THE NEW AMERICA

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 42, 13 November 1917, Page 5

THE NEW AMERICA

LAN HAY'S IMPRESSIONS OF THE

WAR FEELING

HOW THE PRESIDENT WON OVER THE PEOPLE

Various influences are at work i America to-day, for and against tho A lied cause. Probably the pro-German i fluenco which has been most over-est mated is tho German influence itsel 'America is full of Germans; thero a) said to ho eight millions of them. Yc see Gorman names over all the resta' rants and a goodly percentage of tho d partment stores. But tho vast raajoril of theso Germans left Germany in. tl first instanoe to escape from ■ Germti autocracy and Prussian militarism. Th( nro not in the least likely to embai iipon a propaganda which, if pushed 1 its logical conclusion, would impose the: twin blessinss upon the land of the , ndoption. German Bpies thero aro i •plenty throughout Anierioo, engage wainly in tho methodical and console] .lions collection of useless informatio hnd irrelevant statistics for tho Gcrmn Foreign Office. Thero are also nume: • .cms hired agitatoTS and bravos. But tl Jwera»o German'immigrant has come \ ' 'America, emphatically, "for his health, nnd it is unlikely'that his contributio to the difHcnlties of tho situation wi amount to anything more than a gaseon hut innocuous blenll of Teutonio sent mentality and hombast. Par mare ir eiduoris will be tho -underground wor ' of tho skilled seorot agent. He will ei Heavour to paralyso America through he 'own children—by fomenting Industrie strife, by financing. spurious- labou innions,-. nnd by affording sur'reptitiou Bid and comfort to anarchists, pacifists nnd all the dead weight of knaves am fools which hangs round the neck o every great and free community. The Political Factor, There is another factor which ha Strongly influenced the recent attitud Of America towards war, and that i: the political factor. Ten or fifteen year ago America would probably have com ; mitted herself to a war much more read ily than to-day. At that time the Be publican Party was in power. Americai .Republicans and Democrats do not b; any means correspond to our Unionist and Liberals; but there is this mucl aptness, in the parallel, that whih lAmerican Republicans, and onr Union Ssts nro recruited in tho main fron a class . of 60ciety which think airst and foremost • in term ■ of national prestige, American Demo crats-and our Liberals, heing possibly-ii closer touch With the everyday ties of human existence, are inclined ti •pay more regard" - to the individual ant to the improvement of economic condi itions within the country. With Presi ttent Wilson's election in 1312, and' thi eclipse, for the time being, of Big Ame / -nanism, as represented by the echoo of Theodore Roosevelt, a social and poli : tical uphoaval took place, even greatei in its nature and effects ! than that which ( overwnelmed our own country in the • landslide" of 1906. It was greater thai a landslide: it itas .a' cataclysm. Ir lAinenca, wo must remember, there are Jo "permanent" officials, to maintain .tradition and ballast the ship. The mo•taent one party oomes into office the other, down to the humblest doorkeepei Sn a rural State Legislature, goes over- ■ board. Sp a clean sweep was made. Jusi :B8 our Liberal Party claims (or claimed] (P j>o the Party of Peace, Retrenchment, -and Reform, so tho American Democratic Warty, which .draws most of its support I'rom voters—millions of them—whose interests _ are mainly domestic and local, '.prides itself upon keeping America aloof from European politics and "entangling ■'alliances." And it was this party w;hich, m the first mutterings of war began to Jno heard in Europe, returned from an absence of many years in the political wilderness, bearing aloft the banner of "Social Roforni," and took over the reins of jlAmerican _ government. ; Realisation of (this fact is of enormous importance to Ithose who desire to appreciate America's to the war fairly and correctly. j. '-~ President Wilson. i But the greatest' influence of all in; '[American public life to-day is the President AVoodrow Wilson. Mr. Wilson has ■recently taught tho world a lesson, and flthat is to judge no man hastily, least, of foil the leader of a great, unwieldy, and 1 (heterogeneous democracy.' We are just (beginning to realiso some of the difficulties with which President Wilson has jhad to contend during the past threo years. In England, not long ago, the jiention of the President's namo among snen who-wore giving their all to save (civilisation—men far too preoccupied with jthe; death-struggle in Europe to inquire into first causes or to -worry about details—evoked, in nine cases out of ten, a ,teurt and caustic referenco to tho phrase, •l"Top proud to fight!" That unhappy Remark has hung round .the President's .'meek as grimly as "Wait and See!" has ' hung round the neck of Mr. Asquith. But iwhilo "Wait and See!" represented—or • .Jwns said to represcntr-a fixed principle, .''Too Proud to Fight" was nothing worso • than a lapsns,linguae. If ever a'man lived a phraso down, President Wilson ■ has dono bo. Let us consider a few of the Presi- , Rent's difficulties. In the first place Mr. Wilson was awaro of a circumstance Jwhich was unrepealed -to his critics, tamely, that he' himself was pro-Ally through and through. Then why did he 1 Hot proclaim the fact? For the simple reason that where a private individual may offer an expression of opinion when lie likes and where ho likes, the head . of a State cannot do so .without making tho whole State officially responsible for .tho consequonces. - Tho consequence in this case would certainly have meant the breaking off of diplomatic relations with 'Germany, and probably a declaration of ,war.. And. this brings us to the second tiling which tho President knew which me did. not know—or at least Tealise— and that was that the American people were hopelessly disunited upon the subSect of participating in tho war. It is (true that thousands were demanding that (America should step down • into the nrona and vindicate her national honour. On the other hand thousands were frankly pro-German and anti-British, and said eo. There-were thousands, again, of that particularly noxious imbecilo, in which free and well-protected communities are ttahirally prolific, who regards war in Jho abstract as a kind of discreditable ■brawl, in which nd principles are at stake, both" sides are equally to blame, nnd no respectable person or nation need «vcr become involved. German Propaganda. But as already noted, and for reasons Wready stated, the general attitude of tho 'American peoplo was one of indifference. uTundtunentfvlly the - country was prolally, but with reservations. For instance, thero was a distinct disinclination, natural in a stoutly democratio people, to embark upon a warlike enterprise in the same galley with the Tsar Of all the Russias. This disinclination [was strongly fostered by the Jews, who form an important element in American public lifo nnd have no causo to love Russia. Public opinion, too, was warped by German propaganda, skilfully con'ducted by Bornstorff, and abetted • to a scandalous degree by the notorious Hearst Press—probably tho most poisonous influence in American publio lifo itc-day-and its so-called International .'News Service. Consequently, persons ;wlio preferred to absorb their opinions ready-made—and who can resist that temptation altogether?—had already ns6imilated some of the suggestions which wero constantly pressed upon them—for instance, that Great Britain, having jockeyed Germany into war, was mow allowing France' to do all the fighting; that the German atrocities had beon greatly exaggerated; and that in any case both sides were equally bad. And Bo forth. In the face of poison gas of this kind, judicious and well-informed Americans CouLd do .little— except grieve, and ex-•jii-pss their sympathy with the cause o' right against wrong. And their pvmi-athy took an intensely practical form. A year ago the number of societies existant in America for purposes of Allied war Telief had reached tho not altogether despicable total of one hundred and ten. The extent of. our in"nVHedncss to America in this respect has lodged by us. We are much too busy with the war. But some day wo shall all Jknow, nnd ive shall bo grateful, ,\ m [

not yet been fillly realised or acknowshould bo remembered that this relict was contributed—at any rate during the early days o.f tho war—by a comparatively small section of the American people; which means that those who did contribute did eo with a generosity out of all proportion to their numbers. liut this by the way. Foremost among theso judicious and well-informed Americans—probably tho most judioious and wcll-informod of allwas the President. Ho knew all; but for the momont ho could do nothing. Ho knew that if he jumped into war simply because national prestige and coin--1 mon humanity demanded it, the country 05 ® whole would not follow him. Somo -the best, perhaps, but still only sornewoula jump with him; but tho rest • would stay behind. The net result would bo a divided nation, neatly ranged upon 1 tho two sides of the Rubicon, just at the moment when national unity was indis- ■ pcnsablo. f Watchful Waiting, l iw P r . es >dcnt did tho hardest thing that a public man can be called upon to do—ho waited. Ho kept his own counsel; he mado no overt attempt to influenco/public opinion except in the diiection of strict neutrality—painfully strict t neutrality; and he held his hand until j tho time should como when he could go . !9™' ar d with a hundred million people 1 behind him. And during those long And difficult months he never onco flinched _ or roceded from that attitude. Its suc- , cess may be gauged from the fact that ) I pro-Ally Americans called him pro-Ger. , man and pro-German Americans called , "'in pro-Ally. Others called bim weak [ | and vacillating. Others, more explicit, i called him a traitor. ITis best friends _ considered him "academic," or "too de- . tached in his view." The entire Repub- . lican Press derided his Notes. t In vaudevillo thoy Tefen*ed to , his typewriter ns a "Wilson mnr chine-gun." But Woodrow Wilson ' never budged. He maintained his poliey of giving Bernstorff and his crew sufficient rope, in the sure and certain expectation that in due time the? would > hang themselves. And it was so. Tho situation was farther complicated all last year by an accidental but weighty circumstance. The Presidential election was due. That meant, in effect, that America's affairs were being conducted not py an accredited leader but by a candidate for offico. Unfil "his re-election was assured President Wilson could not, according to the immemorial traditions of the .game, afford to take a strong line about jtmything. Neither, for that matter, could his opponent. Political elections do not vary much as a class. Tho great thing is to commit yourself tj rothing and try to lure your opponent into & -declaration of policy. To be ex- ? licit on these occasions is to be damned.. n tho election of November, 3016, Mr. Wilson resisted all the attempts of his 1 opponents to make him hoist either Allied or Teutonic colours. He merely presented himself—or rather his party presented him—for- re-election on the ground that he had "kept the country out of war." Mr. Hughes said this was all wrong, but was unable or unwilling to i state what he would have done in the circumstances. So Mr. Wilson was reelected. "Der Tag." The re-election of Mr. Wilson made him sure of his ground. He was more: ho was supreme. Since tlio dethronement of the T6ar of Eussia tho President of the United States is probably the only Teal autocrat left in the world. We who live under a monarchical system, where a popular vote can turn out a Government overnight and set up another in its stead, can have little conception what it means to be a citizen of a great democracy—in a country whore the functions of King and Prime Minister are combined in the person of one man, who can usually enforce his will upon tho Legislature, is responsible to no one ■ for his actions; and cannot be removed from_ office* by anything but death or a convrclfon for high treason for at least four years. The President having recaptured his disputed trenches, and having reconsolidated tho same, was now ih a position to undertake his spring offensive. Soon his opportunity came. Germany, falling into the error of all bullies, and mistaking ■ patience for , cowardice, took that ene 1 step further which is inevitable and fatal I [ in : 6uch cases. On February 1. 1917. she announced her programme of ruthless' submarine warfare against tho Allies. To injury to American trade was added insalt in the shape of a farcical degree • permitting America to dispatch one ship, painted with b'yoad black and white stripes, to Falmouth once a week. That i proclamation unified America as nothing ' eleo had done. Public indignation rose s to fever heat. One newspaper truly sum- i med up the situation when it retorted, f in the terse vernacular of tho country, I that tho Kaiser was at liberty to paint himself pink all over and dispatch him- a self to Hades, not upon one, but upon t all seven days of the week. c

Things now began to movo. The President, confident of universal' support, promptly bundled Bernstoifl baok to Germany. This, naturally, was Iho beginning of tho end. The change did not "come instaataneouslj'. The voice of the pro-German was no longer heard in the land, but tho voico—surprisingly similar in intonation and. timbre—of, tho pacifist began to be uplifted instead. But no matter. America was awake, rnd best of all, united. The President, with his uncanny instinct for gauging tho diversified point 6 of view of his countrymen, lia<l judged aright. The national puloo was beginning to stir into something like a regular beat. ■ Two months later came tho end. Tho outrageous document in which Zimmerman suggested'to Japan kind Mexico that they should band themselves with the Central Powers and make war upon America fell into the hands of the United (States Government, and the last shred of doubt and disunion were swept away. Tho people of Texas, who took no burning interest in the American Atlantic trade, and had seen no particular reason to involve the country in war because ships from New York wore foolish enough to get sunk in German minefields, suddenly assumed a genuine interest in national unity upon learning that their State had been offered by Germany as a douceur to Mexico. Tho States, of tho West, such as California, ever conscious of the so-called Yellow Poril, wero roused by tho news to a burst of passionate resentment against German intrigue. And so President Wilson, justified in liis policy of watchful waiting if ever a man was. stepped boldly across the Rubicon of War, and took the whole 06 tho American people (if wo except the inevitable residue of cranks, faddists, and paid obstructionists) with him. To thoso familiar with conditions in. America, as ( hey were a year ago, his feat was marvellous.