YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

WOODROW WILSON
AS PRESIDENT

PHOTO BV EDMONSTON W A SH I NGTO N . D. C ,

l^^^i.^

WOODROW WILSON
AS
PRESIDENT

BY
EUGENE C. BROOKS
Pbofessoe of Education, Teinitt College,
dubham, n. c.

CHICAGO NEW YORK
ROW, PETERSON AND COMPANY

Copyright, 1916
ROW, PETERSON
AND COMPANY

INTEODUCTION
The Wilson Administration marks the end of
an era. It is divided into two historic periods
separated by the European War, which draws a
heavy curtain between the first and the second half
of his Administration. Moreover, each has been
SO' crowded with events of vital importance to
this nation as to assume the significance of a
turning point in history. Therefore, the student
of history will find in this period the beginnings
of questions likely to occupy the public attention
for generations and destined to shape the growth
of our nation for all time.
In the conclusion of the old era the Wilson
Administration achieved, perhaps, the most not
able legislation ever enacted in an equal period
of time in the history of the Congress of the
United States. However, so many things have
occurred since then — "the terrible swift sword"
has so affected men's memories — that even those
acts have been almost forgotten, except in circles
affected directly by them. The reduced tariff, an
5

6 INTRODUCTION
income tax, the banished lobby, the Federal Re
serve Act, the struggle through the long, hot
summer against boss-rule and machine methods,
the Alaska railroad, the Clayton Anti-Trust Act,
another summer of intense labor, the destruction
of monopoly, the Federal Trade Commission, the
conservation of material and human resources —
these suggest an era long removed from the
present, but they are the epitome of the first eigh
teen months of the Wilson Administration,
The sixty-third Congress, the Long Congress,
brought the old era to a close and witnessed the
beginning of the new. In it will be found, stand
ing close together, the solution of old problems
and the beginnings of new issues. The student of
history who recalls the vast crowds that assembled
in 1912 and the fiery speeches of the leaders of
that time, and contrasts the marching crowds of
1916 and the fiery speeches by the same leaders
to the same people on different issues, must
realize that in the meantime affairs of consequence
have taken place.
A vast gulf separates 1912 and 1916. Men's
thoughts have turned about; men's ideas have
changed ; the world is different ; it is drifting on
an unknown sea; seemingly impossible things are

INTRODUCTION 7
happening daily; and no man knows into what
kind of harbor the ship will at last be moored.
Fortunate was it indeed for America that the
issues of 1912 were really settled before the vital
issues of 1916 had taken shape and dwarfed all
other issues.
The European war has changed the course of
history. The world has gone mad. Men stand
amazed, shocked, shuddering at the fierceness of
this insatiate monster which threatens a break
down of civilization and a return to the Dark
Ages. Great men have risen among us. They are
grappling heroically with the problems of the day
just as did the great men in other crises of the
world's history.
But how happens it that America alone of the
great nations of the earth is so happily situated?
Her people are free to come and go, to think and
speak and act. They enjoy unbounded and un
precedented prosperity. Their nation has come
to be the richest on earth. Their foreign trade is
expanding as never before, itself an epoch in their
history. In the twinkling of an eye they have
changed from a debtor nation to a creditor nation
and have become the leading bankers of the world.

8 INTRODUCTION
In spite of the world's turmoil, they have had
leisure in calmness and with deliberation to
settle their internal affairs and to mitigate the
evils which menace the processes of their own
development. Notwithstanding these favors, new issues have
arisen, as a result of the great war that are now
pressing heavily for solution. "America First"
is a watchword with which to stir the patriotism
of the people. "The melting-pot" is a symbol
that tells of our composite character in a time of
"civil war by proxy." "Pan Americanism"
speaks of a new continental policy, "Prepared
ness" — military preparedness, commercial pre
paredness, industrial preparedness, and educa
tional preparedness suggest other problems that
this war has brought to us for solution.
Woodrow Wilson, the President, is guiding this
nation across the gulf that separates the past from
the future. He has established a marvelous leader
ship and has become one of the world's great
figures within the brief span of four years. But
how did he reach this fine eminence?
He laid his hand upon monopoly, and it sur
rendered its power. He drove invisible govern
ment out of Washington and enthroned the

INTRODUCTION 9
people's representatives as sovereign in the
Nation's capital. And when the old era died and
the new appeared, a revitalized democracy faced
the future.
He called to Europe when the mad nations had
slipped their cables and sanity returned. He
stretched his hand to the Latin- American republics
and they grasped it in an hour of peril and the
two continents became friends. He stood by the
prostrate form of Mexico, her silent friend, and
waited patiently for the re-birth of constitutional
government. He kept "America First" aflame in
the hearts of patriots and partisans until hatred
was consumed and America, "the melting-pot of
nations," was prepared to meet the crises of this
new era.
Such is the story that runs through these
chapters.

CONTENTS

PART I
chapter page
I. A New Champion of the People Appears  13
II. A New and Untried Leader is Chosen  25
III. Inaugurating the New Regime  45
IV. A New Tariff: the First Stage in the Journey
to New Freedom  61
V. A New Currency: the Second Stage in the Jour
ney  91
VI. The Destruction of Monopoly: the Third Stage
of the Journey  124
VII. The End of the Old REoiMfi  160
VIII. A New Foreign Policy  166
IX. The President Broadens the Meaning of the
Monroe Doctrine  170
X. The New American Policy Applied to Mexico.. 199
XI. President Wilson's Relations with General
Caeeanza  229
XII. Good Faith and Justice Toward all Nations . . . 259
PART II

XIII. The Eueopean War and a New Era  271
XIV. America First  277
XV. Holding the World to Some Standard  307
XVI. Military Preparedness Becomes a National
Problem  352
XVII. The President Takes the Issue to the People.. 385-
XVIII. The Nation for Military Preparedness  391
XIX. The Need of Commercial Preparedness  408
XX. The Need of Industrial Preparedness  441
XXI. Forming a Pan-American Union  477
XXII. The Need of Educational Preparedness  508
XXIII. The Man in Action  520
11

APPENDIX
SELECTIONS FROM WOODROW WILSON'S
PUBLIC ADDRESSES page
The Spieit of Penn  538
John Barry's Example  540
The Plain Men of the Colonies  543
The Meaning of the Declaration of Independence  548
OuE Duty to the Defenders of the Union  553
The New Eea  557
The American Flag  559
The Meaning of the Flag  560
Let No Man Create Division  561
What America Has to Fear  564
OuE Neutrality Misunderstood  566
The Lesson of the War  568

12

Woodrow Wilson as President
PART I
CHAPTER I
A NEW CHAMPION OF THE PEOPLE APPEARS
Politics ia the year 1912 was staged with all the
elements of the melodrama. Big Business was the vil
lain ; the people 's representatives were crying for rfelief ;
the star players, who were ready to lead the reform
with the zeal of a crusader, were coming to the front
for a round of applause; and from the anterooms the
crafty agents of the villain were conning their parts
in a whispered monotone. Nor was the drama want
ing in the elements of the tragic and the comic. Big
Business was accused of hideous crimes and convicted
of many. But perhaps its most objectionable feature
was its size and the way it supported its weight, which,
like the corpulency of Sir John Falstaff, was a ludicrous
handicap to the progress of the drama. However, when
the curtain arose, Big Business, terrified by the
confusion resulting from a clamor of accusations and
from the assaults of the plumed knights, could have
exclaimed, in the language of the fat comedian, "It
13

14 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
were better to be eaten to death with a rust than to be
scoured to nothing with perpetual motion."
But here the analogy must end. The issues of the
year were too real to be staged, and the unremedied
wrongs too tragic to be used for an evening's enter
tainment. All the strength of the old-time political
parties was accumulating to fight one great evil, and
the campaign for the Presidency was turning on one
issue — human rights against material rights. This prob
lem embraced the questions of monopoly, of special
privilege, of governmental policy, and of the rights of
a free people. But these are trite and time-worn
phrases which for a generation have been rolled like
sweet morsels by friend and foe of liberty; and even
in very remote townships they have served in the ab
sence of a real local issue to elect a township constable
as well as to defeat a great leader for the Presidency.
So long had the evils of monopoly been growing in
the nation, and so long have these terms of abuse been
employed, that they had grown smooth from the abrasion
of perpetual use. Therefore, when the campaign of
1912 opened, they had almost ceased to convey an idea
to many minds, and their chief value seemed to be to
enable the historian or the political economist to trace
the decline of political freedom.
However, one corporation after another had been
brought before the bar of justice and stories of real
or imagined wrongs had been trailed through the press

CHAMPION OP THE PEOPLE 15
of the country so long that the conviction that Big
Business was dishonest and unscrupulous, deepened
with a feeling of distrust and even of hatred. Through
out the nation, therefore, there was such a deep-seated
hostility to it that, in many sections of the country, if
a large corporation went into the courts with a case
that was at all doubtful, it was almost impossible to
secure from a jury a verdict in its favor. Thus the
people at large had formed a habit of mind that was
instinctively hostile to great wealth.
On the other hand, Big Business had formed the
habit of looking to the Government for protection —
protection from the people, protection from competi
tion, protection from interference. The close relation
ship between the national government and large private
interests due to protection gave the impression that
America was ruled by an oligarchy composed of the
captains of industry. In order to protect themselves,
while the spirit of unrest was growing, the business of
the country became so interlaced that the larger indus
trial life stood like a house of cards propped together,
the good and the bad, and when the government at
tacked one, it appeared to be attacking all. Therefore,
it seemed that the government had to protect all or
disturb all, for to destroy bad business threatened dis
aster throughout the country.
Privilege in one form or another had grown very
complex, very pervasive, and could be seen cropping

16 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
out everywhere. It had, in fact, woven itself into every
part of our political life, and many thinking people
had come honestly to the conclusion that such a rela
tionship was natural and that whoever disturbed it
was an enemy to good government. However, there
were many men, even among the captains of industry,
who were profoundly concerned over this relationship,
this dependence of business upon governmental pro
tection, and this interlocking and interlacing of inter
ests. Moreover, the plain people, the great middle
class, who were not members of these gigantic concerns,
and who never asked the government for any right
save to live their lives in a free country, had felt for
a generation that injustice was at work in the nation,
since Big Business did not owe its existence nor its
large profits primarily to increasing efficiency, but to
the control of the market through the destruction of
competition. Thoughtful men in both parties were
aware of these evils. Moreover, it was pointed out,
time after time, that the art of making a living must
be protected more and more effectively, and the only
thing that can guarantee the progress of the race is
competition, or cooperation that does not destroy com
petition. As the summer of 1912 was approaching, when the
political parties were to select their candidates for the
Presidency, the issue was reduced almost to this simple
proposition — monopoly must be destroyed and com-

CHAMPION OF THE PEOPLE 17
petition restored. But monopoly had grown up under
the protection of the government, although the officers
of the government all had been avowed enemies of spe
cial privilege. This was the anomalous and very extraor
dinary condition, the Gordian knot that the nation
— Big Business as well as the people at large — de
sired to see cut. But it was a Herculean task that
confronted the political parties, and the people every
where were asking this question, Would a champion
come forth who could command the strength to win ?
The people had struggled for twenty years against
trusts and monopolies, and they were now calling for
a leader, a man of wisdom and integrity and power.
And it mattered little from what political party he
should comcj
There were two great national leaders in the fulness
of their power, and to them, more than to any others,
the nation looked for guidance in the matter — one was
William Jennings Bryan, a Democrat; and the other
was Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican.
Mr, Bryan had been nominated for the Presidency
of the United States three times and three times had
been defeated ; yet his leadership remained. He seemed
to thrive on defeat. However, after his first defeat
in 1896 he established a newspaper. From that and
from the proceeds of his lectures he provided himself
with freedom of action to go anywhere at any time and
address the people on the issues of the day. The most

18 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
brilliant orator of his generation, he attracted great
audiences wherever he spoke, and he went everywhere
— he knew everybody and everybody knew him. He
was the Kong of Chautauqua platforms. He possessed
wonderful physical vitality and seemed never to tire.
For sixteen years he had voiced the unrest of the na
tion, and there was no doubt that he felt as th€ people
felt. He knew that something was wrong, and he spoke
his feelings in such terms as to stir his audience wher
ever he went. In this way he contributed powerfully
to arousing the people to a sense of their wrongs,
Theodore Roosevelt had been President of the United
States for seven years. During his occupancy of that
ofiice his sayings and his doings continually held pop
ular interest, and he, too, with the prestige of his high
office giving force to his speeches, proclaimed that
things were wrong. He was so powerful that he had
not only been re-elected for a second term, but he had
dictated the nomination of his successor, taken from
his own cabinet, and had materially assisted in the
election which followed. He was gifted with marvelous
political sagacity, and he had the prestige of never
having been beaten. He had contributed greatly to
the spread of progressive ideas, and the full force of
his dramatic personality was thrown into the campaign
for the Presidency.
Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Bryan were the ajitithesis of
each other. What the one was the other was not, and

CHAMPION OF THE PEOPLE 19
willingly they agreed on nothing; yet each knew that
something was wrong. They agreed as to many of the
things that were wrong, but they differed fundamen
tally as to how to remedy the wrong. The year 1912
found both of them private citizens, and yet they were
the two most powerful men in the nation because of
their influence with the people.
All the forces of reform seemed to gather headway
as the great national conventions of 1912 began to
take shape, and striking scenes were witnessed. Mr.
Roosevelt fought Big Business in the Republican
party, but he was beaten in the Chicago Convention
amidst the most dramatic scenes. He withdrew from
the party, organized a third party, became its candidate
for the Presidency, and began one of the most spec
tacular campaigns in the history of the Republic.
President Taft was renominated by the Republican
party ; but he was not a great leader. Neither his hon
esty, his patriotism, nor his ability was seriously ques
tioned. But, when he was in the wrong, he did not
have the adroitness to make his cause appear the better,
and when he was in the right, he did not have the
power to evoke popular support. He was characterized
as "a very poor politician, with no instinct for read
ing the signs of the times or for discharging the high
duties of his office in a way to arouse enthusiasm for
inspiring leadership."
Scarcely had the echoes of the Republican convention

20 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
at Chicago died away when the struggle was renewed
in the Democratic convention at Baltimore. There Mr.
Bryan fought Big Business amidst scenes not less
exciting than those at Chicago. As the contest con
tinued and the agents of monopoly appeared more
active, Mr. Bryan, in a dramatic attack on what seemed
to be the attempt of Big Business to control the
nomination, withdrew his support from one candidate
and threw the weight of his great influence to a less
favored son in the convention, and Governor Woodrow
Wilson, of New Jersey, was nominated. Thus was
ushered into the limelight a third great personality.
The Democratic nominee was referred to as "the
scholar in politics." He had been a teacher of history
and political economy, and had won distinction as an
interpreter of modern sociological and political prob
lems and institutions. Moreover, he was a recognized
writer of force, and his books on government were
widely used both in Europe and America. The teacher
and writer became president of Princeton University in
1902, but his executive duties did not deter him from
discussing political problems, and in the period from
1902 to 1910 while Mr. Bryan and Mr. Roosevelt were
active in politics, Mr. Wilson was analyzing for the
nation the problems of government and pointing to
definite solutions.
But he did not enter politics until 1907, when his
friends in New Jersey brought him out as a candidate

CHAMPION OF THE PEOPLE 21
for the United States Senate. Three years later (1910)
he was nominated for Governor. Only his most en
thusiastic friends believed he could be elected. New
Jersey had been under Republican rule, and for the
most of that time under boss rule of the most distinct
type. However, Mr, Wilson took the stump and at
once loomed large as a political campaigner. His
speeches were so effective that he rapidly obtained a
large following. Metropolitan newspapers featured his
addresses. He was again the interpreter of political
institutions and in his own state he had a concrete illus
tration of private control of political institutions and
the loss of individual freedom and initiative. He was
elected, and this remarkable achievement made him a
Presidential possibility, and in 1912 he was nominated
for the Presidency by the Democratic convention.
The three parties introduced their respective chiefs
to the nation, compiled their platforms and came be
fore the people, each asking for the election of its
candidate. Each asserted emphatically that monopoly
should be destroyed, and that in order to make the
destruction natural as well as complete, the cause of
monopolies should be removed. But men could not
agree as to the cause of monopoly. Was the protective
tariff the leading cause? That was the question. Mr.
Taft, the candidate of the Republican party, said he
was pledged in the Republican platform to "maintain
a degree of protection." Mr. Wilson was opposed to

22 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
all forms of protection. But Mr. Roosevelt's position
was not so clear. He said, "We believe in a tariff for
labor — a tariff to help our wage workers."
Were monopoly and trusts the result, in part, of our
currency laws ? The Republican platform declared that
"our banking arrangements today need further revision
to meet the requirement of current conditions." The
Democratic party said that the nation should be freed
"from control or dominion by what is known as the
money trust. Banks exist for the accommodation of
the public, and not for the control of business," and
all legislation should provide ' ' absolute security to the
public and complete protection from the misuse of the
power given to those who possess it," The Progress
ives declared that "the present method of issuing notes
through private agencies is harmful and unscientific."
However, the complaint against our banking laws ex
tended beyond the bounds of political parties. There
was considerable difference of opinion among the bank
ers themselves. The American Bankers ' Association in
convention at Detroit declared "that this Association
will cooperate with any and all people in devising a
financial system for this country which will place us
on a par with other great commercial and competing
nations; a system which shall give to the American
people of all classes and conditions the financial facili
ties and industrial advantages to which they are en
titled."

CHAMPION OF THE PEOPLE 23
Was there anything inherently wrong in the organ
ization of business ? All parties agreed that there was,
and the indictments under the Sherman anti-trust law
were convincing to the nation. Moreover, Big Busi
ness, being "scoured to nothing with perpetual motion,"
was asking for relief, for surcease from agitation and
for a clear cut road to public favor. Who could give it ;
Mr. Roosevelt and the Progressives, Mr. Taft and the
Republicans, or Mr. Wilson and the Democrats?
The eyes of the nation soon became fixed on two
of the candidates — on Theodore Roosevelt, because of
his spectacular fight against the Republican party ; and
on Woodrow Wilson, because of the extraordinary
chain of events that had produced his nomination. The
Democratic party, notwithstanding the great conven
tion fight, was more united that it had been since 1896.
People everywhere were talking about "Wilson luck."
He was nominated in the face of machine politics and
the money interests. Even Mr. Roosevelt had praised
him highly, not suspecting for a moment he eould be
nominated. He appeared before the nation at a time
when the Republican party was hopelessly divided.
Even in the councils of his party, objectionable men
withdrew and left the management in the hands of his
friends, and opposition within the Democratic party
seemed to fade away without a protest. Then came
the news from Sea Girt, his summer home, that he
would conduct his campaign for election without the

24 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
aid of the National Committeemen. "Remarkable
man!" they said. And many non-Calvinists really
hoped there was something in predestination.
The office of President has become much more com
plicated than it used to be ; and, since it was a prob
ability that Mr. Wilson would be elected if the split
in the Republican party continued, men all over the
world were wondering and asking one another what
constructive qualities he possessed and what power of
resistance he had. His "Essays on Government" were
reread, his books of history became popular at once,
his characterizations of American statesmen were ap
praised, and his political theories were growing in
popularity. A new leader, indeed, had appeared.

CHAPTER II
AN UNTRIED LEADER IS CHOSEN
The campaign of 1912 was unique. Party control
was weak and machine politics were mechanical and
unnatural. The management of the campaign was in
the hands of young men; the press bureau rose into
prominence ; and a direct appeal to the people took the
place of the "inside room" conference.
On August 7 Governor Wilson was formally notified
that he was the choice of the Democratic party for the
presidency of the United States. He had remained
silent since his nomination. But on this occasion party
leaders signaled to him to come forth from his tem
porary retirement and speak to the nation. And he
came forth, the man in action, to translate his political
philosophy, seasoned with mature thought, into a new
freedom for the American people.
It was a part of Mr. Wilson's temperament as well
as his philosophy to hold steadfastly to a small body
of clear cut doctrines, the central idea of which was
the great issue already before the people — the doc
trine that government should have nothing to do
with special privilege. His speech of acceptance was
received by the people as a fine product of a public
25

26 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
man of right convictions. Its greatest significance, it
was said at the time of its utterance, lies in its appeal
"for the emancipation of our public life from its
domination by private interests and by a class of men
who are in politiqs for their own personal benefit."
"We stand," he said, "in the presence of an
awakened Nation, impatient of partisan make-
believe. The public man who does not realize the
fact and feel its stimulation must be singularly
unsusceptible to the influences that stir in every
quarter about him. The Nation has awakened to
a sense of neglected ideals and neglected duties;
to a' consciousness that the rank and file of her
people find life very hard to sustain, that her
young men find opportunity embarrassed, and that
her older men find business difficult to renew and
maintain because of circumstances of privilege
and private advantage which have interlaced their
subtle threads throughout almost every part of
the framework of our present law. She has
awakened to the knowledge that she has lost
certain cherished liberties and has wasted price
less resources which she had solemnly undertaken
to hold in trust for posterity and for all mankind ;
and to the conviction that she stands confronted
with an occasion for constructive statesmanship

AN UNTRIED LEADER 27
such as has not arisen since the great days in
which her Government was set up. ' '
He called the nation to witness that a new age was
at hand, regardless of which candidate was elected.
The suspicion and mistrust and confusion, he argued,
all warned those in authority and those who worked
to be placed in authority that we were on the divide
and governmental process of the future would never
again be the same as those of the past. Then he
asked, "What is there to do?"
"It is hard to sum up the great task, but
apparently this is the sum of the matter: There
are two great things to do. One is to set up the
rule of justice and of right in such matters as the
tariff, the regulation of the trusts, and the preven
tion of monopoly, the adaptation of our banking
and currency laws to the various uses to which our
people must put them, the treatment of those who
do the daily labor in our factories and mines and
throughout all our great commercial and indus
trial undertakings, and the political life of the
people of the Philippines, for whom we hold
governmental power in trust, for their service, not
our own. The other, the additional duty, is the
great task of protecting our people and our

28 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
resources and of keeping open to the whole people
the doors of opportunity through which they must,
generation by generation, pass if they are to make
conquest of their fortunes in health, in freedom,
in peace, and in contentment. In the performance
of this second duty we are face to face with ques
tions of conservation and of development, ques
tions of forests and water powers and mines and
waterways, of the buUding of an adequate mer
chant marine, and the opening of every highway
and facility and the setting up of every safeguard
needed by a great, industrious, expanding nation.
"These are aU great matters on which every
body should be heard. We have got into trouble
in recent years chiefly because these large things,
which ought to have been handled by taking coun
sel with as large a number of people as possible,
because they touched every interest and the life
of every class and region, have in fact been too
often handled in private conference. They have
been settled by very small, and often deliberately
exclusive, groups of men who undertook to speak
for the whole nation, or rather for themselves in
the terms of the whole nation — ^very honestly it
may be true, but very ignorantly sometimes, and
very shortsightedly, too — a poor substitute for

AN UNTRIED LEADER 29
genuine common counsel. No group of directors,
economic or political, can speak for a people.
They have neither the point of view nor the
knowledge. Our difficulty is not that wicked and
designing men have plotted against us, but that
our common affairs have been determined upon
too narrow a view, and by too private an initiative.
Our task is now to effect a great readjustment and
get the forces of the whole people once more into
play. We need no revolution ; we need no excited
change ; we need only a new point of view and a
new method and spirit of counsel. ' '
It was a part of Mr. Wilson's philosophy that the
proper point of view is obtained not from the cloistered
library nor from the "inside room" of political man
agers, but from taking counsel with the body of the
nation. Therefore, in closing his address, he announced
with refreshing frankness a new policy that would be
inaugurated if he should become President,
"No man can be just who is not free," he said,
"and no man who has to show favor ought to
undertake the solemn responsibility of govern
ment, in any rank or post whatever, least of all in
the supreme post of President of the United
States,

30 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
"To be free is not necessarily to be wise. But
wisdom comes with counsel, with the frank and
free conference of untrammeled men united in the
common interest. Should I be entrusted with the
great office of President, I would seek counsel
wherever it could be had upon free terms. I know
the temper of the great convention which nom
inated me ; I know the temper of the country which
lay back of that convention and spoke through it.
I heed with deep thankfulness the message you
bring me from it. I feel that I am surrounded by
men whose principles and ambitions are those of
true servants of the people. I thank God, and will
take courage."
This address became, of course, a campaign docu
ment, and as such it was a mark for the critics. It
was considered by some as "intensely radical," and
by others as "unduly conservative." But it was re
ceived in the main as a "legitimate political discussion,
upon a high plane," and the press was almost unani-
Inous in its praise. Mr. Wilson was calling for a great
readjustment — a judgment day that the nation feared.
Yet all the time it was becoming clearer that the read
justment must come. Could this man who had been
in political life only two years bring "the forces of
the whole people once more into play?"

AN UNTRIED LEADER 31
It was an unusual campaign. The Democratic leader
and the Democratic policies received a minimum of
criticism. The great fight was between the two Repub
lican factions. While the political leaders of the old
Republican party were fighting each other with the
bitterness of a domestic row or a church feud, Woodrow
Wilson was moving toward the Presidency with the
Democratic party behind him. His campaign was con
ducted with personal tact and dignity. Nowhere was
he a popular idol, but his personality kept increasing
its hold upon the public, which at first thought of him
in his academic capacity. But he had been too long
before the American people as a writer and speaker
and he had too many defenders in the nation for his
detractors to ridicule him out of the race. It was
said in his defense that "as an administrator he has
carried on the affairs of a great university, a position
which in our country trains for governmental admin
istration better than almost any other kind of experi
ence," and the dignity and importance of the educa
tional executive was increased. Furthermore, it waS'
declared that "as Governor of New Jersey, he has
shown that he can meet the exigencies of political
parties with firmness and upon high ground," and his
candidacy was strengthened.
Throughout the campaign his political opponents
naturally did their best to find debating ground against
his views as expressed from time to time. But, at the

32 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
conclusion, it was declared even by his generous ad
versaries that "he kept an admirable poise and
temper, talked generalities in a charming manner, and
foiuid himself on good terms with everybody at the
end of his campaign. ' ' Since his election, Mr, Wilson 's
campaign addresses have been collected, rearranged,
and published under the title of ' ' The New Freedom. ' '
But throughout the campaign he held the attention of
the nation to one central issue: "Private monopoly is
indefensible and intolerable," and the causes of
monopoly — the protective tariff, our centralized cur
rency, and our inadequate anti-trust laws — must be
removed. It was a remarkable campaign. In the first place,
the country was in a prosperous condition. The largest
and most profitable harvest in history was at hand.
Labor was unusually well employed. The iron output
was the largest in history, and the money market was
unusually strong. This was certainly not a good year
for the political agitator. But it was an opportune
time to call attention in an unimpfissioned way to a
fundamental weakness in the nation and to take care
ful steps to remedy the defect before a period of de
pression should make an opening for the agitator.
Therefore, as a result of the greatest campaign since
the slavery controversy, the nation was bound to profit,
regardless of who was elected. And Mr. Wilson was
right — a new era was at hand.

AN UNTRIED LEADER 33
As the campaign came to a close, Mr. Wilson's elec
tion was predicted, but the outcome was by no means
certain. Many declared that it was altogether prob
able that there would be no election and that the next
President would be selected by the House of Repre
sentatives. It was a season when machine methods
would not work, and machine estimates were unre
liable. Therefore, the nation was prepared to accept
without much comment the election of any of the three
candidates. After sixteen years of protesting, the Democratic
party was again entrusted with the destiny of the
nation, and Woodrow Wilson, the teacher and phil
osopher, saw a nation in confusion crown him with
authority to lead it back into paths of right and justice
and freedom.
There was, of course, unrestrained joy over the re
sults. The enthusiasts were wild and referred to the
"victory" as a "great revolution" with the Republican
party fallen "into a heap of shapeless ruin." How
ever, Mr. Wilson, the President-elect, was too wise to
be deceived by the size of the electoral vote.
"I want everybody to realize that I was not
taken in by the results of the last national elec
tion,^' he said. "It was impossible for it to go
Eepublican, because it couldn't tell which kind of
Eepublican to go. The only united, helpful instru-

34 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
ment with which it could accomplish its purpose
was the Democratic party, and what it did was
to say this :
" 'There are certain things that we want to
see done, not certain persons whom we want to see
elevated; there are certain things we want to
see administered. This great United States can
no longer be controlled by special interests. Now
we are going to try the Democratic party as our
instrument to discover these things. If the try is
not successful, we will never make it again. We
want an instrument in our hands by which we can
be masters of our own affairs. It looks likely that
this is a suitable and representative instrument;
therefore, we will try it.' "
It had become a political habit to discuss and abuse
monopoly in the midst of a great campaign. But even
after the November election, the question would not
down as usual. When the last session of the Sixty-
second Congress convened in December, the Pujo in
vestigating committee seemed determined to prove that
a consciously constructed "money trust" did exist,
which had the power of life and death over the finan
cial world. Such activity could not be for campaign
purposes, because the campaign was over.
This committee was giving the nation one sensation

AN UNTRIED LEADER 35
after another. Heads of great corporations were called
to Washington and testified concerning the methods
of great corporations, and it was said that business was
panicky and Wall Street was having "an attack of
nerves," Although the existence of a money trust
was not entirely proved, it was shown that a gigantic
concentration of money power did exist and with it
a very large control over banking credit. This evil,
it was said, was due to our antiquated and inadequate
banking laws. Even some of the leading bankers of
the country testified that "concentration to the point
it has gone is a menace," and that if the power result
ing from this concentration should fall into "good
hands, I do not see that it would do any harm; but
if it got into bad hands, it would be very bad. ' '
The next question uppermost in the minds of the
people was. What effect will these disclosures have on
President-elect Wilson, who is a man of "great at
tainments and high character?" His closest friends
advised the nation that honest business would have
nothing to fear from him since, ' ' He works in the open.
His task is done within sight and sound of the people.
There can be no invisible government. He has often
said that what he did as Governor of New Jersey was
to create a situation wherein men were free to act
and work openly." But the situation in Washington
had been so different, it was declared, that the honest

36 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
people "down home" could not even understand the
official language of the Capitol.
It is quite probable, therefore, that so much concern
for the future had not been felt since the election of
Abraham Lincoln, and any public utterance by the
President-elect would naturally be subjected to the
closest scrutiny. He remained silent until the last of
December. In the meantime, the Pujo committee had
been at work and business was declaring that "times
look bad." Mr. Wilson was back in the land of his
birth, in Staunton, Virginia. There he declared again
the principles that should guide him in his administra
tion. He called attention to the fact that the 20th
century is very much like the beginning of the 19th cen
tury, and that we have come back to the fundamental
question of that period — ^the relation of governments
to humanity, and continuing, he said:
"We are learning again that the service of
humanity is the best business of mankind, and that
the business of mankind must be set forward by
the government which mankind sets up, in order
that justice may be done and mercy not forgotten.
All the world, I say, is turning now, as never
before, to this conception of the elevation of
humanity, not of the preferred few, not of those
who can by superior wit or unusual opportunity

AN UNTRIED LEADER 37
struggle to the top, no matter whom they trample
under feet, but of men who cannot struggle to the
top and who must, therefore, be looked to by the
forces of society, for they have no single force by
which they can serve themselves.
"There must be heart in a government and in
the policies of the government. And men must
look to it, that they do unto others as they would
have others do unto them. This has long been
the theme of the discourses of Christian ministers,
but it has not come to be part of the bounden duties
of Ministers of State.
"This is the solemnity that comes upon a man
when he knows that he is about to be clothed with
the responsibilities of a great office, in which will
center part of the example which America shall
set to the world itself. Do you suppose that that
gives a man a very light hearted Christmas? I
could pick out some gentlemen, not confined to one
state — gentlemen likely to be associated with the
government of the United States — who have not
yet had it dawned upon their intelligence what it
is that Government is set up to do. There are
men who will have to be mastered in order that
they shall be made the instruments of justice and
mercy,"

38 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
He declared that the task ahead was not a "rose-
water affair," that there must be some good hard fight
ing in order that we may achieve the things that we
have set out to achieve. He then hurled a challenge
to Big Business that sent a thrill throughout the busi
ness world.
"The word that stands at the center of what
has to be done is a very interesting word indeed.
It has hitherto been supposed to be a word of
charity, a word of philanthropy, a word which has
to do with the operations of the human heart,
rather than with the operations of the human mind.
I mean the word 'service.' The one thing that
the business men of the United States are now
discovering, some of them for themselves, and
some of them by suggestion, is that they are not
going to be allowed to make any money except
for a quid pro quo, that they must render a service
or get nothing, and that in the regulation of busi
ness the government, that is to say, the moral
judgment of the majority must determine whether
what they are doing is a service or not a service,
and that everything in business and politics is
going to be reduced to the standard. 'Are you
giving anything to society when you want to take

AN UNTRIED LEADER 39
anything out of society?' is the question to put to
them." The nation read with eagerness that address the
next morning. The Pujo Committee was still at work,
and there was a panicky feeling along the arteries of
business. Editorials larger, yes much larger, than
the address appeared. They referred to his "service
of humanity" as being somewhat platitudinous. But
his reference to Big Business and the necessity for a
quid pro quo made this paternalistic government shiver,
and Jefferson was quoted to prove that democracy
and government had had nothing to do with this
quid pro quo. It was said that Mr. Wilson would have
so many duties to perform — "the plain, old-fashioned,
needful things he will be called upon to do, we are in
clined to think, that the realization of the ' vision splen
did' by which he at present 'moves attended' may
easily be — and probably will have to be — for a con
siderable time postponed." But one thing was ad
mitted, Mr. Wilson spoke very clearly and distinctly,
and when he reduced his thoughts to writing, he did use
very good English. It was so simple that the plain
man could understand it, and the nation would soon
learn his theories if he wrote and spoke enough. It
did not have to wait long for another word from him.
In January, 1913, the President-elect entered the
very heart of the Big Business district and spoke

40 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
to the Commercial Club of Chicago. "I came," he
said, "to ask your counsel and assistance." It was
very clear, therefore, that Big Business must really
reckon with this educationist who believed in "right
and justice," and the Golden Rule. He called their
attention to an " inner circle, ' ' and to a banking system
' ' that had already been convicted. ' ' They were already
acquainted with the Pujo committee. He reminded
the Club that the business future of this country does
not depend on the Government of the United States.
"The Government," he said, "cannot build a temper,
it cannot generate thought and purpose. Things done
under the whip of the law are done sullenly, somewhat
reluctantly, and never successfully. I want to take
sternness out of the country. I want to see suspicion
dissipated. ' '
This Commercial Club, however, seemed to be un
able to follow him. But he was determined to be under
stood, and he continued:
"I want to see the time brought about when the
rank and file of the citizens of the United States
who have a stem attitude toward the business
men of the country shall be absolutely done away
with and forgotten. Perfectly honest men are now
at a disadvantage in America because business
methods in general are not trusted by the people,

AN UNTRIED LEADER 41
taken as a whole. That is unjust to you, it is
unjust to everybody with whom business deals and
everybody whom business touches.
"In the United States they do not believe — I
mean the rank and file of our people do not
believe — that men of every kind are upon an
equality in their access to the resources of the
country, any more than they believe that every
body is upon equal terms in his access to the justice
of the country. It is believed in this country that
a poor man has less chance to get justice admin
istered to him than a rich man. God forbid that
that should be generally true. ' '
These remarks were appreciated and applauded. But,
when the President-elect suggested his remedy, that
"we must see to it that the business of the United
States is set absolutely free of every feature of monop
oly," the business men gave him a stare and did not
respond. Here Governor Wilson paused, looked around the
banquet room, and then added :
"I notice you do not applaud that. I am some
what disappointed because unless you feel that
way the thing is not going to happen except by

42 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
duress, which is the worst way to bring anything
about, because there will be monopoly in this
country until there are no important business men
who do not intend to bring it about. I know that
when they are talking about that, they say there
is not anybody in the United States who ever
intended to set up a monopoly. But I know there
are some gentlemen who did deliberately go
about to set up monopoly. We know that they
intended to do it because they did it.
' ' I don 't care how big a particular business gets
provided it grows big in contact with sharp com
petition, and I know that a business based upon
genuine capital which has not a drop of water in
it can be conducted with greater efficiency and
economy than a business that is loaded with
water." The morning after this address the stock market was
again unsteady and business was not so good. But
what had the President-elect really said? There are
dishonest men in business, people do not believe that
they can get justice, business relies too much on gov
ernment, monopolies must go. A few days later he
spoke in Trenton, New Jersey, and again his "attack on
business" was disconcerting. Now, the very fact that
business became excited was either a proof that the

AN UNTRIED LEADER 43
newly elected President was right, or this Calvinist
might have some blue laws up his sleeve which he ex
pected to enforce later. The press of the country was
somewhat severe in its criticism of these speeches, and
for several days the business of the country seemed to
be very much alarmed. It was even reported that his
utterances were about to produce a panic. One may re
read the above addresses today and smile at the uneasy
state produced by such utterances. However, the
panicky feeling was so perceptible that Mr. Wilson's
secretary felt called upon to issue the following state
ment: "Attempts are being made to make an issue of Gov
ernor Wilson's speech at Chicago. This is nothing less
than amusing. Governor Wilson's attitude on business
and its relations to government, as expressed in his
several speeches since election, is, as any well informed
person in the country would testify, exactly the same
as his attitude before his nomination and before his
election. "Every word that Governor Wilson has uttered is
in complete harmony with the principles to which he
has strictly adhered throughout his public career. If
there is any surprise in this attitude, it can be man
ifested only by those who fail to realize that the country
has elected to the Presidency an honest and fearless
HI an who means exactly what he says."
The panic existed only in the newspapers of the

44 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
country. But it was discovered that Big Business was
was preparing to declare war on the new administra
tion. That was natural. It was what might have been
expected. However, as the date for the inauguration
approached, Governor Wilson's speeches became less
specific, and more editorial lines were devoted to his
character and integrity. His policies were clearly out
lined. He had settled convictions on the tariff, on cur
rency reform, and on anti-trust legislation. Beyond
this, he spoke in general terms, and he came up to the
fourth of March with a determination to correct these
three evils.
The agitation period had passed, and the constructive
period had begun. His speech, accepting the nomina
tion, gave his analysis of conditions as they existed
and his remedies for righting the wrongs from which
the people suffered, and within less than two years
after the assembling of his first Congress, these rem
edies had been written into law. Seldom in political
history has the nation witnessed such a conjunction of
promise and performance. To study what he promised
to do, what he did do, and how he did it, constitutes
a complete exposition of the processes of the Executive
and Legislative Departments of government in Amer
ica; consequently, aside from the significance of the
laws themselves, this period of President Wilson's ad
ministration will always be of engrossing interest to
students of history.

CHAPTER III
INAUGURATING THE NEW REGIME
A great President is made in the White House, No
previous training is so complete, no knowledge is so
comprehensive, and no experience has so functioned
under the pressure of that peculiar responsibility as
to enable even those gifted with a sense of prophecy to
foretell with any degree of certainty the successes or
failures of a new Executive. The nation had been
deeply stirred, by the great campaign which had ele
vated Woodrow Wilson to the Presidency, and after
the heat of the contest and after the people had had
the opportunity to take a calm view of the situation,
men everywhere were asking this one question : What
kind of President would be born in the White House
on March 4, 1913?
The Democratic party had been a protesting body
for twenty years — protesting against the policies of
the Republican party, which had been the official pol
icies of the nation. It had formed the protesting habit,
which seemed to be its chief function and its main
excuse for existing. But its protests had, at last, be
come the adopted policies of the nation ; and, in a period
of apparent national prosperity, this significant trans-
45

46 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
formation had taken place. It was quite evident, there
fore, that a new era was at hand, but its full meaning
was distressingly obscure, and a feeUng of pessimism
pervaded the country where, heretofore, special priv
ilege, secure under the protection of the government,
was so buoyant and optimistic. What did the change
mean? Was the judgment day at hand?
It was the fourth of March, 1913, that the business
of America dreaded. But the day was at hand. An
immense throng had gathered around the Capitol to
see the old party, that had been in continuous power
since the overthrow of slavery (with the exception of
two short intervals), turn the government over to the
party that had had so little voice in the government
of the nation for a half century. But what did it all
mean? The new-found leader took the oath to support the
Constitution, and turning to the great out-of-doors and
speaking to the people of the United States, he declared
that he would answer the question "that is uppermost
in our minds today."
"There has been a change of government. It
began two years ago, when the House of Eepre
sentatives became Democratic by a decisive major
ity. It has now been completed. The Senate about
to assemble will also be Democratic. The offices of
President and Vice-President have been put into

THE NEW REGIME 47
the hands of Democrats. What does the change
mean? That is the question that is uppermost in
our minds today. That is the question I am going
to try to answer, if I may, in order to interpret
the occasion.
"It means much more than the mere success of
a party. The success of a party means little
except when the nation is using that party for a
large and definite purpose. No one can mistake
the purpose for which the nation now seeks to use
the Democratic party. It seeks to use it to inter
pret a change in its own plans and point of view.
Some old things with which we had grown familiar,
and which had begun to creep into the very habit
of our thought and of our lives, have altered their
aspect as we have latterly looked critically upon
them with fresh awakened eyes; have dropped
their disguises and shown themselves alien and
sinister. Some new things, as we look frankly
upon them, willing to comprehend their real
character, have come to assume the aspect of
things long believed in and familiar, stuff of our
own convictions. We have been refreshed by a
new insight into our own life.
"We see that in many things that life is very
great. It is incomparably great in its material

48 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
aspects, in its body of wealth, in the diversity and
sweep of its energy, and in the industries which
have been conceived and built up by the genius of
individual men and the limitless enterprise of
groups of men. It is great, also, very great, in its
moral force. Nowhere else in the world have
noble men and women exhibited in more striking
forms the beauty and the energy of sympathy and
of helpfulness and counsel in their efforts to
rectify wrong, alleviate suffering, and set the weak
in the way of strength and hope. We have built
up, moreover, a great system of government, which
has stood through a long age as in many respects
a model for those who seek to set liberty upon
foundations that will endure against fortuitous
change, against storm and accident. Our life
contains every great thing, and contains it in rich
abundance. "But the evil has come with the good, and much
fine gold has been corroded. With riches has come
inexcusable waste. We have squandered a great
part of what we might have used, and have not
stopped to conserve the exceeding bounty of
nature, without which our genius for enterprise
would have been worthless and impotent, scorning
to be careful, shamefully prodigal as well as

THE NEW REGIME 49
admirably efficient. We have been proud of our
industrial achievements, but we have not hitherto
stopped thoughtfully enough to count the human
cost, the cost of lives snuffed out, of energies over
taxed and broken, the fearful physical and
spiritual cost to the men and women and children
upon whom the dead weight and burden of it all
has fallen pitilessly the years through. The
groans and agony of it all had not yet reached our
ears, the solemn, moving undertone of our life,
coming up out of the mines and factories and out
of every home where the struggle had its intimate
and familiar seat. With the great Government
went many deep secret things which we too long
delayed to look into and scrutinize with candid,
fearless eyes. The great Government we loved has
too often been made use of for private and selfish
purposes, and those who used it had forgotten
the people.
"At last a vision has been vouchsafed us of our
life as a whole. We see the bad with the good, the
debased and decadent with the sound and vital.
With this vision we approach new affairs. Our
duty is to cleanse, to reconsider, to restore, to
correct the evil without impairing the good, to
purify and humanize every process of our common

50 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
life without weakening or sentimentalizing it.
There has been something crude and heartless and
unfeeling in our haste to succeed and be great.
Our thought has been, 'Let every man look out
for himself, let every generation look out for
itself,' while we reared giant machinery which
made it impossible that any, but those who stood
at the levers of control should have a chance to
look out for themselves. We had not forgotten
our morals. We remembered well enough that we
had set up a policy which was meant to serve the
humblest as well as the most powerful, with an eye
single to the standards of justice and fair play,
and remembered it with pride. But we were very
heedless and in a hurry to be great.
"We have come now to the sober second thought.
The scales of heedlessness have fallen from our
eyes. We have made up our minds to square every
process of our national life again with the
standards we so proudly set up at the beginning,
and have always carried at our hearts. Our work
is a work of restoration.
"We have itemized with some degree of par
ticularity the things that ought to be altered, and
here are some of the chief items : A tariff which
cuts us off from our proper part in the commerce

THE NEW REGIME 51
of the world, violates the just principles of taxa
tion, and makes the Government a facile instru
ment in the hands of private interests ; a banking
and currency system based upon the necessity of
the Government to sell its bonds fifty years ago
and perfectly adapted to concentrating cash and
restricting credits; an industrial system, which,
take it on all sides, financial as well as admin
istrative, holds capital in leading strings, restricts
the liberties and limits the opportunities of labor,
and exploits without renewing or conserving the
natural resources of the country; a body of agri
cultural activities never yet given the efficiency of
great business undertakings or served as it should
be through the instrumentality of sciences taken
directly to the farm, or afforded the facilities of
credit best suited to its practical needs; water
courses undeveloped; waste places unreclaimed;
forests untended, fast disappearing without plan
or prospect of renewal; unregarded waste heaps
at every mine. We have studied as perhaps no
other nation has the most effective means of pro
duction, but we have not studied cost or economy
as we should either as organizers of industry, as
statesmen, or as individuals.
"Nor have we studied and perfected the means

52 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
by which government may be put at the service of
humanity, in safeguarding the health of the nation,
the health of its men and its women and its
children, as well as their rights in the struggle for
existence. This is no sentimental duty. The firm
basis of government is justice, not pity. These
are matters of justice. There can be no equality
of opportunity, the first essential of justice in the
body politic, if men and women and children be
not shielded in their lives, their very vitality, from
the consequences of great industrial and social
processes which they cannot alter, control, or
singly cope with. Society must see to it that it
does not itself crush or weaken or damage its own
constituent parts. The first duty of law is to keep
sound the society it serves. Sanitary laws, pure-
food laws, and laws determining conditions of
labor which individuals are powerless to determine
for themselves are intimate parts of the very busi
ness of justice and legal efficiency.
"These are some of the things that we ought
to do, and not leave the others undone, the old-
fashioned, never-to-be-neglected fundamental safe
guarding of property and of individual right. This
is the high enterprise of the new day: To lift
everything that concerns our life as a nation to the

THE NEW REGIME 53
light that shines from the hearth fire of every
man's conscience and vision of the right. It is
inconceivable that we should do this as partisans ;
it is inconceivable that we should do it in ignorance
of the facts as they are or in blind haste. We
shall restore, not destroy. We shall deal with our
economic system as it is, and as it may be modified,
not as it might be if we had a clean sheet of paper
to write upon; and step by step we shall make it
what it should be, in the spirit of those who ques
tion their own wisdom and seek counsel and knowl
edge, not shallow self-satisfaction or the excite
ment of excursion whither they cannot tell.
Justice, and only justice, shall always be our
motto. "And yet it will be no cool process of mere
science. The nation has been deeply stirred,
stirred by a solemn passion, stirred by the knowl
edge of wrong, of ideals lost, of government too
often debauched and made an instrument of evil.
The feelings with which we face this new age of
right and opportunity sweep across our heart
strings like some air out of God's own presence,
where justice and mercy are reconciled and the
judge and the brother are one. We know our task
to be no mere task of politics, but a task which

54 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
shall search us through and through, whether we
be able to understand our time and the need of
our people, whether we be indeed their spokesmen
and interpreters, whether we have the pure heart
to comprehend and the rectified will to choose our
high course of action,
"This is not a day of triumph; it is a day of
dedication. Here muster not the forces of party,
but the forces of humanity. Men's hearts wait
upon us; men's lives hang in the balance; men's
hopes call upon us to say what we will do. Who
shall live up to the great trust? Who dares fail
to try? I summon all honest men, all patriotic, all
forward-looking men, to my side. God helping me,
I will not fail them, if they will but counsel and
sustain me ! ' '
And this was his answer! He bowed to the great
out-of-doors and left the rostrum. The anxious sea of
humanity that had stood for a short time with up
turned faces and with ears eager to catch his words, now
flowed toward Pennsylvania Avenue to see the newly
created President of the United States move in state
from the Capitol to the White House, and the next
morning the world was commenting on his address.
The American people seemed to appreciate the new
note of freedom that was sounded, and it was the sense

THB NEW REGIME 55
of the great body of the nation that i£ the President
and his cabinet could but live and work in the spirit
of that address, "squaring their conduct to its prin
ciples of unswerving justice and unselfish duty, we
shall have indeed a great administration." There was
little pessimism in the nation on March 5. Even a
large number of Mr. WUson 's opponents, it was de
clared, "are now hopeful that he will succeed" and
"the public conscience is ready to support any sound
remedies for existing evils."
The days of protest and warning were now over. The
policy of the new administration was frankly laid bare
in the Inaugural Address, and the important legislation
needed to set the energies of the nation free were
stated in a few words; and he could confidently hope
that the nation would not turn a deaf ear to his mov
ing and solemn note of appeal.
The circumstances that placed him at the head of
the nation were unusual. He had received only about
6,000,000 votes, while more than 8,000,000 had been cast
for the other candidates. Lincoln was similarly elected
in 1861. But the Civil War united enough Republicans
and Democrats to make him secure in his power. ' ' No
such civic convulsion will come to Wilson's aid," it was
argued. "Only by following lines of peaceful and
domestic policy can he hope to consolidate his political
strength," and make himself the real leader of the
nation. He was already recognized as a great writer

56 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
and public speaker. But essays and orations stir other
leaders to marshal their forces, and there is no limit
"to the energizing of reform and the quickening of the
human spirit." But would Woodrow Wilson combine
with these two great qualities this most essential one —
a great leader of the whole people? That was the
question. Mr. Wilson 's first official act was the appointment of
his cabinet, his official advisers. Although this act was
a disappointment, somewhat, to many of his ardent
supporters, it was not alleged that the appointments had
been dictated to him or that there was the faintest trace
of "boss rule" in connection with them. He was un
questionably making his own appointments. The senti
ment of the conservative minds of the country, more
over, was expressed by The Nation: "Bearing in mind
the long exclusion of the Democratic party from power,
and also the fact that Mr. Wilson decided not to weaken
the narrow Democratic majority in the Senate by in
viting any of the abler men there to a seat in his Cab
inet, his final choice will, we think, be generally ad
mitted to be as wise as he could have made." If this
was a positive compliment to the President, it was a
doubtful one to the party in power.
The first problem before the President was to unify
the Executive and the Legislative powers in harmony.
He was the head of the nation but an untried national
leader. However, it was his prerogative to suggest

THE NEW REGIME 57
and apprise, and Congress to debate and enact. His
preparation for such a responsible position was rather
uncertain; and it was this uncertainty that was trou
bling many people, and many of them belonged to the
legislative body of the nation.
The country had grown accustomed to think of the
Senate as an assemblage of "Conscript Fathers" pos
sessing great dignity. "Senatorial courtesy" is a dis
tinct reminder even today of the traditional sacredness
of the rights of Senators to unlimited speech. More
over, it was then an historic evidence, entertained not
only by the country at large but by the Senators them
selves, that the Senate was "the greatest deliberative
body in the world." However, that body was under
going a great change. The upheaval that finally
brought the Democratic party into power brought a
change in the manner of electing United States Sen
ators. The Senate of the Sixty-third Congress was the
last to be elected by the State Legislatures.
On the last of May, 1913, the Secretary of State
signed the formal announcement of the Seventeenth
Amendment to the Constitution providing for the di
rect election of Senators. It was the last of the old
regime, therefore, that Mr. Wilson found on the morn
ing after his inauguration, but it was an honored and
honorable body. There were Senators of such large
and successful experience that Woodrow Wilson was
still a boy when they began to render such distinguished

58 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
service to the country. Fifteen had been in the Senate
for more than twelve years, and twenty-six had com
pleted more than six years. However, the new Presi
dent had never been a legislator. His mature life, save
two years as Governor, had been spent in the school
room. Therefore, it was not a secret that the Senate
and even the country at large had misgivings as to
his power to guide such an honored and experienced
body of statesmen.
Moreover, the House of Representatives, a large and
somewhat unwieldy body, composed of 440 members,
represented all phases of our amalgamated life and
interests. It, too, had among its leaders a group of
men who had been in training almost a generation.
Some had achieved national distinction when Woodrow
Wilson was just beginning to attract attention as a
teacher and interpreter of political economy. Two mem
bers of the House of Representatives, because of their
distinguished service, were popular candidates for the
Presidency when Mr. Wilson was nominated. Master
tacticians, skillful strategists, and political "war
horses ' ' were in charge of the House of Representatives
on the 4th of March, 1913. Would the new President
be able to organize them and direct them in this new
course that was promised in the campaign and pro
posed on the day of his inauguration? Many- people
doubted it. Even the House of Representatives itself
had some misgivings.

THE NEW REGIME 59
Monopoly must be destroyed! This was the slogan
during the campaign; it was the subject of Mr. Wil
son's utterances between his election and his inaugura
tion; and it was the heart of his inaugural address.
But this dangerous dragon was too powerful and too
deadly to be slain by the arm of a single knight, even
though he were clothed with the strength of Sir Gal
ahad. Mr. Wilson had intimated that he would assem
ble Congress for the purpose of beginning his reforms.
And men wondered.
The Democratic party had apparently lost the habit
of cooperating as a unit. Moreover, it was argued that
the Democratic party, although it had been protesting
for a generation against abuses in the government,
was, like the Republican party, so boss-ridden that no
man could lead it as a unit against the wrongs that cried
aloud for redress. Furthermore, it was believed that
when a party long out of power comes into control of
the government, it is possessed of an enthusiasm and
a loyalty that gives it a certain degree of unity, and
makes it for the moment amenable to wise leadership.
But with continued power, more and more factionalism
would appear and refractory spirits would obstruct the
administration's policies. Then the old-time machine
politicians would step into the breach and governmental
processes would continue very much as in the past.
And a degree of pessimism appeared in the hearts of
honest men who were hopeful the day after the elec-

60 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
tion that the new administration would * ' effect a great
readjustment and get the forces of the whole people
once more into play. ' '
The destiny of this nation was completely in the
hands of the Democratic party. This new guardian,
having been out of power for so many years, and now
being flushed with victory, was eager to take charge
and begin the journey. On this point the Executive
and the Legislative departments were in complete har
mony. The President's vision for "new freedom" for
all Americans was clearly the vision of the party in
control of Congress. Therefore, their purposes were
identical. Such were the prospects on April 8, when
the New Congress, in response to the President's call,
met in special session.

CHAPTER IV
A NEW TARIFF: THE FIRST STAGE IN THE
JOURNEY TO NEW FREEDOM
President Wilson had been a close student of politics
and of history in-the-making, for more than a quarter
of a century. He was plainly aware of the fact that
his greatest influence would, in all probability, be in
the beginning of his administration. Therefore, it was
no surprise to the nation when he called Congress to
meet in special session so soon after his inauguration.
Simultaneously, he announced that he would not be
pestered with office seekers ; that no office seeker need
call on him except upon invitation, because he would
devote his best thought and energies to the larger
questions and those most vital to the country ; and the
nation applauded this act as a promise of greater effi
ciency. The new life in the government was so vigorous that
the thoughtful men of the country began to advise Big
Business to adjust itself as soon as possible to a new
tariff law, since it was evident that the Administration
meant to act promptly, and it seemed to be morally
certain that a new tariff law would be enacted.
61

62 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
Immediately after the call was issued for an extraor
dinary session of Congress committees from the House
and Senate became very active studying rates and
schedules and revenue. "It will be little short of
criminal for Big Business to wait until the new tariff
law is a fact and then cry 'panic,' " was the warning
to the business of the country.
However, the vigor of the new life was so exhilarating
that the public mind was drawn temporarily away from
the great issue, and speculation was rife as to who
would be the real leader of this incoherent Democratic
party. Would any one man be able to unify it, make
it coherent, and direct it as a disciplined body of
trained workers capable of holding the safety of all
the people in its grasp? Would a great leader be de
veloped and would the new Democratic administration
be famous because of such a leader in Congress ? Would
the new President become such a leader? Or would
the party disintegrate and wait for the old party to
step back into power? Would a new party, like that
that brought Jackson and Lincoln into the White House
be formed? We were clearly at the beginning of a
new era. Who would become the statesman of the
hour? Congress convened April 8, 1913, It had already
been heralded abroad that President Wilson, in his
first official relations to the newly assembled Congress,
would overturn a century-old precedent by appearing

A NEW TARIFF 63
in person at the joint session of both Houses of Congress
to deliver his first message. The practice, born of the
British "Address from the Throne," was established
in this country by Washington, continued by Adams,
but abandoned by Jefferson, and for 112 years the
Presidents had sent all their messages to Congress,
most of which were unusually long and tiresome, to be
read by clerks, while the members for the most part
attended to other duties.
Mr. Wilson, however, was serious in proposing to
appear in person at the first session. He was advised
that such an act would be revolutionary and would be
resented by both Houses. The act would savor too
much of the methods of a dictator; and it was the in
tention of the Fathers that the Executive and the Leg
islative departments should forever remain independent
of each other.
In anticipation of the event the galleries were
crowded long before the appointed hour, and Capitol
Hill was thronged with thousands unable to gain en
trance to the House of Representatives. The hour ar
rived, but there was some delay. It was a tense
moment. Then the Senators filed in, thirty minutes
late, in formal dress, dignified, some of them sullen.
One Senator remarked that he hoped this would be the
last time the Senate of the United States would be
humiliated by being called to the House Chamber to^
receive a message from the "throne." The two Houses

64 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
were now assembled. Then the President stepped in
from a side door and took his place at the stand of the
reading clerk.
"Senators and Representatives!" exclaimed Mr.
Speaker Clark, the presiding officer of the joint session,
"I have the distinguished honor of presenting the Pres
ident of the United States. ' '
And after 112 years the voice of the Chief Executive
of the United States was heard in the assembly hall
of the greatest legislative body in the world.
"Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Gentlemen of the
Congress :
"I am very glad indeed to have this opportunity
to address the two Houses directly, and to verify
for myself the impression that the President of
the United States is a person, not a mere depart
ment of the government hailing Congress from
some isolated island of jealous power, sending
messages, not speaking naturally and with his own
voice, that he is a human being trying to cooperate
with other human beings in a common service.
After this pleasant experience I shall feel quite
normal in all our dealings with one another. ' '
He had captured his audience, and no address within
a century had received closer attention. Before the

A NEW TARIFF 65
astonishment of the moment had fully disappeared, he
had given Congress its first task to perform and had
intimated that as soon as it was accomplished he would
appear again. He said :
"I have called the Congress together in ex
traordinary session because a duty was laid upon
the party now in power at the recent elections
which it ought to perform promptly, in order that
the burden carried by the people under existing
law may be lightened as soon as possible and in
order, also, that the business interests of the
country may not be kept too long in suspense as to
what the fiscal changes are to be to which they
will be required to adjust themselves.
"It is clear to the whole country that the tariff
duties must be altered. They must be changed to
meet the radical alteration in the conditions of
our economic life which the country has witnessed
within the last generation. While the whole face
and method of our industrial and commercial life
were being changed beyond recognition, the tariff
schedules have remained what they were before
the change began, or have moved in the direction
they were given when no large circumstance of
our industrial development was what it is today.
Our task is to square them with the actual facts.

66 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
The sooner that is done the sooner we shall escape
from suffering from the facts and the sooner our
men of business will be free to thrive by the law
of nature (the nature of free business) instead of
by the law of legislation and artificial arrange
ment. "We have seen tariff legislation wander very
far afield in our day — very far indeed from the
field in which our prosperity might have had a
normal growth and stimulation. No one who looks
the facts squarely in the face or knows anything
that lies beneath the surface of action can fail to
perceive the principles upon which recent tariff
legislation has been based. We long ago passed
beyond the modest notion of 'protecting' the
industries of the country and moved boldly for
ward to the idea that they were entitled to the
direct patronage of the Government. For a long
time — a time so long that the men now active in
public policy hardly remember the conditions that
preceded it — ^we have sought in our tariff schedules
to give each group of manufacturers or producers
what they themselves thought that they needed in
order to maintain a practically exclusive market
as against the rest of the world.
' ' Consciously or unconsciously, we have built up

A NEW TARIFF 67
a set of privileges and exemptions from competi
tion behind which it was easy by any, even the
crudest, forms of combination to organize monop
oly; until at last nothing is normal, nothing is
obliged to stand the tests of efficiency and
economy, in our world of Big Business, but every
thing thrives by concerted arrangement. Only
new principles of action will save us from a final
hard crystallization of monopoly and a complete
loss of the influences that quicken enterprise and
keep independent energy alive.
"It is plain what those principles must be. We
must abolish everything that bears even the
semblance of privilege or of any kind of artificial
advantage, and put our business men and pro
ducers under the stimulation of a constant neces
sity to be efficient, economical, and enterprising,
masters of competitive supremacy, better workers
and merchants than any in the world. Aside from
the duties laid upon articles which we do not, and
probably can not, produce, therefore, and the
duties laid upon luxuries and merely for the sake
of the revenues they yield, the object of the tariff
duties henceforth laid must be effective competi
tion, the whetting of American wits by contest
with the wits of the rest of the world.

68 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
"It would be unwise to move toward this end
headlong, with reckless haste, or with strokes that
cut at the very roots of what has grown up
amongst us by long process and at our own invita
tion. It does not alter a thing to upset it and
break it and deprive it of a chance to change. It
destroys it. We must make changes in our fiscal
laws, in our fiscal system, whose object is develop
ment, a more free and wholesome development,
not revolution or upset or confusion. We must
build up trade, especially foreign trade. We need
the outlet and the enlarged field of energy more
than we ever did before. We must build up in
dustry as well, and must adopt freedom in the
place of artificial stimulation only so far as it will
build, not pull down.
"In dealing with the tariff the method by which
this may be done will be a matter of judgment,
exercised item by item. To some not accustomed
to the excitements and responsibilities of greater
freedom our methods may in some respects and at
some points seem heroic, but remedies may be
heroic and yet be remedies. It is our business to
make sure that they are genuine remedies. Our
object is clear. If our motive is above just chal-

A NEW TARIFF 69
lenge and only an occasional error of judgment is
chargeable against us, we shall be fortunate.
"We are called upon to render the country a
great service in more matters than one. Our
responsibilities should be met and our methods
should be thorough, as thorough as moderate and
well considered, based upon the facts as they are,
and not worked out as if we were beginners. We
are to deal with the facts of our own day, with the
facts of no other, and to make laws which square
with those facts. It is best, indeed, it is necessary,
to begin with the tariff. I will urge nothing upon
you now at the opening of your session which can
obscure that first object or divert our energies
from that clearly defined duty.
"At a later time I may take the liberty of calling
your attention to reforms which should press close
upon the heels of the tariff changes, if not accom
pany them, of which the chief is the reform of our
banking and currency laws ; but just now I refrain.
For the present, I put these matters on one side
and think only of this one thing — of the changes
in our fiscal system which may best serve to open
once more the free channels of prosperity to a
great people whom we would serve to the utmost
and throughout both rank and file."

70 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
When he had finished, he thrust the copy of his
message into the inside pocket of his coat and, bowing
to the audience, he said: "I sincerely thank you for
your courtesy."
At the end of the sentence the galleries gave a tre
mendous applause, and Senators and Members joined
in with enthusiasm. And, while the audience was re
covering from the astonishment caused by his manner
and the brevity of his message, he quietly withdrew
from the Chamber, having demonstrated in an address
of less than ten minutes his masterful skill and in
vincible magnetism, by first convincing and then cap
turing his critics.
Whether the Democratic party and the nation had
drawn a real leader, the astonished body did not yet
know. He did not have the manner of a dictator, nor
did he appear to be encroaching upon the ancient rights
of the Legislative body. But, one thing was certain.
The nation had a unique, if not an extraordinary cit
izen to deal with, since the conception of the act re
quired courage and to execute it called for great bold
ness. Moreover, there was a unanimous assent to the
brevity of his message and the comments were very
much in his favor, if the breaking of the ancient custom
means that in the future these messages are to be
"brief, direct, bold and fundamental, rather than
merely legal arguments or statistical compends. ' ' But

A NEW TARIFF 71
the President's innovation meant more than that — ^he
was attempting to establish human and personal rela
tions with Congress, and a closer relationship between
the Executive and Legislative powers was desirable for
obvious reasons.
Congress now had one task — to revise the tariff "in
order that the burden carried by the people under ex
isting laws may be lightened as soon as possible and
in order, also, that the business interests of the country
may not be kept too long in suspense as to what the
fiscal changes are to be to which they will be required
to adapt themselves. ' '
Much of the preliminary work of revising the tariff
schedule had already been done, and during the few
weeks between the inauguration of the President and
the assembling of Congress, the new tariff bill was
drafted. Therefore, on the morning of the Sth of April,
when Senators and Representatives were listening to
the President's address, they had before them published
copies of the new tariff bill which was ready to be in
troduced. The people of the country read the pro
posed bill the day before they read the President's
address. Therefore, there was no necessity for the
President to go into details. He was discussing fun
damental principles. In this manner the nation was
led from detail to general truths, and, to say the least,
the President was pedagogical. And again the business
men of the country were urged by the patriotic press to

72 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
prepare themselves for the change and not to be caught
like the foolish virgins unprepared for the event.
There was something spectacular about the progress
of the tariff bill through Congress. A steady campaign
was waged throughout the nation for funds to main
tain a lobby and to create sentiment that might deter
the work of the Representatives and Senators. The
sugar interests made a "burning appeal" to the na
tion. The woolen interests, that had enjoyed protec
tion for so long, were panic-stricken and saw national
disaster ahead if wool should be put on the free list.
Cotton manufacturers felt the cold wind of ingratitude
for the business they had built up, became disgusted
with politics, and returned home when the tariff knife
cut away a part of their protection. The "voice of
reason" was heard in the land "protesting against un
due haste." The alarmist saw the Democratic party
rushing to its doom and carrying in its wake disaster
to the whole country. In the meantime a conference
of the two wings of the Republican party was held for
the purpose of getting together, although it was on the
tariff that the party split.
It soon became quite evident that Big Business,
instead of preparing for the inevitable change, was
making ready to fight it. And that "whispering sys
tem," the lobby, that the President had anathematized
during the campaign, was quietly and very deter
minedly at work to circumvent every important reduc-

A NEW TARIFF 73
tion of the tariff. Moreover, in New Jersey, his own
state, the legislature, in its efforts to control the trusts,
was handicapped at every step.
Mr. Wilson had declared before his inauguration
that he meant to see business set free and the govern
ment dissolved from its co-partnership with monopoly.
Moreover, he declared that he would fight for this
"new freedom," and he added that he really liked a
fight when it became necessary to fight.
"There is only one canon of Americanism,"
he said soon after Congress convened, "and the
real, constant difficulty of American politics is to
bring it back so that it will square with the
standards set up at the first when the Eevolution
was fought out and an independent nation was
established in America. We established an inde
pendent nation in order that men might enjoy a
new kind of happiness and a new kind of dignity;
that kind which a man has when he respects every
other man's and woman's individuality as he re
spects his own; when he is not willing to draw
distinctions between classes, when he is not willing
to shut the door of privilege in the face of any
one." But wherever he turned, that "invisible government"
was deliberately at work, and its chief executive, the

74 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
politician boss, that self-appointed trustee, was busy
in the national capital as well as in the state capitals
to bar the "door of privilege" and destroy the first
canon of Americanism, The President's attack on the
political boss was well planned. The opening assault
was made in his own state, where he declared in very
strong terms that that "whispering system" must va
cate and give democracy a chance.
"The people of this country and of this State
are going to have what they know they ought to
have by one process or another," he said. "I
pray that it may not be a wrong process. I do
not myself believe that dangerous things will
happen. But I want to warn these men (the
bosses) not too long to show the people of this
country that justice cannot be got by the ordinary
processes of law. I warn them to stand out of the
sovereign way,
"I have traveled from one end of this country
to the other. I have looked into the faces of many
audiences. I have never seen any symptoms that
men were going to kick over the traces of the laws
they have made, but I have seen a great majesty
seated upon their countenances, and infinite
patience. Thus they are sitting now."
„ Then he issued a warning for all men to heed :

A NEW TARIFF 75
"This is the test; this is the trial; this is the
ultimate seat of judgment, and if these men will
not serve the people, they will be swept away like
chaff before the wind. Other men more honest,
more active, more wholesome, with the freshness
of a new age upon them, with eyes that see the
country as it is — men who are cool and thoughtful
and determined — will go to the front and lead the
people to the day of victory,
"Then America will be crowned with a new
wreath of self-revelation and of self-discovery,
and these creatures will have disappeared like the
dust in the wheels of the chariot of God. It is this
hope, it is this confidence that keeps the President
of the United States alive. It is this confidence
that makes it good to come back to New Jersey
and fight for the old cause."
In this connection he declared also that he was the
President of the people of the United States. "I am
not the servant of the Democratic party," he said,
"I am the servant of the people, acting through the
Democratic party, which has now undertaken some
of the most solemn obligations that a party ever under
took, for it has stepped forward at a moment of uni
versal disappointment and said, 'We pledge you our

76 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
honor as men and as patriots that you shall not be dis
appointed again,' "
He knew that the same "whispering system" was at
work in the national capital. There were men without
any visible occupation who lived well in Washington
hotels and professed to have political influence at their
disposal. Moreover, there were agents who supplied
the press with advertisements and newspaper articles.
Groups of people were organized in many states whose
business it was to flood the Representatives and Sen
ators with letters from "down home," with the purpose
of frightening timid members of Congress and thus
defeating the Administration's tariff plans. The Pres
ident's New Jersey speeches created a little excitement.
But when he returned to Washington, he had only to
watch the same agencies at work.
The month of May was nearly gone. Congress had
been in session about six weeks, and the tariff bills,
which were ready to be considered by the House at
the opening session, had made considerable progress.
However, obstruction after obstruction Avas placed in
the way of the Members. The President had already
declared that the people of this country are going to
have, by one process or another, what they know they
ought to have. Therefore, he warned the bosses "to
stand out of the sovereign way." And instead of
heeding this warning, they seemed to be so strongly
intrenched that they dared to defy the Administration.

A NEW TARIFF 77
A reformed tariff in accordance with Democratic
principles was the first step in his "new freedom."
It was the beginning of his Americanism, and the evi
dence that this "whispering system," these self-
appointed trustees, were undertaking to say what kind
of a tariff bill the nation should have, threw him into
a rage. Therefore, on May 26, he spoke some plain
words about the pressure of selfish interests upon Con
gress to defeat the moderate reduction of tariff pro
posed by the Underwood bill :
"I think that the public ought to know," he said,
"the extraordinary exertions being made by the
lobby in Washington to gain recognition for cer
tain alterations of the tariff bill. Washington
has seldom seen so numerous, so industrious, or so
insidious a lobby. The newspapers are being filled
with paid advertisements circulated to mislead not
only the judgment of public men, but also the
public opinion of the country itself. There is
every evidence that money without limit is being
spent to maintain this lobby, and to create an ap
pearance of a pressure of public opinion antagon
istic to some of the chief items of the tariff biU,
"It is of serious interest to the country that the
people at large should have no lobby and be voice
less in these matters, while great bodies of astute

78 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
men seek to create an artificial opinion and to
overcome the interests of the public for their
private profit. It is thoroughly worth the while
of the people of this country to take knowledge of
this matter. Only public opinion can check and
destroy it.
' ' The government in all its branches ought to be
relieved from this intolerable burden and this
constant interruption to the calm progress of
debate. I know that in this I am speaking for the
members of the two Houses, who would rejoice as
much as I would, to be released from this unbear
able situation. ' '
It was evidently no coincidence that this attack on
the lobbyists came when the tariff bill, which had been
under consideration for nearly three months, was on
the eve of being reported to the Finance Committee as
a whole in order that the Caucus of Democratic
Senators might pass on it. If the lobbyists were plan
ning at that time a great attack on the bill, the Presi
dent so timed his remarks as to create consternation
among them, and then he was accused of using all the
privilege and authority of his party leadership in order
to rush "an important piece of legislation through
Congress." The Senate at once asked for an investiga
tion. Mr. Wilson said he could furnish names of leading

A NEW TARIFF 79
lobbyists. "A lobby in Washington; the idea!" and
they ridiculed the President and even called him a
lobbyist. But he had seen the public with a "great
majesty seated upon their countenances and an infinite
patience. ' '
He had already declared that he would admit of
no compromise on any of the vital points of the bill as
it passed the House. His positive manner as well as
his courage made the party leaders more than ever
determined to carry out their party pledge of moderate
and cautious tariff reduction, and even vacillating
Senators renewed their courage. However, there were
those who broke from the party ranks and became
desperate in their opposition to the bill. The fight
became so exhilarating that Republicans and Progres
sives entered the lists enthusiastically and lined up on
b'oth sides of the issue. It was indeed a great fight,
and no man in any business "could have more rigidly
kept office hours or displayed more industry" than
President Wilson did. His personal wishes were
stamped everywhere upon the bill and his leadership
became so marked that manufacturers and all high
protective tariff advocates were warned again to make
their business ready for the change that seemed to be
inevitable. When he hurled his attack against the lobbyists he
was called a "dictator" and when he refused to yield
to the demands of the manufacturers, they spoke of

80 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
"the pale lean scholar in the White House" whose
ignorance of business conditions will wreck the coun
try. However, the startling revelations that came up
from the lobby investigation brought convincing evi
dence of an "iniquitous invisible government," and the
methods of Big Business were in disrepute before
the country. Therefore, the mighty interests who had
defied the people's will for so many years felt them
selves caught in the grip of a Master, and they now
appealed to him personaUy to withdraw the knife from
the old tariff schedule and save the country from
financial ruin.
"All business is in a halting attitude because all
business seems to be more or less the subject of legis
lative control," they pleaded. Then the great Frisco
Railway system went into the hands of a receiver.
"Business needs emancipation from legislative influ
ence. It has been punished until it is a nervous wreck, ' '
they complained. And the President assured them
that it was his great ambition to emancipate business
from legislative influence and throw it back on its
own initiative. But this was not the assurance that
was desired, and "mutterings of a silent panic" were
heard in the land. Then a large trust company failed,
and tight money, decline of stocks, and great business
depression became the topics of conversation in the
streets, in the clubs, around the capitol, and in the
committee rooms.

A NEW TARIFF gl
If these things were so in an era of great prosperity,
the President argued, then new currency legislation
was absolutely necessary and should be pressed imme
diately. What did the man mean? His administration
was not three months old, it was argued, yet his tariff
agitation was already producing hard times, and now
he would start another agitation that would simply
knock the bottom out of everything, and Big Business
tumbled headlong into the blue shadows.
Dignified Senators and Members smiled at the
thought of attempting to pass two such important
measures with summer already at hand. The nation's
representatives could not be expected to swelter in
Washington all through "dog days" while others were
reveling in the invigorating sea breezes or relaxing
under the influence of the cool mountain air. However,
Mr. Wilson, on June 23, did appear the second time
before Congress; and this time, to ask the Members
and Senators, now that the tariff bill was moving for
ward so satisfactorily, to prepare to take the second
step just as soon as the tariff bill was out of the way.
But this second step will be discussed in the next
chapter. However, Mr. Wilson had started two great meas
ures through Congress, and this too, at a time
when many Senators and Members were thinking of
adjourning for the summer. It was argued that they
eould go away during tbe hot months, recuperate, and

82 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
return in the fall. In this way they would be able to
complete both bUls, certainly the tariff bill, before the
beginning of the first regular session of the 63rd
Congress in December.
When it was first rumored that Senators and Mem
bers wished to adjourn for the summer, Mr. Wilson
urged them quietly and calmly to pass both the tariff
and the currency bills during the special session^ That,
of course, was asking entirely too much, many thought.
But they argued that they could pass the tariff bill by
August and under the strange influence that was
emanating from the White House they got down to
business. The summer was by no means dull and monotonous.
The revelations that came from the investigation of
the "iniquitous whispering system" that had influ
enced legislation in the past and was encamped around
the Capitol for the purpose of defeating both the tariff
and the currency bills, acted as a tonic to the nation
and a stimulus to Congress. Even in the midst of the
summer heat when Senators and Members were chafing
under pressure brought to bear on them, the rout of
the lobbyist, and the example of the President, dis
playing such unparalleled industry, gave an impulse
and a sustained force to Congress which made legisla
tion that seemed impossible only a few weeks before,
not only seem possible now but certain.
In the meantime the old Democratic party, with a

A NEW TARIFF 83
reputation for factions and dissensions, was giving
evidence of team work that was a surprise to its mem
bers as well as to their partisan opponents. What
great influence was at work? No man could actually
define it, but its source was traced to the White House.
The tariff bill had a good road ahead and as obstruc
tions began to vanish Congress acquired new courage
and the momentum increased. Not even wool and
sugar could escape the knife. The few insurgents left
in the party were desperate and the press was con
stantly proclaiming that they would defeat the bill.
However, it did pass the House by a tremendous
majority. But that was expected. Then it went to
the Senate, and many confidently said that it would
never pass that body, since the Democratic majority
was so small, and insurgents had already appeared that
made the defeat practically certain.
Here, again, the influence of the President was felt
and when there was an effort to weaken the bill in the
Senate, a Democratic Caucus of the Senate was called,
early in July, and it resolved, "That the tariff bill
agreed to by this conference in its amended form is
declared to be a party measure, and we urge its
undivided support as a duty by Democratic Senators
without amendment, provided, however, that the Con
ference or the Finance Committee may, after reference
or otherwise, propose amendments to the bill. ' '
A door was left open to reasonable amendments, but

84 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
the action of every Democratic Senator now became a
matter of party honor. The work of revising the
schedule continued throughout the month of July, and,
barring a few partisan papers that were avowedly in
favor of protection, the public expression showed
signs of a revival of industry and of trade, and the
demands that came up to Congress for a new protective
tariff law were becoming more and more insistent.
There was too much energy in the nation for indus
tries "to crumble into ruins," and the growing revival
in business was too real for labor "to groan under the
depression." The press of the country began to carry
new headlines, "The Tariff Bill will Certainly Pass,"
and the business of the country went to work seriously
to adjust itself to the inevitable. Like the foolish
virgins, however, they had slumbered and slept and
dreamt of anything else but a marriage feast. And
the readjustment was at hand. On September 9, the
bill passed the Senate with certain minor amendments
that had to be concurred in by the House.
How had it been accomplished? At the first, Mr.
Wilson unveiled his purpose to have an active part
in law-making not by coercion, by threats, nor by
bluster, but by wise leadership. His methods were
unique. First committees of the House and Senate, the
real leaders of Congress, began the preparation of a
bill. Then it was discussed by the people at large.
Everybody discussed it. Mr. Wilson was a firm believer

A NEW TARIFF 85
in the force of public opinion which he repeatedly
declared "is the mistress of the world." Then he
sat quietly and watched public opinion form while ' ' the
whispering system" and "the self appointed trustees"
were holding "inside room" conferences and planning
to impose their selfish schemes upon Congress.
"The people know what they want," he declared
and Congress felt an irresistible force driving them
forward. It was the spirit of the people at work guided
by a master hand who was adopting the strangest
political tactics that Congress had ever witnessed.
With this instrument in his hand he was almost
invincible. The final passage of the bill seemed so
ridiculously simple and the familiarity with this epoch-
making piece of legislation was so general that the
intense struggle for six months was almost forgotten
as opposition melted away. Why, it actually appeared
that the country was really waiting for Congress cheer
fully to hand over the completed bill. There was
less grumbling then by all parties than by his own
party when he first made his appearance in the capitol
and overturned a century old precedent by addressing
Congress. But the united efforts of the Executive and
Legislative powers had triumphed over the most power
ful forces ever at work in the nation's capital. The
President and Congressional leaders had learned to
work together. Eternal vigilance on the part of both

86 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
was the price that was paid for this first important
piece of legislation.
On the day of the passage of the bill by the Senate,
Mr. Wilson issued a public statement which showed
how keenly he appreciated the work of the two Houses.
He said:
"A fight for the people and for free business
which has lasted a long generation through has
at last been won, handsomely and completely. A
leadership and a steadfastness in counsel has been
shown in both Houses, of which the Democratic
party has reason to be proud. There has been no
weakness or confusion in drawing back, but a
statesmanlike directness and command of cir
cumstances. "I am happy to have been connected with the
Government of the nation at a time when such
things could happen and to have worked in asso
ciation with men who could do them. There is
every reason to believe that currency reform will
be carried through with equal energy, directness,
and loyalty to the general interest.
"When that is done, this first session of the
Sixty-third Congress will have passed into history
with an unrivalled distinction. I want to express
my special admiration for the devoted, intelligent.

A NEW TARIFF 87
and untiring work of Mr. Underwood and Mr. Sim
mons, and the committee associated with them!"
Nearly a month elapsed, however, after the Senate
passed the bill before the two Houses could agree on
the amended parts and pass it in its completed form.
And on the evening of Friday, October 3, committees
from both the Senate and the House carried the results
of their labors to the President for his approval. He
waited until the close of the business for the day tn
order that, since the act was to take effect immediately,
it might become operative on the opening of business
on the morning of October 4. After fixing his signa
ture to the bill which goes into history as the Under
wood-Simmons bill, he said:
"I feel a very peculiar pleasure in what I have
just done by way of taking part in the completion
of a great piece of business. It is a pleasure which
is very hard to state in words adequate to express
the feeling, because the feeling that I have is that
we have done the rank and file of the people of
this country a great service.
"It is hard to speak of these things without
seeming to go off into campaign eloquence, but
that is not my feeling. It is one very profound—
a feeling of profound gratitude that working with

88 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
the splendid men who have carried this thing
through with studious attention and doing justice
all round, I should have had part in serving the
people of this country as we have been striving to
serve them ever since I can remember.
"I have had the accomplishment of something
like this at heart ever since I was a boy, and I know
men standing around me can say the same thing —
who have been waiting to see the things done which
it was necessary to do in order that there might
be justice in the United States. And so it is a sol
emn moment that brings such a business to a
conclusion, and I hope I will not be thought to be
demanding too much of myself or of my colleagues
when I say that this, great as it is, is the accom
plishment of only half the journey.
"We have set the business of this country free
from those conditions which have made monopoly
not only possible, but in a sense easy and natural.
But there is no use taking away the conditions of
monopoly if we do not take away also the power
to create monopoly, and that is a financial rather
than a merely circumstantial and economical
power. ' ' The power to control and guide and direct the
credits of the country is the power to say who shall

A NEW TARIFF 89
and who shall not build up the industries of the
country, in which direction they shall be built, and
in which direction they shall not be built. We are
now about to take the second step, which will be
the final step in setting the business of this coun
try free.
' ' That is what we shall do in the Currency Bill,
which the House has already passed, and which
I have the utmost confidence the Senate will pass
much sooner than some pessimistic individuals be
lieve. Because the question — ^now that this piece
of work is done — ^will arise all over the country,
'For what do we wait? Why should we wait to
crown ourselves with consummate honor? Are
we so self-denying that we do not wish to complete
our success?'
"I was quoting the other day to some of my
colleagues in the Senate those lines from Shake
speare's Henry V, which have always appealed to
me: 'If it be a sin to covet honor, then am I the
most offending soul alive ; ' and I am happy to say
that I do not covet it for myself alone.
"I covet it with equal ardor for the men who
are associated with me, and the honor is going
to come for them. I am their associate. I can
only complete the work which they do. I can only

90 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
counsel when they ask for my counsel. I can come
in only when the last stages of the business are
reached. "And I covet this honor for them quite as
much as I covet it for myself. And I covet it for
the great party of which I am a member ; because
that party is not honorable unless it redeems its
name and serves the people of the United States.
"So I feel tonight like a man who is lodging
happily in the inn which lies half way along the
journey and that in the morning with a fresh im
pulse we shall go the rest of the journey and sleep
at the journey's end like men with quiet con
sciences, knowing that we have served our fellow
men, and have, thereby, tried to serve God."

CHAPTER V
A NEW CURRENCY— THE SECOND STAGE IN
THE JOURNEY
The tariff bill moved so smoothly through the House
that the President decided, early in May, to press cur
rency reform without delay. His prestige and infiuence
at that time was very great, and it was said that "he
is gradually imparting to the American forms of
government a smoothness and flexibility it had hitherto
lacked. ' ' There was no question now as to his leader
ship. Therefore, when the nation realized that he was
determined to press a second great reform he was ad
vised to move with care and deliberation, since a
change in the currency was more dreaded by a certain
element in the nation than a reduction in the tariff.
The banking law in force was enacted during the
Civil War and was a war measure. The Government,
in order to secure money to prosecute the war, had to
issue bonds which it found difficult to sell. It was
provided, therefore, that the banks might take the
bonds and issue bank notes based upon them. This
expedient solved the problem and was a sound tem
porary measure. However, it was a very inflexible
91

92 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
system and one that could not adapt itself to the
changing needs of trade. Moreover, there was no
central institution which could aid in mobilizing the
resources of the country to meet the requirements of
an active trade or of a credit crisis.
More than half a century had passed since the
original law was enacted. Since that time the nation
had been made over again. A new industrial era had
appeared ; new business methods were employed ; and a
new currency was needed. The bankers of the nation
had pointed out these serious defects, and several
attempts had been made to remedy them. The political
parties admitted that reform was absolutely necessary,
and the American Bankers' Association had signified
its willingness to cooperate with any party that would
attempt to give this country relief.
The old banking laws were not only out of date, but
they were a menace to the entire country. They could
be used by a small group of bankers to tie up the
money market and produce a panic. Instead of the
nation's controlling the currency for the benefit of all,
a few money barons controlled it; and they were as
jealous of this power as if they had received it through
a special dispensation of providence. The small banks
of the towns and villages were absolutely at their
mercy, and there was neither justice nor freedom in
the flow of the money currents. The money barons
caused the panic of 1907 at a time of great national

A NEW CURRENCY 93
prosperity, and the investigations of the Pujo Commit
tee brought out the fact that it was possible at almost
any time for a certain small group of bankers to
produce another panic and the entire treasury and
resources of the United States were helpless to avoid it.
Almost every well informed person admitted these
facts. The whole country demanded the reform except
the small group of money barons who were in power,
and a short time before, the nation witnessed the
spectacle of Congress attempting to correct the evil,
but permitting these autocrats virtually to write the
bill. No one expected that they would dethrone
themselves. President WUson, however, announced that a new
era was at hand, that the nation demanded currency
reform, and that this reform would come. These words
were vigorously applauded. However, when he showed
a determination to act at once and to throw the united
party behind the movement to correct the evils com
plained of, the business of the country was afflicted
with a sinking of the heart, and the bankers advised
Congress in the most solemn tones to have a care. A
habit of fifty years was about to be broken, and the
nervous system was afraid of the shock.
The country was not yet accustomed to the habits of
the new Chief Executive. He neither initiated legisla
tion nor discussed the details of any measure in his
public addresses. It was his policy to remind the

94 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
Democrats of their promises and to urge Congress to
act as promptly as possible. He was an executive, not
a legislator. His calling Congress in extra session as
soon as possible and reminding the Democrats that
they were in honor bound to reform the tariff, was
within his province as an executive. But, he had little
to say in his message about the methods of reducing
rates. It soon became a certainty that the President ex
pected Congress to give the needed currency reform,
and that too without delay. The Senate and House
Committees were already very active, and the country
was nervous. A variety of expedients and plans were
submitted to Congress. That body was urged to be
on guard against the insidious influence of WaU Street,
the pressure of the Western farmers, the provinciaUsm
of the Southern Cotton Conventions, and the unwar
ranted urgencies of the Stock Exchange. In other
words, every possible danger or imagined evil that
might follow a change ia. the currency law was held
up to public gaze, with the purpose of forcing Congress
to move deliberately and cautiously. The nation
earnestly desired reform, but was really afraid of
haste. The spring of 1913 was unusually exciting from a
political standpoint. If the flght on the tariff could
not provide a sensation, rumors of a hastily hatched
up currency law could produce the desired excitement.

A NEW CURRENCY 95
It was the habit of business to become panicky while
the tariff was under discussion. But to think of a
Democratic Administration in the act of passing an
anti-protective tariff bill and at the same time pressing
a bill for currency reform was more than the public
could really assimilate without a considerable jolt to
its entire nervous system. But the President was a
good psychologist. After the country had discussed
the defects of the old law and suggested innumerable
remedies, he appeared at the Capitol on the morning of
June 23, and before the joint session of the two
Houses, advised them to move up to the second stage
of the journey to the New Freedom. His second ap
pearance before the Senate and Members established
the habit, and he could now talk to them directly
instead of "hailing Congress from some isolated posi
tion of jealous power. ' '
"It is under the compulsion of what seems to
me a clear and imperative duty, ' ' he began, ' ' that
I have a second time this session sought the priv
ilege of addressing you in person. I know, of
course, that the heated season of the year is upon
us, that work in these chambers and in the com
mittee rooms is likely to become a burden as the
season lengthens, and that every consideration of
personal convenience and personal comfort, per-

96 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
haps, in the cases of some of us, considerations of
personal health even, dictate an early conclusion
of the deliberations of the session; but there are
occasions of public duty when these things which
touch us privately seem very small ; when the work
to be done is so pressing and so fraught with big
consequences that we know that we are not at
liberty to weigh against it any point of personal
sacrifice. We are now in the presence of such an
occasion. "It is absolutely imperative that we should give
the business men of this country a banking and
currency system by means of which they can make
use of the freedom of enterprise and of individual
initiative which we are about to bestow upon them.
We are about to set them free ; we must not leave
them without the tools of action when they are
free. We are about to set them free by removing
the trammels of protective tariff. Ever since the
Civil War they have waited for this emancipation
and for the free opportunities it will bring with
it. It has been reserved for us to give it to them.
Some fell in love, indeed, with slothful security of
their dependence upon the Government; some took
advantage of the shelter of the nursery to set up a
mimic mastery of their own within its walls. Now

A NEW CURRENCY 97
both the tonic and discipline of liberty and matur
ity are about to ensue.
' ' There will be some readjustments of purpose
and point of view. There will follow a period of
expansion and new enterprise, freshly conceived.
It is for us to determine now whether it shall be
rapid and facile and of easy accomplishment. This
it cannot be unless the resourceful business men
who are to deal with the new circumstances are to
have in hand and ready to use the instrumentalities
and the conveniences of free enterprise which in
dependent men need when acting on their own
initiative. "It is not enough to strike the shackles from
business. The duty of statesmanship is not neg
ative merely. It is constructive also. We must
show that we understand what business needs and
that we know how to supply it. No man, however
casual and superficial his observation of the con
ditions now prevailing in the country, can fail to
see that one of the chief things business needs now,
and will need increasingly as it gains in scope and
vigor in the years immediately ahead of us, is the
proper means by which readily to vitalize its
credit, corporate and individual, and its origina
tive brains. What will it profit us to be free if we

98 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
are not to have the best and most accessible in
strumentalities of commerce and enterprise?
What will it profit us to be quit of one kind of
monopoly if we are to remain in the grip of an
other and more effective kind? How are we to
gain and keep the confidence of the business com
munity unless we show that we know how both to
aid and protect it? What shall we say if we make
fresh enterprise necessary and also make it very
difficult by leaving all else except the tariff just
as we found it?
"The tyrannies of business, big and little, lie
within the field of credit. We know that. Shall
we not act upon the knowledge? Do we not know
how to act upon it ? If a man cannot make his as
sets available at pleasure, his assets of capacity
and character and resource, what satisfaction is
it to him to see opportunity beckoning to him on
every hand, when others have the key of credit in
their pockets and treat them as all but their own
private possession? It is perfectly clear that it
is our duty to supply the new banking and cur
rency system the country needs, and it will need
it immediately more than it has ever needed it
before. "The only question is, When shall we supply

A NEW CURRENCY 99
it — now, or later, after the demands shall have
become reproaches that we were so dull and so
slow? Shall we hasten to change the tariff laws
and then be laggards about making it easy and
possible for the country to take advantage of the
change? There can be only one answer to that
question. We must act now, at whatever sacrifice
to ourselves. It is a duty which the circumstances
forbid us to postpone. I should be recreant to my
deepest convictions of public obligation did I not
press it upon you with solemn and urgent
insistence. "The principles upon which we should act are
also clear. The country has sought and seen its
path in this matter within the last few years —
seen it more clearly now than it ever saw it be
fore — ^much more clearly than when the last legis
lative proposals on the subject were made. We
must have a currency, not rigid as now, but read
ily, elastically responsive to sound credit, the ex
panding and contracting credits of everyday
transactions, the normal ebb and flow of personal
and corporate dealings. Our banking laws must
mobilize reserves ; must not permit the concentra
tion anywhere in a few hands of the monetary re
sources of the country or their use for speculative

100 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
purposes in such volume as to hinder or impede
or stand in the way of other more legitimate, more
fruitful uses. And the control of the system of
banking and of issue which our new laws are to
set up must be public, not private, must be vested
in the Government itself, so that the banks may
be the instruments, not the masters, of business
and of individual enterprise and initiative,
' ' The committees of the Congress to which legis
lation of this character is referred have devoted
careful and dispassionate study to the means of
accomplishing these objects. They have honored
me by consulting me. They are ready to suggest
action. I have come to you as the head of the
Government and the responsible leader of the
party in power, to urge action now, while there is
time to serve the country deliberately and as we
should, in a clear air of common council. I appeal
to you with a deep conviction of duty. I believe
that you share this conviction. I therefore appeal
to you with confidence. I am at your service with
out reserve to play my part in any way you may
call upon me to play it in this great enterprise of
exigent reform which it will dignify and distin
guish us to perform and discredit us to neglect. ' '

A NEW CURRENCY 101
This deliverance, like his tariff message, was so unlike
aU former Presidential messages that a new category
is necessary to give it the proper classification. It
was an appeal to the patriotism of the Representatives
and Senators, not a message. He had answered all
the complaints that had come up from members who
wished to avoid the irksome days of the summer
months. He was appealing to them to think more of
the party promises than of their personal comfort. He
was reasoning with them that the tariff law should be
accompanied with a sound currency law if they would
escape the criticism that might justly arise from the
business of the country. He was pleading with them
to prove to the nation that the Democratic party
"understands what business needs" and "knows how
to supply it"; and finaUy, he was urging Representa
tives and Senators to act at once and with deliberation.
And it was this "act at once" that business feared.
The delivery of this second appeal to Congress occu
pied exactly nine minutes, and it is interesting to note
that in both of his addresses to Congress he did not
discuss or analyze the important measures that were
to be considered by Congress. In each instance he did
not address Congress untU that body was ready to act
on the measures and after the public had been dis
cussing them for weeks. It was very evident that Mr.
Wilson was creating a new precedent.
Presidents ' messages hitherto had been formal treatises

102 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
on subjects already well known to the people. They
had become too forniial to be really interesting. But
in this second address Mr. Wilson had departed again
from the old custom. He, the Executive of the nation,
was simply calling the attention of Representatives
and Senators, the Legislative body of the nation, to a
specific evil — one at a time — and was requesting that
body to remedy the evil. The Executive was in no
sense outlining any currency bill or suggesting any of
the details of the bUl. That was the prerogative of the
Legislative department. He was earnestly and solemnly
advising the Senators and Representatives to act at
once, "while there is time to serve the country
deliberately." A few days later he was in Conference
with Senators and representatives of the American
Bankers' Association.
The need of prompt action was strongly stated by
Mr. Carter Glass, Chairman of the House Committee on
Banking and Currency. He said:
"For more than a quarter of a century it has been
realized in this country that there were radical de
ficiencies in our banking and currency system, and for
at least twenty years there have been repeated efforts
made to correct these defects. We have been for that
period of time the scoff and the ridicule, not only of
the practical banker, but of the scientists and text
book writers of Europe. Our own thinkers, who have
given study to the question, have repeatedly pointed

A NEW CURRENCY 103
out to the Congress that we were operating under an
antiquated and out-of-date banking and currency sys
tem, and that we had prosperity in America in spite
of, rather than because of, our banking and currency
system. ' '
It was generally agreed that the reserve funds of
the country gradually found their way into the vaults
of the great banks of the country — chiefly of New
York, "there to be thrown into the maelstrom of stock
speculation," and when the business of the country
needed these funds for local use, the large centers so
controlled the reserve that the entire country was at
the mercy of the large bankers ; and in times of depres
sion or panic the country was least responsive when it
should be most responsive. This was not a party com
plaint ; it was a national evil. The task of the Admin
istration, therefore, was threefold :
1. To shift the whole currency of the nation from
the basis on which it had rested for more than a half
century; namely. United States bonds, which was the
indebtedness of the nation, to the commercial assets
of the business of the country. The first was limited,
the second was virtually illimitable.
2. To establish a sufficient number of Federal Re
serve banks into which a certain percentage of the
currency of the country might be collected automatic
ally, in order to provide for the mobilization of the
reserve force of the country to meet any emergency —

104 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
whether to move the cotton of the South, the grain of
the West, drive the factories of a given area, or take
eare of American commerce in foreign fields.
3. To provide a Federal Board of Control with
power over banking somewhat similar to that of the
Interstate Commerce Commission over the railroads,
in order that the banks may serve the entire country
rather than the speculative impulse of a small coterie
of bankers.
Such a radical change in our currency laws could
not be made without a stubborn fight. In the first place
the people were so accustomed to party government
that the business of the country, which was allied for
the most part with the Republican party, looked at
first upon the proposed currency bill as a Democratic
measure. The long partisan fight over the tariff was
responsible in a large measure for this attitude. A
Republican tariff was a protective tariff in the interest
of business. A Democratic tariff was an anti-protective
tariff in the interest of an entirely different class of
citizens. Therefore, it had become a habit of mind
to think that the party in power would administer
the government in the interest of the party in power ;
hence, "pork-barrel" legislation and a number of per
plexing laws that gave much evidence to support this
belief. When Mr. Wilson appeared at the Capitol, therefore,
and asked Congress to reform the currency, the party

A NEW CURRENCY 105
leaders in opposition to the Democratic party, but in
accordance with old conceptions of party government,
declared openly that the currency would not be re
formed, that it would not be advanced by any measure
that the President might force through Congress. The
partisan press continued the discussion. Mr. Wilson,
they said, knew nothing about the technical phases of
either banking or currency, and the great bankers of
the country were not members of the Democratic
party. Then how could a party whose leaders and
members knew so little about the subject under con
sideration give the country relief? But Mr. Wilson
had declared that the Democratic party must be turned
into an instrument to serve the whole body of the
nation. Three days after the President's address, the bill
was introduced in the House and in the Senate. When
it first appeared, it was imperfect, and many valid
objections to it were raised. This was an evidence to
many that the country could expect no relief from a
party that was approaching the subject at one time
from an academic standpoint, and at another time from
a partisan standpoint. It must be approached from a
business standpoint which was another way of saying,
from a Republican standpoint.
The old time notion of party government was so
strong that it did not seem to occur to the rank and
file of either party that it was possible to secure the

106 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
cooperation of the best thought in all parties in work
ing out a bill that would be of lasting benefit to the
country. Neither did it seem to occur to them, when
the outlines of the bill appeared, that the President
was virtually saying to the nation. Here is the material
out of which a masterpiece is to be created, bring in
the workman, from whatever source, so that when the
task is completed, the world may recognize it as a
work of art ! On the contrary, the crude material was
accepted as the finished product. Some laughed at it ;
others criticized it; many denounced it; and for the
time it appeared that the opposition was more con
cerned over obstructive legislation than discovering the
right kind of legislation. But that attitude was
natural. Moreover, it was consistent with party
government in the past.
The President, however, had announced that the
government was entering a new era. Old customs were
inadequate. But few saw then that currency reform
would be the product of the best thought of America,
that long before it became a law it would lose much
of its partisan characteristics, and that before the end
of the fight, the nation would witness Democrats and
Republicans working together under the Chief Execu
tive of the nation for the financial relief of the whole
country. President Wilson's method was unique. He had
driven the lobbyists from the Capitol, and now he was

A NEW CURRENCY 107
showing the forces that relied on lobbyists how they
might serve themselves by serving the whole country.
"I am listening," he said, "I am diligently trying to
collect all the brains that are borrowable in order that
I shall not make more blunders than it is inevitable
that a man should make who has great limitations of
knowledge and capacity. And the emotion of the
thing is so great that I suppose I must be some kind of
a mask to conceal it."
All political parties were agreed that serious defects
existed, and the bankers of the country were fully
aware of the inelasticity of the currency and the great
need of a sufficiently large and workable reserve force.
However, a large number of the bankers and other
business men seemed to grow panicky over the per
sistent determination of the Administration to remedy
those defects. But there was no stopping the
movement. In July the nation had become acquainted with the
leading features of the bill, the purpose of which was
to provide "a currency absolutely responsive to the
business requirements of the country, coming forth
when it is needed, and retiring at the consummation of
these business transactions." Moreover, it provided
for a reserve system, the purpose of which was to
prohibit the reserve fund of the country from flowing
to the banks of the larger cities to foster and encourage
stock speculation, but which would draw the currency

108 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
back into the banks of the various sections of the
country, "there to be held as a sacred fund, to respond
to the business demands of these various sections,
rather than to be used in speculation purposes. ' '
The large flnaneial centers at first showed much
opposition. But they were urged by the press of the
country "to hesitate before defeating the bill." Cap
tains of industry, who were incensed over tariff reduc
tions, raised a protest and at flrst offered only
obstructions. But they too were warned that some kind
of currency bill would certainly be enacted; and the
President said kindly, but firmly, that he would be
delighted to have the assistance of the patriotic
bankers and business men in working out the right
kind of currency legislation. But whether that assist
ance came or not, a currency bill would be enacted.
In August the Bankers' Conference at Chicago con
sidered the bill in detail and from every standpoint,
and serious differences arose in that body as to the
wisdom of the bill. But one banker remarked "if we
cannot agree among ourselves as to the kind of cur>
rency law that is needed, what can we expect of
Congress?" Before this conference adjourned, how
ever, a better spirit prevailed and several very im
portant amendments to the bill were proposed which
seemed to call the attention of Congress to certain
features that were open to criticism.
The attitude of the Administration toward legitimate

A NEW CURRENCY 109
criticism from aU sources allayed much of the uneasi
ness that had prevailed, and opposition began to give
way to cooperation. The bankers generaUy were in
favor of one central bank instead of twelve regional
banks, although they were by no means unanimous on
this point. One of the most stubborn fights, however,
was made against the provision of the bill that denied
representation on the Federal Reserve Board to banks.
It was this fight that showed the President to be the
real leader of the nation. The financial committee
of the House was convinced that the bankers were
right in insisting on representation on the Board, Mr,
Carter Glass, the Chairman of the Committee, wrote
to the President, urging him to change his attitude.
"About three days thereafter," Mr. Glass said,
"there came to Washington a committee of the greatest
bankers in the world. We were to go up to the White
House and convince the President that he was totally
wrong and impractical in his denial of representation
on the Federal Reserve Board to the banks. I headed
the procession perfectly confident that we were going
to win our case and put the President to confusion.
But he heard those great bankers, heard them
courteously and deferentially and amiably. And after
they had finished he quietly turned to us, and with
those jaws firmly set, said:
" 'Gentlemen, I challenge any one of you to

110 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
name a Government institution in this country or
a government commission in any civilized country
of the earth upon which private interests have
representation. '
"There was a deep silence. These great bankers
were dumb. They did not undertake to answer him,
and from that day I was converted. . . . You might
as well say that the Interstate Commerce Commission,
devised by the government to supervise the operations
of the great railroads of the country, should have in
its membership railroad presidents and railroad gen
eral managers as to say that the Federal Reserve Board
to supervise the banking business should be selected
in any measure by the banks themselves."
The middle of August found the Senate still dis
cussing the tariff bill, the House trying to complete the
currency bill, and the lobby enquiry was furnishing one
sensation after another. The weather was distressingly
warm, and Congress wanted to adjourn. The en
thusiasm that characterized "unterrified Democracy"
at the beginning of the term was waning. Time after
time delegations of Congressmen would go to the White
House to impress upon the President that they wanted
to adjourn. They wanted the teacher to "break up"
school. But the President intimated that he "had not
the slightest idea of acquiescing in the adjournment with-

A NEW CURRENCY HI
out the passage of the currency bill as well as the tariff
bill." Many Senators wished to finish the tariff, adjourn and
leave the currency bill until next term; and while
Congress was being congratulated for its work on the
tariff, many of its members showed much impatience
with the President's insistence that Congress should
not adjourn until it had enacted also the currency and
banking laws. And again he declared that he would
use all the power he possessed to keep that body in
session until this act was passed. And Congress re
mained in session.
With the tariff bill in the Senate and the currency
bUl in the House the sense of obligation to the country
was too great, and the summer had passed before the
former could be completed, and the latter was too near
completion for the members to adjourn. Thus, by
keeping one important measure close upon the heels
of the other, he kept Congress at work until summer
had passed. The country was amazed, and so was
Congress. The House passed the bill on September 18 with a
majority so large, 285 to 85, that its partisan nature
had largely disappeared. It was no longer a Demo
cratic measure. However, all the Democrats but three
supported it and thirty-nine Republicans and Progres
sives voted for it. But the country was not willing for
it to become a law in the shape that it came from the

112 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
House. And it was already apparent that the bill
would have rough sledding ta the Senate. There was
a feeling that the House had rushed the matter through
without sufficient deliberation. Seeing that the Senate
was hostile to many features of the House bill. Presi
dent Wilson announced that he would give up his
proposed vacation tn order to devote all of his time
to Congress. He was still "diligently trying to collect
all the brains that are borrowable," and he needed all
that he could borrow since the contest was resolving
itself into a fight now between the President and
certain Senators.
President Wilson greatly desired that final action
should be taken on the bill before adjournment. When
he signed the tariff bill, he said that the tariff legisla
tion was "the accomplishment of only half the journey.
. . . We shall take the second step in the currency
bill, which the House has already passed, and which
I have the utmost confidence the Senate will pass much
sooner than some pessimistic individuals believe."
However, he was regarding with some anxiety the
delay and the disagreement in the Senate Committee,
and it was reported that he was seriously inclined to
make public addresses on the subject in the states of
the Democratic Senators who insisted on prolonging the
hearings and demanded radical amendments. The
Senate, however, could not be hurried. Chairman
Owen desired that hearings should come to an end.

A NEW CURRENCY 113
But he was voted down, and there were many indica
tions of severe friction. President Wilson conferred
with both Republican and Democratic Senators, hoping
to hasten the Committee's action, and his faith in the
final outcome was an encouragement to his supporters
in Congress.
Notwithstanding the President's confidence and
optimism, many of the Senators saw a gloomy and
perUous road ahead. The bill seemed to be stuck in
the committee room. The Finance Committee was dis
posed to change the bill very materially. In fact, Mr.
Frank A. Vanderlip, President of the National City Bank
of New York, one of the largest banks in the country,
offered a substitute, providing for one central bank as
opposed to the Administration's regional banks, and
the central bank feature seemed to be growing in favor
in the Senate. The committee was of the opinion
that Government officials should not sit on the Federal
Reserve Board ; that better protection should be given
to the two per cent government bonds then pledged
against circulation; and that the proposed relations
between national banks and regional banks would be
unjust to the national banks. After a most thorough
discussion the President yielded somewhat on these last
two points. But he remained absolutely unchanged in
his opposition to the central bank and to the member
ship of the Federal Reserve Board as proposed by the
bankers. There were other minor points of difference.

114 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
But the fight was now waged chiefly at these two points.
The committee made such slow progress that the
Senate leaders called a caucus, intending, it was as
sumed, to make the House bill a party measure and
take it out of the Senate Committee's hands. The
President was endorsing all the main features of the
Glass-Owen bill, but had showed a disposition to yield
one or two points as indicated above. He was firmly
opposed to the idea of the central bank and it was
openly talked that he would veto the action of Congress
if the currency bill passed containing that feature.
The first of November came and still the Committee
could not agree. In fact, the majority seemed to be
opposed to the Administration bill, and instead of one
bill, three bUls were about to come forth. During the
fight tn the Senate, the House was complaining because
it had to remain in session whUe the Senate was doing
little better than marking time. By the middle of
November the Administration Senators, having grown
impatient of the delay, bolted and held separate meet
ings, and a few days later it was decided to present
the Administration bill, the substitutes and certain
amendments separately, and on November 25, Chairman
Owen opened the debate in the Senate.
All hope for the bill during the special session was now
gone, since only six days intervened before the opening
of the 63rd Congress, and another effort to adjourn
was made, but the President's influence was too great.

A NEW CURRENCY 115
Congress was not only held together, but it was decided
to hold night sessions and to give no recess during the
Christmas holidays, except Christmas Day, unless the
bill was passed. The friends of the measure had pre
pared themselves for a regular siege.
The task of carving out a great masterpiece was too
great to be rushed through to completion. A majority
of the Senate could be secured to remain in session and
to work day and night, but the Senate would not hurry.
The November elections indicated that the country was
behind the Administration, and President Wilson's
position was strengthened. Throughout the exciting
days of the last of November he exhibited such calm
ness and such confidence that his supporters in the
House and Senate were encouraged to stand solidly
behind him.
Such was the condition of affairs on December 1,
when the Special Assembly came to a close. President
Wilson had performed the feat of holding Con
gress together in continuous special session not only
through the summer, but through the autumn months,
and this in spite of the completion, two months before
the adjournment, of the great task for which it was
primarily assembled. The special assembly adjourned
on December 1, and on the next day the 63rd Congress
convened, and again President Wilson appeared before
the joint session of the two Houses to report, in accord
ance with the provision of the Constitution, on the state

116 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
of the country. He referred to the currency bill in
these few words :
"You already have under consideration a bill
for the reform of our system of banking and cur
rency, for which the country waits with impatience,
as for something fundamental to its whole busi
ness life and necessary to set credit free from arbi
trary and artificial restraints. I need not say how
earnestly I hope for its early enactment into law.
I take leave to beg that the whole energy and at
tention of the Senate be concentrated upon it until
the matter is successfully disposed of. And yet
I feel that the request is not needed — that the Mem
bers of that great House need no urging in this
service to the country."
And the debate was resumed. Day after day and
night after night the details of the bUl were threshed
out, and after a week 's discussion, it was openly talked
around the Capitol that the House and the Senate were
hopelessly divided and that President Wilson's leader
ship would be destroyed with the defeat of the bill.
There were stUl a few Democrats who were unable to
forgive the President for his triumph in the tariff fight
and for the power that had been gathered into his
hands. There were others of both parties who stiU
believed the currency bill was too imperfect to become

A NEW CURRENCY 117
?. law. The Democratic leaders, therefore, became
somewhat pessimistic; the press sought eagerly for
some signs of a compromise ; and Senators and Members
were preparing to give up their Christmas holidays.
However, callers from the White House brought back
the intelligence that the President, instead of being
excited or disappointed, was as calm and as serene as
ever, and that he was confident the Senate and the
House would agree, and the debate continued, not only
tn the Senate but throughout the nation.
Finally on December 19 the Senate was ready to vote.
Some of the amendments to the Administration bill
were lost by only three votes, and in one instance it
required the vote of the Vice-President. It was this
narrow margin that had prolonged the debate and
made every detail of the biU come under close inspec
tion. But on the final vote the bill was adopted, 54 to
34, Many changes had been made since it was passed
by the House, But after a conference of three days
the House and the Senate reached an agreement, and
on December 23 Congress arrived at "the second stage
in the journey to the new Freedom."
There was great rejoicing in the nation. In every
section of the country the press was declaring that
President WUson and his associates in enacting the
banking and currency laws had achieved the greatest
triumph tn a century. Moreover, it was the consensus
of opinion that members of all parties and of both

118 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
Houses of Congress showed sincerity and patriotism in
their efforts to reform the currency and that they grew
immensely, during the months of heated debate, in their
knowledge of the principles of banking and monetary
science. Furthermore, the business of the country was
pleased with the outcome, and, almost without excep
tion, the expressed opinions declared that the bill
would be acceptable to the country at large, and a great
tribute was paid to the skillful leadership of President
Wilson, whose power and prestige was again increased,
since, through his leadership. Congress had performed
' ' a legislative miracle. ' '
When the bill was passed. Congress adjourned for
the holidays. But committees from both Houses car
ried the newly created masterpiece to the White House
to obtain the signature of the President, and they were
able to lay before him, as the result of their labor, a
new system that was guaranteed to correct the evils
that the nation had suffered from for nearly a half
century. 1. It discarded the old system of bond secured cur
rency and reserve fund by basing currency upon com
mercial assets so that it would respond automatically
to the commercial, industrial, and agricultural re
quirements. 2. It created not less than eight nor more than
twelve regional reserve banks and provided for the
transfer of the reserve funds to these geographical

A NEW CURRENCY 119
centers for the ready use of the respective sections in
the accommodation of legitimate business, and made
the resources of the whole country available for im
mediate use.
3. It provided for the expansion of foreign trade by
authorizing the establishment by national banks of for
eign branches, thus giving American business in foreign
countries advantages equal to those of competing
business. 4. It created a board of control over banking similar
to that of the Interstate Commerce Commission over
the railroads.
Such were the outlines of the masterpiece that had
been carved out for the nation after one of the most
stubborn fights in Congress since the Civil War. But
it was at last accomplished, and the workmen who
helped to fashion the piece came from the whole nation.
President Wilson had "borrowed brains" from editors,
magazine writers, economists, bankers, manufacturers,
farmers, railroad presidents and industrial workers
wherever interest was created. It was natural, there
fore, that he should exhibit more than a little pride in
the completion of the work, which, it was declared, was
sufficient ' ' to make any Administration immortal. ' ' After
signing the bill, he spoke these words to those who were
standing around his table:
"It is a matter of real gratification to me that

120 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
in the case of this bill there should have been so
considerable number of Eepublican votes cast for
it. AU great measures under our system of gov
ernment are of necessity party measures, for the
party of the majority is responsible for their
organization and their passage ; but this cannot be
called a partisan measure.
"It has been relieved of all intimation of that
sort by the cordial cooperation of men on the other
side of the two houses, who have acted with us
and have given very substantial reasons and very
intelligent reasons for acting with us, so that I
think we can go home with the feeling that we
are in better spirits for public service than we
were even when we convened in April.
"As for the bill itself, I feel that we can say
that it is the first of a series of constructive
measures by which the Democratic party will
show that it knows how to serve the country. In
calling it the first of a series of constructive
measures, I need not say that I am not casting
any reflections on the great tariff bill which pre
ceded it. This tariff bill was meant to remove
those impediments to American industry and pros
perity which had so long stood in their way. It was
a great piece of preparation for the achievement

A NEW CURRENCY 121
of American commerce and American industry,
which are certainly to follow.
' ' Then there ceime upon the heels of it this bill
which furnishes the machinery for free and elastic
and uncontrolled credits, put at the disposal of
the merchants and manufacturers of this country
for the first time in fifty years. I was refreshing
my memory on the passage of the national bank
act, which came in two pieces, as you know, in
February of 1863 and in June of 1864; it is just
fifty years ago since that measure suitable for that
time was passed, and it has taken us more than a
generation and a half to come to an understanding
as to the readjustments which were necessary for
our own time. But we have reached those read
justments. "I myself have always felt when the Democratic
party was criticized as not knowing how to serve
the business interests of the country that there was
no use of replying to that in words. The only sat
isfactory reply was in action. We have written
the first chapter of that reply.
"We are greatly favored by the circumstances
of our time. We come at the end of a day of con
test, at the end of a day when We have been scruti
nizing the processes of our business, scrutinizing

122 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
them with critical, and sometimes with hostile eye.
We have slowly been coming to this time which has
now, happily, arrived, when there is a common rec
ognition of the things that it is undesirable should
be done in business and the things that it is de
sirable should be done. What we are proceeding
to do now is to organize our peace, is to make our
prosperity not only stable but free to have an
unimpeded momentum.
"It is so obvious that it ought not to be stated
that nothing can be good for the country which is
not good for all of the country. Nothing can be
for the interest of the country which is not for the
interest of everybody; therefore, the day of ac
commodation and of concession and of common
understanding is the day of peace and achievement
and of necessity. We have come to the beginning
of the day. Men are no longer resisting the con
clusions which the nation has arrived at as to the
necessity of readjustments of its business.
"Business men of all sorts are showing their
willingness to come into this arrangement, which
I venture to characterize as the constitution of
peace. So that by common counsel, and by the
accumulating force of cooperation, we are going
to seek more and more to serve the country.

A NEW CURRENCY 123
"I have been surprised at the sudden acceptance
of this measure by public opinion everywhere. I
say surprised because it seems as if it has suddenly
become obvious to men who had looked at it with
too critical an eye that it was really meant in their
interest. "They have opened their eyes to see a thing,
which they had supposed to be hostile, to be
friendly and serviceable — exactly what we in
tended it to be, and what we shall intend all our
legislation to be. The men who have fought for
this measure have fought nobody. They have
simply fought for those accommodations which are
going to secure us in prosperity and in peace. No
body can be the friend of any class in America in
the sense of being the enemy of any other class.
You can only be the friend of one class by showing
it the lines by which it can accommodate itself to
the other class. The lines of help are always the
lines of accommodation.
"It is in this spirit, therefore, that we rejoice
together tonight, and I cannot say with what deep
emotions of gratitude I feel that I have had a part
in completing a work which I think will be of
lasting benefit to the business of the country."

CHAPTER VI
THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY— THE
THIRD STAGE OF THE JOURNEY
"There has been something crude and heartless and
unfeeling in our haste to succeed and be great," Pres
ident Wilson said in his inaugural address. "Our
thoughts have been, 'let every man look out for himself,
let every generation look out for itself, ' while we reared
giant machinery which made it impossible that any but
those who stood at the levers of control should have a
chance to look out for themselves. ' ' His ruling passion
was to bring back to the nation that old freedom that
existed when the fathers set up a new nation on this
continent, when the small as well as the great had "a
chance to look out for themselves." To restore such
liberty in this very complex business age was an ideal.
Was it possible of realization ?
The withdrawal of governmental protection through
tariff revision was the first step. A new banking law
and a commission, with power over banking to see that
the great financial currents flow from the heart of the
nation to the weak and depressed centers at a time when
the need of this life blood is greatest, was the second
124

THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 125
step. But still the question was not answered. How
ever, President Wilson assured the nation that, if Con
gress would take this third step as heroically as it took
the first two, the question would finally be answered.
Even before the second step was taken, he declared in
his address to Congress on December 2, 1913 :
"I think that all thoughtful observers will
agree that the immediate service we owe the busi
ness communities of the country is to prevent pri
vate monopoly more effectually than it has yet
been prevented. I think it will be easily agreed
that we should let the Sherman anti-trust law
stand unaltered, as it is, with its debatable ground
about it, but that we should as much as possible
reduce the area of that debatable ground by fur
ther and more explicit legislation, and should also
supplement that great act by legislation which
will not only clarify it, but also facilitate its ad
ministration and make it fairer to all concerned.
No doubt we shall all wish, and the country will
expect this to be the central subject of our delib
erations during this session; but it is a subject
so many-sided and so deserving of careful and
discriminating discussion that I shall take the lib
erty of addressing you upon it in a special mes
sage at a later date than this. It is of capital

126 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
importance that the business men of this country
should be relieved of all uncertainties of law with
regard to their enterprises and investments, and
a clear path indicated which they can travel with
out anxiety. It is as important that they should
be relieved of embarrassment and set free to
prosper as that private monopoly should be
destroyed. The ways of action should be thrown
wide open."
He was constantly calling the attention of the people
to this fact, that it was only just to business men for
Congress to relieve them of all uncertainty. This was
his excuse for driving the tariff through. The same
argument was used when Senators and Members balked
at attempting the second stage of the journey. "Set
business free" was his earnest appeal. Take the boss
down and let the ways of action be thrown wide open.
But this language the captains of industry eould not
understand. All of the great corporations, called "trusts," had
been formed under the Sherman anti-trust law, which
was enacted over a quarter of a century ago. It seems
that nobody had ever known how to apply the law to a
particular case, since it did not cover exactly every im
portant feature in the organization and growth of the
modem corporation. On the other hand, it became very

THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 127
patent that methods of certain corporations in crushing
out business rivals were criminal, even under the com
mon law and inexcusable in a country where justice was
supposed to prevail. Therefore, the hatred of the peo
ple for trusts and trust methods and even for "trust
made goods" had reached a critical stage. This feeling
was accompanied by a list of indictments brought under
the Sherman anti-trust law which are well known today.
Instead of being a healthy preventive, however, the
Sherman law was fast becoming a most dangerous instru
ment in the hands of demagogues, politicians and law
yers. As prosecutions and persecutions continued, court
opinions so construed the law from time to time that it
had become a patchwork of legislative enactment and
judicial decisions. The meaning was so uncertain that
any corporation, good or bad, might become a prey to
designing lawyers or might be held up by demagogues
and poUticians, and the agitation kept business in a
depressed state and the nation in a panicky condition.
President Wilson was determined that monopoly
should be destroyed and that "the business men of this
country should be relieved of all uncertainty of the law
with regard to their enterprises and investments and a
clearer path indicated which they can travel without
anxiety." And before the currency law was enacted, he
notified Congress that he would address them "in a spe
cial message at a later date than this." This was the
signal for another set of committees to begin shaping

128 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
remediable anti-trust biUs, and when Congress convened
after the Christmas holidays, the press notified the peo
ple of the country that the next "target" would be Big
Business. Such was the editorial interpretation of
President Wilson's statement, "I want to see suspicion
dissipated. I want to see the time brought about when
the rank and file of the citizens of the United States who
have a stem attitude towards the business men of the
country shall be absolutely done away with and for
gotten." It was with considerable anxiety, therefore, that the
nation awaited the President's address, and business
seemed to be very unsteady. It had been the "target"
of the Administration for nine months, and by this time
the sympathies of the people were beginning to turn.
There was unquestionably an industrial depression. Re
ports of interviews with merchants and bankers, how
ever, did not give the impression that business was less
sound, but a strange fear seemed to be fastening itself
gradually upon the minds of the people. Mr. Oscar
Underwood, Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee
of the House, admitted that industrial depression existed,
but he declared that it began before Woodrow Wilson
was elected President. Mr. John Wanamaker, however,
is reported to have remarked that "the man who sees
nothing but disaster ahead is not a true American. The
breeders of panic ought to be deported. ' '
Such was the state of the public mind on January 30

THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 129
when Mr. Wilson appeared at the Capitol to deliver the
already expected and widely heralded address, which, it
was predicted, would be the signal for the beginning of
the great confiict. On this occasion he went more into
detail than in any previous address, pointed out certain
weaknesses in the Sherman law, and stated specifically
what was necessary to complete the destruction and pre
vent the creation of monopoly, and relieve the business
men of all uncertainties of the law.
"In my report 'on the state of the Union,' "
he began, "which I had the privilege of reading
to you on the 2nd of December last, I ventured to
reserve for discussion at a later date the subject
of additional legislation regarding the very diffi
cult and intricate matter of trusts and monop
olies. The time now seems opportune to turn
to that great question; not only because the cur
rency legislation, which absorbed your attention
and the attention of the country in December, is
now disposed of, but also because opinion seems
to be clearing about us with singular rapidity in
this other great field of action. In the matter
of the currency it cleared suddenly and very
happily after the much debated Act was passed;
in respect of the monopolies which have multi
plied about us and in regard to the various means

130 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
by which they have been organized and main
tained, it seems to be coming to a clear and all
but universal agreement in anticipation of our
action, as if by way of preparation, making the
way easier to see and easier to set out upon with
confidence and without confusion of counsel."
It was an accepted principle that "private monopoly
is indefensible." However, the President argued that
great business men who organized and fiLnanced monopoly
either denied its existence or justified it as necessary
for the effective maintenance and development of the
vast business processes of the country in the modern
circumstances of trade and manufacture and finance.
But he declared that the time had come at last to aet,
that the experience of a whole generation would justify
a new interpretation and that the masters of business
had already begun "to yield their preference and pur
pose, perhaps their judgment also, in honorable surren
der." What, then, was the task ahead of Congress?
"What we are purposing to do," he said, "is,
happily, not to hamper or interfere with business
as enlightened business men prefer to do it, or
in any sense to put it under the ban. The antag
onism between business and government is over.
^e are now about to give expression to the best

THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 131
business judgment of America, to what we know
to be the business conscience and honor of the
land. The government and business men are
ready to meet each other half way in a common
effort to square business methods with both public
opinion and the law. The best informed men of
the business world condemn the methods and
processes and consequences of monopoly as we
condemn them; and the instinctive judgment of
the vast majority of business men everywhere
goes with them. We shall now be their spokes
men. That is the strength of our position and
the sure prophecy of what will ensue when our
reasonable work is done."
He then declared that it was possible to bring about
the needed reform without seriously disturbing business.
"No measures of sweeping or novel change are necessary,
but," he said, "we desire the laws we are now about to
pass to be the bulwarks and safeguards of industry
against the forces that have disturbed it." And both
public opinion and business, he declared, were waiting
for the changes to be made.
"It waits with acquiescence, in the first place,
for laws which will effectually prohibit and pre
vent such interlockings of the personnel of the

132 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
directorates of great corporations — banks and
railroads, industrial, commercial, and publio serv
ice bodies — as in effect make those who borrow
and those who lend practically one and the same,
those who sell and those who buy but the same
persons trading with one another under different
names and in different combinations, and those
who affect to compete, in fact, partners and mas
ters of some whole field of business. Sufficient
time should be allowed, of course, in which to
effect these changes of organization without in
convenience or confusion."
After speaking of the great advantages that would
come to the people from such a change, he directed his
remarks to the second reform needed.
"In the second place, business men as well as
those who direct public affairs now recognize,
and recognize with painful clearness, the great
harm and injustice which has been done to many,
if not all, of the great railroad systems of the
country by the way in which they have been
financed and their own distinctive interests sub
ordinated to the interests of the men who financed
them and of other business enterprises which
those men wished to promote.

THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 133
' ' The country is ready, therefore, to accept, and
accept with relief as well as approval, a law
which will confer upon the Interstate Commerce
Commission the power to superintend and reg
ulate the financial operations by which the rail
roads are henceforth to be supplied with the
money they need for their proper development
to meet the rapidly growing requirements of the
country for increased and improved facilities of
transportation. We cannot postpone action in
this matter without leaving the railroads exposed
to many serious handicaps and hazards; and the
prosperity of the railroads and the prosperity of
the country are inseparably connected.
"Upon this question those who are chiefly re
sponsible for the actual management and opera
tion of the railroads have spoken very plainly
and very earnestly, with a purpose we ought to
be quick to accept. It will be one step, and a
very important one, toward the necessary separa
tion of the business of production from the busi
ness of transportation."
A third change that was sorely needed, he argued,
was further and more explicit legislative definition of
the policy and meaning of the existing anti-trust laws.

134 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
"Nothing hampers business like uncertainty,"
he said. "Nothing daunts or discourages it like
the necessity to take chances, to run the risk of
falling under the condemnation of the law before
it can make sure just what the law is. Surely
we are sufficiently familiar with the actual pro
cesses and methods of monopoly and of the many
hurtful restraints of trade to make definition
possible, at any rate, up to the limits of what
experience has disclosed. These practices, being
now abundantly disclosed, can be explicitly and
item by item forbidden by statute in such terms
as will practically eliminate uncertainty."
The fourth important legislation that he asked for was
an administrative body, an interstate trade commission
to give advice and definite guidance and information to
business men, in order that they might be able to avoid
the pitfalls of the old Sherman anti-trust law.
"The business men of the country," he said,
"desire such a commission, and the opinion of
the country would instantly approve of it.
But it would not wish to see this commission
empowered to make terms with monopoly or in
any sort to assume control of business, as if the
government made itself responsible. It demands

THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 135
such a commission only as an indispensable in
strument of information and publicity, as a
clearing house for the facts by which both the
public mind and the managers of great business
undertakings should be guided, and as an instru
mentality for doing justice to business where
the processes of the courts or the natural forces
of correction outside the courts are inadequate
to adjust the remedy to the wrong in a way that
will meet all the equities and circumstances of
the case."
The fifth enactment that he asked for was a clause in
the law that would visit the penalty for violation of the
act not upon business but upon individuals "who use
the instrumentalities of business to do things which
public policy and sound business practice condemn."
"Every act of business," he argued, "is done
at the command or upon the initiative of some
ascertainable person or group of persons. These
should be held individually responsible and the
punishment should fall upon them, not upon the
business organizations of which they make illegal
use. It should be one of the main objects of our
legislation to divest such persons of their corpo
rate cloak and deal with them as with those who

136 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
do not represent their corporations, but merely
by deliberate intention break the law. Business
men the country through, would, I am sure,
applaud us if we were to take effectual steps to
see that the officers and directors of great busi
ness bodies were prevented from bringing them
and the business of the country into disrepute and
danger." The sixth request that he made of Congress was "to
give private individuals who claim to have been injured
by these processes the right to found their suits for re
dress upon the facts and judgments proved and entered
in suits by the government when the government has,
upon its own initiative, sued the combinations complained
of and won its suit."
He argued that "individuals who are put out of busi
ness in one unfair way or another by the many dislodg
ing and exterminating forces of combination" are really
at a serious disadvantage in trying to recover. There
fore, he said, "it is not fair that the private Utigant
should be obliged to set up and establish again the facts
which the government has proved."
The seventh and last suggestion that his message con
tained called for a careful consideration of enterprises
which are oftentimes "interlocked, not by being under
the control of the same directors, but by the fact that

THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY I37
the greater part of their corporate stock is owned by a
single individual or group of persons who are tn some
way intimately related in interest."
"We are agreed," he said, "I take it, that
holding companies should be prohibited, but what
of the controlling private ownership of individ
uals or actually cooperative groups of indi
viduals? Shall the private owners of capital
stock be suffered to be themselves in effect hold
ing companies? We do not wish, I suppose, to
forbid the purchase of stocks by any person who
pleases to buy them in such quantities as he can
afford, or in any way arbitrarily to limit the sale
of stocks to bona fide purchasers. Shall we re
quire the owners of stock, when their voting
power in several companies which ought to be
independent of one another would constitute
actual control, to make election in which of them
they will exercise their right to vote?"
He kad at last disclosed his complete program and
was approaching the end. A feeling of relief swept over
tke Senators and Members, and the nervous tension ta
the press galleries relaxed when he turned to his con
cluding paragraph.
"I have laid the case before you," he con-

138 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
eluded, "no doubt, as it lies in your own mind,
SO it lies in the thought of the country. What
must every candid man say of the suggestions I
have laid before you, of the plain obligations of
which I have reminded you? That these are new
things for which the country is not prepared?
No; but that they are old things, now familiar,
and must of course be undertaken if we are to
square our laws with the thought and desire of
the country. Until these things are done, con
scientious business men the country over A\dll be
unsatisfied. They are in these things our men
tors and colleagues. We are now about to write
the additional articles of our constitution of
peace, the peace that is honor and freedom and
prosperity." Such was the large program presented to Congress
by President Wilson in January, 1914. The nation had
been warned repeatedly that his anti-trust measures
were surely coming. This was the occasion again for
business to become somewhat panicky. Therefore, on
the 20th of January the stage was set, and it was even
predicted that the President and Big Business had at
last come to the death struggle and the whole nation was
breathless with expectation. A member of Congress de
clared that "the eight hundred or more trusts that now

THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY I39
dominate the industries of the country will put up a
fight that will try men's souls."
However, after the message was delivered, captains of
industries, railroad presidents, and even anti- Wilson
newspapers praised the message, and it was noticeable
that "stock values sprang to higher levels." It was now
declared by leaders in both parties that the atmosphere
was changing, "since there is a disposition on the part
of great business industries of the country to meet the
President in a fair and square method of adjusting their
business transactions."
The message was such a surprise to those especially
interested that extremists who favored destroying at
once all monopoly, root and branch, declared that the
message was a disappointment and that the President
had "sold out." Legitimate business had been so har-
rassed by the threats of Congress and party leaders, that
it had about despaired of securing justice. Moreover,
illegitimate business had had its methods trailed through
the newspapers and certain "malefactors" had even
been sent to penitentiary. Therefore, the country had
come to the conclusion at last that justice in spite of pro
test was about to be done.
The President's message gave legitimate business
increased confidence and a more wholesome atmosphere ;
and illegitimate business, the hope that it, too, might
be permitted to become respectable before the aveng
ing wrath of a just ruler should overtake it. The

140 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
price of stocks and bonds showed a distinct gain
the morning afterward, and the business men in every
section of the nation were trying to believe in the Presi
dent's assurance that "the antagonism between business
and government is over."
The form of a great masterpiece had been outlined
again and Congress was set to the task of carving out
the delicate lines.
The President had learned from his fight with the
Senate over the currency bill not to ask for haste. More
over, the publication of the biUs that were soon drafted
to carry out his recommendations was accompanied by
the promise of ample hearings on them and full debate.
The programme was so comprehensive that both Sen
ators and Members felt that much time was needed to
give them all the consideration needed. There was con
siderable feeling in Congress, too, that an important
measure such as the one before it should not be enacted
during the same session in which it was proposed.
In the meantime the interlocked interests were being
voluntarily unlocked. Hence, there seemed to be no
pressing need for legislation along that line. Moreover,
the tariff and currency laws were still new, and business
had not made full adjustment to them. In fact, the new
currency law was not yet in operation. Furthermore,
there seemed to be no urgent public demand or public
necessity for immediate enactment of any anti-trust
measures. On the other hand, railroads were asking for

THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 141
an increase of freight rates on the grounds of business
depression, and there did appear to exist a serious lack
of confidence in the great trade markets of the country.
At this time Congress began to consider seriously the
advisability of abandoning the anti-trust measures, wind
ing up the necessary business to be transacted, and ad
journing at an early date. It was pointed out that Con
gress had been in practically continuous session for a
much longer period than any previous Congress in the
country's history, and its members naturally and prop
erly wished to wind up the business at a date early
enough to give them opportunity to prepare for the
Congressional campaign.
President Wilson, however, was steadfast in his con
viction that "nothing is more dangerous to business than
uncertainty" and that it was "a great deal better to
do the thing moderately and soberly now than wait until
more radical forces had accumulated and it was neces
sary to go much further." Moreover, he was interview
ing the leading business men of the country and talking
with Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade ; and
when a group of manufacturers visited the White House
in May and asked him to postpone carrying out the trust
program on account of business depression, he is re
ported to have said that, while he was aware of such
depression, there was abundant evidence to show that
it was merely psychological and that there was "no nat
ural condition or substantial reason why the business of

142 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
the country should not be in the most prosperous and
expanding condition." His firm opposition to an ad
journment before the pledges to the people were redeemed
dispelled all hope of an early adjournment, and Mem
bers of both Houses saw another busy summer ahead of
them, because the legislative mill was grinding too slowly
for any large results at an early date.
The Administration's program was finally worked
out in the House and embodied in three bills: (1) a
bill creating an Interstate Trade Commission, (2) the
Clayton Omnibus bill, and (3) the Railway Capitaliza
tion bill. These measures progressed so well in the
House that by May 18 the debate began, and within less
than three weeks (June 5) they passed the House and
were carried to the Senate, where the great fight was
scheduled. Here again they had to run the gauntlet
of the committee rooms of the Senate. Every new fea
ture added to them was a challenge to innumerable de
bates, and every elimination was a warning that in the
end the bill itself might find a similar fate. There
seemed to be an irreconcilable difference between the
attitude of organized labor and organized capital over
the bills, and the arguments that followed only served
to show how far away the end was.
The Mexican trouble had reached an acute stage ; the
Panama tolls controversy was at a critical moment; and
pressure was again brought to bear on the Administra
tion to abandon the trust bills. Then during the month

THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY I43
of June, it appeared that the pressure was being felt,
and it was freely talked that President Wilson had
agreed to an adjournment in July. That left only
about a month to complete the trust bills and transact
all the other important business necessary ; and the pre
diction was openly made that Congress would adjourn
without passing the Administration measures.
Senators and Members faced another summer. They
remembered only too well the mastery that the President
had exercised over Congress the summer before — how
he had held that body together in spite of the tremen
dous opposition to the tariff and the currency bills, and
in spite of the desire on the part even of many friends of
the measure to escape the intense heat of the capital.
They had been in session over twelve months. The
young administration had now reached its second sum
mer with a constitution strong enough to make the last
and really the worst stage of the journey. But again
many felt that the country would be best served by an
adjournment until after "dog days."
However, the desperate opponents of the bill learned
with much chagrin that President Wilson had no inten
tion to postpone action. He was inexorable, notwith
standing the fact that Congress was tired and a new
election was approaching.
The opposition then resorted to its old tactics. It began
a campaign to bring great pressure to bear on Congress
from the people "back home" and thus to frighten the

144 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
Members away from the measure. Letters were sent
out asking every business man receiving them "to write
letters of a similar character to the President, the Mem
bers of the United States Senate and House of Repre
sentatives from your state." When these letters were
made public, they created almost as great a sensation
as did the "Insidious Lobby" the year before. Such let
ters, the President suggested, showed the process by
which the present psychological depression had been arti
ficially created.
In the midst of this excitement he sent for the Demo
cratic Steering Committee of the Senate, reiterated his
belief that actual business conditions were normal and
improving, and asserted with emphasis that all the in
fluence he possessed would be exerted against the
adjournment of Congress without the completion of its
anti-trust program. He declared, furthermore, that the
most unsettling thing that could happen to business
would be to be left for six or eight months longer in
uncertainty as to what form the promised anti-trust leg
islation would take, and he insisted with a show of impa
tience that business ought to be more interested in ending
the fight than in postponing it.
It seemed to be quite evident, however, that Congress,
if left to itself, would adjourn within a few weeks. Dem
ocratic leaders were asserting that an adjournment would
be reached anyway by August 1, although it was admitted
that Mr. Wilson still had sufficient authority to hold

THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 145
Congress to its work all summer, if he so desired. A
proposition was made that had considerable backing to
adjourn Congress on August 1, with the understanding
that it was to be summoned in extra session directly after
the November election. The idea was that all the left
over bills, including the anti-trust bills, could be acted
upon before January. But again the President was re
ported to be in an "unyielding mood."
He had declared that business depression was due more
to psychological causes than actual unsoundness. How
ever, the press of the country retorted by asserting that
thirteen important railroads were in the hands of re
ceivers, with three others on the verge of receiverships.
Moreover, the financial records showed that more than
forty large corporations passed their dividends that year,
and it was extremely difficult to obtain mercantile loans
from country banks. While this discussion was rife, the
H. B. Claflin Company of New York failed. This was
the greatest bankruptcy in the history of the American
dry goods business, since it controlled twenty-seven de
partment retail stores and was associated with ten more.
These facts were used with much force throughout the
country to convince the Members of the House and Sen
ate that the Administration anti-trust bills should not
be passed at a time when business was so depressed.
However, if there was any large number of people who
believed that a cry of hard times, or overworked Con
gressmen, or approaching defeat at the November elecr

146 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
tions, or even serious business depression would move
Mr. Wilson from his position, they were sadly disap
pointed. He was immovable in his conviction that the
greater the depression, the more urgent was the demand
for legislative action — a view-point that many business
men eould not understand.
On June 25, while the Claflin failure was being dis
cussed in every city in America, President Wilson ad
dressed a delegation of Virginia editors, and he took the
occasion to make his position clear to the whole country.
"I think it is appropriate," he said, "in receiv
ing you, to say just a word or two in assistance
of your judgment about the existing conditions.
You are largely responsible for the state of
public opinion. You furnish the public with
information and in your editorials you furnish
it with the interpretation of that information.
"We are in the presence of a business situa
tion which is variously interpreted. Here in
Washington, through the Bureau of Commerce
and other instrumentalities that are at our dis
posal and through a correspondence which comes
to us from all parts of the nation, we are per
haps in a position to judge of the actual condi
tions of business better than those can judge
who are at any other single point in the country;

THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 147
and I want to say to you that as a matter of fact
the signs of a very strong business revival are
becoming more and more evident from day to
day." Then, for a while, he spoke of the panicky feeling and
the fears and criticisms that had come from business
men. But he declared:
"There is nothing more fatal to business than
to be kept guessing from month to month and
from year to year whether something serious is
going to happen to it or not, and what in par
ticular is going to happen to it, if anything does.
It is impossible to forecast the prospects of any
line of business unless you know what the year
is going to bring forth. Nothing is more unfair,
nothing has been declared by business men to be
more harmful, than to keep them guessing."
He was constantly trying to impress this fact upon
the people and even upon the business men themselves.
But it was very apparent that they preferred a prof
itable uncertainty such as the past had been to many.
Mr. Wilson then reviewed the history of this depression,
going back to the beginning of the tariff agitation and
coming on down through the stubborn fight for currency
reforms.

148 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
"Then we advanced to the trust program,"
he said, "and again the same dread, the same
hesitation, the same urgency that the thing should
be postponed. It will not be postponed, and it
will not be postponed because we are the friends
of business. We know what we are doing. We
purpose to do it under the advice — for we have
been fortunate enough to obtain the advice — of
men who understand the business of the country,
and we know that the effect is going to be ex
actly what the effect of the currency reform was,
a sense of relief and of security.
"Because when the program is finished, it
is finished; the interrogation points are rubbed
off the plate, business is given its constitution of
freedom and is bidden to go forward under that
constitution. And just so soon as it gets that
leave and freedom there will be a boom of busi
ness in this country such as we have never wit
nessed in the United States.
"I, as a friend of business and a servant of
the country, would not dare stop in this pro
gram and bring on another long period of agita
tion. Agitation longer continued would be fatal
to the business of this country, and if this pro
gram is delayed, there will come agitation.

THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 149
with every letter in the word a capital letter.
The choice is a sober and sensible program,
now completed, or months upon months of addi
tional conjecture and danger.
"I for one could not ask the country to excuse
a policy which subjected business to longer con
tinued agitation and uncertainty; and, therefore,
I am sure that it is beginning to be evident to
the whole press of this country, and by the same
token, to the people, that a conservative pro
gram is at last not only to be imposed, but
completed, and that when it is completed, busi
ness can get — and will get what it can get in
no other way — rest, recuperation, and successful
adjustment. I cannot get rest if you send me
to bed wondering what is going to happen to me
in the morning; but if you send me to bed know
ing what the course of business is to be tomorrow
morning, I can rest. How much better is certain
justice to the men engaged in business.
"It is a matter of conscience, as well as a mat
ter of large public policy, to do what this Con
gress, I am now certain, is going to do — finish
the program. And I do not think that it is going
to take a very long time. I believed that the
temper of those engaged in this great thing is

150 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
admirable, that the various elements sometimes
in antagonism in the Congress of the United
States are growing together and that we shall
witness an early statesmanlike result from which
we shall all have abundant reason to be
thankful." Mr. Wilson's faith in the final outcome strengthened
the working force in Congress. His determination not
to postpone action gave impetus to its Members, and his
open and unqualified assurance, constantly repeated,
that "we are the friends of business," that "we have
been fortunate enough to obtain the advice of men who
understand the business of the country, ' ' gave them more
confidence in the final outcome of the fight and strength
ened the Administration both in Congress and in the
nation. "It will not be postponed!" And the Senate Dem
ocrats in caucus agreed July 1 to remain in session until
the trust bills were disposed of. Mr. Wilson had about
convinced the leaders of the country, too, that instead
of tearing up or destroying business, the trust bills were
the remedies for many evils that modern business was
heir to, and he was deterinined to end the war on busi
ness. He took every occasion to stress this point. Cer
tain bankers were opposed to the currency laws when
these laws were for their benefit, and now the trust
measures were being vigorously opposed although they

THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 151
were for the benefit of the large corporations as well as
of the people. But Big Business was so accustomed to
see legislation initiated that was hostile to it, that it
eould not understand legislation that was really for the
benefit of all legitimate business. It was afraid of the
Greeks bearing gifts.
Senate committees were working away on the three
bills. Public hearings brought advice and hostile crit
icism from every state in the Union. The President was
now resorting to his favorite tactics again. He, as well
as the Senate committees, was consulting the leading busi
ness men of the nation. Bankers from New York, man
ufacturers from the Northwest, and business men of the
West and South were consulted. He was using all the
brains that he could borrow. Soon the report went out
to the world that these prominent business men were,
after all, not much opposed to the measures, but that
they did express their opposition to certain objectionable
features. These conferences were bringing a better un
derstanding between the Administration and the entire
business world.
When Congress first met to consider revising the tar
iff, Mr. Wilson held counsel chiefly with trusted mem
bers of his own party. Protectionists he did not care
to talk with, and it is said that when men of prominence
called on him, if they were known to be monopolists or
advocates of monopoly, he admitted them to his pres
ence, "but without enthusiasm and only after seeing to

152 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
it that the door should be left ajar to guarantee the piti-
lessness of requisite publicity."
However, as he became more and more acquainted with
the country, and the rise and fall of public enthusiasm,
his coldness and seclusion changed somewhat toward this
class of citizens, and now that masters of business were
directly concerned in the outcome of this last stage of
the journey that the nation was taking, he very cordially
admitted them into his counsel and sought their advice.
In the midst of these consultations he sent in his nom
inations for membership on the Federal Reserve Board.
The new currency law was about to be put into opera
tion, and he showed his confidence in the integrity of
the masters of finance by appointing on this board Mr.
Paul M. Warburg, a partner in the great banking house
of Kiihn, Loeb and Company, and Mr. Thomas D. Jones,
a director of the Harvester Company,
These appointments aroused much opposition to the
President in the Senate, where the anti-trust bills were
still pending. And they were referred to as "the most
striking evidence of the President's change of mind"
toward business and business men. The greatest oppo
sition developed against Mr. Jones because of his con
nection with the Harvester Company, whose methods
the government was then investigating, although Mr.
Jones held only one share of stock in the company.
The country seemed to be receiving the wrong impres-

THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 153
sion concerning these men. Therefore, Mr. Wilson made
the following declaration:

"It would be particularly unfair to the Dem
ocratic party and the Senate itself to regard it as
the enemy of business, big or little. I am sure
that it does not regard a man as an object of
suspicion merely because he has been connected
with great business enterprises. It knows that
the business of the country has been chiefly pro
moted in recent years by enterprises organized
on a great scale and that the vast majority of
fhe men connected with what we have come to
call 'big business' are honest, incorruptible and
patriotic. The country may be certain that it
is clear to members of the Senate, as it is clear
to all thoughtful men, that those who have tried
to make 'big business' what it ought to be are
the men to be encouraged and honored whenever
they respond without reserve to the call of pub
lic service.
"I predict with the greatest confidence that
nothing done by the Democratic majority of the
Senate of the United States will be of a sort to
throw suspicion upon such men. Mr. Jones and
Mr. Warburg, in manifesting their willingness

154 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
to make personal sacrifices and put their great
experience and ability at the service of the gov
ernment, without thought of personal advantage,
in the organization of a great reform which
promises to be so serviceable to the nation, are
setting an example of patriotism and public spirit
which the whole country admires.
"It is the obvious business of statesmanship
at this turning point in our development to rec
ognize ability and character whenever it has
been displayed and unite every force for the up
building of legitimate business along the new
lines which are now clearly indicated for the
future. ' '
Mr. Warburg was accepted but Mr. Jones was rejected.
For more than a year the Administration had been
directing its force against the methods of organized busi
ness. During that entire time business was very unre
sponsive, notwithstanding the tremendous resources of
the countr3^ The President insisted that no just reason
existed for this depression. But it was a fact that busi
ness had lost its old-time buoyancy. The old emotions
would not respond, doubtless, because the old stimulus
had led to many unjust acts which were at this time the
object of executive inquiry and legislative control. Pres
ident Wilson had asserted so vigorously that the caii^e \

THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 155
of the depression was mainly psychological that even
business was about to believe it.
However, during this same period there was going
on in Europe an adjustment of the finances owing to the
Balkan War and other disturbing causes. Moreover, in
America, the Mexican War and the possibilities of serious
international complications were affecting trade and dis
turbing the money markets. And at this time, when the
Senate was seriously considering the question of ad
journing and leaving the trust bills until a later session,
the nations of Europe were still under the dread of fur
ther complications from the Balkan War, and they seemed
to feel the hot breath of the approaching war god. All
these extraordinary conditions had tremendous effect
on business. Actual business conditions were sound, but
the dread of what might happen tomorrow made busi
ness as inactive as the life of trade would permit. There
fore, while the business men were engaged, and very
seriously engaged, in studying these larger continental
and world possibilities, they were pestered by the
thought of what a Democratic Congress might do. It
was irritating them to the limit of endurance.
Mr. Wilson, however, had contended from the first
that if the business of the country would understand the
motives of the Administration in its so-called attack on
business, all fears would be removed. The program
did not contemplate a disturbance of business, but its
great purpose was to set business free, and now (June 8,

156 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
1914), fifteen months after the first step was begun.
President Woodrow Wilson, having about completed the
three great steps of his New Freedom, was appealing
to the Senate, "that those who have tried to make 'big
business' what it ought to be are the men to be encour
aged and honored whenever they respond without reserve
to the call of public service. ' ' There was stUl a severe
fight ahead before the trust bills would be at all assured.
But soon they, like the currency bill, began to lose much
of their partisan characteristics. The nation's artists
were seriously and industriously carving out the third
great masterpiece.
It was not until the last of July that the debate on
the trust bills began in the Senate, and it had progressed
only a few days when humanity's worst fears were real
ised — ^the great European war burst upon the world.
However, the great fight on the Administration's pro
gram was about over. On August 5, four days after
the beginning of the great war, the Senate passed the
bill creating the Federal Trade Commission by a large
majority — 56 to 16. The Clayton Omnibus bUl was
delayed for nearly another month, but on September 2
it also passed the Senate by a large majority. The Sen
ate had made several important amendments to both
bills, and it was not imtil September 10 that the Federal
Trade Commission was finally enacted into law, and on
October 5 the Clayton Omnibus bill became a law. Thus
ended the long fight. The European war was creating

THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY I57
new issues, and Congress was unable to adjourn until
certain temporary war measures were enacted. Then, on
October 24, the long Congress came to a close, after
having been continuously at work for 567 days — ^the
longest period in the history of the country.
The House sent over to the Senate three trust bills.
But only two finally became laws. The Railway Cap
italization bill was lost in the Senate. However, the
other two laws — the Federal Trade Commission and the
Clayton Omnibus Anti-trust act — included the larger
part of the President's programme.
The Trade Commission Act establishes a Federal
Trade Commission similar to the Interstate Commerce
Commission, with the following duties and powers :
1. It transfers to this Commission the powers and
duties of the Bureau of Corporations and increases these
duties tn relation to the investigation of the affairs of
corporations and of business methods and practices in
general and in particular.
2. It is empowered to prevent unfair competition and
to investigate, upon application of the Attomey-General,
and to make recommendations for the readjustment of
the business of any corporation alleged to be violating
the Anti-trust act, in order that it may thereafter con
duct its business in accordance with law.
3. It is authorized to classify corporations and make
rules and regulations for the enforcement of the act.
4. It is charged with the duty to investigate trade

158 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
conditions in and with foreign countries, where associa
tions, combinations, or practices of manufacturers may
affect our foreign trade, and to report thereon to
Congress. 5. It makes the Commission an accessory %o the
courts for the preparation and execution of their decrees
in anti-trust cases.
The Clayton Anti-Trust Act is an omnibus measure,
combining various provisions for curbing trust activ
ities. Its purpose is to complete the destruction of
existing monopoly and to prevent the birth of further
monopoly. Its specifications are as follows :
1. Price discriminations and tying-contracts are made
unlawful when they substantially lessen competition.
2. It forbids the existence of holding companies when
they restrain commerce or tend to establish monopoly.
3. Interlocking directorates among banks with re
sources of more than $5,000,000 must cease after two
years. 4. It provides that no one shall be an officer or direc
tor of more than one bank, and no person shall be a
director in two or more large corporations if the corpo
rations are competitors.
5. It provides that in case of private damage suits
under the anti-trust laws, the decree in any government
suit against the same defendant shall constitute prima
facie evidence for the purposes of the private suits.

THE DESTRUCTION OF MONOPOLY 159
A comparison of these specifications with the recom
mendations of the President in his address to Congress
on January 20 will show how completely his recommenda
tions were finaUy embodied into law.

CHAPTER VII
THE END OF THE OLD REGIME
President Wilson outlined in his inaugural address
with some degree of particularity the things that he con
sidered ought to be altered in order that every process
of our national life might again square with the stand
ard "we so proudly set up at the beginning." But after
eighteen months of hard work — a work of restoration,
what is the result?
The pressure of the European war has been so severe
that men's minds have been wrenched violently away
from those days when the President and Congress were
approaching new affairs and perfecting the means by
which this government may be put at the service of
humanity. Therefore, the marvelous achievements in
their totaUty have drifted out of men's consciousness.
Some remember that period because of one act, while
others because of a whoUy different act. But the per
manent benefit to the whole country will have to be
measured later, when all adjustments have been com
pleted and society, as a whole, responds to this new
safeguarding of property and individual rights. Not
until then can the historian adequately appraise the
benefits to this nation. But what changes were made
160

THE END OF THE OLD REGIME 161
in the functions of government that made the first half
of Wilson's administration the end of an era?
The country at large believed that the old protective
tariff in operation for so many years violated the just
principles of taxation and cut the country off from its
proper part in the commerce of the world. A new tariff
law, therefore, was enacted in which neither lobby nor
special interests had a hand in the making, but in which
the people of the United States — ^laborers as well as
manufacturers — ^have a fair opportunity to judge
whether such a measure that has been an issue for a
century is a panacea for industrial evils tn this modern
business age. Moreover, an income tax law was coupled
with this new tariff law in order to meet the expected
deficiency in the revenue and throw more of the burden
of support upon great wealth rather than upon labor.
In the place of the old laisses faire doctrine of indi
vidual license, that had resulted in a comparatively few
men, more powerful than the rest, gaining control of
the processes of government and the industrial life of
the people, a government by commission was inaugurated.
Commissions were clothed with authority to exercise "a
watchful interference" over the selfish designs of men
and protect the liberties of the people by preserving free
and fair competition in this industrial age. This change
in the processes of government is perhaps the most far-
reaching tn its consequences of any legislation since the
beginning of the nineteenth century.

162 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
The currency of the country was taken out of the hands
of self-appointed trustees of the nation and placed in
the hands of a government commission, the Federal
Reserve Board. By this act the money-changers were
driven from the temple of the nation and the currency
of the country will henceforth flow in the interest of the
little banker as well as the powerful money baron, in
the interest of the laborer as well as the captain of in
dustry. The nation applauded this act and proclaimed
abroad that "The Federal Reserve Law is enough to
make any administration illustrious in history."
Great corporations were also placed in the hands of a
commission — the Federal Trade Commission. No longer
would the captains of industry and finance be permitted
to sit "at the levers of control" and make or mar at
will the fortunes of friendly or rival concerns. The
watchful interference of this commission was designed
to permit young industries to develop without fear of
the great corporations. Moreover, it was designed to
direct the great as well as the small into safer channels
where designing politicians and unscrupulous lawyers,
who once fattened on the old Sherman Anti-trust law
and kept business panicky, would be deprived of an
unholy instrument.
The powers and duties of the Interstate Commerce
Commission were increased. This was the first of the
commissions to be established and it served as a model
for guidance in creating the other two. It was now

THE END OF THE OLD REGIME 163
empowered to exercise a certain control over the busi
ness transactions of railroads and other common carriers
where free and fair competition might be interfered
with. Through these commissions — the Federal Reserve
Board, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Inter
state Commerce Commission — ^the large fields of business,
finance and industry were brought under governmental
control. This work of restoration that President Wilson
outlined at the beginning of his administration was now
completed and the nation's Constitution of Peace was
written. However, there were still other things necessary to be
done. But they pertained especially to the conservation
and development of our national resources for the
benefit of the whole people. President Wilson declared
that Congress should address itself to this new problem
with the same vigor that it employed in inaugurating a
new government by commission. Nor did the administra
tion wait. The President called the nation's attention
to the fact that our agricultural activities had never
been given the efficiency of great business undertakings ;
nor had they served the people as they should through
the instrumentalities of science taken directly to the
farm, or afforded the facilities of credit best suited to
their practical needs.
The Smith-Lever Agricultural Extension Act came as
a result of this great demand. It was passed March 8,

164 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
1914, appropriating about half a million dollars for im
mediate use by the Department of Agriculture and the
colleges of the several states. However, the Act con
templates a gradual increase until the annual appropria
tion amounts to several miUion dollars.
The mineral resources of Alaska were locked up in the
Arctic Circle and were available only to corporations of
great wealth. But in order that they might be employed
by the nation as a whole. Congress authorized the Presi
dent to begin the construction of a thousand miles of
trunk-line railway to connect the ports on the Pacific
with the coal fields of the interior, and thus make avail
able for national use the almost unlimited coal of Alaska.
Other measures of conservation were begun, such as
the protection of forests and waterpower and mineral
deposits. Moreover, movements looking to the conserva
tion of health and the encouragement of good roads and
rural credits were begun. Then the European War
appeared. Just at this time the American people were passing
out of an old era into a new national life made. possible
by this Constitution of Peace. What the future would
be was predicted with an assurance that brought ho^e
to the souls of men who had suffered because of injustices
in the nation. But as the transfer was about to be made,
the European war closed up the past and gave a new
era not only to America, but to the entire civilized

THE END OF THE OLD REGIME 165
world. Therefore, what the future will be even to
America no man can prophesy with certainty.
The great issues, therefore, in the second half of the
Wilson Administration instead of pertaining largely to
matters of strictly domestic concern, such as conserva
tion of public health and national resources, relate to
the European war and we have neutrality, American
rights on the high seas, preparedness, merchant marine,
and commercial and educational preparedness as the
paramount issues.
Before approaching these new issues, however, it is
necessary to take a survey of President Wilson's foreign
policy during this period when the Constitution of Peace
was being wrought out.

CHAPTER VIII
A NEW FOREIGN POLICY
On March 4, 1913, when Woodrow Wilson took the
oath of office as President of the United States, two grave
responsibilities were laid upon his administration: (1)
To set up the rule of right and justice in this nation;
and (2) to maintain a just relation to all foreign nations.
In the previous chapters we have seen how heroically
he undertook the first task and with what success he
inaugurated a set of reforms that were to affect the whole
country. The second task, however, was not so simple,
and the reason is obvious. In the first place, the Presi
dent of the United States, in dealing with foreign nations,
must be guided by what foreigners and strangers to our
ideals may do; and in the second place, international
problems are not solved, as a rule, with that same regard
for absolute right and justice as are domestic problems.
Moreover, in dealing with intranational questions, the
responsibility for the solution may be placed in a large
measure upon Congress and the people. But in dealing
with international questions, the responsibility for solu
tion is placed almost entirely upon the President of the
United States. 166

A NEW FOREIGN POLICY 167
Perhaps the greatest difficulty to overcome in handling
all international questions, is in securing a just rule of
conduct that will be acceptable to the people who have
little voice in establishing the rule and whose notions of
how foreign affairs should be conducted are usually
exceedingly selfish.
National ideals with reference solely to domestic
policies may be one thing ; but with reference to foreign
affairs, quite another thing. It is often the case, if not
the rule, that the two are as different as right and wrong.
The functions of government operating intrastate may
be guided by the eternal principles of right and justice
as expressed in the Golden Rule; but operating inter
nationally, may be controUed by a selfishness and a greed
that would be considered both immoral and even criminal,
if the acts were those of a private citizen. Admiral
Decatur's familiar toast — "Our Country! In her inter
course with Foreign Nations, may she always be in the
right; but our Country, right or wrong" — is a fine
expression of patriotism and a guarantee of national
solidarity. However, the sentiment is merely a refine
ment of that primitive tribal religion which nationalized
the deity, made polytheism a necessity and limited the
rule of right and justice to tribal or national boundaries ;
hence the sword as the final arbitrament of international
disputes. Nations have made more progress in placing the rule
of right above the power of might in domestic or national

168 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
affairs than in international affairs. Therefore, the
greatest problem of the statesman is to make international
questions square by the same ethical standards that
national questions are measured by. But as long as the
difference between the two ideals is so great, civilization
will be retarded by international jealousies and destruc
tive wars.
When President Wilson was inaugurated he was at
once confronted with certain very perplexing foreign
problems: (1) A revolution in Mexico; (2) The rela
tion of this government to Latin American Republics;
and (3) The attitude of the European nations toward
America because of the Panama tolls act which exempted
American coast-wise vessels from the payment of tolls
in passing through the Panama Canal.
The New Executive was an untried man, only a
political philosopher, and not only the people of America
but of the whole civilized world were asking themselves
this question: How will the new President approach
the solution of these problems?
Tke American people were demanding in one breath
that the President hold the balances even when weighing
matters of strictly domestic concern. But when con
sidering international questions, the vocal part of the
American public seemed to be ready to heap reproach
upon the administration if the balances failed to dip low
on the American side, and such is the traditional attitude
of the human race to international disputes. No executive

A NEW FOREIGN POLICY 169
had been able to establish a precedent the justice of
which was convincing to all nations without drawing
upon himself the censure and even ridicule of a large
part of his own people. Therefore, nations have too
often resorted to might rather than right in the settle
ment of international disputes. It is the easier mode,
though not a remedy.
President Wilson, however, announced very emphatic
ally at the beginning of his administration that it would
be his policy to set up the rule of right and justice in all
international questions. This was a departure. A new
precedent was about to be established. Was this nation
entering a new era in diplomacy ? Men were wondering.

CHAPTER IX
THE PRESIDENT BROADENS THB MEANING OF
THB MONROE DOCTRINE
The revolution in Mexico was the most perplexing
international problem that confronted the new adminis
tration. However, it had to be solved not with reference
solely to Mexico and to the United States, but with refer
ence to all the other Latin American Republics. There
fore, it became necessary to establish first a new Pan
American policy, or, in other words, to give the American
people a broader meaning of the Monroe Doctrine.
A few days after his inauguration, President Wilson
outlined the policies that should guide him in all of his
relations with the Latin American states, including
Mexico. Each state was assured that "one of the chief
objects of my administration will be to cultivate the
friendship of all the Latin American states," and he
declared, "I earnestly desire the most cordial under
standing and cooperation between the people and the
leaders of America." He then made this brief state
ment not only for North Americans, but for Central and
South Americans to read and ponder over :
170

BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 171
"Cooperation is possible only when supported
at every turn by the orderly processes of just
government, based upon law and not upon arbi
trary or irregular force. We hold, as I am sure
all thoughtful leaders of republican government
elsewhere hold, that just government rests always
upon the consent of the governed, and that there
can be no freedom without order, based upon
law and upon public conscience and approval.
We shall look to make these principles the basis
of mutual intercourse, respect, and helpfulness
between our sister republics and ourselves.
"We shall lend our influence of every kind to
the realization of these principles in fact and
practice, knowing that disorder, personal intrigue
and the denial of constitutional rights weaken
and discredit government and injure none so
much as the people who are unfortunate enough
to have their common life and their common
affairs so tainted and disturbed.
"We can have no sympathy with those who seek
to seize the power of government to advance their
own personal interests or ambitions. We are the
friends of peace, but we know that there can be no
lasting or stable peace in such circumstances. As
friends, therefore, we shall prefer those who act in

172 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
the interests of peace and honor, who protect
private rights and respect the restraints of con
stitutional provisions. Mutual respect seems to
us the indispensable foundation of friendship
between states as between individuals.
"The United States has nothing to seek in
Central and South America except the lasting
interests of the peoples of the two continents, the
security of governments, intended for the people,
and for no special groups of interests; and the
development of personal and trade relationships
between the two continents, which shall redound
to the advantage and profit of both and interfere
in the liberties of neither.
"From these principles may be read so much of
the future policy of this government as it is
necessary now to forecast; and in the spirit of
these principles, I may, I hope, be permitted with
as much confidence as earnestness to extend to the
.governments of all the republics of America the
hand of genuine disinterested friendship and to
pledge my own honor and the honor of my col
leagues to every enterprise of peace and amity
that a fortunate future may disclose."
This declaration of a general principle was very favor
ably received in this country. In fact, few, if any, of

BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 173
our pubUe men have been so fortunate in their power
to generalize and state convincingly a general truth, as
President Wilson. Therefore, the press, in the main,
applauded his utterance, but predicted that the Admin
istration would find serious difficulty in making the
practical application. There seemed to be a general
impression that many, if not most, of the Latin American
Republics would be incapable of understanding the
President's meaning; and, it was feared that few of
them would pay any attention to his words.
In working out his domestic policies. President Wilson
could state the general principles and leave the working
out of the details to Congress. But the details of his
foreign policy had to be worked out by him and his
cabinet and such advice as he could draw from members
of Congress. The burden of the work was thrown on
the President and not on Congress. And the nation had
to wait and watch for results. In the meantime the
revolution continued in Mexico; stories of inhuman
atrocities found their way across the border; and fear
of European complications seized the minds of many
nervous Americans.
The press was doubtless in error as to the incapacity
of the Latin Americans to understand President Wil
son 's langauge. However, their fears that few of them
would pay any attention to his words, were by no means
without foundation. But the explanation is found rather
in the historical policy of this nation than in a total

174 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
incapacity of the Latin Americans to understand the
President 's declaration.
Suppose we notice the relation of the United States to
Canada and to the Latin states. The line between Amer
icans and Canadians is not a very marked one. The fact
that both are of the same race and speak the same
language has much to do with the friendliness that exists.
But the commercial, industrial, and social ties are
equally as strong. On the other hand, the line between
the citizens of the United States and the citizens of the
Latin American states is very marked. They not only
differ in race and in language, but the commercial, indus
trial, and social ties are very weak.
In traveling from North America to South America,
the route passes through European ports. If American
bankers desired to transact business with Latin American
bankers, the transaction is made in Europe; if North
Americans trades with South Americans, it is carried
on for the most part in European vessels and through
European ports. In other words, Brazil and Argentina
are almost as far from the United States commerciaUy,
as the Transvaal or Australia was, and the two con
tinents of the Western Hemisphere, the homes of repub
lican government, are almost total strangers. But each
country is tied strongly to the aristocratic and
monarchical countries of Europe.
It was the object of President Wilson 's foreign policy
to correct this anomalous condition, which was also

BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 175
responsible for the newspaper comments referred to
above. But the cause for such a condition is found
in the historic policy of this country toward the Latin
American states, a review of which will doubtless
throw some light on the subsequent acts of President
Wilson. The United States was the first of the colonies of the
two Americas to secure complete independence of its
parent government of Europe. At once the other de
pendent colonies felt the thrill of a new political free
dom, and the Latin-American patriots turned their eyes
toward the young nation in North America for help and
inspiration. During the first two decades of the 19th
century the hope of a closer union of the two Americas
was planted in the hearts of the people north and south
of the equator. But the European nations held such
extensive colonies in the two Americas that every
European war was the signal for inter-colonial strife.
Therefore, the fortunes of war in Europe bore directly
on the welfare of the colonies in the two Americas and
what affected the colonies affected the United States.
The thirteen states that composed the young republic
of North America were hemmed in by the English on
the north and the Spanish on the south and west. More
over, the leading nations of Europe had colonies in both
North America and South America, and whichever way
the weak republic looked it was confronted by European
influences that were hostile to a republican form of
government.

176 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
President Washington saw early and very clearly that
the greatest difficulties in the way of the success of the
new republic were the influences of European monarchies
working through their colonies on this continent. There
fore, in his farewell address to Congress, September 17,
1796, he cautioned this country to "observe good faith
and justice to all nations." But he added, "Against the
insidious wiles of foreign influence, I conjure you to be
lieve me, fellow citizens, the jealousy of a free people
ought to be constantly awake, since history and experi
ence prove that foreign influence is one of the most
baneful foes of republican government. . . . The
just rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations,
is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with
them as little political connection as possible — so far as
we have already formed engagements, let them be ful
filled vnth perfect good faith — ^here let us stop." And
he added, " 'Tis our policy to steer clear of permanent
alliances with any portion of the foreign world ; — so far,
I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it — for let me
not be understood as capable of patronizing infideUty to
existing engagements. . . . But in my opinion it is
unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them."
President Washington established the policy also that
this nation could not be indifferent to the traffic in
colonies by European nations in which sections of this
continent were to be transferred from one nation to
another. Therefore, when Napoleon took Louisiana from

BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 177
Spain, our purchase of that territory was facilitated by
the controversy that arose as a result of that transfer.
At the same time it was reported that Florida was
about to pass from Spain to England, and the foreign
policy of the United States was clearly defined by Mr.
King, our minister to Spain, in these words: "We are
contented that the Ploridas remain in the hands of
Spain, but should not be willing to see them transferred,
except to ourselves."
Later both France and England were reminded of this
policy when it appeared that Cuba was about to pass to
one or the other of these nations, and in 1811 President
Madison was authorized secretly by Congress to occupy
Florida "subject to further negotiations," to keep that
territory from passing into the hands of England or
France. The European war at the beginning of the 19th
century was occupying the energies of the European
nations. Spain especially was about exhausted. The
Spanish colonies in America took that opportimity to
revolt and strike for independence (1810-1826). Even
the United States was unable to avoid foreign complica
tions. The aristocratic, monarehial governments of
Europe had a contempt for a republican government,
and none knew that better and felt it more keenly than
did the presidents of the United States, and the war of
1812 was a necessity. Although the treaty of peace
ended the war in Europe, the nations of Europe now

178 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
began to turn their attention to this hemisphere again.
On September 26, 1815, the Emperors of Austria
and Russia and the King of Prussia concluded at Paris
a treaty which resulted tn the Holy Alliance. Later
France joined, and in 1822 one of the purposes of this
treaty was declared to be, "to put an end to the system
of representative governments," One of its first aets
was to interfere in the affairs of Spain, and it was pro
posed to assist that country in regaining control over
her revolted provinces in this hemisphere. Again
the policy outlined by Washington and employed by his
successors was restated by John Quincy Adams, Secre
tary of State under President Monroe. However, the
activity of the Holy Alliance was so aggressive that
President Monroe felt the necessity, on December 2, 1823,
of sending the following message to Congress :
"We owe it, therefore, to candor, and to the amicable
relations existing between the United States and these
foreign powers, to declare that we should consider any
attempt on their part to extend their system to any
portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace
and safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies
of any European power we have not interfered and shall
not interfere. But with the governments who have de
clared their independence and maintained it, and whose
independence we have, on great consideration and on
just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any
interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or con-

BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 179
trolling in any other manner their destiny, by any
European power, in any other light than as the manifesta
tion of an unfriendly disposition toward the United
States, . . . The late events in Spain and Portugal
show that Europe is still unsettled. Of this important
fact no stronger fact can be adduced than that the allied
powers should have thought it proper, on any principle
satisfactory to themselves, to have interposed, by force,
in the internal affairs of Spain. . . . Our policy
toward Europe is . . . not to interfere in the internal
concerns of any of its powers . , . but in regard to
these (the two Americas) continents, circumstances are
eminently and conspicuously different. It is impossible
that the allied powers should extend their political sys
tems to any portion of either continent without endan
gering our peace and happiness. Nor can any one believe
that our Southern brethren, if left to themselves, would
adopt it of their own accord. It is equaUy impossible,
therefore, that we should behold such interposition in
any form with indifference."
Although this pronouncement was aimed primarily
against the activities of the Holy Alliance, President
Monroe used the occasion also to declare the policy of
the nation as to the claims of Russia and England in
the Northwest. He said: "The occasion has been
judged proper for asserting as a principle in which the
rights and interests of the United States are involved,
that the American continents, by the free and inde-

180 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
pendent condition which they have assumed and main
tained, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects
for future colonization by any European power."
This foreign policy, outlined by Washington and
adopted by Adams, Jefferson, and Madison, and enlarged
by each, was stated in this definite way by President
Monroe and has gone into history as the Monroe Doctrine,
Its purposes were fourfold: (1) To protect the Latin
American states against the interference of European
nations and this policy was avowedly based on our right
of self defense; (2) to prevent further colonization in
the Western Hemisphere by any European power; (3) to
prohibit European powers from transferring colonies
from one nation to another; and (4) to prevent the
spread of monarchical ideas or principles in the Western
Hemisphere. This doctrine was accepted by the nations of Europe
as a definite foreign policy of this government. The
fact that the United States made such marvelous develop
ment and was soon classed as one of the world powers
gave to the Monroe Doctrine a potential danger for all
European nations. Moreover, the additional fact that,
in the days of slow transportation and primitive naval
defense, three thousand miles intervened between the
two hemispheres gave to the new Republic in the West
a supremacy that went unchallenged by the monarchies
of Europe. However, after this supremacy was recog
nized by European nations, the attitude of the United

BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 181
States toward the small states of Central and South
America was not always that of a generous big brother
toward younger and weaker brothers; and herein lies
the secret of the hatred of the Latin- American states for
the United States.
Although the European nations were estopped from
destroying the independence of the Latin-American
states, the Monroe Doctrine did not guarantee that these
states would be free from conquest by the United States.
Therefore, as the dangers from Europe diminished, the
fears aroused by the imperialistic tendencies of the
United States increased, and before many decades had
passed, the Latin- American states partly on this account
and partly on account of a social kinship, looked to
Europe for help and sympathy while the stronlg arm of
the United States reached out and took a part of their
territory and was ever threatening to take more.
The United States preferred to remain neutral in the
first movement for a Pan American Union in 1825. But
American citizens settled on Mexican soil and aided in
securing the independence of Texas and later added that
territory to the United States. War with Mexico fol
lowed, and the southwestern states were taken from
Mexico. Viewed from the standpoint of the Latin Amer
icans, it was not a question as to whether such a conquest
worked to the advantage of the people annexed to the
United States. But the all important question was what
other territory would be seized by the United States.

182 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
Cuba, Santo Domingo, Haiti, and even Canada were
threatened as the object of American greed; and after
that, what ? Central and South America had nothing to
fear from Europe, but everything to fear from America;
and the fact that the United States did intervene in the
interest of Mexico and of Venezuela proved to the
world that the Monroe Doctrine was still a live Amer
ican policy. But to the Latin- Americans it was another
reminder that the one powerful nation they had to fear
was the United States.
Moreover, the great financial interests of the United
States and of Europe were permitted to dominate the
domestic affairs of the Republics of Central and South
America which had not developed as rapidly as the other
nations of the world. Their governments were unstable,
and their institutions were insecure. Therefore, the
United States, having made such wonderful progress,
naturally looked with condescension upon them ; and the
people of the United States considered them legitimate
fields for exploitation. Moreover, the business interests
of America might adopt methods in these states that
would not be tolerated at home, yet have the assurance
that the American government would support them.
Since the governments of these states were by nature
unstable, the people were easily excited to the point of
revolution, which was encouraged very often because
outsiders hoped to gain by the change of rulers or the
defeat of the dominant political party. If revolution

BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 183
was attempted and succeeded, and its leader was able
to proclaim himself President, his position would be
made secure by the recognition of the United States be
cause it was supposed to be more immediately concerned
in the preservation of order and the insurance of stabil
ity, and to have better means of ascertaining the facts.
Having been accepted by the United States, "the
usurper, the patriot, or the adventurer, and sometimes
he was one or both or a mixture of all three, was by
right accorded his seat in the council of nations and had
nothing more to fear until the next revolution."
In this way the American government became an un
conscious offender against justice and liberty. Itself the
home of constitutional government, it has seemed to
hinder the development of constitutional government
among its nearby neighbors. Certainly, it has given it
little positive aid. The big brother was looked upon as
a bully and the little brothers grew from decade to decade
fearing and distrusting the motives of the big brother,
and making more and more concessions to the European
nations until the business of Central and South America
was transferred for the most part to European centers.
Meanwhile, the Latin- American states had made repeated
efforts to form a union of the republics of this
hemisphere. During the Administration of President Cleveland,
however, sixty-five years after the Monroe Doctrine was
proclaimed to the world, this nation took a determined

184 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
step to cultivate the friendship of the Latin-American
states. In 1888, Mr. Cleveland's Secretary of State, Mr.
Bayard, in accordance with an act of Congress, invited
the several Latin- American republics to join the
United States in a conference to be held at Wash
ington in 1889 to consider (1) measures to preserve
peace and promote the prosperity of the Latin- American
states, (2) forming American customs union; (3) fre
quent communications between the two continents; (4)
uniform system of customs regulations; (5) uniform
system of weights and measures and the protection of
copyrights, trade-marks, etc.; (6) a common silver coin;
(7) arbitration, and (8) the general welfare of the two
continents. As a result of this invitation the first great Pan-
American conference met in Washington, October 2,
1889. In the meantime Benjamin Harrison had suc
ceeded Mr. Cleveland as President, and James G. Blaine
was Secretary of State and presided over the Congress.
The following countries were represented: Bolivia,
Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Guatamala, Honduras,
Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Salvador, The United States,
Uruguay, Argentine Republic, Chili, Ecuador, Hayti,
and Paraguay. The chief result of this Conference was
the establishment in Washington of an International
Bureau of American Republics for the collection and
publication of information relating to commerce, prod
ucts, laws and customs of the countries represented.

BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 185
The next step in bringing about a better understanding
between the two Americas was the act of the United
States in interfering in the affairs of Cuba. It is true
that America acquired Porto Rico and the Philippines,
but the fact that this great nation secured the inde
pendence of Cuba and then guaranteed its independence,
set a new standard in international conduct. A few
years later (1901) President McKinley suggested that
Mexico call the second Pan-American Congress to meet
at the City of Mexico. Accordingly, it was called to
meet October 22, 1901, and continued in session until
January 31, 1902. The chief subject discussed at this
conference was arbitration. The third Conference met
at Rio de Janeiro in 1906, and the fourth at Buenos
Aires in 1910.
As a result of these conferences much of the current
suspicion and distrust and even hatred was being dis
sipated, a better feeling was beginning to prevail, and
when the Mexican Revolution broke out, the United
States was in a fair way to convince the Latin- American
states that the Monroe Doctrine was promulgated not
only for the protection and benefit of the United States,
but for this whole American hemisphere, and that when
it ceases to serve all, it is not likely to be of any use
to the United States.
Such in outline is the historic policy of this nation
toward the Latin-American republics. The way had
already been prepared for a Pan-American Union. How-

186 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
ever, there were fears and suspicions abiding still among
the Latin-American republics. It was natural, therefore,
for this suspicion to grow as the Revolution in Mexico
called forth editorials in America demanding interven
tion in Mexico and annexation of a part or all of that
country to the United States. History coiUd easily
supply the nations of this hemisphere with a very strik
ing parallel.
Mr. Wilson, therefore, issued this first pronouncement
for all the Latin-American states. However, within a
few weeks he sent a representative into Mexico to assure
the rulers of that distressed country of his great desire
to be of assistance to the Mexican people. He did not
have long to wait for an answer, and then he learned
that his words were not accepted in good faith. The
ancient suspicion and hatred flamed out anew, and the
American government was powerless to aid the cause of
humanity; such were the fruits of an ancient foreign
policy that permitted the scales of justice to dip low
on the American side. It was then that the President
adopted his "watchful waiting policy," but the press
was clamoring for intervention and annexation. This
newspaper attitude was so contrary to the President's
pronouncement that it was difficult for the Latin-
American states to understand the President's deep moral
and humane purpose. Certainly, if it was impossible
for Mr. Wilson's own friends to understand his policies,
how could a people fundamentally unlike the people of

BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 187
the United States understand? The press urged the
Latin- Americ£in states to accept in good faith Mr. Wil
son 's wise counsel, but at the same time it was clamoring
for intervention in Mexico and annexation of territory.
Therefore, another pronouncement became necessary.
It was at the Southern Commercial Congress in Mobile,
Alabama, October 27, 1913, that Mr. Wilson very clearly
and emphatically announced his Pan-American Policy.
In his first pronouncement soon after his inauguration,
he intimated that at a later date he would define his
policy more in detail. The Mexican situation was ap
proaching a crisis and America was powerless to aid in
the settlement; and, the South American states, taking
their cue somewhat from the annexationists of America,
still believed that the imperialistic policy of the United
States was a great menace to their peace and prosperity.
At this conference representatives were present, however,
from all the leading Latin-American states.
Tn order to appreciate the significance of the Mobile
address, therefore, it is necessary to bear in mind that
Mr. Wilson 's personal representative in Mexico had only
recently notified Mr. Wilson of the futility of his at
tempts to accomplish anything in Mexico because of
their deep seated hatred for the Americans. Moreover,
the delegates from the Latin- American states were still
mindful of the Revolution in Panama, and were able to
read the editorials of the annexationists. Therefore, it

188 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
was exceedingly difficult even for an American to know
what the policy of this government was, to say nothing
of the liatin-American.
The President's Mobile speech is perhaps his most
important utterance bearing on our relations with the
other states of this hemisphere. He stood in one of the
extreme southern cities. His face was turned toward the
Gulf beyond which lay Republics that had been laboring
for generations to bring forth constitutional government
but had only partly succeeded. To their representatives
as well as to ours he declared that the future ' ' is going
to be very different for this hemisphere from the past. ' '
Because the states lying to the South of us "will be
drawn closer to us by innumerable ties, and, I hope, chief
of all by the tie of a common understanding.''
"We must prove ourselves their friends and
champions," he said "upon terms of equality and
honor. You cannot be friends upon any other
terms than upon the terms of equality. You
cannot be friends at all except upon the terms of
honor. We must show ourselves friends by com
prehending their interest, whether it squares with
our own interest or not. It is a very perilous thing
to determine the foreign policy of a nation in
the terms of material interest. It not only is

BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 189
unfair to tjiose with whom you are dealing, but
it is degrading as regards your own actions,
"Comprehension must be the soil in which
shall grow all the fruits of friendship, and
ther^ is a reason and a compulsion lying behind
all this, which are dearer than anything else to
the thoughtful men of America, I mean the
development of constitutional liberty in the world.
Human rights, national integrity and opportunity,
as against material interests — that is the issue
which we now have to face."
At this point he turned to the representatives of the
Latin- American states and released a policy that caught
the entire nation by surprise.
"I want to take this occasion to say that the
United States will never again seek one additional
foot of territory by conquest. She will devote
herself to showing that she knows how to make
honorable and fruitful use of the territory she
has. And she must regard it as one of the duties
of friendship to see that from no quarter are
material interests made superior to human liberty
and national opportunity. I say this, not with
a single thought that anyone will gainsay it, but

190 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
merely to fix in our consciousness what our real
relationship with the rest of America is. It is
the relationship of a family of mankind devoted
to the development of true constitutional liberty.
We know that that is the soil out of which the
best enterprise springs. We know that this is
a cause which we are making in common with
our neighbor, because we have had to make it for
ourselves." He then spoke of our national problems that had been
a leading topic of discussion at the Commercial Congress.
The tariff laws had just been enacted and the currency
bills were being stubbornly opposed in the Senate.
"This is not America because it is rich," he
said. "This is not America because it has set
up for a great population great opportunities of
material prosperity. America is a name which
sounds in the ears of men everywhere as a syno
nym with individual opportunity, because a
synonym of individual liberty. I would rather be
long to a poor nation that was free than to a rich
nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty.
But we shall not be poor if we love liberty, because
the nation that loves liberty truly sets every
man free to do his best and be his best ; and that

BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 19I
means the release of all the splendid energies of
a great people who think for themselves. A
nation of employees cannot be free any more
than a nation of employers can be."
After emphasizing again the points which must unite
the two Americas, he closed with these words:
"It seems to me that this is a day of infinite
hope, of confidence in a future greater than the
past has been, for I am fain to believe that, in
spite of all the things that we wish to correct, the
nineteenth century that now lies behind us has
brought us a long stage towards the time when,
slowly ascending the tedious climb that leads
to the final uplands, we shall get the ultimate view
of the beauties of mankind. We have breasted a
considerable part of that climb, and shall pres
ently — it may be in a generation or two — come out
upon those great heights where there shines, unob
structed, the light of the justice of God."
This address produced a variety of responses in this
country. Some received it with enthusiasm and declared
that it was an exalted utterance from a great leader.
But others reacted as though they had received a sudden

192 WOODROW WILSON AS' PRESIDENT
shock and replied that "many will resent this assumption
of authority to bind the American people to this policy. ' '
Between these two extremes was a third class who re
peated the statement that President Wilson's "idealism
will not conform to that of the Mexicans."
His foreign poUcy with reference to the Latin-
American States was at last very definitely stated — "we
must show ourselves friends by comprehending their in^
terests, whether it squares with our interests or not."
Therefore, the balances were to be held even. It must
not dip low on the American side. And again — ' ' I want
to take this occasion to say that the United States will
never again seek one additional foot of territory by con
quest." This emphatic statement did come as a shock
to the annexationists who were clamoring for interven
tion and by their acts were making it difficult for the
Latin- American States to understand the deep meaning
of the President's foreign policy.
It was a source of much annoyance to the business
interests of the United States that South America was
closer to Europe, commercially, industrially, and socially,
than to North America. And though President Wilson
was repeatedly calling the attention of the country to
the necessity of shaping our foreign policy so that we
would be considered the friends of the Latin- American
States, the business of America seemed to insist that the
United States should intervene in Mexico in order to
protect American business in that war distracted country.

BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 193
regardless of the effect on the remainder of the Western
Hemisphere. The President, however, was insisting that
a new standard should be set, that the Monroe Doctrine
should have a new meaning, and that the Western
Hemisphere, the home of constitutional government,
should have a more perfect union of interests. There
fore, in his message to Congress, December 2, 1913, he
declared :
"There is only one possible standard by which
to determine controversies between the United
States and other nations, and that is compounded
of these two elements: Our own honor and our
obligations to the peace of the world. A test
so compounded ought easily to be made to govern
the establishment of new treaty obligations and
the interpretation of those already assumed. . . .
"We are the friends of constitutional govern
ment in America; we are more than its friends,
we are its champions, because in no other way
can our neighbors, to whom we would wish in
every way to make proof of our friendship, work
out their own development in peace and liberty. ' '
The Monroe Doctrine was at last taking on a new
meaning or giving way to a new doctrine that was to
supersede the historic policy that served this nation

194 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
primarily and the Latin- American states incidentally in
the earlier days of our national life.
The old Monroe Doctrine was born in the fear of
European interference. But this new doctrine had its
birth, not in fear, but in a common friendship, a common
sympathy and understanding among the RepubUcs of the
Western Hemisphere.
This new foreign policy facilitated the forming of
treaties with fifteen Latin- American States, which were
negotiated by Secretary Bryan during the session of
the Long Congress, and these new treaties showed the
temper of the Latin American States in the fact that
they seemed very willing to accept any offer from this
nation that looked toward maintaining friendly rela
tions, or securing the peace and prosperity of the Re
publics of this hemisphere.
It required more than a year for the President to
convince even some of his friends that this nation would
not make a war of conquest on any Latin-American
state. Moreover, he held steadfastly to the policy that
we should treat with the other republics on terms of
equality and not as a superior to an inferior ; and that
his administration would prove to the world that it was
the friend of constitutional government.
His watchful waiting policy was one evidence of his
friendship. His failure to recognize Huerta was another.
But there was still another test to be made. Large
business interests had so fastened their hold on the

BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 195
machinery of government in America and had so directed
its processes that not only the domestic policies were
controlled by them, but also the foreign policies with
reference to the Latin-American States. It was merely
the continuation of an historic policy to suffer Amer
icans to exploit the Latin American States for their own
selfish interests. As a result our diplomatic relations
with those states received the contemptuous name of
"dollar diplomacy," since the diplomatic relations
seemed to exist chiefly for the protection of American
business in Central and South America.
President Wilson declared at the beginning of his
administration that "we shall prefer those who act in
the interest of peace and honor." And again seven
months later at Mobile he asserted that the Latin-
American States "have had harder bargains driven
with them in the matter of loans than any other
peoples in the world." And he declared emphatically
that this nation regards it "as one of the duties of friend
ship to see that from no quarter are material interests
made superior to human liberty and national oppor
tunity. ' '
But even this Mobile speech was not convincing to the
business of America that had extended its interests into
these Republics. Therefore, on July 4, 1914, the Presi
dent declared in Independence Hall that one of the most
serious questions for sober-minded men to address them
selves to in the United States is this :

196 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
"What are we going to do with the influence
and power of this great nation? Are we going
to play the old role of using that power for our
aggrandizement and material benefit only?" And
then in a few words he told the American people
that a limit to "dollar diplomacy" had been
reached. "The Department of State at Washington,"
he said, "is constantly called upon to back up
the commercial enterprises and industrial enter
prises of the United States in foreign countries,
and it at one time went so far in that direction
that all its diplomacy came to be designated as
'dollar diplomacy.' It was called upon to sup
port every man who wanted to earn anything
anywhere if he was an American. But there
ought to be a limit to that.
"There is no man more interested than I am
in carrying the enterprise of American business
men to every quarter of the globe. I was inter
ested in it long before I was suspected of being
a politician. I have been preaching it year after
year as the great thing that lay in the future
for the United States, to show her wit and skill
and enterprise and influence in every country in
the world. But observe the limit to all that which

BROADENS THE MONROE DOCTRINE 197
is laid upon us perhaps more than upon any other
nation in the world. We set this nation up, at
any rate we professed to set it up, to vindicate
the rights of men. We did not name any differ
ences between one race and another. We did not
set up any barriers against any particular people.
We opened our gates to all the world and said:
'Let all men who wish to be free come to us and
they will be welcome.' We said: 'This inde
pendence of ours is not a selfish thing for our
own exclusive private use. It is for everybody
for whom we can find the means of extending it, '
"We cannot with that oath taken in our youth,
we cannot with that great ideal set before us
when we were a young people and numbered only
a scant 3,000,000, take upon ourselves, now that
we are 100,000,000 strong, any other conception
of duty than we then entertained.
"If American enterprise in foreign countries,
particularly in those foreign countries which are
not strong enough to resist us, takes the shape
of imposing upon and exploiting the mass of the
people of that country, it ought to be checked
and not encouraged. I am willing to get anything
for an American that money and enterprise can
obtain except the suppression of the rights of

198 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
other men, I will not help any man buy a power
which he ought not to exercise over his fellow-
beings."
/ Thus, after sixteen months, President Wilson 's foreign
policy as pertaining to Central and South America was
clearly before the people, and briefly stated it is as
follows :
1. To treat the Latin- American States as friends and
as equals.
2. To respect and encourage constitutional govem-
'ment in the Americas.
3. To acquire no new territory by conquest.
4. To give no aid to American business operating in
foreign countries in a way that would be illegal at home.
5. To give no aid or encouragement to revolutionists
who seek to seize the reins of government for their own
advantage. President Wilson adhered to this policy until the
European war broke on the world, and then events
shaped themselves so rapidly that a New Pan- Ameri
canism with its roots in these policies grew rapidly. An
understanding of those policies is necessary to a sym
pathetic attitude toward the President's Mexican policy
which is an outgrowth of this larger Pan-American
policy.

CHAPTER X
THE NEW AMERICAN POLICY APPLIED TO
MEXICO
The_revolutira in Mexico gave the most unfavorable
ouportunity for the application of an idealistic jiolicy,
since belligerents do not exalt the Golden Rule above
the sword. ^However, there is a certain kinship and
bond of sympathy among all the Latin- American states,
and the new Pan-American policy was to include Mexico
as well as the others. Therefore, its application under
such unusual circumstance makes an interesting chapter
in American history.
Mexico, a mediaeval nation ruled by an absolute
monarch, called President, after the custom of the West-
em Hemisphere, existed side by side with the United
States, a modern nation that had prospered under con
stitutional government. Such were the conditions in
1910 when President Diaz felt his power crumbling
away over smouldering flres due to uncivilized outrages
committed against liberty in the name of liberty.
The ppnjV^ rvf MpYTP2_bad snffPT-Pd most from two
g^ppt pvilA VPirgt. a few landholders owned in vast
estates, the greater part of the land of Mexico, and held
a large part of the population in a state little better than
199

200 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT

that of slavery .'Gia kind of feudalism existed in which
state the non-landowning class was little superior to the
serfs and villains of the Middle Ages. Second^z'the
national resources of the country were exploited by
foreigners, who had bought privileges and monopolies
of one kind and another from the President and who
expected their native country to protect them in the
enjoyment of their purchased rights.
In 1910 Francisco Madero, leader of a grfia.t rtj-f^rm
TTToyenient to restore represeT'tfttivP' gnvPTTiTnent and frpa
tjjg^ TTiasHf-g frriTYi a state of slavery, became a candidate
for t,Vif- Prp.gidpnny against Porfirio Diaz. To become a
vigorous candidate against the Absolute was considered
in itself an act of treason, and Madero was thrown into
jail. However, the secret longings of the people for a
change (they did not know what liberty was), for relief
from conditions that would have been intolerable in a
free country, gave the reform movement an enthusiasm
which very naturally broke into an insurrection and
later into a revolution. Madero in the meantime was
liberated. By May, 1911, the storm had become so
threatening that President Diaz abdicated and fled to
Europe. Madero W^'^ ^he mun nf tho bnnr^ und in Oc
tober following he was elected President with little
But the calamities and the unremedied wrongs of one
long rule could not be remedied by the abdication of one
man. A revolution had begun that was to shiver the

THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 201
nation from the Presidency to the lot of the stolid peon
in remote and forgotten districts. Moreover, Madero was
not a wise president, and the military chiefs,jesembling
the feudal barons of the Middle Ages, began. a reign
of terror that was to break up t.hp nation into grnups
of bandits, each of which was struggling for supreme
power, while the masses were robbed and starved, out-
raged and even massacred, in the name of liberty.
Madero 's administration was short. In October, 1912,
Feliz Diaz, nephew of the ex-President, organized a rev
olution, was captured and thrown into prison. Later he
escaped and appeared at the capital with a large army.
In February, 1913, General Victoriano_Huerta. Com
mander in Chief of the Madero forces, deserted his leader,
le_d his army into the capital, forced Madero to resign,
threw hini int.n prison, and a. few days la.t,er permitted
him, with a few of his loyal supporters, to be a.ssa.RRinated.
Then Huerta was proclaimed President by his army, and
the first hope of a constitutional government for Mexico
was destroyed. Such were the conditions prevailing in
Mexico on March 4, 1913, when Woodrow Wilson became
President of the United States.
The revolution had been in progress more than two
years when President Wilson was inaugurated. Like
his predecessor in office, however, lie was determined to
keep hands off if possible and let the contending forces
fight it out alone. Therefore, his first act was one looking
to neutrality. Two days after his first pronouncement he

202 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
asked Congress for the authority to prohibit the sale of
war munitions to all factions. In taking this step, he de
clared: "I shall follow the best practice of the nations
in the matter of neutrality. . . . We cannot in the
circumstances be the partisan of either party to the con
test that now distracts Mexico, or constitute ourselves
the virtual umpire."
However, he had already declared that "we can have
no sympathy with those who seek to seize the power of
government to advance their own personal interests and
ambitions." Therefore, he refused to recognize Huerta,
the dictator, or any other faction until he could secure
better information as to the conditions surrounding the
de facto government.
'^ Moreover, he was equally determined to convince the
Latin- American Republics that this nation is the friend
of constitutional government; that it will treat with all
republics of this hemisphere on a plane of equality ; that
-it wiU never again seek additional territory by conquest;
jthat it will not lend the offices of this government to pro-
'mote iUegal business interests in foreign countries, and
that it will not aid or encourage revolutionists or revo
lutions in any of the Latin-American states. He was
now to be put to the test. His policies were being grad
ually unfolded and he was steadfast in his conviction
fthat "tlr^ stpudy p-^p-gsnyc of moral fnvc.p. will ]jefnre
jmqny days bre^,k down the barriers of pride and preju-
\^2££., «n(1 ^fi f'h^U triumph .as-McxicaZs frJP.pd sfipTipy thflji

THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 203
we could triumph as her enemy — and how much^mnre
handsomely, with how much higher and finer Rptigfgptijm
of conscience and of honor ! ' '
It appeared, however, that the revolution might in
volve the United States in complications due to lawless
acts on the part of all the contending parties. Moreover,
European nations held tremendous business interests in
Mexico, and, through outrages against foreigners, the
Monroe Doctrine might become involved. Iherefore,
President Wilson sent Mr. John Lind, ex-Governor of
Minnesota, his "personal spokesman and represejita-
tive tn thp City nf Mayicn. ' ' It should be stated here that
the aets of the American Ambassador to Mexico were not
entirely satisfactory to Mr. Wilson. Therefore, Mr.
Lind was sent to Mexico, with instructions to press very
earnestly upon the attention of those who were exercis
ing authority or wielding influence in Mexico the follow
ing considerations and advice:
"The Government of the United States does not
feel at liberty any longer to stand inactively by
while it becomes daily more and more evident that
no real progress is being made towards the estab
lishment of a Government at the City of Mexico
which the country will obey and respect.
"The Government of the United States does not
stand in the same case with the other great govern-

204 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
ments of the world in respect of what is happening
or what is likely to happen in Mexico. We offer
our good offices, not only because of our genuine
desire to play the part of a friend, but also because
we are expected by the powers of the world to act
as Mexico's nearest friend.
"We wish to act in these circumstances in the
spirit of the most earnest and disinterested friend
ship. It is our purpose in whatever we do or
propose in this perplexing and distressing situa
tion not only to pay the most scrupulous regard
to the sovereignty and independence of Mexico —
that we take as a matter of course to which we
are bound by every obligation of right and honor
— but also to give every possible evidence that we
act in the interest of Mexico alone, and not in the
interest of any person or body of persons who
may have personal or property claims in Mexico
which they may feel that they have the right to
press. ' ' We are seeking to counsel Mexico for her own
good and in the interest of her own peace, and not
for any other purpose whatsoever. The Govern
ment of the United States would deem itself dis
credited if it had any selfish or ulterior purpose
in transactions where the peace, happiness, and

THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 205
prosperity of a whole people are involved. It is
acting as its friendship for Mexico, not as any
selfish interest, dictates.
"The present situation in Mexico is incom
patible with the fulfillment of international obliga
tions on the part of Mexico, with the civilized
development of Mexico herself, and with the main
tenance of tolerable political and economic condi
tions in Central Mexico. It is upon no common
occasion, therefore, that the United States offers
her counsel and assistance. All America cries
out for a settlement."
He then advised Mr. Lind to say to the factions in
Mexico that a satisfactory settlement "seems to us to
be conditioned" on the following:
:;;^. Immediate cessation of fighting throughout
Mexico, a definite armistice solemnly entered into
and scrupulously observed;
2. Security given for an early and free election
in which all will agree to take part ;
3. The consent of General Huerta to bind him
self not to be a candidate for election as President
of the Republic at this election; and
4. The agreement of all parties to abide by the
results of the election and cooperate in the most

206 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
loyal way in organizing and supporting the new
Administration. Mr. Lind was also instructed to assure the leaders that
the Administration "will be glad to play any part in
this settlement or in its carrying out which it can play
honorably and consistently with international rights."
But he added, if Mexico can show any better way in
which this government can "serve the people of Mex
ico and meet our international obligations, we are more
than willing to consider the suggestions."
Mr. Wilson's personal representative set out for Mex
ico with these very definite instructions both for Huerta
and for the opposing leaders. However, instead of re
ceiving a friendly response from those in authority, the
ancient fears and suspicions and hatred of the Mexicans
broke out anew. They seemed to feel instinctively that if
the United States entered Mexico, the history of seventy
years ago might be repeated. TJfprpfnrp j^pitiipr' fc^ti^n
would accept the President 's prnffprpri Vinrlnpss TT^^-ftjj^^a.,
the Dictator, of course, rejected the proposals. He jiad
been led to believp tlfflt the AmPT-iVan gnvprnmpnt ^pnlH
recognize him as President nf M*"^^"^"! — T^"^- when tih?,""
instrnntinns reached him, he knew thfri^ Wflfl nn njd tO
be desired from this nation, and no sympathy from Pres
ident Wilso^ His ^^^^±^£^l¦fnT^ tliP ArYipri^aP gTl-"^"rT'"""''^'-
became apparent: and frprn t.Viia tii-np Tip PTTiihitpd, a.
bitter hostility toward all Americans.

THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 207
The opposing leaders also rejected the proposals, al
though the proposals were in harmony with what the
leaders were fighting for. The leaders were evidently
afraid of the Greeks bearing gifts, and they intimated to
Mr. Lind that the greatest kindness America couldextend
Mr. Lind remained in Mexico several weeks, hoping
to convince the leaders of the revolution that this nation
was the friend of the Mexicans and desired only to aid
that country in bringing about peace. But his visit
was in vain. Neither Huerta nor any of the "authorities
at the City of Mexico" would accept the proffered kind
ness of this government. Therefore, on August 27, 1913,
President Wilson appeared before Congress and gave
to that body "the facts concerning our present relations
with the Republic of Mexico.''
He told the Senators and Members of his great desire
to aid in restoring peace and order to Mexico and in
seeing self-government really established in that war-
distracted country. But he added :
"The present circumstances of the republic, I
deeply regret tn say, do not sp.em to promise even
ihe foundations of such a peace. We have waited
many months, mmitlis full '^^ pfiril and anxietv.
for the conditions there to improve, and thev have
imL_iinpro*ied. They have grown worse, rather.

208 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
The territory controlled in some sort by the provi
sional authorities at Mexico City has grown
smaller, not larger. The prospect of the pacifica
tion of the country, even by arms, has seemed to
grow more and more remote; and its pacification
by the authorities at the Capital is evidently im
possible by any other means than force. Difficulties
more and more entangle those who claim to con
stitute the legitimate government of the republic.
They have not made their claim in fact. Their
successes ip. the field have proved only temporary.
War and disorder, devastation and confusion,
seem to threaten to become the settled fortune of
the distracted country."
Mr. Lind's delicate mission and the proposals sent to
the leaders in Mexico were then described. But the Sen
ators and Members were waiting for the climax, which
came when the President told them that all of his pro-
posals were rejected because the Mexicans did not believe
I in tne Jaimess and disinterestedness of the American
eople. Therefore, they did not believe "that the pres-
^ent Administration spoke, through Mr. Lind, for the
people of the United St,a.ti^s."
There was some justification, too, for this attitude of
the Mexicans. They did not have to remember the Mex
ican War of the forties for proof. All they had to do

I

THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 209
was to read those American newspapers that were clam
oring for war and declaring that if the American flag
was ever raised in Mexico, it would never come down.
While Mr. Lind was in Mexico, there was an accumula
tion of evidence to convince a foreigner who was not
fully acquainted with the habits of the American peo
ple, that Mr. Wilson did not speak the sentiments of the
people of the United States.
' ' The effect of this unfortunate misunderstand
ing on their part," the President continued, "is
to leave them singularly isolated and without
friends who can effectually aid them. So long as
the misunderstanding continues we can only wait
the time of their awakening to a realization of the
actual facts. We cannot tbniRt mir grind nffipes
upon them. The situation must be given a little
more time to work itself out in the new o^rxn-im-
stances, and T believe t.ba.t only a little time will
be_Ji£C£aaaxy ; for the circumstances are new.
The rejection of our friendship makes them new
and will inevitably bring its own alteration in the
aspect of affairs. The actual situation of the
authorities in Mexico City will presently be
revealed. "But what is it our duty to do? It is now our
dutv." he said, "to show what true neutrality will

210 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
do t^ '^Pflb^" ^'^^ poApIo 0f Mexico tn .set their
affairs in order again, and wait for a further op
portunity to offer our friendly counsel."
However, American citizens in Mexico and non-com
batants in general would suffer from the increased activ
ity of the contending factions. The President argued,
however, that the position of outsiders is always par
ticularly trying and full of hazard when there is civil
, strife and the whole country is upset. Therefore, he
advised that Americans should leave Mexico.
"We should earnestly urge all Americans to
leave Mexico at on^e, ?^Tid sbnuld assisTTECTa lo
¦get awav ip evftyyjvay possible — ^not because we
would maaa-to-slacken in thfi ipa^at pTrr_eff9rti8Jj[>
safeguard their lives and their intfiiests, but be-

oajiag_itis imperative that they should tal^ no
unnecessary risfa_ when it is physically possible
for them to leave the country. We should let

every one who assumes to exercise authority in any
part of Mexico know in the most unequivocal way
that we shall vigilantly watch the fortunes of those
Americans who cannot get away, and shall hold
those responsible for their sufferings and losses
to a definite reckoning. That can be and will be

THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 211
made plain beyond the possibility of a misunder
standing. ' ' For the rest, I deem it my duty to exercise the
authority conferred upon me by the law of March
4, 1912, to see to it that neither side to the struggle
now going on in Mexico receive any assistance
from this side of the border. I shall follow t];te
best practice of nations in tbe matter nf nentrjjilitv
bx-forbidding the exportation of arms or muni
tions of war of any kind from the United Stateg to
any part of the_Be|mblift of Me:!^icn — a. pdjjfiy
suggested bv several interesting precedents .and
certainly dictated by manv manifest considera
tion a nf practical_expBdi^3nfiy. We cannot in the
circumstances be the partisans of either party to
the contest that now distracts Mexico, or con
stitute ourselves the virtual umpire between them.
"I am happy to say that several of the great
Governments of the world have given this Govern
ment their generous moral support in urging upon
the provisional authorities at the City of Mexico
the acceptance of our proffered good offices in the
spirit in which they were made. We have not
acted in this matter under the ordinary principles
of international obligation. All the world expects
us in such circumstances to act as Mexico's nearest

212 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDEITT
friend and intimate adviser. This is our im
memorial relation toward her. ' '
In the main, this address to Congress was favorably
received by the American people. However, a consid
erable number had a feeling of disgust after reading it.
Many editorials were -yrritten declaring that this great
ai\d poWPT-fnl nation slinnld st.pp in anrI talrP pospjflpsinn
/of Mexico and hold it. until the Mexicans, like ^the
(|V,^^ha^ pnnld hppomp a splf gmrminiiw people. More
over, there were many extremists who openly declared
that we should annex Mexico to this nation. And the
controversy waged in this country. Other writers asked
what right have we to annex Mexico? Why should
American lives be destroyed in order to protect European
and American interests in Mexico? So many opinions
were expressed pro and con that honest Americans might
have come reasonably to the Mexican conclusion that an
American army in Mexico would mean a repetition of the
acts of the forties.
Mr. Wilson knew of the real condition of the people tn
Mexico. He understood their fears and their purposes,
and he settled down to axi^atehful waiting policy"
that was exasperating to the annexationists.
Neutrality w^s the nrHer of the day. ^_Anemba^o
\^ag EJj''^gj_gg arms, and the Mexican factions were let

.^JiUie_andjeftto_destroy^n5|anSli^^

THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 213
should_^ass. These acts had their effect on General
Huerta, whose power seemed to be gradually waning.
Two months later, on December 2, 1913, President
Wilson appeared at the Capitol to "give Congress in
formation of the state of the Union." He explained that
his policy was gradually eliminating Huerta from the
Revolution. The Dictator's power was declining, and
constitutional government, he argued, was sure to win,
and this was being accomplished without bloodshed or
loss of honor to Americans. Then he added:
"There can be no certain prospects of peace in
I America until General Huerta has surrendered his
usurped authority in Mexico; until it is under
stood on all hands, indeed, that such pretended
governments will not be countenanced or dealt
^with by the Government of the United States."
Then, for the first time, he spoke fully of his opinion
of conditions in Mexico. He had waited until he could
secure complete information.
"Mexico has no Government," he spoke with
feeling. ' ' The attempt to maintain one at the City
of Mexico has broken down, and a mere military
despotism has been set up which has hardly more
than the semhlance of national authority. It
originated in the usurpation of Victoriano Huerta,

214 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
who, after a brief attempt to play the part of con
stitutional President, has at last cast aside even
the pretense of legal right and declared himself
Dictator. As a consequence, a condition of affairs
now exists in Mexico which has made it doubtful
whether even the most elementary and funda
mental rights either of her own people or of the
citizens of other countries resident within her ter
ritory can long be successfully safeguarded, and
which threatens, if long continued, to imperil the
interests of peace, order, and tolerable life in the
lands immediately to the south of us.
"Even if the usurper had succeeded in his pur
poses, in despite of the constitution of the Eepublic
and the rights of its people, he would have set up
nothing but a precarious and hateful power which
could have lasted but a little while, and whose
eventual downfall would have left the country in
a more deplorable condition than ever. But he
has not succeeded. He has forfeited the respect
and the moral support even of those who were at
one time willing to see him succeed. Little by
little he has been completely isolated. By a little
every day his power and prestige are crumbling
and the collapse is not far away. We shall not, I
believe, be obliged to alter our policy of watchful

THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 215
waiting. And then, when the end comes, we shall
hope to see constitutional order restored in dis
tressed Mexico by the concert and energy of such
of her leaders as prefer the liberty of their people
to their own ambitions. ' '
"yhile President Wilson was holding to his watchful
waiting policy, the revolutionists in Mexico were destroy-
ing private property of American and European owners.
The loss of the oil industry of the British was especially
great, and the Monroe Doctrine again came in for much
discussion, both in this country and in Europe. But
Lord Haldane, an Englishman, in a notable address
showed that the British statesmen had caught the spirit
of the Wilson Administration and the deeper meaning
of the Monroe Doctrine when he declared, "all who live
and trade on the great American continent may feel that
she (the United States) has set before her a high ideal
jto secure for them equally with her own subjects that
ijustice and righteousness of which President Wilson
ttias spoken." And ex-President Taft about the same
lime referred to the Monroe Doctrine as one of our
/'greatest national assets" and urged the American peo-
Iple to uphold President Wilson in his attitude toward
IMexico. Then public sentiment began to show signs of
clearing up.
The fact that the United States refused to recognize
Huerta as the constitutional President of Mexico insured

216 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
his defeat in the end, since the financial centers of the
world were exceedingly shy about making any entangling
alliances with him. Huerta was by nature a dictator,
and as is usually the case with such rulers, a man of
considerable force. One less brave would have been
swept away by the storm. But Huerta held on with a
tenacity that was exasperating to the United States-and
disconcerting to his enemies in his own country.
The revolution began in the attempt to destroy abso
lutism and restore constitutional government. Therefore,
as long as Huerta was president, there seemed to be no
hope for the nation. Realizing this fact, and seeing
how tenaciously the old Dictator held on, President Wil
lson changed his attitude somewhat, and on February 2,
' 1914, he raised the embargo on arms so far as the Con
stitutionalists were concerned, but prohibited the expor
tation to the Huerta government. By throwing the good
[will of the nation on the side of the Constitutionalists,
it was believed that Huerta would be driven from the
presidency which he had usurped.
This act, however, was the signal for the old Dictator
to exhibit a hatred for Americans that was destined to
involve this nation in the embroilment, in spite of the
President's firm resolve to take no active part in the
revolution. One indignity after another made an ac
cumulation of outrages that called for a prompt response
from this nation. Therefore, President Wilson appeared
before Congress on April 20, 1914, and told the story of

THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 217
Huerta 's indignities and asked for permission to send
an armed force into Mexico. The story in substance is
as follows:
On April 9 a paymaster of the United States ship
Dolphin, while engaged in official duties, was arrested in
Tampico by a squad of men of the army of General
Huerta. A few days later an orderly from the United
States ship Minnesota was arrested at Vera Cruz while
active in uniform to obtain the ship's mail, and was
thrown into jail. Moreover, an official dispatch from
this government to Mexico City was withheld by tel
egraphic authorities until preemptorily demanded by the
American government.
The paymaster of the Dolphin was released by Huerta
and apologies and expressions of regret followed from
both the commander at Tampico and from General
Huerta. However, Admiral Mayo, in command of the
American fleet, thought that the incident called for
more than mere apologies and expressions of regret.
Therefore, he demanded that "the flag of the United
States be saluted with special ceremony by the military
commander of the port. ' ' Here the old Dictator balked.
The affair remained in this state between Huerta and
Admiral Mayo for several days. In the meantime, the
other indignities mentioned above were reported to the
Administration. On the 18th, President Wilson made
peremptory demand that the salute should be forth
coming on the following day. Still the old Dictator

218 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
refused to comply with the demands except upon certain
conditions. And on April 20, eleven days after the
Tampico incident, Mr. WUson appeared before Congress
and laid the story of these indignities before the Senators
and Members.
"So far as I can learn," he said, "such wrongs
and annoyances have been suffered to occur only
against representatives of the United States. I
have heard of no complaints from other Govern
ments of similar treatment. Subsequent explana
tions and formal apologies did not and could not
alter the popular impression, which it is possible
it had been the object of the Huertista authorities
to create, that the Government of the United
States was being singled out, and might be singled
out with impunity, for slights and affronts in re
taliation for its refusal to recognize the preten
sions of General Huerta to be regarded as the con
stitutional provisional President of the Eepublic
of Mexico."
He then advised Congress that this nation should com
pel Huerta to comply with the demands of Admiral
Mayo. "It was necessary," he said, "that the apologies
of General Huerta and his representatives should

THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 219
go much further, that they should be such as to
attract the attention of the whole population to
their significance, and such as to impress upon
General Huerta himself the necessity of seeing to
it that no further occasion for explanations and
professed regrets should arise. I, therefore, felt
ii. Tpy dnty tA.-Sn.p.t.cin Arlrriiral Msyn 1T1 t.llA wbf>lft
of his dprnand and tn in.qiAt-ihfli.„t.}ift flag nf j-be
United States sbnuld hp saliited in snfb a. wqy ji.s^
to indicate a new spirit and attitude m\ tbe pg,rt
of the Huertistas. 'J
Congress, as well as the American people, were assured
that this government would avoid war if possible. But
if armed conflict came, "We should be fighting," he said,
"only General Huerta and those who adhere to him
and give him their support."
"No doubt I could do what is necessary in the
circumstances to enforce respect for our Govern
ment without recourse to the Congress, and yet not
exceed my constitutional powers as President, but
I do not wish to act in a matter possibly of so
grave consequence except in close cpnference and
cooperation with both the Senate and the House.
I, therefore, come to ask your approval that I
should use the armed forces of the United States

220 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
in such ways and to such an extent as may be
necessary to obtain from General Huerta and his
adherents the fullest recognition of the rights and
dignity of the United States, even amidst the dis
tressing conditions now unhappily obtaining in
Mexico. ' '
Again the President assured the world that
' ' there can in what we do be no thought of aggres
sion or of selfish aggrandizement" and "our
object would be only to restore to the people of the
distracted Eepublic the opportunity to set up again
their own laws and their own government. ' '
Meanwhile leaders of both parties in Congress had
been consulted and a resolution was offered declaring
"that the President of the United States is justified in
the employment of the armed forces of the United States
to enforce demands" made upon Huerta for a failure to
make amends for affronts and indignities "committed
against this government."
There was a tendency on the part of a few Senators
to criticize the President for asking for the use of force
merely because of the indignities to the fiag. It was in
reply to these criticisms that Senator Root of New York
came to the assistance of the President in a strong ad
dress, in which he said :
' ' The insult to the flag is but a part — the culmination

THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 221
of a long series of violations of American rights, a long
series of violations of those rights which it is the duty
of our country to protect — violation not for the most
part of government, but made possible by the weakness
of government, because through that country range free
booters and chieftains like the captains of free companies,
without control or responsibility. Lying back of this
incident is a condition of things in Mexico which abso
lutely prevents the protection of American life and prop
erty, except through the respect for the American flag,
the American uniform, the American government. It
is that which gives significance to the demand that pub
lic respect be paid to the flag of the United States. There
is our justification. It is a justification lying not in
Vietoriana Huerta or in his conduct, but in the universal
condition of affairs in Mexico ; and the real object to be
attained by the course which we are asked to approve is
not the gratification of personal pride. It is not the
satisfaction of au admiral or a government. It is the
preservation of the power of the United States to protect
its citizens under these conditions."
The resolution was adopted with practical unanimity.
President Wilson's year of watchful waiting had at last
come to a close, as it seemed, and many declared that
the American flag once raised over Mexican territory
would never eome down.
On the day following the President's address, Ad
miral Fletcher was instructed to seize the customs house

222 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
at Vera Cruz. A desultory resistance was offered by
the Mexican forces, resulting in the death of four
of our men. .4-§t^te of war between the United States
and Mexico now existed. The President asked for
an appropriation of a half million dollars "to bring to
tVieir ^nrnps in |he United States American citizens in
MexicoJ ' Our naval forces were massed on the Mex
ican coast, an army was at last landed on Mexican soil,
and Vera Cruz was soon in possession of the American
forces. However, the American army ended its conquest
with the fall of Vera Cruz. Good government was re
stored to the city, and soon it became as peaceful as any
American city. But other dangers threatened.
Notwithstanding this act, which the President and
Congress considered necessary to protect the citizens of
America, and notwithstanding the fact that the war on
Huerta would aid his opponents, the Constitutionalists
protested vigorously and even threatened to resist the
American army for landing on Mexican soil; although
they were neither able to protect American citizens nor
dislodge the Dictator. It seemed to be quite evident,
therefore, that America was powerless to aid either fac
tion, and that to make war on one would unify all
factions and produce a solid resistance to America. The
anQJent hatred of the Mexican for the Americans was
still greater than the hatred of one faction for another.
When President Wilson ordered the Atlantic fleet to
Vera Cruz, however, he started a series of events which.

THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 223
to the ordinary mind, meant war in Mexico. The annex
ationists really did rejoice for the time being. But the
real friends of peace had a feeling of amazement and
mortification, while others sought to make political cap
ital out of the incident. However, the day after the
occupation of Vera Cruz by the American forces, a new
factor appeared — one that was to play an important
part in the relations between America and all the Latin-
American Republics.
On April 25 the diplomatic representatives at Washing
ton of Argentina, Brazil and Chile made a formal offer
of the good offices of their respective governments to
bring about a peaceful and friendly settlement of the
controversy between the Government of Mexico and the
United States. This act showed the beneficial effects of
the President 's^^^^'^elfig^ polipy in the Snntli ATTipripan
g^ ¦ ¦ —  —
Republic. Itwas, at last, making a greater Pan American
union possible and giving a new meaning to the
Monroe Doctrine._
The South Americans were the kinsmen of the Mex
icans, and the people of this southern continent were
convinced now that the United States, as long as Wood-
row Wilson was President, would not make a war of
conquest on Mexico, l^oreover. they realized that
President Wilson was keeping steadily in view his i?,ur-..i
j>ose, by peace if he could, by war if he njinst, tn work
an issue honorable for the United States and as.hepefici.al
as possible to Mexico.. Therefore, the tender of the good

224 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
offices of Argentine, Brazil and Chile prophesied better
things for Mexico and a better relation between the
United States and the South American Republics.
The President, therefore, very promptly accepted the
offer of the South American Republics, and on May 20,
1914, the A. B. C. Mediators, as they were called, began
their conference at Niagara Falls. Both the United
States and Huerta 's government also had representatives
present. Although the President had been subjected to the
fiercest criticism because of his Mexican policy, he showed
no signs that the criticism sank into his soul until he
stood in the presence of the dead sailors killed in Vera
Cruz. In a short speech he gave expression to a senti
ment as well as to his feelings that touched those who
read it.
"I never went into battle, I never was under
fire," he said, "but I fancy that there are some
things just as hard to do as to go under fire. I
fancy that it is just as hard to do your duty when
men are sneering at you as when they are shooting
at you. When they shoot at you, they can only
take your natural life; when they sneer at you,
they can wound your heart. ' '
Although Vera Cruz was seized by American forces.
President Wilson took every possible public occasion to

THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 225
assure the American people that there was something
even greater and more heroic for the United States to
do than to go to war with either faction in Mexico, and
that while force had been used, he was steadfast in his
belief that the "moral compulsions of the human con
science" would at last triumph over war. However, there
were many Americans who wanted more war. They in
sisted that the American army should go on to Mexico
City. They sneered at the proffered services of the
A. B. C. Mediators and abused the President for accept
ing them.
But in an address June 5 to the naval cadets at Annap
olis, he showed that he had no thought of going further
with the war, if it could be avoided.
"What do you think is the most lasting impres
sion that these boys down at Vera Cruz are going
to leave? They have had to use some force — ^I
pray to God it may not be necessary for them to
use any more — but do you think that the way they
fought is going to be th^ most lasting impression?
Have men not fought ever since the world began?
Is there anything new in using force? The new
things in the world are the things that are
divorced from force. The things that show the
moral compulsions of the human conscience, these
are the things by which we have been building up

226 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
civilization, not by force. And the lasting impres
sion that those boys are going to leave is this,
that they exercise self-control ; that they were dili
gent and ready to make the place where they went
fitter to live in than they found it; that they re
garded other people's rights; that they did not
strut and bluster, but went quietly, like self-
respecting gentlemen, about their legitimate work.
And the people of Vera Cruz, who feared the
Americans and despised the Americans, are going
to get a very different taste in their mouths when
the boys of the navy and the army come away.
Is that not something to be proud of, that you
know how to use force like men of conscience and
like gentlemen serving your feUow-men and not
trying to overcome them?"
President WUson was evidently establishtng an un
usual precedent. The annexationists in America could
not understand his language, nor appreciate his purpose.
They believed that war would settle war and why the
United States hesitated to march on to the capital of
Mexico was beyond their comprehension.
In the meantime the A. B. C. Mediators were making
progress. Although the task of establishing individual
peace in Mexico was almost a hopeless one from the be
ginning, it was made clear to the Latin- American states

THE NEW POLICY APPLIED TO MEXICO 227
that peace was impossible while Huerta remained in
authority. The American government would not be sat
isfied now with a coinpliance of Admiral Mayo 's demands.
The old Dictator must abdicate and give the friends of
constitutional government a chance to restore peace and
order. And on June 11, the peace conferees announced
that they had agreed on the transfer of aiHthnrity in
Mexico and the establishment of a new government.
Not until then did General Carran/a pliipf nf -±lu;L-Clnn-
stitutionalists, consent tn spnd represeptativP" ^-^ the
Conference.  .
The Niagara Conference came to a close on July 1.
It was agreed in a protocol that Huerta must not stand in
the way of constitutional government, or, in other words,
that he must abdicate. On the other hand, the United
States was bound to recognize the provisional government
to be set up in Mexico through the offices of the confer
ence, to restore diplomatic relations with Mexico and to
exact no indemnity whatever, but Mexico was to agree to
take measures for the payment of all just claims for the
destruction of the property of foreign residents. And
the vidthdrawal of the American troops from Vera Cruz
was left to a future agreement. Although the agreement
among the mediators and the delegates had no legal
force, as a treaty would have between well established
governments, it did have a tremendous moral effect.
Meanwhile the Constitutionalists were very active.
They were drawing their forces nearer and nearer to

228 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
the Capital. The attitude of the American Government
to them made it easy for them to secure the supplies
they needed.
The conference was adjourned, the Constitutionalists
.^ere more and more successful, and the nations were
waiting for something to happen. There was much
speculation as to what Huerta would do under the cir
cumstances. On July 5, he was reelected president.
But three days later he presented the protocol to the
Mexican Congress and on the 15th he delivered his
formal address to the two houses of the Mexican Congress
and left his native country forever.
President Wilson's policy had at last succeeded, and
it was now in great favor. The nations of the world
vwere applauding. ' ' The steady pressure of moral force ' '
Was breaking down the barriers of pride and prp.jndjp.pj
and it seemed that we were about to triumpb p,<i MpYiPo-'s
[friead.

CHAPTER XI
PRESIDENT WILSON'S RELATIONS WITH
GENERAL CARRANZA
There was a sigh of relief in America when Huerta
abdicated. But many people in this country believed
that he was the only man with sufficient nerve and
shrewdness to keep the Mexican bandits down. This
was also the view of many foreigners then living in
Mexico. His abdication left the country really in the hands of
the Constitutionalists. General Venustiano Carranza had
been First Chief of the Constitutionalists since the death
of Francisco Madero, and he at once became the central
figure of Mexico. But there were two other Constitu
tionalists in Mexico whom General Carranza had to
reckon with. General Francisco Villa and General
Zapata. The Constitutionalists were by no means united
and the character of both Villa and of Zapata was such
that little hope was entertained of a peaceful settlement
without further bloodshed.
There was a cessation of hostilities, however, and on
4jigust_20 General Carranza made his triumphal entry
into Mexico City. It was a peaceful entry. The city
229

230 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
was prepared for his coming. Crowds came out to wel
come him and flowers were strewn in his path. And as
he marched into the city he was hailed as the liberator
of the people. And for the second time constitutional
government seemed to be ready to enter upon its rights
and find an abiding place in the ancient capital of the
Montezumas. It was for this that the American government had
been waiting rather impatiently. Then the American
flag was lowered at Vera Cruz (September 15), and the
American army was transported back to American soil.
Thus ended our "little war" in Mexico, and it was
believed for the time that President Wilson's "watchful
waiting" policy would triumph in the end. However,
the distracted country had not yet suffered enough. The
pentecost of calamity was still incomplete.
On September 15 General Carranza expressed his in
tention to turn over the control of the Mexican govern
ment to a provisional President, to be selected by the
Constitutionalists and to become a candidate for the pres
idency. The other leaders had no love for Carranza, nor
he for them. He was characterized as a narrow, selfish
man, somewhat of a patriot and an idealist, but possess
ing an individual greed for power and an intense hatred
of all foreigners, including Americans. The other two
leaders had a history of lawlessness and bandit warfare
to their credit that made them objectionable to any civil
ized country.

RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 231
When General Carranza 's program was announced,
Villa and Zapata made common cause, and on September
23 declared war against him. Thus the bitter struggle
was resumed. Mpgnwhile, Presidpiit Wilsnn fpIT bank
on his "watchful waiting" policy and showed a deter-
minatinn tCf Ipt fllP' waT-rin^r faf'tinns ficrht mit thfir
differences without intprfpypn^P fT-mn tliis ommtTy
Again there was a loud demand for intervention. Some
wanted the President to recognize Carranza and throw
the weight of this country on his side. Others insisted
that Villa, whose daring exploits in the North were well
known, was the real patriot and that he should be rec-
"ognized and encouraged. Ttnt tjip President announced
[his purpose of keeping thjs p.nnntry nentra] in the new
Sac- Mr. Samuel G. Blythe published in the Saturday
Evening Post an authorized interview with President
Wilson, in which he explained why he was determined
not to interfere in the settlement of old abuses in Mexico.
"It is a curious thing," he said, "that every
demand for the establishment of order in Mexico
takes into consideration, not order for the benefit
of the people of Mexico, the great mass of the
population, but order for the benefit of the old-
time regime, for the aristocrats, for the vested
interests, for the men who are responsible for this

232 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
very condition of disorder. No one asks for order
because order wUl help the masses bf the people
to get a portion of their rights and their land;
but all demand it so that the great owners of
property, ihe overlords, the hidalgos, the men who
have exploited that rich country for their own
selfish purposes, shall be able to continue their
processes undisturbed by the protests of the people
from whom their wealth and power have been
obtained. ' '
Neutrality was more difficult to maintain now because
of the European war, which seemed to arouse the fight
ing instinct throughout the civilized world. Therp.fore,
eye]::;y_^ew story of indignities to Americans_or to the
American flag that fo.uiid-its w-av aeross-theJjnrder from
Mexico was seized upon by thQS£-who bad-fagored inter-
vfintinn from jthe_beginninfy and tr'^iUed thrnnp;h the
newspapers to arouse the_Americans. .As-this factional
warfare continued, the American border was harrassed
by roving bandits and the stories of outrages inflicted
on Americans were multiplied. However, President Wil
son adhered to his "watchful waiting" policy. He had
by peaceful means rid Mexico of its Dictator, and he
was firm in his conviction that non-interference would
cause the United States to triumph in the end as Mexico 's
friend, and that constitutional government after the

RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARHANZA 23^
/ .pentecost -aojuld be more enduring than any temporary
, peace that might be forced on Mexip.n through a bloody
•iatervention. The press in many sections of the country was relent
less in its condemnation of the President. American
property was being destroyed. American citizens were
outraged. Moreover, the balance of the civilized world
was at war, and the United States was the only great
nation whose armies were not active. So severe was the
abuse that President Wilson, in an address before the
Jackson Club of Indianapolis, January, 1915, gave a
curt reply to his critics :
"I want to say a word about Mexico," he said,
"not so much about Mexico as about our attitude
towards Mexico. I hold it as a fundamental prin-
ciple, and so do you, that every peoplehas the
right to determine its own form of government^
and until this recent revolution in Mexico, until
the end of the Diaz regime, eightv per cent of the
people of Mexico never had a 'look in' in dej:er-
mining who should be their governors, or wJiat
their government should be. Now, I am for Jhe
eightv ppr o.a-nt Tt i.a TinnA ..nf .my hnsiT^ftfa^. audjt
is none of your business how long tbey take, in
determining it. It is none of my business and
it is none of your business how they go about the

234 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
business. Xhe country is theirs. The government
ig fTiPJrg Tbp. lihprtyj if the V can get it, and God
speed them in getting it, is theirs. And so far, as
my jnflnpnp.p gnp.d^ whilp T am President, nobodv
ghaILisie«£«¥@-3oth-tliemj|^% « i
"Do you suppose that the American people are
ever going to count a small amount of material
benefit a^d f^^y"'"t"<ifft !<> p"op]f^ d"'^"^ }-.iifainpiap \j]
Mexi£fl_againBt -the li.b,prty arulj^armanent happi-
ppf^p pf thP Mn^ir'nn ponpl.p.'? fTTavA nnt F.nr-nppan
Tiatinn.sJ:aJ£a3a-a.s Inng f^^fs. they wanted and spilt as
much blond as they plefysed  in — settling their
affairs, .qnd shflll we deny that t" Mpt^ipa ^jpr^g^po
-aJia-ia-JEfiakXif No, I say, I am proud to belong to
E strong nauon that says, 'This country, which
e could crush, shall have just as much freedom in
3r own affairs as we have. If I am strong I am
ashamed to bully the weak. In proportion to my
strength is my pride in withholding that strength
from the oppression of another people.' And I
know when I speak these things, not merely from
the gracious response with which they have just
met from you, but from my long time knowledge
of the American people, that that is the sentiment
of the American people. ' '

RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 235
However, the infinite capacity of the Mexican leaders
to quarrel and scrap, and of the people to endure op
pression and to suffer the extremes of distress, was draw
ing heavily on the President's patience. The innumer
able stories that came up from the border contained some
real accounts of positive outrages ; and the factions were
powerless to protect the American border states. It was
with difficulty that the Administration sifted the real
from the false. Moreover, coupled with these realities,
came stories of intolerable conditions in Mexico, due to
disease and famine, that arose as a protest against the
long struggle between the warring factions. TPifica-SEas
no central authority in Mexico with which this nation
could treat, and the end of the revolution seemed to be
^farther away than it appeared to be when President Wjl-
srm was in an gn rated.
After waiting all spring for the chiefs to put an end
to their differences. President Wilson, on June 2, 1915,
announced that he was preparing to alter his watchful
waiting policy. In an address issued to the American '
people, he said: ^
' ' For more than two years revolutionary condi
tions have existed in Mexico. The purpose of the
revolution was to rid Mexico of men who ignored
the Constitution of the Eepublic and used their
power in contempt of the rights of its people, and
with these purposes the people of the United

236 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
States instinctively and generously sympathized.
But the leaders of the revolution, in the very hour
of their success, have disagreed and turned their
arms against one another. All professing the
same objects, they are, nevertheless, unable or
unwilling to cooperate. A central authority at
l^esico City-is,^ sooner set up than it is under-
minp.d and its a:|itbQrity denied by those who were
expected tn support it.
X" Mexico is apparently no nearer a solution of
(her tragical troubles than she was when the revolu
tion was first kindled. And she has been swept
hj civil war as if by fire. Her crops are destroyed,
'her fields lie unseeded, her people flee to the moun
tains to escape being drawn into unavailing blood
shed, and no man seems to see or lead the way to
peace and settled order. There is no proper pro
tection, either, for her own citizens, or for the
citizens of other nations resident and at work
within her territories. Mexico is starving and
\ without a government.
I ' ' In these circumstances the people and . the
Government of the United States cannot stand
indifferently by and do nothing tn serve their
neighbor. They want nothing for themselves in
Mexico. Least of all do they desire to settle her

RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 237
affairs for her, or claim any right to do so. But
neither do they wish to see utter ruin come upon
her, and they deem it their duty as friends and
neighbors to lend any aid they properly can to
any instrumentality which promises to be effective
in bringing about a settlement which will embody
the real object of the revolution — constitutional
government and the rights of the people.
"Patriotic Mexicans are sick at heart and cry
out for peace and for every self-sacrifice that may
be necessary to procure it. Their people cry out
for food and will presently hate as much as they
fear every man in their country or out of it who
stands between them and their daily bread.
"^nd it is time, tbprpfnre, tbat tbe government
of the United States should frankly state the
policies which in these extraordinary circum

stances, it becomes it.g duty in adnpt  It must
presently do what it has nnt bitbprt.n dnnp nr felt
at liberty to do, lend its active moral supports to
some men or grnnp nf mpTi^..if snpb mav be found.
wbn can raUy tliP gnfppring ppnplp nf Mexicn to
their support in an effort tp ignnrp, i£ they cannot
unite, the warring factions of the country, return
to the constitution of the republic so long in abey
ance, and set up a government at Mexico City

238 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
which the great powers of the world can recognize
and deal with — a government with whom the pro
gram of the revolution will be a business and
not merely a platform.
"I, therefore, publicly and very solemnly, call
upon the leaders of factions in Mexico to act, to
act together, and to act promptly for the relief
and redemption of their prostrate country. I feel
it tn bft my dnty tn t.pU tbem^ if thev cannot accom
modate their differences and unite for this great
purpose within a short time, this government will
be— eonsirajjied^to decide what means should be
pmp1ny-ed-hy,tlip TTniti^rl St^^^ps^ jn nrder tn help
Meyip-n sayaAerself and serve her people. ' '
This address was the signal for renewed activity on
the part of the combatants. They seemed to be playing
to the American galleries and watching for approval
from the American administration. During the month
of June, so variable were the fortunes of war that the
Mexican capital changed hands three different times. The
President, therefore, decided to act.
In August diplomatic representatives at Washington
jOf six of the Republics of Central and South America
met with the Secretary of State to discuss again means
for ending the chaos in Mexico. The result was an appeal
by the seven diplomats (August 14) to certain Mexicans

RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 239
who possessed authority or power. It proposed a con
ference of those directing the armed movements in Mex
ico and offered help in adjusting the differences between
the warring factions.
General Villa accgnted at once the proposals, and for
a time he was a popular hero in America, regardless of
his past life. But General Carranza rejected all pro
posals and pointed out the dangers which might ensue
from any interference. H£_ti£lifiS£djtliat_theMexicans
must fight it out alone and his suspicion of all foreigners
would not permit him to consent for thisjeountry to aid
in settUng the difficulties.
The diplomats, however, met again on September 18,
1915, and agreed to recognize the leader who at the end
of three weeks had best demonstrated his ability to main
tain order. Accordingly, on October 19, the United
States and eight of the Republics of Central and Soutt'^
America extended formal recognition to General _C ar
ranza. That meant, of course, that the good will of th(
nations was thrown against all other factions in Mexico,
including Villa, the soldier of fortune, who had had such
a spectacular career.
Thus, after more than a year of factional strife, Gen
eral Carranza was recognized as the head of the de facto
government. He seemed to be the only leader with suf
ficient patriotism to restore order. The distressed coun
try was sorely in need of a patriot who could and would
restore constitutional government to Mexico. Bandit

240 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
chieftains had plundered the country long enough. The
Republics of the two Americas, acting jointly, therefore
chose General Carranza for the delicate and very respon
sible undertaking.
To the careful students of the Mexican revolution, it
had become a settled conviction that permanent order
must come through the leadership of a real Mexican
patriot, and not through intervention. Three of the
Latin-American Republics aided the United States in
dethroning Huerta, the Dictator. But since that time,
the President had convinced the Republics of this hemi
sphere that he was standing firmly by his early poUcy
to see right and justice prevail, regardless of the tem
porary inconveniences to the border states or the loss of
foreign business in Mexico. This spirit of fair play had
at last won over eight of the Latin- American Republics,
which were now fully convinced that the great American
nation would exercise patience with the weak and dis
tressed Mexican republic. A Pan American union was
now possible, and even the Mexican people, who two
years before would not even consider President Wilson's
proposals, seemed now to be in a state of mind to listen
to advice.
The recognition of General Carranza as head of the
de facto government in Mexico greatly strengthened his
position. He now had the advantage over all the fac
tional chiefs who were hostile to him, since they were
unable to buy easily and legally munitions of war. Con-

RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 241
sequently, many of the factional soldiery of Mexico went
over to his standard, taking solid regiments with them.
. However, General Francisco Villa, perhaps the ablest
military chieftain in Mexico, lost both prestige and
power, and as he saw his rival rising because of the ad-
sjantage given him by this nation especially, he, like
luerta, the Dictator, became the more desperate and
dangerous, breathing out insane threats against all
Americans. The savage nature of the man who had risen from a
peon to a general of recognized ability, broke out in all
of its primitive bitterness, and he followed up his threats
with lawless acts of such violence that the entire Amer
ican border was thrown into a state of confusion. His
l^ronghold was the Province 6fT!hihuahii3<'that borders
the states of Texas and New Mexico. General Carranza
seemed powerless to curb his bloody deeds or to protect
the American border. Shocking murders of American
mining men in Mexico were reported. Ranches and set
tlements were looted, and as Villa moved northward
toward the Rio Grande, El Paso and other American
towns were thrown into a state of panic.
The Administration was giving General Carranza a
fair opportunity to restore order. At the s^tt^*^ time .the
American troops stationed along the border were warned
as to the designs of the bandits to vinreak vengeanccjin
American citizens. As Villa's insane hatred for Amer
icans increased, it became more and more apparent that

242 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
this nation would be compelled to act in self-defense.
This seemed to be what Villa desired above everything
else. The American army in Mexico might so infiame
the Mexicans that even Carranza 's leadership would be
destroyeds^ His armv. therefore, was turned against
America nowTjatherJhan_agaitistJiiaj[dd..gjnejny-
It was known to the American government early in
March, 1916, that Villa was perhaps planning to attack
certain American towns. He seemed to be headed to
wards Columbus, New Mexico, one of the more than
forty points along the border which formed headquarters
or centers for detachments of American soldiers. The
authorities of Columbus were even warned as to Villa's
designs. On the night of March 9 the bandits, like a cyclone,
struck the little town. The inhabitants and the garrison
were unprepared. After some confusion, however, the
soldiers drove the Mexicans across the border and, par-
suing, killed about sixty of them. But Villa and his
bandits made good their escape — leaving about twenty
soldiers and citizens of Columbus slain.
The Administration acted promptly. On the day after
the raid, the following statement was issued from the
White House :
"An adequate force will be sent at once in pur
suit of Villa, with the single object of capturing
him and putting a stop to his forays. This can

RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 243
and will be done in entirely friendly aid of con
stituted authority in Mexico, and with scrupulous
respect for the sovereignty of that Eepublic. ' '
It would have been an easy task for the Administration
to rush American soldiers into Mexico, and this is evi
dently what Villa thought would be done. But it was
the policy of the Administration to convince General
Carranza that America was cooperating with him to end
the lawlessness in northern Mexico, which he was not
temporarily prepared to accomplish. General Funston
was placed in command of the American forces, with
instructions to capture Villa. But at the same time
every possible effort was made to conciliate Carranza
and to save Mexican pride.
However, the successor to the Montezumas was no easy
ruler to deal with. He seemed to live in a world of make-
believe, while blood and murder and famine passed by
his headquarters. ^Hp_3inke of his government with
quixotic enthusiasm, and seemed to take it as a slight
thatthpPresidpnt of thp United States, did not consider
Inim amply able tn cope m^^^ ^Iip sitnatimi. Moreover, he
seemed to look upon the bandit attacks as a mere tem
porary inconvenience to this country, untU he could get
his hands on the situation. And he gave preemptory
orders for the capture of the bandits, without having
sufficient force even to reaeh the border.
The American government, however, was compelled

244 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
not only to stop this border warfare, but it had to be
done in such a way, if possible, as not to arouse the
ancient hatred of the Mexicans, nor to disturb the pride
of General Venustiano Carranza, First Chief of the Con
stitutionalists. Would this quixotic leader permit our government to
send troops into Mexico to capture the bandits? That
was the question that this nation discussed for several
days. And he sat at his little headquarters and delib
erated over that question as though he had the whole of
Central and South America at his back. Then, after
some delay, he very grudgingly gave his formal consent
on the condition that Mexican troops might have a cor-
,-  ":  —7-: — -~~~  ~  — — — ¦ — ^ —  ¦ — '
responding privilege of crossing the line into the United
States in pursuit-of-ottyrflws.
This privilege was promptly granted by the American
Administration. But it had become quite evident to this
government that in dealing with such a man as General
Carranza, we were in extreme danger of war with Mex
ico, and this was especially true if the old hero should
fall into designing hands just at this critical moment.
As the American forces advanced into Mexico, the
problem of securing supplies became a perplexing one.
The Administrationjiad— ta_request the Carranza gov
ernment to giv^_General Funst^ permission to use the
railroads, and after some delaythis also was grudgingly
granted. TawJ '.grpa±pst difRnpIty of the American forces,
however^ was^not in pursuing Villa, but in so coadiicting

RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 245
the expedition as not to-inflame- the Mexicans. ..^Since
the latter danger was always present, it was necess.ary
to carry a force sufficiently largp tn makp \t nndps.i.ra.b1f>
for any considerable body of Mexicans to attack the
Americans. But General Carranza 's attitude was now favorable,
and the President used every precaution possible to make
it comprehensible to the people of both countries that we
had no designs upon Mexican territory and that we did
not desire to interfere unduly with their affairs. Not
withstanding Mr. Wilson's repeated assurances, how
ever, there seemed to be reactionaries both in America
and in Mexico who were determined to bring about
intervention. Certain business interests seemed to
have the same designs as General Villa had. Therefore,
on March 25, President Wilson issued an address to the
American people which was at the same time a warning
to the "unscrupulous influences" at work along the
border :
' ' As has already been announced, ' ' he said, ' ' the
expedition into Mexico was ordered under an
agreement with the de facto Government of
Mexico for the single purpose of taking the bandit
Villa, whose forces had actually invaded the ter
ritory of the United States, and is in no sense in
tended as an invasion of that Eepublic or as an
infringement of its sovereignty.

246 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
"I have, therefore, asked the several news
services to be good enough to assist the adminis
tration in keeping this view of the expedition con
stantly before both the people of this country and
the distressed and sensitive people of Mexico, who
are very susceptible, indeed, to impressions re
ceived from the American press not only, but also
very ready to believe that these impressions pro
ceed from the views and objects of our Government
itself. Such conclusions, it must be said, are not
unnatural, because the main, if not the only, source
of information for the people on both sides of the
border is the public press of the United States.
"In order to avoid the creation of erroneous
and dangerous impressions in this way I have
called upon the several news agencies to use the
utmost care not to give news stories regarding
this expedition the color of war, to withhold
stories of troop movements and military prepara
tions which might be given that interpretation,
and to refrain from publishing unverified rumors
of unrest in Mexico.
"I feel that it is most desirable to impress upon
both our own people and the people of Mexico the
fact that the expedition is simply a necpssaigg-^

RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 247
l^anitiye maasure, aimBd_-&oJ£]^_aJUhe_elimination
of the marauders who raided Columbus and who
Jjlfest an miprot,ectfid,_di.strict near the border,
which they use as a base in making attacks upon
the lives and property of our citizens within our
own territory. It is the purpose of our com
manders to cooperate in every possible way with
the forces of General Carranza in removing this
cause of irritation to both Governments, and to
retire from Mexican territory so soon as that
object is accomplished.
' ' It is my duty to warn the people of the United
States that there are persons all along the border
-who are actively engaged in^originating and giv
ing as wide currency as they can to rumors of the
most sensational and disturbing sort, which are
wholly unjustified by the facts. The object of this
traffic in falsehood is obvious. It is to create in
tolerable friction between the Government of the
Unitedi States and the de facto Government of
Mexico for the purpose of bringing about inter
vention in the interest of certain American own
ers of Mexican properties. This object cannot be
attained so long as sane and honorable men are
in control of this Government, but very serious
conditions may be created, unnecessary bloodshed

248 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
may result, and the relations between the two re
publics may be very much embarrassed.
[ /"The people of the United States should know
the sinister and unscrupulous influences that are
afoot, and should be on their guard against credit
ing any story coming from the border; and those
who disseminate the news should make it a matter
of patriotism and of conscience to test the source
and authenticity of every report they receive from
that quarter."
General Carranza 's position was made still more dif-
flcult by these "unscrupulous influences," and he in as
plain words as President Wilson used, attributed the
inspiration of the border raids, designed to involve the
United States in trouble with Mexico, to Mexican "re
actionaries." These, together with the "reactionaries"
in America — owners of Mexican land, mines, oil wells
and railroads — seemed to be deliberately trying to pre
cipitate revolution. Not all of these were Americans.
Englishmen, Frenchmen, Germans and Spaniards have
large holdings in Mexico, and they all looked to the
United States Government, because of its historic policy,
to find a way for them to obtain compensation.
Thus the Mexican question, was fn_1_!_of ppT-p1pYit,iffl
that were bewJld pring in the extreme. There seemed to
be_ajort of conspiracy on the part of certtdn Ampricans

RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 249
and foreigners to plunge this country into war, in spite
of -tne efforts ot''TliriPrg5idFnr to ITeaTfaTHy^with C^i--
ranza. and put an end to the strife in Mexico. And when
the President was seemingly unmoved by the many
stories of murder and pillage that came up from across
the border, he was attacked by the press and others hos
tile to his policies for not protecting American citizena
and upholding the honor and dignity of this country.
The President 's note of warning, therefore, caUed atteu..
tion to an enemy greater than Carranza or even Villa^v
those who were trafficking in falsehoods in order "to
create intolerable friction between the government of
the United States and the de facto government of Mexico
for the purpose of bringing about intervention in the
interest of certain American owners of Mexican
properties. ' '
The American army was now driving southward irj.
search of Villa, whose army was broken up into small,
roving bands and scattered throughout the mountainous
districts. In the meantime. General Obregon, Carranza 's
Minister of War and the rising figure in Mexico, sent a
troop of 5,000 natives to assist in the pursidt of Villa
and his scattered bands of marauders. Xhas the two
armies were acting in conjunction, and the end of the
revolution seemed to be near at hand, provided the native
Mexicans, who were ignorant and suspicious of every
move on the part of the Americans, were not aroused to
resist the advance of the American troops, which were

250 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
having fierce encounters with bands of ViUa's disinte
grated army.
After one fierce encounter, in which Colonel Dodd of
the American cavalry surprised a company of Villa's
army, it was reported that Villa was wounded, and later
that he was dead. Many believed this report to be a pure
fabrication. Anyway it had the desired effect, and there
arose a demand for the withdrawal of the American forces
from Mexico, since the object for which the Americans
sought had been removed.
Whether Villa were dead or alive, he seemed to be
beyond the reach of the Americans. More than a month
had elapsed since the attack was made on Columbus, and
the presence of the Americans in Mexico appeared now
to the natives to be a menace rather than a friendly mis
sion. Therefore, General Carranza requested the Amer
ican government to withdraw the troops.
/ President Wilson treated this request in a dignified
/ manner, and requested General Carranza to arrange for
\ a conference in which the two governments might come
\to some understanding as to the best course to pursue
lin order to protect the American border from further
outrages. General Carranza acquiesced in the request,
and General Obregon, representing the de facto govern
ment of Mexico, and General Hugh L. Scott, representing
;he United States, met in El Paso on May 1, and an
amicable settlement was prophesied from the beginning.
In the midst of this conference, however, another group

RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 251
of bandits crossed the border and attacked another Amer
ican community. All negotiations came to a standstill
at once, and another expeditionary force crossed the line
and went off into the sands and cacti in pursuit of the
outlaws. There seemed to be some force at work in Mex
ico to prevent a peaceful adjustment of the matter.
Qther-blo-w would-be struekp^BA-aBother Ameaiean expe-
ditionwould move. Carranza became excited. ^Old fears
seemed to seize jirrnjjn spite-of Prosidont-Wil son's pains
to assure him that all this nation desired was to see an
end tn the border outragps Then old suspicions came to
the surface.

Finally, on May 31, a note from Carranza was pre
sented to the Secretary of State demanding an immediate
withdrawal of American troops from Mexico. It inti
mated that President Wilson had not been acting in good
faith. "There has been a great discrepancy," it said,
"between the protests of sincere friendly cooperation on
the. part of the American authorities and the actual atti
tude of the expeditions, which, on account of its distrust,
its secrecy regarding its movements, and the arms at its
disposal, clearly indicate that it was a hostile expedition
and a real invasion of our territory."
This note was indeed a great surprise to the American
penpTe_aTid gave at once a new turn to the whole Mex
ican problem. It was said, however, that it was well
received in Mexico City. Therefore, many Americans

252 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
were inclined to believe that it was written "for home
consumption. ' '
The American government made no immediate
answer to this note. However, it was a warning. But
the American commander, General Pershing, continued
to dispose of his troops to the best advantage and Gen
eral Obregon continued to cooperate with him. In the
meantime the American government had taken the pre
caution to hold up all arms and munitions en route from
this country to Carranza 's army.
A second warning came on June 16 which was still
more threatening. General Trevino, commanding the
Carranza Army of the North, advised General Pershing,
American Expeditionary Commander, that any move
ment of American troops from their present line to the
south, east or west would be considered a hostile act and
a signal to commence warfare.
General Pershing replied promptly. "I take orders
only from my government," he said. "Please make that
plain to General Carranza."
Instead of dealing further with the American Govern
ment at Washington, General Carranza began to issue,
through his generals, orders to the American Com
manders in Mexico.
Meanwhile, the American government was considering
the Carranza note and the action of General Trevino.
General Carranza, ¦ it appeared, had changed his whole
attitude toward the American nation. What new in-

RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 253
fluences surrounded him? What insidious agents were
at work? While those questions were being discussed,
newspapers published an interview with Carranza on
June 20, in which he was reported to have said :
"I have ordCTgd the military leaders of ouy forces
near the hnrdpr nnt tn ppT-mit-thp fnrtWr passijior ^f any
American forces into Mexican territory. ' ' lie then in-
-timated— that-.the American troops werft_not sent_into
Mexico for the bandi±s-al(mfcr-b]it th^t heavy artillery
_yas brnnght in fnr p, pampaign. against Mf^j^O. TjiPrp-
H£ft^ig--hp said thp Mpxinan-pfinplfl did nnt hflliajia in the
sincerity of the American government, and they were
prepared to resist. Later, in addressing his army, he
spoke of the Spanish and Indian blood that flowed
through their veins and exhorted them to stand ready
to defend their country. War seemed inevitable.
On the next day, June 21, President Wilson's reply
to Carranza 's demand for withdrawal of American
troops was sent. The note was long and carefully
orded. The President reviewed the diplomatic rela
tions, but refused to meet all of Carranza 's demands.
Next morning he heard the newsboys in the streets of
Washington crying ' ' extra. ' ' He sent for a copy of the
paper and read the account of a clash between
the Mexicans and Americans. An hour later General
Funston 's official dispatch was received informing him
that a flght had taken place on Wednesday morning,
June 21, at Carrizal, and a few days later General Car-

^

254

WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT

ranza notified the Secretary of State that the attack on
American troops was in compliance with his orders.
Immediately after the news of the Carrizal clash was
received in Washington, an emergency call was put in
for the quick mobilization of the National Guard. This
act was the signal for thousands of citizens to quit their
peaceful occupations, leave their homes, and go into
military training. In every state the tramp, tramp of
the soldier boys stirred the heroic natures of "men,
women, and children who collected along the streets or
gathered at the railway stations to wave fareweli)to the
soldiers ' ' off for Mexico. ' ' It was now generally believed
that the long-expected and by many hoped-for, war with
Mexico was at last at hand.
-E^esident WUson, however, instead of becoming ex-
^ited-.azi4_rushing headlong intQ_jar. began at once to
seek the cause for this strange turn in affairs. General
. Carra.Tiza's..w,bnlfi attitude was a puzzle. It was ineon-
-aeivable that-ha. should, of his own initia.tive^ seek ya^v
.wifli— the TToited^States. Was the change due, then, to
insidious foreign influences 1 Were the Mexicans becom
ing so excited over the continued presence of the Amer
ican army in Mexico that General Carranza was unable
to hold them in check ? ¦ Did he really fear that the
American army was sent into Mexico for the purpose
of making a war of conquest ? Or had the "unscrupulous
influences" on the border succeeded, at last, in their

RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 255
designs, after President Wilson had repeatedly warned
both countries against them?
These questions were argued by the press of this
country, and excited Americans fairly raved — some for
war, and some against war. But who was really re
sponsible for the clash at Carrizal — Americans or
Mexicans ?
In the midst of this new confusion, while war-shouts
were being heard in every village. President Wilson kept
his head and proooodcd very deliberately te-jseek the
jtnotive for this change in affairs His first act vgasja-,
Remand of General Carranza an immediate release of
the American prisoners captured at Carrizal and a safe
¦ pspnrt, fnT thp border. This demand w«« pnTnp1i<»d with
He next asked General Carranza to state at once the
intentions of the Carranza government toward General
Pershing's army on Mexican soil. The reply was con
vincing to the President that the Carranza government
certainly did not desire war with the United States.
Moreover, General Trevino in command of the Carranza
army in Chihuahua, where the clash occurred, was trans
ferred to another province.
General Carranza 's attitude now was very pleasing to
the American government. His note was considered the
"wisest and most restrained communication the Car
ranza government has yet delivered to the United States
government, ' ' and it was believed by the Administration

256 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
that the real points at issue had been "grasped for the
first time clearly by the Carranza government," which
declared its willingness to ' ' consider in a quick and prac
tical way, prompted by a spirit of concord, the remedies
which should be applied to the present situation. ' '
Thus the little clash at Carrizal was apparently
bringing about a better understanding between the two
nations, and America was again about to triumph as
Mexico's friend.
However, there is nothing so disturbing to the peace of
the country as the sight of moving armies. Americans
everywhere seemed to rise up and ask to go to war.
A million soldiers could have been raised easily. The
impulse to go to war was exceedingly strong. But the
President was determined not to hit any part of Mexico,
prostrate from Ibng and bitter internal strife. And
again he curbed the American passion and held the dogs
of war in leash and refused to let them go. At the same
time the State Department was working with General
/Carranza to reach a peaceful solution of the two problems
fthat caused the conflict between the two countries: the
presence of United States troops on Mexican soil and the
raids on the United States border.
The President was criticized for not rushing a half
million men into Mexico and for not closing all Mexican
ports. However, he still believed that war with Mexico
could be avoided, and he woxUd not let any force drive
him into a war of conquest. He knew the people of

RELATIONS WITH GENERAL CARRANZA 257
Mexico were suspicious of the Americans and even hated
them. Moreover, he knew that they had some just cause
to hate Americans and to speak contemptuously of them
as "Gringoes." Therefore, he declared again his policy
toward Mexico.
He was speaking, July 10, to the World's Congress
of Salesmen in session in Detroit. He told his hearers
who were concerned over the border states "we have to
defend our border. That goes without, sayinpp- — ...Of
course^ we must make good our own sovereignty. But
Aitg.must respect the snverp.ifynt.y nf Mexico." Ar\i\ while
tb^e words were being uttered r the Secretary nf War
was massing troops on the border. But he assured this
rra^<gi_ttiat sucn an act did not mean war- He declared
4hat it was his purpose to help, not harm.3^ftxifto. .Jut
he said that there wereJaEO-JEays of hplping Mp^nn
"I was trying," he said, "to expound in
another place the other day the long way and the
short way to get together. The long way is to
fight. I have heard some gentlemen say that they
want to help Mexico, and the way they purpose
to help her is to overwhehn her with force. That
is the long way to help Mexico, as well as the
wrong way. Because, after the fighting you will
have a nation fuU of justified suspicion and
animated by well-founded hostility and hatred.

258 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
And then will you help them ? Then will you estab
lish cordial business relationship with them?
Then will you go on as neighbors and establish
their confidence? On the contrary, you will have
shut every door as if it were of steel against you.
"What makes Mexico suspicious of us is that
she does not believe as yet that we want to serve
her. She believes we want to possess her. And
she has justification for the belief in the way in
which some of our fellow-citizens have tried to
exploit her privileges and her possessions. For
my part I will not serve the ambitions of those
gentlemen, but I will try to serve all America, so
far as intercourse with Mexico is concerned, by
trying to serve Mexico herself."

CHAPTER XII
GOOD FAITH AND JUSTICE TOWARD ALL
NATIONS
Washington's Farewell Address to the people of the
United States is regarded as a great American Classic
and is taught in the public schools of America and held
up to the youth as a political ideal. In speaking of our
foreign relations, he said : "It will be worthy of a free,
enlightened, and at no distant period a great nation,
to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel ex.
ample of a people always guided by an exalted justice
and benevolence." It was this ideal that President
Wilson adopted for his guidance in dealing with foreign
countries. The practice, however, of certain Senators
and Members in drawing from the national treasury
unfair and unjust appropriations for their respective
states, contemptuously referred to as "pork barrel" leg
islation, is about the attitude, as a rule, of one nation to
the remainder of the world.
In August, 1912, while the Presidential campaign was
in a very acute stage, Congress enacted a law providing
for the future administration of the Panama Canal. One
section in that law gave free passage through the canal
259

260 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
to the ships of the United States engaged in coastwise
trade, but provided that all other American ships, as
well as all ships of foreign countries, passing through
the canal, should pay a toll.
This whole question was very freely discussed by the
people of this country before the passage of this act,
and both political parties went on record as favoring
the exemption from tolls of American ships engaged in
coastwise trade. However, the British government and
other nations objected to our favored treatment of our
own shipping, on the ground that it violated the Hay-
Pauncefote Treaty. It was contended by the Taft ad
ministration and Congress that it was never understood
when the treaty was ratified that Mr. John Hay, our
ambassador, was signing away our rights to the free use
of the canal for coastwise trade. Therefore, the law
was passed over the protest of the British government
and to the surprise of the nations of Europe.
When President Wilson was inaugurated, the canal
was incomplete, but plans were being matured for its
formal opening. The protests of foreign nations, how
ever, against what they considered was an act of injustice
on the part of the American government, seemed to rob
this nation of much of the glory for bringing to comple
tion such a tremendous undertaking.
After Mr. Wilson became President, he came to the
conclusion that the old Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850
was an agreement between the United States and Great

FAITH AND JUSTICE TOWARD ALL 261
Britain that neither country should have exclusive con
trol over any inter-ocean canal in Central America, and
that the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, which superseded the
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, was a guarantee to Great Brit
ain, or its wording was such as to leave the impression on
the European nations, that the canal would be open to
both nations and to aU nations on the same terms.
Moreover, it developed after the American coastwise
vessels were exempt from toll, that out of the hundreds
of regular trans- Atlantic liners, only six ships were fly
ing the American flag, but that the American coastwise
shipping was a vast fleet. According to the figures quoted
by an English writer, Mr. Winthrop Marvin, our coast
wise fleet was greater than the entire German merchant
marine and greater than the combined merchant marines
of France and Italy. It appeared, therefore, that very
nearly aU of the American vessels were exempt from toll
by the Repeal Act, and Mr. Wilson considered this a
violation certainly of the spirit, if not the letter, of the
treaty. The Panama Canal was not opened until August 14,
1914. In the meantime. President Wilson was giving
the matter of toll exemption very careful study, and in
February he wrote to Mr. William L. Marbury, of Balti
more, a letter which indicated how his mind was working
on the problem:
"With regard to the question of canal tolls my

262 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
opinion is very clear," he said. "The exemption
constitutes a very mistaken policy from every
point of view. It is economically unsound; as a
matter of fact, it benefits for the present, at any
rate, only a monopoly and it seems to me, in clear
violation of the terms of the Hay-Pauncefote
Treaty. There is, of course, much honest differ
ence of opinion as to the last point as there is, no
doubt, as to others. But it is at least debatable,
and if the promises we make in such matters are
debatable, I, for one, do not care to debate them.
I think the country would prefer to let no question
arise as to its whole-hearted purpose to redeem
its promises in the light of any reasonable con
struction of them rather than debate a point of
honor. ' '
His program had two distinct purposes in view —
(1) to destroy monopoly, and (2) to restore the rule of
right and justice in all foreign relations as well as in
domestic affairs. As the discussion of this question con
tinued, the opinion grew that the exemption clause en
couraged monopoly and was a violation of the rule of
right and justice.
For the time the country forgot the anti-trust bills in
Congress and gave all attention to this, the newest sen
sation. The old question of how far a party is bound

FAITH AND JUSTICE TOWARD ALL 263
by a plank tn the platform was discussed pro and con.
It was argued, furthermore, that the exemption act was
indirectly a subsidy, and that the Democratic platform
was emphatic in its opposition to subsidies, which en
couraged monopolies, and since the final step in the
overthrow of monopoly was about to be taken, the exemp
tion clause in the Panama Canal act should be repealed
even before the anti-trust laws were enacted. Mr. Wil
son started the nation to discussing the question. Then
he withdrew from the argument for a while and waited
until March 5, when he appeared before Congress, and
in the foUowing words asked that body to reverse its
position in the exemption clause of the Panama Canal
act: "Gentlemen of the Congress," he began, "I
have come to you upon an errand which can be
very briefly performed, but I beg that you will
not measure its importance by the number of
sentences in which I state it. No communication
I have addressed to the Congress carried with it
graver or more far-reaching implications as to the
interest of the country, and I come now to speak
upon a matter with regard to which I am charged
in a peculiar degree, by the Constitution itself,
with personal responsibility.
"I have come to ask you for the repeal of that

264 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
provision of the Panama Canal Act of August 24,
1912, which exempts vessels engaged in the coast
wise trade of the United States from payment of
tolls, and to urge upon you the justice, the wisdom,
and the large policy of such a repeal with the ut
most earnestness of which I am capable. In my
own judgment, very fully considered and ma
turely formed, that exemption constitutes a mis
taken economic policy from every point of view,
and is, moreover, in plain contravention of the
treaty with Great Britain concerning the canal
concluded on November 18, 1901. But I have not
come to urge upon you my personal views. I have
come to state to you a fact and a situation. What
ever may be our own differences of opinion con
cerning this much debated measure, its meaning
is not debated outside the United States. Every
where else the language of the treaty is given but
one interpretation, and that interpretation pre
cludes the exemption I am asking you to repeal.
We consented to the treaty; its language we ac
cepted, if we did not originate it ; and we are too
big, too powerful, too self-respecting a nation to
interpret with a too strained or refined reading
the words of our own promises just because we
have power enough to give us leave to read them

FAITH AND JUSTICE TOWARD ALL 265
as we please. The large thing to do is the only
thing we can afford to do, a voluntary withdrawal
from a position everywhere questioned and mis
understood. We ought to reverse our action with
out raising the question whether we were right
or wrong, and so once more deserve our reputa
tion for generosity and for the redemption of
every obligation without quibble or hesitation.
"I ask this of you in support of the foreign
policy of the administration. I shall not know
how to deal with other matters of even greater
delicacy and nearer consequence if you do not
grant it to me in ungrudging measure."
This was indeed a remarkable request — remarkable
for its boldness and for its directness. So brief was the
address that he had finished almost before his hearers
were aware that his appeal was fairly begun. However,
when he bowed to the assembly and left the rostrum, they
were aware of the fact that he had appeared in person
to ask them to do an unprecedented but very important
thing; namely, to repudiate a plank in the Democratic
platform and to reverse themselves on the Exemption
Act. Mr. Wilson had been President just a year and a day
when he faced Congress in that calm and confident man
ner. There were members of the Senate and of the House

266 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
who had been in public life more than a generation and
who had been a part of the national legislative body
longer than Woodrow Wilson had been a national figure.
And he was now asking them to reverse a step that had
been taken deliberately less than two years ago and after
considerable discussion.
The address was praised as "straightforward" and
"effective." However, it was declared by press corre
spondents that "it was received more unfavorably than
any other utterances he has made to the National Legis
lature." It was the last sentence of the address which
attracted the attention of the entire nation. "What
were those 'other matters of even greater delicacy?' "
Then critic after critic declared that the President was
wrong. Some even said that he was under some sinister
infiuence or that he was courting friendship with
England. It was sometimes hard for the business men to
understand Mr. Wilson's rule of right and justice when
it was to be applied to domestic matters. It was hard
for those interested in the annexation of Mexico to un
derstand it when applied to our relations with Latin-
American states. But it was considerably harder for
certain members of the legislative body to understand it
when applied to international relationship.
Two of the greatest issues of President Wilson's ad
ministration were before Congress at this time — The
anti-trust laws and the repeal of Panama tolls. It was

FAITH AND JUSTICE TOWARD ALL 267
a part of Mr. Wilson's tactics while important measures
were pending to lay down the fundamental principles
that should guide America in all of its governmental
processes, and he usually chose some public occasion in
which to re-state these principles. On May 16, 1914, while
these two measures were pending and while the press of
the country was keeping the nation informed as to the
gossip and their progress, Mr. Wilson delivered an ad
dress at the unveiUng of the statue of Commodore John
Barry, a Revolutionary patriot, in which he referred to
Washington's injunction to this country to keep free
from entangling alliances.
"We can not form alliances," said Mr. Wilson,
"with those who are not going our way and in our
might and majesty and in the certainty of our
purpose we need not and should not form alli
ances with any nation in the world. Those who
are right, those who study their conscience in de
termining their policies, those who hold their
honor higher than their advantages do not need
alliances. You need alliances when you are not
true to yourself. You are weak when you are in
the wrong. You are weak when you are afraid to
do the right. You are weak when you doubt your
course and the majesty of the nation's might
asserted."

268 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
And then he exhorted the people of the nation
to devote themselves "to the purpose of enabling
America to live her own life, to be the justest, the
most progressive, the most honorable, the most
enlightened nation in the world."
When the bill to repeal was introduced, of course it
met with opposition, and it was said that this opposition
was a signal for a "revolt against Mr. Wilson's leader
ship. ' ' The nation had been warned many times before
that "a revolt" was at hand. However, the leaders in
the Senate and the House kept the organization together,
although hostile editors declared that the President had
"driven his party into hopeless dissension" and "the
Democratic solid front that put through the tariff bill
and the new banking law is broken and shattered."
A survey of Congress in May revealed the fact that
the passage of the Repeal Bill was after all a foregone
conclusion. A safe majority could be counted on in both
Houses, and on June 11 the Panama Toll Act was re
pealed. The Senators and Members, having the Presi
dent's idea before them, frankly admitted they had made
a mistake and as cheerfully reversed themselves. The
repeal was looked upon by a host of papers as the great
est victory yet achieved by the President and one which
in itself will insure his place in history. And it was
declared that "the rule of justice and equality" at last
applied to our international policies, and that "no pri-

FAITH AND JUSTICE TOWARD ALL 269
vate interests," foreign or domestic, may capitalize this
great republic enterprise (the Panama Canal) for its
own special profit."
However, the act of Congress was so unprecedented
that criticism continued, until Mr. Wilson, a few days
afterward, spoke these words:
"It is patriotic sometimes to regard the honor
of this country in preference to its material inter
ests. Would you rather be despised by all the
nations of the world as incapable of keeping your
treaty obligations or would you rather have free
tolls for American ships?
"The treaty has been made a mistake, but its
meaning is unmistakable. But when I have made
a promise I try to keep it. The most honorable
and distinguished nation in the world is the nation
thaf can keep its promises to its own hurt.
"I want to say, parenthetically, that I do not
think anybody was hurt. I am not enthusiastic
for subsidies to a monopoly and nobody can get
me enthusiastic on that subject. But, assuming
that it was a matter of enthusiasm, I am much
more enthusiastic for keeping the integrity of the
United States absolutely unquestioned and un
sullied."

270 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
The President put his house in order none too soon.
He had labored with success to destroy private monopoly
at home and set up again the rule of right and justice
in the nation. He had convinced the South American
nations that the same rule would apply to all his dealings
with the republics of this hemisphere. Finally, he had
proved to the world that this, the greatest republic on
earth, could give to mankind "the magnanimous and
too novel experience" of a people guided "by an exalted
justice and benevolence."
With these achievements the Old Era came to a close.
The European war drew a heavy veil between the past
and the future as the New Era appeared, and President
Wilson faced the future with a power and a prestige
that made him one of the commanding personalities of
the world.

PART II
CHAPTER XIII
THE EUROPEAN WAR AND A NEW ERA
On July 4, 1914, President Wilson laid aside executive
duties and on this, the nation's birthday, he stood in
Independence Hall to interpret the spirit of America.
In concluding his address, he said :
"To what other nation in the world can all
eyes look for an instant sympathy that thrills
the whole body politic when men anywhere are
fighting for their rights? I do not know that
there will ever be a declaration of independence
and of grievances for mankind, but I believe that
if any such document is ever drawn it will be
drawn in the spirit of the American Declaration
of Independence, and that America has lifted
high the light which will shine unto all genera
tions and guide the feet of mankind to the goal
of justice and liberty and peace."
At that time the world, save Mexico, was at peace.
Men everywhere were admitting that the causes of war
271

272 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
had declined, and many men of international fame were
declaring that there would never be another great war.
The President, therefore, had no thought of war when
these words were uttered. He was only too conscious
of the great struggle for human rights that had been
carried on in this nation for sixteen months, when he
labored earnestly to complete the program of "New
.Freedom" and restore the rule of right and justice in
this nation.
Moreover, his foreign policy was being conducted with
the single aim of convincing all nations that America's
flag "is the flag not only of America but of humanity."
The Panama Tolls Act had just been repealed, and the
nations of the world were applauding the act. The A. B.
C. Mediators were just closing their conference at
Niagara Falls and the Latin- American states were rejoic
ing over the magnanimous conduct of the United States.
The American army was still at Vera Cruz, but the Presi
dent of the United States was waiting only for Huerta
to resign the presidency of Mexico and for the restora
tion of constitutional government in that war distressed
country. At no time in the history of this country had this nation
stood so well among the nations of the earth as on this
birthday and never had it lifted so high ' ' the light which
will shine unto all generations and guide the feet of
mankind to the goal of justice and liberty and peace."
Then suddenly, July 28, 1914, Austria declared war

THE EUROPEAN WAR 273
on Servia and the great European war broke upon the
world. Within less than thirty days after the celebration
referred to above everything was changed. Almost in the
twinkling of an eye, nations were transformed, old stan
dards of right and wrong were swept away, governmental
policies became obsolete, and a new era had begun.
The shock of war was so great and the human mind
was wrenched so violently away from the past that the
first eighteen months of President Wilson's administra
tion seem more like Ancient History than the proceedings
of three years ago. Who remembers now the summer of
1913 when he routed the lobbyists and was hailed the
leader of the Democratic Party ? Who recaUs the terror
that struck the business men when the currency laws were
debated and captains of finance were summoned to Wash
ington to give assistance to long needed reforms ? Who
is mindful of the panicky condition of the country
eighteen months ago when it was announced that the long
struggle between government and monopoly had at last
begun? It all reads like chapters recovered from a for
gotten past. And yet the legislation of that period was
the most far-reaching of any since the days of Andrew
Jackson. But what did a great war, three thousand miles away,
have to do with America? How did it make statesmen
forget old issues? How did it turn political currents
into new channels and make new issues that were un-
thought of before the war?

274 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
In the first place a vast commerce of some $2,000,-
000,000 a year was suddenly either demolished or dis
located. The day after England declared war on
Germany traffic between America and Europe was para
lyzed. Merchantmen were impressed into military serv
ice; freight and passenger vessels were afraid to leave
the ports ; and miUions of tons of merchandise were being
piled up in American ports with no foreign market in
sight. The Southern States were prostrated by the slump
in the cotton market. The stock exchanges closed their
doors. Trade depression threw an army of working men
out of employment, and the falling off in the fiscal
revenue was so great that the Government was driven
temporarily to impose a number of direct taxes on the
people. Thus the economic safety of this nation was
threatened. Moreover, nearly thirty million American citizens
claimed close kinship with the belligerents on the other
side of the continent and the conflict had for them some
thing of the character of "a civil war by proxy." Per
haps in no other country were the right and wrong of the
war more passionately debated. As the great battles
raged tn Europe, millions of American citizens seemed
to forget everything save their blood relatives in the
trenches. The meager news from Europe told them that
the old homesteads back in the lands of their fathers, the
accumulated earnings, the heirlooms and even the tombs
of their ancestors were being sacrificed to the god of

THE EUROPEAN WAR 275
war. Gray-haired fathers and mothers of American
citizens were driven from their homes like so many cattle,
and even from the land of their birth. Great industries
were swept off the map, and brothers and sisters became
wanderers without food or shelter. Then from the
trenches came heart-rending stories of carnage in which
so many kinsmen were slaughtered that the god of
war had rivers of blood tn which to slake the world's
militaristic thirst for gore. And three thousand miles
from these dreadful battlefields — ^here among a free
people — thirty million kinsmen looked daily into the eyes
of men and women whose blood relatives in Europe were
slaughtering their relatives, and preserving neutrality in
America became the most important problem of the hour.
The United States was the only great neutral nation
left to help bring order out of chaos and the responsibility
of this unique position was emphasized strongly at the
beginning of the war. This nation occupied "a sort of
provisional judgment seat" and the warring nations
appealed to it for sympathy and moral support and
waited eagerly for verdicts of guilt or acquittal. There
was almost a scramble among the combatants to win
America's approval or good-wiU. Behind this competi
tion to gain the ear of the United States there was, says
a contemporary writer, a two-fold purpose : ' ' First, that
decent respect for contemporary opinion which is making
it more and more impossible for any nation to go to war
without at least an attempt to show that its cause is

276 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
just; and second, a consciousness that, while American
neutrality was accepted in all lands as a static factor,
American resources and benevolence and diplomacy
might have no smaU influence in the course of the war
and the views of peace."
Therefore, America was called upon to maintain a just
neutraUty at any cost save that of honor in order to hold
the mad half of the world to some ethical standard and to
compose the differences between the warring nations
when the accumulated fighting strength of the world had
spent its energies.
These extraordinary conditions were giving birth to
new issues more perplexing than any that had confronted
the nation since the Revolutionary War. How to main
tain neutrality, how to hold the world to some standard,
how to mobilize our national resources, how to keep the
lines of trade open, how to maintain honor and convince
the American people that national honor has been main
tained, these are the new issues that arose immediately.
In order, therefore, to approach these new problems
with courage and intelligence, President Wilson with
a calmness that was steadying to the nation reminded the
American people that the supreme duty of the hour was
to place America first in their thoughts. And "America
First" became the watchword of the administration and
served to anchor the American spirit and keep men sane.

CHAPTER XIV
AMERICA FIRST
The shock was so sudden that no one had attempted
to think through the possibilities of such a conflict.
But now that it had burst upon the world, men every
where were half dazed when the catastrophe that had
been declared impossible was indeed a reality. In this
great crisis all eyes were turned to the chief executive
of the nation. What would he do — ^what could he do —
to give America the right direction ?
The nations of Europe had decided what they would
do ; and their decision gave America a demoralization of
business, with stock exchanges closed, railroads helpless,
markets congested, factories shut down and labor unem
ployed. It gave ' ' civil war by proxy, ' ' — citizens arrayed
against citizens, mobs in the streets, and a panicky con
dition that affected men's reason. Moreover, it turned
the current of government from old accustomed chan
nels into strange and untried areas. In the midst of this
sudden confusion, even before America could think, every
nation of Europe turned quickly to this country for help
and sympathy and consolation, and added to the eon-
277

278 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
fusion by attempting to place its interest first in the
hearts of American citizens. What, then, was the first
duty of Americans ?
It is very apparent now that the supreme duty of the
hour was for America to find herself first. And while
the passions of men were stirred by the events on
the other side of the globe and their hearts were filled
with despair over the demoralization at home. President
Wilson exhibited sagacity, resolution, and patience which
has rarely been equaled. His first act was to remind the
people of this nation that their first thoughts should be
for America, and "America First" became a shibboleth
with which to unify the patriotism of this nation.
On the day before England declared war against Ger
many he called the newspaper correspondents together
and urged them to be careful and "not to give currency
to any unverified news, to anything that would tend to
create or add to the excitement. ' ' And then he added, ' ' I
think you will agree that we must all at the present
moment act together as Americans in seeing that America
does not suffer any unnecessary distress from what is
going on in the world at large. ' '
This appeal was coupled with an assurance that the
financial situation throughout the country was sound,
that bankers and business men were already thinking of
America first and were cooperating "with the govern
ment with a zeal, intelligence, and spirit which make the
outcome secure. ' ' He appealed to the American people

AMERICA FIRST 279
to aid the Administration in preserving the soundness of
this nation, for this country, he said, "owes it to man
kind to remain in such a position and in such a state of
mind that she can help the rest of the world."
In this appeal to the American people he pointed out
the direction that this nation must take — ^Act together as
Americans, not as foreigners, so that America shall not
suffer. Then she wii,l be in a state of mind to help the
rest of the world.
At the outbreak of the war President Wilson offered to
act in the interest of European peace, either then or at
any other suitable time. This was a formal act in ac
cordance with a provision of the Hague Convention of
1907, which states that it is expedient and desirable that
"strangers" to the dispute should on their own initiative
and as far as circumstances may aUow offer their good
offices or mediation to the states at variance. But the
old world was mad, mediation was then impossible, and
the President had but one course before him — to protect
America by keeping it neutral.
It is no wonder, therefore, that in this terrible ordeal
he exalted the interest of America above all sympathies
for the warring nations and proclaimed that this nation
should, if possible, be neutral. The very safety of busi
ness, the solidarity of^ our citizenship, and the power to
aid the warring nations in bringing this dreadful war to
a close depended upon this nation's remaining neutral.
Therefore he issued a solemn appeal to the American

280 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
people — reminding them again of the dangers that might
arise from partisan strife. He sa^d :

"My Fellow Countrymen: 'i
"I suppose that every thoughtful man ia
America has asked himself, (^uring these last
troubled weeks, what influence the European war
may exert upon the United States, and I take
the liberty of addressing a f'^w words to you in
order to point out that it is entirely within our
own choice what its effects upon us will be and
to urge very earnestly upon you the sort of
speech and conduct which will best safeguard
the nation against distress and danger.
"The effect of the war upon the United States
will depend upon what American citizens say
and do. Every man who really loves America
will act and speak in the true spirit of neutrality,
which is the spirit of impartiality and fairness
and friendliness to all concerned. The spirit of
the nation in this critical matter will be deter
mined largely by what individuals and society
and those gathered in public meetings do and
say, upon what newspapers and magazines con
tain, upon what ministers utter in their pulpits.

AMERICA FIRST 281
and men proclaim as their opinions on the street.
"The people of the United States are drawn
from many nations, and chiefly from the nations
now at war. It is natural and inevitable that
there should be the utmost variety of sympathy
and desire among them with regard to the issues
and circumstances of the conflict. Some will wish
one nation, others another, to succeed in the
momentous struggle. It will be easy to excite
passion and difficult to allay it. Those responsible
for exciting it will assume a heavy responsibility,
responsibility for no less a thing than that the
people of the United States, whose love of their
country and whose loyalty to their government
should unite them as Americans all, bound in
honor and affection to think first of her and her
interests, may be divided in camps of hostile
opimon, hot against each other, involved in the
war itself in impulse and opinion if not in
action. ' ' Such divisions among us would be fatal to our
peace of mind and might seriously stand in the
way of the proper performance of our duty as
the one great nation at peace, the one people
holding itself ready to play a part of impartial

282 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
mediation and speak the counsels of peace and
accommodation, not as a partisan, but as a
friend. "I venture, therefore, my fellow countrymen,
to speak a solemn word of warning to you
against that deepest, most subtle, most essential
breach of neutrality which may spring out of
partisanship, out of passionately taking sides.
The United States must be neutral in fact as well
as in name during these days that are to try
men's souls. We must be impartial in thought
as well as in action, must put a curb upon our
sentiments as well as upon every transaction
that might be construed as a preference of one
party of the struggle before another.
"My thought is of America. I am speaking, I
feel sure, the earnest wish and purpose of every
thoughtful American that this great country of
ours, which is, of course, the first in our thoughts
and in our hearts, should show herself in this
time of peculiar trial a nation fit beyond others
to exhibit the fine poise of undisturbed judgment,
the dignity of self-control, the efficiency of dis
passionate action; a nation that neither sits in
judgment upon others nor is disturbed in her
own counsels, and that keeps herself fit and free

AMERICA FIRST 283
to do what is honest and disinterested and truly
serviceable for the peace of the world.
"Shall we not resolve to put upon ourselves
the restraints which will bring to our people
the happiness and the great and lasting influence
for peace we covet for them?"
There were many obstacles, however, in the way of
preserving neutrality.
The composite character of the people of the United
States was sufficient warrant for his determination to
maintain neutrality. But since no great nation can live
to itself if it would, its neutraUty is not determined solely
by its own choice in the matter. And such a pressure
was brought to bear on this nation from the combatants
in Europe that maintaining neutrality was the hardest
task that has confronted any president since the war of
1812. Nor was Mr. WUson free of other perplexities when
this great burden was laid upon his shoulders. The
Anti-trust Bills were stiU before the Senate, the new
banking laws were not fully in operation and the Mexican
problem was still in an acute state. AU these unsettled
issues made the task of preserving neutrality even more
difficult. The first obstacle to neutrality, therefore, was the
appeal to this nation to throw its sympathies with one

284 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
or the other of the warring forces. It reached its climax
when America was called upon to sit in judgment on the
act of Germany in declaring war against Belgium in vio
lation of a written agreement among the European
powers to preserve the neutrality of that nation. The
United States was not a party to that agreement, but the
Allies, including Belgium, sent representatives to this
country to convince this nation that, in the interest of
humanity, it was the duty of the American government,
the greatest of neutral nations, to act vigorously in the
matter since another neutral nation had been outraged.
Germany sent representatives also to justify her act and
to appeal to the judgment seat of the American people
for vindication. More than thirty million people lined
up on the issue, and neutrality of feeling was impossible.
President Wilson, however, held steadfastly to his set
tled conviction that this nation must remain neutral.
In the midst of charges and counter charges, denials
and defenses, he held that the truth or falsity of conflict
ing evidence must be measured by the standard of inter
national law and justice.
"The guilty will then inevitably incur the
odium of the civilized world and those falsely
charged will be vindicated. It is this future
judgment of enlightened nations which today
must restrain the warring powers from inhuman
practices, rather than condemnation by neutral

AMERICA FIRST 285
powers for charges made in the heat of conflict
and based upon incomplete knowledge of all the
circumstances. The interest of humanity, there
fore, could be best served by America's remain
ing neutral."
It was urged again that America should protest because
of the violation of the rules of war which were laid down
in the Hague Conventions and because of the disregard
of the rules of humane warfare recognized by interna
tional usage and treaty stipulations. So urgent were the
demands from the belligerents that American citizens
took sides on the question and the "civil war by proxy"
was a menace even to the stability of this nation.
President Wilson, however, remained firm. His own
convictions as to the right policy to pursue were in com
plete accord with the historic foreign policy of this
nation, followed in the main by every president from
Washington to Roosevelt. In 1907 the delegates to the
Hague Conference appointed by President Roosevelt
recorded anew the policy of this nation in international
disputes, and the American policy respecting European
polities outUned by the delegates at that Conference and
ratified by the American government is stated in part as
follows :
"Nothing contained in this convention shall be so con
strued as to require the United States of America to
depart from its traditional policy of not intruding upon.

286 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
interfering with, or entangling itself in the political ques
tions of policy or internal administration of any foreign
state." The purpose of this clause was to safeguard the Monroe
Doctrine, a history of which appears in a previous chap
ter. And owing to this clause, which was ratified by the
American government during President Roosevelt's
administration, the United States was virtually debarred
from forming an alliance with the other neutral powers
to enforce obedience to treaties to which the United States
was not a party.
Few thoughtful Americans acted at the time as if this
nation should interfere with the acts of combatants in the
European war, although Germany had declared war on
Belgium. This latter nation wished to remain neutral
but circumstances made it impossible for it to remain
so, and, at the time when European agents were at work
in this country, Belgium was no longer neutral but one
of the most heroic belligerents of the war. However, two
years after the invasion Mr. Wilson's opponents look
back with something akin to despair because of the con
tinued struggle and blame him for permitting it to last
so long, and one way, they argue, the President could
have stopped the war was to have protested when Ger
many violated the neutrality of Belgium.
The nations had been at war only a short time when it
became only too apparent that international law was not
as strong as the original instinctive law of self-preserva-

AMERICA FIRST 287
tion. In Europe the neutrality of small nations was dis
regarded. But America was virtually stopped from
interfering because of the agreement at the Hague Con
vention. However, a great reason for not interfering
where an obligation was wanting, to say nothing of pre
sumption, was the second obstacle to neutrality. The
rights of neutral nations on the high seas were violated
and America was the only powerful nation left to defend
them. This world shocking war was conducted on a plane
hitherto unknown and when this nation raised its first
protest against the belligerents for restricting the rights
of neutrals on the high seas, it was contended in Europe
that existing modes of warfare made possible by the
invention of new weapons of offense, such as the sub
marine, the automobUe, contact mines, the aeroplane, and
many deadly explosives, not only justified unprecedented
measures against an enemy but substantiaUy impaired
the rights of neutral ships to enjoy the freedom of the
seas. "A nation could not be expected to consent to its
own destruction," was Germany's excuse for violating
the neutraUty of Belgium. "A nation cannot be expected
to commit suicide," was England's excuse for disregard
ing the rights of neutrals on the high seas, and later for
violating the territorial rights of Greece.
The great war seemed to abrogate all former interna
tional rules concerning trade except such as were of
distinct advantage to the nation making the interpreta^

288 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
tion. The interest of each warring nation was judged
to be too great to be subservient to former international
law. As the war progressed, however, President Wilson
very solemnly reminded the belligerents that they must
not ignore "those bonds of right and principles which
draw the nations together and hold the community of
the world to some standard."
Mr. Wilson foresaw the dangers to neutral trade at the
beginning of the war, and five days after the outbreak
our State Department suggested to the Allies and the
Central Powers that they should ' ' agree that the laws of
naval warfare, as laid down by the Declaration of London
of 1909, shall be applicable to naval warfare during the
present conflict in Europe. ' '
These laws of naval warfare were formed by a Con
ference, called by the Government of Great Britain,
which met in its capital and they were accepted at the
time by Great Britain, Germany, the United States and
other maritime powers. On August 22, 1914, the Im
perial German Government replied that it was ready to
apply the Declaration of London as it was drawn. But
the Government of Great Britain answered that it was
wUling to abide by the Declaration "subject to certain
modifications and additions." Great Britain, therefore,
proposed to change the laws after the war began, that
had been agreed upon by maritime countries before the
war. This act nullified the existing laws of nations con
cerning maritime warfare. And the great war was being

AMERICA FIRST 289
conducted without any rule to guide either neutrals or
belligerents. Germany and England began simultaneously to sow
contact mines as a means of defense against warships
far outside the three-mile limit. This, of course, was jus
tified on the grounds that the modern guns had a much
longer range than three miles, and this violation of an
old international rule was justified by both belligerents
on the grounds of self-preservation. Owing to the danger
exposed, on account of these mines, the military areas
were made to exceed anything heretofore included in
international agreements. The British Admiralty an
nounced (November 2, 1914) that the "whole of the
North Sea must be considered a military area" and mer
chant ships were warned of danger from mines and
warships. Moreover, England refused to accept the list of contra
band articles as set forth in the Declaration of London in
1909, consisting of eleven groups of articles. But by the
Order in Council issued October 29, 1914, the list was
more than doubled. A large number of articles which
never had been considered tn the light of contraband was
added to the list. Great Britain's answer to the heated
protests from exporters and importers of neutral nations
was that military necessities have changed with the
advance in industry.
It was to be expected that trade between the United
States and Germany would close with the declaration of

290 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
hostilities. Moreover, it was a foregone conclusion that
England as mistress of the seas would place restrictions
upon commerce with neutral Europe, and that the United
States, the only high power neutral, would be called upon
to play an important role in protecting the rights of
neutrals on the high seas.
At the outbreak of the war, England did not declare
a formal blockade of German ports, and the cause is
obvious. The British fleet was unable to control the
Baltic Sea. However, under the famous Order in
Council, October, 1914, a blockade was really begun, and
a systematic attempt was made to prevent any goods
whatever from reaching Germany from the outside world,
and equally to prevent any German goods from going to
the outside world. It was impossible for Great Britain
to prohibit commerce between Holland and Germany,
between the Scandinavian countries and Germany, or
between Italy and Austria. Therefore, in order to cut
off trade that might land at one of the neutral ports and
thence proceed to Germany, Great Britain under the
larger interpretation of international law claimed the
right to prevent all commerce with Germany through neu
tral ports. The principle of "continuous voyage" and of
"ultimate destination" was applied. But if accepted by
the nations, it rendered the cargo, the ultimate destina
tion of which was unknown, liable to seizure at any point
on its way.
International law does not prohibit trade between neu-

AMERICA FIRST 291
trals and belligerents. Even the most hard pressed
country engaged in war does not ask for such a drastic
law as that. But it is one of the rules of war for one
belligerent nation to prohibit so far as possible all trade
between its antagonist and neutral nations. The whole
right to establish a blockade rests on this principle, but
how far that right extends is an unsettled question and
was the cause of many diplomatic notes between the
United States and Great Britain.
England's conduct in seizing and searching American
vessels on the high seas was justified in that she was act
ing in accordance with the doctrine of "continuous
voyage," a doctrine upheld by the United States during
the Civil War. But it was argued in America that Eng
land's policy is an "extension" of that doctrine and is a
direct contradiction of the interpretation of the doctrine
made by the United States Supreme Court. The whole
matter was as puzzling as it could be. Diplomats, experts,
and international lawyers found it hard to get the matter
straight in their own minds. It is no wonder, therefore,
that the American people have not found the way to
apportion the right and the wrong with unerring judg
ment. Every vessel from American ports to Europe was
scrutinized by the English navy very carefully and very
often American vessels were seized and searched. The
Administration protested vigorously against the British
policy of seizing vessels containing American cargoes.

292 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
declaring "that the United States considers it best to
speak in terms of frankness, lest silence be construed as
an acquiescence."
England's reply was hopeful, since it assured the
United States that "we shall endeavor to keep our action
within the limits of this principle — that a belligerent
in dealing with trade between neutrals should not inter
fere unless such interference is necessary to protect the
belligerent's national safety and that only to the extent
to which this is necessary — on the understanding that
it admits our right to interfere when such interference
is not with bona fide trade between the United States and
another neutral country, but with trade in contraband
destined for the enemy's country, and we are ready
whenever our action may unintentionally exceed this
principle, to make redress!"
This seemed to be fair enough. But in the midst of
these perplexities England made her own interpreta
tions ; and, as a result, a large number of American ships
carrying American cargoes and bound for neutral ports
were seized by the British under their definition of an
extended blockade. In some instances these ships were
finally released; but the cargoes of others were appro
priated; and in most instances American shippers were
harassed by the delay and expense in which they were
involved. Perhaps the most exasperating phase of Great
Britain's conduct was in the seizure and search of mail
matter.

AMERICA FIRST 293
The conduct of Great Britain, and the unsatisfactory
outcome of this correspondence, was exasperating to
many American citizens, who wished to see American
commerce unhampered and this country to establish
her own principle in Ueu of that of either beUigerent
nation. Being exasperated almost to the fighting point
certain members of Congress wished to see America
declare an embargo on all ships destined for English
ports in order to punish England for her seizure of
American vessels.
In llie midst of this bitter controversy, Germany
startled this nation, as well as aU neutral nations, by
declaring a war zone around the British Isles. This was
Germany's answer to England's attempted blockade
and the extension of the Ust of contraband articles. The
following war zone decree was issued on February 4,
1915: "The waters around Great Britain and Ireland, in
cluding the whole English Channel, are declared a war
zone from and after February 18, 1915," and "every
enemy's merchant vessel found in this war zone will be
destroyed, even if it is impossible to avert dangers which
threaten the crew and passengers." It declared, further
more, that "neutral ships in the war zone are in danger
as in consequence of the misuse of neutral flags ordered
by the British Government on January 31, and in view
of the hazards of naval warfare, it cannot always be
avoided that attacks meant for enemies' ships endanger

294 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
neutral ships." The danger zone was further laid off
as foUows: "Shipping northward, around the Shetland
Islands, in the eastern basin of the North Sea, and in
a strip of at least thirty nautical miles in breadth along
the Dutch Coast, is endangered in the same way."
England had virtually closed the North Sea to neutral
vessels. Now Germany was declaring her purpose to
close the waters around the British Isles to neutral
vessels. Thus, the two nations proposed in their des
perate attempts to throttle each other, to close all the
leading trade routes to European ports, regardless of
whether the countries were at war or not. England
reserved the right to capture neutral vessels. But Ger
many went a step further, and proposed to destroy such
vessels without safeguarding the passengers that might
be on board.
Germany's action was vastly more significant to the
United States than England's because it applied to the
waters surrounding the British Isles, those most fre
quented by American vessels. When the German decree
reached this country it was declared to be "extraor
dinary and unprecedented." And millions of anti-
German partisans sent up a noise that still vibrates.
If the English captured American vessels, the value
of the loss to American ship owners might be com
puted and returned, and no lives would be endangered.
But if Germany sank American vessels, American lives
might be lost for which no adequate compensation

AMERICA FIRST 295
could be made. Therefore, the German declaration
was distinctly more threatening than the English
and the United States at once protested vigorously.
The first note on the submarine question was carefully
prepared by Mr. Wilson and his cabinet and sent by
Mr. Bryan, Secretary of State. The illegality of the
submarine warfare was discussed and Germany was
finally warned that if the commanders of German ves
sels of war "should destroy on the high seas an American
vessel or the lives of American citizens, the United States
would be constrained to hold the Imperial Government
of Germany to a strict accountability for such acts of
their naval authorities."
Germany would readily agree with the United States
that to destroy "on the high seas" an American vessel
would be a casus belli. But Germany did not admit
that the war zone laid off by that Government was ' ' on
the high seas" any more than England's war zone
was "on the high seas." Therefore, in reply to the
American note Germany answered that neutral vessels
which ' ' entered these closed waters, wiU themselves bear
the responsibility for any unfortunate accidents that
may occur."
What could this government do under these circum
stances? Fight both Germany and England?
It was quite evident, according to all rules of inter
national law heretofore observed, that both the allies
and the central powers were violating the rights of

296 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
neutrals. This government protested strongly, and the
(¦eplies from both Germany and England were concilia
tory. Both agreed to make indemnities for American
losses. But, it was pointed out, this was an unusual war.
The aggregate fighting powers of mankind, the machin
ery of war, and the skill in using it had grown immensely,
and the existing modes of warfare made possible by
the new weapons of offense created new issues not
specified in the old rules of international law. There
fore, in the absence of precedent each nation made its
own rule, and the neutral countries were warned.
Neutral nations had one of two courses to pursue: to
keep its vessels and citizens out of this war zone and
out of European trade, or protest and, perhaps, go to
war. The American people were so stirred by the
extraordinary conditions that a host of citizens acted
as though they wanted this country to protest and, if
necessary, go to war. But they were unable to reach
a decision as to which side we should battle with. In
the meantime this government sought to reach some
understanding between the mad belligerents, while Eng
land was trying to make effective her blockade, and
Germany was inaugurating her submarine warfare.
This nation did not have to wait long for results.
In accordance with the published decree, the German
submarine warfare began on time, and on February 20
an American cotton ship, the Evelyn, was sunk in the
North Sea. Three days later another cotton carrier, the

AMERICA FIRST 297
Carib, was sunk, and at the end of the first week, even
before any protest from this nation could be considered,
the German submarine warfare was playing havoc with
English shipping, and neutral vessels within the war
zone suffered heavily.
This submarine warfare threatened so much disaster
that the allies retaliated, and on March 1, France and
Great Britain ordered an extended blockade. The pur
pose was to "prevent commodities of any kind from
reaching German ports," whether they were directed to
German ports, or were suspected or being bound for
Germany although directed to neutral ports! This, if
accepted by the United States, gave England the right
to seize and search any vessel bound for any European
port. And this act was also considered in America as
"unprecedented and extraordinary."
The Austro- German- Americans and their sympathizers
were hardly through expressing their indignation against
England's policy and particularly against the President
for not interfering vigorously, when the news arrived
that a German submarine had sunk the British pas
senger steamer Falaba, destroying more than a hundred
unoffending lives and among them one American citizen.
This was the occasion for English and Canadian Amer
icans and their sympathizers to exhibit countenances of
horror and hurl maledictions against everything German.
Such outcries were now occurring daily in the United
States, not in Europe, and as the stories of insults and

298 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
injuries and rights violated were trailed through the par
tisan press, the divided sympathies in America reached
such a state of excitement and antagonism that the larger
interests of the American nation were obscured.
President Wilson warned the people against these
agitators who were trying hard ' ' to rock the boat. ' ' And
later, on April 20, in an address to the Associated Press
of New York, he took the occasion at a most critical
time to remind the people of the United States once
more that our whole duty for the present is to place
"America First" and to think of her position in the
world. So many people were thinking of Europe and
the war that there was danger of America's safety fol
lowing the thought of the people and falling into the
hands of the belligerents.
"I want to talk to you as to my fellow citizens
of the United States," he said. "For there are
serious things, which as fellow citizens we ought
to consider. The times behind us, gentlemen,
have been difficult, because whatever may be said
about the present condition of the world's affairs,
it is clear that they are drawing rapidly to a
climax, and at the climax the test will come, not
only of the nations engaged in the present colossal
struggle — it will come for them, of course — ^but
the test will come to us particularly."

AMERICA FIRST 299
He then emphasized more forcibly than ever before
the important position that this nation holds in the
world today. The American people were living from
moment to moment. They were enraged first at the
conduct of England in seizing our vessels, and then at
the acts of Germany in sinking our merchantmen. The
President, however, was looking forward to a time when
this nation, because of its neutral position, would be
caUed upon to help bring order out of chaos, and thus
lead the world back to paths of peace and honor.
"We shall some day have to assist in recon
structing the processes of peace," he continued.
"Our resources are untouched. We are more
and more becoming, by the force of circumstances,
the mediating nation of the world in respect of
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 pre
pared and our spirits chastened against the com
ing 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

300 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
may be fit to be Europe's friend when the day
of tested friendship comes. The test of friend
ship is not now sympathy with the one side or
the other, but getting ready to help both sides
when the struggle is over."
Since the beginning of the war, this had been the
President's theme, that America should be ready "to
help both sides when the struggle is over." The bel
ligerent nations seemed to realize from the first that
if America remained neutral she woiUd have a com
manding position when the war closed. But the Amer
ican people apparently did not realize it at all, judging
from the clamor in this country against the combat
ants. And the President seemed to be determined to
make them see, if possible, the supreme advantage to
themselves and to the world in remaining neutral, not
withstanding the fact that American commerce was
suffering on the other side of the globe.
"The basis of neutrality," he spoke with re
newed emphasis, "is not independence; it is not
self-interest. The basis of neutrality is sym
pathy for mankind. It is fairness ; it is good will
at bottom. It is impartiality of spirit and judg
ment. I wish that all of our fellow citizens could
realize that. There is in some quarters a dis-

AMERICA FIRST 301
position to create distempers in the 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 standing
up and shouting and expressing their opinions
just now, but are waiting to find out and sup
port the duty of America. I am just as sure of
their solidity and of their loyalty and of their
unanimity as I am that the history of this coun
try has at every crisis and turning point illus
trated this great lesson."
Mr. Wilson then undertook to explain to the Amer
ican people why it is that this nation is a mediating
nation. With their minds always centered on outrages
against this nation, the vocal part of the American
people seemed to understand least of all the President's
viewpoint, and again he was emphatic.
"We are the mediating nation of the world,"
he said. "I do not mean that we should under
take not to mind our own business and to mediate

302 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
where other people are quarreling. I mean the
word in a broader sense. We are compounded
of the nations of the world. We mediate their
blood, we mediate their traditions, we mediate
their sentiments, their tastes, their passions; we
are ourselves compounded of those things. We
are, therefore, able to understand all nations; we
are able to understand them in the compound,
not separately as partisans, but unitedly, as
knowing and comprehending and embodying
them all. It is in that sense that I mean that
America is a mediating nation. The opinion of
America, the action of America, is ready to turn
and free to turn in any direction.
"Did you ever reflect upon how almost all
other nations, almost every other nation, has,
through long centuries, been headed in one direc
tion? That is not true of the United States.
The United States has no racial momentum. It
has no history back of it which makes it run all
its energies and all its ambitions in one particular
direction; and America is particularly free in
this, that she has no hampering ambitions as a
world power. If we have been obliged by cir
cumstances, or have considered ourselves to be
obliged by circumstances, in the past to take ter-

AMERICA FIRST 303
ritory which we otherwise would not have thought
of taking, I believe that I am right in saying that
we have considered it our duty to administer
that territory, not for ourselves, but for the
people living in it, and to put this burden upon
our consciences, not to think that this thing is
ours for our use, but to regard ourselves as
trustees of the great business for those to whom
it really does belong, trustees ready to hand it
over to the cestui que trust at any time, when
the business seems to make that possible and
feasible." Realizing that the nation, or a large part of it, was in
a fighting mood he insisted that his "interest in the
neutraUty of the United States is not the petty desire
to keep out of trouble," but that if any man or any
nation "wants a scrap, an interesting scrap that is
worth while, I'm his man." This appealed to the
heroic in the nation and the people applauded. Those
were days that tried men's souls and the President was
holding off the militaristic party with one hand and at
the same time pointing to something more glorious than
war. "I am interested in neutrality," he said, "be
cause there is something so much greater to do

304 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
than fight; because there is something, there is a
distinction waitjng for this nation that no nation
has ever yet got. ' '
And that distinction was to come from self-control
and self-mastering. In concluding this address he
warned the newspaper men against sending out sensa
tional dispatches hastily and without sufficient regard
for the truth. He intimated that some of them had
already been too careless, and he pointed out the dangers
that might arise at this period of unstable equilibrium
by a conscienceless disregard of the truth or a morbid
curiosity for the sensational.
"If I permitted myself to be a partisan in this
present struggle," he concluded, "I would be
unworthy to represent you. If I permitted my
self to forget the people who are not partisans,
I would be unworthy to represent you. I am
not saying that I am worthy to represent you,
but I do claim this degree of worthiness that,
before everything else, I love America."
The American people paused to read this address and
to discuss it. It had the effect of drawing out the
heretofore non vocal part of the American people, and
while the two great partisan factions were saying wild
and extravagant things about England or Germany and

AMERICA FIRST 305
prophesying that this country would be plunged into
war, this great silent but serious element of the nation
responded to the President's temper and showed unmis
takably that he was not alone in following an exalted
ideal. The country was gradually adjusting itself to the
new conditions made . necessary on account of the war.
Business had come back with a sharp rebound. The
unemployed were finding new opportunities to labor.
Factories became alive night and day. Trade began to
follow many of the old accustomed routes and American
commerce began to seek new fields. From every section
of the country the President received assurance that
this country was sound and the people in the main
were thinking of "America First," some from selfish
motives, others from a high moral standpoint. But
apparently the great majority had at last caught the
direction that the President pointed out in the beginning,
and they were at last holding America first not only
in their affections but in their thoughts.
However, this rebound of business and this returning
buoyancy of life came none too soon. The spring of
1915 opened with ominous clouds far above the horizon.
England, the mistress of the seas, was making it less
and less possible for trading vessels of neutral nations
to enter European ports. Germany, finding in these
acts an excuse to retaliate, began a submarine warfare
that threatened every crew, passenger, cargo, and vessel

306 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
that entered the waters adjacent to Europe, and America
passed from the period of proclaimed neutrality to that
of defending that neutrality, and holding the nations
of Europe to some ethical standard.
In the attempt, therefore, to keep America first in the
minds of the citizens of this nation and to hold the
nations of Europe to some ethical standard, new issues
were bom or became prominent that eclipsed all former
issues and set this nation forward on a new journey.
In his attempts to guide the nation in this new journey,
Mr. Wilson kept the watchword, "America First," al
ways before the people. When certain hyphenated
American citizens seemed for the time to be losing their
loyalty, he sent a challenge to "every man and woman
who thinks first of America to rally to the standards of
our life;" and groups of foreign bom citizens formed
patriotic societies and pledged their loyalty anew to
America. And when it appeared that all patience had
been exhausted and that America would break with
Germany, "America First" was the talisman that
calmed the emotions and gave the heart courage.

CHAPTER XV
HOLDING THE WORLD TO SOME STANDARD
The American government contended from the first
for the rights of all neutrals and sought a common
understanding between the allies and the central
powers. The effort, however, to hold the world to some
ethical standard was apparently ineffective. The slow
but calculating Englishman, with disregard for previous
rules of conduct, continued to widen the war zone, to
increase the number of contraband articles, and to cap
ture American vessels. The infuriated German, going
the Englishman one better, marked off another war
zone, called it a closed sea, and showed a determination
"to exact the utmost quantity of destruction and killing
from the allies, no matter what happened to innocent
subjects of the allies, and no matter what absolutely
innocent neutrals suffered."
It was not until America "had its own list of out
rages" that this government undertook with any con
vincing power to bring the warring nations to some
ethical standard. These outrages had already begun
in AprU when the President, in speaking to the Press
Association, declared that if any nation "wants a scrap,
307

308 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
an interesting scrap that is worth while, I'm his man."
Within less than a week from that day the American
Oil Tank Steamer Cushing was damaged by a mine or
submarine, later (May 1) the Steamer Gulflight, another
American vessel, was sunk off the Scilly Islands, with a
loss of three lives. But on May 7 the greatest tragedy of
the war occurred. The great transatlantic liner, the
Lusitania, bound from New York to Liverpool, carrying
an enormous quantity of war material and having a pas
senger list of 2,104 men, women, and children, including
187 Americans, was sunk by a German submarine, and
about 1,500 passengers were lost, including over a
hundred Americans.
It really appeared at the time that one nation, at least,
was looking ' ' for a scrap ' ' with this country. And these
tragedies, culminating in the sinking of the Lusitania,
aroused the war spirit in this country almost beyond the
control of the few cool heads who were endeavoring to
keep the government steady in the great crisis.
The American people at once indicted the whole Ger
man nation for the willful, brutal murder of innocent
men, women, and children. The English nation was
already convicted of forcible trespass; but, before the
bar of public opinion, the trial for murder superseded
all other cases on the docket, the verdict was announced
simultaneously with the drawing of the indictment and
summary punishment was demanded. But since the

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 309
executioner was the President of the United States, there
was a stay of judgment while the partisans raged and
the people imagined vain things.
This nation became so excited that the press of the
country, with some notable exceptions, was clamoring
for war with Germany. Many went so far as to say
that the act of sinking the Lusitania was deliberately
framed and executed by Germany to draw the United
States into war, since that nation, already hard pressed
by the allies and seeing the end, was seeking an excuse
for suing for peace. Subsequent events have proven
how little these prophets knew. However, many of them
published newspapers and furnished the material from
which even miUions of American citizens made up their
opinions. It was natural, therefore, for the public,
having accepted the above statement, to go a step farther
and reaeh the conclusion that the President's attitude
had been wrong all the time, since he could have ended
the slaughter and coaxed back to earth the beautiful
dove of peace, if he had declared war, or made a noise
like war, when the neutrality of Belgium was violated.
His critics even went so far as to say that if he had
gone down into Mexico with a big army, he would have
so impressed Europe that even the European war might
have been averted.
The voice was so loud for immediate war with Ger
many that even the thoughtful conservatives became

310 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
uneasy. In the midst of it all, however. President Wilson
kept his head, while the storm raged furiously about
him. •
Three days after this great tragedy. President Wilson
without having indicated to the public what his first act
would be, journeyed to Philadelphia to address a
large body of foreign-born citizens who were completing
their probationary term and becoming naturalized.
Those who accompanied him on that journey saw that
the President of the United States was aware of the
fact that he was facing the greatest crisis of his
administration, and that the future of this nation
would be affected greatly by the course that he chose
to follow.
The Philadelphia speech contained no word to in
dicate that anything unusual had happened or would
happen. It was a well conceived address suitable to the
occasion, but containing nothing of special interest to
the nation at that time save in one paragraph :
"America," he said, "must have the conscious
ness that on all sides it touches elbows and
touches heart with all the nations of mankind.
The example of America must be a special
example, and must be an example not merely of
peace, because it will not fight, but because peace
is a healing and elevating influence of the world.

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 311
and strife is not. There is such a thing as a
man being too proud to fight. There is such a
thing as a nation being so right that it does not
need to convince others by force that it is right. ' '
It was the last two sentences especially that attracted
attention. The entire address and the occasion have
all been forgotten by the public, but these two sentences
are still quoted by controversialists who seek to prove
or disprove the wisdom of his foreign policy. These
sentences were caught up and ridiculed. ' ' Too proud to
fight!" And Germany slapping this nation in the
face ! ' ' There is such a thing as a nation being so right
that it does not need to convince others by force that it
is right!" And the whole world sneering at us in our
humiliation !
In all the tremendous excitement following this
tragedy and the ridicule that was heaped upon these
sentences, the President maintained his poise, but de
cided to make no more speeches for the present. Still
the people waited for some sign as to what course this
nation would take.
Three days after the Philadelphia speech, and six days
after the tragedy, the President, by the aid of his
cabinet, had prepared a note to be sent to Germany.
The American people were straining every nerve to guess
its contents. What words would be adequate to the
offense? What could Germany do to avert war with

312 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
this nation? Then the world was advised that the note
had been sent.
In a calm and dignified way the President reviewed
the effect of the submarine warfare on American lives
and American interests. The Falaba, the Cushing, the
Gulflight, and finally the torpedoing and sinking of the
steamship Lusitania "constitute a series of events," the
note declared, "which the Government of the United
States has observed with growing concern, distress, and
amazement. ... It cannot now believe that these
acts, so contrary to the rule, the policies, and the spirit
of modern warfare, could have the countenance or sanc
tion of that great Government. . . . " The note then
renewed the excuse offered by Germany at the beginning
of the submarine warfare for resorting to this mode
of defense.
"The Government of the United States," the
note continued, "has been apprised that the Im
perial German Government considered themselves
to be obliged by the extraordinary circumstances
of the present war, and the measures adopted by
their adversaries in seeking to cut Germany off
from all commerce, to adopt methods of retalia
tion which go much beyond the ordinary methods
of warfare at sea, in the proclamation of a war
zone from which they have warned neutral ships

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 313
to keep away. This Government has already
taken occasion to inform the Imperial Govern
ment that it cannot admit the adoption of such
measures or such a warning of danger to operate
as in any degree an abbreviation of the rights
of American shipmasters or of American citizens
bound on lawful errands as passengers on mer
chant ships of belligerent nationality; and that
it must hold the Imperial German Government to
a strict accountability for any infringement of
those rights, intentional or incidental. It does
not understand the Imperial German Government
to question those rights. It assumes, on the con
trary, that the Imperial German Government
accepts, as of course, the rule that the lives of
non-combatants, whether they be of neutral
citizenship or citizens of one of the nations at
war, cannot lavpfuUy or rightfully be put in
jeopardy by the capture or destruction of an
unarmed merchantman, and recognizes also, as all
other nations do, the obligation to take the usual
precaution of visit and search to ascertain
whether a suspected merchantman is in fact
carrying contraband of war under a neutral
flag."

314 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
The note then called "the attention of the Imperial
German Government" to the fact that the submarine
warfare could not be carried on and the rights of non-
combatants be respected, since the attack must be so
sudden that safety cannot be given to the passengers.
"Manifestly, submarines cannot be used against
merchantmen, as the last few weeks have shown,
without an inevitable violation of many sacred
principles of justice and humanity."
Moreover, the rights of American citizens were clearly
defined. It was declared that:
"American citizens act within their indisput
able rights in taking their ships and in traveling
wherever their legitimate business calls them
upon the high seas, and exercise those rights in
what should be the well-justified confidence that
their lives will not be endangered by acts done
in clear violation of universally acknowledged
international obligations, and certainly in the
confidence that their own government will sus
tain them in the exercise of their rights."
The President referred to the act of the German
Ambassador at Washington in addressing, through the
newspapers, the people of the United States, in which

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 315
he said, "that every citizen of the United States who
exercised his right of free trade upon the seas would
do so at his peril if his journey should take him within
the zone of waters within which the Imperial German
Navy was using submarines 'against the commerce of
Great Britain and France.' " And this act was char
acterized as a "surprising irregularity."
He concluded the note with a strong statement of this
Government's attitude:
"It confidently expects, therefore, that the
Imperial German Government will disavow the
acts of which the Government of the United
States complains ; that they wiU make reparation
SO far as reparation is possible for injuries which
are without measure, and that they will take
immediate steps to prevent the occurrence of
anything so obviously subversive of the prin
ciples of warfare for which the Imperial German
Government has in the past so wisely and so
firmly contended.
"The Government and people of the United
States look to the Imperial German Government
for just, prompt, and enlightened action in this
vital matter, with the greatest confidence, because
the United States and Germany are bound
together not only by special ties of friendship,

316 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
but also by the explicit stipulations of the Treaty
of 1828, between the United States and the King
dom of Prussia.
"Expressions of regret and offers of repara
tion in the case of the destruction of neutral
ships sunk by mistake, while they may safely
satisfy international obligations, if no loss of life
results, cannot justify or excuse a practice, the
natural and necessary effect of which is to sub
ject neutral persons to new and immeasurable
risks. "The Imperial German Government will not
expect the Government of the United States to
omit any word or any act necessary to the per
formance of its sacred duty of maintaining the
rights of the United States and its citizens and
of safeguarding their free exercise and enjoy
ment. ' '
The President was appealing to Germany's great
traditions and to her sense of honor and of justice; he
was pleading, not for the safety of American citizens
alone, but for the cause of humanity, and he was en
deavoring to do what war could not do; namely, exalt
the rule of right which "holds the community of the
world to some standard." Germany had at last been
brought before the American judgment seat.

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 317
There was no evidence of ridicule anywhere when this
note was published. On the contrary, people everywhere
rejoiced, and Americans were proud ,of their President.
And as one metropoUtan newspaper (The New York
Times) said, "Every American citizen must be willing
to affix his signature in approval of the firm but tem
perate tone and the indisputable justice of its repre
sentations and demands."
This note seemed fully to satisfy the American public.
No act since the beginning of his administration received
such universal approval by all parties and all classes of
people. And his policies were now in great favor. Even
the Philadelphia speech was forgotten for the time.
Germany's reply, however, which came on May 29,
was very unsatisfactory. It stated that Germany had
no intention of "submitting neutral ships, which are
guilty of no hostile aets, to attacks by a submarine. ' ' But
if such ships have suffered the note declared that it was
owing to mistakes in identification attributable to the
British government's use of neutral flags. In regard to
the Falaba it said: "In the case of the sinking of the
English steamer Falaba, the commanding officers of the
German submarine had the intention of allowing pas
sengers and crew ample opportunity to save themselves. ' '
But as to the right to sink vessels in the "closed sea"
marked off by Germany, the note attempted to justify
the sinking of the Lusitania on the grounds that it was
an auxiliary cruiser and a munition carrier, but it did

318 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
express "deep regret fo the neutral Governments con
cerned that nationals of those countries lost their lives
on that occasion."
This note was published to the world on May 30, and
its incompleteness jarred this nation violently. It was the
signal for the press of this country to break out anew.
In fact, it appeared that the press of the country had
joined a militaristic party to drive the nation into war;
and since the public drew its information from the press,
the vocal part of this country was in a great passion
again. This condition led the editor of the Review of
Reviews to declare that "the most sickening thing in
American history, perhaps, was the reckless gloating of
American newspapers over a dangerous situation that
they were doing everything in their power to create. ' '
On June 1, while the feeling was intense, Germany
declared that the attack on the Steamer Gulflight was
due "to an unfortunate accident." Moreover, it ex
pressed regrets "to the Government of the United States
concerning this incident," and declared "itself ready to
furnish full compensation for the damage thereby sus
tained by American citizens."
This gave some encouragement to this country that
Germany was yielding somewhat in her demands. How
ever, on June 2, President Wilson held an interview with
Count Von Bemstoff, the German Ambassador, and
during the day the White House was deluged with
telegrams from American citizens of German birth and

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 319
German societies in this country, beseeching the Presi
dent not to take drastic action in the German crisis.
The situation was so critical that the President's
Cabinet took a most gloomy view of the probable out
come. The Secretary of State, Mr. Bryan, one of the
greatest advocates of peace in this country, fearing that
this nation was drifting into war with Germany, resigned
from the Cabinet. His resignation came before the
reply tp Germany's note was completed and his act
increased the fear that the President was preparing an
ultimatum that would mean war.
The reply to Germany was forwarded on June 9.
But the newspapers of America did not receive it until
two days later.
After reviewing the points that were coneurred in
by the Imperial German Government, and those that
were not accepted by that nation, the Administration
declared in the second note that :
"Whatever be the other facts regarding the
Lusitania, the principal fact is that a great
steamer, primarily and chiefly a conveyance for
passengers, and carrying more than a thousand
souls, who had no part or lot in the conduct of
the war, was tol^edoed and sunk without so much
as a challenge or a warning, and that men, women,
and children were sent to their death in circum-

320 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
stances unparalleled in modern warfare. The
fact that more than 100 American citizens were
among those who perished made it the duty of
the Government of the United States to speak of
these things, and once more, with solemn
emphasis, to call the attention of the Imperial
German Government to the grave responsibility
which the Government of the United States con
ceives that it has incurred in this tragic occur
rence, and to the indisputable principle upon
which that responsibility rests.
"The Government of the United States is con
tending for something much greater than mere
rights of property or privileges of commerce.
It is contending for nothing less high and sacred
than the rights of humanity, which every Govern
ment honors itself in respecting, and which no
Government is justified in resigning on behalf of
those under its care and authority. Only her
actual resistance to capture, or refusal to stop
when ordered to do so for the. purpose of visit,
would have afforded the commander of the sub
marine any justification for so much as putting
the lives of those on board in jeopardy. This
principle the Government of the United States
understands the explicit instruction issued on

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 32I
August 3, 1914, by the Imperial German Ad
miralty to its Commanders at sea to have recog
nized and embodied, as do the moral codes of all
other nations, and upon it every traveler and
seaman had a right to depend. It is upon this
principle of humanity, as well as upon the law
founded upon this principle, that the United
States must stand."
The note expressed the desire of the Administration
to act on the suggestion from Germans that the United
States Government use its good offices in an attempt to
find some basis for an understanding between Germany
and England by which the character and conditions of
war upon the sea may be changed. Then he returned
to the issue between these two nations.
"The Government of the United States, there
fore, very earnestly and very solemnly renews
the representations of the note transmitted to
the Imperial German Government on the 15th of
May, and relies in these representations upon
the principles of humanity, the universally recog
nized understandings of international law, and
the ancient friendship of the German nation.
"The Government of the United States cannot
admit that the proclamation of a war zone from

322 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
which neutral ships have been warned to keep
away may be made to operate as in any degree
an abbreviation of the rights either of the Amer
ican ship masters or of American citizens bound
on lawful errands as passengers on merchant
ships of belligerent nationality. It does not
understand the Imperial German Government to
question those rights. It understands it also to
accept as established beyond question the prin
ciple that the lives of non-combatants cannot
lawfully or rightfully be put in jeopardy by the
capture or destruction of an unresisting mer
chantman, and to recognize the obligation to take
sufficient precaution to ascertain whether a sus
pected merchantman is in fact of belligerent
nationality or is in fact carrying contraband of
war under a neutral flag. The Government of
the United States deems it reasonable to expect
that the Imperial German Government will adopt
the measures necessary »to put these principles
into practice in respect to the safeguarding of
American lives and American ships, and asks
for assurance that this will be done."
The nation was in ecstasies over this note and there
were repeated expressions of profound gratitude to the

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 323
President of the United States for having taken a course
exactly opposite to that which the newspapers, through
many anxious days, had announced that he would take.
And the effect in the minds of a troubled nation "was
like that of a beautiful June morning after threatening
skies and unverified predictions of fioods and cyclones."
This note had a good effect on the German nation as
well, as the reply of July 8 shows. It declared that
"Germany has likewise been always tenacious of the
principle that war should be conducted against the
armed and organized forces of the enemy, but that the
civilian population of the enemy should be spared as far
as possible from the measures of war." It then ex
pressed the hope that some way may be found "to
regulate the law of maritime war in a manner guaran
teeing the freedom of the seas and will welcome it with
gratitude and satisfaction if it can work hand in hand
with the American Government in that occasion."
After stressing the fact that it was necessary, for the
German Government in this fight for existence "to do
all within its power to protect and save the lives of
German subjects, the note declared that the Imperial
Government "repeats the assurance that American ships
will not be hindered in the prosecution of legitimate
shipping, and the Uves of American citizens on neutral
vessels shall not be placed in jeopardy."
In this world shocking war, with the previous
standards destroyed, the conscience of the warring

324 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
nations was at last being drawn out to recognize that,
in aU the confusion a law higher than their own selfish
interest still lived.
Germany's reply was so conciliatory that the people
of the United States were calming down. Moreover, the
submarine warfare was greatly subsiding, and all parties
in America were really giving the President great credit
for having accomplished a supposedly impossible task —
the restoration of the rights of neutrals and justice to
humanity in the war zone.
However, after this note was written the Nebraskan,
another American vessel was torpedoed. But the Ger
man Government at once notified this nation that the
sinking of this vessel was "an unfortunate accident"
and the German Government "expressed its regret at
the occurrence . . . and declared its readiness to
make compensation for the damage thereby sustained by
American citizens."
The stand taken by the United States in the interests
of humanity was holding the world to some standard.
The judgment of enlightened public opinion was having
a greater effect on the beUigerents and especiaUy Ger
many than any positive aid that this nation could have
given the allies. On September 1, the German Ambas
sador gave out an official statement that "liners will
not be sunk by our submarines without warning and
without safety of the lives of non-combatants, provided
that the liners do not try to escape or offer resistance."

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 325
However, on August 19, the Arabic of the White Star
Line was torpedoed by a German submarine, and
American Uves were again destroyed. The Arabic was
the largest of the English munition-carriers. It was only
incidentally a passenger ship, and when she sailed from
New York on July 28, she carried, it is said, the greatest
cargo of war munitions that ever left America. More
over, the Arabic had been transferred from another route
for the express purpose of carrying war munitions. For
months, before the sinking of the vessel, German sub
marines, it is said, had been trying to intercept her.
And when the deed was finally done, the press of the
country again came forth with their war head lines,
without securing all the attending circumstances, and
again the intense feeling of a large part of the people
of the United States was worked into a state of frenzy
because the Arabic case seemed to be related to the con
troversy over the Lusitania. But the President pro
ceeded as deliberately as before.
In due time the German Ambassador notified the
Administration that "the Imperial Government regrets
and disavows this aet, and has notified Commander
Schneider accordingly." Moreover, it was declared,
"under these circumstances my Government is prepared
to pay an indemnity for American Uves which, to its
deep regret, have been lost on the Arabic." As a result
of the diplomatic correspondence foUowing the sinking
of the Lusitania, Germany finally admitted that Amer-

326 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
ican ships have a right to sail through the war zone
without danger of submarine attacks, that American
ships carrying conditional contraband on merchant ves
sels of belligerents, are not to be put in danger, and
finally that neutral merchantmen of other nations "are
exempt from interference except when carrying contra
band." The President 's policies were at last about to triumph.
Not only American merchantmen, but those of all
neutral nations prospered by his leadership. The war
had been in progress eighteen months, but it had settled
nothing. A diplomatic contest had been waged about
nine months, and the results were so far a complete
victory for American diplomacy.
As the submarine disappeared from the old war zone
declared by Germany, it reappeared in the Mediterranean
Sea where the Ancona and the Persia were sunk. In
both cases American lives were lost. This time Austria
was apparently the violator, and again diplomacy won.
Germany even came forward, not in response to a direct
demand, but in recognition of the legal soundness of
the President's position, and declared that the general
principles of international law will be strictly observed
for the future and if German commanders "should not
have obeyed the orders given them, they will be pun-
nished, ' ' and reparation will be made if American lives
are lost. Moreover, the Administration secured from
Austria the promise that even "hostile private ships in

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 327
so far as they do not flee or offer resistance, may not be
destroyed without the persons on board having been
placed in safety," and it was gratifying to learn that,
"The triumph of President Wilson's peaceful, patient,
reasonable diplomacy seems to be near at hand. ' '
This victory for neutrals was achieved by the Presi
dent of the United States during the greatest war in
history, without bloodshed, save of the unfortunate vic
tims whose untimely and very tragic deaths restored the
rights of humanity when all international morality
seemed to be lost. And many millions of American citi
zens rejoiced and thanked God that this nation was
following an ideal rather than the grim visaged monster
whom the blood of miUions could not satisfy.
The public temper is made by the act of the moment,
and the public mind seems to remember only similar acts
of the past. If the situation is good now, it has always
been favorable ; but if it is bad, times are rapidly grow
ing worse. Therefore, the attitude of the public mind
toward the President alternated between utter distrust
and a heart full of gratitude. However, there were those
who so hoped- for war, that even a diplomatic victory
brought such discontent and ravings and ridicule that
the New York Sun was led to ask if American news
papers really want war.
"Is it possible," the Sun asks, "that there is any
American newspaper or any American citizen in public
or private Ufe, now really hoping at the bottom of his

.328 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
heart that the controversy with the Central Powers about
American rights of trade on the high seas may reach a
pass which shall make war inevitable?
"It is almost inconceivable that such should be the
case ; yet every time that a distinct gain is made by our
State Department in its progress toward a satisfactory
and honorable settlement of the whole business there
are expressions here and there which give color to the
idea that the gain has caused disappointment rather
than joy.
"During the past sixty hours or so the progress toward
a complete agreement as to the validity of aU the
American contentions has been notable. There is no
evidence yet in hand enabling our Government to
identify the assailant of the Persia; but practicaUy
every principle of civiUzed international law on which
our demands are based has been admitted and accepted
by Berlin, except only as to 'reprisals' in the so-caUed
war zone of neutral waters."
On May 13, 1915, President Wilson undertook the
most difficult task of his administration. In fact, the
task was declared impossible, because the submarine
was a new engine of warfare, and was not safeguarded
by any existing rules. Many peace-loving citizens were
willing to throw over international law, warn all Amer
ican citizens and American vessels to avoid war areas,
and stand absolutely aside. The President, however,
refused to follow such advice. He very firmly insisted

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 329
on the rights of humanity regardless of new inventioiis
or old international rules, and humanity has the Govern
ment of the United States to thank for exalting the law
of right and justice above the brutal and primitive rule
of might to kill innocent women and children. The New
Eepublic declared that "through the agency of Mr. Wil
son's much ridiculed notes, the law of visit and search
has been rewritten on the wall for all the world to read
and to obey. The submarine commanders must show
that instead of trying to kill non-combatants, they are
trying to avoid the killing. ' ' And this was accomplished
without threat or bluster, but by keeping constantly be
fore the world the one principle that right and justice
are more lasting than brute force.
In referring to his efforts to maintain peace in Amer
ica, Mr. Wilson, in an address at St. Louis, February 3,
1916, justifled his policies and exalted American
diplomacy in these words:
"We respect other nations, and absolutely
respect their rights so long as they respect our
rights. We do not claim anything for ourselves
which they would not, under like circumstances,
claim for themselves. Every statement of right
that we have made is grounded upon the utter
ances of their own public men and their own
judges. There is no dispute about the rights of

330 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
nations under the understandings of international
law. "America has drawn no fine point. America
has raised no novel issue. America has merely
asserted the rights of her citizens and her govern
ment, upon what is written plain on all the docu
ments of international intercourse. Therefore,
America is not selfish in claiming her. rights. She
is merely standing for the rights of mankind
when the life of mankind is being disturbed by
an unprecedented war between the greatest
nations of the world.
"Some of these days we shall be able to caU
the statesmen of the older nations to witness that
it was we who kept the quiet flame of inter
national principle burning upon its altar while
the winds of passion were sweeping away every
altar in the world. Some of these days they will
look back with gratification upon the steadfast
allegiance of the United States to those principles
of action which every man loves when his temper
is not upset and his judgment is not disturbed."
During the last half of the year 1915 the British
Admiralty developed considerable skiU in destroying the
German submarine boats. What part the armed mer-

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 33I
chantmen played in this warfare is not known. How
ever, the one obstacle left in the way of a complete
agreement among the nations as to the rules governing
submarine warfare, was this: Should a merchantman
engaged in legitimate peaceful trade be armed? Ger
many contended that a merchantman's guns are now
intended only for submarines. The latter are frail con
structions and a single shot may render them helpless.
"Yet they are expected to observe the rules of visit and
search precisely as would a powerful cruiser." And
the American Government was inclined to take the view
that merchantmen should not be armed, although inter
national law at the beginning of the war held to the
contrary. The allies, however, insisted on the rights accorded
by international law. It was pointed out that the
British Admiralty in its order of October, 1915, had de
clared that "armament is supplied solely for the purpose
of resisting attack by an armed enemy vessel and must
not be used for any other purpose whatever." It was
declared, furthermore, that hostile submarines and air-
crafts have frequently attacked merchant vessels with
out warning. But that "British and allied submarines
and air crafts have orders not to approach merchant
vessels. Consequently, it may be presumed that any
submarine or air craft which deliberately approaches
or pursues a merchant vessel does so with hostile intent.
In such cases flre may be opened in self-defense in order

332 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
to prevent the hostile craft from closing to a range at
which resistance to a sudden attack with bombs or tor
pedoes would be impossible."
This was the recognized rule adopted by the allies at
the beginning of the war. And readers will remember
that one of the points of controversy at the time of
the sinking of the Lusitania had to do with the question
whether or not she carried guns with which to defend
herself against submarines. However, on January 18,
1916, the State Department sought to remove this main
difficulty between the allies and the central powers.
It asked the nations to consider a modification of
this rule, since Germany had agreed to abandon her
warfare against neutral vessels and to protect neutral
citizens traveling on merchantmen of belligerent nations.
The modification asked for was that belligerent nations
"should be prohibited from carrying any armament
whatever." Because "the placing of guns on merchant
men at the present date of submarine warfare can be
explained only on the grounds of a purpose to render
merchantmen superior in force to submarines." And
the appeal to the nations was concluded with these
words :
"My government is impressed with the reason
ableness of the argument that a merchant vessel
carrying an armament of any sort, in view of
the character of submarine warfare aud the de-

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 333
fensive weakness of undersea craft, should be
held to be an auxiliary cruiser, and be so treated
by a neutral as well as by a belligerent govern
ment, and is seriously considering instructing its
officials accordingly."
This was asking the British Admiralty to abandon its
former rule. But the whole question of armed merchant
men was already as vexing as it well eould be. The
Secretary of State, Mr. Lansing, was earnestly seeking
to relieve this tension and strain for neutrals as well as
for beUigerents. He argued that the conditions of
maritime warfare have changed since the days of pirates
and sea rovers when it was necessary to arm merchant
men. England, however, was unyielding, although the
neutral nations of Europe and even France and Italy at
one time showed a disposition to accept the American
viewpoint. She defended her position on the ground that
the appearance of the submarine boat and the submarine
warfare practiced by Germany made it as necessary now
for England to arm her merchantmen as in the days of
pirates and sea rovers. What assurance, it was asked, did
any nation have that Germany would not soon revive her
attacks on neutral merchantmen as well as merchantmen
of belligerent nations? The only defense any vessel
had against reckless "captains was to carry sufficient
armament "to prevent the hostile craft from closing to

334 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
a range at which resistance to a sudden attack with
bomb or torpedo would be impossible." The best
students of the subject in all its phases, it is said, ad
mitted that there were no rules or traditions of inter
national law that met the conditions actually existing
on the sea at that time.
In the midst of these negotiations and without waiting
to see if our Government could not obtain from England
and her allies the admission that the German view was
reasonable and fair, Germany took a step that made
further efforts to settle this perplexing question futile.
In February, the German Government notified the world
that, after March 1, it would regard merchant ships
carrying guns as of the character of auxiliary cruisers,
and that the submarine war would be directed against
them as against any war vessel; that is, they were not
to be warned before attack, and aU passengers traveling
on armed merchantmen would do so at their own peril.
Obviously, from the standpoint of submarine warfare,
the armed merchantman is a warship. At the same time
self-preservation demanded that merchantmen should be
armed. But a new rule was now impossible. Certainly
America was not empowered to make a new international
rule without the agreement of all the belligerent nations.
However, Congress showed a strong disposition to
accept the view that the armed merchantman was an
auxiliary cruiser and a resolution was introduced
in each House to warn all Americans to avoid passage

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 335
on such vessels. The President naturally opposed very
vigorously this proposed act, and for the time being the
Administration and Congress "locked horns with one
another with such intensity of emotion as is not wit
nessed at Washington more than once or twice in a
lifetime. ' '
Congress was afraid of war. Not since the sinking of
the Lusitania did Congress have such a panicky feeling.
Senators and Members of the House held repeated con
ferences with the President. Senator Stone, chairman
of the committee on Foreign Relations, after a long inter
view with him and after "numerous Members of the
Senate and House had called to discuss this sub
ject with me," wrote the President (Feb. 24) reviewing
their former conference, and declaring that "I am more
troubled than I have been for many a day." He as
sured the President, however, that he was "striving to
prevent anything being done by any Senator or Member
calculated to embarrass your diplomatic negotiations."
But, he added, "I find it difficult from my sense of
duty and responsibility to consent to plunge this nation
into the vortex of this world war because of the unrea
sonable obstinacy of any of the powers."
In reply to this letter, President Wilson assured
Senator Stone that he was doing everything in his power
to keep the United States out of war and he spoke con
fidently that he would continue to succeed. But he
added :

336 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
"The course which the Central European
Powers have announced their intention of follow
ing in the future with regard to undersea warfare
seems for the moment to threaten insuperable
obstacles, but its apparent meaning is so mani
festly inconsistent with explicit assurances re
cently given out by those powers with regard to
their treatment of merchant vessels on the high
seas that I must believe that explanations will
presently ensue which will put a different aspect
upon it. We have had no reason to question their
good faith or their fidelity to their promises in
the past, and I for one feel confident that we shall
have none in the future."
Then in regard to the right of this nation to establish
a new international rule, he said :
"No nation, no group of nations, has the right,
while war is in progress, to alter or disregard the
principles which all nations have agreed upon
in mitigation of the horrors and sufferings of
war; and if the clear rights of American citizens
should ever unhappily be abridged or denied by
any such action we should, it seems to me, have
in honor no choice as to what our own course
should be."

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 337
He was most emphatic in his assertion that the rights
of American citizens should not be abridged in any
respect, and he explained:
"To forbid our people to exercise their rights
for fear we might be called upon to vindicate
them would be a deep humiliation indeed. It
would be an implicit, all but explicit, acquiescence
in the violation of the rights of mankind every
where, and of whatever nation or allegiance. It
would be a deliberate abdication of our hitherto
proud position as spokesmen, even amidst the
turmoil of war, for the law and the right. It
would make everything this Government has
attempted, and everything that it has achieved
during this terrible struggle of nations meaning
less and futile.
"It is important to reflect that if, in this in
stance, we allowed expediency to take the place
of principle, the door would inevitably be opened
to still further concessions. Once accept a
single abatement of right, and many other humili
ations would certainly follow, and the whole fine
fabric of international law might crumble under
our hands piece by piece. What we are contend
ing for in this matter is of the very essence of
the things that have made America a sovereign

338 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
nation. She cannot yield them without conceding
her own impotency as a nation, and making
virtual surrender of her independent position
among the nations of the world."
The President's letter left no doubt in the minds of
the Senators and the Members what his course would
be. Moreover, it was in the nature of an ultimatum to
Germany and Austria that those nations must not carry
out their armed merchantmen order at the expense of
the lives of American citizens.
When this letter was written, Congress was threaten
ing to pass resolutions to instruct the President to warn
American citizens to avoid sailing on armed merchant
men in spite of his protest that he should not be
hampered in his diplomatic correspondence by such
conduct on the part of the Senators and Members.
The situation was indeed very grave. And the Presi
dent's firm stand struck terror to the souls of Senators
and Members who already saw grim-visaged war ap
proaching. All day long the situation was discussed.
But after the night and some needed rest a calm settled
over Congress and the resolutions were side-tracked by
the leaders.
Three days later, February 27, Mr. Wilson was the
guest of the Gridiron Club of Washington. The nation
was still discussing the possibilities of war and Congress
was slowly recovering from its fright. But on this occa-

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 339
sion he again assured the nation that his one prayer was
to keep this nation out of war.
"America ought to keep out of this war," he
said. "She ought to keep out of this war at the
sacrifice of everything except the one thing upon
which her character and history are founded, her
sense of humanity and justice. If she sacrifices
that, she has ceased to be America ; she has ceased
to entertain and to love the traditions which have
made us proud to be Americans; and when we
go about seeking safety at the expense of human
ity, then I for one will believe that I have always
been mistaken in what I have conceived to be the
spirit of American history."
Thus the matter stood for awhile. The President
refused to hold further conference with the leaders, and
the resolutions were about to die in the committee rooms.
Then it became an open secret that the President had
been embarrassed by the "rebellion" in Congress. The
Central Powers were resting their case on the assumption
that the American nation was not supporting him, and
March 1 was almost at hand when Germany's new order
was to be enforced. There was a feeling of anxiety
pervading the Capitol, when suddenly, on February 29,
Mr. Wilson startled not only Congress, but the entire

340 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
nation by demanding that the Senators and Members go
on record and thus show the combatants how this nation
stood and whether the peoples' representatives were
behind the President or not.
This was, perhaps, Mr. Wilson's boldest act during the
entire war. He was the President of the United States,
and he would convince the Central Powers on the eve of
renewing their submarine warfare that the entire United
States was backing its President.
Therefore, he wrote to Mr. Edward Pou, the ranking
member of the Committee on Rules of the House of
Representatives, "to urge an early vote" upon the
resolutions. "The report," he said, "that there are divided
counsels in Congress in regard to the foreign
policy of the Government is being made use of
in foreign capitals. I believe that report to be
false, but so long as it is anywhere credited it
cannot fail to do the greatest harm and expose
the country to the most serious risks."
He was now asking for an action that he had
opposed heretofore in order "that all doubts
and conjectures may be swept away and our for
eign relations once more cleared of damaging
misunderstandings. ' '

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 341
He concluded his letter by saying that "the
matter is of so grave importance and lies so
clearly within the field of executive initiative
that I venture to hope that your committee will
not think that I am taking unwarranted liberty
in making this suggestion as to the business of the
House, and I very earnestly commend it to their
immediate consideration."
The Senate was in confusion, and the House was a
hot bed of excitement. On the day following, while the
two bodies were debating whether they would give the
President a vote of confidence and drop the whole ques
tion of armed merchantmen, Mr. Wilson served notice
that he would consent to nothing less than a record vote
on the resolutions before he went on with the German
submarine negotiations. And this was on March 1, the
date for the beginning of execution of the new sub
marine order by Germany and Austria.
And Congress decided on March 2 to face the clear cut
issue, while the President, pale and somewhat careworn
from the long controversy, waited with grim resolution
for Congress to line up behind him.
His courage and wisdom soon had their reward.
Within five days after Congress decided to face the
issue, both the Senate and the House tabled the resolu-

342 WOODROW WILSON* AS PRESIDENT
tions by overwhelming majorities — ^the Senate 64 to 14
and the House 276 to 142. President Wilson dared
Congress to set limits to the exercise of his constitu
tional powers, and it capitulated, and he was again in
trusted fully with the authority to protect the rights
of Americans and the honor of this nation. The neutral
nations might still rely upon him to hold the warring
powers to some ethical standard.
It was just at this time, March 9, that Villa's bandits
made a raid on the American town of Columbus, and
the policy of "watchful waiting" in Mexico was at an
end. Those were busy days for the President.
Meanwhile, the submarine question remained just
where it was when Secretary Lansing sent his note to
the combatants. The President had adopted a policy of
"watchful waiting" toward the Central Powers, but
with the outstanding warning that the rights of neutrals
and non-combatants must be respected. However,
within a few days the submarine warfare was renewed.
On March 24 the British passenger steamer Sussex,
engaged in cross channel traffic and carrying many
American passengers, was torpedoed and fifty passen
gers were killed.
On the same date the American State Department
received the refusal of the Allies to accept the proposal
of Mr. Lansing, submitted on January 18, designed to
regulate the operations of submarines against merchant
ships and to prevent the arming of merchant ships.

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 343
On the following day news was received in America
that the Englishman, a freighter bound for Portland,
Maine, was torpedoed near the English Coast. And on
March 30, the Portugal, a Franco-Russian hospital ship,
was sunk by a Turkish submarine in the Black Sea and
nearly 100 physicians, nurses, and members of the crew
were lost.
The last week in March, therefore, brought a revival
of cruelties and barbarities, which, this nation was re
peatedly assured, would not be resumed. At first the
German Government denied the Sussex was sunk by
Grerman submarines. And then an investigation fol
lowed, which proved that the ill-fated channel steamer,
like many other passenger vessels, was the victim of the
German submarine.
Without further words. President Wilson appeared
before Congress, April 19, and declared very solemnly
that "a situation has arisen in the foreign relations of
this country of which it is my plain duty to inform you
very frankly."
He then reviewed the controversy between this coun
try and the central powers from the beginning of the
submarine war to the sinking of the Sussex.
He declared this last act "must stand forth,
as the sinking of the Lusitania did, as so singu
larly tragical and unjustifiable as to constitute a
truly terrible example of the inhumanity of sub-

344 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
marine warfare as the commanders of German
vessels have for the past twelve months been
conducting it. If this instance stood alone, some
explanation, some disavowal by the German Gov
ernment, some evidence of criminal mistake or
willful disobedience on the part of the commander
of the vessel that fired the torpedo might be
sought for or entertained; but unhappily it does
not stand alone. Recent events make the conclu
sion inevitable that it is only one of the most
extreme and distressing instances of the spirit
and method of warfare which the Imperial Ger
man Government has mistakenly adopted, and
which from the first exposed that government to
the reproach of thrusting all human rights aside
in pursuit of its immediate objects."
He spoke with feeling when he told how patient
the Administration had been, how it had accepted
"the successive explanations and assurances of
the Imperial German Government as given in
entire sincerity and good faith," and how it had
been willing "to wait until the significance of
the facts became absolutely unmistakable and
susceptible of but one interpretation."
Moreover, he declared, "The Imperial German

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 345
Government has been unable to put any limit or
restraints upon its warfare against either freight
or passenger ships. It has, therefore, become
painfully evident that the position which this
government took at the very outset is inevitable,
namely, that the use of submarines for the de
struction of an enemy's commerce is of necessity,
because of the very character of the vessels em
ployed and the very method of attack which
their employment of course involves, incompatible
with the principles of humanity, the long estab
lished and incontrovertible rights of neutrals,
and the sacred immunities of non-combatants."
Mr. Wilson then measured his words very
carefully as he told the nations' representatives
that he felt.it his duty "to say to the Imperial
Government that if it is still its purpose to
prosecute unwarranted and indiscriminate war
fare against vessels of commerce by the use of sub
marines" the Government of the United States
has but one course it can pursue. It can have
"no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with
the Government of the German Empire."
"This decision I have arrived at, with the
keenest regret," he said in conclusion. "The

346 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
possibility of the action contemplated I am sure
all thoughtful Americans will look forward to
with unaffected reluctance. But we cannot for
get that we are in some sort and by the force
of circumstances, the responsible spokesman of
the rights of humanity, and that we cannot remain
silent while those rights seem in process of being
swept utterly away in the maelstrom of this
terrible war. We owe it to a due regard for our
own rights as a nation, to our sense of duty as a
representative of the rights of neutrals the world
over, and to a just conception of the rights of
mankind to take this stand now with the utmost
solemnity and firmness.
"I have taken it, and taken it in the confidence
that it will meet with your approval and support.
All sober-minded men must unite in hoping that
the Imperial German Government, which has in
other circumstances stood as the champion of all
that we are now contending for in the interests
of humanity, may recognize the justice of our
demands and meet them in the spirit in which
they are made."
Congress was asked for no official advice or authority.
The President of the United States was simply exercis-

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 347
ing his constitutional prerogative to inform the Legis
lative body of the state of the Union and a step the
executive had already taken, since his address to Congress
was a part of a note that he had already sent to Germany.
Several days before this address was delivered he held
conferences with leaders of both Houses and of the two
leading parties. And he was already confident that
Congress was supporting him. Moreover, he knew that
he was being supported by an overwhelming majority
of American citizens, who had been waiting patiently
for him to take the very step that he had been seemingly
reluctant to take.
The country was now prepared to stand behind the
President. The pacifists, who were so frightened when
the Lusitania was sunk, had regained their courage and,
although for peace, were supporting him. The ardent
militarists who eould see no reason for the President's
waiting so long to take this vigorous step were, of course,
ready to back up the Administration. And with a nation
solidly believing in him, Germany reluctantly abandoned
the position that had given rise to this new trouble. The
note dated May 4 and published tn the newspapers the
following morning announced a change in the German
submarine policy.
It stated that the Imperial Government "is prepared
to do its utmost to confine the operations of the war for
the rest of its duration to the fighting forces of the
belligerents." Moreover, it expressed a determination

348 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
to impose upon all its commanders at sea the limitations
of the recognized rules of international law upon which
the Government of the United States had insisted. It
explained also that German naval forces had received the
following order:
"In accordance with the general principles of visit
and search and the destruction of merchant vessels,
recognized by international law, such vessels, both within
and without the area declared a naval war zone, shall
not be sunk without warning and without saving human
lives unless the ship attempts to escape or offer re
sistance." The German Foreign Secretary admitted that at this
stage of the war, after twenty-one months of fighting,
the German people could not think of "seriously threat
ening the maintenance of peace between the two
nations." On May 8, Secretary Lansing replied with a
brief note " accepting the Imperial Government's declara
tion of its abandonment of the policy which has so
seriously menaced the good relations between the two
countries." And the final word in the controversy was
that "the Government of the United States will rely
upon a scrupulous execution henceforth of the new
altered policy of the Imperial Government."
Thus ended the long controversy between the United
States and the Imperial German Government. Perhaps
no neutral nation has in times of war accompUshed so

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 349
much for the non-combatants. The great aggressor in
the war was forced by peaceful means to recognize an
ethical law that reigns above the mad brutality of reck
less belligerents. To be sure it took time. The reforms
of peace come more slowly than changes through revolu
tion. But they are more permanent.
England soon followed Germany in bowing to inter
national law. This nation had made one protest after
another against England's violation of neutral rights
in the seas. Our mails were seized, business was inter
fered with, vessels were confiscated, and American
citizens were detained.
England was next to omnipotent on the seas. But the
President challenged the British blockade as fearlessly
and as skilfully as he did Germany's submarine warfare.
The British Government, however, was relying upon the
Declaration of London and British Orders in Council
which was never signed and which bound nobody. But
this Administration held that international law, not
British Orders in Council, should be the final authority.
Soon after Germany agreed to abandon her submarine
warfare against neutrals and non-combatants, the Eng
lish prize courts decided that British Orders in Council
"in derogation of neutral rights were invalid unless con
formable with international law, ' ' and the English Gov
ernment declared that Orders in Council henceforth will
be made to conform to the law which they had assumed

350 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
to ignore, and that all Orders in Council would be recon
sidered, and new orders would be issued in conformity
with international law.
England's regard for this higher law, this law of
nations, was expressed just before Germany inaugurated
her new submarine policy. Admiral Beresford was ad
vocating that all goods entering Germany should be
considered contraband, and he remarked that if this step
had been taken at the beginning of the conflict, war
would now be over. Sir Edward Grey is reported to
have replied with the following very significant remark,
"If we had gone as far as that, the war might possibly
have been over by now, but it would have been over
because the whole world would have been against us, and
we and our allies, too, would have collapsed under the
general resentment of the whole world."
The viewpoints of the Allies and the Central Powers
were alike to this extent, it was necessary to embarrass
the enemy as much as possible and both violated estah
lished principles of international law. While England
seized neutral vessels she appropriated only that which
could be restored after the war. Germany went a step
further and sacrificed the lives of innocent men, women,
and children. These could not be restored after the war.
Hence, the greater case was against Germany.
It was the diplomacy of President Wilson that ended
the murder of innocent non-combatants and restored the
rights of neutrals to the high seas. And the greatest

HOLDING TO A STANDARD 351
praise is merited because it was accompUshed when half
of the world was mad, without plunging this nation
into war. ' ' America has lifted high the light which will
shine unto all generations and guide the feet of man
kind to the goal of justice and liberty and peace. ' '

CHAPTER XVI
MILITARY PREPAREDNESS BECOMES A
NATIONAL PROBLEM
So many new adjustments had to be made at the
beginning of the war that every home was touched and
every heart was troubled. Moreover, there was a panicky
feeling that, somehow, the United States might be drawn
into the maelstrom. The people of this country were
for peace. They had been taught for a generation that
they had seen the last of war, and when the great conflict
came the American public schools were teaching the
children that war was sin. Therefore, even the very
thought of war was exceedingly disconcerting.
President Wilson's determination to keep this country
neutral and to nourish and cherish America first had a
good effect, and the people sincerely hoped that his
prophecies were true and that the war "would not affect
the United States unfavorably in the long run." How
ever, there was a militaristic party of considerable size
and influence in the nation, and its members took a
different view of the matter. They argued that Amer
ica's safety and the rights of neutrals everywhere were
jeopardized and they began to clamor loudly for mili-
352

MILITAHY PREPAREDNESS 353
tary preparedness. But Mr. Wilson's reply to them
was, ' ' There is no reason to fear that from any quarter
our independence or the integrity of our territory is
threatened. ' '
Within a short time after the beginning of the war
two very distinct parties appeared in America: (1)
those who desired peace at any price save the loss of
honor, and they believed that it could be secured with
the right leadership; (2) those who believed that our
relations with Europe were such that we were certain
to be involved in the war. Therefore, this nation should
arise and arm to the teeth.
The President believed with the first party that peace
could be maintained with honor; but since he was the
leader, he felt that the final test would depend upon
the American people themselves. Hence, "America
First" as the watchword of the hour, and he exhorted
the people not to add in any way to the excitement in
the world.
The adherents to the other party, however, were not
so easily convinced. They saw with growing alarm the
new modes of warfare employed in the European conflict.
They saw that old methods were becoming obsolete, and
that new engines and new machinery were revolutionizing
warfare. They then began to make hurried investiga
tions into the nature of our defenses, and reported that
our army was small ; our navy weak, and our coast de
fenses, inadequate; and they proclaimed the news and

354 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
their fears so loudly that there appeared, for the time,
to be only one voice in the nation, and that one was for
immediate military preparedness.
However, there were many replies to the extravagant
assertions of the extreme advocates of preparedness.
Their flndings as to the condition of our defenses were
vigorously assailed, and their arguments that this nation
could not avoid the European entanglements were
ridiculed. Therefore, on December 7, 1914, when the short ses
sion of Congress convened after a brief vacation, one
of the most perplexing questions that the President had
to face and one, as he said in his message to Congress,
"that goes deeper into the principles of our national life
and policy," was that of strengthening our national
defenses. "It cannot be discussed," he continued, "with
out first answering some very searching ques
tions. It is said in some quarters that we are
not prepared for war. What is meant by being
prepared? Is it meant that we are not ready
upon brief notice to put a nation in the field,
a nation of men trained to arms? Of course we
are not ready to do that; and we shall never be
in time of peace so long as we retain our present
political principles and institutions. And what

MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 355
is it that it is suggested we should be prepared
to do? To defend ourselves against attack? We
have always found means to do that, and shall
find them whenever it is necessary without calling
our people away from their necessary tasks to
render compulsory military service in times of
peace." He then touched on a subject that found a ready re
sponse in the hearts of a great majority of the people —
that there was really no need to fear that America
would become entangled in the war. And he gave his
reasons for making this assurance.
"We are at peace with all the world," he said.
"No one who speaks counsel based on fact or
drawn from a just and candid interpretation of
realities can say that there is reason to fear
that from any quarter our independence or the
integrity of our territory is threatened. Dread
of the power of any other nation we are incap
able of. We are not jealous of rivalry in the
fields of commerce or of any other peaceful
achievement. We mean to live our own lives as
we will; but we mean also to let live. We are,
indeed, a true friend to all the nations of the
world, because we threaten none, covet the pos-

356 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
sessions of none, desire the overthrow of none.
Our friendship can be accepted and is accepted
without reservation, because it is offered in a
spirit and for a purpose which no one need ever
question or suspect. Therein lies our greatness.
"We are the champions of peace and of con
cord. And we should be very jealous of this
distinction which we have sought to earn. Just
now we should be particularly jealous of it,
because it is our dearest present hope that this
character and reputation may presently, in God's
providence, bring us an opportunity such as has
seldom been vouchsafed any nation, the oppor
tunity to counsel and obtain peace in the world
and reconciliation and a healing settlement of
many a matter that has cooled and interrupted
the friendship of nations. This is the time above
all others when we should wish and resolve to
keep our strength by self-possession, our influ
ence by preserving our ancient principles of
action. ' '
These utterances were in complete accord with the
policies that he outlined at the beginning of the war,
to place America first in the hearts of the people, to
live our own lives as we will, and to hold the warring

MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 357
nations to some standard that would pass the judgment
of the world at the close of the war.
The militaristic party had a tendency to sneer at this
"future judgment." It was believed that a large stand
ing army was the only thing that would keep the bel
ligerents in awe. However, the President replied, "we
never have had, and while we retain our present prin
ciples and ideals we never shall have, a large standing
army. . . . We shall not turn America into a
military camp. We will not ask our young men to
spend the best years of their lives making soldiers of
themselves." On the other hand he recognized that it was neces
sary to take precaution "against the spread of the con
flagration." There is always, even in times of peace,
some danger from without to a nation, and while half
the world was in a state of war the danger was increased.
Therefore, it was necessary, he argued, for America to
examine its defenses very carefully, and to make such
preparation as the experts deemed wise under the
circumstances. "We must depend in every time of national
peril," he said, "in the future as in the past, not
upon a standing army, nor yet upon a reserve
army, but upon a citizenry trained and accus
tomed to arms. It will be right enough, right
American policy, based upon our accustomed

358 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
principles and practices, to provide a system by
which every citizen who will volunteer for the
training may be made familiar with the use of
modem arms, the rudiments of drill and man
euver, and the maintenance and sanitation of
camps. We should encourage such training and
make it a means of discipline which our young
men will learn to value. ' It is right that we
should provide it not only, but that we should
make' it as attractive as possible, and so induce
our young men to undergo it at such times as they
can command a little freedom and can seek the
physical development they need, for mere health's
sake, if for nothing more. Every means by which
such things can be stimulated is legitimate, and
such a method smacks of true American ideas. It
is right, too, that the National Guard of the
States should be developed and strengthened by
every means which is not inconsistent with our
obligations to our own people or with the estab
lished policy of our Government."
The President, then, turned his attention to the
navy and its needs. "A powerful navy we have
always regarded as our natural means of de
fense," he said; "and it has always been of
defense that we have thought, never of aggres-

MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 359
sion or of conquest. But who shall tell ns now
what sort of navy to build? We shall take leave
to be strong upon the seas, in the future as in
the past; and there will be no thought of offense
or of provocation in that. Our ships are our
natural bulwarks. When will the experts tell us
what kind we should construct — and when will
they be right for ten years together, if the rela
tive efficiency of craft of different kinds and uses
continues to change as we have seen it change
under our very eyes in these last few months?"
The nation was headed into a strange sea, and
few indeed could say just what this country
needed. "But," said Mr. Wilson, "we shall not
alter our attitude toward it because some amongst
us are nervous and excited." And then he
assured the people of America that we must agree
upon a permanent policy of defense, not a sudden
and temporary thing simply because the times are
not normal, but upon a policy which "will not be
for an occasion." And then he endeavored to
assure both pacifists and militarists that "we are
not unmindful of the great responsibility resting
upon us. We shall learn and profit by the lesson
of every experience and every new circumstance;
and what is needed will be adequately done. ' '

360 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
In a great democratic nation, all the people set to
work to solve its perplexing problems. So many minds,
so many opinions; and the greater the issue the louder
are the popular debates, and the more difficult it is to
reach a common basis for unity of action. The next
morning after the President delivered this address, the
American people began immediately to answer aU the
questions that had been referred to experts. Pacifists
and militarists, alike, were for protection, but their
ideas as to the best means were as far apart as the poles.
Many looked upon our present state of unpreparedness
as a death warrant for thousands of our citizens and
as a pretext for other nations to offer insult after insult
to our nation. Even Light Horse Harry Lee, of Revolu
tionary fame, was quoted: "A government is the
murderer of its own citizens, which sends them to the
fields uninformed and untaught, where they are to meet
men of the same age and strength mechanized by educa
tion and disciplined by battle. ' ' On the other hand the
pacifists were divided into two large camps — one was
in favor of a certain degree of preparedness and claimed
that we had already reached nearly that degree, while
others looked upon preparedness and war as about the
same thing, or read in preparedness all "the horrors of
war." President Wilson had succeeded in carrying the issue
to the people, and a great democratic body was arguing
technical questions with the fervor of old theological

MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 361
debaters. However, a group of serious experts were
quietly working away at the task and preparing to bring
before the 64th Congress a concrete plan for the strength
ening of our national defenses.
The President might argue that national defense was
only for safety, that "we are the champions of peace
and of concord," and that our opportunity had eome "to
counsel and obtain peace in the world." The pacifists
knew that battleships were built for war, and standing
armies were created to fight. Moreover, a popular as
sembly even of militarists must first agree on some plan
before it could be acted upon. Therefore, any measure,
in a popular assembly of pacifists and militarists, each
of whom had different notions as to how peace could be
maintained or how adequate preparedness could be pro
vided for, had a long and slow journey ahead of it.
But the President's ideas on the subject were before
the nation, and each citizen was asking himself and his
neighbor as well the questions that the President asked
at the beginning of his address: "What is meant by
preparedness?" And "What is it that it is suggested
we should be prepared to do ? " And the answers every
where seemed to be, "Yes, what?"
The press of the nation helped the debate along.
Although the President's specific plan for a national
defense was criticised in many quarters, his general pur
pose, it was declared, "seems to accord with the mature
sentiment of the coimtry." The European war was

362 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
affecting the nerves of the American people, and the
press of the country began calling for a statement of
our actual preparedness.
The Secretary of War, Mr. Garrison, reported that
the regular army embraced 92,000 men and officers, and
that only about one-third of that number, or about 31,000
constituted the real fighting strength of the army, in
movable forces. The remainder, or about 61,000 men
and officers, were placed in quarter-master and hospital
corps, in non-combatant administrative and executive
boards, and in the Philippines, Hawaii, Panama, China,
Alaska, and Porto Rico. This information had a double
effect — (1) the people were astonished that American
soldiers were quartered in so many comers of the globe,
and (2) they were surprised to learn that we had so
few soldiers ready for actual service.
The Secretary of the Navy called attention to the
Report of the General Board of the Navy Department
submitted by Admiral Dewey. It showed that there was
an actual shortage of 4,565 men to man adequately all
the vessels even then serviceable for war, and that
the fighting strength of the navy was greatly inferior
to that of England and second to that of Germany. The
63rd Congress came to a close on March 4, 1915, without
considering the much debated question of adequate
national defense. The President had no definite plan
ready for consideration and the ardent advocates of
preparedness could reach no agreement.

MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 363
However, in the early spring of 1915 scarcely a day
passed without bringing a story of some indignity to
American citizens or some insult to the American flag.
Vessels were seized by England ; goods were confiscated ;
and American commerce was in distress. Moreover,
American vessels were caught in the German submarine
war zone, and stories of the destruction of commerce and
the murder of American citizens struck terror to the
pacifists and aroused the fighting instinct of the
militarists. Ptnally, on May 7, came the great tragedy of the war,
the sinking of the Lusitania. Such a crime against
humanity by a civilized nation had been unthinkable.
But now it was felt, and the feelings were tumultuous
and dangerous. National preparedness, up to that time,
had been largely an academic question. But now, the
nation was mad. Amid all the clamor and confusion
of bluster and alarms, the one man who had asked Con
gress to consider a permanent policy for the defenses of
the nation, was the least disturbed outwardly, and the
best fitted apparently to guide the nation in the crisis.
Military preparedness had now become a real issue.
The months of May and June were crowded with
events of direful forebodings. The National Security
League, which was organized December 1, 1914, to
"arouse the public to a realization of our national pre
paredness," held a nation-wide conference, June 14 and
15, which over 10,000 delegates attended. The press

364 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
was full of the speeches of this conference when Mr.
Bryan resigned from the cabinet; then the possibility
of war and the state of our national defenses both
rushed to the front pages of the newspapers. Germany's
explanation of the sinking of the Lusitania was unsatis
factory; and the metropolitan newspapers were issuing
extras and calling the nation to arms.
A hundred years ago when the nations of Europe were
fighting for existence and American commerce was being
ruthlessly destroyed by the warring powers, the people
of the United States were so indignant that they could
hardly wait even for the Administration to declare war.
It was then recognized that our state of preparedness
was so poor, that this knowledge in itself made the war
spirit in America increase tremendously. The people of
the nation, while Congress was debating, made generous
subscriptions, built ships of war, armed them them
selves, and actually loaned them to the government. All
the large cities from Boston to Charleston made large
donations. The women made flags and worked banners
while the American people everywhere were drinking
toasts to the "rising American navy." The clamor for
preparedness and a realization of our poor defense a
hundred years ago swept thousands of civilians into a
war party, it was argued, who doubtless would have
remained undisturbed if the nation had been strong and
vigorous enough to meet the exigencies of war on the
high seas.

MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 365
In the summer and fall of 1915, history was repeating
itself. The agitators for a great navy and army were
so vociferous that what they lacked in numbers they
made up in sound, and the extremists so muddled the
matter that no one program was proposed having behind
it the sanction of a large part of the country. It was
recognized soon after the outbreak of the war that a
great revolution had taken place in military and naval
warfare, and men naturally began to question the effi
ciency of both our army and our navy. But, now, gener-
aUties would not satisfy, numerical comparisons were
not convincing. The people were demanding detailed
information. The army experts were put to work studying our land
defenses. But America had little to fear then from an
invasion. The immediate necessity was for an adequate
navy; and, everywhere the people seemed to feel keenly
this need. However, the President had asked, "who
shall tell us now what sort of navy to build?" .
"When will the experts tell us just what kind (of ships)
we should construct?" The submarine warfare had
made the future uncertain. Therefore, Mr. Daniels, the
Secretary of the Navy, acting on the suggestion of the
President, organized a Naval Advisory Board composed
of a number of scientists for the purpose of making
available the latent inventive genius of the country to
improve the navy. Mr. Thomas A. Edison was asked
to accept the chairmanship of this new board and eleven

366 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
engineering and scientific societies were requested to
select two members each to represent their respective
societies on the Board.
The members of the Naval Advisory Board met in
Washington October 6, and after organizing called on
the President in a body. Mr. Wilson had said in his
address to Congress on December 7, that "we shall learn
and profit by the lesson of every experience and every
new circumstance."
The experience of all neutral nations during the spring
and summer of 1915 had been so shocking, and the cir
cumstances at that time were so critical, that when this
Board appeared before him, Mr. Wilson showed very
clearly that he believed the time had come "to defend
the life of this nation against any sort of interference."
"I think the whole nation is convinced," he
said to the Board, ' ' that we ought to be prepared,
not for war but for defense, and very adequately
prepared, and that the preparation for defense is
not merely a technical matter, that it is not a
matter that the army and navy alone can take
care of, but a matter in which we must have the
cooperation of the best brains and knowledge of
the country, outside the official service of the Gov
ernment as well as inside."
And he assured the members that he was seeking the

MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 367
best expert advice. It was two months before the 64th
Congress would assemble and he personally desired aU
the light possible.
"I want you to feel," he said, "those of you
who are coming to the assistance of the profes
sional officers of the Government, that we have
not asked you to associate yourselves with us
except for a very definite and practical purpose —
to get you to give us your best independent judg
ments as to how we ought to make ready for any
duty that may fall upon the nation. ' '
The nation was really aroused over the question. The
World's Work in November published the result of "a
poll of 261 newspapers in all parts of the United States
and of all complexions politically, on the need
for strengthening the national defense." Only six of
this number" showed any doubt of a need for stronger
national defense." Therefore, the Editor concluded, "if
the newspapers accurately reflect pubUc opinion, the
people of the United States are practically unanimous in
their wish for improvement of the national defenses."
However, there was such a difference of opinion as to
means and methods for reaching the prepared state that
"a statistical comparison of views thus became absurd."
Although President Wilson referred to a preparedness

368 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
plan several times during the summer and fall, he did
not enter into a thorough discussion of it again until just
a month before the opening of the 64th Congress. It
had already become very evident to his more intimate
advisers that not only the task of preserving neutrality
and the fundamentals of international law but the dan
gers which were constantly increasing, were changing his
views on preparedness or modifying them very greatly.
This made him the target for the many who differed from
him both in his own party and in the opposing party.
For military preparedness was no longer a party ques
tion. However, he faced the issue, fortified by his matured
convictions and did not falter in the least because it dif
fered somewhat from his earlier utterances. "The
statesman," he had said, "stands in the midst of life to
interpret life in political action." A man "may distrust
his own intellectual processes but if he finds his heart
part of the great throb of a national life, there can he
no doubt about it. If that is his happy circumstance,
then he may know that he is a part of one of the great
forces of the world."
When his first address on preparedness was delivered
there were too many conflicting opinions in the nation
and the occasion was so close to the beginning of the
war when few men indeed had given the subject enough
calm judgment to reach a safe conclusion. And Mr.
Wilson, the statesman, stood in the midst of that surging

MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 369
life which was impossible of interpretation, save that the
people wished to have nothing to do vrith war.
A year later, however, experts were ready with definite
information about the state of our defenses. The Euro
pean war had diminished the value of the latest inven
tions, and new methods of warfare had shown the weak
ness of the old defenses. Moreover, the conduct of the
belligerents and the menacing Mexican revolution
brought into clearer light the dangers that threatened
from without. And the President was ready to aet, for
he was now unmistakably aware that his heart was "a
part of the great throb of a national life. ' '
On November 6 he was the guest of the Manhattan
Club of New York, and he took this occasion to announce
to the American people that the time had arrived when
it was necessary to prepare "ourselves to vindicate our
right to independent and unmolested action by making
the force that is in us all ready for assertion." However,
as he argued for immediate adequate preparedness, he
was painstaking in his efforts to reassure all men that
"the mission of America in the world is essentially a
mission of peace and good will, "but that the time had
come "to make sure of our own security."
He then declared that "we do want to feel that
there is a great body of citizens who have received
at least the most rudimentary and necessary-
forms of military training; that they will be

370 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
ready to form themselves into a fighting force
at the call of the nation; and that the nation
has the munitions and supplies with which to
equip them without delay should it be necessary
to call them into action. We wish to supply them
with the training they need, and we think we can
do so without calling them at any time too long
away from their civilian pursuits."
And he advised the nation that he was com
pleting his plans "which it will be my privilege
to lay before the Congress at the next session."
And that plan, he said, "calls for only such an
increase in the regular army of the United States
as experience has proved to be required for the
performance of the necessary duties of the army
in the Philippines, in Hawaii, in Porto Rico, upon
the borders of the United States, at the coast
fortifications, aud at the military posts of the
interior." "For the rest," he said, "it calls for the train
ing within the next three years of a force of
400,000 citizen soldiers to be raised in annual con
tingents of 133,000, who would be asked to enlist
for three years with the colors and three years
on furlough, but who during their three years
of enlistment with the colors would not be organ-

MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 371
ized as a standing force but would be expected
merely to undergo intensive training for a very
brief period of each year. Their training would
take place in immediate association with the
organized units of the regular army. It would
have no touch of the amateur about it, neither
would it exact of the volunteers more than they
could give in any one year from their civilian
pursuits. ' '
After outlining his plan for improving the army, he
spoke of the needs of the navy. The experts had been at
work and they were able now to give him a partial
answer to the question that he asked nearly a year before.
And his remarks on the state of the navy brought some
relief to the pacifists, but quick condemnation from many
militarists. "It has been the American policy time out of
mind," he said, "to look to the navy as the first
and chief line of defense. The navy of the United
States is already a very great and efficient force.
Not rapidly, but slowly, with careful attention,
our naval force has been developed until the navy
of the United States stands recognized as one
of the most efficient and notable of modern time.
"All that is needed to bring it to a point of

372 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
extraordinary force and efficiency as compared
with the other navies of the world is that we
should hasten our pace in the policy we have long
been pursuing, and that chief of all we should
have a definite policy of development, not made
from year to year, but looking well into the future
and planning for a definite consummation.
"We can and should profit in all that we do
by the experience and example that have been
obvious to us by the military and naval events of
the actual present. It is not merely a matter of
building battleships and cruisers and submarines,
but also a matter of making sure that we shall
have the adequate equipment of men and muni
tions and supplies for the vessels we build and
intend to build."
In closing this very notable address, he declared it to
be his purpose to call for "the hearty support of the
country, of the rank and file of America, of men of all
shades of political opinion," for he said, "we are dealing
with things that are vital to the life of America itself."
He was now speaking to the American people, not to
Congress. He was talking as the executive of the nation
to a free people who were deeply concerned over the
matter. Many of his closest friends who agreed with his
first utterances on the question of national defense and

MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 373
applauded him, now disagreed with him and denounced
him. However, new circumstances had arisen and he
was rising to meet the new demands incident to these
changed conditions.
He was speaking as the head of the nation and
in a spirit of the finest patriotism when he asked
the people to answer if his plan was "sane and
reasonable and suited to the hour." "Does it
conform," he asked, "to the ancient traditions of
America? Has any better plan been proposed
than this program that we place before the
country?" And then he assured the country
that although the plan he favored ' ' represents the
best professional and expert judgment of the
country," if a better plan can be proposed, he
desired its adoption. But "if men differ with
me in this vital matter, I shall ask them to make
it clear how far and in what way they are inter
ested in making the permanent interests of the
country safe against disturbances."
This address created tremendous interest throughout
the country. The peace party was wildly excited and the
President was accused of abandoning the position he had
so firmly taken at the beginning of the war. The mili
tarists for the most part were delighted, for they saw the

374 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
President taking the stand they had urged him to take
from the first. But now more than ever before the
issue was before the public ; and clubs, debating societies,
old men and young men, the press and law-making bodies
throughout the nation renewed their arguments.
One characteristic of the American people is their
ardent desire for an argument. Every great policy that
the President directed through Congress was argued first
by the people even before Congress had received it in the
shape of a bill, and the people seem to settle it, somehow,
the way Congress settles it; but frequently settle it
first. Therefore, before Congress assembled on the 6th
of December, the press throughout the country had pre
sented the issue to the people, and the people began call
ing on Senators and Members to give their views, even
before the delegates arrived in Washington.
When the 64th Congress assembled, the Secretary of
War and the Secretary of the Navy had heard from their
experts, and they had compiled their reports on the con
dition of the Army and the Navy. Their recommenda
tions were embodied in these reports, which had been
forecasted by the President in his address before the
Manhattan Club. In speaking to Congress of the recom
mendations of the Secretary of War, he said :
"They contemplate an increase of the standing
force of the regular army from its present
strength of 5,023 officers and 102,985 enlisted

MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 375
men of all services to a strength of 7,136 officers
and 134,707 enlisted men, or 141,843 all told, all
services, rank, and file by the addition of fifty-two
companies of coast artillery, fifteen companies of
engineers, ten regiments of infantry, four regi
ments of field artillery, and four aero-squadrons,
besides 750 officers required for a great variety
of extra service, especially the all-important duty
of training the citizen force of which I shall pres
ently speak, 792 non-commissioned officers for
service in drill, recruiting, and the like, and the
necessary quota of enlisted men for the Quarter
master Corps, the Hospital Corps, the Ordinance
Department, and other similar auxiliary services.
These are the additions necessary to render the
army adequate for its present duties, duties which
it has to perform not only upon our own conti
nental coasts and borders and at our interior
army posts, but also in the Philippines, in the
Hawaiian Islands, at the Isthmus, and in Porto
Rico." He next recommended the plan, agreed upon by the
Secretary of War and outlined in his Manhattan Club
speech, to provide for training a force of 400,000 dis
ciplined citizens. There was to be no compulsory mUi
tary training ; but he said :

376 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
"It would depend upon the patriotic feeling of
the younger men of the country whether they
respond to such a call to service or not. It would
depend upon the patriotic spirit of the employers
of the country whether they make it possible for
the younger men in their employment to respond
under favorable conditions or not. ' '
When he came to the needs of the Navy Department,
he went more into details than ever before. Referring
to the report of the Secretary of the Navy, he said :
' ' The program which will be laid before you by
the Secretary of the Navy is similarly conceived.
It involves only a shortening of the time within
which plans long matured shall be carried out;
but it does make definite and explicit a program
which has heretofore been only implicit, held in
the minds of the Committees on Naval Affairs
and disclosed in the debates of the two Houses,
but nowhere formulated or formally adopted. It
seems to me very clear that it will be to the
advantage of the country for Congress to adopt a
comprehensive plan for putting the navy upon a
final footing of strength and efficiency, and to press
that plan to completion within the next five years."

MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 377
He then gave the nation a definite program which the
Navy Department recommended and which he was en
dorsing and commending to the consideration of Con
gress. "The program to be laid before you," he said,
"contemplates the construction within five years
of ten battleships, six battle cruisers, ten scout
cruisers, fifty destroyers, fifteen fleet submarines,
eighty-five coast submarines, four gunboats, one
hospital ship, two ammunition ships, two fuel oil
ships, and one repair ship. It is proposed that
of this number we shall the first year provide
for the construction of two battleships, two battle
cruisers, three scout cruisers, fifteen destroyers,
five fleet submarines, twenty-five coast subma
rines, two gunboats, and one hospital ship; the
second year, two battleships, one scout cruiser,
ten destroyers, four fleet submarines, fifteen coast
submarines, one gunboat, and one fuel oil ship;
the third year, two battleships, one battle cruiser,
two scout cruisers, five destroyers, two fleet sub
marines, and fifteen coast submarines ; the fourth
year, two battleships, two battle cruisers, two
scout cruisers, ten destroyers, two fleet subma
rines, fifteen coast submarines, one ammunition

378 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
ship, and one fuel oil ship ; and the fifth year, two
battleships, one battle cruiser, two scout cruisers,
ten destroyers, two fleet submarines, fifteen coast
submarines, one gunboat, one ammunition ship,
and one repair ship.
"The Secretary of the Navy is asking also
for the immediate addition to the personnel of
the Navy of 7,500 sailors, 2,500 apprentice sea
men, and 1,500 marines. This increase would be
sufficient to care for the ships which are to be
completed within the fiscal year 1917, and also for
the number of men which must be put in training
to man the ships which will be completed early
in 1918. It is also necessary that the number of
midshipmen at the Naval Academy at Annapolis
should be increased by at least 300 in order that
the force of officers should be more rapidly added
to; and authority is asked to appoint, for en
gineering duties only, approved graduates of
engineering colleges, and for service in the Avia
tion Corps a certain number of men taken from
civil life.
"If this full program should be carried out
we should have built or building in 1921, accord
ing to the estimates of survival and standards of
classification followed by the General Board of

MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 379
the Department, an effective navy consisting of
twenty-seven battleships of the first line, six
battle cruisers, twenty-five battleships of the
second line, ten armored cruisers, thirteen scout
cruisers, five first-class cruisers, three second-class
cruisers, ten third-class cruisers, 108 destroyers,
eighteen fleet submarines, 157 coast submarines,
six monitors, twenty gunboats, four supply ships,
fifteen fuel ships, four transports, three tenders to
torpedo vessels, eight vessels of special types, and
two ammunition ships. This would be a navy fitted
to our needs and worthy of our traditions."
This much discussed question was at last in shape for
offlcial consideration. On the morning before President
Wilson laid this important program before Congress,
the New York World published the views of prominent
men of the nation without regard to special occupations
or political parties. The two ex-presidents, governors,
college presidents, captains of industry, men of interna
tional reputation as lawyers and scientists, presented a
unanimity of views that was remarkable. All agreed
that "preparedness" is the prominent issue today, and
that it is in no sense a party measure. Many disagreed
vrith the President as to details, but almost without
exception the voice was one — ^we should be prepared for
emergencies.

380 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
Although there was much disagreement over the details
of the President's plan, no one with any respectable fol
lowing had come forward with a better plan ; and in the
midst of this babel of words the conservative press of the
country was urging Congress to accept the President's
plans as they were, since it was the one recommendation
on which there was the most agreement. Not in years
had there been more confusion over a great national
question. The House and Senate committees, much affected by
the situation, were very cautious in making provisions
for a budget sufficient to provide the means of safe
guarding the nation, or of providing additional reve
nue. How much money would be required? How was
the extra cost to be raised ? And a considerable number
of Representatives took the position that no bill for rais
ing revenue to provide for the additional expense should
be framed until the naval and military committees had
reported their national defense measures. But others
contended that the naval and military committees should
not report bills for national defense until the Ways and
Means Committee had prepared a plan for raising
revenue. It was quite evident that if the national defenses were
strengthened. Congress must provide additional revenue.
The President suggested that "we should be following
an almost universal example of modem government if
we were to draw the greater part or even the whole of

MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 381
the revenue we need from the income tax." He also
pointed to "many additional sources of revenue which
can justly be resorted to." However, he left that prob
lem with the Ways and Means Committee but advised
them "that the industry of this generation should pay
the biUs of this generation."
President Wilson beUeved strongly in a public con
science and a public passion. And in all of his acts he
seemed to be seeking earnestly to interpret that con
science and understand that passion.
"I am not put here to do what I please," he
said, "I am put here to interpret, to register,
to suggest, and, more than that, and much greater
than that, to. be suggested to." He admitted that
"in domestic matters I think I can in most cases
come pretty near a guess where the thought of
America is going to be, but in foreign affairs the
chief element is where action is going on in other
quarters of the world and not where thought is
going on in the United States."
In all of his leading policies, therefore, he first sought
to interpret the spirit of America. He knew that spirit
was for peace, and this accorded with his own thought
and feelings. He knew also that that spirit was for an
adequate preparedness in order that America might not
be molested in the enjoyment of its own rights and privi-

382 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
leges. And this national spirit accorded also with his
own thoughts and feelings, for altered circumstances due
to unusual conditions in Europe, had compeUed the
American spirit to take this directiooi. Therefore, he
entered into the campaign for adequate preparedness
with all the zeal of a crusader.
r'vVhen the new year (1916) opened, military prepared
ness was the paramount issue and it was demanding a
hearing before all others. Mr. Wilson had only to sit and
listen in order to hear the voice and to feel the heart
L vibrations. A large number of organizations were con
ducting campaigns all over the country to focus atten
tion on national defense issues. Among these were the
Grand Army of the Republic, Daughters of the American
Revolution, Sons of the American Revolution, United
Confederate Veterans, Daughters of the Confederacy,
Spanish War Veterans, the Navy League of the United
States, and the recently organized Women's Section of
the Navy League. The American Defense Society began
publishing a magazine in which President Wilson's fight
for preparedness was strongly endorsed, and the newly
organized Committee on Industrial Relations announced
that it was preparing to conduct a vigorous campaign in
the interest of national defense.
However, these various leagues, associations and socie
ties were not altogether in harmony with the program
suggested by the President or any particular program,
and much of the public discussions were for the purpose,

MILITAP.Y PREPAREDNESS 383
it seemed, of furthering the private ideas of particular
individuals or societies. StiU no one with any respectable
following had made any better beginning toward
strengthening our land and sea forces than was set forth
in the President's plans. And the public voice, constantly
increasing in volume, was urging Congress to act on the
President 's recommendations.
The members of Congress showed a willingness to pass
measures of defense if a common agreement could be
reached as to what measures to pass. But the advocates
of a much larger army and a much larger navy than the
Administration bills provided for seemed to muddle the
matter, without in the least strengthening their own posi
tion. They talked about compulsory service and uni
versal training, and they fretted and fussed and wasted
valuable time discussing measures which could not be put
into effect for many years.
The nation was harassed by outrages in Mexico and by
violations of rights of neutrals on the high seas, and
scarcely a day passed without its special warning of the
dangers we were incurring. Yet, strange to say, men of
prominence in the nation, who were speaking vociferously
against the President's program, joined in the cry for
war with Mexico and war with Germany or England if
our rights were not guaranteed absolutely, and without
delay. At the beginning of the New Year, however, the issue
had become more hopeful, since it was becoming quite

384 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
clear that the great fight would not be along strictly
party lines, but would be between preparedness en
thusiasts and pacifist enthusiasts, whatever the real
motives of each might be. Many in both camps were
accused of thinking more of political advantage than of
national honor, while the large majority of the people
were earnest in their deep desire for effective national
preparedness. Since the party in power, however, lacked as a
rule "articulate expression of a sufficiently forcible
character to stimulate the national legislators to action"
the burden of inspiring the public "to an unmistakable
utterance of its will in the matter" was placed upon the
President. His large personal popularity, together with
his eloquence and logic, was employed to induce the
people to overcome the apathetic indifference, the unrea
sonable hostility, and the selfish partisanship exhibited
in Congress, in order that the matter of our national
defenses might be settled as soon as possible.
The President, therefore, decided to take the issue to
the people. More than once in his fight for the New
Freedom, did he threaten to take the issue of the moment
to the people. But, somehow. Congress acted in time to
the satisfaction of the nation. But now there was too
much confusion, too many discordant voices, and this
was Mr. Wilson's method of clarifying the atmosphere.

CHAPTER XVII
THE PRESIDENT TAKES THE ISSUE TO THE
PEOPLE
It was on January 27, 1916, that Mr. Wilson left the
White House to teU the people of the East and the West
of the confusion in Washington and the pressing need of
the hour. The first stop in his itinerary was New York.
Everybody who wishes to be heard in America, sooner or
later, goes to New York, That city is so vocal, perhaps,
because it is so provincial. Anyway, New York was the
President's first point of attack, since it was virtually the
home of every society that was working for or against
the President's program.
There, he made four speeches, to business men who
were for preparedness; to ministers of the gospel who
were for peace ; to motion picture men, who were neutral ;
and to suffragists, who wanted to hear the President. But
neither the fraternity, the occupation, nor the politics
of the occasion affected his subject. To each group he
gave a part of his great theme with sufficient variations
to make it applicable to the occasion. And the next day
the people of the far West who were already making
preparations for his coming read the first installment of
385

386 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
his continued story and became enthusiastic to hear the
concluding chapters.
He did not hesitate to teU the people that this nation
was in great danger. This was his theme in New York,
and he did not depart from it as he journeyed westward.
And the corollary to this main theme was patriotism. In
fact he was seeking always to reach that center in the
heart where patriotism abides in order that it too might
become vocal.
After his visit to New York, he returned to Washing
ton and made preparations for his western trip. Pitts
burgh was his next point. "New circumstances have
arisen which make it necessary for America to defend
herself" was the way he opened his campaign in Penn
sylvania. But he was in the heart of the steel and iron
industry where both business and patriotism were in
sympathy with his program.
At Cleveland he pictured two-thirds of the world at
war and defined America's duty of the hour. "We have
interests that are being slowly drawn into the maelstrom
of this tremendous upheaval," he said, and Cleveland's
reply was for preparedness.
Leaving Ohio, he drove straight to the center of the
German- American population. ' ' I know that you depend
on me to keep this nation out of war" was his greeting
to Milwaukee. Then he discussed the composite character
of the American people; he told the German- Americans
to love the land of their birth ; and he sympathized with

THE ISSUE TO THE PEOPLE . 387
them over the cloud of suspicion that had rested awhile
above the fatherland. But when he appealed to them to
be American citizens first, Milwaukee 's response was one
continuous round of applause, and the Mayor of that city
remarked, "This is MUwaukee's answer to the world."
Having touched the heart of the foreign-bom popu
lation in the great Northwest, he returned by way of
Chicago. He reminded* the business men of that city
that our commerce has been interfered with, that
America's dangers "come from her contacts with the rest
of the world" and that we are Uving in a world on fire
and "our house is not fireproof." Then, he assured the
champions of preparedness that "we mean business."
And Chicago was convinced that it is our duty to prepare
at once.
His itinerary next led him across the Mississippi and
into the great com states of the West. He asked the citi
zens of Iowa who came to hear him at Des Moines if there
was really much "indifference and lethargy in the Middle
West with regard to the defense of the nation. ' ' He had
been told so. But he said, " I do not beUeve it, I am going
out to see," and he was given an unmistakable and
unequivocal response when he asked lowans, "Do you
wish to have aU the world say that the flag of the United
States which we love can be stained with impunity?"
StiU westward he carried his message until he reached
the heart of Kansas, where, it was said, the greatest oppo
sition to his program would be found. At Topeka, he

388 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
told the farmers of this great stock and grain country that
the world needs the wheat of the Kansas fields and "we
have a right to supply the rest of the world with the
product of these fields." He warned the West of the
dangers to our commerce, and he pointed out the diffi
culties this nation must overcome in keeping the lines of
trade open, and Kansas was full of fight, as the President
learned when he turned this sentence, ' ' Kansas has made
trouble for everybody that interfered with her liberty or
her rights, and if I were to pick out one place which was
likely to rise first and get hot first about invasion of the
essential principles of American liberty, I certainly would
look to Kansas among the first places in the country."
At Kansas City, the scene at the close of his address
was dramatic. Eighteen thousand people, after listening
attentively to the close, made such a demonstration that
the President, deeply affected by the uncontrolled
emotion, stepped to the front and asked the audience if
he might lead in singing "America," and a tremendous
chorus, it is said, was raised in behalf of.
My country, 'tis of thee.
Sweet land of liberty.
Of thee I sing.
The President was now moving eastward again, and
the last stop in his itinerary was at St. Louis, where he
spoke twice — once for military preparedness, and once
for industrial preparedness. His story was completed.

THE ISSUE TO THE PEOPLE 389
He had come out for a purpose ; it was accomplished, and
he reassured himself that this country is not wanting in
patriotism. He had made ten speeches in halls and the
same number from the rear platform of the train. He
had spoken to approximately 100,000 people and had been
welcomed by perhaps five times that number. The large
foreign element came out to hear him and became
enthusiastic, and the greatest demonstration had been at
the farthest points West, where, it had been predicted, he
would have the least sympathy.
Such was the President's remarkable campaign for
miUtary preparedness. For a week the press of the
country kept this one issue before the people, and the
psychological effect was very great indeed. The nation
was astir, but a better spirit prevailed. The President
left the details of the plan to be worked out by Congress,
and the vocal part of the nation was in general accord
with the outlines. The patriotism of the nation was
aroused, and, with a feeling of satisfaction for what had
been accompUshed and a confidence in what Congress
would do under the steady pressure of the demands from
the people down home, the President returned to Wash
ington to hasten action and await results.
The effect of the appeal to the people was felt on the
continent of Europe, and the nations at war pondered
over his words and took warning. England read in his
utterances a determination to force the central powers
to another plane of international morality ; and Germany

390 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
interpreted his language to mean that the rights of
Americans to trade in Europe must be respected by the
Allies. And both parties to the war understood that
America was determined to be prepared for any emerg
ency that might arise.

CHAPTER XVIII
THE NATION FOR MILITARY PREPAREDNESS
The nation had been discussing the issue for over
twelve months, and the grand climax to all the arguments
and debates was the President's tour of the country.
But the time had come now to act. It was generaUy
agreed that our defenses should be greatly strengthened
and the efficiency of our military establishment should be
increased. But the great question was, how?
The Federed Constitution gave Congress the power to
raise and support a standing army. Moreover, it was
empowered to provide for organizing, arming, and dis
ciplining the militia and for calling it forth in times of
need. However, there has not been a decade since the
Constitution was established and since these two re
sources for the protection and safety of the nation were
provided, that this question has not arisen: Shall the
safety of our land defenses rest finally upon a standing
army, or upon the militia? In every proposed plan for
the reorganization of the army or for strengthening our
defenses, the debate has revolved around this question.
It was debated when the Federal Constitution was
adopted. It was argued during the war of 1812. It was
391

392 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
a problem when the Monroe Doctrine was promulgated;
and in 1836, nearly fifty years after the debate first
began, the whole argument was stated anew, though in
a partisan manner, by Edward Everett of Massachusetts :
"There are two resources," he said, "for protection
and safety in the first outbreaking of war and in times
of civil commotion. One is a well-organized, patriotic
militia, ever present, rarely seen, quartered among us,
not in camps and forts, but at the fireside, in the counting
room, the workshop, the place of business. This is one.
The other resource is a standing army, encamped on
Boston Common or stationed on Castle Island. One or
the other we must have. And the man who sets himself
to ridicule the militia, to exaggerate the defects of the
system, to embarrass its administration, to bring it into
discredit, wishes one of two things — ^he either wishes the
country to be wholly exposed to insult from abroad, and
a prey at home to anarchy, to mob law, club law, and a
general scramble, or he wishes to see a flag staff planted
in front of the State House, a couple of cannon pointing
down State Street, to hear the morning gun at daybreak,
and to hold the exercise of his daily rights as a citizen
at the discretion of a military commander."
And he proposed the following toast :
"A well-organized, efficient, and patriotic militia — in
time of peace, the bulwark of the law ; in war, the basis
of defense : May it be restored to the public favor. ' '
This toast makes it quite evident that Edward Everett

NATION FOR MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 393
was afraid of a standing army and the influence of the
army officer in the nation. After eighty years that
feeling still abides in the nation. However, the militia
as a real flghting machine is not held in much esteem by
those who think most of arms and invasion and defenses,
and it is quite evident that the eighty years have not
increased the love of the army officer for the militia. The
campaign for preparedness was renewed in earnest soon
after the outbreak of the European war. But every
measure that looked toward meeting the needs of our
defenses resolved itself sooner or later into the old ques
tion, shall the standing army or the militia be the basis
of our defenses ?
The continental army plan that was finally presented
to Congress by Mr. Wilson on December 7 was worked
out by Mr. Garrison, the Secretary of War, and the
army experts. In its purpose to create a continental
army of 400,000 citizen soldiers under direct national
control, it favored the Federal Army and minimized the
importance of the National Guard. However, as soon
as it was presented to the House, the Committee on
Military Affairs dissented and the fight began — the old,
old fight that was more than a century old.
Mr. Garrison was unalterably opposed to building up
the National Guard. The Committee on Military Affairs,
however, was tn favor of strengthening the National
Guard. It was apparent to Mr. Garrison that Congress
would turn down his recommendations unless President

394 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
Wilson "personally exerted the power" of his leadership
to save them. Therefore, he wrote to the President on
January 12 and again on the 14th, urging him to "exert"
himself in behalf of the plan proposed and the one
that the President had recommended to the Congress.
Mr. Wilson replied three days later :
"You believe, as I do, that the chief thing nec
essary is that we should have a trained citizen
reserve, and that the training, organization and
control of that reserve should be under immediate
Federal direction.
"But apparently I have not succeeded in mak
ing my own position equally clear to you, though
I feel sure that I have made it perfectly clear to
Mr. Hay (Chairman of the House Committee on
Military Affairs.) Remember that I am not irre
vocably or dogmatically committed to any one
plan of providing the nation with such a reserve,
and am certainly willing to discuss alternate pro
posals. "Any other position on my part," he said,
"would indicate an attitude toward the Com
mittee on Military Affairs of the House of Rep
resentatives which I should in no circumstances
feel at liberty to assume. It would never be
proper or possible for me to say to any com-

NATION FOR MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 395
mittee of the House of Representatives that, so
far as my participation in legislation was con
cerned, they would have to take my plan or none.
"I do not share your opinion that the members
of the House who are charged with the duty of
dealing with military affairs are ignorant of them
or of the military necessities of the nation. On
the contrary, I have found them well informed
and actuated by a most intelligent appreciation of
the grave responsibilities imposed upon them. I
am sure that Mr. Hay and his colleagues are
ready to act with a full sense of all that is
involved ia this great matter, both for the
country and for the national parties which they
represent. "My own duty toward them is perfectly plain.
I must welcome a frank interchange of views and
a patient and thorough comparison of all the
methods proposed for obtaining the objects we
all have in view. So far as my participation in
final legislative action is concerned, no one will
expect me to acquiesce in any proposal that
I regard as inadequate or illusory. If, as the
outcome of a free interchange of views, my own
judgment and that of the committee should prove
to be irreconcilably different and a bill should be

396 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
presented to me which I could not accept as
accomplishing the essential things sought, it
would manifestly be my duty to veto it and go
to the country on the merits."
He stated, furthermore, that he had had "a delight
fully frank conference with Mr. Hay" and had said to
him, "I was perfectly willing to consider any plan that
would give us a national reserve under unmistakably
national control, and would support any such scheme
if convinced of its adequacy and wise policy." More, he
said Mr. Hay had not asked or desired.
This letter was not at all satisfactory to the Secretary
of War. But the President left the capital for a tour
of the country, and the matter rested for a few days.
However, in his speeches Mr. Wilson did not come out
emphatically and unqualifiedly for Mr. Garrison's con
tinental plan nor with the emphasis that the Secretary of
War desired. Therefore, soon after his return, he re
ceived a third letter from Mr. Garrison which contained
these words: "If we are not in agreement upon these
fundamental principles, then I could not, with propriety
remain your seeming representative."
One of these "fundamental principles" was an amend
ment to the bill extending further self-government to the
Philippines. Mr. Wilson replied that he also thought
that that amendment was unwise. The other "funda-

NATION FOR MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 397
mental principle" referred to pertained to the century
old problem, to which Mr. Wilson replied :
"As I have had occasion to say to you, I am not
yet convinced that the measure of preparation for
national defense which we deem necessary can
be obtained through the instrumentality of the
National Guard under Federal control and train
ing, but I feel in duty bound to keep my mind
open to conviction on that side, and think that
it would be most unwise and unfair to the com
mittee of the House which has such a plan in
mind to say that it cannot be done. The bill
in which it will be embodied has not yet been
drawn, as I learned from Mr. Hay today. I
should deem it a very serious mistake to shut the
door against this attempt on the part of the com
mittee in perfect good faith to meet the essentials
of the program set forth in my message, but in a
way of their own choosing.
"As you know, I do not at all agree with you
in favoring compulsory "enlistment for training,
and I fear the advocacy of compulsion before the
committee of the House on the part of the rep
resentatives of the Department of War has
greatly prejudiced the House against the pro-

398 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
posal for a Continental Army, little necessary
connection as there is between the plan and the
opinion of the Chief of Staff in favor of com
pulsory enlistment.
"I owe you this frank repetition of my views
and policy in this matter, which we have discussed
on previous occasions in the letters which we
have exchanged and in conversation. I am very
much obliged to you for your own frank avowal
of your convictions. I trust that you will feel
no hesitation about expressing your personal
views on both these subjects on the two occasions
to which you refer, but I hope that you will be
kind enough to draw very carefully the distinc
tion between your own individual views and the
views of the Administration.
"You will, of course, understand that I am
devoting my energy and attention unsparingly in
conferences with members of the various com
mittees of Congress in an effort to procure an
agreement upon a workable and practicable pro
gram. This is a time when it seems to me
patience on the part of all of us is of the essence
in bringing about a consummation of the purpose
we all have in mind."

NATION FOR MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 399
This letter was tn the nature of a rebuke to the War
Department because of the activity "on the part of the
representatives of the War Department" which "has
greatly prejudiced the House against the proposal for a
Continental Army." Moreover, it made it clear to Mr.
Garrison that the President was not in sympathy with
many of his views. Therefore, he very promptly sent
his resignation to the President and it was accepted with
"sincere regrets."
The disagreement in the Cabinet was only a part of
that larger disagreement that was evident everywhere —
in Congress, on the streets, in public meetings, and in
the press.
Army officers were charged with exercising undue in
fluence in order "to ruin and destroy the National
Guard," and it was prophesied that a large standing
army tn the hands "of these Regular Army officers"
would lead "straight toward the bottomless abyss of
oblivion, into which every free nation which has pre
ceded us disappeared."
Moreover, every attempt to strengthen the National
Guard was vigorously assailed. Its advocates were ridi
culed and every measure or amendment that favored the
militia was classed as "pork barrel," meaning, of course,
that Members preferred a little provincial graft to a
strong standing army.
These two extreme views serve to show the problem

400 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
that confronted the Members and Senators in the spring
of 1916, when they undertook to deduce from conflicting
and hostile public sentiment a imiversal rule that would
appear just to all.
However, Congress must find some way out of the
difficulty. The first step was taken by the House on
February 7, when two minor bills were passed. One
provides for adding about 300 midshipmen to the enter
ing classes at the Naval Academy. The other authorized
the equipping of the navy yards at New York and
Mare's Island for the construction of two battleships
already authorized. These bills were passed without a
dissenting vote. The cheerful feature of the advocates'
program was seen in the acts of Speaker Clark, Democrat,
and Minority Leader Mann, Republican. Both were
fighting side by side for the measures. Preparedness was
not a partisan issue.
The great fight was over the reorganization of the
Army, not over the increase asked for in the Navy. The
Hay plan, the Chamberlin plan, and the War Department
plan were before the Congress and the people of the
nation. These three plans were discussed and revised
and amended through March and April. But tn May
the danger from Mexico became more portentous. We
had a long border across which the bloody hand of war
had already been extended. The President had said that
we did not have troops sufficient to patrol the border.
The renewal of the submarine warfare held up grave

NATION FOR MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 40I
dangers to this nation and a break with Germany was
threatening. Still Congress argued and amended and
debated. But still it was made to appear that we were
either threatened by a Standing Army, "the bottomless
abyss of obUvion"; or by a National Guard, the selflsh
greed of "pork barrel" legislation and state graft.
The demand for preparedness became more and more
insistent. A monster parade was planned in New York
to give expression to the feelings of the people, and on
May 13 approximately 140,000 persons of all grades of
life and of all trades and professions from bankers to
industrial workers, fell in line and marched through
the streets. Mr. Thomas A. Edison, the great inventor,
was at the head of the procession.
New York's precedent was followed by Chicago with
a parade of about 125,000 and Boston with approximately
100,000. But Washington's great demonstration pre
sented the President of the United States with a flag in
his hand marching at the head of the procession. Flag
Day became "Preparedness Day" in hundreds of cities,
and immense crowds marched through the streets, thus
showing their interest in the question. Moreover, mayors
of nearly one hundred cities in nineteen states signed a
call for a preparedness convention to be held in Chat
tanooga, Tennessee, during the first week in June,
Everybody was discussing preparedness. Congress
was cartooned for being asleep, for being unable to act,
for being afraid of the Army officer, and for falling in

402 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
love vfith the "pork barrel." Every conceivable influ
ence was brought to bear on the nation's representatives
to urge them to act either this way or that in the defense
of the country.
Then finally, under this pressure, the two Houses
agreed on the last of May to a plan for the reorganization
of the Army and sent it to the President.
While the biU was lying on his table waiting for him
to sign it. President Wilson delivered an address at the
Memorial Day exercises held in Arlington National
Cemetery, May 31. On this occasion he made it clear
again that he did not believe in compulsory military
training. "I want to point out to you," he said, "the
only process of preparation which is possible for the
United States. It is possible for the United States to get
ready only if the men of suitable age and strength will
volunteer to get ready."
He reminded the people that the latest btU for the
reorganization of the Army was then lying on his table.
This had eome as the result of the great agitation
throughout the nation. Everybody seemed to be talking
preparedness. "I heard the President of the United States
Chamber of Commerce," he said, "report the
other evening on a referendum of 750 of the
Chambers of Commerce of the United States upon
the question of preparedness and he reported that

NATION FOR MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 403
99 per cent of them had voted in favor of
preparedness. ' '
Then he added:
"Very well, now we are going to apply the
acid test to those gentlemen and the acid test is
this: Will they give the young men in their
employment freedom to volunteer for this thing?
I wish the referendum had included that, because
that is of the essence of the matter."
In other words, how many of those business men, who
were amply able, would give the young men a vacation
or even keep them on the pay roll while they went into
training to offer their lives to the best advantage for
their country's welfare?
"It is all very well," he said, "to say that
somebody else must prepare, but are the business
men of this country ready themselves to lend a
hand and sacrifice an interest in order that we
may get ready? We shall have an answer to that
question in the next few months. A bill is lying
on my table now ready to be signed which bris
tles all over with that interrogation point, and I
want all the business men of the country to see

404 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
that interrogation point staring them in the
face. ' '
The President then returned to the White House to
consider the new act of Congress, and on June 3, he gave
it his approval and a large part of the preparedness
program had at last become a law.
The new act provides for an increase in the standing
army from a total enlisted strength of 100,000 to 175,000.
But this increase is to be made "in five annual incre
ments, each of which shall be, in each grade of each army
corps and department, as nearly as practicable, one-fifth
of the total increase authorized." But in the event of
actual or threatened war or similar emergency ' ' in which
the public safety demands it the President is authorized
immediately to organize the entire increase authorized
by this Act, or so much thereof as he may deem
necessary." All the enlistments in the Regular Army "shall be
for a term of seven years." This provision was in the
old law. However, instead of spending four years in
actual service and three years in the Reserve, the terms
were reversed — three years in the Regular Army and
four years in the Reserve. Moreover, men who have high
rating in the Regular Army can leave active service at
the end of one year and go into the Reserves.
The Reserves may engage in ordinary civil occupations,
but will be subject at once to the call of the colors in

NATION FOR MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 405
time of danger. When the plan is in full operation, it
is claimed that "the number in the Reserves will be
theoretically one-third greater than the number in the
active army." Therefore, if the color strength of the
fighting force is 175,000, the Reserves will provide, in
addition, about 233,000 men, or a total of 408,000 soldiers
immediately prepared to respond to the President's call
in time of danger.
The Militia law in force before this act was passed
provided: "that the Militia shall consist of every able-
bodied male citizen of the respective states .
and every able-bodied male of foreign birth who has
declared his intention to become a citizen, who is more
than 18 and less than 45 years of age, and shall be
divided into two classes — the organized militia, to be
known as the National Guard . . . or by such other
designations as may be given them by the laws of the
respective States or territories; the remainder to be
known as the reserve Militia."
The new act provides for the reorganization of the
National Guard. But the greatest change made was in
providing for the pay of officers and soldiers. Therefore,
it became necessary to fix more definitely the size of the
National Guard in the respective states. The new act
provides, therefore, that the number of enlisted men of
the National Guard "shall be for each state in the pro
portion of two hundred such men for each Senator and
Representative. " But it may be increased "until a total

406 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
peace strength of not less than eight hundred enlisted
men for each Senator and Representative in Congress
shall have been reached." This provides, therefore, for
approximately 400,000 soldiers in the National Guard.
Thus after five years, when both the Regular Army and
the National Guard are fully organized, the nation will
have a defensive force of about 800,000 soldiers.
The law provides, moreover, that "each enlisted man
in the active list belonging to an organization of the
National Guard . . . shall receive compensation for
his services . . . at a rate equal to twenty-five
percentum of the initial pay now provided by law for
enlisted men of corresponding grades of the Regular
Army." But during periods of service the members of
the National Guard will receive the same pay as an
enlisted man of corresponding grade of the Regular
Army. The compensation provided for is based upon the num
ber of drills attended. Each enlisted man may receive
$48 a year. But the officers may receive amounts as
follows : Captain, $500 ; First Lieutenant, $240 ; Second
Lieutenant, $200.
Whenever Congress authorizes the use of the armed
forces of the United States, "for any purpose requiring
the use of troops in excess of those of the Regular Army,
the President may draft into the military service of
the United States to serve therein for the period of the

NATION FOR MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 407
war . . . any or all members of the National Guard
and of the National Guard Reserve."
These together with the Regular Army and the Federal
Reserves will place at the call of the nation about 800,000
soldiers, and within a few years the total may reach a
million men. Moreover, there is ample provision for
special training camps and for officers' training camps in
the colleges, and educational courses for the soldiers with
the colors to fit them for some trade on their return to
civil life.
No mUitary measure to compare with it has ever been
passed by Congress — ^not even during the Civil War, and
with its passage the greater part of the fight for pre
paredness was over.

CHAPTER XIX
THE NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS
Military preparedness was only one of the new issues
created by the war. Commerce, business, finance, edu
cation — all were greatly affected. The war, therefore,
had been in progress only a few weeks when commercial
preparedness became a live issue. In his campaign for
military preparedness. President Wilson said:
"By an oversight, for which it is difficult to
forgive ourselves, we did not provide ourselves
when there was proper peace and opportunity
with a mercantile marine, by means of which we
could carry the commerce of the world without
interfering with the natives of other nations which
might be engaged in a controversy not our own."
This oversight explains much of the depression in
business, the panic of the railroads, the closing of fac
tories, the decline in the price of cotton, the rise in the
cost of living, and the diminishing returns from the
tariff during the first months of the European war.
But how did this "oversight" have such a damaging
effect on the American people ?
408

NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 409
It was well known in trade circles even before the
outbreak of the European war that the ships of Euro
pean nations were really the carriers of Anlerican
commerce. Only about eight per cent of American for
eign trade was carried in American vessels. Moreover,
it is the established policy of this Government to draw
the larger part of its revenue from the tariff which is
dependent upon this trade. Therefore, any force that
affects trade affects, likewise, the whole commercial life
of the people and the revenue of the American Govern
ment. At the beginning of the war only six steamships out
of the three hundred, more or less, regularly engaged in
the great transatlantic trade between the United States
and Europe, were flying the American flag. Moreover,
there were no American steamship lines to the leading
countries of South America with the exception of one
freight line operated by the United States Steel Cor
poration with the chartered ships of the American-
Hawaiian Company from New York to Brazil. Such
was America's commercial preparedness to meet a great
crisis, when the world should have been her trade unit
and vessels flying the American flag should have crowded
all the seas.
The vessels of Germany and England were supreme
on the seas. However, at the outbreak of the war the
ships of Germany were at once bottled up at home or
interned in foreign ports to lie idle until the end of the

410 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
war. The vessels of England were now the servants of
the war. Many were converted into naval auxiliaries.
Many more were impressed into service as transports for
troops. The great transatlantic liners were carriers of
war munitions, and all were subject to such risks that
war insurance made it next to unprofitable to carry any
freight save war supplies. The result was natural — a
paralysis of American commerce and a stagnation in all
business circles, a decline in revenue and a resort to
new and vexatious modes of taxation, a discontent
throughout the nation and a widening of the breach
between citizens whose sympathies were running strongly
with their respective fatherland at war ; and not only was
the prosperity of the entire nation seriously disturbed,
but the neutrality of its citizens was greatly endangered.
More than a century ago Washington and Jefferson
warned this country that dependence upon foreign
nations as our sea carriers was a costly blunder, and so
quickly did American business respond to that warning
that by 1810 American ships were carrying over 90 per
cent of this country's produce. But in 1910, a century
later, foreign nations were carrying more than 90 per
cent of American trade, while American vessels were
carrying barely 8 per cent. It was the Civil War that
finally destroyed American commerce and gave to Eng
land the supremacy of the seas, and since that time
American business has developed under Governmental
protection. Therefore, it ceased to seek new fields of

NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 411
adventure where the protection of the Government was
wanting. Over and over again the question of subsidies to
American ships was proposed in Congress. This policy
was championed by the Republican party, under whose
guidance American business formed the habit of relying
on the Government for protection. But the Democratic
party, having a traditional abhorrence for such protec
tion whether pertaining to the tariff or to American built
ships, declared quadrennially in their platforms against
such a policy. It had become the habit of one party to
favor and the other to oppose protection, and a certain
mental habit was the. result, which had reached a fixed
ness so unprogressive, that Congress was almost unable
to act on any great public question if the element of
protection was discovered to be lurking somewhere within
its folds. Therefore, nothing was done to improve our
merchant marine.
Such a condition was not the result of an "oversight"
on the part of President Wilson. When the Democratic
party in 1912 notified him of his nomination for the
Presidency, he called the attention of the party then to
this great need, and he was deeply in earnest when he
declared that, "without a great merchant marine we
cannot take our rightful place in the commerce of the
world." "Merchants," he said, "who must depend upon

,412 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
the carriers of rival mercantile nations to carry
their goods to market are at a disadvantage in
mercantile trade too manifest to need to be
pointed out; and our merchants will not long
suffer themselves — ought not to suffer them
selves — to be placed at such a disadvantage. Our
industries have expanded to such a point that
they will burst their jackets if they cannot find
a free outlet to the markets of the world ; and they
cannot find such an outlet unless they be given
ships of their own to carry their goods — ships that
will go the routes they want them to go — and
prefer the interests of America in their sailing
orders and their equipment."
He was arguing then for a preparedness that would
make America supreme in the commercial world. But
there was another reason why he urged the Democratic
party to think seriously of this matter.
"The very fact that we have at last taken
the Panama Canal seriously in hand and are
vigorously pushing it toward completion is elo
quent of our reawakened interest in international
trade. We are not building the canal and pour
ing out millions upon millions upon its con
struction merely to establish a water connec
tion between the two coasts of the continent,

NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 413
important and desirable as that may be, particu
larly from the point of view of naval defense.
It is meant to be a great international highway.
It would be a little ridiculous if we should build
it and then have no ships to send through it.
There have been years when not a single ton
of freight passed through the great Suez Canal
in an American bottom, so empty are the seas
of our ships and seamen. We must mean to put
an end to that kind of thing or we should not
be cutting a new canal at our very doors merely
for use of our men-of-war. We shall not manage
the revival by the mere paltry device of tolls.
We must build and buy ships in competition with
the world. We can do it if we will but give our
selves leave."
When these words were uttered, however, they had
little, if any, effect upon the public mind. The people
were thinking of the tariff, and the currency, and trusts,
and monopolies. The Republican party was in favor of
a merchant marine, but it would establish it by means
of subsidies. The Democratic party was in favor of a
merchant marine, but a part would have private indi
viduals spend their own money for it, while another
part would have the Government go into the business
and own and operate vessels of its own. Thus between

414 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
"subsidies" and "socialistic" schemes of governmental
ownership, the Fathers stood still, and when the great
war came, the advice of the leading statesmen, from
George Washington to Woodrow Wilson, arose as a
protest against the conduct of political parties and the
inactivity of American business ; for a nation of a hun
dred million people was without ships with which to
move its goods, keep industry alive, and supply the
homes of the world with the necessities of life.
At the outbreak of the war, therefore, immediate action
became extremely necessary. Several temporary meas
ures that gave some relief were passed before the Long
Congress closed.
The war, however, had affected international trade by
creating demands for a new class of goods which America
was preeminently prepared to supply. But the few
available vessels for this transatlantic trade were loaded
almost exclusively with only one class of goods — war
supplies — ^while the products of all the other many in
dustries of America suffered. Even in times of peace
America's few vessels could carry only a small per cent
of our trade. But now that America had become the
great supply nation of the world, a large part of the
ships of the world were tied up or destroyed, and Amer
ica was as helpless to market many of her products as
Germany, the blockaded nation, was to receive them.
We had to depend, therefore, upon one of the great
belligerents. Great Britain, to carry our commerce, and

NEED OP COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 415
neutrality was by no means so easy to preserve because
of this dependence upon one of the leading nations at
war. So great was the need that the Administration con
sidered establishing a government-owned steamship cor
poration, and proposed a bill authorizing the creation
at once of a corporation, 51 per cent of whose stock
should be owned by the United States, for the purchase
and operation of merchant vessels. It was proposed that
this corporation purchase the German vessels tied up in
American waters. But such a protest was raised by the
Allies of Europe, on the grounds that this would be
supplying Germany with funds to prosecute the war,
that the idea was finally abandoned. "It is one of the
recognized principles of international law that merchant
ships must not pass from the flag of a belligerent to the
flag of a neutral, for the mere purpose of avoiding risk
or for evasion of such inconveniences as are created by
a state of maritime warfare." But there was no danger
of this nation 's buying foreign vessels. Although extraor
dinary conditions demanded extraordinary measures.
Congress became panicky on the subject of a government-
owned shipping corporation, and adjourned leaving this
question to be made the leading issue when the next ses
sion opened in December.
But how were the wheat, and cotton, and com, and
steel, and munitions of war, and a thousand other articles
to be shipped to Europe? Our ships were few and the

416 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
risk was great. In the meantime the cotton planters of
the South were receiving seven cents for their cotton,
stocks and bonds were not even rated, and there was a
considerable falling off in the government revenue. The
Treasury Department, however, was authorized to create
a Bureau of Marine Risk Insurance with power to insure
American vessels against the risks of war. But how few
American vessels !
The second session of the 63rd Congress assembled
December 8, 1914. The Members and Senators had had
a little more than a month in which to rest up from the
Long Congress and to think over the question of Mer
chant Marine, a subject, as Mr. Wilson said, "much
talked about but little acted upon." Industrial and
commercial demoralization was so severe that it was a
foregone conclusion before the Senators and Members
returned to Washington that Mr. Wilson was planning
to make the question of Merchant Marine the important
issue of the short session of Congress.
It was no surprise to Congress, therefore, when Mr.
Wilson appeared and pushed the need of a merchant
marine ahead of military preparedness and every other
issue. Senators and Members remembered the bitter
fight of the previous session, and when he began speak
ing, "Ship Subsidy" looked across the hall at "Govern
ment Ownership," and each knew tha;t the President was
calling the hosts to battle again and that another great
fight was scheduled.

NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 417
"War has interrupted not only the means of
trade but also the processes of production," he
said. "In Europe it is destroying men and
resources wholesale and upon a scale unprece
dented and appalling. There is reason to fear
that the time is near, if it be not already at
hand, when several of the countries of Europe
will find it difficult to do for their people what
they have hitherto been always easily able to
do, — ^many essential and fundamental things. At
any rate, they will need our help and our mani
fold services as they have never needed them
before; and we should be ready, more fit and
ready than we have ever been.
It is of equal consequence that the nations
whom Europe has usuaUy supplied with innum
erable articles of manufacture and commerce of
which they are in constant need and without
which their economic development halts and
stands still, can now get only a small part of
what they formerly imported, and eagerly look
on us to supply their all but empty markets.
This is particularly true of our own neighbors,
the States, great and small, of Central and South
America. Their lines of trade have hitherto run
chiefly athwart the seas, not to our ports but to

418 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
the ports of Great Britain and of the older con
tinent of Europe. I do not stop to inquire why,
or to make any comment on probable causes.
What interests us just now is not the explana
tion but the fact, and our duty and opportunity
is in the presence of it. Here are markets which
we must supply, and we must find the means of
action. The United States, this great people for
whom we speak and act, should be ready, as
never before, to serve itself and to serve man
kind; ready with its resources, its energies, its
forces of production, and its means of distribu
tion." He then told Congress what each member
already knew: that we were totally unprepared
"to mobilize our resources at once" and that we
were unable "to use them immediately and at
their best, without delay and without waste."
"To speak plainly," he said, "we have greatly
erred in .the way in which we have stinted and
hindered the development of our merchant ma
rine. And now when we need ships, we have
not got them. ' '
The American people were helpless victims to the
rapacity of foreign shipping combines. Therefore, he

NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 419
was asking Congress to correct its mistake of the past
and consider the matter in a serious light.
"How are we to carry our goods to the empty
markets of which I have spoken if we have not
the ships?" he asked. "How are we to build
up a great trade if we have not the certain and
constant means of transportation upon which
all profitable and useful commerce depends ? And
how are we to get the ships if we wait for the
trade to develop without them? To correct the
many mistakes by which we have discouraged and
all but destroyed the merchant marine of the
country, to retrace the steps by which we have,
it seems almost deliberately, withdrawn our flag
from the seas, except where, here and there, a
ship of war is bidden to carry it or some wan
dering yacht displays it, would take a long time
and involve many detailed items of legislation,
and the trade which we ought immediately to
handle would disappear or find other channels
while we debated the items. ' '
He then touched upon a very delicate question. He
told Congress of the subsidies that had been voted to
railroads when we needed long lines of railroads.

420 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
"We look upon this with regret now, because
the subsidies led to many scandals, of which we
are ashamed." "However, the roads had to
be built," he said, "but if we had to do it over
again, we should of course build them, but in
another way." And then he proposed another
way of providing means of transportation : ' ' The
pending shipping bill which was discussed at the
last session, but as yet has been passed by neither
house." "In my judgment," he said, "such legislation
is imperatively needed and cannot wisely be post
poned. The Government must open these gates
of trade, and open them wide; open them before
it is altogether profitable to open them, or alto
gether reasonable to ask private capital to open
them at a venture. It is not a question of the
Government monopolizing the field. It should
take action to make it certain that transporta
tion at reasonable rates will be promptly pro
vided, even where the carriage is not at first
profitable; and then, when the carriage has be
come sufficiently profitable to attract and engage
private capital, and engage it in abundance, the
Government ought to withdraw. I very earnestly
hope that the Congress will be of this opinion.

NEED OP COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 421
and that both Houses will adopt this exceedingly
important bill."
But Congress did not take the President's view point.
Their minds could not possibly get away from "sub
sidies" and "government ownership." They would
neither accept the President's program nor suggest a
better one. Since the government-managed idea was so
objectionable, Mr. Wilson modified his first biU and
advocated purchasing ships and leasing them to indi
viduals or to corporations. He consulted commercial
companies and captains of industry; he reasoned with
Congressmen and Senators, and suggested alterations.
The House acted promptly, but the Senate was stubborn.
The President was in favor of a bold policy — one that
would equip this country with merchant ships. But they
were afraid of his boldness.
Soon it became apparent that a partisan fight was
being made against his plan to relieve the congestion
in this country. There were rumors afloat that certain
senators were determined to defeat his measure at all
hazards, even if they had to talk it to death. Not
since the lobbyists were so active against the tariff bill
had the President shown so much feeling. He was the
guest of the Jackson Club of Indianapolis, January 8,
and in his address that evening he took the opportunity
to pay his respects to the Senators who were openly
plotting to defeat the Merchant Marine bill, and, then.

422 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
he restated a part of his reasons for advocating so
strongly the bill that was drawn to give America ade
quate shipping facilities.
"Do you know, gentlemen," he said, "that the
ocean freight rates have gone up in some in
stances to ten times their ordinary figures, and
that the farmers of the United States, those who
raise grain and those who raise cotton — these
things that are absolutely necessary to the world
as well as to ourselves — cannot get any profit
out of the great prices that they are willing to
pay for these things on the other side of the sea
because the whole profit is eaten up by the extor
tionate charges for ocean carriage? The mer
chants and farmers of this country must have
ships to carry their goods, and just at the present
moment there is no way of getting them except
through the instrumentality of the Shipping
Bill." However, as the debate dragged along, the opposition
was more determined than ever, and on the first real
test, a deadlock in the Senate, 48 to 48, was the result.
Day after day friends of the measure sought to break
the deadlock. Immediate relief was demanded since
Congress would expire by limitation on March 4. There
fore, the President did not have the months before him

NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 423
in which to exercise that patience that was his tower of
strength tn the old fight on the tariff and the currency.
The Senate balked, and again the vote was 48 to 48. Then
the 4th of March came, and Congress adjourned, having
done Uttle to relieve the distress.
Mr. Wilson did not cease to agitate the question and
to inform the public of the cause of much of the business
depression. But many people were still hostile to his
policy on the ground that it was ' ' socialistic. ' '
When the Pan-American Conference met in Wash
ington in May, 1915, the delegates from the Latin Ameri
can Republics were welcomed to the Capitol of the United
States by the President. In his address he referred to
the greatest obstacle in the way of forming a great Pan-
American Union.
"There is one thing," he said, "that stands in
our way. You are more conversant with the cir
cumstances than I am. The thing that I have in
mind chiefly is that physical lack of means of
communication, the lack of vehicles, the lack of
ships, the lack of established routes of trade,
the lack of those things which are absolutely
necessary if we are to have true commercial
relations with one another; and I am perfectly
clear in my judgment that, if private capital
cannot soon enter upon the adventure of estab-

424 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
lishing these physical means of communication,
the Government must undertake to do so."
Again the press retorted that Mr. Wilson was urging
his "socialistic" schemes before the people. However,
what he said was: if private capital cannot bring the
needed relief, "The Government must undertake to do
so;" and he was talking to a people who had been in
the habit of getting American goods by way of Liverpool.
But the Senate was not in favor of the Government's
undertaking the job, and private capital was yet timid.
By early summer it was apparent that American busi
ness was becoming bolder than formerly. The large
demand for shipping facilities was coaxing some of the
timid capital into a merchant marine and by July 1,
1915, there were ' ' seventy-six steel merchant ships build
ing in American ship yards" and by December 1, one
hundred and twenty-six were ordered, "making a total
tonnage building of 761,511." However, only about 20
per cent of these new ships were for foreign trade, the
remainder being coast-wise vessels.
Many of these were built to take the place of old craft
drafted into foreign trade, while others were being con
structed in a manner to enable them to cross the seas if
occasion should arise. However, not all the vessels under
construction were for American ship owners. Many of
them were for neutral European nations. But never
before had American ship yards been so busy. This

NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 425
renewed activity was an argument advanced against the
administration's program.
In the meantime this nation had suffered in prestige
from a decline in commerce, in revenue, in agricultural
profits, and in industry. Mr. McAdoo, Secretary of the
Treasury, in an address delivered before the Chamber of
Commerce of Indianapolis, Indiana, on October 13, 1915,
spoke very plainly of the loss to this country as a result
of this great neglect, or oversight, or whatever it was
called. "This measure (the President's shipping bill) would
have been of inestimable service to the country had it
passed," he said, "because there was a superabundance
of purchasable ship tonnage which could have been
bought at that time and used with immense benefit to
American commerce during the past year. ' '
But, he declared,
"American business has paid dearly for the defeat
of that measure. I am sure that the increased and extor
tionate freight rates paid by our defenseless producers
and shippers in the past 12 months have exceeded sev
eral times the $40,000,000 which the shipping bill author
ized the Government to expend on merchant vessels. But
this is only a smaU part of the injury. Grave losses have
been sustained by our business men because they could
not ship at aU. Take lumber and manufacturers of wool
as an example. For the fiscal year 1914 our exports of
these products were, in round numbers, $99,000,000 ; for

426 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
the fiscal year 1915 they were, in round numbers,
$48,000,000, a decUne of $51,000,000. This was due
almost entirely to the lack of ships and prohibitory ocean
rates. Take coal as another instance. In the face of the most
extraordinary demand for our coal from Spain, Italy,
France, Argentina, and South America, our total exports
of coal for the fiscal year 1915 were, in roimd numbers,
$56,000,000, against $60,000,000 for 1914^-showing a
decline of $4,000,000 in the face of the greatest demand
in our history for our coal for foreign consumption.
France alone needs 40,000,000 tons of coal the next year.
We could supply it if we had the vessels. Think of the
stimulus to our coal and lumber industries and the profit
able employment it would give to labor if we had sup
plied the ships to secure this foreign trade for our pro
ducers. I could multiply instances, but it is unneces
sary. . .
"For the past year, because of the lack of American
ships and the scarcity of ocean tonnage generally, ocean
freights in the Atlantic have been extortionately high.
The normal rate of 4 cents per bushel for grain from
New York to Liverpool has been increased to 40 cents
per bushel. I do not have to argue with any intelligent
farmer that he gets less for his grain on the farm when
it costs 40 cents per bushel to ship it from New York to
Liverpool than when it costs only 4 cents per bushel for
the same service. The cotton producer in the South has

NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 427
suffered in greater degree. Ocean freight rates on cotton
have gone as high as $15 per bale from Galveston to
Europe, as against $2.50 per bale prior to the European
war. "Our farmers, because they produce the bulk of our
wealth as well as the bulk of our exports, ought to be
protected against extortionate ocean freight rates, and
ought to have the assurance of sufficient steamship service
and reasonable rates to secure fair treatment and enable
them at all times to compete in the open markets with
their rivals in the other great farm producing regions
of the world."
After a year of war it was becoming very clear to
many thoughtful men in both parties, that, even if pri
vate corporations should in the end supply the business
of this country with sufficient ships to handle its foreign
commerce, our shipping problems would by no means
be solved. The war had taught this nation one great
lesson; namely, that either the government should own
an adequate number of vessels, or should have such a
control of merchant marine companies that this nation
would not be embarrassed in times of war and the busi
ness of the country could not be injured at the will of
shipping companies. The Secretary of the Treasury was
pleading in his Indianapolis address for a regulation of
our ocean carriers similar to that of our railroads, and
he cited the conduct of the Pacific Mail Steamship Com
pany.

428 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
"Here is a company," he said, "which has operated
a service between San Francisco and the Orient for many
years. Our business men, manufacturers, and producers
have built up great trade interests with the Orient upon
the faith of this service. All of a sudden, without ade
quate notice, and with utter indifference to the injuries
that might be done to shippers and the interests of this
country, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company sells its
ships and announces that it will discontinue its service.
Suppose that the directors of the Union Pacific Railroad
Company should decide that they could make more money
for their stockholders by tearing up the rails of their
tracks and selling them and their locomotives and cars
to some belligerent government, because that belligerent
government is willing in time of war to pay fabulous
prices therefor, what do you suppose the indignant people
along the line of this railroad would do to the officers
and directors of that company? No common carrier on
land would be permitted to do such an arbitrary and
injurious thing as our common carriers on the high seas
may at any time do with impunity.
"The Pacific Mail people claim that the passage of
the Seamen's Bill forced them to discontinue business.
I am told that the Seamen 's Bill was not the mainspring
for the transfer of the Pacific Mail vessels. The Panama
Canal act, which denied railroads owning competitive
steamship lines the right to operate them through the
canal, and the fact that present abnormal rates for cargo

NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 429
space on the Atlantic, which made it possible for the
Pacific Mail to sell its ships at more than their real
value, was, I understand, the true cause of their sale. ' '
Mr. McAdoo gave figures to prove that "weight and
measure freight" between the Pacific and the Orient had
increased 200 per cent and that more freight was offered
at even these figures than steamship companies could
take. Notwithstanding these conditions, freight was piled
up at the ports to lie there from "six to eight months"
because of the lack of adequate shipping facilities.
The discussion of this question continued all summer
and fall. Our commercial preparedness was thoroughly
gone into, and many people became informed who had
never given the matter any consideration. The action
of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company in discontinuing
its service created another issue: Should a well-estab
lished line be permitted to alter its course so as to destroy
the business that had been built up as a result of the
establishment of such lines?
The campaign for military and naval preparedness had
created another issue : Should the American navy have
ready at its disposal merchant vessels so constructed as
to render essential service to battleships in time of war ?
Mr. McAdoo declared that "it is a fact, and every naval
expert will so testify, that a merchant marine naval auxil
iary is just as essential to the effectiveness of the navy,
considered as a complete fighting machine, as the guns
upon the decks of our battleships and the seamen upon

430 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
whose skill and valor the effectiveness of these guns
depends." This is true because battleships at sea must
be furnished with coal, provisions, and supplies of all
kinds. But in this country (at the outbreak of the
European war) individuals and corporations com
bined, owned only about 8 per cent of the number of
vessels required to carry American commerce even in
times of peace, to say nothing of our extra demand in
times of war.
The need of merchant vessels as auxiliaries to the bat
tleships and cruisers had been recognized for a number
of years. The Spanish American War brought this ques
tion home to the people of the United States, at a time
when this nation met with many difficulties and sus
tained considerable financial loss in securing ships for
transporting troops to Cuba. This argument was
brought out anew in the discussion of the problem in the
summer of 1915.
When the 64th Congress convened, December 7, it was
quite evident that other great issues created or brought
to the front by the war were intimately related to the
merchant marine. Military preparedness, commercial
preparedness, and a greater Pan American Union were
all dependent upon it. The new legislative program
embraced measures that would require the greatest wis
dom and patriotism in order to adjust them to the press
ing needs of the people.
At the opening of Congress, therefore, Mr. Wilson

NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 43I
again urged that body to enact an adequate shipping law.
He had said that he would not hold to his opinions if a
better way for improving the poor shipping facilities
could be shown. "But," he declared, "it is the best
way to do it until you show a better one. ' ' And since no
better way had been advanced, the growing demand for
better shipping facilities was giving support to his con
tention that the country needed that shipping bill.
"It is necessary," he said, "for many weighty
reasons of national efficiency and development,
that we should have a great merchant marine.^
The great merchant fleet we once used to make
us rich, that great body of sturdy sailors who
used to carry our flag into every sea, and who
were the pride and often the bulwark of the
nation, we have almost driven out of existence
by inexcusable neglect and indifference and by
a hopelessly blind and provincial policy of so-
called economic protection. It is high time we
repaired our mistake and resumed our commer
cial independence on the seas.
"For it is a question of independence. If
other nations go to war to seek to hamper each
other's commerce, our merchants, it seems, are
at their mercy, to do with as they please. We
must use their ships, and use them as they

432 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
determine. We have not ships enough of our
own. We cannot handle our own commerce on
the seas. Our independence is provincial, and
it is only on land and within our own borders.
We are not likely to be permitted to use even
the ships of other nations in rivalry of their own
trade, and are without means to extend our com
merce even where the doors are wide open and
goods desired. Such a situation is not to be
endured. It is of capital importance not only
that the United States should be its own carrier
on the seas and enjoy the economic independence
which only an adequate merchant marine would
give it, but also that the American hemisphere
as a whole should enjoy a like independence and
self-sufficiency, if it is not to be drawn into the
tangle of European affairs. Without such inde
pendence the whole question of our political unity
and self-determination is very seriously clouded
and complicated indeed.
"Moreover, we can develop no true or effective
American policy without ships of our own — not
ships of war, but ships of peace, carrying goods
and carrying much more; creating friendships
and rendering indispensable services to all inter
ests on this side of the water. They are the

NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 433
only shuttles that can weave the delicate fabric
of sympathy, comprehension, confidence, and
mutual dependence in which we wish to clothe
our policy of America for Americans.
"The task of building up an adequate mer
chant marine for America private capital must
ultimately undertake and achieve, as it has
undertaken and achieved every like task among
us in the past with admirable enterprise, intelli
gence, and vigor, and it seems to me a manifest
dictate of wisdom that we should promptly
remove every legal obstacle that may stand in
the way of this much-to-be-desired revival of our
old independence, and should facilitate in every
possible way the building, purchase, and Ameri
can registration of ships. But capital cannot
accomplish this task of a sudden. It must embark
upon it by degrees, as the opportunities of trade
develop. "Something must be done at once; done to open
routes and develop opportunities where they are
as yet undeveloped; done to open the arteries of
trade where the currents have not learned to
run — especially between the two American con
tinents, where they are, singularly enough, yet
to be created and quickened; and it is evident

434 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
that only the government can undertake such
beginnings and assume the initial financial risks.
When the risk has passed and private capital
begins to find its way in sufficient abundance into
these new channels, the Government may with
draw. But it cannot omit to begin. It should
take the first steps, and should take them at
once. Our goods must not lie piled up at our
ports and stored upon side tracks in freight
cars which are daily needed on the roads; must
not be left without means of transport to any for
eign quarter. We must not await the permission
of foreign shipowners and foreign Governments
to send them where we will.
"With a view to meeting these pressing neces
sities of our commerce and availing ourselves at
the earliest possible moment of the present unpar
alleled opportunity of linking the two Americas
together in bonds of mutual interest and service,
an opportunity which may never return again
if we miss it now, proposals will be made to the
present Congress for the purchase or construc
tion of ships to be owned and directed by the
Government similar to those made to the last
Congress, but modified in some essential particu
lars, I recommend these proposals to you for

NEED OP COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 435
your prompt acceptance with the more confidence
because every month that has elapsed since the
former proposals were made has made the neces
sity for such action more and more manifestly
imperative. This need was then foreseen; it is
now acutely felt and everywhere realized by those
for whom trade is waiting but who can find no
conveyance for their goods. I am not so much
interested in the particulars of the program as
I am in taking immediate advantage of the great
opportunity which awaits us if we will but act
in this emergency. In this matter, as in all
others, a spirit of common counsel should pre
vail, and out of it should come an early solution
of this pressing problem."
The President was still concerned for an immediate
relief. But the leading newspapers of the country
seemed to be satisfied with the progress of private cor
porations, and it is true that they were making tre
mendous progress. But the President's program em
braced considerably more than the mere moving of piled
up goods from American ports. He was pleading for
a merchant marine that would make America supreme
on the high seas and would take the world for our trade
unit. Moreover, he saw the necessity of hastening the
Pan-American Union and of making the trade lines

436 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
strong between the two western continents and he was
asking for a merchant marine under the control or own
ership of the nation that would establish permanent lines
of trade, and would offer at the same time a naval auxil
iary that would be our safety in times of war between
this nation and any other strong country.
It was pointed out by Mr. Redfield, the Secretary of
Commerce, that Great Britain was using about three
thousand merchant ships simply as attendants upon her
own fleet, and without them her great navy would be
helpless. He estimated that if we had to use our navy
on the seas today, about nine hundred merchant ships
of all kinds would be required for supply service.
In January Mr. Wilson held repeated conferences with
Senators and Members — ^with those who favored the old
bill, and then with those who opposed it. A new bill was
drawn which met the approval of many who had opposed
the old bill. The one feature in the old bill that was so
objectionable to many Members and Senators and that
caused the deadlock in the Senate was the Government
ownership feature. The new bill so modified that section
as to eliminate the possibility that the Government might
enter permanently into the shipping business, and pro
vided also that the naval auxiliaries might be leased to
shipping companies when not demanded for immediate
use of the navy.
Mr, Wilson had said that he was not "so much inter
ested in the particulars of the program as I am in taking

NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 437 '
immediate advantage of the great opportunity which
awaits us." And now that the agreement had been
reached, he insisted that the bill should be enacted as
soon as possible.
So many things had to be done in order to project this
nation forward into this new and extraordinary era, and
Congress seemed to be moving so slowly, too slowly, for
the welfare of the nation, that the President carried the
issues to the people. Military preparedness was only
one of the great problems that he discussed for the en
lightenment of the people. Commercial preparedness,
industrial preparedness, educational preparedness, the
need of a Pan-American Union, and a new interpretation
of the Monroe Doctrine — all were discussed. In other
words, he was blazing out new paths into the future and
caUing upon Congress to follow. He was imperative for
this nation to spring forward with energy and prepare
for changes which "no one can certainly foresee or con
fidently predict."
It was predicted that the bill so modified would be
enacted without delay. However, the renewal of the
submarine warfare by Germany, England's attitude to
ward our commerce, the preservation of the Monroe Doc
trine, and the revolution in Mexico brought military
preparedness to the front, and in spite of the great
demand for a merchant marine it now had to take second
place. However, President Wilson would not let it sleep in

438 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
the committee room. During the month of March he
began to urge the committees to push the bill, and early
in April he wrote to Mr. Claud Kitchin, the Democratic
Leader of the House :
"It would seem as if the whole movement for
our trade and industry waited a satisfactory solu
tion of our problem of transportation. That is
the reason why it seems to me that the shipping
bill should be pressed to an early passage."
Again it was pointed out that we were dependent upon
Great Britain for the carriage of the greatest part of
our commerce; that we were paying more than $300,-
000,000 to foreign steamship companies to carry Ameri
can commerce to the markets of the world; that if we
were to press into service all the available merchant ves
sels as naval auxiliaries, we would still lack about
500,000 tons "to meet the needs of our navy as it stands
today, without allowing for growth;" that we were
unable at present to seek foreign trade in new fields
without relying upon foreign vessels to carry our
goods; and that we had no shipping board with suffi
cient power to regulate shipping rates and practices
and establish and adjust rules of navigation. There
fore, Congress was urged to pass the biU.
Early in June, after the Senate and House had dis
posed of the Army Reorganization Bill, the Shipping BiU

NEED OF COMMERCIAL PREPAREDNESS 439
passed the House. It contained provision for a ship
ping board, the purchase or construction of vessels suit
able to the commercial requirements of the marine trade
of the United States, and "for use as naval auxiliaries or
army transports, or for other naval or military pur
poses. ' '
Moreover, it was provided that the Board, if it believes
that actual operation of ships by the Government is
needed, may form a corporation with a capital stock not
exceeding $50,000,000, and the Government through the
Board may own and control "not less than a majority"
of the capital stock.
This feature defeated the bill before. But in order to
make it less objectionable and win the support of certain
Senators and Members it was so modified as to limit the
government's ownership of the vessels to a term not
longer than "five years from the conclusion of the present
European war."
Congress had already waited too long. The tonnage,
owing to losses by the war and the use of merchant ves
sels as naval auxiliaries, had been reduced almost fifty
per cent. There were not enough ships available to carry
the world's trade, and America suffered because the
United States was the great supply nation. The allies
were now willing for the United States to buy the in
terned vessels of Germany and Austria. But those
nations were not disposed to sell. It is said that freight
was so high tn the spring of 1916 that "ships are paying

440 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
their cost in one voyage," and the demand was so great
that vessels were selling at four times their former book
value. It was claimed, furthermore, that every shipyard
in the world was booked ahead for four years. Such were
the conditions when the House a second time sent its
Shipping Bill to the Senate.

CHAPTER XX
THE NEED OF INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS
The one distinct purpose that President Wilson had
at the beginning of his administration was "to set the
business of the country free — hence the new tariff, the
Federal Reserve Act, the Anti- Trust Laws and Govern
ment regulation of business by Commission. But when
this great program was begun the world was at peace,
and the needful thing to be done was to restore the rule
of right and justice in the nation. However, eighteen
months after the outbreak of the war America had be
come first as the supply nation of the world, a new era
was at hand, and President Wilson declared that "our
thought is now inevitably of new things about which
formerly we gave ourselves little concern. We are now
thinking chiefly of our relations with the rest of the
world." American business, however, had not yet formed the
concept of the world as a trade unit. That was perhaps
due, for the most part, to the fact that America is a young
nation, and our resources are so vast, that from the time
of the Declaration of Independence to the present our
business men have been engaged in developing the re-
441

442 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
sources at hand, rather than in seeking new fields abroad.
The great combinations and corporations that the people
complained of drew their wealth from exploiting the
resources of this continent for the use of a comparatively
few individuals. No other nation produced so much
per capita wealth within its ovm borders.
It is well known today that Great Britain is mistress
of the seas and her industries touch every nation of every
continent of the globe. But England's land has been in
the hands of enlightened people for many centuries. The
territory of England and Wales is about the size of North
Carolina but her population is about 40,000,000, or nearly
one-half the population of Continental United States. It
was necessary for other countries to furnish resources for
the inhabitants of England to develop. Such conditions
made the Englishman cosmopolitan commercially. How
ever, the United States had more resources than her own
inhabitants could develop within a century. There was
no necessity apparently for Americans to seek oppor.
tunities in other lands. Therefore, Americans, with
a few exceptions, became provincial commercially.
Notwithstanding these facts our business men have
been short sighted. The lack of a merchant marine was
a striking evidence of our short-sightedness, and the neg
lect of our bankers to establish banks in foreign countries
to meet the demands of an international currency or
foreign exchange was a proof of our provincialism.
Therefore, it was not enough to set business free in the

INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 443
nation. It was necessary to project it forward in the
world so that it might lose its provincialism, that it might
have a better perspective, and that it might be able to
form the necessary concept of the world as our trade unit.
For this great opportunity American business needed to
find its second wind.
Even before the outbreak of the war the great indus
trial organizations, instead of keeping large numbers of
paid lobbyists at the door of Congress as of old, were
learning to go openly and direct to the White House for
advice. The safest way to the heart of Congress was
found to be through the White House.
Moreover, after the outbreak pf the war, the large
industrial organizations seemed to have adopted the
policy of meeting in Washington in order to have the
counsel of the Administration. Every phase of our indus
trial life felt the need of sympathy and the moral sup
port of the people. How to mobilize our resources for
this new opportunity was the great problem.
The American Electric Railway Association met in
Washington, January 29, 1915; President Wilson was
its guest and he assured its members that "we are upon
the eve of a new era of enterprise and prosperity."
Although subsequent events have proved that the Presi
dent knew what he was talking about, captains of in
dustry shook their heads, and the press in many sections
of the country asked to be shown the proof of his state
ment. Many men besides the President, however, were

444 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
aware of this fact, that unless the business of the country
could get more life and courage into it, the European
war would really be disastrous to America. The Presi
dent, therefore, took this opportunity to arouse the busi
ness men of the nation :
"Enterprise," he declared, "has been checked
in this country for almost twenty years, because
men were moving among a maze of interrogation
points. They did not know what was going to
happen to them. All sorts of regulations were
proposed, and it was a matter of uncertainty
what sort of regulation was going to be adopted."
He then directed the attention of the business men of
the country to the future and to the pressing needs grow
ing out of the war. He urged them to go forward.
"Nobody henceforth," he said, "will be afraid of or
suspicious of any business merely because it is big."
The new Anti-trust laws had marked out the way for
business and the Federal Trade Commission stood ever
ready to point out the pitfalls, and there was no reason
why "the mists and miasmic airs of suspicion that have
filled the business world have not been blown away."
Moreover, he assured the people of this country that
no individual or enterprise is going "to be barred from
the contest" because it is big and strong and no one is
"going to be penalized because you are big and strong."

INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 445
President Wilson believed that American business
should take the world for its parish and that the directors
of American business should take courage and launch
forward into these many new fields. He was greatly con
cerned now over dispelling all suspicions, and this ad
dress had considerable effect. Although it contained
little that was new, it was now delivered at the psycho
logical moment. It was what business men wanted to
hear, for they wanted to launch forward now as much
as they did not want to when the anti-trust bills were
before the Congress.
A new temper seemed to be noticeable everywhere.
There was a return of business activity. The war orders
were giving new life to trade, and America was just
beginning to adjust itself to the new conditions and to
look to the future. The President's words, therefore,
were encouraging.
While this address was still fresh in the minds of the
people, another great business carried its National Asso
ciation to Washington. This was the United States
Chamber of Commerce which assembled at the Capitol on
February 3. The President was its guest likewise, and
he had reserved for that occasion a declaration which
was in some respects more important, perhaps, than any
other that he had delivered. Just before the outbreak of
the European war he stood in Independence Hall,
Philadelphia, and declared that "liberty does not
consist in mere general declarations of the rights of

446 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
man. It consists in the translation of these declarations
into definite action." And in this address he gave a
liberal translation of former declarations meet for
present action. The times demanded it, and his patrio
tism prompted it. After discussing the many ways that
the Government of the United States was aiding and
could aid the people, he drove straight to the mark
and literally astonished the industrial world and the
entire nation by his frank utterances, coming as they
did so soon after the passage of the anti-trust laws.
"There is a specific matter about which I, for
one, want your advice," he began. "Let me say,
if I may say it without disrespect, that I do not
think you are prepared to give it right away.
You will have to make some rather extended
inquiries before you are ready to give it.
"What I am thinking of is competition in for
eign markets as between the merchants of dif
ferent nations. I speak of the subject with a
certain degree of hesitation, because the thing
farthest from my thought is taking advantage
of nations now disabled from playing their full
part in that competition and seeking a sudden
selfish advantage because they are for the time
being disabled. Pray, believe me, that we ought
to eliminate all that thought from our minds

INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 447
and consider this matter as if we and the other
nations were in the normal circumstances of
commerce. ' '
The anti-trust laws had one great purpose — to destroy
monopoly in America and restore competition. However,
when American business began to wake up to the pos
sibilities of foreign trade, it was discovered that the
anti-trust laws in providing for competition at home,
seemed to make it impossible for American business to
combine and compete with foreign business. This was
the point that the President was coming to in his
address. "There is a normal circumstance of com
merce," he said, "in which we are apparently at
a disadvantage. Our anti-trust laws apparently —
I say apparently, because I see the Attorney
General is present, and I am not sure I am
right — the anti-trust laws of the United States
apparently make it iUegal for merchants in the
United States to form combinations for the pur
pose of strengthening themselves in taking ad
vantage of the opportunities of foreign compe
tition. "That is a very serious matter, for this
reason: There are some corporations, and some

448 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
firms for all I know, whose business is great
enough and whose resources are abundant enough
to enable them to establish selling agencies in
foreign countries, to enable them to extend the
long credits which in some cases are necessary in
order to keep the trade they desire ; which enables
them in other words, to organize their business
in foreign territory in a way which the smaller
man cannot afford to do. His business has not
grown big enough to permit him to establish
selling agencies. The export commission mer
chants, perhaps, tax him a little too high to make
that an available competitive means of conducting
and extending his business.
"The question arises, therefore, how are the
smaller merchants, how are the younger and
weaker corporations, going to get a foothold as
against the combinations which are permitted and
even encouraged by foreign governments in this
very field of competition? There are govern
ments which, as you know, distinctly encourage
the formation of great combinations in any
particular field of commerce in order to maintain
selling agencies and to extend long credits and
to use and maintain the machinery which is
necessary for the extension of business.

INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 449
"American merchants feel that they are at a
very considerable disadvantage in contending
against that. The matter has been many times
brought to my attention, and I have each time
suspended judgment, because in this matter 'I
am from Missouri,' and I want to be shown this:
I want to be shown how that combination can
be made and conducted in a way which won't
close it against the use of everybody who wants
to use it. A combination has a tendency to
exclude new members.
"When a group of men get control of a good
thing, they do not see any particular point in
letting other people into the good thing. What
I should like very much to be shown, therefore,
is a method of cooperation which is not a
method of combination — not that the two words
are mutually exclusive, but we have come to have
a special meaning attached to the word 'com
bination.' Most of our combinations have a
safety lock, and you have to get the combination
to get in. I want to know how these cooperative
methods can be adopted for the benefit of every
body who wants to use them, and I say frankly,
if I can be shown that, I am for them. If I
cannot be shown that, and I hasten to add that I

450 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
hope — fully expect — that I can be shown that, I
am against them. You, as I have just now
intimated, probably cannot show it to me off hand,
but, by the method that you have the means of
using, you certainly ought to be able to throw
a vast deal of light upon it."
The President very frankly told the business men of
the nation that "our anti-trust laws apparently" place
our merchants at a disadvantage in competing with
European business in foreign fields. Merchants had dis
cussed the matter many times with him, and he was
aware of the fact that business men really felt that they
were "at a very considerable disadvantage."
The foreign business of all nations has been practicaUy
made over within the past two decades, during which
time American business has been in sharp conflict with
the American government, not with foreign business,
and many men had reached the conclusion that the con
flict (sometimes it was called persecution) was due to
the government 's fear of the size of business rather than
to the methods of business. But when the European
war threw the burden of the world's business on the
shoulders of Americans, it was readily seen that our
domestic policy was insufficient, and that the old laws
must be modifled so that American shoulders could bear
the burden. Either this, or we must remain provincials.
If necessary, the tariff laws and the anti-trust laws should

INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 451
be SO amended as to make it possible for American busi
ness to compete with foreign business, not merely to
cover the period of the present great war, but especially
to be prepared to do at least the part of a great nation
in the world's business at the close of the war. The
anti-trust laws that were framed to restore competition
in America were needful. But they must now be so
shaped that America could compete fairly with the
rest of the world.
When this address was deUvered, President Wilson was
completing the first half of his administration. We were
then tn the midst of world affairs of such magnitude that
old rules wereUnadequate and new adjustments were very
necessary, and he was declaring that he was willing to
start any readjustments if he could be shown the right
way. It fired his patriotism to think of Americans lead
ing in the world's business, and he became impatient
when he beheld what seemed to him to be the indifference
of Americans to the great opportunity.
The 63d Congress came to a close on March 4, 1915.
MUitary preparedness, commercial preparedness and
industrial preparedness were the great issues that were
coining before the nation. But there was to be no more
legislation for nine months. Meanwhile, the industrial
life was on the rebound. An unusual buoyancy was
noticeable everywhere. The Department of Com
merce was maintaining traveling specialists abroad
to study foreign tariffs and foreign trade, and

452 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
Mr. Redfield, the Secretary of Commerce, work
ing in cooperation with commercial organizations
in America, was seeking to direct American busi
ness into foreign fields. However, he learned
what Mr. Wilson had feared, that "the present law
plays into the hands of the larger concerns and shuts
out smaller ones from important markets ' ' and Mr. Red-
field advised that "provisions should be made whereby
such concerns may, with due safeguards against
monopoly, cooperate in the foreign field. To refuse this
for fear of monopoly is to say that the larger concerns
shall alone hold the lucrative foreign markets and that
the far larger number of smaller houses shall be shut
out." Moreover, it was a growing conviction that even
the large concerns would not be able to compete suc
cessfully with European business unless the laws of
America were so modified as to place American business
on an equal footing with European business.
America now had little competition, to speak of, and
the volume of American foreign business was limited to
the capacity of the carrying vessels of the seas. But
when peace should come, and the war orders were all
stopped, and the nations of Europe should re-enter the
world's commerce with their advantageous laws to aid
them, the President and the business men of this nation
felt that America should be prepared for the emergency.
Therefore, industrial preparedness had become a real
issue when the 64th Congress convened on December 7,

INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 453
1915. President Wilson, then, very frankly told Con
gress that the time had come for America to mobilize
her resources.
"While we speak of the preparation of the
nation to make sure of her security and her
effective power," he said, "we must not fall into
the patent error that her real strength comes
from armaments aud mere safeguards of written
law. It comes, of course, from her people, their
energy, their success in their undertakings, their
free opportunity to use the natural resources of
our great home land and of the lands outside
our continental borders which look to us for
protection, for encouragement, and for assist
ance in their development; from the organiza
tion and freedom and vitality of our domestic
life. The domestic questions which engaged the
attention of the last Congress are more vital
to the nation in this its time of test than at any
other time. We cannot adequately make ready
for any trial of our strength unless we wisely
and promptly direct the force of our laws into
these all-important fields of domestic action. A
matter which it seems to me we should have very
much at heart is the creation of the right instru-

454 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
mentalities by which to mobilize our economic
resources in any time of national necessity."
He then spoke of his authority to ' ' call into systematic
consultation" men of recognized leadership to bring
about prompt cooperation of manufacturers and those
who possess technical skill in order to aid the Government
in the solution of particular problems of defense. But
he added :
"What is more important is, that the industries
and resources of the country should be available
and ready for mobilization. It is the more im
peratively necessary, therefore, that we should
promptly devise means for doing what we have
not yet done: that we should give intelligent
federal aid and stimulation to industrial voca
tional education, as we have long done in the
large field of our agricultural industry; that, at
the same time that we safeguard and conserve
the natural resources of the country we should
put them at the disposal of those who will use
them promptly and intelligently, as was sought
to be done in the admirable bills submitted to the
last Congress from its committees on the public
lands, bills which I earnestly recommend in prin
ciple to your consideration; that we should put

INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 455
into early operation some provision for rural
credits which will add to the extensive borrow
ing facilities already afforded the farmer by the
Reserve Bank Act, adequate instrumentalities by
which long credits may be obtained on land mort
gages; and that we should study more carefuUy
than they have hitherto been studied the right
adaptation of our economic arrangements to
changing conditions.
"Many conditions about which we have repeat
edly legislated are being altered from decade to
decade, it is evident, under our very eyes, and
are likely to change even more radically and more
rapidly in the days immediately ahead of us,
when peace has returned to the world and the
nations of Europe once more take up their tasks
of commerce and industry with the energj" of
those who must bestir themselves to build anew.
Just what these changes will be no one can cer
tainly foresee or confidently predict. There are
no calculable, because no stable, elements in
the problem. The most we can do is to make
certain that we have the necessary instrumentali
ties of information constantly at our service so
that we may be sure that we know exactly what
we are dealing with when we come to act, if it

456 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
should be necessary to act at all. We must first
certainly know what it is that we are seeking to
adapt ourselves to."
America was so affected by the war that it was exceed
ingly difficult for the people of this nation to take a clear
perspective of any important policy. Business was fuU
of energy, but it seemed to be unable to project itself in
medias res. Apparently it was content to handle the
business that came to our shores; and, to be sure, that
was enormous. At the same time the conditions pre
sented a gloomy outlook to those who were students of
economic forces. Our balance of trade was enormous.
But even a balance of trade might be an evil. Moreover,
the nation was making little preparation to protect our
markets against a fierce foreign competition at the end
of the war, and business was slow to venture from our
shores. This gloomy outlook caused the President, there
fore, to take the whole matter to the people. A few days
after he delivered the above messEige to Congress, he was
the guest of the Chamber of Commerce of Columbus,
Ohio (December 10) and, there, he spoke, again, some
very plain words to the business men of America.
He referred briefly to the history of American
commerce and then said: "We seem deliber
ately to have chosen to be provincial, to shut our
selves in upon ourselves, to exploit our own

INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 457
resources for our own benefit rather than for
the benefit of the rest of the world, and we did
not return to address ourselves to foreign com
merce until our domestic development had so
nearly burst its jacket that there was no straight-
jacket in which it could be confined."
Then he spoke of the crying need for an outlet into
the currents of the world. But he said there was some
thing more to be done than to modify the anti-trust laws.
American business must have a new spirit. It must lose
its provinciaUsm.
"Until the recent banking act," he said, "you
could not find, so far as I am informed, a branch
of an American bank anywhere outside of the
United States, whereas other nations of the world
were doing their banking business on foreign
shores through the instrumentality of their own
bankers. I was told at a meeting of the American
Bankers Association that much of the foreign
banking business, the business in foreign ex
change, had to be done in our ports by branches
of Canadian banks established among ourselves.
Being literalists, we interpreted the national
banking act to mean, since it did not say that
the national banks could engage in this business,

458 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
that they could not engage in it, and some of the
natural, some of the necessary functions of bank
ing were not performed by American bankers.
"I refer to this merely as an evidence of what
I take to call our provincialism. Moreover, dur
ing this period this very interesting thing has
happened, that American business men were so
interested to be protected against the competition
of other business men in other countries that
they proceeded by organization to protect them
selves against each other and engaged in the
politics of organization rather than in the states
manship of enterprise."
He then spoke of the value of organization in business.
But he said that the only legitimate object of organiza
tion is efficiency. Any other makes it illegal. He then
directed the attention of his hearers to the future.
"It looks as if we would be the reserve force
of the world," he said, "in respect to financial
and economic power. It looks as if in the days
of reconstruction and recuperation which are
ahead of Europe we would have to do many of
the things, many of the most important things
which have hitherto been done through European
instrumentalities. No man can say just how

INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 459
these matters are going to shape themselves,
but every man can see that the opportunity of
America is going to be unparalleled and that the
resources of America must be put at the service
of the world as they were never put at its service
before. "Therefore, it is imperative that no impedi
ments should be put in the way of commerce
with the rest of the world. You cannot sell unless
you buy. Commerce is only an exalted kind of
barter. The bartering may not be direct, but
directly or indirectly it is an exchange of com
modities and the payment of the balances; and,
therefore, there must be no impediments to the
free flow of the currents of commerce back and
forth between the United States, upon which
the world will in part depend, and the other
countries which she must supply and serve."
It might be necessary to modify the anti-trust laws
and it might be wise to establish a tariff board. But
whatever step was necessary, he wanted this nation to
take it. However, it did have one instrumentality in
the new banking law "such as this has never had before
for the ebb and flow and free course of the national
process of credit." And he added "for the first time
we are not bound up in an inelastic currency. Our credit

460 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
is current and that current will run through all the chan
nels of commerce in every part of the world."
"America now may take peaceful conquest of
the world," he concluded, "and I say that with
all the greater confidence, gentlemen, because I
believe, and hope that the belief does not spring
merely from hope, that when the present great
conflict in Europe is over, the world is going
to wear a different aspect. I do not believe that
there is going to be any patched-up peace. I
believe that thoughtful men of every country and
of every sort will insist that, when we get peace
again, we shall have guarantees that it wiU
remain, and that the instrumentalities of justice
will be exalted above the instrumentalities of
force. I believe that the spirit which has hitherto
reigned in the hearts of Americans and in like
people everywhere in the world, will assert itself
once for all in international affairs, and that if
America preserves her poise, preserves her self-
possession, preserves her attitude of friendliness
toward all the world, she may have the privilege,
whether in one form or another, of being the
mediating influence by which these things may
be induced.

INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 461
"I am not now speaking of governmental
mediation. I haven't it in mind at all. I mean
the spiritual mediation. I mean the recognition
of the world that here is a country that has
always wanted things done that way, and whose
merchants, when they carry their goods, will
carry their ideas along with them, and that
this spirit of give and take, this spirit of success,
only by having better goods and better brains
and better training will, through their influences,
spread the more rapidly to the ends of the world.
This is what I mean by the mediating influence
that I think American commerce will exert.
"So I challenge you, and men throughout the
United States like you, to apply your minds to
your business as if you were building up for
the world a great constitution of the United
States, as if you were going out in the spirit
of the service and achievement — the kind of
achievement that comes only through service,
the kind of achievement which is statesmanship,
the statesmanship of those arrangements which
are most serviceable to the world.
"As you do this, the American spirit, whether
it be labeled so or not, will have its conquest
far and wide, and when we come back from our

462 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
long voyage of trade, we will not feel that we
have left strangers behind us, but that we have
left friends behind us, and come back home to
sit by the fireside and speak of the common kin
ship of all mankind."
This was the President's "vision of a democracy."
But in the long journey from the simple life of provincial
traders to the realization of the vision of a peaceful con
quest of the world, an intelligent beginning had to be
made. The 64th Congress had convened. But military pre
paredness and commercial preparedness were the two
great problems to be solved first. The European war was
bringing in an era of new opportunities for American
business with possibilities so vast that old domestic rules
and old provincial habits were wholly inadequate. Under
the pressure of these new forces, the President had asked
the members of a great business organization to give him
more light on the subject of domestic and foreign busi
ness. Moreover, he was pressing Congress to pass the
Rural Credit Bill which had been considered in one
form or another since the Federal Reserve Bill was
before Congress. The new era demanded that the
agricultural forces should be prepared to mobilize their
resources, and the bill was framed to give them relief
and set them forward.

INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 463
By January, 1916, it was apparent that a great
economic revolution was going on in the world.
"No man understands that revolution," he de
clared. "No man has the elements of it clearly
in his mind. No part of the business of legisla
tion with regard to international trade can be
undertaken until we do understand it. And mem
bers of Congress are too busy, their duties are
too multifarious and distracting to make it pos
sible within a sufficiently short space of time for
them to mark the change that is coming."
It had become quite clear to him, therefore, that the
government should create a board whose sole business
would be "to provide the Government vnth. the necessary
data to furnish a sound basis for the policy which should
be pursued in the years immediately ahead of us."
Industrial preparedness was being discussed through
out the nation. Therefore, on January 24, 1916, he
wrote to Mr. Claude Kitchin, chairman of the Ways
and Means Committee of the House of Representatives,
a long letter in which he gave his views on the matter,
and made some recommendations for Congress to
consider. "In common, I dare say, with every one who
wishes to be thoughtful of the future economio

464 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
prosperity and development of the country," the
letter began, "I have been thinking a great deal
recently about what it would be wise to do to
provide the Government with the necessary data
to furnish a sound basis for the policy which
should be pursued in the years immediately
ahead of us, years which will no doubt be full
of many changes which it is impossible at the
present time for even the most prescient to
forecast; and the more I have thought about the
matter, the plainer it has become to me that we
ought to have some such instrumentality as
would be supplied by a Tariff Board.
"I am convinced, as I suppose every disinter
ested person must be, that it would be a mistake
to provide for such a board with the idea of serv
ing any particular theory of fiscal policy. What
we would need would be, above all things else,
a board as much as possible free from any strong
prepossession in favor of any political party,
and capable of looking at the whole economic
situation of the country with a dispassionate and
disinterested scrutiny.
"I believe that we could obtain such a board
if the proper legislation were enacted, and it is
quite clear to me what the field of its inquiry

INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 455
and activity should be. It should, it seems to me,
investigate the administrative and fiscal effects
of the customs laws now in force or hereafter
enacted; the relations between the rates of duty
on raw materials and those on finished or half
finished products; the effects of ad valorem and
specific duties, and the classifications of the
articles of the several schedules; the provisions
of law and the rates and regulations of the
Treasury Department regarding entry, appraise
ment, invoices, and collection; and in general the
working of the customs tariff laws in economic
effect and administrative method.
"It could and should also secure facts which
would be very useful to the administrative offi
cers of the Government, to the Congress, and to
the public at large, through investigations of
revenues derived from customs duties and the
articles subject to duty, the cost of collection
thereof, and the revenue collected from the cus
toms duties at the several ports of entry; and
it should be directed to investigate and throw
light from every possible angle on the tariff rela
tions between the United States and foreign
countries, the rates of duty imposed on American
products in foreign countries, the existence and

466 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
effects of discriminating duties, commercial
treaties and preferential provisions and the
effects of any special or discriminating duties that
may be levied by the United States. It might
in this connection furnish the State Department
with very valuable information regarding treaty
and tariff relations between the United States
and foreign countries.
"It might further be of great assistance to the
Congress, and to the public, and to American
industry by investigating the industrial effects of
proposed or existing duties on products which
compete with products of American industry;
the conditions of competition between American
and foreign producers, including all the essential
facts surrounding the production of commodities
at home and abroad; the volume of importation
compared with domestic production; the nature
and causes of the advantages and disadvantages
of American as compared with foreign producers ;
and the possibility of establishing new industries
or of expanding industries already in existence
through scientific and practical processes in such
a manner as substantially to promote the pros
perity of the United States.
"I think it would be very useful and, indeed,

INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 457
necessary to require the board to act in connec
tion with all appropriate agencies already in
existence in the several departments of the Gov
ernment, and even with appropriate agencies out
side of the existing departments in order to avoid
so far as possible duplications of work and to
make all sources of official information avail
able to the same end.
"If broadly enough empowered, such a board
might be very helpful in securing the facts on
vvhich to base an opinion as to unfair methods
and circumstances of competition between foreign
and domestic enterprises, and as to the possibili
ties and dangers of the unfair "dumping" of
foreign products upon the American market, and
the steps requisite and adequate to control and
prevent it. It might in this field, as well as in
others, secure very valuable information for the
guidance of American Consuls, and for the use
of the Board of General Appraisers and other
Treasury officials.
"I have gone into these particulars because
I felt that they would make clearer than I
could make it in general phrases my idea of the
field of unpartisan inquiry within which such
commission could render a useful and perhaps

468 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
indispensable service to the country, and I am
taking the liberty of bringing the matter to
your attention just at this time because I hope
it will be possible for the Committee of Ways
and Means of the House of Representatives to
take this question up immediately with a view of
formulating some policy and action concerning
it. I feel confident that you will agree with me
that the situation of the whole world in the
matter of economic development is so unusual,
and our own interest in the changes probably
impending so vital, that I am justified in pressing
this great topic upon the consideration of the
committee at this time."
When the tariff bill was before Congress, and even
after the tariff legislation was completed, there was a
strong demand for a Tariff Board. But the President
opposed it ; because, as he explained, he wished the con
troversy to end as soon as the bill became a law, and he
believed then that the "purpose of a Tariff Board was
to keep alive an unprofitable controversy. ' ' He explained
further that the very "men who were dinning it into
our ears that what business wanted was to be let alone,
were, many of them, men who were insisting that we
should start up a controversy that meant that we could
not let it alone." However, two days after explaining

INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 469
to Mr. Kitchin why "some such instrumentality as would
be supplied by a Tariff Board" should be created, he
wrote a second letter to the House Leader, explaining
somewhat in detail why he had changed his mind :
"Our conversation yesterday made me realize
that in my letter of the 24th I had not set forth
as I should have set them forth my reasons for
changing my mind on the question of creating a
Tariff Board, for I must frankly admit that I
have changed my mind since I last spoke on
that subject.
"I have changed my mind because all the
circumstances of the world have changed, and
it seems to me that in view of the extraordinary
and far-reaching changes which the European war
has brought about, it is absolutely necessary that
we should have a competent instrument of in
quiry along the whole line of the many questions
which affect our foreign commerce.
"I have had in this change of mind no thought
whatever of a change of attitude toward the
so-called protective question. That is neither
here nor there. A commission such as I have
suggested would have nothing to do with theories
of policy. They would deal only with facts, and

470 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
the facts which they would seek ought to be the
actual facts of industry, and of the conditions of
economic exchange prevailing in the world, so
that legislation of every kind which touched these
matters might be guided by the circumstances
disclosed in its inquiries.
"I dare say you feel as I do, that it would
be folly at this time, or until all the altered con
ditions are fully understood, to attempt to deal
with questions of foreign commerce by legisla
tion, and yet having dealt directly and clearly
with the whole question of unfair competition
without our own borders, it is clear as soon
as we know the facts we ought to deal with
unfair methods of competition as between our
own nation and others, and this is only one of
the many things that we would probably wish
to deal with. The other matters I have attempted
to indicate in my previous letter to you. I am
glad to supplement that letter by this explicit
statement of the considerations which have been
most influential with me."
He then called Mr. Kitchin 's attention to his
last message to Congress, in which he stated
that he would "ask the privilege of addressing

INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 47I
you more at length on this important matter a little later
in your session." Moreover, he quoted the paragraph
from that address in which he declared that we must
"know exactly what we are dealing with when
we come to act; we must first certainly know
what it is that we are seeking to adapt ourselves
to." And then he concluded his letter with these
words :
"I need hardly say that I appreciate very fully
the motives by which you are yourself actuated,
and it is, therefore, with the greatest confidence
that I lay the whole matter thus fully before you.
Congress has so much to do at the present time
that it is clearly impossible that it should be
able to collect all the data which such a commis
sion would gather, and I feel that it would pres
ently find such a commission indispensable to it."
He indicated in these two letters to Mr. Kitchin the
steps that Congress should take in preparing this nation
for a larger industrial life and for a world commerce.
However, the part that Congress was to take in this
great program was small in comparison to the work ahead
of individuals, for, after all, he argued, the success must
depend largely upon individual initiative and enter
prise.

472 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
There was evidence everywhere that this initiative
was at work. The Federal Trade Commission was
besieged with requests from the business men of the
United States for permission to cooperate in foreign
trade. They had even discarded the old word, "com
bine," and were using the new word, "cooperate."
The chairman of Federal Trade Commission in an ad
dress at New Orleans declared that eighty-five per cent
of the thousands of replies "that we have received
from the business men of the United States" asked
for permission to combine for foreign trade. Then he
said: " It is of serious and great interest to note that a very
substantial part of those who declare that such cooper
ation should not only be permitted, but should be encour
aged, are equally emphatic that this situation should
develop under Federal regulations, so as to assure not
only that the domestic market and the domestic consumer
should not thereby be prejudiced, but also that all Ameri
can manufacturers shall have fair play and equal oppor
tunity in foreign business."
In February, the nation was aroused especially on the
subject of military preparedness. But the President de
clared that "when we have settled this great question, as
we presently shall, then we shall talk about these other
matters." Meanwhile, he was pressing upon the Ways
and Means Committee of the House the necessity of pre-

INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 473
senting a biU in accordance with the recommendations in
his letter to Mr. Kitchin.
Moreover, he was still pressing Congress to pass the
Rural Credit BiU, and he repeated his convictions that
it was necessary "to mobilize the economic forces of
this country better than they ever have been mobilized
before for the service of the world after this great war
is over."
Senators and Members, in response to this urgent
request, assured him that the bill would become a law
before the adjournment of Congress. Accordingly, on
July 17, this very important act was carried to the
White House for his approval. A group of Senators,
Representatives, and officers of farmers' organizations
assembled in the Executive Office to witness the final
act necessary to give the farmers of the country a new
credit system. Among those present who had been
especially interested tn the passage of the bill were
David Lubin, one of the authors of the bill, and repre
sentatives of the National Grange, the Farmers Edu
cational and Cooperative Union, the Farmers Society
of Equity, the Ancient Order of Gleaners, the Farmers
National Congress, and the National Council of Farm
ers Cooperative Association.
Just before signing the measure which creates a
system of twelve land loan banks under the direction
of a Federal board, the President made a short address,

474 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
pointing out the benefits which he believed both farm
ers and the investing community would enjoy under
its operation.
"On occasions of this sort," he said, "there are
so many things to say that one would despair of
saying them briefly and adequately, but I cannot
go through the simple ceremony of signing this biU
without expressing the feeling that I have in sign
ing it. It is a feeling of profound satisfaction not
only, but of real gratitude that we have completed
this piece of legislation, which I hope will be
immensely beneficial to the farmers of the country.
"The farmers, it seems to me, have occupied
hitherto a singular position of disadvantage. They
have not had the same freedom to get credit on
their real estate that others have had who were
in manufacturing and commercial enterprises, and
while they have sustained our life, they did not in
the same degree with some others share in the
benefits of that life.
"Therefore, this bUl, along with the very liberal
provisions of the Federal Reserve act, puts them
upon an equality with all others who have genuine
assets, and makes the great credit of the country
available to them. One cannot but feel that this is

INDUSTRIAL PREPAREDNESS 475
delayed justice to them, and cannot but feel that
it is a very gratifying thing to play any part in
doing this act of justice.
"I look forward to the benefits of the bill, not
with extravagant expectations, but with confident
expectation that it wiU be a very wide-reaching
benefit, and incidentally it will be of advantage to
the investing community, for I can imagine no
more satisfactory and solid investment than this
system will afford those who have money to use.
"I sign the bUl, therefore, with real emotion,,
and am very glad to be honored by your presence,
and supported by your feeling. I have no doubt
in what I have said regarding it."
The bUl to create a United States Tariff Commis
sion was also before Congress. It provided for a Com
mission of six members, but not more than three should
be members of the same party. Therefore, it was
to be non-partisan, and the members, if the biU
became a law, were to be appointed for a period
of two, four, six, eight, ten and twelve years. The old
tariff board was simply created by executive order and
was authorized by executive order to expend a certain
sum of money each year. This new biU proposed to
create a distinct, independent commission with its
duties well defined by law, and with its permanency

476 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
absolutely assured. In outlining its duties, the com
mittee followed in the main the President's sugges
tions made to Mr. Kitchin.
Thus, after nearly a generation, business and Govern
ment were cooperating on the basis of developing
our own resources and encouraging a foreign trade
that will give America industrial preparedness when
the war closes. In this long generation of resistance,
avoidance, and prosecutions, both Government and
business have learned something, and each has taught
the other much.

CHAPTER XXI
FORMING A PAN-AMERICAN UNION.
President Wilson announced, eight days after his
inauguration, that "one of the chief objects of my admin
istration wUl be to cultivate the friendship and deserve
the confidence of our sister republics of Central and
South America." The American people accepted that
pronouncement as the expression of an idealist whose
patriotism was exceedingly buoyant after an unusual
election. However, few, if any, had the gift of prophecy
to foretell the result of such a policy. But, nearly three
years afterward, a great Pan-American Congress was
sitting in Washington, and representatives of all the
Republics of the two continents, bound together by ties
of friendship and bearing, gifts of great confidence to
the chief executive of this nation, were working earnestly
together for the domestic peace of the two Americas,
and the international peace of the world based "upon the
solid, eternal foundations of justice and humanity."
The President's Pan-American policy before the out
break of the European war has been told in a previous
chapter. But its effects were hardly definable on that
fateful day when Austria declared war on Servia. How-
477

478 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
ever, the new impact of military forces in Europe shook
the Western Hemisphere so violently that the twenty-one
Republics looked immediately to one another for sym
pathy and assistance, and for a new bond of union.
A Pan-American Union was a corollary to other issues
such as military preparedness, commercial preparedness,
and industrial preparedness. It was so related to
every measure looking to better shipping facilities
and to every scheme for strengthening our defense
that even Congress was compelled to consider our
relations to the Latin-American states while discussing
these other great issues, although no direct legislation
was necessary.
But what were the real ties that bound these twenty-
one Republics together at the outbreak of the war ? The
Monroe Doctrine was the strongest bond, but it was being
assailed both in this country and in Europe. Citizens of
the United States referred to it as "an anachronism of
folly;" some said that it has "become only a disad
vantage to the United States" and we should "modify
it." In Europe, it was declared that the efficiency of
the Doctrine "will be proved by the distance that the
guns of the United States can cover." Thus, in both
Europe and America, this bond of union was being vig
orously attacked.
The second tie that bound these twenty-one Republics
together was trade and commerce. Since the United
States was more powerful than all the other republics

A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 479
combined, it would be natural to suppose that the lines
of trade and commerce between this country and each of
the other states would be direct and very strong. How
ever, such was not the case. A large business was carried
on between the two Americas, but strange as it may seem,
the greater part of it was conducted through European
ports. Therefore, the commercial ties that bound the
two Americas together passed through European hands,
and the strength of those ties was measured by the will
ingness of European bankers and traders to facilitate
intercourse between the two Americas. We have already
seen that European vessels carried over 90 per cent of
American commerce, and the shortest route from New
York to Rio or Buenos Aires was by way of Hamburg
or Liverpool. Moreover, the financial transactions be
tween the two Americas was conducted not in American
money or through American banks, but in European
banks. The exchange was made in Europe, and the bal
ance of trade was settled in European coin.
Furthermore, this long-distance union of the two
Americas, made in the interest of European business and
silently permitted through the negligence of American
business, was encouraged by educational theorists; they
.advised teachers of geography to follow trade lines in
instructing the youth, and to lead the students from
North America to Europe and from thence to South
America. These were the very doubtful ties that bound the two

480 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
Americas together when Woodrow Wilson began "to cul
tivate the friendship and deserve the confidence" of the
Latin-American states. Through this means he sought
to preserve the Monroe Doctrine and to increase the
commercial and financial intercourse between the two
continents, and in this way create an irresistible Pan-
American Union, in the interest, not of the United States
solely, but of every republic in the two continents
founded on constitutional government.
The Latin- American states were the first to feel the
effects of the President's new Pan-American policies,
because the militaristic poUcies of European nations
appeared more formidable to Latin- America than to the
United States. A new declaration of independence for
constitutional governments needed to be stated so
strongly that every republic in the Western Hemisphere
might feel secure in its independence, and every imperial
istic European nation might beware. The Latin- Ameri
can states were soon to see in President Wilson's policies
the outlines of this long hoped for declaration, and Latin-
American writers noted them down with an eagerness
that surprised the cool-headed Anglo-Saxon of North
America. It is well to sum up here the articles of the Wilson
Doctrine as applied to this hemisphere: The rule of
right and justice shall be applied to business activities
tn America; this government will not be a partner in
any business enterprise in a foreign country that

A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 481
would be unlawful at home; the United States is the
friend of constitutional government in the two Ameri
cas; the republics of this hemisphere shall treat one
another as equals, and each shall have the right to
govern its internal affairs without interference from
any other republic ; the United States will never again
seek an additional foot of territory by conquest; and
one republic has a friendly interest in the other twenty,
and it is the duty of all to guard and maintain the
rights of each.
This new declaration of independence for the Western
Hemisphere did not pass without a protest at home and
much criticism in Europe. But, as Senor Leopold Lu-
gones, a writer on political and economic questions of
Argentina, declared just before the outbreak of the Euro
pean war, "The serenity with which President Wilson
accepts the most severe criticism, even to the point of
endangering the material prestige of the United States,
is the best proof of the honesty of his idealistic policy, ' '
and ' ' The Pan- American ideal, in countries where great
natural obstacles created barriers, may not be realized for
many years to come, but to Latin-America it is a noble
aspiration." At the beginning of the European war it became very
clear to Americans that Europe had dominated South
America, because she controUed all the leading trade
Unes to South America and all the important interna
tional banking institutions of that continent. But these

482 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
trade lines were partially destroyed by the war, and the
whole financial system was thrown into confusion. The
President's activity for better shipping facilities, the
wisdom of which will appear more and more as our rela.
tions to South America are studied, was followed immedi
ately by a call for a financial conference of the two con
tinents. The opportunity for service and the necessity
for immediate action moved him, acting through the
Secretary of the Treasury, to issue an invitation to all
the Latin-American states to attend a Pan-American
Financial Congress to be held at Washington, D. C, to
confer with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary
of Commerce, Members of the Federal Reserve Board,
and American bankers, in regard to improving the finan
cial relations between this country and Central and South
America. When Congress convened in December, 1914,
it appropriated $50,000 for the entertainment of the vis
itors as the guests of the nation.
The republics of the two continents responded
promptly and very cordially to the invitation, and when
the Conference convened, May 24, 1915, every republic
was represented except Mexico and Haiti. At the open
ing session President Wilson was present to welcome
the official delegates from the other American repub
lics, and his utterances on that occasion were both
reassuring and very significant. After a few introduc
tory remarks, he declared :

A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 483
"There can be no sort of union of interest, if
there is a purpose of exploitation on the part of
any person connected with a great conference of
this sort. We are not, therefore, trying to make
use of each other, but we are trying to be of use
to one another.
"It is very trying to me, it is even a source
of mortification to me, that a conference like this
should have been so long delayed, that it should
never have occurred before, that it should have
required a crisis of the world to show the Ameri
cans how truly they were neighbors to one an
other. If there is any one happy circumstance,
gentlemen, arising out of the present distressing
circumstance of the world, it is that it has
revealed us to one another ; it has shown us what
it means to be neighbors. And I cannot help har
boring the hope, the very high hope, that by this
commerce of minds with one another, as well as
commerce in goods, we may show the world, in
part, the path to peace.
"It would be a very great thing if the Ameri
cans could add to the distinction which they
already wear, this of showing the way to peace,
to permanent peace. The way to peace for us,

484 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
at any rate, is manifest. It is the kind of rivalry
which does not involve aggression. It is the
knowledge that men can be of the greatest service
to one another when the jealousy between them
is merely a jealously of excellence and when the
basis of their intercourse is friendship. There is
only one way in which we wish to take advantage
of you, and that is by making better goods, by
doing the things that we seek to do for each
other better, if we can, than you do them, and
so spurring you on, if we might, by so handsome
a jealousy as that to excel us.
"I am so keenly aware that the basis of per
sonal friendship is this competition of excellence
that I am perfectly certain that this is the only
basis for the friendship of nations, this handsome
rivalry, this rivalry in which there is no dislike,
this rivalry in which there is nothing but the hope
of a common elevation in great enterprise which
we can undertake in common."
He then spoke of the very great need of a merchant
marine, how we must secure it if private capital does not
undertake to build it, and what it would mean to the
Latin-American states if we had direct lines of com
munication. Then he continued:

A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 485
"We cannot indefinitely stand apart and need
each other for the lack of what can easily be
supplied, and, if one instrumentality cannot
supply it, then another must be found which
will supply it. We cannot know each other unless
we see each other ; we cannot deal with each other
unless we communicate with each other. So soon
as we communicate and are on a familiar footing
of intercourse with one another, we shall under
stand one another, and the bonds between the
Americas wiU be such that no influence that the
world may produce in the future will ever break
them. "If I am selfish for America, I at least hope
that my selfishness is enlightened. The selfish
ness that hurts the other party is not enlightened
selfishness. If I am going upon a mere ground
of selfishness, I would seek to benefit the other
party and so tie him to myself that even if you
were to suspect me of selfishness, I hope you
will also suspect me of intelligence and of know
ing the only safe way for the establishment of
the things which we covet, as well as the estab
lishment of the things which we desire and which
we should feel honored if we could earn and win.
"I have said these things because they will

486 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
perhaps enable you to understand how far from
formal my welcome to this body is. It is a wel
come from the heart, it is a welcome inspired by
what I hope are the highest ambitions for those
who live in these two great continents, who seek
to set an example to the world in freedom of
institutions, freedom of trade, and intelligence
of mutual service."
The purpose of the Conference as stated in the invita
tion was to confer about direct shipping facilities, direct
banking facilities, and better commercial relations.
This Conference, according to Mr. John Barrett,
Director-General of the Pan-American Union, "marks
the most important step in our relations with South
America since Mr. Blaine presided over the first
Conference of American republics in 1889," and this
opinion was echoed by the press of the country. How
ever, the President 's Shipping Bill, which had been pre
sented to Congress before its adjournment, and which
was still a much talked of measure because it was certain
to become a live subject in the 64th Congress, was so
intimately related to the main object of the Conference
that the partisan opponents of the Shipping Bill in Con
gress "were afraid that Mr. Wilson might use the occa
sion to advance the administration's project for a gov
ernment owned merchant marine, a bill that Congress
had failed to endorse."

A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 487
Although the partisan press was so sensitive to the
tinkling cymbals of its foes that it could not hear the
clear call to duty, the stable minded people of America
saw in this conference the beginning of new relations
between the two continents. Mr. Vanderlip, president
of the National City Bank of New York, informed the
Conference, and it was news to this nation as well, that
the Federal Reserve Act and the great surplus of re
serves resulting tn the national banks of the country,
gave an unusual opportunity for the United States to
engage in foreign loans, and as a result, the National
City Bank of New York was taking advantage of the
provisions in the Act to establish a branch bank in
Buenos Aires. These words of President Vanderlip were
the announcement of the beginning of a new era for
American business in South America.
European bankers had been in the habit of exacting
large tolls from this country for the privilege of supply
ing Americans with capital to transact business in Cen
tral and South America. And Americans paid the heavy
rates because American capital was not established there.
This conference, however, created an international com
mission composed of representatives from each nation to
study all financial problems pertaining to the American
Republics, and to work out a way by which each might
be a help to all.
Within a few months about twenty American banks,
it is said, were estabUshed in the Latin- American states.

488 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
American capital was extending its arms into Central
and South America and furnishing the means to market
the chief articles of export from those countries to the
United States. These new banking facilities, necessary
forerunners of trade development, were now taking into
account heretofore neglected opportunities in the enor
mously rich countries immediately to the south of us.
Private capital was losing its timidity, and ' ' a commerce
of minds with one another" was producing a stronger
bond of union, and "a whole hemisphere acting as a unit
in sharp contradiction to Europe rent into hostile
camps," was not impossible of reaUzation.
President Wilson, in turning more and more to the
Latin- Americas for advice in the ever perplexing Mexican
trouble, carried assurance to the RepubUcs that the
President was absolutely sincere in his efforts to see a
real Pan-American Union working harmoniously and
without suspicion for the maintenance of peace. He
pointed out early in his administration that it is one
thing to talk to and act for the South American people,
but quite another thing to consult them for the purpose
of cooperating, thereby securing unity of action. His
policy of cooperation was clearing the air of suspicion
and distrust, and whatever the final action may be in
regard to Mexico, certainly, the first three years of
cooperation has been productive of such good results
to the two continents, that subsequent events can hardly
affect that cordial support and good will that has grown

A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 489
out of this Pan-American policy; and a Pan-American
Union is more desirable than armed intervention in
Mexico, even with peace south of the Rio Grande as a
possible outcome.
However, the President's policy was to secure peace
in Mexico through the cooperative efforts of all the
other American republics, rather than by acting alone.
By this means he was weaving a cord more powerful
than that made by trade and commerce and a chain of
banks. It was a cord of mutual confidence and esteem
that would strengthen all other bonds since they would
be greatly reinforced by it. Therefore, while the press
was complaining about the Mexican irritation, and annex
ationists were ridiculing the President's methods, the
Administration was really perfecting a council board
composed of the American Secretary of State 3,nd the
diplomatic representatives at Washington of Argen
tina, BrazU, Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Guatemala, to
aid in settling vexatious matters in Mexico and other
Latin-American countries.
The great issues of the war were so closely related to
the President 's Pan-American policies that he devoted a
large part of his message to this subject, not because any
direct legislation was needed, but because every great
American policy was dependent in some way upon a Pan-
American Union.

490 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
"There was a time," he said, "in the early
days of our own great nation and of the republics
fighting their way to independence in Central and
South America when the government of the
United States looked upon itself as in some sort
the guardian of the republics to the south of
her as against any encroachments or efforts at
political control from the other side of the water;
felt it its duty to play the part without invitation
from them; and I think that we can claim that
the task was undertaken with a true and disin
terested enthusiasm for the freedom of the
Americas and the unmolested self-government of
her independent peoples. But it was always diffi
cult to maintain such a role without offense to the
pride of the peoples whose freedom of action we
sought to protect, and without provoking serious
misconceptions of our motives, and every thought
ful man of affairs must welcome the altered cir
cumstances of the new day in whose light we now
stand, when there is no claim of guardianship or
thought of wards, but, instead, a full and honor
able association as of partners between ourselves
and our neighbors, in the interest of all America,
north and south.
"Our concern for the independence and pros-

A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 491
perity of Central and South America is not
altered. We retain unabated the spirit that has
inspired us throughout the whole life of our
government, and which was so frankly put into
words by President Monroe. We still mean
always to make a common cause of national
independence and of political liberty in America.
But that purpose is now better understood so
far as it concerns ourselves. It is known not
to be a selfish purpose. It is known to have in
it no thought of taking advantage of any govern
ment in this hemisphere or playing its political
fortunes for our own benefit. All the govern
ments of America stand, so far as we are con
cerned, upon a footing of genuine equality and
unquestioned independence. ' '
He then spoke of that purpose as it was applied to
Mexico, and he declared that our course in Mexico ought
to be sufficient proof to all America that we seek no
political superiority or selfish control.
"The moral is," he continued, "that the states
of America are not hostile rivals, but cooperating
friends, and that their growing sense of com
munity of interest, alike in matters political and
in matters economic, is likely to give them a new

492 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
significance as factors in international affairs
and in the political history of the world. It
presents them as in a very deep and true sense
a unit in world affairs, spiritual partners, stand
ing together because thinking together, quick with
common sympathies and common ideals. Sep
arated, they are subject to all the cross currents
of the confused politics of a world of hostile
rivalries ; united in spirit and purpose, they can
not be disappointed of their peaceful destiny.
' ' This is Pan- Americanism. It has none of the
spirit of empire in it. It is the embodiment, the
effectual embodiment, of the spirit of law, and
independence, and liberty, and mutual service.
"A very notable body of men recently met in
the City of Washington at the invitation and as
the guests of this Government, whose delibera
tions are likely to be looked back to as marking
a memorable turning point in the history of
America. They were representative spokesmen
of -the several independent states of this hemi
sphere, and were assembled to discuss the com
mercial and financial relations of the republics
of the two continents which nature and political
fortune have so intimately linked together. I
earnestly recommend to your perusal the reports

A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 493
of their proceedings and of the actions of their
committees. You will get from them, I think, a
fresh conception of the ease and intelligence and
advantage with which Americans of both con
tinents may draw together in practical coopera
tion, and of what this must consist — of how we
should build them and of how necessary it is
that we should hasten their building."
National defense was a much debated subject when the
message was delivered to Congress, and he pointed out
again the relation of a great Pan-American Union to that
question. "No one who really comprehends the spirit of
the great people for whom we are appointed to
speak can fail to perceive that their passion is
for peace, their genius best displayed in the
practice of the arts of peace. Great democracies
are not belligerent. They do not seek or desire
war. Their thought is of individual liberty and
of the free labor that supports life, and the
uncensured thought that quickens it. Conquest
and dominion are not in our reckoning, or agree
able to our principles.
"But just because we demand unmolested de
velopment and the undisturbed government of our
own lives upon our own principles of right and

494 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
liberty, we resent, from whatever quarter it may
come, the aggression we ourselves will not prac
tice. We insist upon security in prosecuting our
self-chosen lines of national development. We do
more than that. We demand it also for others.
We do not confine our enthusiasm for individual
liberty and free national development to the
incidents and movements of affairs which affect
only ourselves. We feel it wherever there is a
people that tries to walk in these difficult paths
of independence and right. From the first we
have made common cause with all partisans of
liberty on this side of the sea, and have deemed
it as important that our neighbors should be free
from all outside domination as that we ourselves
should be; and we have set America aside as a
whole for the uses of independent nations and
political freemen."
President Wilson's Pan-American policies were giving
a new meaning — an enlarged meaning — ^to the Monroe
Doctrine, and when this message was delivered in Con
gress, the Western Hemisphere was about to witness a
union of the two Americas, such as the Monroe Doctrine,
nearly a century old, never anticipated. The old Monroe
Doctrine was primarily a doctrine of defiance to Europe,
and much of our military as well as diplomatic history

A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 495
is proof that suspicion and distrust were placed in the
minds of the Latin states by our old interpretation of
this doctrine. Mr. Albert Bushnell Hart said, "the best
miUtary authorities seem to be agreed that the Doctrine
will lead to war if we adhere to it. . . . ; it is bound to
lead to war if any powerful nation is willing to risk
war with us for the sake of what it may pick up in
America." And many people in America believed the
Doctrine was not worth fighting for.
The wisdom of Mr. Wilson's policy, therefore, is ap
parent, and the necessity for a Pan-American Union on
the basis of equality with all suspicion and mistrust dis-
peUed from this hemisphere is a consummation that was
hardly beUeved to be possible when the President deliv
ered his Mobile speech in October, 1913. However, it
was quite evident before a year had passed that "the
states of America have become more conscious of a new
and vital community of interests and moral partnership
in affairs, more clearly conscious of the many sympathies
and interests which bid them stand together. ' ' And now
that the President's statesmanship was beginning to bear
fruit of great and lasting value to this hemisphere, not
only this nation but the Latin-American states were
declaring that the Monroe Doctrine was unfolding
into a new doctrine — the Wilson Doctrine of Pan-
Americanism. The President's address to Congress was well timed to
he productive of stiU greater results. The second Pan-

496 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
American Scientific Congress was to assemble in Wash
ington only a few weeks later during the Christmas holi
days. Although this Congress in its origin had one
special purpose, as its name indicates, the discussions of
science were subordinated to another more important
topic. President Wilson's assertion that "all the govern
ments of America stand, so far as we are concerned,
upon a footing of genuine equality and unquestioned
independence," was the keynote of the whole Conference;
and Secretary Lansing, in welcoming the delegates to
Washington, caught up this note which was sounded at
every meeting and in almost every general address.
"I speak only for the Government of the United
States," said Secretary Lansing, "but in doing so I am
sure that I express sentiments which will find an echo
in every republic represented here, when I say that the
might of this country will never be exercised in a spirit
of greed to wrest from a neighboring state its territory
or possessions. The ambitions of this Republic do not
lie in the path of conquest, but in the paths of peace and
justice. Whenever and wherever we can, we will stretch
forth a hand to those who need help. If the sovereignty
of a sister republic is menaced from overseas, the power
of the United States and, I hope and believe, the united
power of the American republics will constitute a bul
wark which will protect the independence and integrity
of their neighbor from unjust invasion or aggression.

A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 497
The American family might well take for its motto that
of Dumas' famous musketeers, 'One for all, all for one'."
After assuring the members of the Congress of the
need of "cooperation and helpfulness by a dignified
regard for the rights of all, and by living our lives in
harmony and good will," he laid out the metes and
bounds of "Pan- Americanism" as the "expression of the
idea of internationalism," and concluded with these
significant words :
"The path of opportunity lies plain before us Amer
icans. The Government and people of every republic
should strive to inspire in others confidence and co
operation by exhibiting integrity of purpose and equity
of action. Let us as members of this congress, therefore,
meet together on the plane of common interests, and
together seek the common good. Whatever is of common
interest, whatever makes for the common good, what
ever demands united effort is a fit subject for applied
Pan-Americanism. Fraternal helpfulness is the key
stone to the arch. Its pillars are faith and justice.
"In this great movement this congress will, I believe,
play an exalted part. You, gentlemen, represent power
ful inteUectual forces in your respective countries. To
gether you represent the enlightened thought of the
continent. The policy of Pan- Americanism is practical.
The Pan-American spirit is ideal. It finds its source
and being in the minds of thinking men. It is the off-

498 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
spring of the best, the noblest conceptions of inter
national obligation.
"With all earnestness, therefore, I commend to you,
gentlemen, the thought of the American republics,
twenty-one sovereign and independent nations, bound
together by faith and justice, and firmly cemented by a
sympathy which knows no superior and no inferior, but
which recognizes only fraternity and equality."
Senator Elihu Root of New York, who, too, had the
Pan-American spirit, in a very notable address before
the Conference made a strong plea for the rights of
small nations.
"The great body of the people of the United States,"
he said, "loves justice enough to be willing to render
it to others. We believe that nobility of spirit, that high
ideals, that capacity for sacrifice are nobler than material
wealth. We know that these can be found in the little
state as well as in the big one. In our respect for you
who are small and who are great there can be no element
of condescension, for that would be to do a violence to
our own conception of the dignity of independent sover
eignty. We desire no benefits which are not the benefits
rendered by honorable equals to each other. We seek
for no control that we are unwiUing to concede to
others." On January 1, greetings to the Pan-American Scientific
Congress were received from the Chief Executives of
most of the South American Republics; and without

A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 499
exception the tone of the New Year's greetings was one
of friendliness and cooperation. Argentina's hope was
for "A closer relationship"; Chile's great desire was for
"the solidarity of all the peoples of America"; Para
guay's best wishes were for "the further unification of
the moral interests of all America"; even Mexico ex
pressed the hope "that the Pan-American Scientific
Congress may have complete success in its interesting
task"; and all the republics expressed either directly,
or through their representatives, the hope that the Con
gress would result tn a greater union of American
republics. It was not until near the close of the session, January
6, that President Wilson was able to attend the Con
ference. His policies had given direction to its discus
sions, and his terse sentences had been the subjects of
addresses delivered by Latin-American representatives.
Therefore, his appearance was the signal for a great
demonstration. He was introduced to the Congress by
President Eduardo Suarez-Mujica, Ambassador of Chile,
as a "statesman who has radically changed the nature
of the relations among the people of this continent, and
has built an American international policy of mutual
esteem and cooperation, at this moment praised and
applauded by the whole continent."
The introduction was delivered in English, but, since
many delegates were present from South America
who could not readily understand that language, the

500 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
Ambassador of Brazil translated the remarks into Span
ish amid great applause from the Latin- Americans.
When Mr. Wilson arose to speak, he stood just in
front of an artistic grouping of all the flags of all the
republics of the two Americas — symbolic of the great
Pan-American Union and the leadership of the President
of the United States. It was amid such surroundings
that he outlined more definitely than ever before his plan
of union for the twenty-one republics. After expressing
his regrets at being unable to attend the sessions of the
Congress, and after felicitating that body on the great
change that had eome about in the relationships between
the United States and the Latin-American states, he
said: "The Monroe Doctrine was proclaimed by the
United States on her own authority. It has
always been maintained and always will be main
tained upon her ovm responsibility. But the
Monroe Doctrine demanded merely that European
Governments should not attempt to extend their
political systems to this side of the Atlantic. It
did not disclose the use which the United States
intended to make of her power on this side of
the Atlantic. It was a hand held up in warning,
but there was no promise in it of what America
was going to do with the implied and partial

A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 501
protectorate which she apparently was trying to
set up on this side of the water, and I believe you
will sustain me in the statement that it has been
fears and suspicions on this score which have
hitherto prevented the greater intimacy and con
fidence and trust between the Americas.
"The States of America have not been certain
what the United States would do with her power.
That doubt must be removed. And latterly there
has been a very frank interchange of views
between the authorities in Washington and those
who represented the other States of this hemi
sphere, an interchange of views charming and
hopeful, because based upon an increasingly sure
appreciation of the spirit in which they were
undertaken. These gentlemen have seen that if
America is to come into her own, into her legiti
mate own, in a world of peace and order, she
must establish the foundations of amity so that
no one will hereafter doubt them.
"I hope and I believe that this can be accom
plished. These conferences have enabled me to
see how it will be accomplished. It will be accom
plished, in the first place, by the states of
America uniting in g-uaranteeing to each other
political independence and territorial integrity;

502 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
in the second place, and as a necessary corollary
to that, guaranteeing the agreement to settle all
pending boundary disputes as soon as possible
and by amiable process ; by agreeing that all dis
putes among themselves, should they unhappily
arise, wiU be handled by patient, impartial in
vestigation and settled by arbitration; and the
agreement, necessary to the peace of the Amer
icas, that no State on either continent will permit
revolutionary expeditions against another State
to be fitted out in its ovsm territory, and that they
will prohibit the exportation of the munitions of
war for the purpose of supplying revolutionists
against neighboring Governments.
"You see what our thought is, gentlemen: not
only the international peace of America, but the
democratic peace of America. If American
States are constantly in ferment, there wUl be
a standing threat to their relations with one
another. It is just as much to our interest to
assist one another to the orderly processes within
our own borders as it is to orderly processes in
our controversies with one another. These are
very practical suggestions which have sprung up
in the minds of thoughtful men, and I, for my
part, believe that they are going to lead the way

A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 503
to something that America has prayed for for
many a generation. For they are based, in the
first place, as far as the stronger states are con
cerned, upon the handsome principle of self-
restraint and respect for the rights of everybody.
They are based upon the principles of absolute
political equality among the states, equality of
right, not equality of indulgence.
"They are based, in short, upon the solid,
eternal foundations of justice and humanity. No
man can turn away from these things without
turning away from the hope of the world. These
are things, ladies and gentlemen, for which the
world has hoped and waited with prayerful heart.
God grant that it may be granted to America to
lift this light on high for the illumination of the
world. ' '
The President 's address was a fitting finale to the great
conference. The remarks of the Representative of the
Republic of Brazil reflected the sentiment of the dele
gates present in these words, "Freedom is a gift that is
only given to nations who know how and are ready to
defend it. America is destined to lead the world. Let
us work together for the principle of right and justice,
of liberty and happiness. ' '
The European war had fixed the period of the renais-

504 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
sance or rebirth of Pan- Americanism. President Wilson
was now its guiding genius, and the Pan-American
Scientific Congress was the occasion of its dedication to
a new service based upon the principle of human rights
set forth originally in the American Declaration of
Independence. By the aid of the American Institute of International
Law, which is composed of 105 members, five from each
of the twenty-one American republics, the Pan- American
Scientific Congress adopted a Declaration of the Rights
of Nations. The five articles of the declaration, without
the preamble and citations of famous legal decisions, are
as foUows :
1. Every nation has the right to exist, to protect, and
to conserve its existence; but this right neither implies
the right nor justifies the act of the state to protect itself
or to conserve its existence by the commission of unlawful
acts against innocent and unoffending states.
This right is and is to be understood in the sense in
which the right to Ufe is understood in national law,
according to which it is unlawful for a human being to
take human life unless it be necessary so to do in self-
defense against an unlawful attack threatening the life
of the party unlawfully attacked.
2. Every nation has the right to independence in
the sense that it has a right to the pursuit of happiness
and is free to develop itself without interference or
control from other states, provided that in so doing it

A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 505
does not interfere with or violate the just rights of
other states.
3. Every nation is in law and before law the equal of
every other state composing the society of nations, and all
states have the right to claim, and, according to the
Declaration of Independence of the United States, "to
assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and
equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature 's
God entitle them."
4. Every nation has the right to territory within
defined boundaries and to exercise exclusive jurisdiction
over this territory, and all persons, whether native or
foreign, found therein.
5. Every nation entitled to a right by the law of
nations is entitled to have that right respected and pro
tected by all other nations, for right and duty are cor
relative, and the right of one is the duty of aU to
observe. This declaration defines the rights of neutrals as well
as of belUgerents, and it might be characterized as an
"International Declaration of Independence."
Moreover, this Congress created an International High
Commission consisting of a National section for each
country. These sections were to meet from time to time
in general conference, and between meetings exchange
their views by correspondence.
' ' In pursuance of this plan, ' ' said Mr. McAdoo, Secre
tary of the Treasury, "the first general meeting of the

506 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
commission opened on April 3 of this year at Buenos
Aires. With gratifying ardor the distinguished body of
delegates representing twenty republics addressed them
selves to the consideration of projects presented for the
improvement of our various national laws or our sev
eral commercial and financial policies. The program
was a truly formidable one, embracing thirteen different
subjects, many of which were large enough to serve as
the subject matter for an entire conference. Yet, in
spite of that, the conference worked with such unity of
purpose and brought to its tasks such a wealth of ex
perience and knowledge and constructive genius that
it was able to present a body of resolutions for the con
sideration of the various governments that will not fail
to stimulate a genuine wave of enthusiasm for the cause
of progressive and enlightened commercial legislation
in the American Republics."
Mr. McAdoo declared that an effort is now being made
to carry into effect the recommendations of this High
Commission. And looking to that end a Central Com
mittee, with the Secretary of the Treasury of the United
States as Chairman, was ' ' charged with the carrying out
of the mandate of the conference and given the high
responsibility of coordinating and directing the work of
the National Sections, and of keeping in the closest touch
and sympathy with the economic policy of the American
Governments. ' '
Thus "the steady pressure of moral force" was at last

A PAN-AMERICAN UNION 507
breaking "the barriers of pride and prejudice down,
and we were triumphing as the friend of Latin- America
sooner than we could possibly have triumphed as her
superior overlord — 'And how much more handsomely,
with how much higher and finer satisfaction of con
science and of honor.' "

CHAPTER XXII
THE NEED OF EDUCATIONAL PREPAREDNESS
The more important issues springing out of the
European war soon began to press heavily upon our
educational institutions. President Wilson, himself a
trained educationist, was quick to see the need of
educational preparedness and to call the attention of
the American people to this need. But how was the
school affected?
The public school is an instrument created by society
for the purpose of preserving its ideals and institutions
and for promoting its own interests. The problem of
individual development is a professional one, with which
society in general is unacquainted. Therefore, since
the beginning of recorded deeds, there have been two
aims in education : one is social or practical, the other
is individual or theoretical. The former is constantly
changing because it is affected by every great social
upheaval. The latter is more or less constant since
it is concerned primarily with the native tendencies
of the individual.
The political and industrial revolutions at the close
of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries
508

EDUCATIONAL PREPAREDNESS 509
made radical changes in all social institutions. Scarcely
a man lives today as his ancestors did before these
great changes took place. As a result we have a pub
lic school system unlike the old systems. It has a differ
ent organization, a different content, and even a
different social purpose from those of the 17th and first
half of the 18th centuries.
But at the beginning of the 20th century, even before
the outbreak of the European war, it was observed and
noted that our whole educational system, although it
was comparatively new, was iU adapted to meet the needs
of modern society. Moreover, it was a matter of pro
fessional knowledge that "every step taken in the direc
tion of broadening our courses and differentiating our
schools so as better to meet its needs has invariably
resulted in a rapid increase in attendance" — an argu
ment that an untrained people is the result of poor
educational opportunities.
The great war gave society a tremendous jolt, and
men everywhere began to take an inventory of the per
manent social assets that could be mobilized for the
benefit of society. The conservatism of the school stood
out, then, in bold relief, and the American system came
under a fierce criticism. It was charged that less
progress has been made in education in the last thirty
years than in any other vocation or profession.
Vocational education was advocated strongly before
the war, and the Gary system was one concrete result of

510 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
the agitation. There were others also. But it was the
European war that taught America how necessary it
is to have "a loyal entente between the industrial men,
the merchants, and the agriculturalists" of a nation.
Moreover, it became more apparent that "each nation
must resolve to accomplish profound modifications in
industries, commerce, and culture," and that the school
must play a large part in producing this modification.
Another industrial revolution was felt to be taking
place. New industries have arisen in America because
of the suspension or destruction in Europe of similar
industries. Other nations had monopolies on goods es
sential to American homes and American business. The
great war cut off our supply by destroying the accus
tomed trade route, and American genius and energy have
been stimulated to enter new fields.
American colleges and universities, instead of attack
ing vigorously these problems, before the war were
tributaries in a large measure to European universities.
But after the outbreak of the war, these higher institu
tions of learning came also under the fire of criticism,
and a readjustment was begun.
President Wilson advised the people of this coun
try that the school must play a tremendous part
not only in perfecting the program of the New
Freedom, but also in making the nation sure of
its military, commercial, and industrial prepared
ness. He referred in his message to the need of

EDUCATIONAL PREPAREDNESS 511
giving federal aid and stimulation to industrial and
vocational education "as we have long done in the large
field of our agricultural industry." The Smith-Lever
bill, referred to elsewhere, was the product of the long
agitation for federal aid to agricultural industry.
"We should study more carefully," he said,
"than they have hitherto been studied the right
adaptation of our economic arrangements to
changing conditions.
And again, "The most we can do is to make
certain that we have the necessary instrumentali
ties of information constantly at our service, so
that we may be sure that we know exactly what
we are dealing with when we come to act, if it
should be necessary to act at all. We must first
certainly know what it is that we are seeking to
adapt ourselves to."
Here was a new field for the colleges and universities
to enter. It was pointed out that other nations had
institutions for the study of world trade, and that they
were organized with a corps of highly trained economists
to instruct the people concerning trade possibilities and
difficulties, and industrial needs. The Tariff Commis
sion proposed by the President would in a measure serve
the purpose of such an institution. But that wotUd not
relieve, it would increase the obligation imposed upon

512 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
our colleges and universities to make investigation and
give instruction in this field of endeavor.
As the discussion of this point increased, the criticism
of the American school system increased, and unusual
modifications of its content and even of its organization
were earnestly pressed. The Secretary of the Interior,
in response to this new demand, recommended that Con
gress increase very largely its appropriation to the
Bureau of Education tn order to make it a more efficient
agency. Others were advocating that the Bureau of
Education should be converted into a great national uni
versity. Thus military preparedness, commercial pre
paredness, and industrial preparedness had made educa
tional preparedness an important issue in the nation —
another evidence of the influence of a great social pres
sure upon the school.
Mr. Wilson made his spectacular and very important
tour of the country soon after the 64th Congress con
vened. His main theme was the need of military
preparedness. But he argued also that America needed
educational preparedness as well because of the need
of military and industrial preparedness.
"There are two sides to the question of
preparation," he said. "There is not merely the
military side, there is the industrial side. And
the ideal which I have in mind is this, gentle
men: we ought to have in this country a great

EDUCATIONAL PREPAREDNESS 513
system of industrial and vocational education,
under federal guidance and with federal aid, in
which a very large percentage of the youth of
this country will be given trai''"^?j in the skillful
use and application of the principles of science
in maneuvre and business. And it will be
perfectly feasible and highly desirable to add to
that and combine with it such a training in the
mechanism and use and care of arms, in the
sanitation of camp, in the simpler forms of
maneuvre and organization, as will make these
men industrially efficient and individually service
able for national defense.
"The point about such a system is that its
emphasis will lie on the industrial and civil side
of life; and that, like all the rest of America,
the use of force will only be in the background
and as the last resort, so that men will think first
of their families and their daily work, of their
service in the economic fields of the country, and
only last of all in their service to the nation as
soldiers and men at arms. That is the ideal of
America. But, gentlemen, you cannot create such
a system over night. You cannot create such a
system rapidly. It has got to be built up, and
I hope it will be built up by slow and effective

514 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
stages. And there is something to be done in
the meantime. We must see to it that a suffi
cient body of citizens is given the kind of train
ing which will make them efficient for call into the
field in case of necessity."
' He argued that it was perfectly feasible to combine
ijKSttrtcjtion that would work both for military and in
dustrial preparedness.
"Al nation," he said, "should be ashamed to
use an i;^efiflcient instrument when it can make
its , instrument efficient for everything that it
needs to employ it for, and it can do it along
with the magnifying and ennobling and quicken
ing pf the tasks of peace.
,. "But we haye to create the schools and develop
t^ie; schools;, to do thpse : things, and we cannot at
present wa-it for the slower pc^pcesses. We must
go at once {to the tasl? pf training a very con
siderable Ijpdy of jneu'to the use; of arms and
tjlji^; life of camps, , and ,Ttf %, can do sQ i upon one
cpndi,tion^ and one cGnditionnofttyjii, Thei test of
what, we are..pr)ppppiiig',!is not gfti^igjit© be ithe
action, of .Cpngff^^^j-r^t^fsjgppigtpob^piji&e respiOiBSfi.
of th^ coujitry;)j^tJfi;gqj^g to Ifle :thei .yAluiftt^jEpgj
pf,|hp I^ae^ tq t^p,jth)^,|rj4sji>g, aiii<^)t^g-i-wfi^-8
ness . of , iMw vft?M>l<?(irep tO > See, i tp, i# Jths^M

EDUCATIONAL PREPAREDNESS 515
obstacles are put in the way of their volunteering.
"It will be up to the young men of this coun
try and the men who employ them, and then we
shaU know how far it is true that Ajnerica wishes
to prepare herself for national defense. It is not
a matter of sentiment, but a matter of hard
practice. "Are the men going to come out, and are those
who employ them going to facilitate their coming.
out? I for one believe that they will. There
are many selfish influences at work in this coun
try, as in every other, but, when it comes to the
larger view, America can produce the substance
of patriotism as abundantly as any other country
under God's sun."
MUitary preparedness was the one problem that was
pressing hardest for solution. The schools have not
escaped its influence, and a part of the great debate
StiU goes on among teachers and school boards as to
whether the public school shall incorporate military
training in its courses or not. How can it be taught
consistently in the same school where universal peace
is taught? How much time shall be devoted to it?
How can military training be coordinated with tndas-
trial training? These are some of the questions that
confront school officials and school teachers.

516 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT3
Industrial and military training, however, are not the
only phase of this educational preparedness that eon-
fronts the nation. Pan- Americanism brings to the Amer
ican school system another problem. The close students
of educational practice in this country have been ob
serving for the past two years some symptoms which
indicate that our schools and colleges are already affected
by this Pan-American ideal. Spanish, unknown to most
of the high schools of the nation, has been creeping
gradually and modestly into the curriculum in sections
of the nation where foreign influences have been least
apparent. Moreover, the culture of the Spanish-Amer
ican races, their governmental institutions, and their
economic resources, have been receiving signiflcant atten
tion in many of our colleges and universities.
"The germs of Pan- Americanism must be introduced
in the class room," declared a delegate to the Pan-
American Scientific Congress. "It is a false patriotism
to inculcate in the minds of children the idea that in all
comparison of their native land with foreign countries
the former always should be given the advantage. This
false patriotism will cause the countries to cheat them
selves out of the advantage of cooperation and reciprocal
instruction." It was argued, furthermore, that the
Americas must cooperate intellectually, and President
Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia University repUed
in like spirit that it is the duty of the colleges and the
universities to foster this intellectual unioa,

EDUCATIONAL PREPAREDNESS 517
American schools were really accused of teaching a
false patriotism and depriving American children of
"the advantages of cooperation and reciprocal instruc
tion." "The so-called educated youth of America" in
some respects, it was charged, are inferior to students
of a similar grade even tn South America. "The latter,"
it is said, "speaks commonly French and often English,
besides his native tongue, speaks them fluently and not
stammeringly. In every Latin country, indeed, French
is a second mother tongue to the well-to-do. Thanks to
our lingering provinciality, and the admirable linguistic
uselessness of most of our schools and colleges, the
majority of 'educated' North Americans are unilingual.
And, lacking the very A B C of business intercourse, we
expect to compete successfully in the other Americas with
Englishmen, Germans, Frenchmen, who are thoroughly
familiar with the language, commercial and social cus
toms, and institutions of those countries."
If North America, therefore, is to understand South
America, a condition absolutely necessary before there
can be any lasting Pan-American Union, the colleges and
universities have an intellectual task to perform before
this great program is completed. But the great war has
discovered South America to North America, and Presi
dent Wilson, in speaking to the delegates of the Financial
Conference in May, 1915, said what others have felt since.
"It is even a source of mortification to me,"

518 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
he said, "that it should have required a crisis
of the world to show the Americans how truly
they were neighbors to one another. If there is
any one happy circumstance, gentlemen, arising
out of the present distressing circumstances of
the world, it is that it has revealed us to one
another; it has shown us what it means to be
neighbors. And I cannot help harboring the
hope, the very high hope, that by this commerce
of minds with one another, as well as commerce
in goods, we may show the world in part the path
to peace."
Woodrow Wilson was closing his administration. The
first half was devoted to the task of restoring the rule
of right and justice in the nation, and in its relations
with foreign nations. The second half was concerned
with the European war : the task of preserving peace in
America, and of holding the mad nations of the world
to some standard, coupled with the greatest domestic
problem that has confronted this nation since the Civil
War, — ^how to prepare the nation socially, industrially,
and educationally to meet the great issues born of the
war. In looking back over his achievements as he faced
another political campaign, he declared :
"I am willing, no matter what my personal
fortune may be, to play for the verdict of man-

EDUCATIONAL PREPAREDNESS 519
kind. Personally, it will be a matter of indiffer
ence to me what the verdict on the 7th of Novem
ber is, provided I have any degree of confidence
that when a later jury sits, I shall get their
judgment in my favor, not in my favor personally
— ^what difference does that make? — ^but in my
favor as an honest and conscientious spokesman
of a great nation."

CHAPTER XXIII
THE MAN IN ACTION
Woodrow Wilson, the man in action, is intensely
human. He loves the simple life and his habits are those
of the plain men of the country. He hates the silk hat
and the conventional dress, and he is happiest, it is said,
in his working clothes. It was this preference for the
unconventional, for simplicity and directness, that led
him to dispense with the inaugural ball, and to upset the
precedents of a century by going to Congress to deliver
his flrst message. And he disarmed those who thought
this act savored of royalty by introducing himself as
' ' a human being. ' '
He does not give much consideration to the way his
acts will be seen through the eyes of others. Disliking
form and ceremonies and preferring the simple Ufe, he
declined, without even thinking of it, an election to the
Chevy Chase Country Club, and was amazed next day
to find that he had committed a mortal sin against high
society. The ceremonies that surrounded him in the
White House amused him. "For example," he
520

THE MAN IN ACTION 521
said, "take matters of this sort: I will not say
whether it is wise or unwise, simple or grave,
but certain precedents have been established that
in certain companies the President must leave
the room first, and the people must give way to
him. They must not sit dovm if he is standing
up. It is a very uncomfortable thing to have
to think of all the other people every time I get
up and sit down, and all that sort of thing, so
that when I get guests in my own house and the
public is shut out, I adjourn being President and
take leave to be a gentleman. If they draw back
and insist upon my doing something first, I
firmly decline."
Moreover, he protested with a show of humor against
enforced presidential conventionalties that kept him vir
tually a prisoner in the White House, and he ridiculed
the customs that placed him in the "same category as
the National Museum, the Smithsonian Institute, or
the Washington Monument."
"If I only knew an exhibition appearance to
assume," he said once, speaking humorously of
this custom, "I would like to have it pointed
out, so that I could practice it before the looking
glass and see if I could not look like the Monu-

522 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
ment. Being regarded as a national exhibit, it
will be much simpler than being shaken hands
with by the whole United States."
He did not exaggerate the Washington habit
when he declared that if he "turned up any
where" in Washington he was "personally con
ducted to beat the band" by "the Curator, the
Assistant Curator and every other blooming
official, and they show so much attention that I
don't see the building."
In speaking of the Presidency, he said :
"I feel like a person appointed for a certain
length of time to administer that office, and I
feel just as much outside of it at this moment
as I did before I was elected to it. I feel just
as much outside of it as I still feel outside of
the government of the United States. No man
could imagine himself the government of the
United States ; but he could understand that some
part of his fellow citizens had told him to go
and run a certain part of it the best he knew
how. That would not make him the government
itself or the thing itself. It would just make him
responsible for running it the best he knew how.
The machine is so much greater than himself,

THE MAN IN ACTION 523
the office is so much greater than himself, the
office is so much greater than he can ever be,
and the most he can do is to look grave enough
and self-possessed enough to seem to fill it.
"I can hardly refrain every now and then
from tipping the public a wink as much as to
say, 'It is only "me" that is inside this thing.
I know perfectly well that I will have to get out
presently. I know then that I will look just my
own proper size, and that for the time being the
proportions are somewhat refracted and m.is-
represented to the eye because of the large thing I
am inside of, from which I am tipping you this
wink.' "
Himself a human being, he has been in sympathetic
touch with the sentiments of the American people. He is
the real leader of a great democracy because he feels in
his own heart the needs and desires and demands of the
American people. He has sought to make their spirit
his spirit, and their conscience his conscience.
"I am diligently trying," he said, "to collect
all the brains that are borrowable in order that
I will not make more blunders than it is inevitable
a man should make who has great limitations of
knowledge and capacity."

524 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
He illustrated his method of working with Congress
by the following story :
"We had once when I was president of a
university, to revise a whole course of study.
A committee, I believe of fourteen men, was
constituted by the faculty of the imiversity to
report a revised, curriculum. Naturally, the men
who had the most ideas on the subject were picked
out, and naturally, each man came with a very
definite notion of the kind of revision he wanted,
and one of the first discoveries we made was that
no two of us wanted exactly the same revision.
"I went in there with all my war paint on to
get the revision I wanted and, I dare say, though
it was perhaps more skilfully concealed, the
other men had their war paint on, too. We dis
cussed that matter for six months. The result
was a report which no one of us had conceived
or foreseen, but with which we were all absolutely
satisfied. There was not a man who had not
learned in that committee more than he had ever
known before about the subject, who had not
willingly revised his prepossession, and who was
not proud to be a participant in a genuine piece
of common counsel."

THE MAN IN ACTION 525
A careful review of his speeches from his inaugural
address to the completicMi of his program reveals little
of the fault finding, scarcely no abuse, but always an
appeal to those finer centers where patriotism abides.
In facing a group of business men, he declared emphatic
ally that certain men did deliberately go about to set up
private monopoly in this country. But he appealed to
their patriotism to come and help remove the evil. When
the lobbyists, those "self-appointed trustees," were
standing in the way of the progress of legislation, he
boldly and vigorously brushed them aside. But in his
addresses there are found practicaUy no references to
"malefactors of great wealth" or to "robber barons"
of large industries.
He is a good psychologist, using the power of sug
gestion to direct the thought of the nation into patriotic
channels, rather than throwing evil on the defensive and
gaining for it reinforcements by holding it up before the
public. He was constantly holding up, instead, the vir
tues of the statesmen who helped to make the good that
once existed and should now exist in the nation, and he
seemed to draw his inspiration for patriotic utterances
from the glory of men individually and collectively who
set up this nation on the rights of man.
His habits of work are very interesting. A daily pro
gram of his official acts was published by James Hay, Jr.,
in the American Magazine, as follows :
"His personal stenographer, C. L. Swem, who was.

526 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
with him in New Jersey, reports at the study in the
White House proper at 8 :55, at which time the President
dictates replies to the important letters which have been
received at the White House offices the day before. At
ten o'clock he takes his place at his desk in his private
office in the White House offices. Between ten and ten-
thirty he attends to whatever routine work is possible
before he begins to keep the appointments he or his secre
tary has made several days before. Each caller usually
gets five minutes, some of them three, and a few fifteen.
He keeps a card on his desk showing the list of appoint
ments, and checks off with his own hand each appoint
ment as it is kept. (I saw one of these cards on which he
had run his pencil through the name of a prominent
politician and had written after the name in blue pencil,
'He did not come.' That 'He did not come' looked
ominous.) "At 12:59 the President, having concluded the ap
pointments, leaves the office and goes to the White House
for his one-o'clock luncheon.
"At two o'clock he receives in the East Room delega
tions of tourists who want to shake his hand, and, if it
is necessary, he has a long conference with some member
of the Cabinet or a diplomat. After that, he plays golf,
takes a walk through the shopping district of Washing
ton, or goes for an automobile ride.
"At seven o'clock he has dinner.

THE MAN IN ACTION 527
"He goes to bed between ten o'clock and ruidnight,
never after midnight. ' '
The President's office methods are described as remark
able for accuracy and exactness. He files all his im
portant papers with his own hands in a filing case just
back of his chair in the White House study. His powers
of concentration are great, and after devoting his mind
entirely to a single subject, or dictating a speech or a
paper, or writing it out in shorthand and then reading
it to, his stenographer, practically no changes are
required. Punctuality, alertness, candor, and firmness are char
acteristic of the man. If you have an engagement with
him he keeps it to the second and resents it if you do not.
If you suggest a new idea, he quietly grasps it and is
ready to use it. In this way he coUects aU the brains
available. If you have an engagement with him for five
minutes, when you have talked 4.9 minutes, he "will cer
tainly give the matter careful consideration," he is "glad
you offered the suggestion," and is "sorry you can't
stay longer for it is very interesting." Out you go
unoffended, and as you leave, he jots down in shorthand
for future consideration the main points of the discus
sion, and is ready for the next man. It is said that he is
an expert stenographer and that a page from his note
book is "as clear and clean cut as a piece of engraving."
Mr. Wilson says himself that he never stops working

528 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
on his important messages to Congress until he is ready
to deliver them. This story which he tells is an illus
tration of this fact :
"I was amused the other day," he said, "at a
remark that Senator Newlands made. I had read
him the trust message that I was to deliver to
Congress some ten days before I delivered it,
and I never stop 'doctoring' things of that kind
until the day I have to deliver them. When he
heard it read to Congress he said: 'I think it
was better than it was when you read it to me.'
I said: 'Senator, there is one thing which I do
not think you understand. I not only use all the
brains I have, but all I can borrow, and I have
borrowed a lot since I rf,^ :I '¦ ;; "ou st.' "
He moves about his tas~.,.; 4'; Iskness that sur
prises, and a hearty good cheer >.jtat pleases, but with a
poise and directnes- iiat carry conviction. In him there
is nothing of ih limagogue, no bluff and bluster, no
acrobatic gy7:aticas or playing to the galleries. His
private life is sir:- f" sity itself. He is a polished gentle
man, but tlio. ¦ democratic and intensely human.
A scholar of t • /. rank, a rapid thinker of extraor
dinary mental _.,rtness, he moves with precision, cour
age, and purp !se. He is slow to make promises, but
quick to fulc ¦. those he makes. He has a facility and
a felicity of expression that quickly charms his

THE MAN IN ACTION 529
hearers; square-shouldered and manly, he looks
you straight in the eye, charms you with his mellow
musical voice, eager interest, and marvelous fund of
information. He is a dynamo of energy, a storage battery
of power. You are conscious that you are in the pres
ence of a great personality, a man worthy to be Presi
dent of the United States.
Mr. Wilson has a keen sense of humor, and both his
conversation and his speeches abound with stories. A
certain committee from New York called to convince him
that the Banking and Currency Laws which had then
been in force about a year should be amended. The chair
man of the committee finally said :
' ' Sir, that law is breaking down the power and control
of Wall Street as the money center of the country."
"That reminds me of a story," said the Presi
dent, as the unfailing twinkle came to his eye.
"A stranger was visiting a great Cathedral in
London. He gazed in wonder upon its magnifi
cence, and said to the keeper who was an Irish
man, 'Doesn't this beat the devil?' The Irishman
promptly replied, 'That's what we built it for.
Sir.' "
In speaking of the vanity of the office holder
in Washington he said once: "A friend of mine
says that every man who takes office in Washing-

530 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
ton either grows or swells, and when I give a man
an office, 1 watch him carefully to see whether he
is swelling or growing. The mischief of it is
that when they swell they do not swell enough
to burst. If they would only swell to the point
where you might insert a pin and let the gases
out, it would be a great delight. I do not know
any pastime that would be more diverting, except
that the gases are probably poisonous, so that we
would have to stand from under."
During his fight against the lobbyists and the monop
olists he came in for a great deal of criticism and abuse.
His leadership had not been fully established, and his
popularity was then at its lowest ebb. In describing his
feelings to newspaper men, he said :
"There are blessed intervals when I forget by
one means or another that I am President of the
United States. One means by which I forget is
to get a rattling good detective story, get after
some imaginary offender and chase him all over —
preferably any continent but this, because the
various parts of this continent are becoming pain
fully suggestive to me. The postoffices, and many
other things which stir reminiscence have * sicklied
them o'er with a pale cast of thought.' There

THE MAN IN ACTION 53I
are postoffices which I can't think of without
trembling with the knowledge of all the heart
burnings there were in connection with getting
somebody installed as postmaster."
The President's ability to use classic English is well
recognized, but there is a story that upon one occasion
he made a short cut to the point. A battle royal was
raging in the House. The contest was close and bitter.
A congressman wanted to be known as an "administra
tion man" because while the people at home didn't know
the details, yet they believed in the President and ac
cepted without question all for which he stood. The
congressman wanted to hedge, so he called upon the
President and said, "Mr. President, of course, I am for
you all the way, but I think you might recede a little to
please some of my constituents who don't agree with us.
Won't you?"
Mr. Wilson had been holding the fort almost alone for
days and he had reached the limit of his patience. No
sooner had the congressman ceased his pleading than the
President turned suddenly upon him and pounding
heavily upon the table exclaimed :
"I'm right! No!"
And he clothed this negative with such force that, so
the story goes, the distinguished congressman, utterly

532 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
frightened, did not put on his hat until he had reached
the House, and without taking his seat, he made a speech
in favor of the bill.
Mr. Wilson is considered an excellent judge of human
nature. He is so human himself that it is easy for a
man of his training to detect the real human being as
it moves in and out among the artificial figures and de
humanizing conventionalists. He speaks often of the
value to the world of the disinterested man.
"The only thing that saves the world is the
handful of disinterested men in it." And he
declared that he was ever on the watch for such
men. "I have found a few disinterested men," he
said, "and I tie to those men as you would tie to
an anchor. I tie to them as you would tie to
the voices of conscience, if you could be sure
that you always heard them. Men who have no
axes to grind, men who love America so that
they would give their lives for it and never care
whether anybody heard that they had given their
lives for it, willing to die in obscurity if only
they might serve — those are the men. Nations,
like those men, are the nations that are going to
serve the world and save it."

THE MAN IN ACTION 533
He had no patience with the stand-patter, the reac
tionary, or the so-called conservative, "these hopeless
dams against the stream" who were often urging him to
let things alone, and let all the forces of evil as well as
good work on in their accustomed way.
"I remember," he said, "when I was President
of a university, a man said to me: 'Good
Heavens, man, why don't you leave something
alone and let it stay the way it is?' and I said:
'If you will guarantee to me that it will stay
the way it is, I will let it alone ; but if you knew
anything, you would know that if you leave a
thing alone it will not stay where it is. It will
develop, and will either go in the wrong direction
or decay.'
"I reminded him of this thing that the English
writer said, that if you want to keep a white post
white, you cannot let it alone. It will get black.
You have to keep doing something to it. In that
instance you have got to paint it white frequently
in order to keep it white, because there are forces
at work that will get the better of you. Not only
will it turn black, but the forces of moisture and
other forces of nature will penetrate the white
paint and get at the fibre of the wood, and decay

534 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
will set in, and the next time you try to paint it
you will find that there is nothing but punk to
paint. "Then you will remember the Red Queen in
'Alice in Wonderland' or 'Alice Through the
Looking Glass' — ^I forget which, it has been so
long since I read them — who takes Alice by the
hand, and they rush along at a great pace, and
then, when they stop, Alice looks around and
says, 'But we are just where we were when we
started.' 'Yes,' says the Red Queen, 'you have
to run twice as fast as that to get anywhere
else. '
' ' That is also true, gentlemen, of the world and
of affairs. You have got to run fast merely to
stay where you are, and in order to get any
where you have got to run twice as fast as that.
That is what people do not realize. That is the
mischief of these hopeless dams against the
stream known as reactionaries, and standpatters,
and other words of obloquy. That is what is the
matter with them: they are not even staying
where they were. They are sinking further and
further back in what will some time comfortably
close over their heads as the black waters of
oblivion. I sometimes imagine that I see their

THE MAN IN ACTION 535
heads going down, and I am not inclined even
to throw them a life preserver. The sooner they
disappear the better. We need their places for
people who are awake; and we particularly need
now, gentlemen, men who will divest themselves
of party passion and of personal preference and
will try to think in the terms of America.*'
The man who is happiest in old clothes and hates a
silk hat is the same man who meets a suspicious congress
man and conquers him, not by threats or bluster, it is
said, but by teUing him with frank simpUcity what he
thinks ought to be done. The lobbyists in Washington
always expecting to find a politician "playing the game"
and always looking for the vulnerable spot in his play,
found themselves baffled and conquered by the Presi
dent's method of fighting. He does not adopt this
method as tactics ; he acts in this way, it is said, because
this is Woodrow Wilson, the man himself. He knows
no other way.
"I cannot make myself over; you must take
me as you find me," he said once.
He wins because he is prepared. Intellectual con
tests are easy because of his well disciplined mind.
He has read more widely and thought more accu
rately, as a rule, than any antagonist he meets

536 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
at home or abroad. Moreover, he has an inher
ent and life long preference for plainness and
directness, and for simple things. This is a comple
mentary side of the same characteristics which make his
political methods so direct. Herein lies the secret of
much of his power.
He knows the history and the science of government
with an intimacy few men have possessed. It was the
possession of this accurate knowledge that made it pos
sible for him to confound the bankers when they came
to ask him to consent to their naming representatives
on the Federal Reserve Board.
After all is said and done, in times like this, the real
determining factor is the man — the masterful man in
action. Americans clamor for the man who is safe and
will not lead astray, the leader who stands for America
first, the master to whom the world looks with confidence
for cool deliberation, justice, and honor in the final ad
justment of domestic and foreign affairs in the midst of
confusion at home and madness abroad.
America is the world power destined to be the arbiter
of this stupendous confiict, and Woodrow Wilson, the
President, is the greatest figure, perhaps, in this world
crisis of inexcusable folly and causeless bloodshed.
He admits that he makes mistakes, but his charac
terization of the men who have helped to set this nation
forward on the path to peace and honor may be descrip
tive likewise of himself.

THE MAN IN ACTION 537
' ' The men who grow, the men who think better
a year after they are put in office than they
thought when they were put in office, are the
balance wheel of the whole thing. They are the
ballast that enables the craft to carry sail and
to make a port in the long run, no matter what
the weather is."
But looking back over the years that have intervened
since he was inaugurated, he spoke feelingly of the
crises through which he had come and of the hostile
criticism of him from men who had differed with him.
It came as a sort of public confession to the newspaper
men of Washington:
"I have come through the fire," he said,
"since I talked to you last. Whether the metal
is purer than it was, God only knows. But the
fire has been there, the fire has penetrated every
part of it, and if I may believe my own thoughts,
I have less partisan feeling, more impatience of
party maneuver, more enthusiasm for the right
thing, no matter whom it hurts, than I ever had
before in my life. ' '

APPENDIX
SELECTIONS FROM WOODROW WIL
SON'S PUBLIC ADDRESSES
THE SPIRIT OF PENN
"I cannot help thinking of William Peipi as
a sort of spiritual knight who went out upon his
adventures to carry the torch that had been put
into his hands, so that other men might have the
path illuminated for them which led to justice and
liberty. I cannot admit that a man establishes
his right to call himself a college graduate by
showing me his diploma. The only way he can
prove it is by showing that his eyes are lifted
to some horizon which other men less instructed
than he have not been privileged to see. Unless
he carries freight of the spirit, he has not been
bred where spirits are bred.
"This man Penn, representing the sweet enter
prise of the quiet and powerful sect that called
themselves Friends, proved his right to the title
by being the friend of mankind. He crossed the
538

APPENDIX 539
ocean, not merely to establish estates in America,
but to set up a free commonwealth in America,
and to show that he was of the lineage of those
who had been bred in the best traditions of the
human spirit. I would not be interested in cele
brating the memory of William Penn if his con
quest had been merely a material one. Sometimes
we have been laughed at, by foreigners in par
ticular, for boasting of the size of the American
continent, the size of our own domain as a nation ;
for they have, naturally enough, suggested that
we did not make it. But I claim that every race
and every man is as big as the thing that he takes
possession of, and that the size of America is in
some sense a standard of the size and capacity of
the American people. And yet the mere extent
of the American conquest is not what gives
America distinction in the annals of the world,
but the professed purpose of the conquest which
was to see to it that every foot of this land should
be the home of free, self-governed people, who
should have no government whatever which did
not rest upon the consent of the governed. I
would like to believe that all this hemisphere is
devoted to the same sacred purpose, and that
nowhere can any government endure which is

540 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
stained by blood or supported by anything but
the consent of the governed.
"The spirit of Penn will not be stayed. You
cannot set limits to such knightly adventurers.
After their own day is gone, their spirits stalk
the world, carrying inspiration everywhere that
they go, and remiiiding men of the lineage, the
fine lineage, of those who have sought justice
and right."
From Woodrow Wilson's address at Swathmore Col
lege, Pennsylvania, October 25, 1913.
JOHN BARRY'S EXAMPLE
"No one can turn to the career of Commodore
Barry without feeling a touch of the enthusiasm
with which he devoted an originating mind to
the great cause which he intended to serve, and
it behooves us, living in this age when no man
can question the power of the nation, when no
man would dare to doubt its right and its deter
mination to act for itself, to ask what it was that
filled the hearts of these men when they set the
nation up.
"John Barry was an Irishman, but his heart
crossed the Atlantic with him. He did not leave
it in Ireland. And the test of all of us — for all

APPENDIX 541
of US had our origins on the other side of the
sea — is whether we will assist in enabling Amer
ica to live her separate and independent life,
retaining our ancient affections, indeed, but deter
mining everything that we do by the interests that
exist on this side of the sea. Some Americans
need hyphens in their names, because only part
of them has come over; but when the whole man
has come over, heart and thought and all, the
hyphen drops of its own weight out of his name.
This man was not an Irish- American; he was an
Irishman who became an American. I venture
to say if he voted, he voted with regard to the
questions as they looked on this side of the water
and not on the other side, and that is my infallible
test of a genuine American: that when he votes,
or when he acts, or when he fights, his heart and
his thought are nowhere but in the center of the
emotions and purposes and the policies of the
United States.
"This man illustrates for me aU the splendid
strength which we brought into the country by the
magnet of freedom. Men have been drawn to
this country by the same thing that has made
them love this country: by the opportunity to
live their own lives, and to think their own

542 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
thoughts, and to let their whole natures expand
with the expansion of this free and mighty nation.
We have brought out of the stocks of all the world
all the best impulses, and have appropriated
them and Americanized them 'a.nd translated them
into the glory and the majesty of this great
country. "So, ladies and gentlemen, when we go out
from this presence, we ought to take this idea
with us : that we, too, are devoted to the purpose
of enabling America to live her own life, to be
the justest, the most progressive, the most honor
able, the most enlightened nation in the world.
Any man who touches our honor is our enemy.
Any man who stands in the way of that kind of
progress which makes for human freedom cannot
call himself our friend. Any man who does not
feel behind him the whole push and rush and
compulsion that filled men's hearts in the time
of the Revolution is no American. No man who
thinks first of himself and afterwards of his
country can call himself an American. America
must be enriched by us. We must not live upon
her; she must live by means of us.
"I, for one, come to this shrine to renew the
impulses of American democracy. I would be

APPENDIX 543
ashamed of myself if I went away from this place
without realizing again that every bit of selfish
ness must be purged from our policy, that every
bit of self-seeking must be purged from our in
dividual conscience, and that we must be great,
if we would be great at all, in the light and
illumination of the example of men who gave
everything that they were and everything that
they had to the glory and honor of America. ' '
From Woodrow Wilson's address at the unveiling of
the statue to the memory of Commodore John Barry, at
Washington, May 16, 1914.
THE PLAIN MEN OF THE COLONIES
"The men of the day which we now celebrate
had a very great advantage over us, ladies and
gentlemen, in this one particular : life was simple
in Ameirica then. All men shared the same cir
cumstances in almost equal degree. We think of
Washington, for example, as an aristocrat, as a
man separated by training, separated by family
and neighijorhood tradition, from the ordinary
people of the rank and file of the country. Have
you forgotten the personal history of George
Washington? Do you not know that he struggled
as poor boys now struggle for a meager and im-

544 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
perfect education; that he worked at his sur
veyor's tasks in the lonely forests; that he knew
all the roughness, all the hardships, all the ad
venture, all the variety of the common life of
that day; and that if he stood a little stiffly in
this place, if he looked a little aloof, it was be
cause life had dealt hardly with him? All his
sinews had been stiffened by the rough work of
making America. He was a man of the people,
whose touch had been with them since the day he
saw the light in the old Dominion of Virginia.
And the men who came after him, men, some of
whom had drunk deep at the sources of phil
osophy and of study, were, nevertheless, also
men who on this side of the water knew no com
plicated life, but the simple life of primitive
neighborhoods. Our task is very much more
difficult. That sympathy which alone interprets
public duty is more difficult for a public man to
acquire now than it was then, because we live
in the midst of circumstances and conditions
infinitely complex.
"No man can boast that he understands Amer
ica. No man can boast that he has lived the life
of America, as almost every man who sat in this

APPENDIX 545
hall in those days could boast. No man can
pretend that except by common counsel he can
gather into his consciousness what the varied
life of this people is. The duty that we have to
keep open eyes and open hearts and accessible
understandings is a very much more difficult
duty to perform than it was in their day. Yet
how much more important that it should be
performed, for fear we make infinite and irre
parable blunders. The city of Washington is in
some respects self-contained, and it is easy to
forget what the rest of the United States is think
ing about.
"L count it a fortunate circumstance that
ahnost all the windows of the White House and
its offices open upon unoccupied spaces that
stretch to the banks of the Potomac and then cut
into Virginia and on to the heavens themselves,
and that as I sit there I can constantly forget
Washington and remember the United States,
Not that I would intimate that all of the United
States lies south of Washington, but there is a
serious thing back of my thought. If you think
too much about being reelected, it is very difficult
to be worth reelecting. You are so apt to forget

546 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
that the comparatively small number of persons,
numerous as they seem to be when they swarm,
who come to Washington to ask for things, does
not constitute an important proportion of the
population of the country, that it is constantly
necessary to come away from Washington and
renew one's contact with the people who do not
swarm there, who do not ask for anything, but
who do trust you without their personal counsel
to do your duty. Unless a man gets these con
tacts, he grows weaker and weaker. He needs
them as Antaeus needed the touch of Mother
Earth. If you lift him up too high or he lifts
himself too high, he loses the contact and there
fore loses the inspiration.
"I love to think of those plain men, however
far from plain their dress sometimes was, who
assembled in this hall. One is startled to think
of the variety of costume and color which would
now occur if we were to let loose upon the
fashions of that age. Men's lack of taste is
largely concealed now by the limitations of
fashion. Yet these men, who sometimes dressed
like the peacock, were, nevertheless, of the or
dinary flight of their time. They were birds of
a feather; they were birds come from a very

APPENDIX 547
simple breeding; they were much in the open
heaven. They were beginning, when there was
so little to distract their attention, to show that
they could live upon fundamental principles of
government. We talk those principles, but we
have not time to absorb them. We have not time
to let them into our blood, and thence have them
translated into the plain mandates of action.
"The very smallness of this room, the very
simplicity of it all, all the suggestions which come
from its restoration, are reassuring things — ?
things which it becomes a man to realize. There
fore, my theme here today, my only thought, is a
very simple one. Do not let us go back to the
annals of those sessions of Congress to find out
what to do, because we live in another age and
the circumstances are absolutely different ; but let
us be men of that kind; let us feel at every turn
the compulsions of principle and of honor which
they felt; let us free our vision from temporary
circumstances and look abroad at the horizon and
take into our lungs the great air of freedom which
has blown through this country and stolen across
the seas and blessed people everywhere; and,
looking east and west and north and south, let
us remind ourselves that we are the custodians,

548 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
in some degree, of the principles which have
made men free and governments just."
Woodrow Wilson's address at the celebration of the
rededication of Congress Hall, Philadelphia, October 25,
1913.

THE MEANING OF THE DECLARATION OF
INDEPENDENCE
"Have you ever read the Declaration of Inde
pendence? When you have heard it read, have
you attended to its sentences? The Declaration
of Independence is not a Fourth of July oration.
The Declaration of Independence was a docu
ment preliminary to a war. It involved a vital
piece of business, not a piece of rhetoric. And
if you will get further down in the reading than
its preliminary passages, where it quotes about
the rights of men, you will see that it is a very
specific body of declarations concerning the busi
ness of the day — ^not the business of our day, for
the matter with which it deals is past — the busi
ness of revolution, the business of 1776. The
Declaration of Independence does not seem any
thing to us merely in its general statements
unless we can append to it a similarly specific

APPENDIX 549
body of particulars as to what we consider our
liberty to consist of.
"Liberty does not consist in mere general
declaration as to the rights of man. It consists
in the translation of those declarations into
definite action. Therefore, standing here where
the Declaration was adopted, reading the busi
ness-like sentences, we ought to ask ourselves,
what is there in it for us? There's nothing in
it for us unless we can translate it into terms of
our own conditions and of our own lives. We
must reduce it to what the lawyers call a bill
of particulars, the bill of particulars of 1776,
and, if we are to revitalize it, we are to fill it
with a bill of particulars of 1914. The task to
which we have to address ourselves is a proof
that we are worthy of the men who drew this
great Declaration by showing we know what they
would have done in our circumstances.
"You know the Declaratipn of Independence
has in one sense lost its significance. Nobody
believed we could be independent when that docu
ment was written. Now nobody would dare doubt
we are independent. As a declaration of inde
pendence it is a mere historic document. The
Independence is a fact so stupendous that it can

550 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
be measured only by the size, energy, ability,
wealth, and power of one of the greatest nations
of the world.
"But it is one thing to be independent, and it
is another thing to know what to do with your
independence. It is one thing to come to your
majority, and another thing to know what you
are going to do with your life and your energies.
One of the most serious questions for sober
minded men to address themselves to in these
United States is: what are we going to do with
the influence and power of this great nation?
Are we going to play the old role of uSing that
power for our own aggrandizement and material
benefit? You know what that means. It means
we shall use it to make the people of other
nations suffer in the way in which we said it
was intolerable to suffer when we uttered the
Declaration of Independence. . , .
"We set up this nation and we propose to set
it up on the rights of man. We did not name any
differences between one race and another; we
did not set up any barriers against any par
ticular race of people, but opened our gates to
the world, and said for all men who wished to be
free to come to us and they would be welcome.

APPENDIX 551
We said this independence is not merely for us,
a selfish thing for our own private use, but for
everybody to whom we confided the means of
extending it,
' ' These were grim days, the days of '76. These
gentlemen did not attach their names to the
Declaration of Independence on this table ex
pecting a holiday the next day. The Fourth of
July was not a holiday. They attached their
signatures to that document, knowing, if they
failed, the extreme likelihood was that every
one would hang for the failure. They were com
mitting treason in the interest of three million
people in America, and all the rest of the world
was against them. All the rest of the world
smiled with a cynical incredulity at the audacious
undertaking. Do you think these gentlemen, if
they could see this great nation, would regard
that they had done anything to make themselves
unpopular and to draw the gaze of the world in
astonishment and condescending surprise?
"Every idea has got to be started by some
body and it is a lonely thing to start anything.
Yet you have got to start it if there is any man's
blood in you, and if you love the country that you
are pretending to work for. I am sometimes very

552 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
much interested in seeing gentlemen supposing
that popularity is the way to success in America.
The way to popularity in America is to show that
you are not afraid of anybody except God and
his judgment. If I did not believe that, I would
not believe that judgment would be the last and
final judgment in the minds of men, as well as
at the tribunal of God; I could not believe in
popular government. But I do believe these
things, and, therefore, I earnestly believe in the
democracy, not only of America, but in the power
of an awakened people, to govern and control its
own affairs. So it is very inspiring to come to
this that may be called the original fountain of
liberty and independence of America, and take
these drafts of patriotic feelings which seem to
renew the very blood in a man's veins.
"What other great people, I ask, has devoted
itself to this exalted ideal? To what other nation
can you look for instant sympathy that thrills
the whole body politic when men anywhere are
fighting for their rights? I don't know that there
will ever be another Declaration of Independence,
a statement of grievances of mankind, but I be
lieve if any such document is ever dravm, it will
be drawn in the spirit of the American Declara-

APPENDIX 553
tion of Independence, and that America has lifted
the light that will shine unto all generations and
guide the feet of mankind to the goal of justice,
liberty, and peace. ' '
From Woodrow Wilson's address at Independence
HaU, Philadelphia, Pa., July 4, 1914.
OUR DUTY TO THE DEFENDERS OF THE UNION
"A peculiar privilege came to the men who
fought for the Union. There is no other civil
war in history, ladies and gentlemen, the stings
of which were removed before the men who did
the fighting passed from the stage of life. So
that we owe these men something more than a
legal re-establishment of the Union. We owe
them the spiritual re-establishment of the Union
as well; for they not only re-united states, they
re-united the spirits of men. That is their unique
achievement, unexampled anywhere else in the
annals of mankind, that the very men whom they
overcame in battle join in praise and gratitude
that the Union was saved. There is something
peculiarly beautiful and peculiarly touching about
that. Whenever a man who is still trying to
devote himself to the service of the nation comes
into a presence like this, or into a place like

554 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
this, his spirit must be peculiarly moved. A
mandate is laid upon him which seems to speak
from the very graves themselves. I can never
speak in praise of war, ladies and gentlemen; you
would not desire me to do so. But there is this
peculiar distinction belonging to the soldier, that
he goes into an enterprise out of which he him
self cannot get anything at all. He is giving
everything that he hath, even his life, in order
that others may live, not in order that he himself
may obtain gain and prosperity. And just so
soon as the tasks of peace are performed in the
same spirit of self-sacrifice and devotion, peace
societies will not be necessary. The very organiza
tion and spirit of society will be a guaranty of
peace. "Therefore, this peculiar thing comes about,
that we can stand here and praise the memory of
these soldiers in the interest of peace. They set
us the example of self-sacrifice, which if followed
in peace will make it unnecessary that men should
follow war any more,
"We are reputed to be somewhat careless in
our discrimination between words in the use of
the English language, and yet it is interesting
to note that there are some words about which

APPENDIX 555
we are very careful. We bestow the adjective
'great' somewhat indiscriminately, A man who
has made conquest of his fellow-men for his ovsm
gain may display such genius in war, such un
common qualities of organization and leadership
that we may call him 'great'; there is a word
which we reserve for men of another kind and
about which we are very careful: that is the
word 'noble,' We never call a man 'noble'
who serves only himself; and if you will look
about through all the nations of the world upon
the statues that men have erected — ^upon the
inscribed tablets where they have wished to keep
alive the memory of the citizens whom they de
sire most to honor — ^you wiU find that almost
without exception they have erected the statue
to those who had a splendid surplus of energy
and devotion to spend upon their fellow-men.
Nobility exists in America without patent. We
have no House of Lords, but we have a house of
fame to which we elevate those who are the
noble men of our race, who, forgetful of them
selves, study and serve the public interest, who
have the courage to face any number and any
kind of adversary, to speak what in their hearts
they believe to be the truth.

556 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
"We admire physical courage, but we admire
above all things else moral courage. I believe
that soldiers will bear me out in saying that both
come in time of battle. I take it that the moral
courage comes in going into battle, and the
physical courage in staying in. There are battles
which are just as hard to go into and just as
hard to &ta.y in as the battle of arms ; and if the
man will but stay and think never of himself,
there will come a time of grateful recoUection
when men will speak of him not only with ad
miration but with that which goes deeper, with
affection and with reverence.
"So that this flag calls upon us daily for
service, and the more quiet and self-denying the
service, the greater the glory of the flag. We
are dedicated to freedom, and that freedom means
the freedom of the human spirit. All free spirits
ought to congregate on an occasion like this to
do homage to the greatness of America as illus
trated by the greatness of her sons.
"It has been a privilege, ladies and gentlemen,
to come and say these simple words, which I am
sure are merely putting your thought into lan
guage. I thank you for the opportunity to lay

APPENDIX 557
this little wreath of mine upon these consecrated
graves." From Woodrow Wilson's address at Arlington, May
30, 1914. THE NEW ERA
"A year and a half ago our thought would
have been almost altogether of great domestic
questions. They are many and of vital conse
quence. We must and shall address ourselves to
their solution with diligence, firmness, and self-
possession, notwithstanding we find ourselves in
the midst of a world disturbed by great disaster
and ablaze with terrible war; but our thought is
now inevitably of new things about which for
merly we gave ourselves little concern. We are
thinking now chiefly of our relations with the
rest of the world, not our commercial relations —
about those we have thought and planned always
— ^but about our political relations, our duties as
an individual and independent force in the world
to ourselves, our neighbors, and the world itself.
"Our principles are well known. It is not
necessary to avow them again. We believe in
political liberty and founded our great Govern-

558 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
ment to obtain it, the liberty of men and of
peoples — of men to choose their own lives and
of peoples to choose their own allegiance.
"Our ambition, also, all the world has knowl
edge of. It is not only to be free and prosperous
ourselves, but also to be the friend and thought
ful partisan of those who are free or who desire
freedom the world over. If we have had aggres
sive purposes and covetous ambitions, they were
the fruit of our thoughtless youth as a nation,
and we have put them aside. We shall, I con
fidently believe, never again take another foot
of territory by conquest. We shall never in any
circumstances seek to make an independent people
subject to our dominion; because we believe, we
passionately believe, in the right of every people
to choose their own allegiance and be free of
masters altogether.
"For ourselves we wish nothing but the full
liberty of self-development; and with ourselves in
this great matter we associate all the peoples of
our own hemisphere. We wish not only for the
United States but for them the fullest freedom of
independent growth and action, for we know
that throughout this hemisphere the same aspira
tions are everywhere being worked out, under

APPENDIX 559
diverse conditions, but with the same impulse and
ultimate object.
"AU this is very dear to us and will, I confi
dently predict, become more and more clear to
the whole world as the great processes of the
future unfold themselves."
From Woodrow Wilson's Address before the Man
hattan Club of New York, November 4, 1915.
THE AMERICAN FLAG
"As I look at that flag, I seem to see many
characters upon it which are not visible to the
physical eye. There seem to move ghostly
visions of devoted men who, looking to that flag,
thought only of Liberty, of the Rights of Man
kind, of the mission of America to show the way
to the world for the realization of those rights.
"And every grave of every brave man in the
country would seem to have upon it the colors of
the flag, if he were a true American; seem to
have upon it that stain of red, which means the
true pulse of blood; that patch' of pure white,
which means the peace of the soul.
"And then there seems to rise over the graves
of those men and to hallow their memories that
blue space of the skies in which swim those stars

560 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
which exemplify for us the glorious galaxy of
the States of the Union, which stand together to
vindicate the Rights of Mankind."
From Woodrow Wilson's campaign in the West on
MiUtary Preparedness. THE MEANING OF THE FLAG
"I sometimes wonder why men take this flag
and flaunt it. If I am respected, I do not have
to demand respect. If I am feared, I do not
have to ask for fear. If my power is known, I do
not have to proclaim it. I do not understand the
temper, neither does this Nation understand the
temper, of men who use this flag boastfully.
"This flag for the future is meant to stand
for the just use of undisputed national power.
No nation is ever going to doubt our power to
assert its right, and we should lay it to heart
that no nation shall ever henceforth doubt our
purpose to put it to the highest uses to which a
great emblem of justice and government can be
put. "It is henceforth to stand for self-possession,
for dignity, for the assertion of the right of one
nation to serve the other nations of the world —
an emblem that will not condescend to be used

APPENDIX 561
for the purposes of aggression and self-aggran
dizement; that is too great to be debased by
selfishness; that has vindicated its right to be
honored by all nations of the world and feared
by none who do righteousness.
"Is it not a proud thing to stand under such
an emblem? Would it not be a pitiful thing
ever to make apology and explanation of any
thing that we ever did under the leadership of
this flag carried in the van? Is it not a solemn
responsibility laid upon us to lay aside bluster,
and assume that much greater thing, the quietude
of genuine power? So it seems to me that it is
my privilege and right as the temporary repre
sentative of a great nation that does what it
pleases with its own affairs, to say that we please
to do justice and assert the rights of mankind
wherever this flag is unfurled."
Prom Woodrow Wilson's Address on Flag Day,
June, 1915. LET NO MAN CREATE DIVISION
"The only thing within our own borders that
has given us grave concern in recent months
has been that voices have been raised in America
professing to be the voices of Americans which

562 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
were not indeed and in truth American, but
which spoke alien sympathies, which came from
men who loved other countries better than they
loved America, men who were partisans of other
causes than that of America and had forgotten
that their chief and only allegiance was to the
great Government under which they live. These
voices have not been many, but they have been
very loud and very clamorous. They have pro
ceeded from a few who were bitter and who
were grievously misled.
"America has not opened its doors in vain
to men and women out of other nations. The
vast majority of those who have come to take
advantage of her hospitality have united their
spirits with hers as well as their fortunes.
These men who speak alien sympathies are not
their spokesmen, but are the spokesmen of
small groups whom it is high time that the
nation should call to a reckoning. The chief
thing necessary in America in order that she
should let all the world know that she is pre
pared to maintain her own great position is
that the real voice of the nation should sound
forth unmistakably and in majestic volume, in

APPENDIX 563
the deep unison of a common, unhesitating
national feeling. I do not doubt that upon the
first occasion, upon the first opportunity, upon
the first definite challenge, that voice will speak
forth in tones which no man can doubt, and with
commands which no man dare gainsay or resist.
"May I not say, while I am speaking of
this, that there is another danger that we should
guard against? We should rebuke not only
manifestations of racial feeling here in America
where there should be none, but also every mani
festation of religious and sectarian antagonism.
It does not become America that within her
borders where every man is free to follow
the dictates of his conscience and worship God
as he pleases, men should raise the cry of
church against church. To do that is to strike
at the very spirit and heart of America.
"We are a God-fearing people. We agree
to differ about methods of worship, but we
are united in believing in Divine Providence and
in worshiping the God of Nations. We are the
champions of religious right here and every
where that it may be our privilege to give it
our countenance and support. The Govern-

564 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
ment is conscious of the obligation and the
nation is conscious of the obligation. Let no man
create divisions where there are none."

WHAT AMERICA HAS TO FEAR
"Nobody seriously supposes, gentlemen, that
the United States needs to fear an invasion of its
own territory. What America has to fear, if she
has anything to fear, are indirect, roundabout,
flank movements upon her regnant position in the
western hemisphere.
"Are we going to open those gates, or are we
going to close them? For they are the gates to
the hearts of our American friends to the south
of us, and not gates to the ports.
"Win their spirits and you have won the only
sort of leadership and the only sort of safety that
America covets. We must all of us think, from
this time out, gentlemen, in terms of the world,
and must learn what it is that America has set
out to maintain as a standard-bearer for all these
who love liberty and justice and the righteousness
of political action.
"But there are rights higher than either of
those, higher than the rights of individual Ameri-

APPENDIX 565
cans, outside of America, higher and greater than
the rights of trade and of commerce. I mean
the rights of mankind. We have made ourselves
the guarantors of the rights of national sover
eignty and of popular sovereignty on this side
of the water in both continents in the Western
Hemisphere. You would be ashamed, as I would
be ashamed, to withdraw one inch from that hand
some guarantee, for it is a handsome one. For
we have nothing to make by it unless it be that
we are to make friendships by it, and friendships
are the best usury of any sort of business.
"So far as dollars and cents and material
advantage are concerned, we have nothing to
make by the Monroe Doctrine. We have nothing
to make by allying ourselves with the other
nations of the Western Hemisphere in order to
see to it that no man from outside, no Government
from outside, no nation from outside attempts
to assert any kind of sovereignty or undue influ
ence over the peoples of this continent.
"America knows that the only thing that sus
tains the Monroe Doctrine and all the inferences
that flow from it is her own moral and physical
force. The Monroe Doctrine has never been for
mally accepted by any international agreement.

566 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
The Monroe Doctrine merely rests upon the state
ment that the United States will do certain things
if certain things happen. So nothing sustains
the honor of the United States in respect of these
long-cherished and long-admired promises except
her own moral and physical force.
From Woodrow Wilson's campaign in the West on
Military Preparedness.
OUR NEUTRALITY MISUNDERSTOOD
"I know that on the other side of the water
there has been a great deal of cruel misjudg-
ment with regard to the reasons why America
has remained neutral. Those who look at us at
a distance, my fellow citizens, do not feel the
strong pulses of ideal principle that are in us.
They do not feel the conviction of America that
her mission is a mission of peace and that right
eousness cannot be maintained as a standard
in the midst of arms. They do not realize that
back of all our energy, by which we have built
up great material wealth and created great ma
terial power, we are a body of idealists, much
more ready to lay down our lives for a thought
than for a dollar.
"I suppose some of them think that we are

APPENDIX 567
holding off because we can make money while
others are dying — the most cruel misunderstand
ing that any nation has had to face, so wrong
that it seems almost useless to try to correct it,
because it shows that the very fundamentals of
our life are not comprehended and understood.
"I need not tell my fellow-citizens that we have
not held off from this struggle from motives of
self-interest, unless it be considered self-interest
to maintain our position as the trustees of the
moral judgments of the world. We have believed,
and I believe, that we can serve even the nations
at war better by remaining at peace and holding
off from this contest than we could possibly serve
them in any other way.
"Your interests, your sympathies, your affec
tions may be engaged on the one side or the other,
but no matter which side they are engaged on,
your duty to your affections in that matter is to
stand off and not let this nation be drawn into
the war,
"Somebody must keep the great stable founda
tions of the life of nations untouched and undis
turbed; somebody must keep the great economic
processes of the world of business alive; some
body must see to it that we stand ready to repair

568 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
the enormous damage and the incalculable losses
which will result from this war and which it is
hardly credible could be repaired if every great
nation in the world were drawn into this con
test. From Woodrow Wilson's campaign in the West on
Military Preparedness. THE LESSON OF THE WAR
"If this war has accomplished nothing else
for the benefit of the world, it has at least dis
closed a great moral necessity, and set forward
the thinking of the statesmen of the world by a
whole age. Repeated utterances of the leading
statesmen of most of the great nations now
engaged in war have made it plain that their
thought has come to this: That the principle
of public right must henceforth take precedence
over the individual interests of particular na
tions, and that the nations of the world must
in some way band themselves together to see
that that right prevails as against any sort
of selfish aggression; that henceforth alliance
must not be set up against alliance; understand
ing against understanding; but that there must
be a common agreement for a common object.

APPENDIX 569
and that at the heart of that common object
must lie the inviolable rights of peoples and of
mankind. "The nations of the world have become each
other's neighbors. It is to their interest that
they should understand each other. In order
that they may understand each other it is
imperative that they should agree to cooperate
in a common cause, and that they should so act
that the guiding principle of that common cause
shall be even-handed and impartial justice.
"This is undoubtedly the thought of America.
This is what we ourselves will say when there
comes proper occasion to say it. In the deal
ings of nations with one another arbitrary force
must be rejected and we must move forward to
the thought of the modern world, the thought of
which peace is the very atmosphere. That
thought constitutes a chief part of the passionate
conviction of America.
"We believe these fundamental things:
"First, that every people has a right to choose
the sovereignty under which they shall live.
Like other nations, we have ourselves, no doubt,
once and again offended against that principle
when for a little while controlled by selfish

570 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
passion, as our franker historians have been
honorable enough to admit; but it has become
more and more our rule of life and action,
"Second, that the small states of the world
have the right to enjoy the same respect for
their sovereignty and for their territorial integ
rity that great and powerful nations expect
and insist upon.
"And, third, that the world has a right to
be free from every disturbance of its peace that
has its origin in aggression and disregard of the
rights of peoples and nations,
"So sincerely do we believe in these things
that I am sure that I speak the mind and wish
of the people of America when I say that the
United States is willing to become a partner
in any feasible association of nations formed
in order to realize these objects and make them
secure against violation.
"There is nothing that the United States
wants for itself that any other nation has. We
are willing, on the contrary, to limit ourselves
along with them to a prescribed course of duty
and respect for the rights of others, which will
check any selfish passion of our own, as it will
check any aggressive impulse of theirs.

APPENDIX 571
"If it should ever be our privilege to suggest
or initiate a movement for peace among the
nations now at war, I am sure that the people
of the United States would wish their govern
ment to move along these lines :
"First, such a settlement with regard to their
own immediate interests as the belligerents may
agree upon. We have nothing material of any
kind to ask for ourselves, and are quite aware
that we are in no sense or degree parties to
the present quarrel. Our interest is only in
peace and its future guaranty.
"Second, a universal association of the nations
to maintain the inviolate security of the highway
of the seas for the common and unhindered
use of all the nations of the world, and to prevent
any war begun either contrary to treaty, cove
nants, or without warning and full submission of
the causes to the opinion of the world — a virtual
guaranty of territorial integrity and political
independence. "But I did not come here, let me repeat, to
discuss a program. I came only to avow a
creed and give expression to the confidence I
feel that the world is even now upon the eve
of a great consummation, when some common

572 WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT
force will be brought into existence which shall
safeguard right as the first and most funda
mental interest of all peoples and all govern
ments, when coercion shall be summoned not
to the service of political ambition or selfish
hostility, but to the service of a common order,
a common justice, and a common peace.
"God grant that the dawn of that day of
frank dealing and of settled peace, concord, and
cooperation may be near at hand ! ' '
From an Address of Woodrow Wilson, May 27, 1916,
at the banquet of the League to Enforce Peace.

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