Evening Post. FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 1917. WILL AMERICA FOLLOW?

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 100, 27 April 1917, Page 6

Evening Post. FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 1917. WILL AMERICA FOLLOW?

Mr. Balfour's arrival at Washington was a great historic occasion as well as one of the most picturesque' events of the war, and it is clear that its significance is duly appreciated by the American people. Official cordiality was a matter of course-, for it can if necessary be made to order, but the heart of a free people cannot be worked in the same way. Except in Germany, where everything is done to order, popular feeling does not submit to dictation, and in the United States of all places it is as free as tho wind which " bloweth where it hsteth." "The Wonderful wave of spontaneous enthusiasm " which is said to have greeted .Mr. Balfour and his party on their arrival in Washington means that the 'American people are at one with their President in facing tho task which the arrogant brutality of Germany has set before them, and in rejoicing at the comradeship in arms with Great Britain which is one of tho compensations of the position. The comradeship with France has since been signalised by the arrival of : the French Commissioners, who also have been cordially welcomed. The conferences be- 1 tween the representatives of the United States, Franco, and Britain will doubtless cover all the aspects of the war and all the possibilities of American cooperation. As a member of tho French Commission says, the object is to extend the principle of the Allies' Conferences which have been held at various European capitals. The -.principle is the same, but the geographical extension gives the Washington Conference a unique significance. Representatives of the Powers which a few weeks ago wore the three greatest democratic Powers in the world, but if Russia may be regarded as a permanent gain for democracy are now only three of the four such. Powers, are conferring several thousand miles away from the original seat. ■ And the ultimate object of their deliberations is to save democracy from overthrow at the hands of a cruel and unscrupulous despotism,.to ensure, in Lincoln's words, that " government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Where could such a conference be more fittingly held than in tho capita.! of the country of whoso, last great fight for liberty these words were orginally uttered?

Characteristically ( and appropriately, Mr. Balfour's first words in America have been words, not of compliment or complacency, but of solemn appeal and warning. "The people of America .must realise," he says, " that they have to face a real fight. They must be prepared to make the individual sacrifices which will be demanded. The war will be a long tax on- resources and men, and will require all that America can afford to give in financial assistance and commercial and industrial energy. We have come to help America- turn the first page of a new chapter in the history of mankind. " The statement is worthy of the momentons enterprise with which Mr. Balfour has been entrusted; If, as he says; " the ruthless domination of one unscrupulous Power must not be allowed to imperil the future of civilisation and the liberties of mankind,-" the end can only be reached by the closest co-opera-tion of all the Powejs concerned for the preservation of civilisation and freedom, and by the pooling of all their resources, forces, and experience. The Allies, who have now been fighting and spending for nearly three years, have much to hope from the accession of so wealthy and enterprising a Power as America in the way of material aid. In the matter of experience, she may just as reasonably expect to get much from them. On all these points the Washington Conference should be able, in Mr. Balfour's words, "to make co-operation easy and effective" between the (Allies on both sides of the Atlantic. '

On one vital point the'value .of Britain's pioneering experience appears to be fully realised by the; public men of the United States. For about eighteen months Britain stuck tc- voluntary recruiting, and, after making it work wonders, was compelled to confess that the limits of its .usefulness had been reached.' One of the arguments which encouraged her to make the change was Lincoln's experience in America's civil war. Voluntary enthusiasm gave him all the men he needed at the outset, but when the duration of the war began to be measured in years, instead of months, he was driven to resort to compulsion. Having faced the same problem as Lincoln, and been compelled to adopt the same - conclusion, Britain is now in a good position to pass the lesson back.to Lincoln's countrymen, and-a military member of the British Mission has proved himself an adequate spokesman. "The voluntary system in England," says Lieutenant-General Brydges, "retarded and delayed every phase of war development. Voluntaryism sent trained artisans and industrial workers into the trenches when they were badly needed at home, and left at home those needed for the front. Conscription at the beginning of the war would have obviated the difficulties in connection with munitions, as well as many other vital mistakes."

General Brydges, of. course, speaks as a soldier,/and as a soldier he ignores the crucial point, which, is.so glaringly

| obvious to'the politician—viz., that the British people were not prepared to abandon their deeply rooted faith in the | voluntary principle except upon coercive proof of its failure. ■ But while this omission makes the statement'incomplete and unjust to Lord Kitchener and his original colleagues, it does not mar the value of the lesson for the United States. Britain waited for proof that voluntaryism had broken down before consenting to abandon it. The evidence and the conclusion are both available for the. instruction of the American people, and have satisfied their President that in following Lincoln's lead Britain took the right course. If the American people really mean business, they will have to follow Wilson "as they followed ■Lincoln before.