Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1917-07-05
HOW THE WAR CANE TO AMERICA

for international Arbitration and peace.
In the discussion at the Hague The
movement for general agreement
was thwarted, largely through the resis-
tance of the German Empire and its
satellites
| On the eve of the present conflict, our
position toward other nations might
have been summarized under three
heads:
/. The Monroe doctrine.-We had
pledged ourselves to- defend the New
World from Europeon aggression, and
we had by word and deed made it
clear that we would not intervene in any
European dispute.
II. The freedom of the seas.-In
every naval conference our influence
had been given in support of the princi-
pie that sea law to be just and worthy
of general respect must be based on the
consent of the governed.
Ill. Arbitration.-As we had secur.
ed peace at home by referring interstate
disputes to a federal tribunal, we urged
a similar settlement of international
controversies. We made plain to the
nations our purpose to forestall by every
means in our power the recurrence of
wars in the world.
The outbreak of war in 1914 caught
this Nation by surprise. The peoples OF
Europe had had at least some warnings
of the coming storm, but to us such a
blind, savage onslaught on the ideals of
civilization had appeared impossible
The war was incomprehensible. Either
side was championed here by millions
living amoung us who were of European
M Il afn
threw our thoughts into diarray, and in
the first chaotic days we could see no
clear issue that affected our national
policy. There was no direct assault on
our rights. 1t seemed at first to most
of us a purely European dispute, and
our minds were not prepared to take
sides in such conflict. The President Is
proclamation of neutrality was received
by us as natural and inevitable.
The preservation of a strict neutrality
in order that later we might to of use
in the great task of mediation dominat
ed all the President $ early messages.
But the spirit of neutrality was not
easy to maintain. Public opinion was
deeply stirred by the German invasion
of Belgium and by reports of atrocities
there. The Royal Belgian Commission
which came in September, 1914, to lay
their country's cause for complaint be
fore our National Government, was re
ceived with sympathy and respect. The
President in his reply reserved oul
decision in the affair. 1t was the only
course he could take without an abrupt
departure from our most treasured ira
ditons and an interference in Ole
World disputes. But the sympathy oi
America went out to the Belgians il
their heroic tragedy, and from every
section of our land money contribution,
and supplies of food and clothing poured
over to the Commission for Relief il
Belgium, which was under the abl,
management of our fellow countrymer
abroad.
Controversies soon arose between
Great Britian and this Nation. In prac
tice their ruling sometimes seemed tt
our Government inconsistent with tn,
spirit of international law and espe
eially with the established precedent
which they invoked. But painful as thi
divergence of opinion sometimes was, i
did not seriously threaten our position
of neutrality, for the issues that arosI
involved only right of property an,
were amply covered by the arbitration
treaty signed only a short time before
by Great Britain and the United States
In the meantime, although our neutra
rights were not brought into question
Al (Coutinued IN paoe 21