Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-01-19
CHAPTER XVI
Neutrality

ing his whole thought and effor'
to the solution CT cXacting domestic
tasks, the European war broke upor
him, and thus turned ! .; attention
and study to the age-long and com
plicated political struggle between
Germany, France and England.
Fully conscious from the very be
ginning of til difficult ) that lay
in his path, he was aware of the
eventualities the war now beginning
might lead to. AS a profound stu
dent of history, he saw with a clear
vision the necessity of neutrality
and Of America remaining Olsen
tangled in every way from the EN-
broilments of Europe. To the PEG
pie Of the country the war at first
appeared as one n "" n long
series of European quarrels and tnat
we must play our part in the great
conflict as mere spectators and
strictly adhere to the American poll
cy of traditional aloofness and isola'
ton, which had been its immemorial
custom and habit. Although we
were bound to maintain a policy OF
isolation, Woodrow Wilson from the
beginning foreccw it's futility, and
afterWard F~--0 o-~"ossion to this
conviction in a cam~~ ign speech in
1916, when he said:
This is the last war Gneaning
the world war; of it's kind, or of
any kind, that involves the world
that the United States can keep
out of. I say that because 1
believe that the business Of neu-
trality is over; not because L
want it to be over, but l mean
this, that now has such a
scale that the position Of neu-
trails sooner or later becomes in
tolerable.
He knew how difficult it would
be to keep a people so variously con-
stituted strictly trail. No sooner
was his proclamation Of neutrality
announced than the difference in
points Of view in racial stocks be-
gan to m; 49, f. themc cs in Ian
guage both Incorporate and passion
ate, until his a5vjon . his country
"to be autral in fact as well as
in name" became a dead and spirit
less thing.
Roosevelt for Neutrality
I have often been asked if the
policy Of neutrality which the presi-
dent announced, which brought a
fire of criticism upon him, represent.
ed his own persC~ feelings toward
the European w. I'd whether if
he had been a private citizen he
would have, derided it s now his
critics were engaged in doing.
AS an intimate associate of Wood
row wen dUr:'o~ the whole of the
European v'"~ -, -:tnC ng from
day to day the n7ev OF his feelings,
af+"' the violation of the
Of Belg' um. I am certain
that were he free to do so he would
a cause that in his heart of
hearts he felt Involved the c.viliza-
ton - 49, ~-~-'7 But it was his
devotion to of trusteeship
that held him in check, and the
consciousness that in carrying out
that trusteeship he had no right
to permit his own passionate feel
ings to Govern his public acts. 1t
would have been a dramatic adven-
ture to accept Germany's assault
on Belgium as a chal' 1ge to the
humane interest of America, but the
acceptance would have been only
gesture, for we were una to trans
port armies to the theater of war in
time to check the outrage. Such
action would have pleased some peo-
pie in the east, but the president
knew that this quixotic knight err
rantry would not appeal to the coun-
try at large, particularly the west,
still strongly grounded in the Wash
ngtonian tradition of non-interfer-
ence in European quarrels.
Colonel Roosevelt himself, who
attacked so strongly
he 'pusillanimity" of the admins
,ration's course, said on September
70, 1915:
"a deputation of Belgians has ar
lived in this country to invoke our
assistance in the time Of their dread
,ul need. What action our govern
nent can or will take 1 know not.
It has been announced that no &C
ion can be taken th"+ will interfere
With our entire neutrality. 1t is
eminently desirable that we
should remain entirely neutral and
but urgent need would war
ant breaking our neutrality and TAX
ng sides one way or the other"
1t was not the policy of a weakling
" a timid man. It was the policy
CT
Who was carefully feeling his way
mid dangers and who as a historian
himself knew the difficulties Of an
or incautious move.
Saw War Ahead
I recall the day he prepared his
neutrality proclamation. At the end
# one of the most strenuous days of
lis life in Washington, he left the
executive offices where he was en-.
;aged in meeting and comforting
With senators and congressman, and
found him comfortably seated I'M
Ter an elm tree serenely engaged
With pad and pencil in preparing his
neutrality proclamation which was
DON to loose a fierce storm of oppo- |
;ition and ridicule upon him. He !
llld L lldu OllcIl N1SCuSocu Tic Vol I
md it's effect upon our own country, |
md one day in August, 1914, just
.fter the war had begun, he said to !
ne: 1--WE are going through deep |
waters in the days to come. The
PASSIONS now lying dormant will
oon be aroused and my motives and !
purposes at every turn will soon be |
until there will be left !
'ut few friends to justify my course.
t does not seem clear now, but as .
his war grows in intensity it will |
oon resolve itself into a war be-
ween autocracy and democracy.
Tarious racial groups in America
will seek to lead us now one way
md then another. We must sit
teady in the boat and bow our
leads to meet the storm"
Bound as he was by the RESPONSE
ilities of trusteeship to adhere to a