Horace White has no two opinions in his article in The North American
Review for July as to the wisdom and justice of the practice of
American manufacturers in selling munitions which the Allies are using
to kill their Germanic enemies. Mr. White expresses it as the belief
of the great majority of people in the United States that Germany's
war is without sufficient cause, and that when she invaded Belgium she
"made herself the outlaw of the nations--a country whom no agreements
can bind." Therefore he can see why no limit should ever be put to the
world's expenditure for armaments "while one incorrigible outlaw is at
large." He adds:
It is the opinion of most Americans that the most
incorrigible and dangerous outlaw and armed maniac now
existing is Germany, and that the first and indispensable
step toward a restriction of armaments and a quiet world is
to throttle and disarm her, and that no price is too great
to pay for such a consummation. Any result of the present
war which falls short of this will be the preliminary to a
new armament and another war on a wider scale than the
present one, since the United States will make preparations
for the next one and most probably take part in it.
Hence proceeds Mr. White's justification for this neutral nation's
supplying the Allies with arms:
Germany, by bursting her way through Belgium, was enabled to
seize eighty to ninety per cent. of the coal and iron
resources of France and the greater part of her apparatus
for the production of arms. She holds also the entire
resources of Belgium, both of raw material and finished
product. The foul blow by which she possessed herself of
these indispensable treasures had two consequences which she
did not look for--the active hostility of England and the
moral indignation of all other nations. In helping France to
make good the loss which she sustained through such perfidy
the American people think that they are doing God's service,
and their only regret is that they cannot do more of it. If
they had foreseen the present conditions they would have
enlarged their gun factories and powder mills to meet the
emergency more promptly.
A German writer in the New York _Times_ of May 30, Mr. Vom
Bruck, says: "If the German nation is wiped out with the
help of American arms and ammunition no man of the white
race in the United States would be able to think of such a
catastrophe without horror and remorse." All of the
contending nations say that they are fighting for existence,
which means that if they do not win in the end they will be
wiped out. With such an alternative staring us in the face
very few tears would be shed by Americans, of any color, if
both the Hohenzollerns and the Hapsburgs, with all their
belongings, should be wiped off the face of the earth.