was flatly opposed, in
the autumn of 1914 and the spring of the following year, to compulsory
military service: "We will not ask our young men to spend the best years
of their lives making soldiers of themselves." He insisted that the
American people had always been able to defend themselves and should be
able to continue to do so without altering their military traditions. It
must not be forgotten that at this time Wilson still believed in absolute
isolation and refused to consider force as an element in our foreign
policy. His attitude was sufficient to render fruitless various
resolutions presented by Congressman Augustus P. Gardner and Senator
George E. Chamberlain, who proposed improvements in the military system.
Congress was pacifically-minded. This was the time when many Congressmen
were advocating an embargo on arms, and so far from desiring to learn how
to make and use munitions of war they concentrated their efforts on
methods of preventing their export to the Allies.

The preparedness movement, none the less, spread through the country and
the influence of the National Security League did much to inform the
public. In the summer of 1915 there was organized at Plattsburg, New
York, under the authority of General Wood, a civilian camp designed to
give some experience in the rudiments of military science. It was not
encouraged by the Administration, but at the end of the year the
President himself confessed that he had been converted. He was about to
abandon his policy of isolation for his new ideal of international
service, and he realized the logical necessity of supporting it by at
least a show of force. Mere negative "neutrality" no longer sufficed. His
fear that greater military strength might lead to an aggressive spirit in
the country had been obliterated by the attacks of submarines and by the
German plots. He admitted frankly that he had changed his mind. "I would
be ashamed," he said, "if I had not learned something in fourteen
months." To the surprise of many who had counted upon his pacific
tendencies to the end, he did what he had not heretofore done for any of
his policies; he left his desk in Washington and took to the platform.

During January and February, 1916, President Wilson delivered a
succession of speeches in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago, Milwaukee, St.
Louis, and other places in the upper Mississippi Valley, emphasizing his
conversion to preparedness. Aware that his transformation wou