hardly mentioned foreign policy, and Wilson's Inaugural contained no
reference to anything except domestic matters. Certain problems inherited
from the previous Administration forced upon the President, however, the
formulation, if not of a policy, at least of an attitude. The questions of
the Panama Canal tolls and Japanese immigration, the Mexican situation,
the Philippines, general relations with Latin-America, all demanded
attention. In each case Wilson displayed a willingness to sacrifice, a
desire to avoid stressing the material strength of the United States, an
anxiety to compromise, which matched in spirit the finest traditions of
American foreign policy, which has generally been marked by high ideals.
Many of his countrymen, possibly without adequate study or command of the
facts, supposed that Wilson was inspired less by positive ideals than by
the belief that no problem of a foreign nature was worth a quarrel. People
liked the principle contained in the sentence: "We can afford to exercise
the self-restraint of a really great nation which realizes its own
strength and scorns to misuse it." But they also wondered whether the
passivity of the Government did not in part proceed from the fact that the
President could not make up his mind what he wanted to do. They looked
upon his handling of the Mexican situation as clear evidence of a lack of
policy. Nevertheless the country as a whole, without expressing enthusiasm
for Wilson's attitude, was obviously pleased by his attempts to avoid
foreign entanglements, and in the early summer of 1914 the eyes of the
nation were focused upon domestic issues.

Then came the war in Europe.

* * * * *

Today, after the long years of stress and struggle in which the crimes of
Germany have received full advertisement, few Americans will admit that
they did not perceive during that first week of August, 1914, the
complete significance of the moral issues involved in the European war.
They read back into their thoughts of those early days the realization
which, in truth, came only later, that Germany was the brutal aggressor
attacking those aspects of modern civilization which are dear to America.
In fact there were not many then who grasped the essential truth that the
cause defended by Great Britain and France was indeed that of America and
that their defeat would bring the United States face to face with vital
danger, both material and moral.

P