VENEZUELA AND AFTER 321 



and by a margin so narrow that a change of 

 three votes would have made the result different, 

 was depressing, if not wholly discouraging. It 

 was on the scroll of fate, however, that the 

 decisive advance toward international harmony 

 was to come in the wake of wide-spread war. 

 An actual agreement on arbitration followed 

 hostilities in Cuba, in South Africa, and in the 

 Far East. 



Whether the declaration of war on Spain by 

 the United States in the spring of 1898 was 

 justifiable and unavoidable, will be a useful 

 topic of debate by generations of schoolboys. 

 There can be no room for debate, however, as 

 to whether the war was popular in the United 

 States. Every nerve of the nation tingled with 

 joy that the great American democracy had at 

 last a chance to show the spirit and power that 

 were in it. Serious and thoughtful classes as 

 sumed with due sense of responsibility the task 

 that had become the nation s duty. The belli 

 cose and reckless classes greeted with ardor 

 the opportunity for adventure and excitement. 

 To every class, intent on the particular aspect 

 of the situation that especially concerned it, 

 came with thrilling satisfaction the evidence 

 that the other English-speaking peoples were 



