y heard very
little of the capacity for heroism, the eagerness for sacrifice, the
gallant self-effacement which having honor for a companion taught.
And yet, despite this frantic portrayal of terror, America decided
for war. Her National Guard and Volunteers rolled up in millions,
clamouring to cross the three thousand miles of water that they might
place their lives in jeopardy. They were no more urged by motives of
self-interest than were the men who enlisted in Kitchener's mob. It
wasn't the threat to their national security that brought them; it
was the lure of an ideal--the fine white knightliness of men whose
compassion had been tormented and whose manhood had been challenged.
When one says that America came into the war to save herself it is
only true of her statesmen; it is no more true of her masses than it
was true of the masses of Great Britain.

So far, in my explanation as to why America came into the war, I have
been scarcely more generous in the attributing of magnanimous motives
than my Hollander. To all intents and purposes I have said, "America
is fighting because she knows that if the Allies are over-weakened or
crushed, it will be her turn next." In discussing the matter with
me, one of our Generals said, "I really don't see that it matters a
tuppenny cuss why she's fighting, so long as she helps us to lick
the Hun and does it quickly." But it does matter. The reasons for her
having taken up arms make all the difference to our respect for her.
Here, then, are the reasons which I attribute: enthusiasm for the
ideals of the Allies; admiration for the persistency of their heroism;
compassionate determination to borrow some of the wounds which
otherwise would be inflicted upon nations which have already suffered.
A small band of pioneers in mercy are directly responsible for
this change of attitude in two and a half years from opportunistic
neutrality to a reckless welcoming of martyrdom.

At the opening of hostilities in 1914, America divided herself into
two camps--the Pro-Allies and the others. "The others" consisted of
people of all shades of opinion and conviction: the anti-British,
anti-French, the pro-German, the anti-war and the merely neutral, some
of whom set feverishly to work to make a tradesman's advantage out of
Europe's misfortune. A great traffic sprang up in the manufacture of
war materials. Almost all of these went to the Allies, owing to the
fact that Britain controlled the seas. Whe