sion. We can not mistake what they have done-in Russia, in Finland, in the Ukraine, in Rumania. The real test of their justice and fair play has come. From this we may judge the rest.

They are enjoying in Russia 5 a cheap triumph in which no brave or gallant nation can long take pride. A great people, helpless by their own act, lies for the time at their mercy. Their fair professions are forgotten. They nowhere set up justice, but everywhere impose their power and exploit everything for their own use and aggrandizement, and the peoples of conquered provinces are invited to be free under their dominion!

Are we not justified in believing that they would do the same things at their western front if they were not there face to face with armies whom even their countless divisions cannot overcome? If, when they have felt their check to be final, they should propose favorable and equitable terms with regard to Belgium and France and Italy, could they blame us if we concluded that they did so only to assure themselves of a free hand in Russia and the East?

Their purpose is, undoubtedly, to make all the Slavic peoples, all the free and ambitious nations of the Baltic Peninsula, all the lands that Turkey has dominated and misruled, subject to their will and ambition, and build upon that dominion an empire of force upon which they fancy that they can then erect an empire of gain and commercial supremacy-an empire as hostile to the Americas as to the Europe which it will overawe-an empire which will ultimately master Persia, India, and the peoples of the Far East.

In such a program our ideals, the ideals of justice and humanity and liberty, the principle of the free selfdetermination of nations, upon which all the modern world insists, can play no part. They are rejected for

the ideals of power, for the principle that the strong must rule the weak, that trade must follow the flag, whether those to whom it is taken welcome it or not, that the peoples of the world are to be made subject to the patronage and overlordship of those who have the power to enforce it.

That program once carried out, America and all who care or dare to stand with her must arm and prepare themselves to contest the mastery of the world- -a mastery in which the rights of common men, the rights of women and of all who are weak, must for the time being be trodden under foot and disregarded and the old, agelong struggle for freedom and right begin again at its ⚫ beginning. Everything that America has lived for and loved and grown great to vindicate and bring to a glorious realization will have fallen in utter ruin and the gates of mercy once more pitilessly shut upon mankind!

The thing is preposterous and impossible; and yet is not that what the whole course and action of the German armies has meant wherever they have moved? I do not wish, even in this moment of utter disillusionment, to judge harshly or unrighteously. I judge only what the German arms have accomplished with unpitying thoroughness throughout every fair region they have touched.

What, then, are we to do? For myself, I am ready, ready still, ready even now, to discuss a fair and just and honest peace at any time that it is sincerely purposed—a peace in which the strong and the weak shall fare alike. But the answer, when I proposed such a peace, came from the German commanders in Russia and I cannot mistake the meaning of the answer.

I accept the challenge. I know that you accept it. All the world shall know that you accept it. It shall appear in the utter sacrifice and self-forgetfulness with which we shall give all that we love and all that we have to redeem

the world and make it fit for free men like ourselves to live in. This now is the meaning of all that we do. Let everything that we say, my fellow-countrymen, everything that we henceforth plan and accomplish, ring true to this response till the majesty and might of our concerted power shall fill the thought and utterly defeat the force of those who flout and misprize what we honor and hold dear.

Germany has once more said that force, and force alone, shall decide whether justice and peace shall reign in the affairs of men, whether right as America conceives it or dominion as she conceives it shall determine the destinies of mankind. There is, therefore, but one response possible from us: Force, force to the utmost, force without stint or limit, the righteous and triumphant force which shall make right the law of the world and cast every selfish dominion down in the dust.

How were the Liberty Loans used?

6

What was the authority, force, or power that organized America and gave it the determination and the unity of action that we see reflected in President Wilson's Baltimore address? How did American women help to win the war?

What characteristics of President Wilson's style in this speech imply a sympathetic and responsive audience?

What effect do you suppose was produced in Germany by this address?

Would it have been better if previous to 1914 the United States had maintained in accordance with President Roosevelt's advice a greatly enlarged army and navy?

In what respects was democracy in America advanced during the Great War?

THE LIMITATION OF ARMAMENT

November 12, 1921

THE allied armies of liberty and democracy under Marshal Foch applied the remedy of "Force, force to the utmost" so relentlessly that the year 1918 saw the collapse of militarism and autocracy. On September 30 Bulgaria surrendered. A month later Turkey gave in to the Allies, and on November 4 Austria-Hungary joined the ranks of the defeated. Deserted by their fellow conspirators, defeated at the front, and disturbed by social uprisings within, Germany too realized that democracy will prevail. On November 9 the Kaiser was forced to abdicate after a reign of thirty years and to renounce the Imperial throne for his sons. Two days later, the eleventh of November, 1918, the Allies granted Germany an armistice, the terms of which were equivalent to complete and unconditional surrender.

The close of hostilities, however, did not formally end the war. Not until three years later, November 18, 1921, was the last treaty signed and peace proclaimed. The slowness of the United States in officially terminating the war was due to the reluctance of many Americans to accept the treaty of Versailles. In addition to specifying the acts of reparation to be made by Germany and the conditions of peace, this document attempted to establish a League of Nations. pledged to take an active part-even to the use of military force if necessary-in the settlement of world. problems. Various interests at this time made the

United States hesitate to take such a pledge. The exigencies of politics and the American tradition of keeping aloof from foreign entanglements-despite the enlarged view of the Monroe Doctrine, the acquisition of the Philippines, and our part in the World War— seemed to forbid our entering into a military alliance. Nevertheless it was the common opinion in America that something in addition to the signing of routine treaties must be done by the United States to lessen the evils of war.

In recognition of this feeling President Harding invited the governments of the British Empire, France, Italy, and Japan to participate in a conference in Washington to discuss limitation of armament. The invitation was sent out August 11, 1921, and the delegates were asked to assemble on November 11, the anniversary of the armistice. On the morning of November 12 the first session was held in the building of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. At an early hour the streets and parkways in the vicinity were crowded with thousands of citizens anxious to get the first news from the conference or eager to obtain sight of distinguished visitors. Soon after ten o'clock the delegates from each of the five principal powers with assistants and military experts had taken their seats; and there were also present representatives of nations interested in minor questions that were to be considered by the conference. The galleries were filled with members of Congress, the diplomatic corps, and other distinguished persons. When the President entered by a rear door and passed to his seat, a tribute of applause marked the beginning of the conference. A moment of silence followed; and while visitors and delegates awaited expectantly the first opening movement, a breeze from