he United
States had ever engaged, not only by reason of its magnitude but by
reason of the necessity for coordinating American military plans with
the military plans of the Allies. The Allies were not quite agreed as
to what they desired of the United States, aside from unlimited
financial assistance, and the solution of the general problem depended
more or less on the trend of events.

The test of any war policy is its success, and it is a waste of time to
enter into a vindication of the manner in which the Wilson
Administration made war, or to trouble about the accusations of waste
and extravagance, as if war were an economic process which could be
carried on prudently and frugally. The historian is not likely to
devote serious attention to the partisan accusations relating to Mr.
Wilson's conduct of the war, but he will find it interesting to record
the manner in which the President brought his historical knowledge to
bear in shaping the war policies of the country.

The voluntary system and the draft system had both been discredited in
the Civil War, so Mr. Wilson demanded a Selective-Service Act under
which the country could raise 10,000,000 troops, if 10,000,000 troops
were needed, without deranging its essential industries. It had taken
Mr. Lincoln three years to find a General whom he could intrust with
the command of the Union armies. Mr. Wilson picked his Commander in
Chief before he went to war and then gave to Gen. Pershing the same
kind of ungrudging support that Mr. Lincoln gave to Gen. Grant. The
Civil War had been financed by greenbacks and bond issues peddled by
bankers. Mr. Wilson called on the American people to finance their own
war, and they unhesitatingly responded. In the war with Spain the
commissary system had broken down completely owing to the antiquated
methods that were employed. No other army in time of war was ever so
well fed or so well cared for as that of the United States in the
conflict with Germany.

_Wilson as a War President_

Mistakes there were in plenty, both in methods and in the choice of
men, and errors of judgment and the shortcomings that always result
from a lack of experience, but the impartial verdict of history must be
that when everything is set forth on the debit side of the balance
sheet which can be set forth Mr. Wilson remains the most vigorous of
all the war Presidents. Yet it is also true that history will concern
itself far less with Mr. Wilson as a war