rbia, Bulgaria and
Turkey. I saw conditions in the neutral countries of Holland, Denmark,
Switzerland and Spain. The one big thing which impressed me upon my
arrival in New York was that the United States, in contrast to all
these countries, has, as yet, not been touched by the war. Americans
are not living under the strain and worry which hang like dreadful dull
clouds over every European power. In Switzerland the economic worries
and the sufferings of the neighbouring belligerents have made the Swiss
people feel that they are in the centre of the war itself. In France,
although Paris is gay, although people smile (they have almost
forgotten how to smile in Germany), although streets are crowded, and
stores busy, the atmosphere is earnest and serious. Spain is torn by
internal troubles. There is a great army of unemployed. The submarine
war has destroyed many Spanish ships and interrupted Spanish trade with
belligerents. Business houses are unable to obtain credit. German
propaganda is sowing sedition and the King himself is uncertain about
the future. But in the United States there is a gigantic display of
energy and potential power which makes this country appear to possess
sufficient force in itself to defeat Germany. Berlin is drained and
dead in comparison. Paris, while busy, is war-busy and every one and
everything seems to move and live because of the war. In New York and
throughout the country there are young men by the hundreds of
thousands. Germany and France have no young men outside the armies.
Here there are millions of automobiles and millions of people hurrying,
happy and contented, to and from their work. In Germany there are no
automobiles which are not in the service of the Government and rubber
tires are so nearly exhausted that practically all automobiles have
iron wheels.

Some Americans have lived for many years with the idea that only
certain sections of the United States were related to Europe. Many
people, especially those in the Middle West, have had the impression
that only the big shipping interests and exporters had direct interests
in affairs across the ocean. But when Germany began to take American
lives on the high seas, when German submarines began to treat American
ships like all other belligerent vessels, it began to dawn upon people
here that this country was very closely connected to Europe by blood
ties as well as by business bonds. It has taken the United States