For example, six weeks before the outbreak of war, she wrote in the "Oakland Tribune" that the annexation of Austria had prevented the Viennese population from starving; even though this was "[r]endered more difficult by the United States sudden boycott of manufactured goods from the annexed territories ... now that the peculiar genius of the North Germans for organization and efficient administration is in full play under the new regime, this and other problems with which they are harassed are being overcome."