191 zH War Scares 



nacf 



being salable, armament makers had been hard 

 pressed for capital; and "a single hundred million 

 dollars in American money will mean more than 

 several times that sum in notes and obligations of 

 foreign countries." 



The above brief extracts throw light on the predica- 

 ment of the munitions firms. Our entrance into the 

 great conflict relieved the tension and let loose a 

 flood of so-called "war babies," speculation in which 

 was hailed as a "joyfest." 



A third factor appeared in the attitude of the yir 

 metropolitan press. Very early in 1915 the leading o//r:«ni 

 journals of the seaboard cities (the New York Even- LrX 

 ing Post and the Hearst publications — the latter 

 usually anti-British — excepted) had urged elaborate 

 and costly preparedness for war by the United States 

 on the general ground of danger from Germany. In 

 the face of a trained, triumphant horde, they argued, 

 the United States would find itself impotent — our 

 whole Atlantic seaboard especially would be helpless 

 — our army was too small to be worth considering — 

 and our antiquated, inadequate navy would go down 

 before the great Hun Armada. Moreover, it was not 

 impossible that a victorious Britain should turn her 

 seasoned troops upon us to make good by indemnity 

 her enormous war costs. An alert sentinel from his 

 loft in the Metropolitan Tower even proposed the 

 raising of a great force to defend the country against 

 Canada, whose 500,000 Canadian soldiers, once 

 released, might attack our undefended northern 

 border. 



From the very first it could be seen that the pur- 

 pose of this campaign was not only to benefit arma- 

 ment makers but also to hurry the country into war. 



C 721 '} 



