an interchange of views between Mr.
Wilson and Mr. McCumber. It ought, on the contrary, to be judged
in conjunction with the passage that precedes it.

The proposition for discussion was the President's motion that the
League of Nations made it obligatory upon all States united, under
it, to take common action against any country guilty of a breach of
international law. Senator Harding, one of the keenest opponents
of the League of Nations, suggested the idea in the debate that
it was impossible for a sovereign State like the United States of
America to have her moral obligation in any international conflict
dictated to her by an external body consisting of the Council of
the League of Nations. Driven into a corner, Mr. Wilson had to
acknowledge this fact; but he emphasized the point that in spite
of this the value of the League of Nations was in no way impaired.
He said:

"The American Republic is not in need of any advice from any quarter,
in order to fulfil her moral duty; but she stabilizes the whole
world by promising in advance that she will stand by other nations
who regard matters in the same light as herself, in order to uphold
Justice in the world."

Following upon this, Senator McCumber then tried to confute the
President's theory, by applying it practically to the most recent
events in the world's history. He referred to the last war, at the
outbreak of which there was no League of Nations in existence,
and the following discussion took place:

_McCumber:_ Would our moral conviction of the injustice of the
German war have drawn us into this war, if Germany had been guilty
of no aggressive acts, and, what is more, without the League of
Nations, for of course we had no League of Nations then?

_Wilson: As things turned out,_ I hope that it would finally have
done so, Mr. Senator.

_McCumber:_ Do you believe that, if Germany had been guilty of
no act of injustice against our own citizens, we should have come
into this war?

_Wilson:_ I believe it.

_McCumber:_ You believe that we should have come in whatever happened?

_Wilson:_ Yes.

It is abundantly clear that with his first answer, "as things turned
out, I hope that it"--that is to say, America's moral conviction
of the injustice of the German war--"would finally have drawn us
into the war"--the President lays the emphasis on the words "as
things turned out." There can be no doubt that he meant to say:
"As things turned out in regard