Page:Ian Hay - The New America - The Times - 1917-07-20.jpg



The United States declared war upon Germany in the first week of April, 1917. Since then, what has been accomplished?

It would have been a matter of small surprise and but little reproach if nothing had been accomplished at all. Democracy has many advantages over autocracy, but prompt and efficient direction of war is not one of them. It took our own country more than two years to realize that sudden emergencies and critical situations can be better handled by a capable and absolute triumvirate than an amiable but academic committee of twenty-three. President Wilson grasped the essential requirements of the situation at once. These were:—


 * 1) National registration.
 * 2) Compulsory, military service.
 * 3) The raising of money and an immediate and liberal Vote of Credit.
 * 4) Organization of the country's resources, especially in food and munitions.
 * 5) The immediate dispatch of an Expeditionary Force to France, first as an incentive to the country at large, and secondly as a guarantee of good faith to the Allies.

This, admittedly, was a colossal programme to lay before an unorganized and unmilitary nation. And no one knew better than the President that it contained measures which would be bitterly opposed. The suggestion of universal service would certainly raise a howl among, the pacifists, anti-militarists. Socialists, and all that strange crew whose ideals of liberty and patriotism are enshrined in the belief (or assertion) that self is all and the commonweal is naught. Again, for rapid and efficient organization of food and munitions it would be necessary to place vast powers in the hands of a few capable individuals; for in war there simply is not time—and often it is not expedient—to settle everything by open debate. Congress would undoubtedly resent this. There would be complaints about muzzling and gagging, and impassioned appeals to the sacred right of all representatives of popular government to make fifty speeches where the stroke of a single capable pen would suffice. But the President allowed none of these things to deter him. In his detached and solitary fashion—he has the reputation of never taking his Cabinet into his confidence if such a proceeding can possibly be avoided—he thought the matter out, and decided in his own mind what things were requisite and necessary. Then he laid his proposals before Congress. Congress on the whole responded nobly. There was a certain amount of opposition to universal service—some tainted, some sincere—but the scheme went through by large majorities. A liberal Vote of Credit was passed without difficulty. The Committee of National Defence—a special Board, comprising the acutest industrial and financial intellects in the country—took control of munitions, railway, shipping, and the like. (The munition problem, by the way, proved a comparatively simple matter, from the fact that many private firms had long been turning out munitions for the Allies, and a vast existing plant was immediately available.) Mr. Hoover, fresh from his triumphs on the Belgian Relief Committee; was appointed Food Controller. A War Loan of two billion dollars was projected. General Pershing was dispatched with his Staff to England, and ultimately to France, to prepare the way for the American Expeditionary Force, while Admiral Sims crossed the Atlantic with his fleet, and at once entered into active cooperation with the British Navy. Finally, missions arrived from the Allied countries to engage in counsel with the American Executive. Each country sent of her very best—Marshal Joffre, M. Viviani, and Mr.nbBalfour, to name only two or three—and they created an ineffaceable impression. Mr. Balfour's reception marked the beginning of a now era in Anglo-American relations. Between France and America, of course, there has always existed a friendship; but there was something refreshing, novel, and inspiring in the spectacle of New York and Washington cheering themselves hoarse over a British Cabinet Minister—a Minister, too, who rose in his carriage and cheered back like a schoolboy!

So much for the inception of the campaign. What of the execution? Pessimists feared, and interested axe-grinders darkly hinted, that there would be a public upheaval throughout the country upon the day when American citizens were called upon to register for national service, and that in any case very few would register. Registration Day came. Nearly ten million men registered within the space of twelve hours; there were no disturbances, and defaulters barely comprised one-tenth per cent., or one in a thousand. The first War Loan—the Liberty Loan, as it was happily named—was oversubscribed by about a billion dollars. Finally, an Expeditionary Force set sail, and landed without mishap upon the soil of France. It was a mere advance guard of the millions to follow—and its exact strength need not be set down here; but in due course its members will doubtless afford the Kaiser some further (and extremely wholesome) food for thought upon the subject of "contemptible little armies."

Such is America's record for less than three months of war. In one instance only did the President fail to enforce his views upon Congress. His scheme for a rigid Press censorship was rejected—with what degree of wisdom time will show. But the sum total of achievement is amazing. Conscription assured, industries mobilized, money raised, traditional and a naval and military force at work four thousand miles from their base! America may have been slow to put her hand to the plough, but having done so, she is losing no time in cleaving a straight furrow.