Evening star., 1938-04-10
Washington
Democracy and Imperialism Linked Psychology.
By Mary.Cdrter Roberts.

TH1S book is a monumental re-
port based on an equally mon
umental volume Of research on
4 the causes which led the
United States into the World War.
Its author, DR.. Charles Callan Tan
SILL is Washingtonian. In recent
years he served on the faculty of
American University. being professor
OF American history and dean of the
graduate school From 1918 to 1928
ne was adviser to the chairman of the
Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs,
capacity in which he wrote the
committees deflnitive report on World
War responsibility. In 1881 he filled
the post Of Albert Shaw lecturer in
diplomatic history at Johns Hopkins
University. and in 1886 he lectured in
several German universities under the
auspices of the Carl Schurz Founda-
ton. His impressive knowledge of in
ternatlonal relations is abundantly
evident in the present work. as is also
what may perhaps be taken as a
slight bias in Germany's favor.
Be that as 1t may, the book assur-
edly does not uphold the popular be-
lief OF the war days that Germany
rashly and insolently provoked a long
suffering America unwillingly to take
up arms in order that democracy
might be saved. That belief, to be
sure, has been attacked before. 1t
has been attacked by writers who
have had it for their purpose to show
that the great financiers of the world
maneuvered us into the conflict. 1t
has also been attacked by those. who
would make a case of war guilt against
the munitions manufacturers. And it
has been attacked by political enc
mics of President Wilson and by An
glophobes and Francophobes of vary
ing degrees Of bitterness and by still
others.
Dr.. Tansill. however. does not base
his attack upon any single charge. in
particular it should be brought out
that he finds little to support the
claim that big business was RESPONSE
BILE for our entry into the fight. What
he does do is to marshal an immense
amount of evidence along a number
of lines of responsibility and present
1t in lifelike and dramatic synthe-
sis The result is very convincing
reproduction of the atmosphere in
which our Government functioned in
the months preceding our declaration
OF war. Considering the stupendous
mass of material involved in the work,
the achievement of this vivid and
lively effect is no mean feat in writ
ing.
NONETHELESS. the unmistakable
conclusion Of the author it that
the real villains in the piece were the
English statesmen and those American
officials whose great sympathy with
the Allies England in particularly led
them to identify American interests
with those of Britain or even at times,
as DR.. Tansill sees is, to put British
interests first. Among these latter he
finds Mr.. Lansing the most guilty,
with Col. House and Mr. Tumulty
running a close second. Walter Hines
Page he also finds more pro-British
than American, but this has been
said before. Among the British states
men who manipulated our officials to
serve their ends Sir Edward Grey
would. seem to be the most promi-
nent, with Lloyd George of course
contributing his energetic bit As
weighed against the Vaccinations of
these men, the book finds the conduct
of Germany insufficient in provoca-
tlveness to have brought about, by
Itself, our entry into hostilities.
Indeed. the conclusion of the au-
thor is clear that until the very last
days of negotiation the German gov
ernment wanted to avoid a break with
us at all costs. and that when the
break was made it was due to the
overriding of German statesmen by
the officers of the high command
What the book demonstrates. there
fore, is that two sets of idealists
brought the United States into the
state of war-on the one
hand group of our own officials,
whose dream of destroying militarism
and propagating democracy counted
with them more urgently than did the
impartial conduct of their duties, and
on the other hand a group of mill
tarists who with equally single-mind-
ed zeal saw the propagation of i'm
perialism as the only desirable aim
for their earthly endeavors. This is
not at all surprising either, for ideal
lists are always unscrupulous. They
are perhaps the only consistently un-
group found in every stage
Of history.
DR.. Tansill builds his case up on
base of very substantial evidence. His
book. indeed. is such work as to make
the eyes Of research students wet with
statement without reference to the
source, and the range of sources con-
suited is enormous. In addition to
those already prospected by investi-
gators. he brings forward some hither-
to unused documents-chiefly the rec
oros of the Neutrality Board and the
papers of William Jennings Bryan.
The case as it stands, therefore is un-
assailable, and the only question of
it which is likely to occur to the reader
is whether, on so vast sea of records,
1t might not be possible to chart a
course somewhat at will-whether. in
deed, another author with another
point of view might not be able to
discover in the same sources material
which would bear him out with equal
The reviewer has
to offer on the point 1t is
merely thought which seems likely
to occur to the lay, or innocent reader.
picture which the work gives
of President Wilson'S attitude is
an interesting one. It shows the
President as pro- Ally almost up to the
end of negotiations, but rather less
partial and more calm in conduct than
his advisers. Mr. Wilson's sympathy
for the Allies, one gathers, was an un-
emotional one, based on the conviction
that the balance of enlightenment