ch those
directing energies proceed, and however slow and laborious the process, it
is becoming increasingly evident that the nation as a whole, whether
through the agency of its government or otherwise, is gravitating, under
the influence of forces that it can neither comprehend nor control,
towards such associations and policies, wherein, as indicated by
'Abdu'l-Baha, her true destiny must lie. Both the community of the
American believers, who are aware of that Source, and the great mass of
their countrymen, who have not as yet recognized the Hand that directs
their destiny, are contributing, each in its own way, to the realization
of the hopes, and the fulfillment of the promises, voiced in the
above-quoted words of 'Abdu'l-Baha.

The world is moving on. Its events are unfolding ominously and with
bewildering rapidity. The whirlwind of its passions is swift and
alarmingly violent. The New World is being insensibly drawn into its
vortex. The potential storm centers of the earth are already casting their
shadows upon its shores. Dangers, undreamt of and unpredictable, threaten
it both from within and from without. Its governments and peoples are
being gradually enmeshed in the coils of the world's recurrent crises and
fierce controversies. The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are, with every
acceleration in the march of science, steadily shrinking into mere
channels. The Great Republic of the West finds itself particularly and
increasingly involved. Distant rumblings echo menacingly in the
ebullitions of its people. On its flanks are ranged the potential storm
centers of the European continent and of the Far East. On its southern
horizon there looms what might conceivably develop into another center of
agitation and danger. The world is contracting into a neighborhood.
America, willingly or unwillingly, must face and grapple with this new
situation. For purposes of national security, let alone any humanitarian
motive, she must assume the obligations imposed by this newly created
neighborhood. Paradoxical as it may seem, her only hope of extricating
herself from the perils gathering around her is to become entangled in
that very web of international association which the Hand of an
inscrutable Providence is weaving. 'Abdu'l-Baha's counsel to a highly
placed official in its government comes to mind, with peculiar
appropriateness and force: You can best serve your country if you strive,
in your capacity as a citizen of the wor