I

THE TREATY OF PEACE

4 1

tion to the arguments and appeals of theAmerican financial representatives at Paris,should then turn to the United States for fundsto rehabilitate the victim in sufficient measureto allow the spoliation to recommence in a yearor two?

There is no answer to these objections asmatters are now. If I had influence at theUnited States Treasury , I would not lend apenny to a single one of the present Govern-ments of Europe . They are not to be trustedwith resources which they would devote to thefurtherance of policies in repugnance to which,in spite of the President’s failure to assert eitherthe might or the ideals of the people of theUnited States, the Republican and the Demo-cratic parties are probably united. But if, as wemust pray they will, the souls of the European peoples turn away this winter from the falseidols which have survived the war that createdthem, and substitute in their hearts for thehatred and the nationalism, which now possessthem, thoughts and hopes of the happiness andsolidarity of the European family,—then shouldnatural piety and filial love impel the American people to put on one side all the smaller objec-tions of private advantage and to complete thework that they began in saving Europe fromthe tyranny of organised force, by saving herfrom herself. And even if the conversion isnot fully accomplished, and some parties onlyin each of the European countries have espouseda policy of reconciliation, America can still