New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-11-25

France and a we'll defined affection FOR
Great Britain in a limited circle of Ameri-
cans. there has been no acceptation Of the
Allied point Of view as 10 the war, and
there is not now the smallest chance that
this will be the case. For the millions of
Americans the present war is tragedy,
crime. a piece Of wilful and collective mad
ness, and the greatest service America
can render is to get "the boys out Of the
trenches"
This belief falls in with the pro-German
purpose, it is in utter sympathy with the
pacifst propaganda, and it has now en-
listed the very powerful financial support
hitherto lacking. 1t is q mistake to regard
the movement in this country now as ex-
clusively the product of pro-German agi-
tation. Nor is it merely the naive HUI
manitarian impulse Of the pacifst; back OF
il now is that other and really more i'm
portant influence of finance.
The thing that the British have failed to
get before the American people is the be-
lief that the war was one in which the
question of humanity and of civilization
was uppermost for the British. The Ger
mans have succeeded in making Americans
in very great numbers believe that it is
purely and simply war Of trade and com
merce between the British and the Ger.
mans, and the various economic confer
ence proposals have served to emphasize
this idea.
1t is true that there is different popu-
lar notion Of the French case, but, unhap-
PLY, the Germans have here been success
full in persuading many Francophiles to
believe France is bleeding to death, and
that unless peace comes the France they
love and honor for her fight and for her
devotion to her ideals will be destroyed.
Thus there are friends of France who are
actually allies of the Germans in advocat-
ing peace, and the mass of Americans VINO
admire and like France find basis for
peace desires in this very admiration.
In the next few months the United
States is going to be the centre Of the
greatest drive for peace that has yet been
seen. There is every reason to expect that
the strength that the agitation will de-
velop at home will lead the President to
act without reference to the wishes Of the
French or British government, but with
the hearty support Of great number Of
his fellow countrymen, very many Of them
without any German sympathy.
The average American believes that the
people of Great Britain and France are
tired of the war and would be glad to
STOP He does not understand or believe
that there is any popular conviction which
animates the individual Frenchman or
Briton, he has no conception of the issues
of the war as the French and British peo-
pie see them, and he is not now likely to
gain any such notion. He has closed his
eyes and his ears to anything but the
tragedy and horror of the war
1t would be unfortunate in the extreme
if what is likely to happen now should find
the British and French governments and
peoples unprepared 1t would be a singu-
larly useful thing if it were conceivable
that men who can speak for the people, as
contrasted with the army and the govern
ment, were able to testify to the true feel
ings of the peoples at war. But this seems
too much to hope for now.
But at all events, London and Paris
should recognize the new situation in
America. Finance has joined forces with
all the other elements in the American
population advocating peace, and will be
able to do far more than these elements
were able TO do. Henceforth Britain and
France must reckon with the new force,
and they must not mistake the nature Of
the new agitation.
An Unreclaimed Empire
IRON The Clcrclaud Lcaderl