Chapter I

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.