RCES OF INTERNATIONALISM . . . . . . . . 270
XXI AN IMMEDIATE PROGRAMME . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

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PART I

OUR IDEALISTIC PAST

AMERICAN WORLD POLICIES

CHAPTER I

AMERICA AMONG THE NATIONS

The Great War has thrown America back upon itself. It has come as a
test and challenge to all our theories. Suddenly, yet subtly, it has
shaken our optimism and undermined our faith in the peaceful progress
of humanity. Our isolation is gone, and with it our sense of security
and self-direction. Americans, who a few days ago would have dared to
abolish army and navy as a supreme earnest of good faith, reluctantly
agree to arm. "Self-defence," they now say, "comes before progress.
We must lay aside our hopes of a world at peace and must guard our
gates."

Doubtless there is some exaggeration in our change of mood. Men speak
as though a miracle had swept away the Atlantic Ocean, leaving us
stranded on Europe's western shore. Fortunately the Ocean, always
America's ally, still lies there, narrowed and curbed, yet three
thousand miles of storm-swept water. Physically and morally, however,
our isolation has dwindled. Dreadnaughts, submarines and airships can
now reach us and our commerce, industry and national ambitions are
interwoven with those of Europe. We shall never again stand aloof from
the world.

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To Americans this change has come so suddenly, though it has been long
preparing, that we fail to visualise the new situation. We glibly
repeat that our isolation is gone, but do not ask ourselves what is the
nature of the bond that has ended our isolation. Is it amity or
enmity? Are we to become one of a dozen clutching, struggling,
fighting nations, seeking to destroy each other, or are we to
contribute to a solution of the problems that now divide nations into
warring groups? Though our isolation is gone, we still preserve a
latitude of action. We may choose between two foreign policies,
between Nationalistic Imperialism and Internationalism. We may elect
to fight for our share of the world's spoils or to labour, and, if
necessary, to fight for a world peace and for just international
relations, upon which alone a permanent peace can be based.

Such a choice involves for Americans the main trend of our
civilisation; for Europe it is hardly less vital. Our influence upon
Europe, like hers upon us, has grown wit