The Washington herald., 1917-03-18

our financial assistance to them, on the
score of our legal right, and the justin
cation has been sound and impregnable.
Yet II these powers in control OF the
seas represented a cause detrimental to
American self-interest, is 1t not certain
tnat ways Of stopping this traffic would
nave been found without abridgment
Of our neutrality? An embargo act, for
instance. might have been passed by
Congress at the instigation of the Presi-
dent, and the mere legal justification OF
the traffic would have been shelved and
pocketed. -.
There is middle ground between
! actual participation in war and mere
passive, disinterested neutrality. and II
Is this ground that the American gov
| ernment has occupied. At first there
was a brief effort to maintain genuine
detachment; but II assuredly was modi-
| fed after the significance OF the Belgian
crime was digested by Washington. and
| vanished altogether after the Lusitania
tragedy. Technical, formal, neutrality
was maintained; and when pro-Germans
howled In rage over the evident trend
, OF American policy. their arguments were
! splintered by the impeccable legalism by
which our diplomats justified every move.
Backed Up by the Law.
The law was there. an elastic thing
| which permitted the American govern
ment to do everything 1t desired to do:
the State Department was scrupulously
| correct In every move 1t made: and those
who shouted the charge ''unneutral' at
the President were simply left to cry in
! the wilderness. ~
There has been a slow but sure de-
Walton from The path of actual neutral
\ ity since the first few months of the
war, eliminating in the break with
Germany last month. Had this deviation
not been based fundamentally on the
conviction that the German cause approx
tmated autocracy and the allied cause
! Liberalism, II assuredly would have been
based on the murder of Americans on the
thigh seas, the atrocities in Belgium and
| France, and the plottings and lawless-
ness Of German agents on American soil.
The fundamental impulse benevolently to
assist the cause Of the entente was given
double strength by the outlawry of the
Germans themselves. Legal neutrality
was maintained by vigorous protest
! against such allied practices as the or
ders In council affecting a blockade Of
Germany, the blacklist, the seizure OF
mails. etc. but there has been obvious
inclination to pocket such violations Of
neutral rights because of the greater is
sue involved.
The New Republic said on this point
(written before the break:
! "If America had been really Indifferent
as to which side won. this (absolute in
sistence on our trade rights) is just the
course she would have taken. She did
not take it because American public
opinion would not have sanctioned a
course Of action that might conceivably
| have led to German victory. Once let
the American people see that their action
! Is leading in this direction and they would
! also see that to protect temporary trade
rights at the cost of British defeat would
| be to sacrifice the lesser to the greater.
Between Devil and Blue Sea.
| "One fact Is clear: the refusal of the
| American people to face squarely the
necessary Implications OF their undoubted
decision that German victory is unde-
I sirable and that they will approve no
policy likely to promote 1t. Almost since
the beginning Of the war they have at
tempted to combine essential Immortality
with an avoidance of its necessary con-
sequences-which need not Of course in
i clude military cooperation with Ger
many's enemies. While the country real
ICES that 1t is in opinion. and act, un-
neutral in the sense that It Is not at all
| indifferent as to the outcome OF the war
and intends in no way to lose sight of its
partiality in its policy, there is no gen.
eral realization of the political implica-
tions of its decision: Of the extent to
which the government, in its attempt to
be guided by that decision and yet to
maintain a diplomatic. legalistic, and
technical neutrality. is paralyzed in its
defense Of American and neutral right -
| This comment was written before the
break with Germany, as already pointed
out The present status OF ARMED neu-
trality" far morely closely symbolizes
what the actual attitude OF the United
States towards Germany has been fol
the past two years than did our previou.
formal neutrality. After the Lusitania
there was no longer question Of what the
American point OF view towards Ger
| many was
The fact that the President decided
against rupture at that time made nc
difference in what might be called hi:
spiritual and intellectual attitude" to,
wards the German governemt nor iE
that OF the American people. For rea.
sons he then deemed sufficient, he de-
termined against an open diplomatic ex.
preston of this attitude at that time
| The rupture with the central powers
when it finally did come, was hailed witt
satisfaction by the nation as relief from
| the suppression Of its own best thought
and instinct to which It had become hab
ituated through the requirements Of q
neutrality which. though largely fictitiou.
In practice, necessitated a strict OBJ
servance OF formalities.
Neutrality became merely a from be
cause (agafn quoting the New Republicl
1T was futile to allow American be
havior towards the European nations Il
be dictated solely by the infiexible dogma
OF isolation. Isolation meant a negativ,
and irresponsible policy towards Europe
limited merely to the assertion Of Amer
lean rights under international law, ant
indifferent or blind to those fundamenta
political interests which the American
democracy shares with the democraciS
of Europe.
UNDERWRITING DIPLOMACY.
There has been no easier Jest the pas,
two years than a jibe at President Will
sons underwriting diplomacy" Sheer,
at 1t have echoed around the world The
President has been pictured as spineless
Pacifistic. irresolute, visionary, and
afraid TO maintain American honor
Jingoes and ire-eaters have pecked al
him; pro-ally fanatics have denounced
him with heat surpassed only by the
hyphenates who stormed and ragged, be.
cause he refused to give them what they
wanted. and because they believed hl
was maleVOlent f0vyardS