
 whatever it may become necessary for me to do." 
 We objected at the time to such a request being 
 made to an expiring Congress, when an incoming 
 Congress, fresh from the people, and elected with 
 the present conditions in the public mind, would be 
 the proper body to receive and act upon the ap- 
 peal, for upon it must rest the responsibility for 
 legislative action concurrent with the president's 
 purposes. Events have shown that the president 
 erred. The failure of Congress to support him, 
 because of the determined and unpatriotic opposi- 
 tion of a handful of little senators, has left him 
 and the country in a position that is as exasperat- 
 ing as it is embarrassing. 
 
 But if the president had the power to arm mer- 
 chant ships before he went to Congress he has the 
 power now, and he should exercise it, regardless of 
 an obsolete law that only by the most technical 
 construction can be applied to the present situa- 
 tion. The situation demands action, and immediate 
 action. The new Congress should be called into ses- 
 sion for many reasons, but not specifically for this 
 purpose, if the constitutional authority of the pres- 
 ident is sufficient to act without a congressional 
 grant of the power. The government might well 
 strain a point in its interpretation of executive 
 powers to relieve the country of the disgraceful 
 and intolerable condition of our foreign commerce, 
 
76 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 tied up in our ports, unwilling to move into the 
 " tit ee and open sea" without the assurance of offi- 
 cial support. The right of those vessels to sail is 
 unquestionable, and if there is anything in our 
 contention, and the contention of all nations that 
 respect international law, that right should be 
 maintained. Every American ship should be em- 
 powered to defend itself from German submarine 
 attacks. We are no longer dealing with that bel- 
 ligerent as a friendly neutral. We have been noti- 
 fied that our ships would be sunk without warning 
 if they ventured in the prohibited zone. There is 
 left nothing for us to do but defend ouselves from 
 attack, unless we are willing to throw up our hands 
 and go out of business. 
 
 A few days later the president took action in this 
 matter, and he also called an extra session of Con- 
 gress. 
 
 President Does Plain Duty. 
 
 (March 10. 1917.) 
 
 In ordering the arming of American merchant 
 vessels, President Wilson has done his plain duty. 
 The overwhelming vote of the House and the state- 
 ment of all the United States senators but twelve 
 that they would have voted to give him the author- 
 ity he requested, if it did not already exist, had 
 they not been prevented from voting by a little 
 band of filibusters, relieve him of any charge of 
 usurpation. The technical question raised as to his 
 power, under the phraseology of an act of 1S18, has 
 been held to be without merit. Attorney General 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 77 
 
 Gregory and Secretary of State Lansing agree that 
 the president has full authority. Mr. Lansing, it 
 will be remembered, had wide reputation as an in- 
 ternational lawyer before he entered Mr. Wilson's 
 cabinet. He had been early trained by his father- 
 in-law, John W. Foster, who succeeded James G. 
 Blaine as secretary of state in the Harrison cabi- 
 net. For over twenty years Mr. Lansing repre- 
 sented the United States in some of its most impor- 
 tant controversies with foreign governments. The 
 agreement of the president's legal advisers should 
 set all doubts at rest. The president, we are pleased 
 to note, has also called an extra session of Congress 
 to meet April 2. That it will support the presi- 
 dent in the arming of the ships and will be pre- 
 pared to do whatever else may be necessary to the 
 maintenance of American rights, is a foregone con- 
 clusion. No Congress in our history has ever failed 
 in such an emergency, if we may except the dis- 
 graceful filibuster last week. 
 
 Prompt action was necessary. We told Germany 
 that we would not and could not countenance un- 
 restricted submarine warfare, yet we have been 
 countenancing it, and, in effect, supporting it, by 
 inaction. Every day that our ships were tied up 
 in our harbors through lack of protection added to 
 our loss and humiliation. When armed they will 
 go forth not in search of war, but prepared to de- 
 fend themselves against ruthless aggression while 
 engaged in peaceful and rightful commerce. The 
 blockade of fear is lifted. The period of national 
 humiliation is at an end. We have finally done 
 
78 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 what should have been done at the first, without 
 hesitation. 
 
 Sail the Ships. 
 
 (March 12, 1917.) 
 
 In arming its merchant ships the United States 
 is no more disposed to war than it has been during 
 the past three years. Armed neutrality is but a 
 phrase. We are always in a state of armed neu- 
 trality in a very large sense. Our navy, and our 
 army, such as it is, constitute a means of defense, 
 which we do not expect to use unless we are at- 
 tacked or threatened with attack. As to contro- 
 versies between other nations we are in a state of 
 neutrality at all times, but it is an armed neutral- 
 ity, a neutrality that does not willingly offend any 
 belligerent, but that seeks to maintain and, if need 
 be, to defend its own rights, by means of its arma- 
 ment. The arming of the ships is but a further ad- 
 vance toward the protection of rights that we hold 
 to be fundamental and inalienable. It is not done 
 to provoke attack, nor is it done with the purpose 
 of offensive fighting. The American ships are not 
 to be sent out in search of German submarines. 
 They are peaceful vessels of commerce, carrying 
 the merchandise of the United States under the 
 American flag, and they will be sailing upon the 
 open sea, whereon they have a right to sail. 
 
 Nevertheless, this government has been officially 
 notified by Germany that any American vessel, as 
 well as all other vessels, entering the specified zone 
 of prohibition upon that open sea will be sunk 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 79 
 
 without warning by submarines. There is but one 
 proper and honorable answer to this notice, and 
 the president has given it. Our commerce cannot 
 be stopped by a threat of violence. To permit that 
 would be to display a contemptible cowardice that 
 this country, and no self-respecting country, would 
 be guilty of. Our ships must continue to sail, but 
 in view of this unprecedented and intolerable 
 threat, and the evident intent to put the threat 
 into complete fulfillment, we are compelled to arm 
 to defend our ships from submarine attacks, and to 
 assume that the appearance of a submarine or a 
 periscope is sufficient evidence of hostile intent. 
 American ships will not go out of their course to 
 seek submarines; they will hope to avoid meeting 
 any ; but if they sight them they will be prepared 
 to fire upon them, and, if possible, to sink them. 
 Each of such meetings will be, of necessity, a fight 
 to the death. The ship must sink or be sunk. We 
 are given no alternative in this threat. Stay out or 
 perish, it declares. We shall not stay out, and we 
 shall not perish without striking a blow in our de- 
 fense. If that should* mean war, and we ardently 
 hope it will not, it will be of Germany's making. 
 
 Meanwhile it was realized that war was ap- 
 proaching, and the Eastern border was naturally 
 more excited by the prospect than the Middle 
 West. The comparative calm of the Middle West 
 raised a question in the East of its attitude toward 
 war, and there was much talk of pacifism and pro- 
 Germanism. Rear Admiral Fletcher and some oth- 
 ers endeavored to assure the East of our loyalty. 
 
80 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 West First in a Fight. 
 
 (March 13, 1917.) 
 
 Rear Admiral Fletcher does not share the hasty 
 view of some nervous people that the Middle West> 
 is the haunt of pacifism and poltroonery. He has 
 read the history of our country and is aware that 
 the West always gives a good account of itself 
 when there is any fighting to be done. We do not 
 mean that there is not courage in the East. No 
 section has a monopoly of bravery or of patriotism. 
 Nor is the willingness to do and die restricted to 
 any nation or any race. Incidents of the great war 
 should dispel any old theories to that effect. Men 
 everywhere, from Greenland *s icy mountains to In- 
 dia *s coral strand, will spill their blood like water 
 for a cause they hold dear. Death has no terror 
 for the human race when great issues are involved. 
 
 Our friends on the seaboard naturally have a 
 keener apprehension of a foreign war than we. 
 When dispatches were published about May 13, 
 1898, that a Spanish fleet was approaching the At- 
 lantic Coast there was consternation on the sea- 
 board. Valuables were moved from fashionable 
 watering places to the interior. Troops that had 
 embarked for Tampa were taken ashore and sent 
 South by rail. The war and navy officials were 
 harassed by requests for protection, which Secre- 
 tary Alger described as "pathetic in their urgen- 
 cy.' ' There were demands for guns everywhere 
 and for ' * mines in all the rivers and harbors on the 
 map.'' There was no such imminent peril in the 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 81 
 
 West, but the West responded to the nation's call 
 with more men than were needed. 
 
 The same was true in the civil war. Missouri was 
 especially alert then, due in part to the "fighting 
 stock ' ' that settled it and somewhat to the fact that 
 the war was near and the peril imminent. Besides 
 its contribution to the Confederacy, Missouri re- 
 sponded to President Lincoln's first call with 10,- 
 591 men, or over three times the quota. It fur- 
 nished 109,111 Union soldiers during the war and 
 about an equal number of Confederates. The qual- 
 ity was no less pronounced than the quantity. They 
 were descendants of bold, enterprising pioneers 
 and their manner of life had fitted them for the 
 hardships of the march and the field. 
 
 That the confidence of the Globe-Democrat was 
 justified was fully proven when the time came for 
 action. And that the time was at hand was being 
 impressed upon us by the acts of Germany. 
 
 A State of War. 
 
 (March 20. 1917.) 
 
 The sinking of three American merchant ships 
 on Sunday by German submarines were not more 
 certainly "overt" acts than the destruction of the 
 Algonquin a few days before or of the Housatonic 
 still earlier. Technical, hair-splitting distinctions 
 can cloud but they cannot alter facts. The first 
 American boat sunk by German submarines in vio- 
 lation of international law was an overt act and an 
 act of war. We have said before that the term 
 
82 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 "armed neutrality" was merely a sounding 
 phrase. In the relations between the European 
 contestants it has an application to our position 
 respecting them, for our official position has been 
 one of neutrality and it has been armed, in a meas- 
 ure, at all times. But as between Germany and 
 ourselves the phrase has no meaning. Whatever 
 we may choose to call it, we are in a state of war, 
 and have been in a state of war with Germany for 
 some weeks. It needs no formal declaration to 
 constitute such a condition in actuality. When 
 the submarines were sent out with orders to de- 
 stroy American ships without the restrictions that 
 had hitherto been applied in conformity with the 
 demands of the United States, Germany entered 
 deliberately into a state of war and with full real- 
 ization that it was so doing. 
 
 The war began with the sinking of unarmed 
 ships of this nationality by authorized and direct- 
 ed naval vessels of the Teutonic empire. We are 
 now arming our merchant ships to resist with shot 
 and shell further attacks of this character. What- 
 ever euphemism we may invent to soften the hard 
 and unwelcome fact, the fact is there, and it is 
 war. We shall be compelled, no doubt, to follow 
 this up with direct naval action for the destruction 
 of German submarines and the protection of our 
 commerce. We most certainly shall have to do 
 this unless Germany modifies its submarine war- 
 fare or unless we decide to withdraw from ocean 
 commerce and abandon our rights on the high 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 83 
 
 seas. The first is possible, though improbable ; the 
 second is utterly unthinkable. When we bring our 
 naval vessels into action we shall have to admit 
 officially, if we do not do it before, that we are at 
 war, but the only difference between that state 
 and our present state is the measure of activity. 
 We might as well understand it now and cease to 
 deceive ourselves with verbalisms. 
 
 The time set for the convening of Congress in 
 extra session was now near, and the Globe-Dem- 
 ocrat thought it right and proper to urge the 
 president to use plain words, which he did, and 
 the Congress to take quick and decisive action in 
 the great matter before us. 
 
 Time for Plain Words. 
 
 (March 29. 1917.) 
 
 We believe the president will reflect the will of 
 the country if his message to the extraordinary 
 session of Congress, now about to open, expresses 
 in clear and specific terms the purposes for which 
 he has called it, and recommends immediate ac- 
 tion of a definite character. The country is con- 
 vinced that nothing is to be gained by delay, 
 while much, including its self-respect, may be lost ; 
 it has accepted the unwelcome but inevitable 
 duty that confronts it, and while realizing its se- 
 riousness is ready to face and to endure the con- 
 sequences, whatever they may be. The president 
 is in a better position than anyone else to know 
 the situation with exactness. He is the responsi- 
 
84 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 ble executive head of the government, and it de- 
 volves upon him not only to point the way, but to 
 lead the way. Congress, we are quite sure, is ready 
 to do with promptness whatever it is called upon 
 to do for the protection and maintenance of the 
 country's rights and honor. No doubt there will 
 be a few members who will oppose any action to 
 that end, but their influence will be negligible, 
 now that the Senate has a means of closing de- 
 bate. Republicans and Democrats alike are pre- 
 pared to stand solidly behind and with the pres- 
 ident in this matter. There will be no party di- 
 vision on that line. All, or so nearly all as to be 
 virtually unanimous, will be simply and stanchly 
 American. 
 
 But Congress should not be left in doubt as to 
 the nature of its duty. It is dependent upon the 
 administrative departments for its information, 
 and it should be told just where we stand and 
 what the circumstances demand that we do. And 
 it should be told in a way that it cannot misun- 
 derstand. Felicities of phrase should be aban- 
 doned. This is a time for plain words — " words 
 with the bark on them," as we used to say. The 
 action or declaration of Congress should be equal- 
 ly explicit, definite and clear. What we say in 
 this crisis should not be a vague utterance that 
 might mean anything, an utterance that would 
 not show whether we are moving forward or 
 backward or standing still. It should declare in 
 plain and positive terms what our grievances are 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 85 
 
 and what we purpose to do about them. It is in 
 this manner the United States has been accus- 
 tomed to speak when the time for such speech has 
 arrived. It is in this manner it should speak now. 
 
 And on the day of the opening of Congress the 
 Globe-Democrat predicted that it would be virtu- 
 ally nonpartisan in its action on war questions, 
 which proved to be right. 
 
 Extra Session of Congress. 
 
 (April 2, 1917.) 
 
 The Sixty-fifth Congress bids fair to be a mem- 
 orable one in the history of the government. An 
 extraordinary session is not a novelty, this being 
 the twentieth in the history of the country, but 
 the circumstances of the calling of the session 
 that begins today are unusual. It meets not for 
 the purpose of carrying out some platform prom- 
 ise or to deal with a domestic situation, but to 
 pass upon our foreign relations. The House is so 
 evenly divided politically that its complexion 
 may shift from day to day, through accidents of 
 attendance. The election of speaker is possible 
 only through temporary and special arrangement 
 and there is likelihood of subsequent confusion 
 over the organization of committees. But ordi- 
 nary partisan divisions will, in all probability, 
 have little if any bearing on the attitude of the 
 House toward the questions responsible for the 
 extraordinary session. There is an American 
 proverb about "partisan differences ending at the 
 
86 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 shore." Whatever division there may be in either 
 the House or the Senate as to the wisdom of the 
 nation's course in this great emergency, it will 
 not be along Democratic and Republican lines 
 any more than whatever division there may be 
 among the people will follow party lines. 
 
 We have only intimations as to the contents of 
 the president's message. We are not ignorant of 
 the facts, however. We know that Germany is, 
 for all practical purposes, making war on us ev- 
 ery day. We are familiar with every phase of 
 our controversy with Germany. We know that 
 the United States cannot retreat from the posi- 
 tion it has taken in defense of its own rights, un- 
 der international law and under the principles of 
 humanity. We are hopeful that the president 
 and his advisers have outlined a definite program 
 for enforcement of American rights and that this 
 will be presented in unequivocal language to 
 Congress. If this is done, there will be no falter- 
 ing. A few members of Congress have their ec- 
 centricities, but it is inconceivable that there will 
 not be an overwhelming majority of Congress 
 ready to uphold the dignity and honor of the na- 
 tion, whatever the cost. 
 
 On that day President Wilson addressed Con- 
 gress in person. 
 
 The President's War Message. 
 
 (April 3, 1917.) 
 
 In his address to the Congress last night Presi- 
 dent Wilson called for a declaration of a state of 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 87 
 
 war with Germany, for initial enrollment of 500,- 
 000 soldiers and for adequate appropriations to 
 set in operation the naval and military forces of 
 the country to enforce respect for the rights of 
 the United States and for the principles of hu- 
 manity. It was a momentous address, voicing as 
 it did the final decision of the government in one 
 of the gravest crises in its history and the deter- 
 mination of the American people to put a stop to 
 violations of right and of law that have become 
 intolerable. His arraignment of the German Gov- 
 ernment was strong and impassioned. It was a 
 solemn indictment of high crimes and misdemean- 
 ors against the peace and liberties of the world. 
 Absolving the German people of blame for the 
 acts of their government, it condemns that gov- 
 ernment in unsparing terms. "In such a govern- 
 ment," he said, "following such methods, we can 
 never have a friend ; and in the presence of its or- 
 ganized power, always lying in wait to accom- 
 plish we know not what purpose, there can be no 
 assured security for the democratic governments 
 of the world." He declared the German Govern- 
 ment to be a "natural foe to liberty" and "we 
 shall," he said, "if necessary, spend the whole 
 force of the nation to check and nullify- its pre- 
 tensions and its power. ' ' 
 
 In this arraignment and this position the presi- 
 dent responds to the feeling and purpose of the 
 people of the United States. The conviction has 
 long been growing that the peace and safety, not 
 
88 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 only of the United States, but of all democratic 
 nations, are permanently endangered by the au- 
 tocratic powers and ruthless policies of the Ger- 
 man Government, and thajt in fighting for its sup- 
 pression the world is battling for the liberties of 
 its peoples., "the German people included/' In 
 that war, that world war, the president proposes 
 that we enter, as against a common enemy. "We 
 have no selfish ends to serve," he says, "we de- 
 sire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indem- 
 nities for ourselves, no material compensation for 
 the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but 
 one of the champions of the rights of mankind. 
 We shall be satisfied when those rights have been 
 as secure as the faith and the freedom of the na- 
 tions can make them." 
 
 -It has been the hope of the country that when 
 the president spoke he would speak in no uncer- 
 tain tones. That hope is fully fulfilled in his ad- 
 dress" of last night. There is no mincing of words, 
 no qualifying phrases. Definitely and finally it 
 fixes the position of the United States, not only in 
 its attitude toward Germany, but in its relation 
 to the European war. "Neutrality is no longer 
 feasible or_desirable," he says, "when the peace 
 of the world is involved and the freedom of its 
 peoples," anci he declares "armed neutrality" to 
 be ' ' worse than ineffectual. ' ' There is no choice as 
 to our course. We are compelled by the force 
 of circumstances, guided by a power that has 
 arous*efl the chief nations of the earth against it. 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 89 
 
 to enter into the most colossal contest in human 
 history. We have moved to this decision slowly 
 and with great reluctance, but, having reached it, 
 there will be no drawing back. That Congress 
 will act at once and in full accord with the pres- 
 ident's wishes cannot be doubted, and the coun- 
 try will support its action to a man and to the end. 
 
 Democratization of the World. 
 
 (April 4, 1917.) 
 
 One of the strongest features of the president's 
 address to Congress was his condemnation of au- 
 tocratic government backed by organized force 
 as a menace to the peace and liberty of democratic 
 peoples. "The world," he said, "must be made 
 safe for democracj^. " "A steadfast concert for 
 peace can never be maintained except by a part- 
 nership of democratic nations. No autocratic 
 government could be trusted to keep faith within 
 it or to observe its covenants." "Only free 
 peoples can hold their purpose and their honor 
 steady to a common goal and prefer the interests 
 of mankind to any narrow interest of their own. ' ' 
 Three years ago the head of any nation who ex- 
 pressed such sentiments would have been consid- 
 ered mad; today they are applauded and in- 
 dorsed, we have no doubt, by the free peoples of 
 all the world. For these words embody the les- 
 son, the terrible lesson, that the world has learned 
 in these reddened years. Autocratic government, 
 responsible to no authority but itself, is danger- 
 ous to other nations in exact proportion to the 
 
90 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 powers it controls, for at any time it may use its 
 powers without restraint in the pursuit of per- 
 sonal ambitions or in the satisfaction of personal 
 animosities. Who, for example, could imagine 
 Germany, under a democratic government, going 
 to war over the assassinations at Sarajevo? Who 
 can believe that a democratic Europe would have 
 committed or permitted the unparalleled folly 
 that has drenched the face of the Continent with 
 blood? 
 
 The plain people of every civilized land are 
 averse to war. They all know, and know well, 
 that they must pay, and pay dearly, whether they 
 fight to victory or to defeat. They know that the 
 glories of war fought for conquest, for ambition 
 or for hate are but evanescent flames that pro- 
 duce naught but ashes. They know that the an- 
 guish of war falls upon them and not upon the 
 few whom they choose to guide and direct them. 
 They go into war reluctantly and only when 
 their rights and liberties are so grossly violated 
 or their duty is so clear that no other course 
 seems possible, and woe to their leaders who be- 
 tray them into a useless or unjust war. It is 
 through democracies and the principles that sus- 
 tain democracies that the world is moving rapidly 
 toward the establishment of a league to enforce 
 peace, by which the blessings of peace may be 
 made permanent. The world has gone far and 
 learned much in these three years. It will not go 
 back and the lesson will not be lost. The demo- 
 cratization of the world is near. 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 91 
 
 Our Influence on World Peace. 
 
 (April 4, 1917.) 
 
 America's participation in the great war will 
 have more than one effect. In the first place, it 
 will hasten peace. Germany will get no aid and 
 comfort from any other country, as a result of 
 America's step, unless some misguided Mexican 
 faction decides that this is a good time to commit 
 suicide. The rest of the neutral world, while pre- 
 serving a prudent silence in public, will secretly 
 rejoice. Even Sweden shows signs of mollifica- 
 tion, since the promise of Russian reforms in Fin- 
 land. The world does not underestimate our re- 
 sources. "We are not prepared now for effective 
 military participation, but we have unlimited re- 
 sources of money and supplies and of men who 
 will be promptly trained and we shall grow 
 stronger every minute. Once started, we have a 
 reputation for bulldog tenacity. No nation, 
 whether fresh or partly exhausted, can view the 
 coming of such an enemy into the war as a light 
 thing. 
 
 The president, in his masterful speech to Con- 
 gress, announced our purposes without equivoca- 
 tion. He drew the distinction between the Ger- 
 man people and the military and naval leaders 
 who have shocked the world with their ruthless- 
 ness. The censorship will prevent more than a 
 garbled version of the speech receiving circula- 
 tion in Germany. But eventually the German 
 people will sense its spirit, as they have caught 
 
02 TUK WORLD WAK 
 
 the moaning of the Russian revolution. The peo 
 
 pie of Austria Hungary will also, in some way, 
 
 find out what our purposes are. When this hap« 
 pens it will no Longer be possible to delude Ger« 
 mans, Austrians or Hungarians into believing 
 that they are resisting extermination. They will 
 know that the United States, with all its demo- 
 cratic traditions, is not helping to wipe out a peo- 
 ple. They will believe that our influence will ba 
 used for a righteous peaee. Turkey may be driven 
 OUt o( Europe, as it should have been long ago. 
 There may be a readjustment o\' Balkan bounda- 
 ries. The Boheniollems and the llapsburgs may 
 be retired from power. Hut (Germany will not bo 
 destroyed. There may be a long overdue read- 
 justment of conditions in the dual monarchy, 
 coming from the inside, but recognized by the 
 peace treaties. It is lucky for the losers that the 
 new enemy has such lofty ideals. 
 
 Congress acted promptly and decisively, as the 
 Globe-Democrat hoped it would. On the 6th of 
 April war was declared. 
 
 The Declaration of War. 
 
 (April 7. HUT.) 
 
 The Government o( the United States has 
 spoken. It has formally declared that a state of 
 war exists between this country and the German 
 Empire, and the president is "authorised and di- 
 rected to take immediate steps not only to put 
 the country in a thorough state of defense, but 
 
THE APPROACH TO WAR 98 
 
 also to exert all of it:, power and employ all of its 
 resources to carry on war against the Imperial 
 German Government arid to bring the conflict to 
 a successful termination." The action taken by 
 the Senate Wednesday night was taken by the 
 House of Representatives yesterday morning, and 
 the resolution thus passed by Congress and signed 
 by the president yesterday afternoon has now the 
 force of Jaw. Whatever may be the consequences, 
 the war is on. America confidently believes that 
 it will be brought to "'a successful termination," 
 but whether it takeH much or little time it wiJl be 
 fought until the principles for whieh we are con- 
 tending are recognized and conceded. We have 
 been reluctant to take the step. We have en- 
 deavored in <-v<-,ry way possible, consistent with 
 the maintenance of our rights and the preserva- 
 tion of our honor and dignity as a nation, to avoid 
 war. But the action of Germany, deliberate, eon- 
 tin nous arjd utterly ruthless, has made it impos- 
 sible for us to remain at peace with that govern- 
 ment, a government whose repeated and atrocious 
 violations of the Jaws and ethics of civilization 
 and humanity have brought almost the entire 
 world into enmity and into arms against it. 
 
 The Oth of April will be a memorable day in 
 the history of the United States, the fifth in a se- 
 ries of April days that stand out conspicuously in 
 our chronology as the beginnings of wars that, 
 with but one exception, have been fought on the 
 basis of righteous principles that have fully justi- 
 
94 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 fied the support of the times and have been ap- 
 proved by the unbiased judgment of posterity. 
 The questionable Mexican war aside, we have 
 never entered into a conflict with another nation 
 without full justification; we have never entered 
 into one except for the establishment of funda- 
 mental rights and the preservation of fundamen- 
 tal principles ; we have never entered into one for 
 conquest or for material gain. The incentives 
 and the purposes of our war with Germany are in 
 full accord with our record. It is founded solely 
 upon the principles of pure Americanism and 
 lofty and unselfish humanity. It seeks no acces- 
 sion of territory, of trade, of wealth or of power. 
 It demands nothing of Germany but the recogni- 
 tion and observance of America's unquestionable 
 rights and the conformance of its government to 
 the rules of international law and the ethics of 
 civilized intercourse. 
 
 And now, calmly, without passion, without 
 hate, but with a stern and unalterable determina- 
 tion, we enter into the most colossal conflict in 
 human history, certain of the righteousness of 
 our cause and of the necessity for our action. It 
 will take us out of our ancient and cherished iso- 
 lation, it may compel new views and new align- 
 ments, but we firmly believe that the ultimate re- 
 sult will be a better America and a better world, 
 a broader, freer world, in which the equality of 
 man is something more than a sounding phrase. 
 
III. 
 
 CREATING AN ARMY. 
 
 America was now in the war, but it was not 
 prepared for war. It is true that a navy program 
 had been authorized in August, 1916, to be carried 
 out within three years at a total estimated cost of 
 about $500,000,000, and appropriations had been 
 made for some $313,000,000 toward the cost of 
 construction, but little had been done in the inter- 
 vening eight months. The "national defense act" 
 (the Hay bill), reorganizing and increasing the 
 army, was also passed in the preceding year, but 
 it was of little service in the face of real war. At 
 the moment when Germany served notice of the 
 resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare 
 and we severed diplomatic relations the Globe- 
 Democrat began urging compulsory military 
 service. We did not then know what part an army 
 might take in the war, but this paper thought the 
 country ought to be ready to pursue any course 
 of action that the great emergency demanded. 
 
 The Only Fair Way. 
 
 (February 6, 1917.) 
 
 That universal service with the colors for a year 
 from every able-bodied man between the ages of 
 19 and 24 would be the surest and fairest way of 
 preparing this country for military defense has 
 been oft asserted since the great war came to re- 
 mind us that peaceful intentions are no guaranty 
 of immunity from aggressions. That the supreme 
 sacrifice a country may demand of its citizens 
 
 95 
 
96 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 should be made only by the most willing and the 
 most patriotic is not just, No other burdens of 
 citizenship are so distributed. We do not depend 
 on voluntary jury service or on voluntary pay- 
 ment of taxes. These lesser sacrifices are equita- 
 bly proportioned. There is no reason why the 
 greatest obligation a nation ever imposes should 
 be restricted to those who volunteer. Universal 
 service, which, if limited to a year, would amount 
 to no more than universal military training, is the 
 only fair method in a democracy. 
 
 Mr. Taft, who has never been bellicose in 
 preachment or practice, is calling on Congress to 
 adopt universal training while public sentiment is 
 aroused to a pitch that will support it. Mr. Taft 
 is not accustomed to urging weathervane legisla- 
 tion. There is nothing of the demagogue about 
 him. But he believes that if this country once 
 tried universal service it would find that its prac- 
 tical benefits would greatly outweigh its disad- 
 vantages. He feels that the physical, moral and 
 patriotic results would justify the experiment, 
 even though not a single soldier should be called 
 to the front, It is a sort of national insurance 
 that would pay for itself in incidental good. 
 
 The suggestion is timely and wise. If Congress 
 cannot be induced to take this step at such a time 
 as this, when the people are stirred by enthusiasm, 
 it is idle to discuss it on other occasions. We have 
 not yet adopted a real plan of military defense. 
 Now is the psychological time to adopt one, when 
 
CREATING AN ARMY 97 
 
 the mind of all the people is on the subject. If 
 we cannot get proper action now, we never can. 
 
 Universal Training Bill. 
 
 (February 12, 1917.) 
 
 The Senate Committee on Military Affairs has 
 favorably reported the bill prepared by a subcom- 
 mittee that looks to the creation of a military and 
 naval citizen reserve force based on universal 
 training. It offers the plan half-heartedly, as 
 though in doubt about its political expediency. 
 The report intimates that immediate action is not 
 expected. This lukewarmness will be disappoint- 
 ing to the growing host of Americans who find in 
 the training of all physically fit youths the only 
 sure preparation of the country for military de- 
 fense. It is true that the fathers did not insist on 
 such training, although they did make everybody 
 subject to military service at the call of Congress. 
 But conditions of life have changed since the days 
 of the pioneer. Then warfare was comparatively 
 simple and the country was filled with men trained 
 to the use of firearms. Now the percentage of men 
 who can handle rifles is very small, and even that 
 qualification would not suffice for modern war- 
 fare. 
 
 The Senate committee provides for only six 
 months' training, while military students fix the 
 minimum at a year, under present methods of 
 warfare. There is no wisdom in stopping short of 
 adequate training. Exception is made of youths 
 who are the sole support of dependents and of 
 
98 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 those who have religious scruples against war, al- 
 though other services will be required of the lat- 
 ter class. In the past this class has rendered as 
 real and valuable help in crises as any other of our 
 population. It was a Quaker who furnished the 
 4 'hard money" that kept the Eastern militia to- 
 gether on the eve of Trenton. The report would 
 allow option as to military or naval training, an 
 experiment that might have to be abandoned in 
 practice. The plan contemplates holding all youths 
 as reservists for eight years after the completion 
 of their actual service. This is the greatest weak- 
 ness of a volunteer reserve system, for employers 
 would be reluctant to hire young men under such 
 an obligation. But when the provision is practi- 
 cally universal the disadvantage disappears. 
 
 Congress should not delay action. Universal 
 training is the wisest and most democratic solu- 
 tion of our problem of military defense and there 
 is danger in postponement. 
 
 No Reason for Delay. 
 
 (March 2, 1917.) 
 
 If it be the judgment of Congress that universal 
 military training is necessary to this country's 
 military preparedness, a bill providing for it 
 should be enacted before March 4. No persuasive 
 reason for delay can be advanced. There should 
 be no hesitation as to the merits of the two plans 
 that have been submitted, once universality is de- 
 cided upon. The Army General Staff gives as its 
 expert view that one year's intensive training is 
 
CREATING AN ARMY 99 
 
 required to make a soldier of a civilian, under 
 modern conditions of warfare. This phase of the 
 problem must be determined by expert opinion. It 
 is folly for civilians to say that six months is long 
 enough. The Army General Staff bill is more care- 
 fully worked out than the other in the matter of 
 exemptions and in the provisions for the two short 
 periods of training following the first eleven 
 months. Its plan would work less inconvenience 
 to the reserves than the other. But the chief su- 
 periority of the Army General Staff plan lies in its 
 thoroughness. It would provide complete instead 
 of merely partial preparedness. 
 
 Congress cannot find excuse for a delay of the 
 subject. It cannot argue that public sentiment is 
 not ready for it. If it is not ready for it now, with 
 actual war looming as a probability and with pa- 
 triotism keyed up to the highest pitch, when will 
 it be ready? As Mr. Taft well said, when rela- 
 tions with Germany were severed, this is the psy- 
 chological moment, if ever. So far as the military 
 arm is concerned, our preparedness is largely on 
 paper. The Hay army act was worse than idle, 
 because it gave a false sense of security. It is de- 
 fensible only by extreme special pleading. The 
 consensus of opinion is clearly for universal train- 
 ing as the only real solution of military prepared- 
 ness. 
 
 The peril of procrastination of such a vital mat- 
 ter is obvious. If we are to have preparedness, 
 why not prepare now ? What possible gain is there 
 
100 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 in delay? What assurance have we that good hick 
 will continue to abide with us, while a whole 
 world is in anus? 
 
 Hut the Congress expired without taking ac- 
 tion in this most important matter and months 
 of valuable time were lost. Before the opening 
 of the special session o\' the new Congress the 
 Globe-Democrat renewed its appeal for a univer- 
 sal service measure. 
 
 No Excuse for Delay. 
 (March SO, hut.) 
 
 (hie of the first things the new Congress should 
 do is to rush through a measure providing for a 
 year's military training for every able-bodied 
 young man in the country who does not have any 
 body dependent upon him for support. If Con- 
 gress had done this a year ago, we should now 
 have an army o( 500,000 vigorous young men, 
 trained in the methods of modern warfare and ca- 
 pable of taking care o( themselves. If we had 
 done it many years ago, most of our male popula- 
 tion would be trained to discharge any duty that 
 the country might demand. No other nation would 
 be making light of us. No foreign minister would 
 be dreaming of scaring us with the prospect of an 
 alliance with Mexico. Had this course been fol- 
 lowed we should have been prepared against war. 
 When we spoke our words would have weight 
 throughout the world. 
 
 Even the extreme pacifists admit that war is a 
 possibility, but they talk fatuously of "defensive 
 
CREATING AN ARMY 101 
 
 war." They argue that we should restrict our ef- 
 forts to the "repelling of invasion." But they ig- 
 nore our history and show no knowledge of the 
 
 spirit of our people. If we ever get into war, we 
 shall not sit and wait for the enemy to try to land 
 on our shores. We shall try to do him the most 
 injury possible, whether we are ready or not. 
 When the Spanish-American war began not a cent 
 had been spent for offensive preparations. The 
 $50,000,000 voted to President McKinley had been 
 used solely for defense. Hut did we wait for Wey- 
 ler to try to capture Washington? Did Mr. Bryan 
 join the home guard to protect Lincoln, Neb., 
 from the invader? By no means. We sallied 
 forth to whip the Spaniards wherever they were, 
 in Cuba, in Porto Rico and in the Philippines. Mr. 
 Bryan donned his colonel's uniform for foreign 
 service. People who ignore the fundamental facts 
 of human nature have no business trying to deal 
 with public affairs. 
 
 Congress should take the necessary steps to pre- 
 vent the flower of our citizens being massacred. 
 That is what it means when untrained troops go 
 to war. Congress should provide for the training 
 of all the able-bodied men, rich and poor, black 
 and white. That is the only fair and democratic 
 method. It is also the only course consistent with 
 safety. 
 
 And upon the declaration of war the Globe- 
 Democrat emphasized the immediate need of ac- 
 tion in the matter. 
 
102 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 Plans for Large Army. 
 
 (April 6, 1917.) 
 
 Whatever our hopes as to the speedy end of the 
 war, we have no right to proceed on the theory 
 that it will be of brief duration. Prudence re- 
 quires that we make the speediest preparations on 
 a large scale and that these preparations be thor- 
 ough. The suggestion that we should throw raw 
 volunteers into France, forthwith, is worse than 
 idle. Such a course would be criminal in its reck- 
 lessness. If our soil were being invaded, we should 
 have to do that, because there would be nothing 
 else to do. But we are not now driven to such an 
 extremity. If we decided on such a course, it 
 would be a triumph of the spectacular over the 
 sensible. As the New Republic has well said, we 
 could accomplish far more by building ships faster 
 than the submarines can sink them. Furnishing 
 ships and supplies to the forces now fighting the 
 Imperial German Government is our first and most 
 effective service. Insuring a big crop this year is 
 another military necessity which must not be 
 overlooked. 
 
 But we should set about building an army. 
 Washington dispatches say that the War Depart- 
 ment favors an army of not less than 2,000,000, 
 composed of youths who are single and have no 
 one dependent upon them for support. It is also 
 stated that members of the National Guard, who 
 would be excluded under this rule, will be honor- 
 ably discharged. It was a vicious feature of the 
 Hay act that it imposed upon members of the Na- 
 
CREATING AN ARMY 103 
 
 tional Guard obligations they did not have in 
 mind at the time they joined the militia, with the 
 result that the families of many of them suffered 
 unnecessary hardships. If we had adopted the 
 right plan as soon as the great war began and the 
 possibility of our being dragged into it became 
 apparent to thoughtful people, we would have 
 had a large, trained army before now. But the 
 past is past ; the present duty is to provide for the 
 future. The delay is unfortunate, but it would 
 be more unfortunate still to continue to delay. 
 
 The most sensible thing Congress can do is to 
 provide a compulsory plan for raising a large 
 army. The immediate moral effect would be as 
 great as could come from sending a few men to 
 Europe now. In addition, it would be a real, prac- 
 tical step toward actual preparedness for any 
 eventualities. When a country has decided to 
 make war, it should go about it on a scale to in- 
 sure victory. 
 
 Again, in approving the unanimous appropri- 
 ation for war measures, the Globe-Democrat re- 
 newed its urging for an adequate army. 
 
 When the Nation Speaks. 
 
 (April 16, 1917.) 
 
 The unanimous vote by which the House of 
 Eepresentatives authorized the issue of $5,000,- 
 000,000 in bonds and $2,000,000,000 in treasury 
 certificates, with express approval of the loan of 
 $3,000,000,000 of the proceeds to the enemies of 
 Germany, while the war continues, should have 
 
104 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 pronounced effect at home and abroad. It should 
 silence all bickering at home. However people 
 may have felt heretofore as to the necessity or the 
 justice of the war, and however they may have 
 differed as to our relations with the entente allies, 
 the nation has spoken authoritatively. It should 
 impress the outside world that America is in the 
 war to win; that it is not to wage a theoretical, 
 paper war, but that it is to bend all its mighty en- 
 ergies to defeat the enemy. The House brought 
 honor to itself by the unanimity of the vote. It 
 notified the world that there is no division in 
 America. If the world had known America well, 
 the lesson would not have been necessary. But it 
 is known that Germany relied on disaffection in 
 this country, at least in the early stages of its con- 
 troversy with us on submarine warfare. Any 
 hopes it has been cherishing along that line will 
 be dispelled by the action of the House, which 
 will, without doubt, be duplicated, or practically 
 duplicated, by the Senate. The course vindicates 
 the judgment of such of us as urged an early ex- 
 tra session. It puts the nation officially back of 
 the president and it reveals that the few critics 
 that may linger are speaking only for themselves. 
 It is to be hoped that the House may show the 
 same spirit in dealing with the problem of raising 
 an army. Many members cling to the traditions 
 about volunteer service, which are not borne out 
 by historical facts, but they should face the pres- 
 ent situation with an eye single to its needs. The 
 
CREATING AN ARMY 105 
 
 best way to revere the fathers is by showing the 
 wisdom and courage to do the things that will 
 preserve the heritage which cost them such treas- 
 ures of blood and tears. We should utilize the 
 lessons other nations have recently learned in the 
 costly school of experience. "We should not as- 
 sume that the war is about to end because of re- 
 cent victories, but should prepare for whatever 
 may happen. 
 
 But in the face of the great emergency there 
 were still congressmen who imagined an army 
 large enough for our purposes could be raised by 
 volunteering. 
 
 Compromise Means Delay. 
 
 (April 19, 1917.) 
 
 The members of the House who express a wish 
 "to try the volunteer system a little while long- 
 er' ' overlook the fact that it is being tried now 
 and is found wanting, and that it has often been 
 tried before, with disastrous results. "We tried it 
 in the revolutionary war, and our army dwindled 
 in size, in spite of bounties and subsidies. "We had 
 the same lack of luck in the war of 1812, with re- 
 verses on land that were humiliating. In the civil 
 war the Confederacy was driven to the draft April 
 19, 1862, and the Union was forced to the same ex- 
 pedient the following August, although it was 
 stoutly resisted and the method was marred with 
 the miserable provision that let cowards hire sub- 
 stitutes to die for them. We have pointed out that 
 it will take at least a year's training to fit our 
 
106 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 soldiers for actual fighting. France has required 
 three years' service, while Germany adds a re- 
 serve training to that period. It is impossible to 
 get men voluntarily to enlist in sufficient quantity 
 for this period of preparation. There is not the 
 psychological appeal of imminent peril. The fact 
 that we are having such difficulty in filling up the 
 regular army and navy to full strength empha- 
 sizes this. 
 
 But if the volunteer plan were not obviously 
 impossible, it should be abandoned because it is 
 not equitable. Universal training, selective con- 
 scription, draft or whatever euphemistic or ca- 
 cophonous term we use, represents the only dem- 
 ocratic method. The converse of the doctrine of 
 equal rights to all and special privileges to none 
 is equal obligations on all and special exemptions 
 to none. In the exercise of wise discretion, classes 
 may be exempted, because they can render more 
 valuable service to the nation in other ways, be- 
 cause they are unfitted for military service or be- 
 cause of family responsibilities that must be re- 
 garded, but no exemptions should be based on un- 
 willingness to sacrifice. The volunteer system 
 puts the heaviest sacrifices on the shoulders of the 
 brave and generous. It is not fair to this genera- 
 tion or to the next. 
 
 Let us have a fair compulsory service law, with- 
 out bounties or provisions for substitutes, affect- 
 ing rich and poor, educated and illiterate, black 
 and white alike. Compromise means costly delay. 
 
CREATING AN ARMY 107 
 
 However, a conscription bill was prepared, but 
 the opposition made it necessary for a Republican 
 to lead the fight for its passage. 
 
 The Fight for Conscription. 
 
 (April 26, 1917.) 
 
 Striking evidence of the fact that the walls of 
 party politics have been temporarily obliterated 
 by the exigencies of war is the appearance of a 
 Republican as leader, in behalf of the administra- 
 tion, of the conscription forces in the House of 
 Representatives. The majority of the Committee 
 on Military Affairs having reported in favor of 
 volunteer enlistments, the duty fell to a minority 
 of that committee to support the army staff bill 
 which provides for selective conscription and 
 which the president desires adopted. Mr. Kahn, 
 as the ranking member of the committee on the 
 minority side, made the report and is gallantly 
 leading the fight for the passage of the bill. Mr. 
 Kahn has represented the Fourth District of Cal- 
 ifornia, a part of San Francisco, for eighteen 
 years, always as a Republican. The fact that he 
 is a German is but added proof of the intensity of 
 his patriotism. Arrayed against him and his 
 cause are some of the most influential Democrats 
 of the House, including Speaker Clark and Repre- 
 sentative Kitchin, the Democratic floor leader. 
 
 American politics, we think, has known no 
 stranger situation than this. And yet it is not a 
 party division. There will be many Democrats, 
 we are sure, behind Mr. Kahn on the final vote. 
 
108 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 There will be some Republicans, we fear, with 
 Speaker Clark. It is a division not upon political 
 policies, but upon a war measure that is neither 
 Republican nor Democratic, but national. Why 
 there should be a serious division among patriotic 
 men upon this question is hard to understand. 
 The monumental folly, not to say criminal folly, 
 of reliance upon the volunteer system in time of 
 war has been proven again and again in our own 
 experience. Invariably we have arrived at a con- 
 dition of military efficiency only after the useless 
 sacrifice of many, many precious lives. And these 
 sacrifices have always been our best and our brav- 
 est. Why for a wholly mistaken sentiment should 
 we blunder along with a crude and utterly inef- 
 fective method of creating armies, when the one 
 fair, democratic and effective way can be put into 
 operation quicker, easier and with certainty ? 
 Conscription must be provided for, and at once. 
 The volunteer system is as foolish as it is futile. 
 Speaker Clark and his followers, however sincere 
 they may be, are opposing the wishes of their 
 countrymen, are opposing the judgment of the 
 best military minds of our army and of all ar- 
 mies, and they are opposing the true interests of 
 the nation. 
 
 And in spite of the opposition the bill was 
 quickly passed. 
 
CREATING AN ARMY 109 
 
 A Step Toward a New America. 
 
 (April 30. 1917.) 
 
 With majorities in Senate and House beyond 
 all expectations, Congress has passed the bill pro- 
 viding for selective conscription, and the most 
 serious legislative problem connected with our en- 
 try into the war has been solved, and rightly 
 solved. No other action would have satisfied the 
 country; no other action would have made ade- 
 quate provision for the situation that confronts 
 us; no other action would have been in accord 
 with the judgment of military experts of this na- 
 tion and of all nations. The defeat of the volun- 
 teer plan puts an end, we may hope, to the volun- 
 teer system for all time. It has ever been an un- 
 stable, unsatisfactory and uncertain reliance. The 
 glory of America has been written large upon the 
 pages of history by the deeds of her volunteers. 
 No one would wish to lessen that glory by a sin- 
 gle line, but every war we have had has proven 
 that the volunteer system entails a tremendous 
 and utterly useless sacrifice of life in the begin- 
 nings of conflict, destroys the best and the bravest 
 of our youth, and prolongs the struggle for vic- 
 tory if it does not cause defeat. 
 
 It so happens that in the present situation we 
 may take sufficient time to train our men thor- 
 oughly before we enter into actual warfare on 
 land, and volunteer forces would not suffer from 
 lack of preparation as they have always done in 
 the past. But it is none the less true that if we 
 
110 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 had relied upon our old methods it would have 
 been our choicest men who would have borne the 
 brunt of the fight and have been sacrificed, while 
 millions having the same obligations, the same 
 duty and the same physical fitness remained com- 
 fortably and safely at home. The volunteer sys- 
 tem, however heroic, was always costly and al- 
 ways unfair. The compulsory system puts all men 
 upon an equal basis, and that is the fundamental 
 principle of democracy, whether it applies to 
 rights or to obligations. By conscription we can 
 put a large army into training without delay, and 
 it will be based upon equality of responsibility. It 
 will embrace all men of proper age who are physi- 
 cally fit and who are not for one reason or an- 
 other exempted by the provisions of the law. We 
 shall learn from this experience not only the value 
 but the necessity of universal training. We shall 
 learn that only in this way may we make sure of 
 a fighting force adequate to any need and ready 
 for any service. We shall learn that by this amal- 
 gamation of American youth a new spirit of devo- 
 tion will be created, a new interest in the govern- 
 ment awakened, a new feeling of social democ- 
 racy and blood brotherhood promoted, that will 
 make a new and a greater America, a nation no 
 longer of separate and often antagonistic races 
 and interests, but a real union, ' ' a union of hearts 
 and a union of hands," a union of inspirations 
 and aspirations for a common welfare. 
 
CREATING AN ARMY 111 
 
 Ready for the Draft. 
 
 (May 19, 1917.) 
 
 For the first time in over fifty years, the United 
 States is prepared to call to the colors the fittest 
 of its citizens on an equitable basis. Every male 
 citizen who has reached his twenty-first birthday 
 and has not reached his thirty-first birthday will 
 be required to register at a place to be designated 
 on a day to be set by the president. No citizen 
 can pass on his own physical qualifications or ex- 
 emptions. If too sick to register, he must have 
 somebody register for him. If absent, he must 
 register by mail. He must truthfully answer all 
 questions propounded him, under heavy penal- 
 ties. He cannot neglect or evade registration 
 without suffering penalties. All questions as to ex- 
 emption will be determined without fear or favor 
 by competent tribunals. Registration will be done 
 by volunteers, under oath, 
 
 It is estimated that 10,000,000 men will be reg- 
 istered on Registration Day, which will be the 
 most generally observed holiday in the history of 
 the United States. Estimates as to the number 
 that will be exempted because of physical or men- 
 tal disqualifications or because of the character of 
 their employment are mere guesses, but it is prob- 
 able that not to exceed 10 per cent of the men 
 found eligible for service will be drawn to fill the 
 army of 500,000 to be called to the colors by Sep- 
 tember 1. There will be ample time not only to 
 make selection, but to give those selected oppor- 
 
112 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 tunity to arrange their private affairs, although 
 the delay is for a still better reason — preparation 
 to take care of such an army. Without such prep- 
 aration there would be many hardships not nec- 
 essary to the country 's welfare. 
 
 The increase of pay comes as a pleasant sur- 
 prise. The soldiers of the United States have long 
 been the best paid in the world, but the pay has 
 not been out of proportion to general wages in the 
 United States. The new wages, supplemented by 
 savings from the liberal clothing allowances, will 
 put it within the power of every soldier to lay by 
 a neat sum for each month of his service. There 
 is not a sign of resistance to the draft, even its 
 most vehement opponents having gracefully yield- 
 ed. Registration Day will not be without sadness, 
 but there is no likelihood of such scenes as dis- 
 graced some sections during the civil war. 
 
 The Great Registration. 
 
 (June 5, 1917.) 
 
 Today something will be done that has never 
 been done before in the United States. It will be 
 something that will mark June 5, 1917, as a day 
 to be forever remembered in American history. 
 Between sunup and sundown of todaj^ more than 
 10,000,000 men between the ages of 21 and 31 will 
 present themselves before the constituted authori- 
 ties and register themselves as material for sol- 
 diers in the great army that will be raised, that 
 must be raised, to carry to a victorious conclusion 
 our contest with Germany. Virtually every one of 
 
CREATING AN ARMY 113 
 
 these men will be subject to conscription, but it is 
 hardly probable that more than one out of every 
 five will be called upon to serve in a military way. 
 But one in twenty will be ordered into the first 
 army of 500,000 men which will be put into train- 
 ing at once. After that will come further calls for 
 more men, and so long as the war continues the 
 men registered today will be drawn into the serv- 
 ice as they may be needed. It is possible that be- 
 fore the war comes to an end 2,000,000 of these 
 men will have enlisted under the colors. It is pos- 
 sible that even a greiater number than that will 
 be required, but it is hardly probable, for with 
 the augmented forces of the regular army and 
 the National Guard, 2,000,000 men from the draft 
 would bring the total to a figure approaching 
 3,000,000. 
 
 But, however many it may take, and however 
 long it may require, the war will be continued un- 
 til the purposes for which we have entered into it 
 have been attained. This day will be at once the 
 evidence of our power and our resolution. Ten 
 million men subject to military duty in what we 
 might call the first line, with as many more in re- 
 serve, and incalculable wealth and resource be- 
 hind them, is a force that no nation or no group of 
 nations opposing it can view with complacency. 
 It means — it can mean — but one thing, and that is 
 the ultimate defeat of Germany and the eternal 
 triumph of democracy. This day, therefore, will 
 stand out not only as marking an action without 
 
114 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 precedent in our history, but as the day when the 
 country was actually called to arms for the prose- 
 cution and the winning of the world's greatest 
 war. We do not anticipate any serious effort to 
 avoid registration. There will be some evasions, 
 but in comparison with the whole they will be 
 very, very few. The trumpet blast of the nation 
 will sound no discord. 
 
 Drawing Our Army. 
 
 (July 21, 1917.) 
 
 The work of drawing the numbers to determine 
 the order of examination of registrants for service 
 in our National Army was attended with due sol- 
 emnity in the Senate office building at Washing- 
 ton. But there was greater solemnity throughout 
 the country, as the fateful numbers were posted 
 on bulletin boards or published in newspapers. 
 The registrants themselves were in evidence ev- 
 erywhere, scanning the list with manifest concern. 
 But their anxiety was mild compared with that of 
 their loved ones. For nearly three years the hor- 
 rors of the greatest war in history, in which prac- 
 tically all the inventions and discoveries of sci- 
 ence have been turned to purposes of destruction 
 and the best blood of most of the leading nations 
 of the earth has been poured out like water, have 
 rested on the country as a pall and driven almost 
 every other subject from the mind of men and 
 women. It was but natural that there should be 
 deep anxiety over the decision of blind chance as 
 to what particular registrants in each community 
 
CHEAT ISC AN ARM'/ 115 
 
 tthould be the first to answer the stem call of 
 duty. There can he no valid objection to the rneth 
 od. ft Jh the only really democratic method 
 
 ling an army the country hah ever em;, 
 the draft, of 1803 being marred by the proviso: 
 for hiring substitutes. The present conscription 
 lav/ equitable to individual* an possible in 
 
 any measure that has to guard i-/<^vj interest of 
 the nation, at home and abroad. But the neoes 
 sity of the sacrifice and the fairness of the selec- 
 tion cannot banish the grief from the hearts of 
 
 million*, 
 
 But there will be no resistance, except in i 
 lated cases. Philosophy, pride and patriotism will 
 come to the relief of the reluctant soldier. Jn time 
 he will be as gay as even the daredevils already in 
 France .. for his Joved ones, they m ,\ v feed on 
 hope, as the loved ones of all soldiers do. All who 
 are thus personally affecteo ■ ... have a new feel- 
 ing toward the war, an interest that only sacrifice 
 can bring. There will be no more talk of apathy 
 after the examinations are completed and ques- 
 tions of exemptions decided. America, with all 
 hopes and fears, will be absorbed in the war. 
 Other interest-, prill shrink into insignificance, as 
 they should. The big business now is seeing the 
 r through to the triumph of all that is be*t 
 among men. 
 
 And we may now step forward a year to con- 
 clude with the final act of America's preparation. 
 
116 THK WORLD WAR 
 
 The Great Army of All America. 
 (S%pt«iat>«* LI, L91&) 
 
 Today tho United States lays virtually all its 
 virile manhood upon tho altar o( war, Tho men 
 
 between 2] and 33 have already been registered 
 and classified, and all are subject to the govern* 
 meat's orders. Today all those between L8 and 21 
 and between 3] and to are required to present 
 themselves before their respective draft boards, 
 and there to plaoe themselves at the disposition of 
 the war authorities tor military servioe, or tor 
 such other servioe as they may be qualified to 
 give. With this registration all mon between W 
 
 and 4o will be upon tho nation's roll of roadinoss. 
 
 Together with the previous draft it puts approxi- 
 mately 25,000,000 mon under orders, immediate or 
 waiting, for the country's servioe. There is no 
 such thing- as exemption in the absolute sense, ex* 
 
 oopt in the oaso of national and state officers BpC« 
 
 eifieally exempted by the mandate of the Law, and 
 those whose physical disabilities totally disqualify 
 thom for any form o( sorvioo. Practically all who 
 registered Last year and all who register today 
 are subject to the government's commands. This 
 is the essentia] feet, that from today one-fourth 
 of the country's population is enrolled for war, 
 and it is the most eloquent tribute to the coun- 
 try's earnestness, determination and unity that 
 this is being done calmly, cheerfully and without 
 
 protost. 
 
 But it is not the intention of the government to 
 
CEBATIKG AN ARMY 117 
 
 take all of this vast body of men and put them 
 under arms for military duty. We have no pres 
 ent need for such a force, nor 10 it at all likely that 
 we ever shall have. The army is being composed 
 and will continue to be composed, of picked men, 
 
 the men who are best fitted for military service. 
 
 From those between M and 4b" Gen, Cr wder doe* 
 not expect to get more than 600,000 men for this 
 
 duty, although half of the grand total of regis- 
 trants are in this class. Social and eeonornie eon- 
 siderations make it unwise to draw men of fami- 
 lies or nioji needed in essential industries into the 
 army, unless absolutely required, and these are to 
 he, as they have been, put into the deferred olas- 
 sifieations, where they will be subject to any call 
 that the developments of the future may make 
 necessary. Hy far the greater part of the mate- 
 rial for soldiers will come, in the new draft, from 
 those between 18 and 21 — young man who have 
 the vigor of youth and who are almost entirely 
 fraa from the conditions that require the defer- 
 ment of older men. Out of the whole, counting all 
 calls, will come an active army of 5,000,000 or 
 6,000,000 of the flower of American manhood, and 
 the means of keeping our great force continuous- 
 ly renewed and its magnitude maintained under 
 any circumstances that may arise. 
 
 With this registration we may say that Amer- 
 ica, all America, is enlisted for the war, for all the 
 rest of us must be, and shall be, as truly in serv- 
 ice as if we, too, were enrolled and classified. This, 
 
118 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 no doubt, will complete the formal registration, 
 except for those reaching the fighting age later, 
 but in the high sense none of us are exempt, none 
 of us are relieved from the duty of support in any 
 and every way that is possible for us. In a way. 
 all of us are in uniform, and all of us are fighting. 
 Let there be no faltering until we have won. 
 
IV. 
 THE PASSION OF PATRIOTISM. 
 
 It is one of the finest privileges of a newspaper 
 to give expression to the patriotism that beats in 
 the heart of a nation, and the Globe-Democrat, 
 from the beginning to the end of the war, en- 
 deavored to voice the inspiration, the courage 
 and the faith of America. The series of editorials 
 which follows, selected from many of this nature, 
 needs no explanation. Their purpose and their 
 spirit is plain, and if, placed here, they seem to 
 break the continuity of the narrative, let it be 
 rehnembered that patriotism both precedes and 
 accompanies the action of war. 
 
 Hang Out the Flags. 
 
 (March 20, 1917.) 
 
 There is no flag so beautiful as the Stars and 
 Stripes. There is none that has within its form 
 and color so much of meaning. There is none 
 whose symbols signify so fully and completely the 
 aspirations of humanity in relation to govern- 
 ment. There is none that speaks with a voice so 
 clear and a note so sweet to the heart of the pa- 
 triot. There is none that stands for so much 
 in human advancement and human sympathy. 
 There is none whose history is more glorious, nor 
 whose folds are so stainless. It is the emblem nofc 
 merely of the American Government and the 
 American nation, but of the principles upon 
 which this nation and this government are found- 
 ed. It is a flag to love and to revere, and when- 
 ever the great heart of the American people 
 
 119 
 
120 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 swells with the emotion of patriotism, whenever 
 circumstances arise to draw us from the contem- 
 plation of our individual necessities and desires 
 to the consideration of emergencies involving na- 
 tional rights and national honor, it is through the 
 flag that we can give best and quickest and most 
 inspiring expression to the sentiments that every 
 American holds within him. 
 
 To "hang our banners on the outer walls' ' in 
 these days that try men's souls is no proof of pa- 
 triotism, nor failure to do so an evidence of lack 
 of it, for the vilest traitor may wave a flag and 
 the sincerest patriot may be least disposed to dis- 
 play his feelings. But it is in the nature of a sim- 
 ple and beautiful rite, an individual offering upon 
 the altar of national life and national conscience. 
 When its glorious symbols are repeated and again 
 repeated until every vista flames with its colors, 
 it needs then no words to explain their meaning, 
 it needs then no words to show that American 
 hearts are beating in unison to a tune that ever 
 falls upon the American ear as a mandate to ven- 
 eration and as an inspiration to action — 
 
 "Oh! say, can you see by the, dawn's early light 
 What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's 
 last gleaming — 
 Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the 
 perilous fight 
 O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallant- 
 ly streaming." 
 
THE PASSION OF PATRIOTISM 121 
 
 Easter and the War. 
 
 (April 8, 1917.) 
 
 It is perhaps but a coincidence that America's 
 proclamation of war was issued on the anniver- 
 sary of the greatest event in human history. It 
 may be that it just happens that on this Easter 
 morning the first country in Christendom is be- 
 ginning active preparations to enter into the most 
 stupendous and the bloodiest war the world has 
 ever known. Yet, when one contemplates the con- 
 dition of society and of Christianity before the 
 war began, the growing power of materialism, 
 the ever-increasing indifference toward spiritual 
 things, the sweeping trend of all civilization to- 
 ward complete immersion in physical luxuries or 
 in the battle for their attainment ; when one con- 
 siders this and then reflects upon the causes and 
 incentives of the war, upon its rapid spread to 
 such a vast and cataclysmal horror as to make all 
 previous wars seem but child's play; upon its in- 
 volvement of nation after nation until virtually 
 the entire world is, or is about to be, joined in 
 universal conflict ; upon the clear principles of hu- 
 manity that have emerged from the welter of hu- 
 man blood as the stake for which the war is now 
 being waged ; when one considers these things and 
 then observes the unmistakable evidences of indi- 
 vidual and national altruism, the definite ^nd re- 
 sistless movement toward the brotherhood of man, 
 the removing from the eyes of the world of the 
 cataracts of selfishness and greed, the searching 
 
122 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 introspection among all thinking men, and, above 
 all, the return of men's thoughts to the contem- 
 plation of divinity, one is moved to wonder 
 whether there is not behind and within all this a 
 supreme and irresistible power that is drawing 
 mankind upwards by the shedding of its blood — 
 whether there is not, indeed, a real relation be- 
 tween the sacrifice on Calvary and the stupendous 
 sacrifice of the present. 
 
 For the whole history of the world is proof 
 that sacrifice is ever the means to the attainment 
 of that which is good. Whether it be racial, na- 
 tional or individual no great advancement has 
 ever been made without sacrifice. The develop- 
 ment of human liberty has been a long and un- 
 broken series of painful and heroic sacrifices. All 
 life that moves forward and upward does so 
 through continuous sacrifice. Even God himself 
 found no other way to reveal his love and convey 
 his supernal promises than by sacrifice, the su- 
 preme sacrifice of blood. 
 
 But there is another and a greater thought. 
 Sacrifice is never in vain. Its consequences may 
 not always be revealed to the individual or the 
 generation making it, but they are certain to fol- 
 low. The consequences of the sacrifice upon Cal- 
 vary was the resurrection. The blood that flowed 
 upon that barren hill of Palestine 2000 years ago 
 has never ceased to speak to the ages, yet it was 
 through the opening of the tomb, the result of 
 the sacrifice, that it was made eternally eloquent. 
 
THE PASSION OF PATRIOTISM 123 
 
 And so it will be, inevitably it will be, with this 
 colossal sacrifice of today. The blood of millions 
 of men shed in battle for what they believe to be 
 right, shed for that which is right, will surely 
 bring consequences to the world in due proportion 
 to the mightiness of the sacrifice. We do not 
 know what lies beyond the grave into which 
 mankind is now descending, but we do know that 
 there will be a resurrection, a resurrection such 
 as the world has never known, has never imag- 
 ined, and over it and upon it will shine the glory 
 of the cross, a glory never more to be dimmed. 
 
 A Day of Dedication. 
 
 (October 24, 1917.) 
 
 Why call this Liberty Day? Are not all days 
 liberty days in America? Have we not had 365 
 liberty days every year for ages and ages — so long 
 that we have to look into the histories for the 
 date of their beginning? What does liberty mean 
 to us ? The sun rises and sets. The moon and the 
 stars shine benignantly upon us. The flowers 
 bloom, the birds sing, the harvest ripens. So with 
 liberty. It is as freely and as constantly ours as 
 the resources of nature. We breathe it as we do 
 the air, unconscious of its presence, unconscious 
 that it sustains us. Why disturb the routine of 
 our lives with the blast of trumpets and the boom 
 of bombs? Why distract us from the pursuit of 
 dollars with meaningless appeals for needless 
 ends? Liberty is ours — why war for what we 
 have, and cannot lose? 
 
124 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 Ah, no. That is the cry of those who "in the 
 hollow Lotus-land would live." Liberty is ours, 
 yes, but our fathers had to fight to obtain it and 
 we shall have to tight to maintain it. It is ours 
 only so long as we have the desire and the deter- 
 mination to preserve it. We lose the right to it 
 when we lose that that gives it vitality. "The 
 condition upon which God hath given liberty to 
 man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he 
 break, servitude is at once the consequence of his 
 crime and the punishment of his guilt." That is 
 no less true now than it was when Curran uttered 
 it more than a century ago. It applies as surely 
 to us as to all people and all times. The price of 
 liberty is eternal vigilance. 
 
 AYe call this Liberty Day because liberty — our 
 liberty — is imperiled. We call this Liberty Day 
 because Liberty is calling to her sons, her best 
 loved sons, for aid. We call this Liberty Day be- 
 cause here and now she must have the response 
 that will assure her that we are awake to the 
 danger, and are ready, all of us ready, to defend 
 her. We call this Liberty Day because we must 
 now present the proofs of our devotion and our 
 determination in our contributions to her cause. 
 
 We cannot all tight, but we can all serve. Nor 
 need our service be but that that "only stands 
 and waits." We can give, and must give. We 
 can pay, and must pay. We can sacrifice, and 
 must sacrifice. We can and must show that we 
 are Americans, that we know the value of our citi- 
 zenship, that we realize the worth of our freedom, 
 
THE PASSION OF PATRIOTISM 125 
 
 that we understand the power and menace of the 
 forces arrayed against us, and are willing and 
 ready to spend our lives and our fortunes, if need 
 be, for the cause which is our cause ; for the cause 
 which is not ours alone but all humanity's. 
 
 The war is our war — peculiarly our war. It 
 has been our war from the beginning. It was our 
 war when Germany crossed the Belgian border 
 and began its triumphant and devastating march 
 toward Paris. We did not know it was our war 
 then. But slowly, as we began to understand that 
 Germany was not battling against nations but 
 against civilization; as we began to understand 
 that the principles involved and imperiled were 
 those for which we stand, and have ever stood, as 
 the world's foremost champion; as we began to 
 understand that the triumph of Germany, and 
 the ideas of government and personal domina- 
 tion that Germany represents, would mean the 
 ultimate downfall not merely of Prance and Eng- 
 land and Russia, but of our own land as well; 
 that its victory meant suppression of human lib- 
 erty as surely among us as among them; as we 
 began to understand all these things we began to 
 realize that it was our war that was being waged 
 across the sea, that it was for us the fields of the 
 Marne and the Somme and all the broad sweep 
 of battle lines were being deluged with blood. 
 Germany knew it was our war long before we 
 awoke to the realization, and we now know that 
 it was secretly and insidiously and treacherously 
 fighting us on our own ground while pretending 
 
126 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 friendship. Germany knew it was our war and 
 tried to destroy us before we were aroused to our 
 danger. It is still trying to destroy us, and it will 
 not cease trying until its power for evil is forever 
 broken by the aid of our might. 
 
 Let this be a day of dedication. Let us resolve, 
 each and every one, that all we have and all we 
 are, shall henceforth be subject to the call of our 
 government until this supreme end is attained. 
 Let us recognize our responsibility, let us face the 
 fact squarely, and let us determine, each for him- 
 self and one for all, to stand united in this cause, 
 giving freely, paying splendidly, dying glori- 
 ously. Let us realize that by comparison nothing 
 else really matters, that nothing else can really 
 matter, until this great task is completed with 
 the victory of right. Let us feel that our daily 
 labors are in some measure contributory to our 
 national purpose, that each thing that our hand 
 finds to do is somehow to strengthen the cause 
 through the advancement of national interest, 
 that our work is consecrated to liberty, and the 
 chief aim of our work is its preservation. 
 
 Standing by the President. 
 
 (January 23, 1918.) 
 
 There is no thing so near to the soul of this pa- 
 per — and it has a soul — as the issue of this war. 
 All other matters, however great in themselves, 
 are relatively insignificant. In our belief, no na- 
 tional sacrifice, no individual sacrifice, is too great 
 if it is necessary to the achievement of the end 
 
THE PASSION OF PATRIOTISM 127 
 
 we have set out to reach. That end we must reach 
 and shall reach, whatever the cost, whatever the 
 pain, whatever the loss. It is therefore with the 
 most profound sorrow that we see the opening of 
 dissensions that are sure to affect the progress of 
 the war adversely, that are sure to rift that splen- 
 did solidarity that till now has been our pride and 
 our strength, and that are sure, unless stopped, 
 to endanger seriously the cause for which we are 
 fighting. The injection of partisan considera- 
 tions into this campaign of civilization is in our 
 estimation little short of criminal. This paper 
 has from the beginning of our participation reso- 
 lutely opposed and sternly condemned any move- 
 ment or suggestion of movement having a parti- 
 san purpose in relation to the war. It has in- 
 sisted that complete unity is essential to the con- 
 summation of our aims ; that this war is a na- 
 tional war in the highest and fullest sense, and 
 that any attempt to use it for party advantage, 
 or any division on party lines arousing opposi- 
 tion to the government for political benefit, would 
 deserve and would receive the reprobation of the 
 people. * * * That should be the position of 
 all Republicans and of all Democrats. We should 
 resolutely refuse to be drawn into any partisan 
 discussion, and we should say to the president 
 that so long as he stands by us, so long as we are 
 convinced of his capacity to lead us, we shall 
 stand by him to the extreme end. The greatest 
 peril that can face us is the disintegration of our 
 
128 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 unity of purpose, unity of determination, and uni- 
 ty in support of the government. 
 
 There is this, however, to be said, and now is 
 perhaps the best time to say it. We are a nation 
 of free men. Our government is founded upon 
 an independence of intelligence, and is and must 
 always be supported by the power of public opin- 
 ion. No American government can succeed un- 
 less it is sustained by that power. No American 
 government can long endure if that power and 
 the patriotic expression of that power is sup- 
 pressed. It is the essential quality of our liberty, 
 and without it democracy cannot be safe here or 
 anywhere on earth. Leadership in this nation 
 must come from the people, and the people can- 
 not relinquish their supreme authority or aban- 
 don their responsibilities. Our leaders must some- 
 how learn the attitude of public opinion. If we 
 approve they must know it; if we disapprove 
 they must know it. Public opinion must be 
 voiced, and voiced plainly, whenever the need for 
 its tongue arises. In times of crisis it should 
 never be raised in captious criticism, it should 
 never be made the tool of personal or partisan 
 ends. The duty at such times is grave and earnest 
 consideration of circumstances and conditions and 
 aims. But if serious wrongs are being committed, 
 if mistakes are being made that endanger the wel- 
 fare of the people, it is not only the right but the 
 bounden duty of the people or the people's rep- 
 resentatives to point them out and demand their 
 
THE PASSION OF PATRIOTISM 129 
 
 righting or correction. No leader is infallible. 
 No leader ever has been or ever will be infallible- 
 Omniscience is a quality reserved to Deity alone. 
 And as long as we are led by human leaders just 
 so long must we expect them to make mistakes. 
 Never can we shut our eyes and rest securely in 
 the knowledge that our leadership is absolutely 
 unerring. Trust our leaders we should, and give 
 them our stanch support until they betray us or 
 prove their incapacity, but we must not blind our- 
 selves to the faults which they, being human, must 
 commit. 
 
 In the great enterprise that we have now un- 
 dertaken all other questions must be placed in 
 the background and we must concentrate the loy- 
 alty and the intelligence of the nation upon the 
 one purpose. We are making vast sacrifices for 
 this cause, and we will make yet greater sacri- 
 fices. Cheerfully have we made them and cheer- 
 fully shall we make them. But we must see to it 
 that we are rightly led. We must see to it that 
 our sacrifice is justified by results ; that no sacri- 
 fice is made needlessly. We must hold together. 
 A house divided against itself cannot stand. But 
 we must insist upon the utmost efficiency possi- 
 ble to attain in the prosecution of this war; we 
 must insist that the best men and the best meth- 
 ods be applied to this service ; we must insist that 
 nothing that can be done to advance our interests 
 or promote our welfare shall be left undone. No 
 patriotic criticism can hurt the government if the 
 
130 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 government is right; nothing but patriotic criti- 
 cism can right the government if it is wrong. The 
 Globe-Democrat will not relinquish its rights nor 
 shirk its duty in this matter. It purposes to stand 
 by the president, and it will not descend to petty 
 fault-finding, but if it believes that he or any de- 
 partment is making a serious mistake it will say 
 so plainly. 
 
 Our Wonderful Privilege. 
 
 (January 27, 1918.) 
 
 Did you ever stop to think what it means to 
 live, just to live, in this day ? Has it ever occurred 
 to you that in the mere fact of existence now you 
 are privileged beyond the men of other times? 
 You may be one of the great; you may be no- 
 body in particular ; but in this you are on terms 
 of equality. All men share and share alike in the 
 peculiar distinction of life in this period of the 
 world 's regeneration. There have been many cri- 
 ses in the checkered career of mankind on this old 
 sphere of ours, and some of them have vastly in- 
 fluenced the welfare of humanity through ages. 
 To have lived in any one of these, just to have 
 witnessed the great events that have made their 
 eternal impress upon human life and human des- 
 tinies, was a privilege — unrealized, no doubt, but 
 none the less a privilege. To have borne a part in 
 them, however small, was an exceptional distinc- 
 tion denied to the greatest in the intervening and 
 relatively uneventful years. For example, did 
 you never think, with a sort of envy, of the men 
 
THE PASSION OF PATRIOTISM 131 
 
 and the women who lived in the days of our revo- 
 lution? The mists of time have cast a glamour 
 over those days, and it is not easy to realize that 
 they were men and women not different from 
 ourselves, going about their daily labors in much 
 the same way, having the same mixture of good 
 and bad, of wise and foolish. But the conse- 
 quences of the deeds of their time have filled the 
 earth and in our memories its halo encircles all 
 who lived then in our land. We do not pause to 
 separate the sheep from the goats. We honor 
 the age. 
 
 "These are the times that try men's souls/ ' said 
 Tom Paine of that day. In a larger sense and a 
 wider sense these are the times that try men's 
 souls. This day of ours is a greater day than 
 mankind has yet known, and we who are of it will 
 share in the honor that posterity will bestow 
 upon it. If, then, mere existence in this time of 
 the holocaust of nations confers a distinction, 
 what laurels must come to him who not only lives 
 but participates, who not only breathes the air 
 but acts, however humbly, for the consummation 
 of the purposes, the vast purposes, of this day of 
 days. What are you doing — you, who read this — 
 to make your name and your deeds worthy of re- 
 membrance by those who shall come after you? 
 What are you doing to show posterity that you 
 felt the inspiration of the cause of mankind and 
 responded to it with your work, your sacrifice or 
 your blood ? What is to be your share in this ac- 
 couchement of a new world, and where on the in- 
 
132 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 terminable roll of its honored is your name to be 
 written? These are questions that every man 
 should ask himself, and every woman should ask 
 herself. It is a fine thing just to have lived in 
 these times, but it is inexpressibly glorious to 
 have done something. 
 
 Plain Words on Party Politics. 
 
 (February 12, 1918.) 
 
 The National Committee of the Republican par- 
 ty meets in St. Louis today for the election of a 
 chairman and the consideration of such other 
 matters as may come before it. The Globe-Dem- 
 ocrat welcomes these eminent representatives of 
 the party whose principles it has so long and so 
 ardently supported, and whose battles it has 
 helped to fight to many triumphs and to few de- 
 feats. But it has a few words to say on the sub- 
 ject of party politics in this crisis and it feels that 
 this is the time to say them. They are not, how- 
 ever, directed at the national committee, for we 
 have no reason to believe that its attitude is not 
 in accord with ours. 
 
 The supreme test of a party, as of a citizen, is 
 loyalty. Measured by this standard the Repub- 
 lican party has never yet been found wanting. 
 Born in a passion for national unity, it has ever 
 been distinguished by its firm adherence to the 
 highest ideals of nationalism. It has battled for a 
 united America on the fields, in the halls of legis- 
 lation, on the rostrum and at the polls. " Amer- 
 ica" is written on its heart. The word is there 
 
THE PASSION OF PATRIOTISM 133 
 
 now, this day, graven deep, deep, inerasable. It 
 has proven this in the great campaign that is now 
 being waged for the preservation of human 
 rights and human liberties, for the maintenance 
 of Christian civilization against the onslaughts of 
 a degenerate but powerful barbarism. Republi- 
 cans of every rank have joined heart and soul 
 with their brothers of other faith in the battle for 
 the common cause. Casting aside all partisan 
 bitterness, all partisan prejudice, all thought of 
 party profit, as unworthy of them in this hour, 
 the masses of the party and most of its leaders 
 have drawn up with unexampled solidarity for 
 the support of the nation. 
 
 But now an election is approaching and a few 
 Republican politicians are saying the party must 
 abandon this spirit and action of whole-hearted 
 and disinterested co-operation and " stand as the 
 party of constructive criticism." "The Repub- 
 licans of the United States/' says one of these, 
 "have a patriotic duty to perform in this war, 
 and that is to exercise their legitimate function 
 as a party in opposition to the administration to 
 reduce to the minimum the war mistakes of the 
 administration." And it is urged by some that a 
 campaign for the congressional election should 
 be inaugurated upon the basis of the principle. 
 A "party of opposition" is a party of antagon- 
 ism. No euphemism can disguise or alter that 
 fact. A campaign along this line would surely 
 array a large element of the people against the 
 
134 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 government. It would mean a partisan campaign 
 that, however it might be glossed by patriotic 
 phrases, would be for partisan ends. Instead of 
 solidifying the people in support of the one great 
 cause that is far, far, far above all parties, it 
 would split them into wrangling factions. In- 
 stead of the splendid teamwork of the past year, 
 we should be pulling one against the other. The 
 partisan spirit would be intensified on both sides. 
 The war would not be "speeded up," but de- 
 layed, hampered, and from the seeds of discord 
 might grow defeat. "United we stand, divided 
 we fall." It is an old saying, but it is supremely 
 true now. The Globe-Democrat believes in party 
 organization. It believes that parties are essen- 
 tial to democratic government. It is profoundly 
 devoted to the principles of the Republican 
 party. But when a nation's honor and its life 
 are at stake, every one of its political elements 
 should act in coalition and accord for the na- 
 tional interest alone. We want to elect men to 
 the next Congress of high intelligence, of as- 
 sured loyalty and of unquestioned honor. It 
 matters little in this emergency what we label 
 them if we know that they are Americans in 
 every sense of the proud term. 
 
 Constructive criticism is good. It is necessary. 
 The American people will not be blindly led by 
 any man or set of men, and at such a time as this : 
 when the things we hold most dear are imperiled, 
 it is especially necessary that we be watchful for 
 
THE PASSION OF PATRIOTISM 135 
 
 errors. No human administration could be free 
 from errors, and perfection in every detail is not 
 to be expected in a task of such tremendous mag- 
 nitude as that in which we are now engaged. For 
 this reason criticism should not be captious. There 
 should be no nagging faultfinding from any 
 source. But real errors, errors that in any way 
 seriously affect our efficiency or our spirit, should 
 be pointed out and proper influence exerted for 
 their correction. It is particularly the duty of 
 the people's representatives to be both patriot- 
 ically watchful and courageously frank. But in 
 this hour they should speak and act solely as rep- 
 resentatives of the people, never as representa- 
 tives of a party. No party action in relation to 
 this war and in opposition to the administration 
 can escape the suspicion and the charge of parti- 
 san purpose unless it comes in response to the 
 plain and insistent demand of the great body of 
 the people. The national leadership being fixed 
 and unchangeable, organized party opposition can 
 be in effect nothing less than partisan antagonism 
 to that leadership, an antagonism weakening and 
 destructive to the nation and encouraging to the 
 enemy. Such a course will appeal only to those 
 who set party above country or to those who are 
 interested in our defeat. The American people 
 will not bear with patience a policy of party op- 
 position to the government in this crisis. 
 
 But, it is argued, the party must be preserved. 
 Right. And the way to preserve it is to devote 
 
136 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 all its powers freely, generously and disinterest- 
 edly to the victorious consummation of this cause. 
 The way to preserve it is to forget party interest 
 or party advantage and concentrate our thought 
 and our influence upon the national purpose. We 
 shall come out of the war then with our face for- 
 ward and our sword lifted. We shall come out 
 of the war with equal honor and equal glory, pre- 
 pared to play our great part in the work that 
 must then be done. The Republican party is not 
 dead, nor dying, nor sick. It was never greater 
 than it is now. But if in this supreme national 
 emergency it is prostituted to partisan ends, if it 
 descends to the level of a political scold and ex- 
 erts its powers toward dissension and not toward 
 unity, it will perish, and it will deserve to perish. 
 
 America Awake. 
 
 (April 9, 1918.) 
 
 "The nation is awake," said President Wilson 
 in his speech at Baltimore, and no one who saw 
 the crowd gathered in Forest Park Sunday after- 
 noon could question the truth of the president's 
 assertion. This assemblage, unprecedented in St. 
 Louis, was most impressive in its magnitude, in 
 the majesty of its sheer bulk ; but above all it was 
 impressive and inspiring as an evidence of active 
 interest in the great issue of this day and mo- 
 ment, as evidence of that dynamic patriotism that 
 is ever potential in the American heart. And what 
 we saw in St. Louis was but a local manifestation 
 of the feeling that is as strong and as pure in 
 
THE PASSION OF PATRIOTISM 137 
 
 Massachusetts and Texas and Oregon as it is in 
 Missouri. It is a loyalty that is as wide as the 
 continent and as deep as the foundations of oar 
 liberties. 
 
 And it is awake — alertly awake. Indeed, it has 
 never been asleep. We have, from the very first, 
 insisted that this was true. We have deprecated 
 the cries of the orators and newspapers that 
 .seemed to be obsessed with the idea that awake- 
 ness must be demonstrated by some kind of a vis- 
 ible and audible effervescence, forgetting that the 
 more profoundly the American people are stirred 
 the more silent they become. We have inherited 
 from our insular forefathers a reticence of emo- 
 tion that no intermixture of more mercurial blood 
 has loosened. We are not much given to ''the tu- 
 mult and the shouting" even in our lighter moods, 
 and when we are deadly in earnest we are inclined 
 to a stern taciturnity that is more ominous than 
 words. The American people, we say, have not 
 been asleep at any time. We have been remote 
 from the rest of the world, and our isolation and 
 independence in material resources have tended 
 to promote a national habit of introspection. We 
 have been so sufficient unto ourselves that we 
 have paid little attention to what was going on 
 in other lands, and this insularity made us rela- 
 tively slow to grasp the full significance of Euro- 
 pean events that were to draw us so irresistibly 
 into intimate association with European affairs. 
 But we grasped them, and it was not yesterday 
 
138 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 nor the day before that we did so. It was long 
 ago as time runs now, for the beginnings of this 
 war seem years back, so long ago that when the 
 hour came for us to make the great decision we 
 were ready. There were none but Teutonic pro- 
 tests against war. The approval of the war was 
 virtually unanimous, and America has since de- 
 nied nothing, however strange or revolutionary, 
 that might contribute to our success. The people 
 of this country are awake, they are in earnest. 
 they are determined — and they are silent. Which 
 means there will be no end to this war until we 
 have got what we are fighting for. 
 
 If We Had Stayed Out. 
 
 (April 28, 1918.) 
 
 Let us imagine ourselves still neutral, still at 
 peace. Let us suppose that a year ago we had 
 shrugged our shoulders and said, Ah, well, we are 
 making money out of this and can afford to swal- 
 low our indignation. Let us suppose that the war 
 had gone on as it has gone on, but with America 
 standing aside, profiting in every way that it 
 could by the circumstances of war without raising 
 its fist to put an end to it. It is hard to imagine 
 this now, yet only a little more than twelve 
 months ago there were many Americans who were 
 strongly opposed to our taking any part in the 
 great conflict. If they had had their way what we 
 are trying to imagine now would have been sordid 
 reality. Assuming that their influence had been 
 strong enough to keep us out of war, what would 
 
THE PASSION OF PATRIOTISM 139 
 
 have been our position today, how would our neu- 
 trality have affected the contest, and what would 
 we have gained or lost by peace ? 
 
 Without exaggerating our services in the least, 
 it is conceivable that by this time the allies would 
 have been in deadly peril but for our help. Ad- 
 mitting that in actual fighting power we have yet 
 contributed but little, still it can hardly be denied 
 that what we have done has been of vast impor- 
 tance to the opposition to Germany. We have 
 helped materially in reducing the effectiveness of 
 the submarine warfare, both by naval action 
 against it and by replacing tonnage. We have 
 shipped enormous quantities of food and other 
 supplies to Britain, France and Italy that we 
 could not have sent in such quantities without the 
 restrictions upon our own consumption that only 
 a state of war would have justified. We have ad- 
 vanced billions of dollars to our associates that as 
 neutrals we could not have granted. But above 
 all, we have given them a new spirit, a new hope, 
 a new purpose, a new ideal. They know now that 
 we are behind them to the last man and the last 
 dollar for no end but liberty and righteousness. 
 They know now that all our powers are being as- 
 sembled and rushed to their aid. They know now 
 that victory, however long delayed, is sure. If 
 our help in all these things and in all these ways 
 had been denied, would they be fighting now with 
 the same strength, the same spirit and the same 
 determination they are showing? We do not be- 
 
140 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 lieve our present partners eouUl have been beaten 
 by this time, if ever, without us, but surely, when 
 we view the situation as it is, it is no vain claim 
 that but for us their position would be far more 
 serious than it is. 
 
 And how would we have felt now if the war 
 had gone on to a far worse than its present des- 
 peration without our participation 1 Would not 
 the self-accusing ery of Cain be heard in every 
 American heart? Would we not be hiding our 
 heads in shame and trembling with fear at the 
 menace that would be far greater than it is? 
 Would we? Or would we be blinded to the blood 
 and tears and sit contemplating our money bags 
 with the smug complacency of satistied avarice? 
 Which? No doubt many of us would feel the 
 one way, and many the other, but in either we 
 would be contemptible. America would have been 
 prostituted. The principles that have made Amer- 
 ica what she is would have been trampled beneath 
 our feet and when the war ended, with the na- 
 tions prostrate, bleeding, exhausted, we would 
 stand unscarred in body, towering mighty above 
 all in material wealth, but without virtue, with- 
 out a soul. We would stand before the world a 
 democracy of worse than Prussianism — for Prus- 
 sianism at least has courage — a country without 
 honor, hated by all mankind and despised by our- 
 selves. 
 
 Surely, we have reason, much reason, to be 
 thankful that our flag is unstained, that we have 
 
THE PASSION OF PATRIOTISM 141 
 
 not betrayed our fathers, that we have been true 
 to ourselves. Surely we have reason to be thank- 
 ful that we can face the world unashamed and 
 unafraid. 
 
 The Flag and the Cross. 
 
 (July 7, 1918.) 
 
 Far out on Page avenue is a church whose low 
 tower is crowned by a cross. Lately a steel flag- 
 pole has been raised upon the corner of the 
 church lot, from which, on occasion, a fine flag 
 waves. Going west on Page avenue, when the 
 breeze is from the southAvest and the folds of the 
 banner are rippling free, one who sees it for the 
 first time is almost startled by the sight of the 
 cross, seeming in the perspective to rise out of the 
 flag, as though the two were somehow one, joined 
 in a wondrous symbol against the blue back- 
 ground of the sky. 
 
 And in truth it is a symbol, not of visionary 
 ideal but of an existing fact. The flag and the 
 cross are united as they never were before. The 
 flag today comes nearer to the meaning of the 
 cross, and the cross comes nearer to the embracc- 
 ment of the flag. For the flag at this moment is 
 above all else a spiritual sign. It represents ma- 
 terial things, it is true, and in ordinary times we 
 are apt to look upon it as merely the symbol of a 
 material organization. But always there is in its 
 stars and bars something higher, finer and more 
 enduring than the physical embodiment of gov- 
 ernment and nationality. Always it stands pri- 
 
142 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 marily for ideals and convictions that are essen- 
 tially spiritual, and in these times that stir the 
 soul of a people to its profoundest depths the ma- 
 terial emblem is lost in the glory of the spiritual 
 symbol. Mutely but eloquently it voices the high 
 and pure aspirations of a nation battling unself- 
 ishly for the welfare of humanity. 
 
 And in that battle the American people are ap- 
 proaching nearer to God than they have ever come 
 before, nearer to that universality of love that the 
 cross typifies. We are not fighting for any form 
 of ecclesiasticism. We are not fighting to sustain 
 or extend any dogmas. And yet we venture the 
 assertion that never was war so truly holy as this. 
 For it is a war of love against hate, a war of com- 
 passion against cruelty, a war of altruism against 
 the supremacy of selfishness, a war of liberty 
 against despotism, a war of righteousness against 
 crowned and colossal evil — it is a war of spiritual 
 purposes, every one of them holy in their essence, 
 every one of them the fruit of principles that are 
 God-given and God-like. If the cross does not 
 symbolize these principles, these attributes, then 
 we woefully misinterpret the words of Him who 
 died upon it. But we are sure that they do. We 
 are sure that they are essentially the things of 
 heaven as they are the finest things of earth — we 
 are sure that they spring, indeed, from the very 
 heart of God. 
 
 The American flag at this time, if ever, throws 
 no shadow on the cross. Worthily may it wave 
 
THE PASSION OF PATRIOTISM 143 
 
 beneath it, its colors giving vivid emphasis to the 
 same beauties, its crimson symbolizing the blood 
 of the same sacrifice, and its stars the same 
 heaven. 
 
 Idealism at Home. 
 
 (July 21, 1918.) 
 
 Col. Eoosevelt, in his speech at Saratoga 
 Springs, Thursday, made an appeal for a higher 
 standard of idealism among those of the nation 
 who cannot fight its battles in France. "Our 
 young men/' he said, "have gone to the other side 
 — very many of them to give up in their joyous 
 prime all the glory and all the beauty of life for 
 the prize of death in battle for a lofty ideal. Now, 
 while they are defending us, can't we men and 
 women make up our minds to try to insist in pub- 
 lic and private on a loftier idealism at home? I 
 am asking for an idealism which shall find ex- 
 pression beside the hearthstone and in the family 
 and in the councils of the state and nation. ' ' The 
 fact that his own son had just given up "all the 
 glory and all the beauty of life" for an ideal adds 
 pathos as well as weight to this utterance. But 
 Quentin Roosevelt is but one of many. Every son 
 of America who perishes upon the fields or within 
 the waves in this war does so for an ideaL a lofty 
 and noble ideal. This is pre-eminently a war of 
 idealism, a war for intangibles, more precious, 
 more desirable and more necessary than all the 
 material things of earth. We are not fighting for 
 anything that we can grasp and hold in the hands. 
 
144 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 It is not ambition, nor greed, nor lust that calls us 
 to arms. It is an ideal, a conception of truth and 
 justice and righteousness, which we would pre- 
 serve for ourselves and extend to mankind. 
 
 And so, while our sons are heroically battling 
 in France for this invisible and impalpable thing, 
 we at home have a high and serious duty to see 
 that our ideal is unsullied. Of what avail if we 
 win the victory there and lose its attainment 
 here? Of what avail if, while they are reaching 
 to the heights we are stooping to search in the 
 dust? But there are signs, many of them, that 
 America, all of America, is responding to the call : 
 that the soul of America is expanding; that we 
 who stay, no less than they who go, realize the 
 loftiness of our purposes and are inspired by the 
 same exaltation of spirit. We realize the respon- 
 sibility that rests upon us not only to support to 
 the fullest, but to keep alive and glowing here 
 the ideals for which they battle abroad. This 
 spirit of America is expressed in our unity of sen- 
 timent and of action, unparalleled in our history : 
 it is expressed in every call made upon us for 
 help ; it is expressed in the eagerness of men and 
 women and children of every walk of life to do 
 something, just anything, to aid our cause; it is 
 expressed in the patience with which all manner 
 of unusual burdens and annoyances are accepted 
 and borne ; it is expressed in the quiet resignation 
 to suffering and loss — it is expressed in a thou- 
 sand ways; and it is daily growing in its purity 
 
THE PASSION OF PATRIOTISM 145 
 
 as well as in its power, growing among thousands 
 who are unconscious of idealism, but who know 
 that something has stirred their depths as they 
 have never been stirred before. A lofty idealism 
 is already here, and it is going higher with the 
 days. We have not reached the heights yet, but 
 we are climbing. 
 
 A Different World. 
 
 (August 1, 1918.) 
 
 It was four years ago today that the world war 
 really began. On the 1st of August, 1914, the Ger- 
 man Government ordered immediate mobilization 
 of its army and fleet, and three days later it 
 crossed the Belgian frontier and demanded the 
 surrender of Liege. In effect a century has passed 
 by since then. It is not the same world that the 
 sun looked down upon on that bright day in Au- 
 gust. It was a peaceful world then. For forty 
 years the Continent of Europe, except a bit of its 
 southeastern corner, had been undisturbed by 
 war. Russia had fought in Manchuria; Great 
 Britain, France and Italy had conducted cam- 
 paigns in Africa, and Spain in the West Indies, 
 but the face of Europe, save for the eternal cock- 
 pit of the Balkans, had not been touched by the 
 iron finger of Mars. Then the kaiser raised his 
 hand and all was changed. Europe was turned 
 into a field of blood, and virtually all mankind 
 was brought into direct or indirect participation 
 in a war that has greatly altered the thought, the 
 feeling and the course of humanity. Never since 
 
146 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 time began has earth been so shaken; never has 
 war assumed such terrible aspects ; never has the 
 very existence of civilization been so threatened. 
 
 It is a different world today. Mankind has had 
 its Gethsemane and its Calvary since August 1, 
 1914, and still it hangs upon the cross, pierced and 
 bleeding and anguished. It is not yet finished. 
 On this anniversary of its beginning the greatest 
 battle of the war is being fought, a battle so 
 tremendous and so fateful that our vocabulary 
 furnishes no adequate terms for it. Locked in ti- 
 tanic embrace a million Germans struggle with 
 perhaps a million of their foes. What is to be the 
 outcome? Is this the end? Is it the beginning of 
 the end ? Or is it but another gaping and gushing 
 wound in the side of humanity f No human being 
 knows the answer. The finish may be near, it 
 may be far, but whether near or far it is ours to 
 fight on, with all our might and all our soul, until 
 the task is rightly done. 
 
 It will be finished, some time, and then will 
 come a resurrection. This blood is not shed in 
 vain. This colossal sacrifice is not for naught. 
 Suffering has already made a different world, and 
 out of the reddened fields will arise a spirit of 
 unity and co-operation among men that would 
 have been impossible of creation by the slow and 
 individualistic processes of peace. We are paying 
 a great price, but we shall not lose. 
 
THE PASSION OF PATRIOTISM 147 
 
 The Dead to the Living. 
 
 (October 4, 1918.) 
 
 In the stupendous battle that is now raging 
 from the North Sea to Verdun the American sol- 
 diers are taking a great part. Inch by inch they 
 have fought their way down the Valley of the 
 Meuse until their advance guard is in touch with 
 their objective, the Kriemhilde line. Up through 
 the Argonne forest they are pushing their way 
 step by step, from tree to tree, from stone to 
 stone. Some of the most desperate fighting of the 
 war is going on in this stubborn struggle for posi- 
 tions of supreme importance. Northward, in Pi- 
 cardy, the Americans, joined with the British and 
 French, are smashing the Hindenburg line in a 
 continuous battle against the utmost resistance 
 that Germany can command. Can we read the 
 glowing reports of these battles and see naught 
 but the valor and the victory? Are we blind to 
 the fact that the fields and woods of France are 
 being drenched with American blood? Exult as 
 we may, and should, in the continuing and unfail- 
 ing triumph of American arms, we must not for- 
 get that we are paying a price in blood and agony 
 and tears. We must not forget that our boys who 
 are fighting there so splendidly are also, many of 
 them, falling there. Thousands of the boys who 
 a few short months ago were here with us, strong, 
 vigorous, vibrant with life and hope and love, 
 are now dead. They have made the supreme sac- 
 rifice for their country, the supreme sacrifice for 
 
148 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 human liberty. Their bodies rest in the tenderly 
 embracing earth of France, but their souls have 
 
 tongues that speak to us, it* we will hut listen, in a 
 language we ean understand, and with an elo- 
 quenee beyond the power of the physical organs 
 of speech* Bach wound of theirs is an oration, 
 each drop of blood a trumpet call to duty, to us 
 who have taken no risk, who have suffered no 
 pain, who have made no sacrifice. They have paid 
 the great price. They have paid it that we might 
 be saved. "Greater love hath no man than this, 
 that he lay down his life for his friend." They 
 have done all that man can do. What have we 
 done? 
 
 A great battle is being fought in this country 
 today. The tiring line extends from sea to sea 
 and its depth is measured by the longitude of the 
 land. It is a battle as essential to the results of 
 the war as is the sanguinary conflict in France. 
 Men and money are the absolute necessities of 
 war. They are the complementary requisites, 
 "useless each without the other." We are fight- 
 ing a battle now for money to sustain the mil- 
 lions of men whom we have sent and are sending 
 across the far waters to give their lives if need be 
 for our great cause. Every dollar has within it 
 the potentiality of bullets and bayonets. All of 
 us here are on the firing line. What are we do- 
 ing? Are we standing with folded arms calmly 
 and indifferently observing the conflict, or are we 
 fighting as our boys are fighting over there t 
 
THE PASSION OF PATRIOTISM 149 
 
 What are the souls of our sacrificed sons saying 
 to us? What is their appeal to each individual 
 conscience ? What would they have us do, they 
 whose obligation was no greater than ours, but 
 who have given their all? Let Lawrence Binyon 
 give voice to their words, and let no ear be 
 stopped: 
 
 "Oh, you that still have rain and sun, 
 
 Kisses of children and of wife, 
 And the good earth to tread upon, 
 
 And the mere sweetness that is life, 
 Forget us not, who gave all these 
 
 For something dearer, and for you ! 
 Think in what cause we crossed the seas ! 
 
 Remember, he who fails the challenge 
 
 Fails us too. 
 
 1 ' Now in the hour that shows the strong — 
 
 The soul no evil powers affray — 
 Drive straight against embattled Wrong; 
 
 Faith knows but one, the hardest, way. 
 Endure ; the end is worth the throe. 
 
 Give, give ; and dare, and again dare ! 
 On, to that Wrong's great overthrow! 
 
 We are with you, of you ; we the pain and 
 
 Victory share.' ' 
 
V. 
 IN THE FIGHT. 
 
 Immediately after our declaration of war dele- 
 gations of British and French officials, including 
 distinguished army officers, came to the United 
 States to confer with President Wilson and other 
 officials of our government. One of the results 
 was the decision to send a division of the regular 
 army to France at once, it being urged, by Gen. 
 Joffre in particular, that the psychological effect 
 of the immediate appearance of American troops 
 upon the shores of France would be very bene- 
 ficial to the allied cause. 
 
 Regular Army to France. 
 
 (May 19, 1917.) 
 
 The sober judgment of the country will uphold 
 the prompt decision of the president to send a 
 force of 28,000 regular soldiers in command of 
 Gen. Pershing to France, as it will his equally 
 prompt declination of the permission Congress 
 granted him to accept a division of volunteers for 
 immediate foreign service. As he well points 
 out, the responsibility for decision rests with him, 
 under the constitution. In his frank explanation 
 he shows that our highest military authorities op- 
 posed the Roosevelt project, and that opinion was 
 supported by the military authorities of the allies. 
 But he goes further than that and gives the pub- 
 lic special reasons which caused him to reject the 
 patriotic offer of Col. Roosevelt. These reasons 
 
 150 
 
IN THE FIGHT 151 
 
 are sufficient. In fact, their strength has been 
 generally admitted by the saner advocates of the 
 Roosevelt plan and they have sought to overcome 
 them by discussion of the psychological effect of 
 sending an army in charge of an ex-president of 
 the United States, with a personal fame that cir- 
 cles the globe. No doubt it would be inspiring at 
 first, but if the troops were rushed into action 
 without adequate preparation and were slaugh- 
 tered, there would be a less desirable psychologi- 
 cal effect. Col Roosevelt had signified his willing- 
 ness to accept a subordinate command, but it 
 would have been known as the Roosevelt army 
 and the pressure for active service would have 
 become so strong that it could have been resisted 
 only with the greatest difficulty, if at all. 
 
 We have but little respect for efforts to prove 
 his force "a paper army." We doubt not that 
 Col. Roosevelt could raise an army of 80,000 or 
 ] 80,000 to follow him to France or anywhere else. 
 Men would have rushed to his standard from ev- 
 ery state, so great is his magnetism and his power 
 to arouse militant enthusiasm. But martial as he 
 is in spirit, he is not equipped to lead soldiers in 
 the kind of warfare that is being carried on in 
 France. It will be necessary for even our ablest 
 generals, who have made war a life study, to learn 
 from the military authorities of the allies some 
 lessons they have gained by bitter experience. Our 
 regular soldiers, with all their experience and 
 technical information, will require some schooling 
 
152 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 in methods of offense and defense now being used 
 in France. 
 
 Psychology will be a potent force with an army 
 of regular soldiers, led by an intrepid general like 
 Pershing, carrying the Stars and Stripes into bat- 
 tle. The fact that there are more trained soldiers 
 to come, that the country has gone into the war 
 with the calmness of a mature and well-considered 
 judgment and with an unalterable determination, 
 and that we shall fire when we are ready and not 
 a moment before, will nerve our allies to more res- 
 olute action. The enemy will get no comfort from 
 the news from Washington. The Germans recog- 
 nize the value of thoroughness in preparation. 
 They recall Kitchener's adamantine firmness in 
 resisting popular clamor while he was preparing 
 an efficient army. They have recently had some 
 experiences with that army. They will be dis- 
 heartened to know that America is to devote all 
 its resources to making real preparations for a 
 struggle of indefinite length. Pershing's force is 
 only a sample of the soldiers that will go in in- 
 creasing numbers until the enemy begs for peace. 
 
 Some other way should be found to utilize the 
 personality and abilities of Col. Roosevelt in pro- 
 moting the success of the war. 
 
 The Great American Commander. 
 
 (May 23, 1917.) 
 
 It is a source of pride to Missourians that a na- 
 tive of this state is to lead the first American, army 
 into France and the first to go into the firing line 
 
IN THE FIGHT 153 
 
 of the great war. But Gen. John J. Pershing is 
 more than a Missourian; he is an American, and 
 he represents not only the fighting spirit, but the 
 fighting skill of the nation. He goes to the front 
 as one of the most thoroughly experienced and 
 possibly the ablest soldier of his land, and he 
 takes with him the flower of an army that, man 
 for man, has no superior, if any equal, on earth. 
 We do not know that Pershing has the genius of a 
 great military commander; we do not know this 
 of any officer of the American Army. For military 
 genius can only be developed, or proved, by actual 
 war, and no wars of sufficient magnitude to bring 
 out pre-eminent leadership have been fought by 
 the United States in more than half a century. 
 But Pershing and many others have proved the 
 possession of superior abilities in such minor 
 clashes as we have had, and each will be given op- 
 portunity in this war to reveal the quality of ge- 
 nius if he has it. To Pershing comes the first 
 chance, primarily because of his record in Mexico 
 and before, which has given Washington a strong 
 impression of his dependableness and thorough- 
 ness. 
 
 But it is pretty safe to say that the supreme 
 American military genius of this war, whoever he 
 may be, will come from the regular army. There 
 are born soldiers, it is true, and there will be men 
 in the great force we shall raise, men who, per- 
 haps, have never before shouldered a gun or 
 stepped in the drill, who have within them the 
 
154 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 qualities of military genius. But that kind of 
 genius, however great, can very seldom rise to 
 real heights unless it is supported by the techni- 
 cal knowledge that comes only from long training 
 and study. All the chief commanders in the war 
 in Europe are, we believe, professional soldiers. 
 Never, perhaps, in all history have there been so 
 many and such great opportunities for the volun- 
 teer soldier as in our civil war, yet the greatest 
 commanders it produced were professionals. 
 Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Thomas, Meade, Lee. 
 Jackson, Longstreet, were all, or had been, regu- 
 lar army men. Many regular army men were 
 tried and found wanting when the actual test of 
 war came, yet none the less was it true that the 
 trained, scientific officers were the ones who 
 reached the supreme heights. Our great com- 
 mander may not be now a general officer — Petain 
 and Foch ay ere but colonels three years ago — but 
 the chances are very strong that he will come 
 from the staff or line of the present regular estab- 
 lishment. 
 
 Pershing's Welcome to France. 
 
 (June 14, 1917.) 
 
 There was no cordiality lacking in the reception 
 that England gave Gen. Pershing and his staff. 
 Every honor due his rank was given. He was paid 
 every courtesy the most distinguished visitor 
 could expect and there was nothing perfunctory 
 in his welcome. It was warmly enthusiastic, ac- 
 cording to British standards. But when he crossed 
 
IN THE FIGHT 155 
 
 the Channel and landed at Boulogne he must 
 have been struck with astonishment. Thousands 
 cheered at the top of their voices and frantically 
 waved the Tricolor and the Stars and Stripes. 
 Tears streamed down the cheeks of many. The 
 welcome was not restricted to the general or the 
 commissioned officers accompanying him. Even 
 the noncoms wore embraced by the enthusiastic 
 Frenchmen. No wonder the self-contained Mis- 
 sourian admitted that the French reception had 
 moved him most deeply and that he improved the 
 occasion to renew a pledge, as binding on the 
 American people as if ratified by them under a 
 referendum, that "America has entered the war 
 with the intention of performing her full share — 
 however great or small the future will dictate. 
 Our allies can depend upon that absolutely." 
 
 French demonstrations of enthusiasm are no 
 new thing. The stories of the honors done Vol- 
 taire and Victor Hugo have seemed incredible to 
 Americans. The fierce conflicts between French 
 schools of poetry and drama have had no parallel 
 in America, if we may except intercollegiate ath- 
 letic contests. Until 1914 most Americans looked 
 upon the French as excitable, grown-up children 
 and felt that their emotions must be shallow. But 
 the prodigies of valor, the inflexible resolution 
 and the spirit of sacrifice the French have shown 
 in the great war have changed world opinion. 
 Pershing and his men could appreciate the recep- 
 tion more as they thought of what these marvel- 
 
156 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 ous people have done and borne the last three 
 years. And the}'- must have rejoiced that the 
 French had not been taught that it was a weak- 
 ness to reveal their feelings. 
 
 Our Troops in France. 
 
 (June 28, 1917.) 
 
 The safe arrival of the second contingent of 
 American troops at "a French seaport" lifts a 
 weight of anxiety from American hearts. While 
 no newspaper had printed a line about their sail- 
 ing, everybody knew they had gone. Hundreds 
 of towns knew that train loads of regulars passed 
 through on their way to the seaboard weeks ago. 
 The Germans must have known they were on the 
 Atlantic. It is suspected that the recent abate- 
 ment of submarine activity against commerce was 
 due to the submarines lying in wait for the troop- 
 ships, which would have been legitimate objects 
 of attack. The character of the safeguards, nat- 
 urally, is kept a secret. Curiosity is forgotten in 
 the satisfaction over the fact that they proved ef- 
 fectual and that if the American soldiers have to 
 lay down their lives it will be in a contest in which 
 their skill and daring will have a chance. Ex- 
 traordinary precaution or marvelous luck has 
 kept the casualties to troopships from submarines 
 down to a minimum. America has been singularly 
 fortunate, since it has separately sent part of its 
 navy, Gen. Pershing and his Ltaff and a large body 
 of regular troops through the submarine-infested 
 seas without loss. The safe transit of the various 
 
IN THE FIGHT 157 
 
 war missions to this country is also a matter of re- 
 joicing. 
 
 How soon the American soldiers will join the 
 British and French in the great drive will depend 
 on how quickly the regulars, trained to war, can 
 learn the recent developments in the science of ef- 
 fective fighting. There will be no dearth of eager 
 and efficient instructors. We may trust Pershing 
 to see that they are fully prepared before they be- 
 gin action. Their presence will be an inspiration 
 to the French and British, not so much because of 
 their number, but because they are an earnest of 
 American purposes and a sample of millions more 
 who will fight by their side if necessary to the 
 winning of the war. Their arrival should also im- 
 press Germany, unless the Germans have utterly 
 lost their reason. There can be but one result, the 
 only question being how long Germany can post- 
 pone the inevitable collapse. 
 
 Only a Beginning. 
 
 (July 29, 1917.) 
 
 A United States Army division is in France. 
 But that is only one of the big things we have 
 done, in a big way, and in a big hurry, too, since 
 April 6, the day on which a formal state of war 
 with Germany was declared. The speakers and 
 writers who have sounded calls of cheer and in- 
 voked the spirit of the fathers in the sons; who 
 have talked to men as men should be talked to, 
 have often felt the depression of the sob squad in 
 
158 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 the air, even while holding to their faith in Young: 
 America. 
 
 That faith is well justified. A week ago, two 
 weeks short of the end of three months following 
 the war declaration, more than 500,000 men had 
 volunteered in the American Army and Navy. 
 When the declaration was made, army, navy and 
 the National Guard of the states totaled 300,000 
 men. Now 800,000 are enrolled for the service in 
 these three branches. What is as good, and as 
 much to the purpose as showing how quickly we 
 can do these things when occasion demands, the 
 great majority of the new recruits are already 
 armed, equipped and under training. A goodly 
 proportion of the recruits have enlisted in the 
 regular ariny, which has now reached a strength 
 of nearly 250,000. The National Guard has grown 
 in that time from 150,000 to 260,000, and of these 
 approximately 75,000 are actually under arms. 
 The Marine Corps has been raised from 17,000 to 
 nearly 30,000 men, while the force of navy blue- 
 jackets has been doubled, rising from 60,000 to 
 120,000. 
 
 Twelve or fifteen thousand men have enlisted 
 for service in the United States Engineer Corps 
 for duty in France. Forty thousand men are now 
 under hard training at the officers' training 
 camps, with other eager thousands awaiting their 
 turn there. Of course, we are only beginning. But 
 what a beginning ! Germany was forty years in 
 preparing the thunderbolt she launched in 1914. 
 
IN THE FIGHT 159 
 
 Neither France nor Great Britain has equaled this 
 achievement of ours in raising half a million and 
 more volunteer troops in less than three months, 
 while preparing at the same time for the organ- 
 ization of a great selective army chosen by lot. 
 
 And then the censor closed the avenues of infor- 
 mation and we heard little of what was going on 
 in France, so far as the movements of our troops 
 were concerned, for many months. They were 
 ' ' somewhere in France, ' ' and that was all we were 
 permitted to know. At the end of October, how- 
 ever, we were) permitted to hear that an Ameri- 
 can gun had been fired by Americans under 
 American command. It was a mere formality, 
 but it cheered us as a beginning. 
 
 Symbolism of the First Shot. 
 
 (November 1, 1917.) 
 
 It seems to us to be in accord with the fitness of 
 things that the man who fired the first shot for 
 America in the war with Germany should be Irish, 
 red-headed and a son of the Middle West. It is 
 true enough that he denied that he was an Irish- 
 man, but he said his folks were, which proves that 
 he is not a hyphenated Irishman, that he is a full- 
 blown and full-blooming American. His folks are 
 Irish, and we must therefore give him all the fight- 
 ing qualities for which the Irish are justly cele- 
 brated. More than that, he is red-headed. We 
 have failed to see any denial or modification of 
 this impeachment, so we must conclude that it is 
 altogether and radiantly true. It is an auspicious 
 conjunction. If there is anything at all in au- 
 
160 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 spices, the association of Irish blood and naming 
 hair should be an omen not only of victory, but of 
 the complete accomplishment of onr national as- 
 pirations. For red hair has somehow become a 
 symbol, first of ready combativeness and after 
 that of quick sympathy and undiscourageable 
 idealism. That is not to say that these qualities 
 are always associated with red hair, but they are 
 so generally characteristic as to justify the sym- 
 bol, and it is fairly certain that the yet unknown 
 firing sergeant represents in his personality and 
 temperament the nation's courage and the na- 
 tion's vision. 
 
 But there is more symbolism in this. The ser- 
 geant is from the Middle West, from the region 
 long taunted by the East with its ' ' apathy, ' ' with 
 its lack of patriotism. That taunt is no longer 
 heard, for the East now knows that out of the 
 Middle West is coming the sustaining power of 
 the nation ; that it is producing not only its quota 
 of men, but its quota of money and far more than 
 its quota of food. The heart of the land beats 
 steadily. It is not subject to palpitation. But 
 when it is stirred by profound emotions it quick- 
 ens, and its rhythmical throbs send the life blood 
 pulsing through every vein of the country. The 
 red-headed Irish sergeant is out of America's 
 heart, and being so he typifies not merely the 
 Middle West, but the whole United States. 
 
 . It was at this time that the question of united 
 action by the allied armies under a central control 
 
IN THE FIGHT 161 
 
 was beginning to press for decision, and the ac- 
 tion taken was one of the most important steps in 
 bringing the war to a victorious conclusion. 
 
 Unity Is Essential. 
 (November 14, 1917.; 
 
 Even sueh erities as are fond of reiterating the 
 views ascribed to Joffre. that the war can be won 
 onJy by concentration of forces in Flanders and 
 Lorraine against Prussia, the heart of the war, 
 will agree with the British premier that there 
 must be a unity of control of war activities. The 
 lobe-Democrat has often commented on the lack 
 of co-ordination on the different fronts. A drive 
 in one theater has often had its effectiveness re- 
 duced by inactivity in the others. Such blunder- 
 ing brought grievous losses in the Balkan States. 
 The wreck of Serbia and Montenegro and the cap- 
 ture of the sadly needed supplies of Rumania are 
 examples. The humiliation of the Dardanelles 
 campaign is one of the sorriest memories of the 
 war. 
 
 There is a natural explanation for this failure. 
 No member of the entente has been in a position 
 to dominate in military matters as Germany has. 
 Until recently Germany was untrammeled in the 
 conduct of the war. It not only mapped out the 
 general policy, but its officers were in actual com- 
 mand of the Austrian, Turkish and Bulgarian 
 troops. Some concessions are now being made to 
 Austria-Hungary, obviously war weary. The new 
 chancellor was selected with the effect of Austria 
 
162 TOT WORLD wak 
 
 in mind, There have doubt loss boon some recent 
 efforts to soothe Bulgaria and Turkey, But still 
 Germany's strictly military dominanoe o( the alii 
 anoc is undisputed, resting on sheer ability as well 
 
 as on the assert ivonoss o( Prussian militarism. 
 
 There ean be no snob condition among the en- 
 tente allies, Unity Of military oontrol must bo 
 based on voluntary agreement as to mon rather 
 
 than nationality. The suspicion that Lloyd George, 
 aspires to strategic direction of the allied side of 
 the war Is ungenerous. The frank admissions of 
 his friend, the London Times, should sot that at 
 
 rest, Wo is not a military man, ami civilian direc- 
 tion of the world's greatest war is unthinkable, 
 if it should develop that he does think he knows 
 more about the conduct o[' the war than all the 
 generals, it will be merely a revelation o( unsus- 
 pected weakness. But that would not break the 
 force o( his argument (ov unity of control. Who 
 
 shall actually direct affairs is a question oi' tit" 
 noss, while unity of oontrol is one o( essential 
 
 policy, 
 
 The Necessity of Unity. 
 
 (Novevnbor SO, 1 i> I 7 . > 
 
 The president has made known the position o( 
 
 the United States Government on the question of 
 
 unity of plan and oontrol of the war at an oppor- 
 tune time. Opposition to a central directing au- 
 thority for all the allied powers is strong both in 
 France and in Great Britain, ami the president's 
 message to Mr. House was so timed as to inform 
 
IN THE FIGHT 168 
 
 the people 'J* Gfre&t Britain of the opinio*] of this 
 government on the eve of the debate of the ques- 
 tion in the House of Commone, Moat of the oppo- 
 on, there if reason to believe, U baaed, in both 
 countries, upon a misunderstanding of the powers 
 and nature of the allied council. The necessity 
 for tome effective method of joint and centralized 
 direction seems to be so plain and so imperative 
 
 that it is difficult to understand opposition, and 
 we are inclined to think that opposition wiiJ fail 
 to the gTOlUld vAicji the form and manner of con- 
 trol are more eJearJy and definitely outlined. 
 
 President Wilson, in his dispatch to Mr. i louse, 
 said that "the United States Government consid- 
 ers that unity of plan and control between all the 
 allies and the United States is es , en rial to achieve 
 a just and permanent peace/ ; and he is fight. It 
 is essential. AJ1 are fighting for a single purpe 
 and it matters not how nor where the central 
 powers are finally and i'\i\\y subdued. The thing 
 that matters is that they must be subdued, and 96 
 speedily and effectively as possible. We cannot 
 afford to Jet racial pride or personal pride stand 
 in the way of a full consolidation of power and ef- 
 fort for the common good. There is no doubt 
 about the fact that one reason for Teutonic suc- 
 . lies in its central control. Wherever the 
 need for the concentration of forces develops, 
 there the power is applied, wh(d\i(tr it is on the 
 western line, the eastern line or the southern. Ber- 
 lin directs the fighting for Austria, for Bulgaria. 
 
164 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 for Turkey, as well as for Germany, and German 
 troops and German guns and German leaders are 
 on every front from Flanders to Mesopotamia. 
 We cannot surrender such domination to any gov- 
 ernment, but we can so unite as to constitute a 
 single government for the prosecution of the war. 
 Heretofore each of the allies has been fighting for 
 itself. Russia, Rumania, Serbia and Italy car- 
 ried on the conflict on their respective lines virtu- 
 ally unaided. Only between France and Great 
 Britain has there been any approach to unity of 
 operation. Germany, of course, has the very great 
 advantage of ready accessibility of all parts of 
 the battle front, while the allies are cut into two 
 separate divisions without means of transferring 
 forces from one to the other, but, nevertheless, a 
 central administrative organization could remove 
 many of the difficulties under which we now la- 
 bor, could avoid some of the mistakes of the past 
 and, at least on the western and southern lines, 
 could apply the combined forces where they are 
 most needed or where they would be most effec- 
 tive. 
 
 Many months were to pass, however, and great 
 losses were to be incurred from lack of unity, be- 
 fore a central control was finally established. In 
 the meantime we were quietly and secretly get- 
 ting our troops into France and preparing them 
 for service. 
 
 Our Army in France. 
 
 (December 1, 1917.) 
 
 A real American army is now in France. For 
 several weeks veiled references have appeared in 
 
IN THE FIGHT 165 
 
 the official reports indicating the continuous ar- 
 rival of American troops on the other side, and it 
 has been a matter of general knowledge for a still 
 longer period, though not published, that our men 
 were going over. But now the information is 
 given out by the military authorities in France, 
 and supported by Washington, that National 
 Guardsmen representing every state in the Union 
 are in France and in training. Among them is the 
 so-called "Rainbow Division," composed of se- 
 lected troops of the guard, which was assembled 
 at Camp Mills, L. I., several months ago for pre- 
 paratory training. But the report from France 
 indicates that the arrivals of the National Guard 
 troops are by no means limited to this division, 
 and it is to be assumed that numbers of the regu- 
 lar army forces have preceded the men of the 
 guards. 
 
 How many men we have on the other side at 
 this time is not made known, nor is it proper for 
 us to speculate on the strength of our forces over 
 there. But we can feel sure that the American 
 Army now in France is not a ' ' contemptible ' ' one 
 in any sense, and that it is growing as rapidly as 
 our preparations and our transportation facilities 
 will permit. The regulars and the guards now 
 aggregate approximately a million men, to which 
 the first draft of the National Army will add more 
 than a half million. Succeeding drafts will con- 
 tinue to increase the number of men enlisted for 
 this war, and they will be sent to the front as rap- 
 idly as they are made ready for service and their 
 
166 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 presence there is required. No one can tell now 
 how large a force we shall need, but, however 
 large, it will be supplied. 
 
 The country is particularly gratified to learn 
 that not a single life has been lost thus far in the 
 transportation of troops to France, and one of the 
 sources of greatest anxiety is by this announce- 
 ment removed. That is not to say that all the dan- 
 ger of the passage has been removed, but it is 
 made quite evident that the transports are so safe- 
 guarded that the risk can no longer be considered 
 great. We shall wait with controlled patience for 
 the beginning of extensive work on the firing line 
 by the American Army, confident that it will mean 
 the beginning of the end. 
 
 The veil of secrecy that covered the move- 
 ments of the army guarded even more closely the 
 activities of the navy, and rarely during the war 
 was it possible to say anything about the great 
 work of this important branch of the service. 
 
 Our Navy and the War. 
 
 (December 10, 1917.) 
 
 Sad as is the news of the destruction of the 
 American destroyer Jacob Jones, named in honor 
 of one of our early heroes of the sea, it is only an 
 incident of the war. The activities of American 
 ships in the war zone have been numerous. The 
 public does not know the details, but some of the 
 general results are known. We have transported 
 thousands of the regular army and National 
 Guard soldiers from every state without the loss 
 
IN THE FIGHT 167 
 
 of a life. We have assisted in reducing the sub- 
 marine casualties. While concealing details, for 
 obvious reasons, Secretary Daniels' annual re- 
 port, made public last night, reveals an astonish- 
 ing growth of the navy, both in ships and person- 
 nel. On January 1 this year there were 300 naval 
 vessels of all kinds in commission ; there are now 
 over 1000. There were 4500 officers and 68,000 
 enlisted men January 1, while there are now 15," 
 000 officers and 25:4,000 enlisted men. The num- 
 ber of stations has increased from 130 to 363, and 
 the number of employes in naval yards from 35,- 
 000 to 60,000. The naval establishment, afloat and 
 on shore, civilians and sailors, now consists of 
 more than 300,000 men. We spent only $8,000,000 
 a month in July, 1916, for all naval purposes, but 
 we are now spending $60,000,000 monthly. 
 
 Comparison with other wars gives a more vivid 
 realization of the expansion of the navy. The 
 greatest number of men in service at any one time 
 in the civil war was 51,000 in 1863. The largest of 
 the 600 ships utilized in fighting during that war 
 was the Niagara, a wooden ship of 6000 tons. The 
 highest number of enlisted men in the navy dur- 
 ing the Spanish war was 26,826. The 111 vessels 
 at the outset of that war had an aggregate of 
 240,000 tons, the Oregon, of 11,340 tons, being the 
 largest. The appropriations afford another meas- 
 ure of increase. The total for thirteen months is 
 $1,905,410,930.45, which Mr. Daniels declares to be 
 in excess of the total naval appropriations from 
 1883 to 1911. 
 
168 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 Adequate provisions are being made for train- 
 ing officers and recruits, and the spirit of the per 
 sonnel is unmistakably high. There may be occa- 
 sional disasters like that befalling the Jacob 
 Jones, but there is every reason to expect our 
 navy as a whole to render indispensable service in 
 the war. 
 
 As the new year rolled into its second month it 
 became apparent that Germany was preparing a 
 great movement designed to crush the allies be- 
 fore America could get its forces over in sufficient 
 number and sufficiently trained for large service. 
 And as we were soon to become involved in this 
 movement it becomes necessarj^ now to take our 
 associates into the story and treat the war hence- 
 forth as truly ours as it was theirs. America 
 takes no great place in the record till the move- 
 ment is far advanced, but when it came in it came 
 in gloriously and decisively, and all that led up to 
 that coming in is in truth a part of our story. The 
 great offensive, so long heralded, began on the 
 21st of March, 1918. 
 
 An Impregnable Wall. 
 
 (March 23, 1918.) 
 
 It may be true, as the kaiser says, that "we are 
 at the decisive moment of the war." We hope he 
 is right. The decisive moment must come at some 
 time, and the sooner it comes the better for the 
 world, if the conditions at the fighting line are 
 such as to insure a decision in favor of the ene- 
 mies of Germany. Manifestly the kaiser expects 
 a victory. Whatever may be the considerations 
 or the influences that are impelling him to risk a 
 
IN THE PIOHT 169 
 
 general engagement, he must foe) that the weight 
 of the ponderables, as well as the favor of that 
 mysterious Prussian deity with whieh he so famil- 
 iarly associate! himself, i'; on his side. Perhaps 
 he is relying more upon Oott than upon guns, but 
 EHndenburg, we are quite sure, is taking no 
 chances with a tribal deity who has yet worked no 
 
 miracles for his people. If he has really begun 
 
 the great offensive it is solely on the basis of ma- 
 terial power. It is possible, as some of the mili- 
 tary experts think, that the bombardment, whose 
 awful echoes we may almost hear, is but a stra- 
 tegie feint, a eolossal bluff. If their surmise is cor- 
 reet, we shall soon know. Put in the meantime 
 the foes of Germany are assuming that it is the 
 real thing and are meeting it as we should expeet 
 them to meet it. 
 
 And if it is indeed the decisive moment, we 
 have no fears as to the outcome. Germany has at 
 no time shown a fighting ability superior to the 
 allies on the western front. Py its preparedness, 
 its sudden initiative and the rush of its vast forces 
 it swept everything before it in the first three 
 months of the war, but with all its power, with all 
 its boasted efficiency, with all its fiendish ingenu- 
 ity in the creation of new instruments of destruc- 
 tion and its utter ruthlessness in their use, it has 
 not been able to move forward one foot since the 
 battle of the Marne. On the contrary, it has been 
 steadily pushed back. And now, with the power 
 of the allies greater than it has been at any period 
 
170 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 of the war, greater in men, greater in munitions, 
 greater in all the devices contributive to military 
 success, more thoroughly unified, and supported 
 by a new, fresh and mighty power, there should 
 be no doubt in any American mind, in any British 
 mind or any French mind of the result of the 
 great encounter. The human wall that stretches 
 across France is made of impregnable stuff, and 
 all of Germany's legions cannot bring it down. 
 And more, a drawn battle in this supreme engage- 
 ment will be a victory for us, for it will mean the 
 failure of the German offensive ; it will mean pro- 
 found discouragement to the people of Germany 
 and a corresponding elation to their determined 
 opponents. If Germany cannot break through 
 now, they will know, they must know, that they 
 never can. Again we say, we hope the kaiser is 
 right in the assertion that we are at the decisive 
 moment of the war. 
 
 The World's Greatest Battle. 
 
 (March 24, 1918.) 
 
 In the first place it should be generally under- 
 stood that official news emanating from Germany 
 is not to be relied upon. It may be true, if it suits 
 the purposes of the German Government to tell 
 the truth, but as a rule it is, if not entirely false, 
 exaggerated, diminished or otherwise changed to 
 meet the demands of authority. Seldom in the 
 course of this war has a German report of mili- 
 tary action been truthfully reported. Yet the 
 newspapers must print the German dispatches as 
 
IN THE FIGHT 171 
 
 they must print all the news coming from author- 
 itative sources. Even when false the German news 
 has a certain value as claims, but all such reports 
 should be received with more than a grain of salt, 
 on the presumption that they are probably not so, 
 or not entirely so, and judgment be suspended un- 
 til confirmation comes from other quarters. Much 
 unnecessary alarm can be avoided in this crisis by 
 such a mental reservation. On the other hand, 
 the experience of the war has proven that the 
 British reports can be generally relied upon. 
 
 This much, by way of preface. There can be 
 little doubt now that the great offensive, so long 
 expected and for which such prodigious prepara- 
 tion has been made, is under way. The unprece- 
 dented fury of the attack, the terrific bombard- 
 ment, greater and more intense, it is reported, 
 than has ever been known in this greatest of wars, 
 and the massing of men and of armament beyond 
 all previous experience, does not present the ap- 
 pearance of a bluff. The Germans are making a 
 tremendous effort to conquer. They seem to be 
 staking their fortune on this die, and they are 
 fighting with the desperation such a hazard in- 
 spires. Temporary reverses are therefore to be 
 expected. Breaches may be made in the lines here 
 and there. The great human wall may be pushed 
 back a little, but it will not fail. 
 
 The Germans continue to place supreme reli- 
 ance upon the rush attack in mass formation. 
 They relied upon it to conquer France quickly at 
 
172 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 the opening of the war. They depended upon it 
 in the assault on Italy a few months ago. And up 
 to a point it has served them well. But the thing 
 that gives the drive its initial momentum and 
 pounding force becomes its weakness unless it can 
 soon overwhelm its enemy. Such an offensive 
 brings its forces into the open, and with its files 
 in close formation becomes a target difficult to 
 miss. Its losses relative to the intrenched defense 
 are tremendous, and the longer the defense is sus- 
 tained the weaker must become the attack. Ger- 
 many will pay a frightful price for this great as- 
 sault. The Marne and the Piave mark the ends of 
 the only drives that have carried far in this war, 
 but it must be remembered that even in them they 
 reached the end and found their opponents still 
 unbeaten. They may by the impetuosity and 
 power of their assault hurl back the heroic de- 
 fenders of civilization ; they may for a time seem 
 to be winning, but surely they will reach the point- 
 where the loss of blood and of spirit will compel a 
 halt before the cumulating energies of the de- 
 fense. ' ' They shall not pass ! ' ' 
 
 Reasons for Confidence. 
 
 (March 26, 1918.) 
 
 President Wilson was right in expressing to 
 Field Marshal Haig "perfect confidence that you 
 will win a secure and final victory." "Whether 
 that confidence can be applied to "all Ameri- 
 cans," as the president applied it, is far from cer- 
 tain, but it should be the feeling of all of us, and 
 
IN THE FIGHT 173 
 
 it is the feeling of the Globe-Democrat. The tre- 
 mendous force of the German drive may carry it 
 still farther toward the west than it now has 
 reached, but somewhere it will be checked and the 
 tide turned. This confidence is based upon many 
 things, but primarily upon the invincibility of a 
 people who have never yet been beaten when they 
 were sure they were right, and who in this war 
 have repeatedly proven that the splendid courage 
 and unwavering tenacity that has been their char- 
 acteristic from Crecy onward has not been lost 
 nor lessened. And in this greatest of all historic 
 tests of human valor and human endurance they 
 have withstood the German hosts in a way to 
 make all mankind proud of its manhood. Never 
 in the long record of human events has such a 
 force been hurled upon a foe, and never has a na- 
 tion battled more gloriously in the defense of hu- 
 man liberties than Britain has battled in these last 
 few days, battled not alone for Britain and for 
 France, but for us and all civilization. 
 
 But back of that superb stand and the qualities 
 of race and breed that made it possible are the 
 material and spiritual forces that are allied and 
 arrayed for this great fight. Prodigious prepa- 
 ration has been made for this event with all the 
 means and all the skill now at the service of the 
 united nations. Back of the first lines are others, 
 and still others, and reserves and munitions be- 
 lieved to be ample for any possible development. 
 Each mile of advance increases the difficulties and 
 
174 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 decreases the rapidity and momentum of the of- 
 fense while increasing the advantage of the de- 
 fense. Meanwhile the destruction among the Ger- 
 mans is appalling, necessarily far in excess of the 
 British losses. The estimate of 100,000 a day 
 (killed, injured and prisoners), making half a mil- 
 lion up to last night, seems incredible, but may 
 well be true. No army even in this day can stand 
 such losses long without exhaustion and despair. 
 The Germans in this colossal gamble are destroy- 
 ing themselves rather than their enemies, and un« 
 less completely victorious, which we believe is ut> 
 terly impossible, must soon call a halt. 
 
 But beyond our faith in the courage, the ability, 
 the preparation and the equipment of our com- 
 rades in this fight, is the profound conviction that, 
 however dark the moment seems to be, we shall 
 win because our cause is supremely and indubita- 
 bly right. The Germans have won comparatively 
 easy victories in the east because they have not 
 been opposed by the solidified unity, the highly 
 developed national spirit, the superior civiliza- 
 tion, the great physical resources, the profound 
 regard for human liberties, the collective con- 
 sciousness of the absolute necessity that right 
 must prevail, and the determination that it shall, 
 which characterize the Western nations and the 
 United States. The war is to be won on the west- 
 ern front ; it will surely be won by the side that is 
 fighting for humanity, for liberty, for democracy 
 and for justice, and the great battle now in prog- 
 ress is contributing to that certain end. 
 
IN THE FIGHT 
 The Great Sacrifice. 
 
 (March 28, 1918.) 
 
 The chronology of war bears many dates that 
 stand like guideposts pointing with bloody hands 
 to new roads for humanity's travel. Sacrifice has 
 been the price mankind has ever paid for its ad- 
 vancement, and whether on the cross or on the 
 battlefield, blood has always been the accompani- 
 ment and the symbol of events that mark the way 
 of progress. But in all the wars of history there 
 has been none to compare with that which now 
 involves the world, and in this war there has been 
 nothing to equal in extent or significance the bat- 
 tle that for seven terrible days has pressed across 
 the scarred fields of Picardy. Never has so much 
 blood been shed in one spot in such a space of 
 time, and never has mankind been so profoundly 
 concerned in the result of an engagement. Is this 
 week to stand out as the culminating point of an 
 epoch, as the ending of an old and the beginning 
 of a new era? And, if so, are its consequences to 
 humanity to be measured by the vastness of the 
 sacrifice? 
 
 No one can answer these questions with def- 
 initeness, for the answer lies in the womb of the 
 future. But whether the battle is decisive or not, 
 it is not unreasonable to believe that it marks the 
 highest point of endeavor attainable in this great- 
 est of all contests. There can be no certainty as 
 to that, for we have gone from incredible to in- 
 credible in this war, and greater and still greater 
 
176 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 struggles may be before us. It is possible that 
 this will be numbered with Mons, the Marne. 
 Ypres, Arras and Verdun as but one of a progres- 
 sive series of colossal events leading to a consum- 
 mation of battle, yet more terrible and yet more 
 destructive. But here the limit of human capac- 
 ity and human endurance would now seem to have 
 been reached. And here it would seem that the 
 Teutonic forces have touched the supreme height 
 of their power, the largest possible massing of 
 men and agencies of destruction. If they do not 
 achieve an absolute victory now, and they will 
 not, it would appear hardly probable that they 
 can again endure such appalling losses as they 
 have sustained in the past seven days, and while 
 the war will no doubt go on, possibly for a long 
 time, they will think very hard and very seriously 
 before they will make another attempt of such 
 magnitude against the still growing powers and 
 still indomitable spirit of their enemies. 
 
 The war surely is to be won in the west. It is 
 even so surely to be won by us, and it is neither 
 impossible nor improbable that it is being won 
 now. Time alone can measure the full significance 
 of this engagement, but this much is certain : the 
 blood shed by the allies on the fields of Picardy 
 in these spring days of 1918 will not have been 
 shed in vain, and this date will be forever memo- 
 rable as one which marks one of the greatest if 
 not the supreme struggle of mankind for the pres- 
 ervation of human liberties and of human rights- 
 
IN THE FIGHT 177 
 
 And we come now to an appeal to America to 
 rush our troops to France. 
 
 Get Our Boys "Over There." 
 
 (March 29, 1918.) 
 
 Lloyd George appeals eloquently to America for 
 troops. "It is impossible, ' ' he says, "to exagger- 
 ate the importance of getting reinforcements 
 across the Atlantic in the shortest possible space 
 of time." In this he is undoubtedly right. It is, 
 as he says, or it well may be, the "crisis of the 
 war," and in this utterance he echoed the words 
 of the kaiser, who, just before the great German 
 offensive began, said, "We are at the decisive mo- 
 ment of the war. ' ' There are vast possibilities in 
 the present situation. Trenches, for the moment 
 at least, have been abandoned in the zone of bat- 
 tle. The great armies are fighting in the open. 
 The desperate drive of the Germans is proving 
 terribly costly to them. They have literally put 
 their head into the lion's mouth, and the lion is 
 closing his teeth. The fighting reserves of the al- 
 lied armies — which include, we are told, and we 
 hope it is true, several divisions of Americans — 
 are ready for a counter attack at the proper mo- 
 ment. No one can truly estimate the effect of that 
 turn of the tide which we think is about to com- 
 mence. The Germans in their effort to break 
 through have carried their front in the battle zone 
 far to the west of their intrenchments, pushing 
 their line out into a rough semicircle projecting 
 from their original base. Around the entire arc 
 
178 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 of this half circle are the allied armies and their 
 reserves ready to push in from every side when 
 the advance is checked. 
 
 It will be difficult for the Germans to hold this 
 advance under the terrific pressure that will sure- 
 ly come. It will be difficult to abandon it without 
 permitting the retreat to take the form of rout 
 and spreading the contagion of disaster to their 
 entire western army. It may be done and no 
 doubt it can be done under skillful generalship, 
 but every step of the withdrawal will be under 
 the fire of the allies and the price in men should 
 stagger even the unfeeling stolidity of Prussian 
 autocracy. 
 
 With the tide turned, with the Germans disap- 
 pointed and discouraged by the failure of their 
 venture, and with the allied armies correspond- 
 ingly elated and inspired, decisive results may be 
 attained for our forces by a continuous and re- 
 lentless attack, which might persist for weeks. 
 Lloyd George says the battle has just begun. At 
 any rate, we should be pouring men into France 
 as rapidly as possible, in order to add all the 
 force we can to our own "great offensive." We 
 have just added a large tonnage to our shipping 
 resources in the confiscated Dutch vessels, and 
 we should put every available ship at once into 
 service to transport men and supplies to the seat 
 of war. In this critical moment every other con? 
 sidfcration but proper readiness and equipment 
 should be set aside and the full power of the gov- 
 
IN THE FIGHT 179 
 
 em merit given to the immediate problem of re- 
 inforcing the heroic armies In Prance. 
 
 [t was in response to this appeal that ire began 
 pouring our armies into Prance by hundreds of 
 thousands while still the great battle raged. 
 
 The High Tide of German Might* 
 (April 2, l#l*,) 
 
 On the second day of the great battle we said, 
 "The human wall that stretches across France w 
 
 made of impregnable stuff, and all of Germany's 
 legions cannot bring it down." And on the follow- 
 ing day we expressed the eonvietion that "they 
 may, by the impetuosity and power of their as- 
 sault, hurl back the beroie defenders of civiliza- 
 tion, they may for a time seem to be winning, but 
 surely fchey will reach the point where the loss of 
 blood and of spirit will compel a halt before the 
 cumulating energies of the defense." In the suc- 
 ceeding days, filled with gloomy reports of the 
 continued progress of the German offensive, we 
 have u<tv(-j- for a moment wavered in our pro- 
 found belief in the certainty of Germany's failure 
 ill this tremendous but desperate effort to achieve 
 a decisive victory by force of arms. It is evident 
 now that it has failed, failed completely. The al- 
 lied lines have fallen back, but they are un- 
 breached. The living wall is as stanch and strong 
 as it was on the 21st of March, when the attack 
 began, and there is not the slightest symptom of 
 weakening. On the contrary, it has gained power 
 
180 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 with every step of its retrograde movement, while 
 inflicting tremendous losses upon the enemy, 
 losses far greater than it sustained, losses that 
 should remind the German leaders, who were pre- 
 maturely boasting of victories, of the saying of 
 Pyrrhus, "If we have such another victory, we 
 are undone." 
 
 But never has it been a victory for them. Al- 
 ways, while advancing, they have suffered defeat. 
 For, aside from their appalling and dispropor- 
 tionate sacrifices of men, each foot of progress has 
 tended to solidify the opposition, to increase the 
 determination of Germany's enemies, and to draw 
 larger forces to the support of the defense. And 
 now their progress is stayed. The high tide of 
 the German advance seems to have been reached, 
 and while it may remain stationary for some 
 time, its ebbing will surely be forced, by the valor 
 and vigor and skill of the counter offensive now 
 beginning. Into this offensive are coming, or are 
 about to come, the emergency reserves of the 
 British and French armies, and with them will 
 enter the American forces to take for the first 
 time a major part in the great struggle. For the 
 first time the Stars and Stripes will wave in the 
 van of real battle on the European Continent, 
 and we cannot doubt that it and what it stands 
 for will contribute mightily to the result that the 
 days will bring. 
 
 That a crushing and decisive defeat will be in- 
 flicted upon the Germans may be too much now to 
 
IN THE FIGHT 181 
 
 expect, but it is not too much to hope for, and 
 conditions are developing that put such a con- 
 summation within the bounds of possibility. But 
 at any rate the failure of the German offensive, 
 assuming now that it has failed, as we believe it 
 has, is in effect a defeat, for it has proven finally 
 and completely that not all the might, all the 
 skill, all the cruelty, nor all the chicanery of 
 Prussian autocracy can overthrow the democra- 
 cies enlisted against it. That fact will be im- 
 pressed upon the German people by the unan- 
 swerable evidence of its awful losses, distributed 
 through every German village and countryside, 
 and by the knowledge, now difficult to conceal, 
 that neither Paris nor the channel have been se- 
 cured. The Germans must soon know that their 
 unparalleled sacrifice of blood and treasure has 
 gained them nothing whatever but the temporary 
 possession of a few square miles of shell-torn 
 earth, most of which they had possessed and had 
 abandoned. This knowledge, added to the pro- 
 found discouragement and discontent that are 
 known to have been common in Germany and 
 Austria for many months, must contribute mate- 
 rially and speedily to the influences that will ulti- 
 mately bring an end to the war. Whether this 
 great battle is decisive or not, we have no doubt 
 that from out the blood shed upon the plains of 
 Picardy will spring the blossoms of an honorable 
 and enduring peace. 
 
182 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 And now we were cheered by the news that 
 American? were at last in the great fight. It was 
 but a small beginning, but it was a beginning. 
 
 Americans in Fighting Line. 
 
 (April 12, 1918.) 
 
 Americans have for some time been holding a 
 sector of the general line in France and have 
 shown their ability to cope with the Germans in 
 trench warfare. But now a contingent of troops 
 has been thrown into the real battle, against un- 
 known odds. They are brigaded with the British 
 opposing the drive on which the Germans have 
 staked all their hopes of victory. The German 
 troops are massed for attack and there is no way 
 to tell their number in advance of the assault. 
 Judging from previous operations, there is at 
 least an initial weight of overwhelming numbers. 
 In the determination to break through scant re- 
 gard for losses is shown. Men are spent as if 
 there were boundless reserves. Under such meth- 
 ods, lines cannot hold ; they must give way under 
 the sheer preponderance of numbers. We may 
 expect even the Americans to yield ground, at 
 times, but it will be no sign of defeat. Before 
 they yield, and while they are yielding, they will 
 slaughter the enemy by the thousand until the 
 time arrives when there are no more German re- 
 serves to be butchered to make a junker holiday. 
 We may expect great casualties among Ameri- 
 cans, which will sadden the heart, but they will 
 
IN THE FIGHT 183 
 
 not be in vain. Every American life that is lost 
 will hasten the end of the war. 
 
 The Americans have not shrunk from this en- 
 counter. They have been eager to have a part in 
 this supreme struggle. Those chosen for the work 
 are envied by comrades. There is no doubt that 
 the Americans prefer open fighting to trench 
 warfare. Their superior marksmanship and their 
 initiative are given freer scope in open fighting. 
 We would not exalt their bravery at the expense 
 of soldiers of other lands. This war has taught 
 us that physical bravery is monopolized by no na- 
 tion or race. But the Americans are as brave and 
 as tenacious as anybody, come from the sturdiest 
 stock, have been trained in resourcefulness and 
 have an eagerness for the fray and a supreme con- 
 fidence which will mean much. The British did 
 well to cheer, both for the men who arrived and 
 the men who are to come. The Americans who 
 have gone into the great battle are the very flow- 
 er of the race and they fully understand the great 
 issues in the balance. America expects much 
 from them and they have a right to expect al] 
 that America can do for their support and rein- 
 forcement. 
 
 In the meantime the enemy had opened a new 
 offensive in Flanders and the British were being 
 hard pressed by the overwhelming forces of the 
 Germans, 
 
184 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 Thus Far and No Farther. 
 
 (April 14, 1918.) 
 
 Field Marshal Haig's address to the British 
 Army is one, we think, that will find an immortal 
 place in history. The fact that he issued it indi- 
 cates a profound conviction of the importance of 
 this crisis, indicates a profound conviction of the 
 necessity of a firm and unshakable stand. There 
 is to be no more falling back. " Every position 
 must be held to the last man," he said. " There 
 must be no retirement. With our backs to the 
 wall, and believing in the justice of our cause, 
 each one of us must fight to the end. ,, These are 
 heroic words, uttered to heroes. They will meet 
 with such response as Britain's sons have ever 
 made in national emergencies. But they mean 
 more than a call for courage and steadfastness. 
 They mean more than a declaration of unaltera- 
 ble determination. They mean that the time has 
 come for a turn of the tide. Germany has 
 launched her blows. On two broad sectors she 
 has struck with overwhelming power, sacrificing: 
 enormous numbers of men in desperate attempts 
 to separate and to destroy her enemies. Strategy 
 and necessity were in accord in the backward 
 movement that drew the Germans away from 
 their bases, exposed them to the most destructive 
 fire and relatively reduced the allied losses. 
 
 The first blow thus spent itself and was checked. 
 The second blow, on another field, has expended 
 its initial force. The British Army has given way 
 
IN THE FIGHT 185 
 
 at several points on the twenty-five mile front of 
 the newer battle, and since Tuesday has been 
 pressed back in places from seven to ten miles. 
 But the resistance has been more stubborn, and 
 purposely so, than in the preceding attack farther 
 south. Now, it would seem from the words of 
 Field Marshal Haig, the moment has come to put 
 a stop to retrograde movements, and with that 
 publicly expressed determination to stand firm 
 on the present lines we may look for great events 
 in the next few days. We are satisfied that the 
 field marshal does not speak in desperation. There 
 is no sign of discouragement in his words. "The 
 French Army is moving rapidly and in great 
 force to our support, ' ' he says. We wish, oh, how 
 ardently we wish, he could have coupled the 
 American Army with that assurance. But Amer- 
 icans will be among them, and in considerable 
 numbers. Of that we have no doubt. The Brit- 
 ish are expected to hold the line until the great 
 support arrives, and then — perhaps the counter 
 stroke we have been expecting. At any rate, 
 there will be a permanent check to the German 
 advance. Thus far and no farther the hordes of 
 the Hun will progress. 
 
 Our Debt to England. 
 
 (April 16, 1918.) 
 
 Eighteen years ago the Scribners published an 
 interesting and valuable work in four volumes, 
 by W. H. Fitchett, entitled "How England Saved 
 Europe." It was, as the subtitle indicated, "The 
 
186 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 Story of the Great War," and the " great war" 
 was the twenty-year struggle with Napoleon. "It 
 may be fairly claimed," says the writer in his 
 concluding paragraphs, "that she (England) 
 came not only with laureled brow, but with clean 
 hands from the great struggle. And she had 
 saved Europe ! She had maintained for the great 
 commonwealth of states which constitutes modern 
 Europe the right to freedom and to national ex- 
 istence." We recall this book, its title and its 
 claim, because at this moment England (and bj^ 
 England we mean what Fitchett meant — Great 
 Britain) is again saving Europe. And more than 
 Europe. She is saving America ; she is saving the 
 world. With "its back to the wall," as Haig ex- 
 pressed it, the British Army stands between civ- 
 ilization and its arch enemy. There are English 
 and Scotch and Welsh and Irish and Canadians 
 and Australians in that array of heroic stubborn- 
 ness, but they are all under one flag, and they are 
 all British in the larger sense. They are welded 
 into one people now as they have never been be- 
 fore, and the spirit that inspires and sustains 
 them is the fruit of that tree whose seed was 
 planted long ago in English soil and from which 
 America as well as they have been nurtured. 
 
 They, our brothers, are saving us. In this 
 splendid resistance in which tens of thousands of 
 her sons are giving up their lives, England is 
 fighting our battle. It was against England that 
 Germany has hurled all the mighty power of this 
 
IN THE FIGHT 187 
 
 great attack. The purpose of Hindenburg was 
 and is to destroy the British Army. In the course 
 of the offensive he has come into collision with 
 the French, and the French have done magnifi- 
 cent service in support of their ally, but none the 
 less the British and the British alone have borne 
 and are bearing the brunt of the greatest and the 
 most crucial battle in the world's history. That 
 grim, brown line that is rapidly becoming a red 
 line through the shedding of its own blood is 
 standing resolutely between us and — what ? What 
 if the British Army were thrown back, routed, 
 destroyed? What if Hindenburg should achieve 
 his purpose ? We are quite sure that he will not, 
 that he cannot, but we cannot realize what this 
 British defense means to us unless we imagine it 
 beaten. Then what? It would mean our nation 
 in arms to the last man and our wealth engaged 
 to the last dollar. It would mean war, war, war, 
 cruel and long continued, until every city and 
 town and countryside in America would know the 
 odor of blood and the fulness of death, even as all 
 Britain and France and Germany know them 
 now. America will never submit to German dom- 
 ination as long as there is an American to wield 
 the sword. But what a frightful cost we should 
 have to pay if Haig and his immortals did not 
 stand where they stand and fight as they are 
 fighting ! 
 
 England is fighting our battle today. What are 
 we doing for England, for France, for ourselves? 
 They are buying our liberties with their blood. 
 
188 THE WOULD WAR 
 
 What are we doing? What are we paying? These 
 are questions for every one of us to ask, each to 
 himself, and for every one of us to answer, each 
 to himself, and all to our country. 
 
 Be Not Dismayed. 
 
 (April 18, 1918.) 
 
 The British are being harder pressed by the 
 sheer bulk of German divisions than they have 
 been at any time since the "army of contempti- 
 bles" made its kaiser-given name gloriously im- 
 mortal at Mons in 1914. The situation about 
 Ypres is one to give concern to England, to 
 France and to us. It would be folly to deny its 
 seriousness. But we must not permit ourselves to 
 become discouraged. Germany at Messines Ridge 
 is by no means as near to victory as she was at 
 Mons. The little British Army of that day is a 
 great army now, an army of millions, all veterans 
 and all heroes. It is equipped and munitioned as 
 well as the army of the enemy. It has behind it 
 all the power of the British Empire, all the power 
 of France and all the power of the United States. 
 Not all of our power is converted or now convert- 
 ible into military force in the field of action, but 
 it is none the less an element to be considered in 
 this situation, as Lloyd George himself has said. 
 It is necessary to withdraw our eyes from concen- 
 tration on the field of battle and sweep the whole 
 horizon of war in order to get a proper sense of 
 proportion. 
 
 For several years the opposing armies have 
 
IN THE FIGHT 189 
 
 confronted each other on a line approximately 
 340 miles long. Every foot of that line has had 
 to be guarded and protected, and has now to be 
 protected, by large forces of men. Germany, by 
 drawing men from the Russian lines and massing 
 them with their reserves in enormous numbers, 
 has been able to strike at two points on the line 
 with an overwhelming superiority of power. Lack 
 of certainty as to where she would strike made it 
 impossible to have at the point of contact an 
 equal force to oppose her, and the fury and ra- 
 pidity of her offensive under these circumstances 
 of superior physical advantage has compelled in 
 each case a withdrawal. The attack in Picardy 
 pushed back the battle front thirty-seven miles 
 toward Amiens, but each day of its progress ena- 
 bled the allies to bring more men into the field of 
 action, and the drive was checked. We must not 
 forget that. With all the force that Germany 
 could bring to bear on that section, she failed to 
 attain her object. Then she turned to another 
 place, and is now repeating the same tactics with 
 the same assembling of superior force. But her 
 progress has been by no means as rapid as in the 
 previous drive. There have been a number of rea- 
 sons for this. The character of the ground has 
 made the advance more difficult, for one thing, 
 but the main reason is that they have met a more 
 stubborn resistance. Nevertheless, they have ad- 
 vanced, and they have acquired some positions 
 of great importance. 
 
190 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 But the lines have not been broken. The Brit- 
 ish Army still confronts them, undefeated and 
 undismayed. They have captured a few square 
 miles of ground, ground which, it must be remem- 
 bered, they have for the most part previously 
 held in this war. But that is not their aim. To 
 achieve results commensurate with their tremen- 
 dous sacrifices they must break the British Army 
 in two and crush it between their forces and the 
 sea on the one side and between the Ypres and 
 the Amiens salients in the other. That they are 
 far from doing yet. And human limitations will 
 compel the Germans to slow up even as they did 
 in the previous drive. They will be checked 
 again. They shall not pass. Haig's men are fight- 
 ing to the death on every step of the way back. 
 They have not been able to stand immovable, but 
 they have made each foot cost the enemy an aw- 
 ful price. And they are still intact. Moreover, 
 reinforcements are at hand. We do not know 
 why the " great force" of France that Haig re- 
 ferred to the other day has not yet come to their 
 support. It may be it has not yet arrived ; it may 
 be it is being reserved for a counter stroke at the 
 opportune moment. That is in Gen. Foeh's hands. 
 But the British are not fighting a " forlorn hope/' 
 They have their "backs to the wall/' it is true, 
 but that is where they fight best ; and the tide will 
 turn. It is a time for courage, for the courage 
 that faces the worst and defies it and defeats it. 
 It is our fight they are fighting and we must up- 
 
IN THE FIGHT 19X 
 
 hold them. Even if disaster comes to them now 
 it means but a lengthening of the war. England 
 will not stop, France will not stop, and we, never, 
 until Germany is beaten and thoroughly beaten. 
 It is a gloomy day, but tomorrow is surely com- 
 ing. 
 
 Tomorrow did come and the Germans were 
 checked in that quarter, never to advance anoth- 
 er foot there. And incidentally we were soon to 
 learn that the Americans had been doing great 
 work in a relatively small way in Picardy. 
 
 American Soldiers in Action. 
 
 (May 6, 1918.) 
 
 There may have been something of courtesy in 
 the early praise the British and French lavished 
 on the American soldiers. But there is no per- 
 functory tone in recent comment. The Americans 
 have been praised for their adaptability, for 
 steady courage, for eagerness to learn and apt- 
 ness in learning and for the thoroughness of their 
 work. Although unused to discipline and filled 
 with the spirit of independence and self-reliance, 
 they have accommodated themselves to rigid dis- 
 cipline, merely because it is "part of the game." 
 They obey orders with alacrity and show every 
 courtesy to officers because they are officers, just 
 as they would respect the ceremony of a lodge 
 and approach the illustrious potentate with all 
 the genuflexions the rules might require, without 
 once imagining that he was a bit better than they, 
 turn to mm. Sd they have eagerly learned all the 
 
192 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 " business' ' of the war game. They have done 
 this so readily as to cause genuine astonishment 
 among the French and British officers and men. 
 And in the few fights they have had beside each 
 other they have held their own. This fact, taken 
 in connection with the elaborate scale on which 
 preparations have been made by engineers and 
 master mechanics, has inspired their associates. 
 Premier Lloyd George has publicly quoted with 
 approval the tributes the French have paid to the 
 fighting qualities of American soldiers, "first- 
 class fighting material, full of courage and all 
 very keen." 
 
 We had expected this, and more. It is when 
 the Americans begin fighting on a large scale, by 
 themselves, that we may expect a show of superi- 
 ority. The conditions under which they were 
 reared will give them an advantage over almost 
 all other fighting men. Friday 300 of them made 
 a raid in the Lorraine sector, protected solely by 
 their own artillery, and penetrated all three Ger- 
 man lines and completely wiped out the German 
 works. Similar independent actions will follow 
 and the Americans will "put on a few new 
 curves, ' ' as they cannot help doing, for they have 
 been trained to initiative all their lives, even as 
 other soldiers have been trained to routine. Then 
 will come, the name which shall blot " Sammy,' ; 
 out of the book of recollection. 
 
 And now on May 27 the Germans began the 
 great /drive on the Marne, which was indeed th.e 
 beginning of the end. 
 
IN THE FIGHT 193 
 
 lis Ne Passer ont Pas! 
 
 (May 31, 1918.)' 
 
 Months ago we adopted, as the concise expres- 
 sion of our conviction in regard to the German 
 offensive in the west, the slogan of the French at 
 Verdun, "lis ne passeront pas!" "They shall 
 not pass!" Never for a moment have we wa- 
 vered in our confidence that the allied lines would 
 hold. Never have we doubted that, whatever 
 force the Germans might bring to bear against 
 them, whatever geographical advance they might 
 make by the concentration of overwhelming num- 
 bers at a given point, their progress would ulti- 
 mately be checked and stopped. It was so in Pi- 
 cardy, it was so in Flanders ; it will be so in the 
 present attack. Indeed, yesterday's dispatches 
 indicated that the drive was already halting, that 
 already, after but three days of impetuous as- 
 sault with tremendous masses of men in the usual 
 solid formation, the fierce momentum of the on- 
 slaught had been stayed. This may be but a mo- 
 mentary check, and it is not improbable that the 
 Germans will push their van still farther toward 
 Paris and the Marne. But if the past is any 
 guide, each day of their advance will be slower, 
 each day will find them confronted by larger 
 forces, less willing to give way, until they are 
 compelled to halt. 
 
 And what will they have won? A few square 
 miles of land. Nothing more. When they stop 
 they will find their enemies still before them, un- 
 
194 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 dismayed, their ranks unbroken and undimin- 
 ished. They will find France and England and 
 America still standing shoulder to shoulder, calm, 
 resolute, defiant, unafraid. They will again have 
 sacrificed tens and tens of thousands of their 
 picked troops, and gained ashes. Each "victory" 
 of which the kaiser so proudly boasts is in itself 
 a defeat, for each has failed to attain its object, 
 each has failed to crush the foe, each has failed to 
 bring the cause one step nearer to its triumph, 
 and for each he has paid a price that nothing less 
 than triumph would justify. Nothing but the des- 
 peration of despair can explain the persistence of 
 Germany in a self -slaughter that it must know, if 
 it is not wholly blind, is utterly futile. The world 
 has declared Germany an outlaw. The world can- 
 not and will not stop until Germany is made law- 
 abiding, in accordance with the laws and the eth- 
 ics of civilization. 
 
 And now the Americans entered the battle on 
 the Marne arid the heroes of Chateau Thierry 
 made themselves immortal. 
 
 America on the Marne. 
 
 (June 8, 1918.) 
 
 America is thrilled as it has not been for many 
 a day by the splendid fighting of the American 
 soldiers on the Marne. At last we have concrete ev- 
 idence of the quality and capacity of our troops. 
 We have never doubted either, but it has been 
 more than half a century since American soldiers 
 
IN THE FIGHT 195 
 
 have been given such a severe test as they have 
 experienced this week in Champagne, and in 
 these fifty years all sorts of alien blood has been 
 ponring into our veins. We have often asked our- 
 selves if the American of today was the equal of 
 the American of '61 or '76, for who could esti- 
 mate the influence of the great immigration from 
 Southern and Southeastern Europe since the civil 
 war upon our national character? Or how could 
 we know what effect the materialistic tendencies 
 of late years might have had upon our courage 
 and spirit ? These were thoughts that did not 
 reach the dignity, or indignity, of doubt, but 
 gave some elements of uncertainty to the situa- 
 tion. The first reports from France, after our 
 boys got on the firing line, dispelled these ques- 
 tionings. But those reports referred to skirmishes 
 that were in themselves insignificant, and it was 
 not until the splendid achievement at Cantigny 
 the other day, and the intrepid and victorious 
 fighting on the Marne this week, that we received 
 the full a>*Ld complete proof that American sol- 
 diers can be depended upon to maintain the fight- 
 ing standards of our past. 
 
 We can imagine the relief of our allies at these 
 striking evidences of American spirit and Ameri- 
 can prowess. If they have had any doubt they 
 have been too courteous to express it, but we 
 think they must have felt some apprehension as 
 to our comparatively untrained and inexperi- 
 enced troops. How would these raw levies from 
 
196 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 a distant land, levies composed of many mingled 
 bloods — how would they comport themselves un- 
 der fire in this most awful of wars, where hith- 
 erto inconceivable engines of destruction are 
 brought into action? The answer to this ques- 
 tion was the final test of the value of American 
 participation, and it has been answered in a way 
 to delight and inspire England and France. They 
 know now that we are one with them, as good as 
 they in the field. And Germany knows now that 
 a new foe confronts her, a foe that is growing 
 daily and tremendously in strength, a foe that is 
 unlimited in resources. Four years ago the Ger- 
 mans discovered the spirit of France at the Marne. 
 They are again at the Marne and again discover- 
 ing. 
 
 And at this moment the heroism of France 
 impelled the Globe-Democrat to pay this tribute : 
 
 The Awesomeness of France. 
 
 (June 14, 1918.) 
 
 A correspondent of the Globe-Democrat, writ- 
 ing from France in regard to statements made by 
 German prisoners captured by Americans, says 
 the French have aroused the awe of Germany by 
 their wonderful resistance. "Awe" is a word 
 full of meaning in this connection. It denotes 
 something more than fear, something more than 
 admiration, yet somewhat of both, with an added 
 sense of a mysterious and unaccountable strength 
 that suggests the superhuman. And that feeling 
 
IN THE FIGHT 197 
 
 is but natural. When one recalls the arrogant 
 egotism with which Germany began the war, and 
 the complacent confidence with which it entered 
 upon its march to Paris as a mere holiday journey 
 of a few weeks' duration, and reviews the four 
 years of terrific warfare that have cost Germany 
 millions of its men and brought it no nearer Paris 
 than it was in 1914; when one finds the French 
 nation after all these years of continuous batter- 
 ing by the mighty arm of Thor still cheerful, still 
 determined, still unafraid, still inspired by an in- 
 domitable fighting spirit, there is little wonder 
 that the Germans should feel that these French 
 are something more than men. 
 
 In the halcyon days of yore it was the custom 
 of Germany to speak contemptuously of France 
 as a decadent nation, a frivolous people, without 
 system, without efficiency, mere children in com- 
 parison with the serious and solid intellectuals of 
 the Vaterland. It was assumed that a mere wave of 
 the German hand, a mere puff of Teutonic breath, 
 would dispose of France when the time came for 
 showing it its proper place at the feet of Ger- 
 many. But somehow the theory of overwhelming 
 superiority and might failed in its application. 
 Somehow the pygmies became giants, prodigious 
 and invulnerable. Somehow a race of Rolands 
 emerged from an unsuspected Roncesvalles, and 
 the waves of German might broke into futile 
 spray upon the living wall of heroes that pro- 
 tected France. Four years of unceasing battle, 
 
198 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 waged on a scale and with a brutal fury never 
 known by man before, yet France, bleeding at 
 every vein, still lives and laughs and fights, un- 
 weakened and undismayed. Little wonder, we 
 say, that the Germans look upon this phenomenon 
 with awe. 
 
 It seems a miracle, but it is not. If they could 
 but see it, the explanation is before them. The 
 difference is not a matter of might but of soul. 
 France has a soul. Germany has none. Germany 
 has erected a soulless state, and deliberately it 
 has labored to eradicate the soul from its people. 
 It has made of life a material thing, a thing of di- 
 mensions, ponderable and measureable. Man is 
 but a biological mechanism, and the spirit a 
 childish and archaic fancy. Yet a Germany with 
 a soul would never have done what Germany has 
 done, would never have attempted what Germany 
 has attempted. And France without a soul would 
 have perished ignominiously in the summer of 
 1914. France is showing Germany an oTd thing 
 that is ever new. Its awe is the sign of an awak- 
 ening, of the dawning of a realization that there 
 is something greater than matter, and it is a 
 something they lack. They are beginning to 
 learn that mere men and guns and system, multi- 
 plied and raised to any degree of force, are still 
 but dust, without a soul to inspire, to impel and 
 to uphold. "Not by might, nor by power, but by 
 my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. " The awe- 
 someness of France is due to a thing that cannot 
 
IN THE FIGHT 199 
 
 be taken in the hands, that cannot be weighed 
 upon the scales, that cannot be dissected or ana- 
 lyzed, but which is imperishable and unconquer- 
 able. 
 
 All this time ship after ship was unloading its 
 precious freight of American soldiers at the ports 
 of France and column after column bearing the 
 Stars and Stripes was marching to the camps to 
 prepare for action. 
 
 Five Months Ahead. 
 
 (June 23, 1918.) 
 
 •Nine hundred thousand men have been shipped 
 to France, said Gen. March, the chief of staff, yes- 
 terday, and gave out the additional information 
 that we are five months ahead of our program* 
 These should be most gratifying facts to the peo- 
 ple of the United States, and the greatest credit is 
 due to the War Department for an achievement 
 that is without precedent in the history of na- 
 tions. Nor have we been shipping an untrained 
 rabble. The testimony of English and French 
 military experts who have observed the Ameri" 
 cans that have just arrived "over there/ ' as well 
 as those who have been seasoned by months on 
 the firing line, is that they are soldiers, every one. 
 That is not to say that the newcomers are pre- 
 pared to rush into the front line of battle and 
 take their places by the side of veterans, but that 
 they are far advanced toward first-line efficiency, 
 and the intensive training they are getting be- 
 hind the lines is rapidly putting them on a par 
 
200 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 with the soldiers of any country. More than that, 
 the evidence of the same unprejudiced authori- 
 ties shows that the physical preparations for han- 
 dling our troops in France, for feeding and cloth- 
 ing them, and for supplying them with the muni- 
 tions they require, have kept pace with the de- 
 mands of our rapidly increasing service. Few of 
 our people realize what a tremendous job it has 
 been, and is, and America should be proud of the 
 manner in which it is being accomplished. 
 
 And consider what it means at this time to be 
 five months ahead of our program. The Germans 
 since the 21st of March have been desperately 
 trying to break down the wall of men that holds 
 them back from victory. They have gathered all 
 the forces possible and hurled them with one ter- 
 rific blow after another at their enemies, hoping 
 to vanquish the English and French before the 
 Americans could arrive in strength. They have 
 failed, and some part of the credit for that fail- 
 ure is due to the rapid rush of American troops to 
 the allied support. Each day has seen these fresh, 
 vigorous, indomitable reinforcements pouring 
 into France, and each day has lessened the 
 chances of German success. The Stars and Stripes 
 now waves dominant on thirty-eight miles of the 
 front line, and it is joined with the flags of Brit- 
 ain and France on many more miles of guardian- 
 ship and battle. In a few days a million Ameri- 
 cans can say, "Lafayette, we are here!" And 
 millions more are behind them. It is an exultant 
 thought. 
 
IN THE FIGHT 201 
 
 The enemy had been checked at the Marne, 
 largely by the fierce and determined fighting of 
 American soldiers, and there was a lull of some 
 weeks in the battle, but no one imagined^ that it 
 was over. Another drive was in preparation. 
 
 The Impending Blow. 
 
 (July 3, 1918.) 
 
 All the reports from the other side show an ex- 
 pectancy of another German drive very soon, and 
 the Associated Press correspondent with the Brit- 
 ish Army in France says that "one thing seems 
 certain — when the enemy does strike he will hit 
 hard. It is predicted," he adds, "that there will 
 be more terrific fighting than has yet developed 
 this year. " If it should be more terrific than has 
 yet developed ' ' this year ' ' it will be more terrific 
 than any that has developed in any year, for no 
 battles of the past have surpassed in force and 
 destructiveness the series of attacks that began 
 March 21. But upon what ground should it be 
 assumed that Germany can strike any harder 
 than it has already struck? It began its great 
 drive in March after many months of careful 
 preparation. It had assembled all the reserves 
 upon which it could lay its hands ; it had denuded 
 the Russian front ; it had borrowed from Austria ; 
 it had searched the empire for men who could be 
 safely drawn into the service; it had organized 
 and trained vast bodies of selected shock troop?; ; 
 it had brought to the front every obtainable gun 
 and enormous supplies of munitions; it had ad- 
 
202 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 vertised to its people and to the world that now 
 it was going to crush the enemies of Germany in 
 one great blow. There is every reason to believe 
 that it was the supreme effort of German might. 
 
 It did not crush its enemies ; it did not make a 
 single breach in their wall. And it lost at a con- 
 servative estimate 300,000 men in the effort. The 
 first attack of the series covered a wider front, 
 was backed by larger forces and was pressed with 
 greater persistency than the three which fol- 
 lowed. There was evidence of a continuous loss 
 of confidence and of spirit in the offensive, and 
 since the drives came to an end the local counter 
 attacks have, without a single exception that we 
 can recall, proved disastrous to the Germans, in- 
 dicating no revival of German courage or resolu- 
 tion. Not a thing has occurred to restore in any 
 measure the German morale. The government 
 cannot possibly assemble larger forces than it had 
 in readiness on the 21st of March. It can no 
 longer count on effective co-operation from Aus- 
 tria. Why, then, should it be imagined that it 
 will strike a harder blow than it has before? It 
 may strike on a broader front, or it may concen- 
 trate larger forces on a short front, but it cannot 
 hit with greater power than it did, nor does it 
 seem likely that it can hit so hard again. 
 
 On the other hand, the allies have been encour- 
 aged and inspired by the successful defense of 
 their lines. Their losses have been much less than 
 Germany's, and their confidence in ultimate vie- 
 
IN THE FIGHT 203 
 
 tory was never so great as now. Most important 
 of all, the Americans are pouring into France and 
 up to the fighting lines in continuous columns of 
 fresh and eager combatants. They have shown 
 themselves to be soldiers equal to the best, and in 
 every attack they have whipped the foe. The 
 great drive, whenever and wherever it comes, will 
 beat with less vigor, though possibly with greater 
 ferocity, against a wall stronger than that of 
 March. They cannot pass. "lis ne passeront 
 pas" is no longer the cry of a desperate deter- 
 mination, but is the calm assertion of an assured 
 and justified confidence. 
 
 The last German drive began on July 15, and 
 it struck at that part of the line where the Amer- 
 icans were on guard. 
 
 A Drive Against America. 
 
 (July 16, 1918.) 
 
 The enemy again is trying to break through the 
 allied lines by a tremendous attack on a fifty-mile 
 front. This is the fifth of the great series of 
 drives inaugurated by the Germans on March 21, 
 and in the extent of frontage exceeds all the oth- 
 ers except the first, which it equals. But there is 
 no evidence yet that it has been launched with 
 the same force nor that it is being pushed with 
 the same vigor as the initial drive in Picardy. It 
 extends from the vicinity of Chateau Thierry 
 eastward and around Reims to Massiges, about 
 half way between the famous city and Verduo. 
 
204 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 The military experts claim to discern a. number of 
 purposes in this great movement, one of which is 
 said to be the capture of Chalons, an important 
 railway center, but if it has any other aim than 
 the smashing of the allied lines and the general 
 advance of the German positions, the taking of 
 Reims is no doubt the most important considera- 
 tion. As the lines stood on Sunday, Reims was 
 the point of a salient projecting into the territory 
 held by the Germans, and the strength of its posi- 
 tion and its defenses would seem to make its cap- 
 ture absolutely necessary to the progress of the 
 German armies in that section. By pushing for- 
 ward on both sides of it the Germans probably 
 hope to encircle it and compel its capitulation. 
 
 But the main interest in this drive, so far as the 
 United States is concerned, is in the fact that it is 
 directed at a line defended in part by American 
 soldiers. How are our boys, drawn from the 
 peaceful fields and factories and stores of the 
 United States, to stand up before the colossal 
 strokes of the highest trained armies in the 
 world? We have never had any doubt about the 
 answer to that question, believing that American 
 initiative, American spirit and American courage 
 could hold its own against any machine-made 
 troops under fair conditions. But we have had 
 positive evidence of that fact in the conduct of 
 our men at Cantigny and about Chateau-Thierry 
 in the past weeks, and while they may be thrown 
 back, as the French and English have been in the 
 
IN THE FIGHT 205 
 
 previous drives, by the power of overwhelming 
 numbers, we have not the slightest fear but that 
 they will display the same valor and achieve the 
 same success as their splendid associates. The 
 initial reports of this offensive show that the 
 American troops are conducting themselves in 
 full accord with American traditions and Ameri- 
 can hopes. They have fallen back only when and 
 where they received orders to withdraw, and at 
 one point, the dispatches say, "the American ma- 
 chine gunners and infantrymen fought and died 
 where they stood." At others they have counter 
 attacked and driven the enemy back. 
 
 The fact that our boys are fighting, fighting 
 desperately and fighting in great numbers makes 
 us watch this drive with particular anxiety and 
 suspense, not that we fear the result, but that we 
 shall surely mourn the loss of many of our best 
 and bravest. We can never grow indifferent to 
 such losses, but great as they may be, they shall 
 not alter our determination to fight this war to its 
 proper finish. German drives may come and 
 come, but at the last it shall be we who are doing 
 the driving. 
 
 An Elated Nation. 
 
 (July 17, 1918.) 
 
 Dispatches from Washington yesterday said 
 there was a feeling of elation in official circles. 
 Indeed, yes ! Nor was it limited to official circles, 
 or even to the purlieus of the national capital. It 
 was felt, we know, as far west as St. Louis, and 
 
206 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 * 
 
 we doubt not that a whiff of it swelled the chests 
 and brightened the eyes of the Pacific Coast. 
 "Wherever the American flag floats there was ela- 
 tion yesterday, and pride. For in their first great 
 contest with the Germans our boys had whipped 
 them to a standstill. We do not know what today 
 may bring forth, but Monday and yesterday are 
 history, and we are fully justified in feeling proud 
 and elated over achievements that prove again — 
 and this time under such circumstances that no 
 one can belittle them — the indomitable courage 
 and the individual resourcefulness of the Ameri- 
 can soldier. We do not think it boasting to re- 
 cord the fact that not once since the Stars and 
 Stripes reached the firing line have our arms 
 failed of success in contest with the Germans, 
 whether in raid, in skirmish or in battle. This 
 does not mean immunity from defeat, on occa- 
 sion, in the future, but it does mean just that 
 much, that so far we have not once been whipped ; 
 and with this auspicious beginning, backed as it 
 will be by increasing and ever increasing might, 
 we may look forward confidently to the ultimate 
 achievement when, with our victorious allies, we 
 shall dictate the terms of peace to a vanquished 
 foe. For it seems clear that in the face of the de- 
 clining power, and, in particular, the declining 
 spirit of Germany, the entry at this time of the 
 unlimited forces of America, fresh, eager, valor- 
 ous and resourceful, must turn the tide definitely, 
 and perhaps quickly, against Germany. 
 
IN THE FIGHT 207 
 
 The fifth drive of 1918 may be but started. It 
 may be true, as Gen. Bliss says, that "the great 
 pressure of reserves and concentrated masses is 
 still to be looked for." It may be that there are 
 overwhelming forces that yet will fall upon our 
 lines and push them back by sheer weight of 
 numbers. Both the French and the English have 
 felt the weight of this impact and have yielded to 
 it without disaster and without shame, except 
 perhaps in the case of the Fifth Army of Great 
 Britain on March 21, the facts of which are yet in 
 question. So, falling back under such pressure is 
 no disgrace, if the lines are held unbroken, and 
 may indeed be the way to victory. What we know 
 now of a certainty is that the American armies 
 are equal to the best, and knowing this we may 
 await the result of this battle, and of other bat- 
 tles, alert but with assured faith. 
 
 It was at this time that Gen. Foch began his 
 great counter offensive with French and Ameri- 
 can troops on the German right flank, an offen- 
 sive that was not again to cease until the war was 
 won. 
 
 Just Beginning to Fight. 
 
 (July 19, 1918.) 
 
 We might say, "We have met the enemy and 
 they are ours. ' ' But let us not be too hasty. It is 
 true we have met them, and a very satisfactory 
 number of them are now resting, and, under our 
 bening guardianship, are finding out what is going 
 on in the world. Others, we may assume, are still 
 
208 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 ' l running like hell, ' ' as one American commander 
 tersely puts it. And there are yet others, whose 
 number runs into many thousands, who will never 
 fight or run again. But for the greater part the 
 enemy still possesses himself, and in truth we may 
 say, again with Grant, "we have just begun to 
 fight." To that there can be no modification or 
 qualification. We have really begun to fight. No 
 one, the Germans least of all, can deny that, and 
 we are justified in a feeling of profound grati- 
 fication that our formal entry into this greatest 
 of wars has been so dramatic and so gloriously 
 effective. We are gratified, too, that our partici- 
 pation in force has come at the opportune time 
 for a great offensive movement. The American 
 soldier does not like to fight on the defensive. He 
 wants to * ' get out and get at 'em. ' ' Neither does 
 he relish a backward movement, however neces- 
 sary it may be for the purposes of military strat- 
 egy. His feeling was expressed by the American 
 officer who sent word to his French commander 
 that the American flag had been forced to retire, 
 which was unendurable, and he proposed to coun- 
 ter attack immediately. This spirit may get us 
 into trouble unless it is wisely restrained, but 
 nevertheless it is the spirit that achieves vic- 
 tories. 
 
 It seemed yesterday to assist materially in turn- 
 ing the tide of German progress. For the first 
 time since the opening of prodigious warfare in 
 March, Gen. Foch saw .he opportunity to under- 
 
IN THE FIGHT 209 
 
 take an offensive movement on a large scale. The 
 Germans pressing southward on the Marne had 
 exposed their right flank to attack along the 
 twenty-five-mile line from Soissons to Chateau- 
 Thierry. Massing the American and French 
 forces along that line during the night, he hurled 
 them against the unsuspecting enemy at dawn. 
 The news dispatches tell what happened, and the 
 part our men played in the events of the day is 
 one to make us thrill with pride. How far he will 
 push this movement will, of course, depend upon 
 circumstances. With all the care he has shown in 
 the past, we may be sure that he will go no far- 
 ther than conditions justify. On the other hand, 
 we may be sure that he will take the fullest pos- 
 sible advantage of the opening that he so quickly 
 perceived. If the time seems ripe for an exten- 
 sion of the offensive he is not likely to neglect the 
 opportunity. The next few days may see even 
 greater deeds and greater results. Let us hope 
 so, without the expectation that might yield dis- 
 appointment. "What is already accomplished is 
 satisfaction enough for the moment. 
 
 The breaking of the German power on the 
 Marne gave inspiration to this tribute to the mys- 
 tical power of this celebrated stream : 
 
 The Invincible Marne. 
 
 (July 24, 1918.) 
 
 Is there some fatality for barbarism in the 
 waters of the Marne, or in the air about it? Has 
 
210 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 it been fixed by fate as the limiting line of savage 
 and inhuman autocracy? It is a long time, as 
 time is counted by years, from Attila to William 
 II., but morally they are contemporaries and his- 
 torically the}' are twins. Before Attila there was 
 no one in his likeness; since there has been none 
 until now; and both Attila and the kaiser have 
 found at the Marne an invisible something that 
 seems to stand as with drawn sword and to say, 
 "Back!" It was on the plain just below Cha- 
 lons-sur-Marne that Attila and his great army of 
 Huns met the final check to his aspirations for 
 world power. It was a day memorable in the 
 world's history, a day of battle, "ruthless, man- 
 ifold, immense, obstinate." The old-time esti- 
 mates of 175,000 to 300,000 slain cannot be re- 
 lied upon, but the carnage was awful and the re- 
 sult was final. Attila retreated across the Rhine 
 and the power of Attila and the Huns was for- 
 ever broken. 
 
 "Forever," did we say? Ah, no! Another 
 Attila and other Huns were to arise fifteen cen- 
 turies later — a greater Attila and a vaster tribe, 
 greater in the advantages and opportunities of 
 evil that fifteen centuries of human development 
 has given them. Yet he, too, and they, have come 
 to the Marne only to meet disaster and defeat . 
 Twice have these later Huns touched the waters 
 of the invincible stream, and twice has it hurled 
 them back, shattered and broken. Twice this 
 battle has raged, as on that old day, "ruthless, 
 
IN THE FIGHT 211 
 
 manifold, immense, obstinate," and twice have 
 the Huns retreated bleeding from a million 
 wounds. "When they came down, like the Assy- 
 rians, four years ago, with all the pomp and maj- 
 esty of conquering power, they held the French 
 to be an easy prey. Their countless hordes had, 
 indeed, overwhelmed all opposition, and Paris, 
 the beautiful Paris, the world's desire, seemed al- 
 most in their grasp. But the Marne intervened, 
 the Marne, whose waters shall be held sacred 
 through all ages, and their reaching hands 
 clutched but the emptiness of death. 
 
 But they had greater powers and greater re- 
 sources than Attila. Etzel, as they call him. 
 never returned. The Huns of kultur came back. 
 It took them four years — four long, bloody, hor- 
 rible years — but again they came, no less mighty, 
 no less frightful, no less brutal, than before. Else- 
 where they had advanced, foot by foot, and every 
 step at fearful cost, yet insistently advancing, 
 pressing forward as if pushed by fate into the 
 crushing arms of destiny. And so, once more 
 they reached the Marne; once more the posses- 
 sion of Paris and the fulfillment of their hopes 
 seemed almost accomplished. But again the guar- 
 dian spirit of the Marne, the guardian spirit of 
 humanity, touched them, and they crumbled as to 
 dust. Who shall say that this is but coincidence? 
 Who shall say that the physical limitation of 
 might and the spiritual limitation of evil may not 
 be somehow concurrent? Three times the Huns 
 
212 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 have met the Marne ; three times it has destroyed 
 them. There is the fact. Explain it who can. 
 
 The Encircling Grasp. 
 
 (July 26, 1918.) 
 
 From Soissons around the crescent of battle to 
 Reims is about sixty miles. The line forms a gi- 
 gantic but expanded U, with its opening to the 
 north marked by the curves of the Vesle River. 
 The Franco-American troops are hammering 
 away at the west and southwest, and the British, 
 French and Italian forces at the east and south- 
 east, slowly but steadily contracting the area, 
 while special efforts are being made to close the 
 mouth of the U and make an of it, thus encir- 
 cling the German Army and compelling its sur- 
 render or destruction. As an aid to this end they 
 are endeavoring to reach the transportation cen- 
 ters in the area inclosed, to destroy them, and 
 thereby to increase the difficulty of German with- 
 drawal from the pocket and of German move- 
 ments within it. The enemy is believed to have 
 lost from 150,000 to 200,000 men so far in the bat- 
 tle. It is estimated that there are 400,000 men 
 within the pocket, and ten divisions are reported 
 to have been detached from Prince Rupprecht's 
 armies on the British front to come to the support 
 of the beleaguered army. 
 
 Ludendorff does not want to give up an inch of 
 the territory he has taken. He is said to have ac- 
 cumulated large stores of munitions and supplies 
 in this sector in preparation for the intended ad- 
 
IN THE FIGHT 213 
 
 vanee upon Paris. These include many ver)' 
 heavy guns that were used in the opening days 
 of the battle to shell the country many miles back 
 of the fighting line. It was the purpose, no doubt, 
 to use these guns to begin the attack on Paris as 
 soon as they could be brought within range. Bu( 
 there are other reasons for Ludendorff's reluc- 
 tance. He attained his position south of the Aisne 
 at tremendous cost, and he is unwilling to con- 
 cede that he has paid it for naught. Moreover, 
 as long as he can maintain a position of nearness 
 to the Marne the folks at home may be induced 
 to believe the best that can be told them by the 
 versatile publicity agents of the kaiser. But if 
 forced to give up this territory entirely the fact 
 of defeat can hardly be concealed. 
 
 Such in brief is the situation today. Naturally, 
 as the area is contracted the resistance grows 
 stronger, notwithstanding the increasing difficul- 
 ty of maneuvering so great an army in so small 
 a space, and the progress of the allies becomes 
 slower. But it is still steady. No effort of the 
 Germans has yet made a break in the wall of fire 
 and steel that almost encircles them. If Foch 
 has the forces at his command to continue the 
 fight on the sarnie great scale, and he thinks it 
 wise to do so, the Germans must retreat beyond 
 the Vesle or they must surrender or perish where 
 they stand. As it looks now, if they do not re- 
 treat quickly they will not be permitted to re- 
 treat at all. The greater part of the German re~ 
 
214 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 serves are being used up in the struggle, and Lu- 
 dendorff cannot afford to weaken his lines else- 
 where to any great extent. Gen. Foeh has given 
 him several warnings that nothing but despera- 
 tion will prevent him from heeding. The outcome 
 is largely dependent upon Gen. Foch's resources 
 and judgment. He may not be able to prevent a 
 general withdrawal if the German decides at once 
 to retreat, but he can inflict a tremendous loss on 
 the fleeing columns; and if they decide to stand 
 he has the opportunity to destroy them if he has 
 the power available for the desperate fighting 
 such a struggle would involve. He will not sac- 
 rifice men needlessly, but he is showing daily that 
 he will strike hard and strike continuously for a 
 result that justifies the effort. As it is he has put 
 a definite end to the German dream of victory in 
 1918. 
 
 But while Foch was destroying the Germans lb 
 this great pocket he was preparing for new and 
 even larger action in another quarter. 
 
 Worrying Rupprecht. 
 
 (August 7, 1918.) 
 
 While Gen. Focih is still hammering away at 
 the retreating armies of the German crown 
 prince there are increasing evidences that he has 
 his weather eye fixed on the forces of the Bavarian 
 crown prince in a coldly calculating way. Prince 
 Rupprecht is in command in the Amiens salient, 
 that large territory stretching from near Lens on 
 the north to Noyon on the south, which was taken 
 
IN THE FIGHT 215 
 
 in the first German drive beginning March 21. 
 and which approaches uncomfortably close to 
 Amiens on its western edge. It was assumed by 
 some of the military authorities that the Germans 
 intended a new offensive in this region as soon as 
 the Marne drive was assured of success, but its 
 total failure prevented the movement, if it was 
 planned. More than that, Prince Rupprecht was 
 compelled to send a number of divisions — ten, it 
 was reported — to the assistance of his Prussian 
 rival, and none of these has been returned to him, 
 being yet very busy getting away from the allied 
 troops. 
 
 So, instead of launching an attack, Rupprecht 
 finds himself on the defensive, with his reserves 
 weakened and his army probably worried over 
 the crushing defeat in the Marne salient. His 
 uneasiness is indicated by his withdrawals along 
 the Avre and the Ancre in response to the local 
 attacks of Foch's men in the region of Mont- 
 didier. Unless the allied losses have been greater 
 than is supposed, the generalissimo is likely to 
 launch a new assault -upon the German line when 
 he has satisfied himself that nothing further is to 
 be gained by continuing the present movement. 
 If his reserves are in sufficient number and the 
 requisite condition it seems probable that he will 
 give the Germans no time to restore and consoli- 
 date their shattered forces, but will attack on a 
 larger scale at some other part of the line. Where, 
 of course, is not to be stated, even if we knew, and 
 
216 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 if he has come to any decision it is a secret closely- 
 held by his staff. But the position of the Bavarian 
 crown prince must offer a strong temptation to 
 give him a dose of the same medicine he has just 
 given to the heir to the imperial throne. That he 
 can do it we have not the slightest doubt, nor do 
 we doubt that he will do it if he believes that the 
 end will justify the price to be paid for it. In the 
 meantime he is keeping Rupprecht on the anxious 
 seat and decidedly uncomfortable. 
 
 Foch's New Offensive. 
 
 (August 9, 1918.) 
 
 The Globe-Democrat said Wednesday morning 
 that if Foch's " reserves are in sufficient number 
 and the requisite condition it seems probable that 
 he will give the Germans no time to restore and 
 consolidate their shattered forces, but will attack 
 on a large scale at some other part of the line, : ' 
 and we pointed to the likelihood of the attack be- 
 ing made on the Amiens salient in Picardy. "We 
 did not know that Foch at that moment was 
 drawing up his forces for a great assault in that 
 quarter. The new offensive is along the extreme 
 western line of the territory acquired by the Ger- 
 mans in their first drive beginning March 21, and 
 seems to extend from Albert on the north to 
 Montdidier on the south, an airline distance of 
 about twenty-five miles. The fact that Field 
 Marshal Haig is in command is in itself an indica- 
 tion that a major engagement has been inaugu- 
 rated. The region of attack is along that part of 
 
IN THE FIGHT 217 
 
 the line nearest to Paris and to Amiens, and 
 therefore the point that presented the greatest 
 danger from an enemy offensive should the Ger- 
 man high command have decided to renew the at- 
 tack in that section. It has been assumed by the 
 military experts that the next German drive 
 would be here or farther north on the Flanders 
 front. 
 
 "We think it safe to say now that it will not be 
 here in Picardy, if anywhere. Gen. Foch has 
 beaten them to it. The boot is on another foot, a 
 French foot, and the drive is directed against the 
 Germans rather than against the allies. If the 
 Germans left their right flank exposed in the 
 Marne drive in the belief that the allies had no 
 army to assail them in that quarter, as report has 
 it, how much more surprised they must be at this 
 new offensive while their rear is still being ham- 
 mered on the Vesle. And what effect this blow 
 must have on the forces of the Bavarian crown 
 prince, diminished by the loan of some of his di- 
 visions to help save his imperial rival from de- 
 struction, and worried as they must be by the 
 knowledge of the smashing defeat of their broth- 
 ers in arms ! The German soldiers entered upon 
 the drive of March 21 with the assurance from 
 their commanders of a quick and easy victory. 
 Prisoner after prisoner testified to this. Their 
 losses on that drive were such as to appall hu- 
 manity, and they failed of their purpose. The 
 rank and file of the Huns know they were fooled. 
 
218 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 They know now that the French and British are 
 un weakened and that the Americans, "Satanic 
 fighters/' are there in large and rapidly increas- 
 ing force. These are important considerations. 
 No one can say what this allied offensive may ac- 
 complish, but the time seems auspicious for great 
 events. 
 
 We may be sure that Foch would not launch 
 this assault if this were not so, nor that he would 
 enter into an undertaking of such magnitude un- 
 less he was sure he had the force to sustain hini. 
 He evidently believes that he can do to the Bava- 
 rian crown prince what he has so splendidly done 
 to the crown prince of Germany, and while he is 
 at the newer job he is not neglecting the old one. 
 May heaven give full power to his elbow ! 
 
 "Keep the Enemy Running." 
 
 (Aug-ust 12, 1918.) 
 
 Gen. March has found a slogan that fits the pres- 
 ent stage of the war : ' ' Keep the enemy running. ' ' 
 The time was, and not so very long ago, when the 
 best we had in the slogan line was, "They shall 
 not pass." It had to be used in more than one 
 desperate situation of the war. It was a great 
 slogan for its occasion. It voiced the resolution 
 of an unconquerable and undespairing people. 
 But, happily, conditions have changed so that the 
 enemy is on the run. He has not yet reached the 
 Hindenburg line from which he sallied forth 
 March 21, with proclamations reverberating 
 above the roar of big-mouthed cannon. But he 
 
IN THE FIGHT 219 
 
 will soon be driven there. The onslaught of the 
 British, French and American forces is irresisti- 
 ble. Paris hints that the military reports are un- 
 derstating the successes. Premier Lloyd George's 
 statement that from 50,000 to 60,000 prisoners 
 have been captured, instead of 24,000 officially re- 
 ported at that time, supports this theory. More 
 than 500 German guns have been captured, and 
 the retreating Germans on every front have been 
 forced to destroy vast quantities of ammunition. 
 
 The Germans are making resistance at spots. 
 They are trying to withstand the Americans 
 along the Vesle. They will doubtless make a des- 
 perate stand to defend the railway at Noyon and 
 to protect troops retreating to the Hindenburg 
 line. But the general demoralization of the Ger- 
 mans is patent, and, as we have frequently ob- 
 served, the Germans are notoriously poor losers. 
 When the belief in their own invincibility is 
 shaken, much of their fighting prowess disap- 
 pears. Every desperate struggle for a place in 
 the present drive has ended favorably to the al- 
 lies. 
 
 More general and more daring use of the tanks 
 has been made than in any other open movement. 
 Superiority in aircraft has clearly been on the al- 
 lied side. There has been the same general supe- 
 riority in artillery, while in hand-to-hand fight- 
 ing the allies have, as usual, greatly outclassed 
 the enemy. A division of Americans was thrown 
 into the fighting north of the Somme Saturday. 
 
220 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 It is altogether likely that far more will be used 
 in the great offensive, since their ability in open 
 lighting has been so clearly demonstrated. It is 
 no time for excessive optimism or relaxation of 
 determined preparations, but we are doing to the 
 Germans the things which will end the war, soon 
 or late. Prudent military opinion is against the 
 probability of a speedy end, but it is not always 
 safe to apply cold calculations to what may be ac- 
 complished by an ably-led army, flushed with vic- 
 tory, when attacking a demoralized foe to whom 
 the future offers no promise. At the least, Ger- 
 main's 1918 plans on the western front have 
 gone awry, and if there should later be a halt on 
 the Hindenburg line Gen. Foch will not resort to 
 watchful waiting. He will be in a position con- 
 tinual^ to harass and annoy until he has such a 
 preponderance of strength as will enable him to 
 drive the Germans across the Rhine. 
 
 The World's Desire. 
 
 (August 24, 1918.) 
 
 The German Army seems to be on the verge of 
 a great disaster. For days lengthening into weeks 
 the tide of battle has been going against it. From 
 the 18th of July, when Foch began his offensive 
 movement in the second battle of the Marne, the 
 Germans have been steadily, uniformly, invaria- 
 bly, beaten. Not once have they made a counter 
 blow effective. Not once have they been success- 
 ful in holding a position that Gen. Foch attacked. 
 It has not mattered which of the allied forces as- 
 
IN THE FIGHT 221 
 
 sailed them, whether American or French or Brit- 
 ish, they have been able, in no instance and at no 
 point, to resist the pressure of arms and the sus- 
 tained valor of their foes. From the beginning 
 of this colossal battle they have been outgener- 
 aled and outfought. Foch has shown himself to 
 be superior to any or all of the military leaders 
 of Germany, and his men have daily proven them- 
 selves better soldiers, more courageous, more per- 
 sistent, quicker and more intelligent in move- 
 ment, more skillful in the use of arms, and, above 
 all, moved by a higher spirit, than the Germans. 
 And now, under the sledge-hammer blows that 
 are falling upon them here, there and every- 
 where, from Ypres to Reims, the Germans are not 
 only losing heart, but losing cohesion. The vast 
 army that has been for four years moved with 
 the precision and the certainty of a machine, no 
 longer functions with its former efficiency. The 
 commanders are beginning to find, no doubt to 
 their surprise, that really it is not a machine: 
 that it is a human composition, subject to human 
 weaknesses, and particularly to that racial de- 
 ficiency which creates a profound discourage- 
 ment in the face of continued disaster. The Ger- 
 mans have never yet won a battle unless their 
 forces were greatly superior in numbers and 
 deeply impressed with their invincibility. They 
 have now learned that they are not invincible. 
 They have learned that their weight is no longer 
 overpowering. They have seen their choicest di- 
 
222 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 visions whipped at every contact, and the fear of 
 God and the allies is in their hearts. 
 
 We cannot tell today what this battle may 
 bring forth, but it is even now a tremendous vic- 
 tory, and its possibilities in the pregnant days 
 that are pressing close fill our souls with a hope 
 so vast that its contemplation almost checks the 
 breath. We know from the evidence of these tri- 
 umphant weeks that the German military system 
 is not impregnable. We know that, man for man. 
 we are superior to them in every quality that 
 makes for victory. We know that German lead- 
 ership, however vaunted, is inferior to ours. And 
 we know that we have a cause that must win be- 
 cause it is right. The end is sure, and it may be 
 nearer than we dare to think. But, near or far. 
 it shall be. 
 
 Drive Them Out of France. 
 
 (September 4, 1918.) 
 
 The other day we expressed the doubt that the 
 Germans could stop their retreat at the Hinden- 
 burg line, and presented our reasons at some 
 length. The military experts at that time were 
 not inclined to concede the possibility that the 
 enemy could be forced beyond that formidable 
 system of intrenchments by the present move- 
 ments. But the events of each day are making it 
 more and more probable that the Hindenburg 
 line cannot now hold us back, and there is a 
 growing possibility, incredible as it would have 
 seemed a month ago, that the Germans will be 
 
IN THE FIGHT 223 
 
 driven out of Prance before winter puts a check 
 to military operations on a great scale. We 
 pointed out yesterday the significance of the al- 
 lied movements at the northern and southern 
 ends of the line. Yesterday the army officers in 
 Washington were calling attention to the impor- 
 tance of the same actions, saying, as the Globe- 
 Democrat had already said, that they were likely 
 to make the entire position of the Germans along 
 the Hindenburg line untenable. Last Saturday 
 Herbert Sidebotham, military observer of the 
 London Times, said: ''If we carry the Drocourt- 
 Queant switch, and there is no other behind it, 
 what it means is that Hindenburg is prepared to 
 retire his line, running generally from southeast 
 of the front at Lille to Valenciennes and to the 
 Meuse. That would be an amazing retreat! But 
 it is a bare possibility if all goes well. It would 
 make the present one the crisis of the war." 
 
 Since that was written all has "gone well,'* 
 very well, indeed. The Drocourt-Queant switch, 
 which is an extension of the Hindenburg line 
 proper, and is the key to its northern defenses- 
 has been smashed into "smithereens" in one of 
 the hardest battles of the war, the British pierc- 
 ing it on a seven-mile front and passing beyond 
 it some distance. If, as Sidebotham says, there is 
 no new intrenchment back of this — and there is 
 not likely to be any, for Germany has plainly felt 
 that this line was absolutely impregnable — then 
 the allies have before them a clear way to the 
 
224 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 Valenciennes-Meuse line, which is virtually the 
 frontier of France. Progress in this direction 
 would tend to compel the withdrawal of the Ger- 
 mans from their present positions both to the 
 north and to t(he south of the break, and their 
 disposition to give way all along the battle line 
 from Lens to Ypres indicates the weakening that 
 foreshadows retreat from the fields of Flanders. 
 Meanwhile, while the British and French are 
 pressing steadily toward the main reach of the 
 Hindenburg line, the French and American forces 
 are seriously threatening its disruption at its 
 southern extremity, thrusting out a lower jaw, so 
 to speak, in order to get the line between its 
 teeth and crush it from end to end. The break 
 here is still to be accomplished, and there will, no 
 doubt, be hard fighting before it is done, but the 
 steady progress of our forces against all the pow- 
 ers the Germans have been able to oppose to them 
 justifies the belief that we shall succeed here as 
 elsewhere. It begins to look very much as though 
 Gen. Foch is determined to drive the Germans 
 out of France this year if it is possible to do so. 
 and it begins to look possible. 
 
 Still, although our divisions were helping the 
 French and the British, it was known that the 
 main body of the Americans was relatively 
 inactive. 
 
 Big Work for Americans. 
 
 (September 5, 1918.) 
 
 Washington is not alone in wondering what is 
 being done, and what is to be done, with the 
 
IN THE FIGHT 225 
 
 American force in France. We have been told 
 that the first American Army has been organized 
 by Gen. Pershing and that over a million of our 
 men are now over there. How many of them are 
 trained to fighting standard and incorporated in 
 fighting divisions we do not know, nor do we 
 know how they are distributed. There are Amer- 
 icans with the British in Flanders, there is a unit 
 with Gen. Mangin doing glorious work on the 
 Juvigny plateau, there are Americans on the 
 Vesle, and a considerable number, no doubt, on 
 the Lorraine-Alsace sector. But still there is good 
 reason to believe that the great majority of our 
 soldiers are not in active service on the battle 
 front, and as their number is growing daily with 
 great rapidity the question of their disposition is 
 an interesting one. That disposition, of course, 
 is largely in the hands of Gen. Foch, and it is 
 possible, or even probable, that he is holding 
 them in reserve to hurl them into the fight in 
 support of the French or British troops wherever 
 and whenever they may be needed. 
 
 But we prefer to imagine that he is preparing 
 a great coup to be executed by means of this 
 fresh, virile, eager and powerful force that has 
 been placed in his hands. Somewhere upon the 
 line of war we hope to see the American Army go 
 into action as a body, under its own immediate 
 commanders, with the opportunity before it to 
 show how an American army can fight on the 
 prodigious scale that this contest requires. It 
 
226 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 may be, as some suggest, that our troops are to 
 be massed on the German border along the line of 
 Alsace-Lorraine, for a direct invasion of Germany 
 and an immediate attack upon the Rhine. We 
 can think of no position and no task more to our 
 liking than this. To lead the way into the land 
 of the kaiser would be a privilege and an honor. 
 One of his military experts said the other day 
 that if the enemy passed the Rhine Germany 
 would have to quit. Well, if Foch gives us a 
 chance we '11 pass it. America would like nothing 
 better than to "wind up the watch on the 
 Rhine," and we are sure that our boys now in- 
 trenched in the mountains of Alsace are looking 
 longingly to the east, where the spires of Strass- 
 burg beckon them. 
 
 We were soon to learn of the great work that 
 was even then in preparation for the American 
 Army. But in the meantime the allied armies 
 had reached the great objective, the Hindenburg 
 line. 
 
 At the Hindenburg Line. 
 
 (September 10, 1918.) 
 
 We are now very near, if we have not already 
 reached, the beginning of a new phase of the 
 great battle in France. Up to this time it has 
 been a continuous retreat on the part of the Ger- 
 mans from the farthest point of their offensive 
 advance back toward a definite objective, the 
 Hindenburg line, from which they began their 
 series of drives in March, and against which the 
 
IN THE FIGHT 227 
 
 allied armies battled in vain throughout the pre- 
 vious year. Now they are again behind that line 
 on almost the entire front, and the question be- 
 comes, Are they going to stay there or are they 
 to be forced to move on? It is a great question, 
 but the answer, we believe, rests in the hands of 
 Gen. Foch, not in the German high command. 
 That is to say, if Gen. Foch has decided that this 
 is the time to drive the Germans out of France — 
 and his declaration of "implacable pursuit' ' 
 seems to indicate that he has — then we take it 
 that the Germans will have to go, willy-nilly. 
 For Foch now has the advantage in every partic- 
 ular, and we have not the slightest doubt that he 
 will use every advantage in his possession to the 
 fullest in order to keep them going while the go- 
 ing is good. 
 
 But let us not imagine that the progress from 
 now on for a while will be plainly discernible on 
 the map. For several days the advance has been 
 slowing up, because we have been reaching the 
 German centers of resistance — the points where 
 they must stand and fight with the utmost des- 
 peration if they have any serious intention of 
 holding to a defensive position on the Hinden- 
 burg line. It may be that they have no such in- 
 tent. It may be, as the fire at La Fere would 
 seem to indicate, that they have given up hope of 
 maintaining a successful defense along that line 
 and will use it merely for a temporary shield to 
 check the progress of the allies while they are ef- 
 
228 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 fecting a withdrawal to, perhaps, the line of the 
 Meuse, which is at the edge of France. The 
 statement in the Berlin communique that "we 
 are now in our new positions" is no indication of 
 the plans of the general staff. Whether they in- 
 tend to move on or to attempt to stay, they would 
 in either case make some such announcement as 
 this. 
 
 But unquestionably they will make some sort 
 of a stand along these well-tried defenses, and we 
 must expect for a time hard fighting that may 
 show no appreciable results on the map. The se- 
 verest struggles are likely to center about Cam- 
 brai, St. Quentin and Laon. To the north the 
 British are already pressing toward Cambrai 
 through the breach in the Drocourt-Queant 
 switch, and further south are against the line 
 near St. Quentin. The French advance up the 
 Valley of the Oise is pressing the line below St. 
 Quentin, and Mangin and his Franco-American 
 troops are assaulting the heights and fastnesses 
 of St. Gobain, the shield of Laon and the strong- 
 est point in the German defensive. It would seem 
 that the time is near for the American Army to 
 be put into the fray at some point and in some 
 way to make it impossible for the Germans to 
 maintain their hold anywhere upon this front. 
 That is the surely winning card that Gen. Foch 
 holds in his hand. It may be that he will hold it 
 for later and even more decisive movements, if it 
 is not imperatively needed now, but the chances 
 
IN THE FIGHT 229 
 
 are that it will come into conspicuous action soon 
 and in a way to make Germany and the Germans 
 remember the event. 
 
 And now came the great offensive that had 
 been planned for an All-American Army under 
 the direct command of Gen. Pershing, the wiping 
 out of the St. Mihiel salient. 
 
 Our First Great Offensive. 
 
 (September 13, 1918.) 
 
 America has launched its first offensive in 
 force, and it has been launched, as we have hoped 
 it would be, at that part of the great battle line 
 where it all but touches the ravished lands or 
 France that Germany has held for nearly fifty 
 years, and which soon it must return to its right- 
 ful owners. Lorraine is only a few miles from 
 the heights of the Meuse, where we now are 
 fighting, and Lorraine, for the present, is Ger- 
 many, our objective. Once across the line we can 
 impress Germany and the Germans with the full 
 meaning of war. They do not yet know what 
 war is, as France knows, as Belgium knows, as 
 Italy knows. They have felt the terrible weight 
 of war's losses, but they have not seen war. It is 
 to be the privilege of America, we must assume, 
 to be the first to bring war home to them, to show 
 them what it is like, and to join with the French 
 and British in giving them a final object lesson 
 that will make them sick of war for at least a 
 century. 
 
230 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 But this is looking ahead. There is much to be 
 done before the border line is reached, and we 
 must not underestimate the difficulties of the in- 
 itial advance. It is not an attack in the open, 
 such as we have been fighting to the north during 
 these past two months. We are assaulting strong 
 intrenchments, and not until we force the Ger- 
 mans out of them can we make any progress that 
 can be shown upon the map. From Reims to Ver- 
 dun the battle line runs almost due east and west. 
 It circles around Verdun and runs to the south- 
 west about fifteen miles, then about the same dis- 
 tance to the southeast, then with a sharp turn at 
 St. Mihiel goes eastward some thirty miles or so 
 to the German border, which it parallels in its 
 trend to the southeast again. A roughly outlined 
 triangle is thus made, with its point at St. Mihiel 
 and its base a line drawn from Fresnes to Pont- 
 a-Mousson, on the Moselle. This is the St. Mihiel 
 salient, and here it is that the American forces 
 have attacked, with the French co-operating on 
 the right and on the left. 
 
 Plainly it is necessary to remove this salient 
 before any general invasion of Germany can be 
 undertaken, for its possession by the Germans 
 would enable them to make a flank counter stroke 
 that might be disastrous. And it is equally plain 
 that they will not abandon it without a struggle. 
 Its loss would be more than strategic. It would 
 effect the stability of their entire defense through 
 its influence upon their troops from Alsace to the 
 
IN THE FIGHT 231 
 
 sea and upon their people at home. They will do 
 their best to hold it, but Foch, we may be sure, 
 has not ordered this attack without the means 
 and the will to success. We do not know what 
 proportion of our army has been brought into ac- 
 tion, but we have reason to believe there are a 
 million Americans available for the movement 
 which it inaugurates, and more are on the wa}^, 
 not to speak of the French forces at hand. The 
 Germans can hardly spare any reserves from 
 their hard-pressed divisions on the Hindenburg 
 line, and virtually all, if not all, of their reserves 
 are massed there. They cannot hope to maintain 
 their present stand in the north if they throw 
 much support to their lines in the south that are 
 threatened by this new offensive, and to save 
 Lorraine from invasion they may be compelled to 
 withdraw at once from France. That may be 
 Foch 's primary purpose, or it may be a secondary 
 consideration. 
 
 At any rate, the offensive is on the edge of 
 Lorraine, and on the other edge of Lorraine is the 
 Rhine, with the great iron fields of Lorraine, 
 from which Germany is said to draw 90 per cent 
 of its supplies, lying between the border and the 
 river. We have a great task before us, but the 
 objectives, immediate or ultimate, are worthy of 
 our best efforts. It may be but coincidence, but 
 it is significant that this first great American at- 
 tack has begun at the very moment when mi!" 
 lions of Americans at home were enrolling them- 
 
232 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 selves for service. Let Germany tie the two entta 
 together and consider them. 
 
 The St. Mihiel salient vanished so quickly that 
 the world was amazed by the achievement. 
 
 Where Next? 
 
 (September 15, 1915.) 
 
 Having obliterated the formidable St. Mihiel 
 salient in twenty-four hours, and restored to 
 France some 250 square miles of territory, "a 
 larger area," says Herbert Sidebotham, military 
 critic of the London Times, "than such a brief 
 operation had ever before wrested from the en- 
 emy," the question at once arises, What are we 
 to do now? Evidently this remarkable achieve- 
 ment was hardly more than a bite for Pershing's 
 men, and if they are checked now, as for the mo- 
 ment we have no doubt they are, we can see them 
 straining at the leash, eager to be on. Before 
 them lies Germany, the lands beckoning. Even 
 the inhabitants, the most of them, are eager for 
 their coming, we may be confident, for the ma- 
 jority of the people of German Lorraine, as well 
 as of Alsace, are still French at heart, and there 
 will be no black looks of hatred cast upon our 
 boys by these expatriates when we cross the 
 border. 
 
 But do the conditions justify an invasion of 
 Germany at this time? That, of course, we can- 
 not know. It is for Gen. Foch to say what and 
 when and where, and he does not announce his 
 
IN THE FIGHT 233 
 
 movements. We can only wait and watch and 
 wonder. But whether we are experts of the mili- 
 tary schools or of the cross-roads grocery stores, 
 we are privileged to speculate and to conclude 
 sagely that this being thus and so, that may be 
 expected to eventuate, if something else doesn't 
 happen to alter the circumstances. This is the 
 way with all classes of military experts. They 
 find much virtue in an "if." Indeed, we doubt 
 if a war could be conducted without it. But just 
 at this moment it assumes tremendous propor- 
 tions. Everything, we may say, depends upon it. 
 No doubt its French equivalent has first place in 
 the vocabulary of Gen. Foch, and probably Gen. 
 Pershing's last thought at night is dominated by 
 it. Upon it depends, in fact, the further advance 
 of our troops and the direction they may take. 
 
 If, therefore, the moment has arrived for enter- 
 ing Germany, we shall enter. Metz lies directly 
 before us as we emerge triumphant from the St. 
 Mihiel salient, bringing the salient with us, and 
 Metz is said to be the strongest fortress in the 
 world. But Foch may think it wiser not to at- 
 tack it, but to compel its abandonment by envel- 
 opment, or yet to throw the American forces into 
 German Lorraine farther to the southeast beyond 
 the reach of the guns of Metz. He may, on the 
 other hand, prefer to let Lorraine alone for the 
 present and concentrate his efforts in that region 
 to the recapture of the LongwyBriey iron field, 
 so important to German arms. It seems to lie 
 
234 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 now within our grasp, although not to be taken 
 without hard fighting. At any rate, it seems en- 
 tirely reasonable to assume that, having proven 
 the quality of the American force, he will not let 
 it rest inactive, but will direct it soon, if not im- 
 mediately, into larger fields of service. We shall 
 see what we shall see, and whatever direction it 
 may be will be on the road to victory. 
 
 It was eleven days later that the great battle of 
 the Argonne commenced, our greatest battle in 
 this greatest of wars, and it was indeed the road 
 to victory, but we were to know little about what 
 was going on there for many weeks. We know 
 now that the Americans were forcing the Ger- 
 mans back in the most formidable region in 
 France and achieving victories that will fill histo- 
 ries in the future, materially aiding in the great 
 result of the combined attack of the allies all 
 along the line, forcing the general retreat of the 
 Germans in October. It was not until after the 
 war was over that the facts of this battle were 
 revealed, and the Globe-Democrat's comment at 
 that time is printed here in order to give it th.3 
 proper place in this chronology. It was in this 
 battle that the soldiers of Missouri and Kansas 
 covered themselves with imperishable glory. 
 
 America's Greatest Battle. 
 
 (November 19, 1918.) 
 
 After the lifting of the censorship the Assoc!" 
 ated Press has given us a brief description of 
 America's greatest battle, beginning at Argonne 
 on September 26, extending to the Meuse and 
 ending at Sedan just as the armistice went into 
 eftect, November 11. The Germans had admitted 
 
IN THE FIGHT 235 
 
 their defeat nine days before the end came, when 
 the Americans, by steady advances through thick 
 woods, broken ground, trackless, miry terrain, 
 exposed to merciless fire from hidden batteries, 
 had broken through the most gigantic and scien- 
 tific defenses that all the skill of the Germans 
 had been able to perfect in four years. The 
 achievement is without parallel in war, but its 
 importance did not arise from the seeming im- 
 pregnability of the positions from which the Ger- 
 mans were hurled. They were key positions and 
 the Germans brought to the defense all the re- 
 serves they had, giving the French and British at 
 other points an opportunity to make uninter- 
 rupted and rapid advance. The Germans could 
 not afford to lose the main railway artery and 
 the keystone of their defense. The Associated 
 Press description is necessarily general, and we 
 may expect books to be written about the fight- 
 ing when all the details are available from the 
 twenty-one divisions that participated. 
 
 All other American battles sink into compara" 
 tive insignificance in the matter of numbers en- 
 gaged. Grant and Meade had 150,000 men at the 
 battle of the Wilderness, the high mark of 
 strength of a single army in the civil war. But 
 Pershing had 750,000 men under his command in 
 the long battle ending at Sedan.' This was eight 
 times as many men as Meade had at Gettysburg. 
 Between September 26 and October 31 it is 
 known that at least thirty-six enemy divisions 
 
236 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 were opposed to our twenty-one. Fourteen fresh 
 German divisions were thrown in for five days' 
 fighting in November, but in vain. There was 
 the natural swerving of lines in battle contact, 
 but the Americans pressed inevitably forward, 
 never permanently losing an inch. Many green 
 troops were used, never before in actual warfare, 
 but they demeaned themselves as veterans. All 
 they did was against military odds and was the- 
 oretically impossible. But there was no such 
 word in Pershing's dictionary. Again have 
 Americans demonstrated that they are of the 
 finest fighting stock in the world. 
 
 While this was going on the French and Brit- 
 ish and Belgians were breaking up the German 
 defensives eastward clear to the Channel. 
 
 The Great Retreat. 
 
 (October 11, 1918.) 
 
 There is much reason to believe that the ex- 
 pected German general retreat has commenced. 
 For some weeks the advance of the allied armies 
 has been retarded by the intrenched and fortified 
 line that extends from the North Sea to the Vos- 
 ges. Until March 21 of this year the French and 
 British armies had been hammering at this line 
 for many months without making any serious inr 
 pression upon it except in the break by Qen. 
 Byng at Cambrai, which was quickly reclosed by 
 the German counter attack. Then came the se- 
 ries of German drives that put this defensive line 
 
IN THE FIGHT 237 
 
 far in the rear of the main battle front. The of- 
 fensive movement inaugurated by Gen. Foch on 
 July 18 turned the tide of their advance and they 
 were steadily pushed back in open warfare to 
 these redoubtable intrenchments. But just as 
 steadily as when in the open the great command- 
 er has persisted in his attacks upon this line, and 
 now it is broken in many places from Flanders to 
 Lorraine. The famed Hindenburg line is no long- 
 er a tenable defense, and the withdrawal of the 
 Germans from the entire front seems now to be 
 imperative, and in places is already under way in 
 broad and ever-widening sections. 
 
 The achievements of the past two days show 
 how rapidly the allies can progress where the 
 Hindenburg defenses have been passed and this 
 great obstacle removed. Once the Germans are 
 forced to loose their hold on this entire system 
 their retreat must become precipitate if they are 
 to save any considerable portion of their armies, 
 and there is much reason now to believe that 
 they will be forced back to their borders, and 
 perhaps beyond, before the winter sets in. Per- 
 haps beyond! Gen. Foch will not stop at an im~ 
 aginary line if he can go farther. The Meuse has 
 been considered the next rallying point of the 
 Germans, but Pershing's men are now advancing 
 up the east bank of that historic stream, which is 
 the wrong side of it for German comfort and 
 safety. With other Americans smashing the 
 Kriemhilde line west of the Meuse and the French 
 
238 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 turning the point of the Argonne forest, the bor- 
 dering stream is not as attractive as a halting 
 place as it seemed to be a short time ago. The 
 Germans in their backward rush may not be able 
 to calm their legs with the mere contact of Ger- 
 man soil. We are inclined to think that, weathei 
 permitting, the services will go on. When Gen. 
 Foch laid down the rule of "implacable pursuit' ' 
 he meant just that. Implacable is a long word 
 and full of stern meaning. 
 
 The Moving Finger. 
 
 (October 18, 1918.) 
 
 The allied armies are writing the valedictory 
 of German military power. They have now 
 reached the peroration and are packing it full of 
 short, incisive, emphatic sentences that end with 
 exclamation points. Lille was one of these, a sen- 
 tence which in a single word contains subject, 
 predicate and object, a word which in itself is an 
 oration — Lille, each of whose consonants is at 
 once a cry of victory and of condemnation. Cou- 
 trai is another, and still another is Grand Pre — 
 Grand Pre, which recalls pleasant recollections 
 of Evangeline, but which is another and older 
 Grand Pre, about which the American soldiers 
 have been writing a new poem, rhythmed with 
 machine guns, punctuated with rifles and rhymed 
 with cannon. There is an eloquence in these 
 crisp sentences of doom that thrills the heart of 
 Americans, of British, of French, of Italians, of 
 every man of whatsoever race who hates the 
 
IN THE FIGHT 239 
 
 power that has caused all of the anguish of the 
 last four years. Across the fields and through 
 the woods and vales of Northern France, across 
 the green flats of enslaved Belgium, the allied 
 hosts are pressing swiftly and resistlessly, and 
 one cannot help recalling, with Conan Doyle, the 
 lines that stirred us Americans half a century 
 ago, and that vibrate now wi:": a newer and more 
 resonant power: 
 
 "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of 
 
 the Lord; 
 He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes 
 
 of wrath are stored ; 
 He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible 
 
 swift sword, 
 His truth is marching on." 
 
 The events of today, the events of every day 
 in these weeks when the new world's accouche- 
 ment is nearing its delivery, have a rhetoric far 
 beyond the power of any verbal phrasing. Little 
 we thought, three months ago, that before the 
 leaves should fall such almost forgotten names 
 as Bruges and Ghent and Valenciennes and Metz 
 would be in our mouths ; little we thought that in 
 so short a time as this we would be considering 
 the possibility of the German Army's escape from 
 complete destruction. In three brief months the 
 might that through four bloody years threatened 
 to overwhelm civilization has been reduced to 
 comparative impotency, and the great and terri- 
 ble system that it had built up through two score 
 years of painstaking effort has been shattered to 
 
240 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 its very foundations. It is not merely the unex- 
 pected that has happened; it is the utterly in" 
 credible. Each day is writing its miracle in the 
 amazing record of impossibilities achieved. Each 
 day the hosts move on to new accomplishments 
 undreamed of when the Huns were assaulting the 
 Marne, where the Attila of another day found the 
 beginning of his end. On that memorable morn- 
 ing in July when the German flood was at its 
 height and seemed to be sweeping all humanity 
 before it, a hand was uplifted, and slowly, angrily 
 the tide receded, never to rise again. The finish 
 of the great tragedy is swiftly approaching. The 
 ink is in the pen for the final word. No human 
 power can stay the inevitable course of these 
 events that are now writing their staccato 
 phrases on human history. Right is triumphant. 
 1 ' His truth is marching on ! " 
 
 The end was indeed at hand, and only a few 
 short weeks were to intervene before it came, but 
 we shall reserve the finish for the final page of 
 the process of peace negotiation. 
 
VI. 
 THE ROAD TO PEACE. 
 
 The movement for peace, the movement which 
 ultimately brought peace, began more than a year 
 before America entered the war, and it began in 
 the United States. In December, 1916, President 
 "Wilson, acting as the head of a friendly neutral 
 state, took the initiative, and he maintained the 
 initiative and the leadership in the approach to 
 peace until it was reached. His address to the 
 contending powers, dated December 18, 1916, sug- 
 gested that "an early occasion be sought to call 
 out from all the nations now at war such an avow- 
 al of their respective views as to the terms upon 
 which the war might be concluded and the ar- 
 rangements which would be deemed satisfactory 
 as a' guaranty against its renewal or the kindling 
 of any similar conflict in the future as would 
 make it possible frankly to compare them. ,, "It 
 may be," he said, in concluding this address, 
 "that an interchange of views would clear the 
 way at least for conference and make the perma- 
 nent concord of the nations a hope of the imme- 
 diate future, a concert of nations immediately 
 practicable." In reply to this the central powers 
 merely expressed a willingness to meet their an- 
 tagonists in conference to discuss terms of peace. 
 The entente powers answered in some detail, in- 
 dicating the essential conditions of a satisfactory 
 settlement and saying that "they (the entente al- 
 lies) associate themselves with all their hopes 
 with the project for the creation of a league of 
 nations to insure peace and justice throughout the 
 world." After the receipt of these replies Presi- 
 dent Wilson addressed the Senate on the subject 
 of peace, in which he said that "in every discus- 
 
 241 
 
242 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 sion of the peace that must end this war it is 
 taken for granted that peace must be followed by 
 seme definite concert of power which will make it 
 virtually impossible that any such catastrophe 
 should ever overwhelm us again." This, indeed, 
 was the theme of his speech to the Senate, and it 
 became the primary consideration in his discus- 
 sions and negotiations thereafter. With this idea 
 the Globe-Democrat was in accord, had been from 
 its first conception, and in commenting on the 
 president 's speech it said : 
 
 No greater thing is possible or conceivable than 
 a league of the nations of the world li which will 
 make it virtually impossible that any such catas- 
 trophe should ever overwhelm us again. ' ' Such a 
 concert is, indeed, a departure from the tradi- 
 tional policy of this government, but it is a de- 
 parture that is not only warranted but compelled 
 by the constantly increasing inter-relationships oE 
 the countries of the world — relationships that in- 
 clude ourselves and which we cannot avoid, how- 
 ever reluctant we may be to accept them. Truly, 
 as the president says /'there is no entangling al- 
 liance" in such a concert of power. "When all 
 unite to act in the same sense and with the same 
 purpose, all act in the common interest and are 
 free to live their own lives under a common pro- 
 tection." The idea of a Monroe doctrine for the 
 world is novel only in the application of a term 
 which we consider peculiar and sacred to our- 
 selves, but it is a happy presentation of the fun- 
 damental theory of the proposed league in a form 
 more acceptable perhaps to the American mind. 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 243 
 
 All this is by way of introduction to the begin- 
 ning of the movement for peace by the United 
 States as a belligerent. It was a year later, Janu- 
 ary 8, 1918, that President Wilson delivered the 
 address to the joint session of Congress on the 
 war aims and peace terms of the United States, in 
 which he laid down the fourteen principles upon 
 which were to be founded the armistice conclud- 
 ing the war and the general conditions of the final 
 peace. A few days previously, however, Lloyd 
 George, the British premier, had spoken on the 
 subject of peace, upon which the Globe-Democrat 
 commented as follows : 
 
 The Three Essentials. 
 
 (January 8, 1918.) 
 
 "Three conditions must be fulfilled," said 
 Lloyd George, in his discussion of peace terms 
 Saturday. "Firstly, the sanctity of treaties must 
 be re-established; secondly, territorial settlement 
 must be based on the right of self-determination 
 or the consent of the governed; lastly, the crea- 
 tion of an international organization to limit arm- 
 aments and diminish the probability of war. ' ' In 
 general this is in agreement with the attitude of 
 the American Government, as expressed by Pres- 
 ident Wilson, and it is to be presumed that it has 
 the approval of France and Italy. The details of 
 the terms of peace outlined by the British premier 
 may be objected to by some as going too far and 
 by others as not going far enough, but on the 
 three principles here expressed there can hardly 
 be any differences of opinion. The first is rightly 
 placed in order of importance. It is the funda- 
 mental of fundamentals. No honorable peace can 
 
244 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 be established until the sanctity of treaties as 
 the basis of international relations has been re- 
 stored. Unless we can depend upon the observ- 
 ance of the treaty of peace that is to be made, 
 unless we can feel reasonably sure that all trea- 
 ties are again to be valid and respected obliga- 
 tions of the governments making them, we would 
 add but another " scrap of paper" to the archives 
 of wicked diplomacy. The moral perversion of a 
 single government has brought the world to this 
 pass. We must see to it that such degeneracy 
 cannot be permitted to sink mankind into another 
 abyss. 
 
 In the discussion of details we are likely to for- 
 get that this must come first. And in forgetting 
 this we are likely to give approving considera- 
 tion to terms acceptable in themselves but ut- 
 terly worthless unless this fundamental is first 
 established. But when it is established, when the 
 rest of the world is assured that a German treaty 
 is a bond that can be trusted to endure, we can 
 proceed with the arrangement of details upon 
 broad lines of justice and humanity. America 
 has no material interests in the questions of ter- 
 ritorial settlement. Whatever terms are agreed 
 upon we shall gain not a foot of land nor extend 
 in the least the scope of our political domination. 
 But we are profoundly concerned in the welfare 
 of the peoples who are involved in this war and 
 shall insist upon justice being done, and upon 
 the full recognition of the rights of men to selC- 
 government. 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 245 
 
 But not even a satisfactory settlement of tlie 
 many and complicated questions growing out of 
 the conflict, not even the restoration of faith in 
 international promises, will be sufficient. We can- 
 not return to the old system of every nation for 
 itself. This war has taught us, as no other ex- 
 perience could have taught, that the nations must 
 unite to maintain the peace of the world. Inter- 
 nationality must be made a concrete thing. There 
 must be not only a law of nations, but a power to 
 enforce the law, a power higher and mightier 
 than that of any individual nation. The govern- 
 ments of the world must come to an understand- 
 ing, and resolve once for all that wars of aggres- 
 sion shall not again be permitted. When this is 
 done earth may compose itself for a lasting peace. 
 
 In the discussion of President Wilson's address 
 the Globe-Democrat said: 
 
 Our Terms of Peace. 
 
 (January 9, 1918.) 
 
 The president's address to Congress yesterday 
 puts the United States in full accord with the 
 terms of peace presented by Lloyd George in his 
 speech of Saturday, and, it is plain, with the 
 position of France and Italy. " There is no con- 
 fusion of counsel among the adversaries of the 
 central powers," said Mr. Wilson, "no uncer- 
 tainty of principle, no vagueness of detail." And 
 truly there is no lack of definitene/ss in these ut- 
 lerances of the American president and the Brit- 
 
246 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 ish premier. Germany has asked her enemies to 
 state their objects. They have been stated. The 
 Teutonic powers know now exactly the conditions 
 upon which peace will be considered, and they 
 are not the conditions of a single nation, but of 
 all. ''We cannot be separated in interest or 
 divided in purpose," says the president. "We 
 stand together until the end." This is a declara- 
 tion of unity and of determination that cannot 
 but have weight upon the counsels of Germany. 
 It means exactly what it says, and it must now 
 begin to filtrate into the obstinate minds of our 
 opponents that their cause is doomed, and to pro- 
 long the struggle is merely to postpone the in- 
 evitable end and needlessly to increase the blood- 
 shed and the economic loss. 
 
 But while the president is in general accord 
 with the address of Lloyd George he goes farther 
 than ihe premier along certain lines. He gives 
 particular attention to the Russian situation, de- 
 clines to take the position that Russia has for- 
 feited the right to assistance, and demands "the 
 evacuation of all Russian territory and such a 
 settlement of all questions affecting Russia as 
 will secure the best and freest co-operation of 
 the other nations of the world in obtaining for her 
 an unhampered and unembarrassed opportunity 
 for the independent determination of her own po- 
 litical development and national policy, and as- 
 sure her of a sincere welcome into the society of 
 free nations under institutions of her own choos- 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 247 
 
 nig." This is at once admirable generosity, real 
 democracy and splendid diplomacy. Such an 
 utterance as this, supported as it must be by the 
 allies, should bring Russia to a better understand- 
 ing not only of its relations to the world but of 
 its duty to itself. It should bring flame to the 
 embering heart of that unhappy and misguided 
 land and prevent the making of a separate peace 
 that would be fatal to its independence. 
 
 Another demand of the president's not con- 
 tained in the reports of the address of the pre- 
 mier is the first one presented by him, a demand 
 that calls for a revolutionary change in the meth- 
 ods of establishing international relations. It re- 
 quires "open covenants of peace, openly arrived 
 at, after which there shall be no private interna- 
 tional understandings of any kind, but diplomacy 
 shall proceed always frankly and in the public 
 view." That is to say, there shall be no more 
 secret treaties, no more private combinations be- 
 tween nations for the undoing of other nations, 
 but that all agreements shall be public. When 
 we think what secret diplomacy has done to bring 
 woe to humanity, how much of anguish has come 
 from diplomatic whisperings behind curtains, 
 such a demand seems to mark a long step toward 
 the millennium. And it is eminently fitting that 
 the United States, which has always condemned 
 secret treaties, should make this condition. 
 
 The details of territorial adjustment are po- 
 litically of less concern to us than the establish- 
 ment of general principles for a permanent peace \ 
 
248 TJIE WORLD WAR 
 
 and the fixing of the rights of self-government, 
 but American sympathies are generally in line 
 with the terms laid down by the president and 
 the premier. There are no differences of opinion 
 as to the full restoration of Belgium. That is a 
 sine qua non. The feeling as to Alsace-Lorraine 
 is not so unanimous, but a large majority of 
 Americans will insist upon the righting of the 
 wrong of 1871. A large majority, too, would like 
 to see Turkey entirely removed from Europe, but 
 that is hardly consistent with the principles we 
 have formulated for the treatment of nations. To 
 consider all the terms in detail is beyond the 
 limits of editorial comment, but these we have 
 discussed are the striking features of the presi- 
 dent's statement of aims. Through them all, as 
 he says, runs an evident principle. "It is the 
 principle of justice to all peoples and nationalities 
 and their right to live on equal terms of liberty 
 and safety with one another, whether they be 
 strong or weak." That is a principle that Amer- 
 ica is ready to fight for and die for. The terms 
 of peace are before Germany, before the world. 
 Let us hope that they will be accepted soon, as 
 they surely will be ultimately. 
 
 The broad and humane ideas of the president 
 and the premier made no impression at that time 
 upon the German Government. 
 
 Germany Defies the World. 
 
 (January 26, 1918.) 
 
 Chancellor von Hertling's reply to the peace 
 suggestions of Premier Lloyd George and Presi- 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 249 
 
 dent Wilson constitutes a German defiance of the 
 world. There is a qualified indorsement of gener- 
 alities susceptible of almost any construction 
 when put into concrete form, but the speech as 
 a whole is that of a victor who sees the fruits of 
 war within his grasp. It is a far cry from the 
 sentiments the chancellor pretended to hold when 
 he accepted his place. Bluntly summarized, the 
 chancellor's position is that Germany will settle 
 the Russian question with Russia alone, the 
 Northern France problem with France alone, will 
 not even talk about undoing the wrong of Alsace- 
 Lorraine in 1871, will do what it and Austria- 
 Hungary pleases about Poland, will leave the 
 Italian boundary question to Italy and Austria- 
 Hungary, will leave the internal affairs of Aus- 
 tria-Hungary and the matter of evacuating Serbia 
 and Montenegro to Austria-Hungary, except as 
 German interests are affected, and will assert a 
 vital German interest in "the integrity of Tur- 
 key and the safety of her capital. ' ' The apparent 
 concession as to Belgium is neutralized by the 
 language, in light of experiments at " self -deter- 
 mination" of the Flemish population, in the Ger- 
 man style. The colonial question is dismissed as 
 difficult. The misrepresentations as to the cause 
 of war, the distorting of the facts about Alsace- 
 Lorraine, the demands that England shall dis- 
 mantle all fortifications on international sailing 
 routes and the refusal to discuss a league to en- 
 force peace until Germany has got what it wants 
 out of this war, will doubtless please the Pan- 
 
250 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 Germanists, whose man Yon Hertling is now 
 clearly shown to be, in spite of the systematic de- 
 ception practiced since November 1. 
 
 A careful study of the simultaneous address of 
 Count Czernin, the Austrian premier, reveals that 
 it differs chiefly in form and courtesy from that 
 of the German chancellor. He waives certain 
 claims of Austria-Hungary, while defending those 
 of Germany. He even asks for "an exchange of 
 views" between the United States and Austria- 
 Hungary, while at the same time insulting the 
 intelligence of the world in his misrepresentation 
 of past and present conditions in the dual mon- 
 archy. Nobody can find the faintest glimmer of 
 hope in the German chancellor's reply. Only the 
 most optimistic can see any in the reply of the 
 Austrian premier. 
 
 In reply to these declarations of the central 
 powers President Wilson made another address 
 to Congress on February 11. 
 
 The President's Speech. 
 
 (February 12, 1918.) 
 
 The keynote of the president's latest peace 
 speech is that the only possible end of a world 
 war is through a real world peace, and such peace 
 must be based on the right of self-government by 
 populations rather than on schemes for maintain- 
 ing the balance of power. His most striking an- 
 nouncement concerning this phase of peace nego- 
 tiations is in the sweeping statement: "All the 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 251 
 
 parties to this war must join in the settlement of 
 every issue anywhere involved in it, because what 
 we are seeking is a peace that we can all unite to 
 guarantee and maintain, and every item of it must 
 be submitted to the common judgment whether 
 it be right or fair, an act of justice rather than 
 a bargain between sovereigns." 
 
 This is in direct conflict with the entire sub- 
 stance of Chancellor von Hertling's recent peace 
 deliverance, whose incompatibility with the 
 Reichstag resolutions of July Mr. Wilson suc- 
 cinctly states. The president argues that a peace 
 of shreds of patches, made separately, in corners, 
 by various belligerents, could not endure. The 
 evils of this sort of map making are illustrated 
 by the Congress of Vienna. It was a division of 
 spoils by the large powers, without regard for 
 ''principles of right and justice." The wishes 
 and rights of peoples of provinces and petty 
 states were entirely ignored. Mr. Wilson insists 
 on "a new international order, based upon broad 
 and universal principles of right and justice," 
 under which "self-determination is not a mere 
 phrase. ' ' 
 
 The president's broad stand is an answer to 
 Count Czernin's suggestion that Austria-Hungary 
 negotiate separately with the United States, while 
 still supporting its ally. So long as the German 
 party that dictated the chancellor's speech is in 
 the ascendant, the only course left to the United 
 States and its associates is to use all their re- 
 sources until the dominant party of Germany is 
 
252 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 brought to the position of the rest of the world as 
 to the basis of enduring peace and the manner in 
 which neighboring nations, both large and small, 
 shall treat each other in the future. Speaking of 
 the establishment of "tolerable conditions of ex- 
 istence and development," the president spoke for 
 America when he said: "Having set our hand to 
 the task of achieving it, we shall not turn back." 
 
 On the Fourth of July President Wilson made 
 a speech at Mount Vernon in which he again laid 
 down general principles which were to become 
 a determining factor in the approach to peace. 
 
 Wilson at Mount Vernon. 
 
 (July 5, 1918.) 
 
 Germany can derive no comfort from the words 
 spoken by President Wilson at Mount Vernon 
 yesterday. There is in them no sign of weakening, 
 no suggestion of a peace that is not based upon a 
 victory for righteousness. On the contrary, he 
 declares again, and with emphasis, that there can 
 be but one end to this war. "There can be no 
 compromise," he says. "No half-way decision 
 would be tolerable. No half-way decision is con- 
 ceivable." And in this he unquestionably ex- 
 presses the spirit and determination of the Amer- 
 ican people. We are at war for the maintenance 
 of a principle whose preservation is essential to 
 our being. It is not a war of convenience; it is 
 not a war for the settlement of diplomatic dis- 
 putes ; it is not a war over territories or bounda- 
 ries; it is not a war on our part of aggrandize- 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 253 
 
 ment or even, essentially, of vengeance. It is a 
 struggle a l'outrance between might and right, be- 
 tween despotism and freedom. "The past and the 
 present are in deadly grapple/' says the presi- 
 dent, "and the peoples of the world are being 
 done to death between them." In a contest so 
 tremendous, so momentous, so vital, there can be 
 no consideration of a settlement that does not 
 fully accomplish the purposes for which we fight. 
 President Wilson has given a different but not 
 a new expression of these purposes in four brief 
 paragraphs which demand the destruction of ar- 
 bitrary power or its reduction to virtual impo- 
 tence, the settlement of all questions "upon the 
 basis of the free acceptance of that settlement by 
 the people immediately concerned," the consent 
 of all nations to be governed in their conduct to- 
 ward one another upon the principles of honor 
 and of respect for the common law of civilized 
 society that apply to individuals, and the estab- 
 lishment of an international organization for the 
 maintenance of peace. "What we seek," he says, 
 in summarizing these aims, "is the reign of law, 
 based upon the consent of the governed, and sus- 
 tained by the organized opinion of mankind." In 
 other words, we seek to apply the principles of 
 the Declaration of Independence to all peoples, 
 and having entered this war to that end we shall 
 not stop until the nations of the world are free 
 to apply them. 
 
 On the 27th of September President Wilson 
 made a speech in New York which became an- 
 
254 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 other marker in the road to peace now fast ap- 
 proaching as a result of the continuous defeat of 
 the German armies and the general discourage- 
 ment of the German people. 
 
 Foundation of Permanent Peace. 
 
 (September 29, 1918.) 
 
 The League of Nations is the core of President 
 Wilson's speech in New York, and he emphasizes 
 the necessity of its organization in stronger terms 
 than he has heretofore used. It has become in his 
 mind the one essential means to the triumph of 
 the primary issue of the war, the one thing by 
 which and through which justice can be done and 
 a permanent peace established. He takes the po- 
 sition that justice must be done, to enemies as 
 well as to friends, if the peace of the future is to 
 be made enduring, and that Germany must be a 
 party to the league if its purposes and the pur- 
 poses of the war are to be made permanently ef- 
 fective. He appeals to the nations opposed to the 
 central powers, and particularly to the statesmen 
 of these nations, to get together on the common 
 ground of impartial justice; to come to a defi- 
 nite understanding among themselves as to the 
 fundamental requirements of peace — the spiritual 
 requirements, we may term them; and to make 
 these requirements known to the world in order 
 that both friends and enemies may know what we 
 are fighting for and what we purpose to have. 
 
 "If it be in deed and in truth," he says, "the 
 common object of the governments associated 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 255 
 
 against Germany and of the nations whom they 
 govern, as I believe it to be, to achieve by the 
 coming settlements a secure and lasting peace, it 
 will be necessary that all who sit down at the 
 peace table shall come ready and willing to pay 
 the price, the only price, that will procure it ; and 
 ready and willing, also, to create in some virile 
 fashion the only instrumentality by which it can 
 be made certain that the agreements of the peace 
 will be honored and fulfilled. That price is im- 
 partial justice in every item of the settlement, no 
 matter whose interest is crossed; and not only 
 impartial justice, but also the satisfaction of the 
 several peoples whose fortunes are dealt with. 
 That indispensable instrumentality is a league of 
 nations formed under covenants that will be effi- 
 cacious. Without such an instrumentality, by 
 which the peace of the world can be guaranteed, 
 peace will rest in part upon the word of outlaws 
 and only upon that word." 
 
 He does not say so in actual words, but he 
 makes it quite plain that he considers Germany's 
 association in the League of Nations an essential 
 requirement, and he says definitely that the crea- 
 tion of the league should be a part of the peace 
 settlement, "the most essential part." If formed 
 now, he says, "it would be merely a new alliance 
 confined to nations associated against a common 
 enemy." He does not think it could be formed 
 after the settlement, because then it would be left 
 to the voluntary action of the enemy govern- 
 ments. His position, as we understand it, is that 
 
256 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 they must be taken into the league because their 
 promises cannot be relied upon and that the rela- 
 tions and powers of the league will be necessary 
 to make the agreement of the peace table binding. 
 But more than that, we think he means that we 
 are inaugurating a new era for humanity, and if 
 that is to be an improvement on the old one, it 
 must be founded upon principles of justice and 
 equity that apply alike to all peoples. "The im- 
 partial justice meted out," he says, "must involve 
 no discrimination between those to whom we wish 
 to be just and those to whom we do not wish to 
 be just." This is a fine distinction, too fine we 
 fear for the generality of mankind, but it is a 
 distinction of broad statesmanship and enlight- 
 ened humanity. 
 
 As to the inclusion of Germany in the League 
 of Nations, the Globe-Democrat expressed its 
 opinion positively on this point three months ago 
 when we said that "we shall find it necessary to 
 take Germany into the league in order to estab- 
 lish a firm foundation for permanent peace, and 
 a chastened Germany will find it just as neces- 
 sary for her to enter it." 
 
 The Requirements of Justice. 
 
 (October 2, 1918.) 
 
 Since President Wilson made his speech at New 
 York, Friday night, much has happened to give 
 added importance to that remarkable utterance. 
 The events of the last four days have made long 
 strides toward the end of the war and that peace 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 257 
 
 which was the theme of his address. As we near 
 peace the nature of the peace becomes a ques- 
 tion of larger and larger proportions, and the 
 president's words assume greater and graver sig- 
 nificance as the moment of their application ap- 
 proaches the horizon of the new dawn. It is the 
 rule of Mr. Wilson to confine himself, in his 
 speeches, to the single point or issue that he 
 wishes to present. His purpose, in his speech of 
 Friday night, was to assert the principles upon 
 which alone a permanent peace can be established 
 and to point to the instrumentality by which 
 alone it can be made enduring. In doing this he 
 chose to ignore all the material details which he 
 has heretofore outlined as essential preliminaries 
 to the final abandonment of arms in this strug- 
 gle. We do not understand, nor do we believe, 
 that by this silence he meant to intimate any re- 
 linquishment or modification of these material 
 requirements. He was dealing with principles, 
 not with terms, and he desired to center the na- 
 tion's thought, and the world's thought, on the 
 one fundamental question that he presented. 
 
 Mr. Balfour, British foreign secretary, in his 
 speech of Monday, supporting the president's po- 
 sition on the necessity of a league of nations and 
 of its establishment as a part of the final peace 
 agreement, said that "the wrongs of subordinated 
 peoples must be righted, and territories occupied 
 by Germany since the beginning of the war must 
 have complete freedom before a league of nations 
 can be possible and peace secured to the world." 
 
258 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 With this, we are sure, America is unanimously 
 in accord. President Wilson would not delete one 
 syllable of that declaration. The essential prin- 
 ciple that he asserted was justice, and justice, 
 impartial justice, demands restoration and repa- 
 ration more inexorably than vengeance. The re- 
 quirements of justice must be filled to the last 
 pennyweight of the balance, but the scales must 
 be held by righteousness. That, however, is but 
 the preliminary to the peace Mr. Wilson would 
 see established, the enduring peace which he 
 rightly asserts is the supreme purpose of the war. 
 No peace can be made truly permanent unless it 
 is founded upon justice and maintained by jus- 
 tice, and that is the elemental and incontroverti- 
 ble fact that the president would impress upon 
 the peoples of the world. 
 
 And now momentous events followed in quick 
 succession. On the 1st of October a cabinet crisis 
 was reported from Berlin and on the 3d came the 
 announcement that Prince Max of Baden had 
 been created German chancellor. On the 6th the 
 new chancellor addressed a note to President Wil- 
 son requesting "the immediate conclusion of an 
 armistice," and declaring that the German Gov- 
 ernment "accepts the\ program set forth by the 
 president of the United States in his message to 
 Congress of January 8 and his later pronounce- 
 ments, especially his speech of September 27, as 
 a basis of negotiation." 
 
 But One Way to Peace. 
 
 (October 7, 1918.) 
 
 The central powers may vainly imagine that 
 the world would be glad to have peace at any 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 259 
 
 price. They may imagine that the civilized world 
 is as sick of war as are the Teutonic peoples who 
 forced this conflict upon peace-loving nations. 
 But if so they little understand the feeling their 
 acts have inspired. If they had entered into a 
 war for reasons that had even the appearance of 
 right, and if they had conducted the war in ac- 
 cordance with the rules and usages common to en- 
 lightened mankind, there would now be little dif- 
 ficulty in coming to terms upon the customary 
 basis of mutual concession. But the enemies of 
 the central powers, of Germany in particular, are 
 profoundly convinced that it would be utter folly 
 to permit such an ending to this war. Ending 
 the war is, in fact, a secondary matter, a mere 
 incident in the achievement of the great purpose 
 which has become the fundamental issue of the 
 struggle. The war will end when that purpose is 
 accomplished, and no proposals of peace will be 
 accepted until that termination is reached. The 
 allies of righteousness cannot cease to fight until 
 they have established such a foundation for per- 
 manent peace that the nations of the world may 
 feel sure that hereafter their safety or their ex- 
 istence may not again be imperiled by the wanton 
 encroachments of despotic power. 
 
 It is useless for the central powers to talk of 
 peace while their talons still clutch the lands 
 which they have grasped. It is useless for them 
 to talk of peace while they still hold the people 
 of the countries they have overrun in enslave- 
 ment. It is useless for them to talk of peace while 
 
260 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 the irresponsible powers that caused this war are 
 still in absolute and unrestrained control, and the 
 system which is the instrumentality of their might 
 remains unfettered. The rulers of Germany and 
 Austria might as well understand at once that 
 they have ceased to be free agents in the determi- 
 nation of their destinies. The judgment of man- 
 kind is upon them, and its condemnation is based 
 upon righteousness as well as upon self-preserva- 
 tion. The consequences of their brutal assault 
 upon civilization rise ominously before them. 
 They cannot fail to see that the end is drawing 
 nigh, and they would seek by every trick of rhet- 
 oric and diplomacy to avoid the penalties which 
 an even-handed justice demands. But they can- 
 not escape. The world in opposition to them is 
 united in the firm determination to make this 
 decision decisive. It wants the war to end as 
 quickly as possible, but it does not want an end- 
 ing and will not accept an ending until it has at- 
 tained the supreme thing for which it is fighting. 
 When Germany is prepared to cleanse itself with- 
 in, to start a new national life under conditions 
 that make it a safe neighbor, a safe member of 
 the family of nations, when it is ready to lay 
 down its arms and submit to the judgment of the 
 common interests of mankind, then, and then 
 only, will peace be possible. And that will be 
 such a peace that the Germans of future ages will 
 celebrate its day as the beginning of their real 
 greatness. 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 261 
 
 In reply to the proposal of the German chan- 
 cellor, President Wilson, on October 8, dispatched 
 a brief note to the German Government in which 
 he made three searching inquiries. This was the 
 most severely criticised of all of Mr. Wilson's war 
 papers, but the Globe-Democrat, believing it un- 
 derstood his purposes, warmly approved it. 
 
 An Interrogative Answer. 
 
 (October 9, 1918.) 
 
 President Wilson has again shown his origi- 
 nality as well as his adroitness in the fine art of* 
 diplomatic communication. Spurning the stilted 
 forms that have for centuries ruled official inter- 
 course between nations, while observing its cour- 
 tesies with meticulous care, he uses language to 
 express thought — something rare in international 
 exchanges — and surprises his high correspondents 
 with the utterly unexpected. His reply to the 
 Austro-Hungarian peace note of last month was 
 a sharp and incisive refusal to consider the sug- 
 gestion. His answer to the German proposal is 
 no longer, but the manner of attack — and it is 
 attack — is entirely different. It is, in effect, a 
 questionnaire for the chancellor and the kaiser, 
 and all the rest of the crew that compose the Ger- 
 man Government. The German chancellor pro- 
 posed the opening of negotiations for peace upon 
 the "basis" of President Wilson's "pronounce- 
 ments." Mr. Wilson suavely inquires if it is to 
 be understood that the conditions of these pro- 
 nouncements are to be considered as accepted by 
 the German Government, and the object of the 
 
262 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 discussion to be " only to agree upon the practical 
 details of their application. ' ' The president would 
 also like to know whether the central powers are 
 prepared to withdraw their forces from all in- 
 vaded territority as a necessary preliminary to 
 any discussion, and whether the imperial chan- 
 cellor in making this proposal is speaking "mere- 
 ly for the constituted authorities of the empire 
 who have so far conducted this war." 
 
 In this interrogative way the president places 
 the responsibility of action upon the German 
 powers. They cannot pretend that their proposal 
 has been flouted or that it has been denied con- 
 sideration. The great question of peace, which 
 they so much desire, is placed before them fo* 
 their own solution. They must answer these 
 questions or remain silent. Are they prepared to 
 accept the president 's conditions presented in his 
 various public utterances of this year? Are they 
 prepared to withdraw their armies from the soil 
 of Belgium, France, Serbia, Italy, and any other 
 land that is not theirs by recognized right, before 
 discussing the application of these conditions? 
 Do they speak in the name of the German peo- 
 ple, and not for the responsible authors of this 
 war? He gives them plainly to understand that 
 an affirmative answer to all of these questions 
 must precede the serious consideration of peace. 
 Yet they will find it very hard to give a cate- 
 gorical answer to any of them without involving 
 themselves in difficulty with their own people; 
 and silence will be equally dangerous. The presi- 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 263 
 
 dent's interrogative has the additional virtue that 
 it cannot possibly run counter to the desires of 
 our associates in this war. They must approve 
 it, all America must approve it, and the central 
 powers will have to approve it or go on fighting. 
 
 Purpose of the President's Note. 
 
 (October 10, 1918.) 
 
 It would help to a better understanding of the 
 president's note to the German chancellor if the 
 people would realize that it is not specifically a 
 reply to the peace proposal and does not pretend 
 to be. "Before making a reply to the request of 
 the Imperial German Government, ' ' says the pres- 
 ident, "and in order that the reply shall be as 
 candid and straightforward as the momentous in- 
 terests involved require, the president of the 
 United States deems it necessary to assure him- 
 self of the exact meaning of the note of the im- 
 perial chancellor." The president then presents 
 three questions — the second point being as surely 
 a question as the first and third, although not in 
 interrogative form — which are designed to com- 
 pel the German Government to reveal its true po- 
 sition. If it answers these questions, then, we 
 may assume, a real reply will be given, suited to 
 the nature of the answers, and that reply, we are 
 inclined to think, will be definite arid final. The 
 brevity of this note, and of the recent answer to 
 the Austro-Hungarian suggestion, is evidence that 
 he does not contemplate a discussion. Whatever 
 the German Government's answers to these ques- 
 
264 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 tions may be, they will serve the president's pur- 
 pose. They will either expose its hypocrisy or 
 show its sincerity. If it really wants peace, and 
 is prepared to make the full sacrifice and repara- 
 tion that America and our associates demand, 
 which amounts to an unconditional surrender, 
 then the time will have come for a serious con- 
 sideration of the subject. But if its answer is 
 evasive it will be dealt with accordingly. The 
 president knows the feelings of the American 
 people in this matter, and so far he has voiced 
 them with precision as well as with eloquence. 
 
 But in the meantime his interrogative message 
 serves a number of important purposes, in addi- 
 tion to the one here defined. Without making 
 any promises, and concessions or any conditions 
 that bind us or any of our associates, he gives the 
 German Government, and, in particular, the Ger- 
 man people, plainly to understand that the points 
 referred to in his questions contain the essential 
 preliminaries to a consideration of peace. He 
 does not state that these are the conditions of 
 peace. He does not say if you will accept my 
 terms a peace can be arranged. He does not say 
 if you will withdraw your forces to German soil 
 an armistice will be declared. He does not say 
 that if the chancellor claims to be speaking for 
 the German people, instead of for "the consti- 
 tuted authorities who have so far conducted the 
 war," we will take his word for it and proceed 
 to business. Yet Germany is made aware that we 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 265 
 
 must have a satisfactory answer, and full assur- 
 ance, on these points before we will begin to talk 
 about peace. He thus throws the question open 
 for discussion by the war-weary German people, 
 without the instant and solidified antagonism 
 these points would arouse if presented as cate- 
 gorical demands, and forces the German Govern- 
 ment to assume full responsibility for its action 
 
 in the matter. 
 
 i — — 
 
 The reply of the German Government to these 
 inquiries came on October 12. 
 
 The Great Crisis. 
 
 (October 13, 1918.) 
 
 The extremity of the central powers is betrayed 
 by the quick reply to President Wilson's search- 
 ing interrogations. It is a joint reply from the 
 Imperial German Government and from the Aus- 
 tro-Hungarian Government, and upon the surface 
 it accepts unconditionally the terms indicated, but 
 not categorically expressed, in the president's in- 
 quiries. Those inquiries had for their purpose, as 
 the president expressly stated, the development 
 of the German peace suggestion into a formal 
 proposal and a formal declaration before the con- 
 ditions of peace could be seriously considered, 
 and before an actual reply to the plea for peace 
 could be made. The German Government has now 
 expressed itself definitely, with the full approval 
 of Austro-Hungary, and for the first time since 
 the war began the question of peace is formally 
 
266 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 before us upon a basis that merits and demands 
 the gravest and soundest judgment of civilization. 
 It declares the acceptance of "the terms laid 
 down by President Wilson in his address of Jan- 
 uary 8 and in his subsequent addresses on the 
 foundation of a permanent peace of justice"; it 
 declares itself ready to evacuate all the alien ter- 
 ritory it now occupies, and that in these declara- 
 tions it speaks in the name of "the German Gov- 
 ernment and the German people." 
 
 Plainly then the end of the war is at hand if 
 America and its associate allies can agree upon 
 conditions conformable with these declarations. 
 But to what extent are the terms and principles 
 presented by President "Wilson in the utterances 
 referred to now acceptable to Great Britain, 
 France and Italy, or even to ourselves? What 
 assurance of safety have we in an armistice which 
 permits the enemy to withdraw his forces peace- 
 ably into the lines of his boundary? What evi- 
 dence have we that the chancellor actually speaks 
 for the German people, and that the German peo- 
 ple will have the power and the disposition to 
 make their government, whatever it may be, con- 
 form with the desires of the world, or a perma- 
 nent peace? What prospect have we for an ade- 
 quate punishment of the men who are responsible 
 for the blood and agony and tears of these four 
 terrible years? 
 
 "We are all agreed," said the president in his 
 New York speech on September 27, "that there 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 267 
 
 can be no peace obtained by any bargain or com- 
 promise with the governments of the central em- 
 pires. * * * They have convinced ns that 
 they are without honor and without justice. 
 * * * We cannot 'come to terms' with them. 
 They have made it impossible." It is possible to 
 say that no "bargain or compromise" is involved 
 in this abject surrender of the central powers, 
 but is it possible to assume seriously that these 
 men who are "without honor and without jus- 
 tice" are no longer in control of the affairs and 
 the destinies of the German nation? Is it possi- 
 ble for an outraged and bleeding world to believe 
 that these men who have deliberately caused its 
 woes have as deliberately abandoned their auto- 
 cratic powers and will no more arise to shame the 
 new civilization with their existence? We want 
 a peace of "impartial justice in every item of the 
 settlement," as President Wilson has said. We 
 want a peace that will stand as a monument to 
 the righteousness of our principles and the purity 
 of our purpose. We want a peace that our pos- 
 terity can point to with pride and say our fathers 
 were big enough and broad enough and brave 
 enough to do the right thing in the greatest crisis 
 in the world's history. But what is the right thing 
 in this tremendous crisis? What is the right 
 thing for America? What is the right thing for 
 the bruised and bleeding nations that have suf- 
 fered so terribly during these awful years ? What 
 is the right thing, indeed, for Germany, and its 
 criminal coconspirators? What is the right thing 
 
268 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 for humanity, the humanity of the present and 
 the humanity of the future? 
 
 These are stupendous questions, too vast to be 
 answered by thoughtless rage. "Wisdom and jus- 
 tice and power must sit in judgment, calm, de- 
 liberate and unflinching judgment, for their an- 
 swer. Eight shall be done. Right must be done. 
 The world has lost too much, suffered too much, 
 sacrificed too much, to accept anything less than 
 the fullness and completeness of right. The re- 
 sponsibility is upon the heads of the offended na- 
 tions, but we have a profound faith that the issue 
 is in the hands of God. 
 
 President Wilson responded on the 14th in a 
 way that delighted the American people. 
 
 A Positive Answer. 
 
 (October 15, 1918.) 
 
 There is no suggestion of compromise, of con- 
 ciliation or of negotiation in President Wilson's 
 reply to the German peace note, answering affirm- 
 atively the three questions asked by the presi- 
 dent as a preliminary to the consideration of their 
 original peace suggestion. Having drawn out a 
 definite statement from the German Government 
 and its allied governments, he informs them posi- 
 tively and emphatically that there can be no con- 
 sideration of the cessation of hostilities while Ger- 
 man submarines are still destroying ships and 
 murdering innocent people, nor while the German 
 armies are committing wanton destruction in 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 269 
 
 Flanders and France; there can be no armistice 
 that does not "safeguard and guarantee the pres- 
 ent military supremacy ' ' of the United States and 
 its allies, and there can be no serious discussion 
 of peace at all while the existing Government of 
 Germany is in control. He does not descend to 
 an argument over the present constitution of 
 German authority nor to a discussion of the real 
 meaning of a "majority of the Reichstag/' but 
 coldly calls the German chancellor's attention to 
 "the language and plain intent of one of the 
 terms of peace which the German Government has 
 accepted." This was a declaration made in his 
 speech of July 4, in which he set out "the ends 
 for which the associated peoples of the world are 
 fighting and which must be conceded to them 
 before there can be peace." The first condition 
 made under this head was: "The destruction of 
 every arbitrary power anywhere that can sepa- 
 rately, secretly and of its single choice disturb 
 the peace of the world ; or, if it cannot be present- 
 ly destroyed, at the least its reduction to virtual 
 impotence." This condition he quotes, and ap- 
 plies it directly to the German Government, as it 
 is represented by Prince Maximilian, and also to 
 the Austro-Hungarian and Turkish governments 
 associated with him. This end, he says again, 
 very plainly and emphatically, is an essential con- 
 dition of peace, and he gives the enemy to under- 
 stand, without any possibility of doubt, that noth- 
 ing less than the establishment of a responsible 
 
270 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 government wholly independent of the kaiser and 
 the military powers can be recognized in the in- 
 terests of peace. 
 
 The president has not misinterpreted the spirit 
 of the nation in this reply. He could not have 
 said less and remain in accord with the American 
 people ; it was unnecessary to have said more. He 
 has spoken the word that means the continuation 
 of the war until it is ended as the civilized world 
 demands that it shall be ended. And in doing this 
 he has not acted, we may be sure, without au- 
 thority from the allied governments. The very 
 quickness of his reply is evidence of an under- 
 standing that was not arrived at yesterday or 
 the day before. When he sent his questions to the 
 German chancellor last week he was not acting 
 alone. We cannot think that he made his in- 
 quiries without the consent and approval of the 
 heads of the governments associated with us in 
 this war, and who are more deeply concerned 
 than we are. It is a reasonable assumption that 
 every possible response to his questions was con- 
 sidered and a position decided upon before that 
 note was sent. It does not seem to us possible that 
 this could have been a mere fishing expedition 
 without an understanding as to what was to be 
 done with any fish that might be caught. In other 
 words, we would have little confidence in the 
 wisdom and judgment of the president if we did 
 not believe a reply to this last note from Germany 
 had been formed, in outline at least, before the 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 271 
 
 interrogative message was sent by him, and that* 
 this reply had been indorsed in principle by the 
 allied governments. It could hardly be coinci- 
 dence that the premiers of Britain, France and 
 Italy, with their military advisers, were in con- 
 ference in Paris at the time the president's mes- 
 sage of last week was sent to the German chan- 
 cellor. 
 
 The reply given out last night we may feel con- 
 fident is not merely the reply of Woodrow Wil- 
 son, president of the United States, not merely 
 the reply of the American people, but it is the 
 answer of Great Britain and France and Italy 
 and Belgium and Serbia and all of the nations ar- 
 rayed against the enemy of civilization. There 
 can be no terms but surrender and submission to 
 the will of a world that has learned the way to 
 justice through universal affliction. 
 
 On the 22d of October came another note from 
 the German Government stating that, "In accept- 
 ing the proposal for an evacuation of occupied 
 territories the German Government has started 
 from the assumption that the procedure of this 
 evacuation and of the condition of an armistice 
 should be left to the judgment of the military 
 advisers and that the actual standard of power 
 on both sides in the field has to form the basis for 
 arrangements safeguarding and guaranteeing this 
 standard." It also set up certain claims as to 
 the establishment of a popular government in 
 Germany. 
 
 Germany Still Unashamed. 
 
 (October 23, 1918.) 
 
 The German Government "trusts that the pres- 
 ident of the United States will approve of no de- 
 
272 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 . mand which would be irreconcilable with the 
 honor of the German people and with opening a 
 way to a peace of justice." So reads the latest 
 peace note from Germany. The honor of the 
 German people has been violated over and over 
 and over again by the German Government from 
 the first day of this war down to the present mo- 
 ment, and it now has the audacity and the hypoc- 
 risy to " protest the reproach of illegal and inhu- 
 mane actions made against the land and sea forces 
 and thereby against the German people." ''The 
 German troops," it goes on to say, with uplifted 
 eyes, "are under most strict instructions to spare 
 property and to exercise care for the population 
 to the best of their ability," and "the German 
 Government further denies that the German Navy 
 in sinking ships has ever purposely destroyed 
 lifeboats with their passengers." When we think 
 of the proofs piled upon proofs that have been 
 accumulating through four years of the terrible 
 barbarity and inhumanity of the German Army 
 and the German Navy, directed and supported 
 by the German Government, it is difficult to pre- 
 vent indignation from boiling over at this Phari- 
 saical utterance. And it makes # it impossible to 
 believe in the sincerity of any paragraph in the 
 document. 
 
 It concedes the propriety of leaving the condi- 
 tions of evacuation and armistice to the military 
 advisers, but it does not offer to "provide abso- 
 lutely satisfactory safeguards and guarantees of 
 the maintenance of the present military suprem- 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 273 
 
 acy of the armies of the United States and the 
 allies in the field, " as the president demanded. It 
 says, it is true, that "the actual standard of power 
 on both sides in the field has to form the basis for 
 arrangements safeguarding and guaranteeing this 
 standard," a phrase which may be interpreted 
 according to any one's viewpoint. It may mean 
 everything — it may be a verbal mask to hide the 
 fact of defeat and surrender from the German 
 people; or it may mean nothing at all, a mere 
 starting point for the " details' ' which the presi- 
 dent is asked to arrange an opportunty for them 
 to discuss. Whatever it means, it is wholly unsat- 
 isfactory and wholly hypocritical. It does not 
 come to the point. It is a mere beating about the 
 bush to gain time, to save the German face. 
 
 Nor is their claim of a popular government any 
 more trustworthy, although it is stated in plainer 
 terms. They would have us believe that a real 
 political revolution has occurred in Germany, but 
 they do not say when nor by whom this extraor- 
 dinary change has been accomplished. "The 
 whole process of peace," said the president, "will 
 depend upon the definiteness and the satisfactory 
 character of the guarantees which can be given on 
 this fundamental matter. It is indispensable that 
 the governments associated against Germany 
 should know beyond a peradventure with whom 
 they are] dealing. Is this bold claim of a new 
 and altogether different government, this claim 
 of autocratic powers abolished and the people 
 given control, to be accepted on a mere assertion? 
 
274 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 Is it possible that a despotism so strongly estab- 
 lished that it has shaken the world to its founda- 
 tions can be overthrown by a few men whispering 
 in a corner? Can we yet believe that the horns 
 and the spiked tail of the beast are not hidden 
 beneath this lamb-like coat? Do we know, upon 
 this exparte statement, with whom we are deal- 
 ing ''beyond a peradventure " ? Should we not 
 inquire how this "unshakable determination" of 
 the German people has been manifested so quickly 
 and so decisively? Should we not ask what has 
 become of his late majesty, the German kaiser? 
 Should we not be informed how, in this verbal 
 debacle, this bloody revolution of syllables, the 
 Hohenzollern family and the junkers have been 
 delivered up to popular justice? 
 
 It does seem to us that President Wilson's note 
 of last week should stand as the ultimatum of the 
 allies and of civilization, and that until Germany 
 comes to its terms in plain words and with the 
 incontestable proofs of its sincerity in its hands, 
 we should have no further discussion. 
 
 Evidently President Wilson was in accord with 
 this feeling, for he at once (October 23) replied, 
 saying that "the only armistice he would feel 
 justified in submitting for consideration would be 
 one which should leave the United States and the 
 powers associated with her in a position to en- 
 force any arrangements that may be entered into 
 and to make a renewal of hostilities on the part of 
 Germany impossible." And in regard to the claim 
 of the establishment of popular government he 
 said: "It is evident that the German people have 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 275 
 
 no means of commanding the acquiescence of the 
 military authorities of the empire in the popular 
 will; that the power of the king of Prussia to 
 control the policy of the empire is unimpaired; 
 that the determining initiative still remains with 
 those who have hitherto been the masters of Ger- 
 many/ ' 
 
 Must Submit or Fight. 
 
 (October 24, 1918.) 
 
 The most impressive part of President Wilson's 
 note to Germany is the concluding statement that 
 if the United States "must deal with the military 
 masters and the monarchical autocrats now, or 
 if it is likely to have to deal with them later in 
 regard to the international obligations of the Ger- 
 man Empire, it must demand, not peace negotia- 
 tions, but surrender. Nothing can be gained by 
 leaving this essential thing unsaid. ' ' This candid 
 statement is required by conditions. No such real 
 reforms as would permit the world to trust the 
 word of the German Government can be accom- 
 plished or, at least, proved to have been accom- 
 plished within a reasonable period in this war. 
 As the president remarks, it is "with the present 
 war that we are dealing." 
 
 What the president says about an armistice is 
 couched in different language, but it means a 
 demand for surrender. He does not promise an 
 armistice, but declares that if the military ad- 
 visers deem such an armistice possible from a 
 military point of view, it must be one "which 
 should leave the United States and the powers 
 
276 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 associated with her in a position to enforce any 
 arrangements that may be entered into and to 
 make a renewal of hostilities on the part of Ger- 
 many impossible." This is the crux of the entire 
 situation. If Germany is vanquished, it must sub- 
 mit. If the present government is insincere, the 
 president has made it plain that no other terms 
 are obtainable. It is presumed that the military 
 advisers of the United States and its associates 
 will soon submit concrete provisions as to an 
 armistice, which Germany must accept or reject. 
 In his admirable note President Wilson has made 
 a clear-cut issue, which the German Government 
 cannot evade or becloud, at home or abroad. 
 Germany can "discuss details" only after being 
 made helpless to renew fighting. 
 
 While the war still thundered on, while the 
 German armies were being rapidly forced back 
 into Belgium and the great coalition of the cen- 
 tral powers was breaking to pieces, the represent- 
 atives of the United States and the allies met in 
 Versailles to decide upon the terms of an armi- 
 stice to be presented to Germany. 
 
 The Conference at Versailles. 
 
 (October 30, 1918.) 
 
 One hundred and thirty-five years ago an armi- 
 stice was signed in the palace at Versailles which 
 ended the war between the United States and 
 Great Britain and gave freedom to a new world. 
 Today, in that same old and beautiful palace of 
 Louis XIV., a little group of men are assembled 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 277 
 
 to consider the terms of an armistice that is ex- 
 pected to end a new and greater war for freedom 
 and to bring liberty to all mankind. The eyes of 
 the world are now centered on that little town of 
 France that has mingled so much of despotism 
 and democracy. The men gathered there are the 
 heads, or representatives of the heads, of the 
 great nations actively opposed to the central 
 powers, and the commanders, or representatives 
 of the commanders, of their armies and navies. 
 The tremendous issue of peace is before them. 
 If the terms of armistice which they will prescribe 
 are accepted by the enemy the war will come to 
 an end. Whatever may be the specific conditions 
 of peace that will be thereafter exacted, the con- 
 clusion of an armistice will bring the war to a 
 finish. There is not the slightest probability that 
 Germany would or could reopen hostilities. The 
 conditions of the armistice, we may be sure, will 
 make that impossible. The armistice will put an 
 end to Germany's present power for evil. 
 
 The end of the war, therefore, depends upon 
 Germany's acceptance of the terms. Will she 
 accept ? Can she afford to refuse ? Her allies are 
 virtually out of the war, and at any rate can no 
 longer be counted on for effective assistance. Tur- 
 key is said to have proposed an independent 
 peace, and its proposal is no doubt in the hands 
 of the council at Versailles. The Austrian note 
 agreeing to President Wilson's terms is equiv- 
 alent to a complete surrender. The withdrawal 
 
278 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 of Hungary from the union and its declaration 
 of independence, reported yesterday, and the suc- 
 cessful drive of the Italians on the Piave, seem 
 to have removed the last shred of imperial reso- 
 lution and to have settled the complete dissolu- 
 tion of the empire. Austria-Hungary, the great 
 dual monarchy of the Hapsburgs, is dying. Aus- 
 tria, no doubt, will survive, but it will stand alone, 
 a German nation with a hatred of Germany. 
 
 Germany is thus left isolated. The iron ring 
 of foes which its imagination conceived in the 
 years before the war is now no fiction of disor- 
 dered minds, but a stern and implacable reality. 
 Though left alone it may continue the war for a 
 time, but to what purpose ? The ultimate result is 
 certain and every day of further resistance can 
 but add to the severity of its punishment. Its 
 people realize now that their rulers are respon- 
 sible for these years of anguish. They realize 
 now that they have battled a phantom, a phantom 
 of evil. They realize now that their day of judg- 
 ment is at hand. They realize now that they 
 must make their conduct as well as their political 
 organization conform to other ideas of civiliza- 
 tion than their boasted "kultur," or they must 
 perish. Why should they continue to fight the 
 inevitable? Bulgaria is done, Turkey is done, 
 Austria-Hungary is done; the Bavarian people 
 are threatening withdrawal from the confedera- 
 tion ; the terror of Bolshevism wakens them from 
 sleep ; nowhere on earth have they a friend ; 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 279 
 
 further resistance is suicidal. Their only hope 
 is in the stern but righteous justice of their 
 enemies. They will accept the terms of the 
 armistice with bitter reluctance, but, sooner or 
 later, they must accept them. 
 
 As a result of this conference the American 
 Government, on behalf of all the powers con- 
 cerned, dispatched a note to the German Govern- 
 ment on November 5, stating that the United 
 States and the allied powers had agreed to make 
 peace with the German Government "on the 
 terms of peace laid down in the President's 
 address of January, 1918, and the principles of 
 settlement enunciated in his subsequent ad- 
 dresses," subject to an interpretation at the 
 Peace Conference of the clause in relation to 
 "freedom of the seas," and with the understand- 
 ing that "compensation would be made by 
 Germany for all damage done to the civilian 
 population of the allies and their property by the 
 aggressions of Germany by land, by sea and from 
 the air." 
 
 Germany's Opportunity. 
 
 (November 6, 1918.) 
 
 The note from the American Government, 
 signed by Secretary Lansing, which was handed 
 to the Swiss minister yesterday for dispatch to 
 the Government of Germany is one of the most 
 important documents of the war, bringing as it 
 does the issues of peace to a practical agreement 
 by all the belligerents on the basis of the presi- 
 dent's terms of January and the subsequent 
 conditions expressed by him. In as much as the 
 
280 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 German Government has already given official 
 acceptance to these terms it would seem to be 
 highly probable that a declaration of peace is 
 now imminent. Whatever may be the terms of 
 the armistice Germany is in no position to haggle 
 over them. President Wilson's terms, in which 
 the allies now officially concur, provide for a 
 peace of justice, and Germany cannot possibly 
 gain any advantage by delaying the conclusion 
 of hostilities. Nor can it consistently object to 
 the severity of the conditions of the armistice in 
 view of its own experience of the need of such 
 severity in rendering helpless a vanquished foe. 
 Undoubtedly the German military staff had fully 
 agreed upon the principal points at least of the 
 terms of armistice it would lay down in case of 
 its victory, and it is not conceivable that they 
 were any less onerous than those now to be pre- 
 sented by their enemies. They have consented to 
 the terms of peace that are now approved and 
 accepted by all the governments actively arrayed 
 against them, and the conditions of the armistice 
 are but the necessary preliminaries to the con- 
 crete application of the peace terms. There is 
 no reason to believe that they will be any more 
 drastic than the military exigencies demand, and 
 while they will be humiliating they will be just, 
 and just in a way that even the German military 
 mind can understand. 
 
 The qualifications expressed in the note of 
 agreement are not likely to cause any delay in the 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 281 
 
 proceedings, for whatever may be the difference 
 of views in the interpretation of the " freedom 
 of the seas" section of President Wilson's four- 
 teen terms, its reference to the Peace Conference 
 for definite formulation is as fair for one side as 
 for the other. Nor is it probable that the defini- 
 tion of the president's reference to compensation 
 for damages will interfere with the immediate 
 decision, for surely Germany has not failed to 
 read in the president's words the meaning now 
 explicitly set forth by the allied council. Ger- 
 many's necessities are pressing, and the oppor- 
 tunity now offered is one that she cannot afford 
 to lose. Her reply can be looked for at any 
 moment and when it comes we have no doubt 
 that it will spell peace. 
 
 On the 6th a cablegram from Berlin reported 
 the appointment of a commission to sign the 
 armistice on behalf of Germany. And then fol- 
 lowed days of eager expectancy for the entire 
 world. On the 9th it was announced that the 
 kaiser had abdicated and that the crown prince 
 had renounced his right to the throne, thus 
 removing the chief obstacles to peace. And then 
 on the 11th of November, 1918, very early in the 
 morning, word reached America that the armi- 
 stice had been signed and the world war, the 
 greatest, bloodiest, crudest war in all history, was 
 at an end. 
 
282 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 Gloria in Excelsis Deo. 
 
 (November 11, 1918.) 
 
 " Glory to God in the highest, and on 
 earth peace, good will toward men." 
 
 Nineteen centuries ago, St. Luke tells 
 us, a choir of angels sang to a group of 
 shepherds on the hills without Bethlehem. 
 For aught we know T angels may have sung 
 at other times and other places to earthly 
 auditors, but this is the only instance of 
 record that has received general accept- 
 ance as a historical verity, and whether we 
 believe the sacred story or not we cannot 
 doubt that the message of the celestial an- 
 them is one that expresses the feeling of 
 heaven toward mankind. And we may be 
 sure that, although our ears are not at- 
 tuned to its seraphic harmonies, the great 
 supernal choir is voicing today the same 
 joyous theme that was heard by the Ju- 
 dean shepherds. For there is peace today, 
 peace on earth, after the greatest and 
 bloodiest war in the world's history. In 
 every city in Christendom the bells are 
 ringing in glad acclaim, and even in pagan 
 lands the notes of joy are striking the ear 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 283 
 
 with a new sound and a new meaning. The 
 hearts of men and women in every coun- 
 try save Germany, and of many even 
 there, no doubt, are filled with such an ec- 
 stasy that words utterly fail to give it ex- 
 pression. Never since the creation has joy 
 been so nearly universal among mankind 
 and never has there been greater occasion 
 for universal gladness. 
 
 Whatever may be the conditions of the 
 final treaties of settlement, the acceptance 
 by Germany of the terms of armistice dic- 
 tated by the allied governments and the 
 United States ends the war. There is no 
 possibility of a resumption of hostilities. 
 The world war is over. After four years 
 and three months of Titanic struggle, 
 after the destruction of millions of lives 
 and of treasure of immeasurable value, 
 the supreme conflict of all the ages has 
 ceased. The black pall has lifted and once 
 more the earth can smile ; once more men 
 can go on with the affairs of life in the 
 broad sunlight of a new day. 
 
 " Peace on earth, good will toward 
 men," sang the angels on that morning 
 long ago, and assuredly the two things 
 should go together. That is the idealism 
 
284 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 of heaven, and it should be so of earth. 
 War and hate, peace and love, they are by 
 the very nature of things inextricably as- 
 sociated, although love in the past has 
 never distinguished peace as hate has 
 distinguished and animated war. But 
 through all the hatred of this great con- 
 flict the light of love has been burning, 
 beaming good will toward men, and the 
 principles that have developed from the 
 struggle, the principles upon which per- 
 manent peace will finally be based, spring 
 from love and not from hate. It was es- 
 sentially good will toward men, good will 
 toward the bleeding and ravished peoples 
 of Europe, that brought us as a nation 
 into this great war. It was good will to- 
 ward men, good will toward all men, that 
 inspired and actuated the wise and hu- 
 mane war policies of our great president. 
 It is upon the fundamental principles of 
 good will toward men that the peace treaty 
 will be formulated. And in the peace that 
 has now come, the great peace that pass- 
 eth understanding, good will toward men 
 should be, and, we profoundly believe, will 
 be, the dominating influence in the world's 
 relations. The " brotherhood of man" is 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 285 
 
 no longer a phrase of fine-sounding rhet- 
 oric, but by this colossal war, this great 
 rebirth of humanity, it has been made a 
 thing of reality in the opened hearts and 
 broadened minds of mankind. No longer 
 are the people of other lands strangers to 
 us, no longer are we strangers to them, no 
 longer are we strangers among ourselves. 
 We know now our kinship. We have gone 
 down into the valley of the shadow with 
 them, and we have learned that we are of 
 one blood and one flesh, sons and daugh- 
 ters of God. 
 
 And who has done this thing? Who 
 has brought this victory of civilization to 
 its splendid fruition? Not we. We are 
 proud of our great share in this work. We 
 are proud that we perceived our duty and 
 plunged with determination and enthusi- 
 asm into the task of its fulfillment. We 
 are proud that we have arisen to the heights 
 of tremendous accomplishment. We are 
 proud of the spirit that brought us togeth- 
 er as one. We are proud of the heroism 
 of our sons who have fought so valiantly. 
 We are proud of the devotion of our men 
 and women who have labored so gallantly 
 for the cause. We are proud, immensely 
 
286 THE WORLD WAR 
 
 proud, of the fact that the establishment 
 of American ideals has been made the pri- 
 mary purpose of the war and that they 
 are to be the essential principles of peace. 
 We are proud that it was given to us to 
 become the deciding factor in the glorious 
 conclusion. But we must remember that 
 we have but shared in the work. We must 
 not detract one whit from the splendor of 
 other achievements. We must not forget 
 that each and every nation has played its 
 part nobly in the struggle. We must not 
 forget the tremendous sacrifices beside 
 which ours are but little. We must not 
 forget the invincible spirit that main- 
 tained an unbroken front through years 
 of awful anguish. We must give to all of 
 them, even to broken Russia, the full cred- 
 it and honor and glory for the work they 
 have done in preventing the triumph of 
 barbarism. It is enough that we have 
 shared, splendidly shared, in the vast 
 achievement. It is enough that we have 
 helped with all our might in the attain- 
 ment of the victory of righteousness over 
 wrong. Nor must we forget that over all 
 has been a Power that would not permit 
 evil to triumph, a Power that has raised 
 
THE ROAD TO PEACE 287 
 
 one obstacle after another to oppose its 
 advancement, a Power that has been ever 
 present and ever guarding our destinies 
 through the dark night of the earth's su- 
 preme trial. And although we may have 
 often doubted it during the long hours of 
 agony, we can say with profound convic- 
 tion, as the morning dawns with the glory 
 of peace flung across the skies, that 
 
 " God's in His heaven; 
 All's right with the world." 
 
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