I9I4.] A FACTOR IN WORLD POLITICS. 79 



root of the difficulty is that the national thought of the people of the 

 United States has failed to keep pace with the changes in the inter- 

 national position of the country. The early policy of our country, 

 as well as our national thinking during the infancy of the republic, 

 was concentrated on the idea of national isolation — freedom from 

 entangling alliances with European countries, and the separation of 

 American from European interests. National thought has remained 

 in this stage of development whereas national power and national 

 influence have long advanced beyond these narrow confines. We 

 have attained the dignity of a world power, but our national thought 

 has not advanced to a consciousness of the responsibilities which 

 this position involves. The great problem now confronting the 

 country is to bring about closer harmony between these two factors. 



We are at the present moment witnessing one of the most serious 

 consequences of this lack of adjustment which is affecting the inter- 

 national position and influence of the United States to a degree 

 which cannot help but arouse the grave concern of every thoughtful 

 and patriotic citizen. In a brief period of fifteen years we seem to 

 have sacrificed the position of leadership in the maintenance of world 

 peace, and have become one of the disturbing factors in international 

 afifairs. How is it, it will be asked, that a nation which through the 

 contributions of more than a century has gained an enviable position 

 as a leader in the great movement for the advancement of inter- 

 national goodwill, should within so short a space of time sacrifice 

 this enviable position and come to be looked upon by all nations of 

 western civilization as an uncertain factor in the orderly develop- 

 ment of international relations. 



Every student of international law and of world politics has 

 been deeply impressed by the important part played by the United 

 States in placing the conduct of international relations on a dis- 

 tinctly higher plane. It seems, at first glance, extraordinary that 

 during the first half century of its existence a nation so weak and in 

 many respects so unorganized should have been able to exert so 

 important an influence on international law. When, however, we 

 stop to reflect that during the first decades of the nineteenth century 

 the United States held the balance of power amongst the nations of 

 western civilization, the apparent paradox is readily explained. 



