f
the greater of those nations in Europe which are not parties to the
present war, but I am thinking of their close neighborhood to it. I am
thinking how their lives much more than ours touch the very heart and
stuff of the business; whereas, we have rolling between us and those
bitter days across the water three thousand miles of cool and silent
ocean.

Our atmosphere is not yet charged with those disturbing elements which
must be felt and must permeate every nation of Europe. Therefore, is it
not likely that the nations of the world will some day turn to us for
the cooler assessment of the elements engaged?

I am not now thinking so preposterous a thought as that we should sit in
judgment upon them. No nation is fit to sit in judgment upon any other
nation, but that we shall some day have to assist in reconstructing the
processes of peace. Our resources are untouched; we are more and more
becoming by the force of circumstances the mediating nation of the world
in respect to its finances. We must make up our minds what are the best
things to do and what are the best ways to do them.

We must put our money, our energy, our enthusiasm, our sympathy into
these things; and we must have our judgments prepared and our spirits
chastened against the coming of that day. So that I am not speaking in a
selfish spirit when I say that our whole duty for the present, at any
rate, is summed up in this motto, "America first." Let us think of
America before we think of Europe, in order that America may be fit to
be Europe's friend when the day of tested friendship comes. The test of
friendship is not now sympathy with the one side or the other, but
getting ready to help both sides when the struggle is over.

The basis of neutrality, gentlemen, is not indifference; it is not
self-interest. The basis of neutrality is sympathy for mankind. It is
fairness, it is good-will at bottom. It is impartiality of spirit and of
judgment. I wish that all of our fellow-citizens could realize that.

There is in some quarters a disposition to create distempers in this
body politic. Men are even uttering slanders against the United States
as if to excite her. Men are saying that if we should go to war upon
either side there will be a divided America--an abominable libel of
ignorance. America is not all of it vocal just now. It is vocal in
spots.

But I for one have a complete and abiding faith in that great silent
body of Americans who are not sta