YESTERDAY President WILSON addressed a monster gathering of business men
at Ponkapog. He said that it was a cruel misconception to hold that
Americans were without ideals. As a matter of fact they cherished their
ideals far beyond any question of making money and would die rather than
submit to acts which were an outrage on our common humanity. In
declaring that there was such a thing as being too proud to fight he
had, of course, meant that there was such a thing as being only too
proud to fight for what was just and right. This was the American
attitude, and he therefore advocated national preparedness which might
possibly imply such an increase in America's naval and military forces
as few people except himself had yet dreamt of. At this point the
audience rose _en masse_ and cheered for ten minutes. Nothing could show
more clearly than this speech how intensely critical are the relations
between America and Germany over the _Lusitania_ case. There has been a
wild panic on the New York Stock Exchange. A prominent banker has
expressed the opinion that Count BERNSTORFF will receive his passports
to-morrow.