There were a
good many reasons why. Most Americans knew next to nothing about the
affairs of Europe; and Germans had long been busy poisoning their minds
against the French and British. Then, Washington and other Presidents
had often advised them not to meddle with anything outside of America;
and President Wilson had even said there was such a thing as being "too
proud to fight."
Of course the Pacifists were against all war, even when their refusing
to fight on the side of right forced them to help the side of wrong.
They had plenty of money, some of it German, and they made almost as
much trouble as the Germans and pro-Germans themselves. Then, the
Germans, pro-Germans, and Pacifists raised the bogey of trouble for the
United States at home, while there did not seem to be much danger of
getting hurt from abroad. Finally, business was booming as it had
never boomed before. The Americans made twelve-and-a-half thousands of
millions of dollars out of the war, clear net profit up to the end of
1918.
The War Party said the whole war was about a question of right and
wrong, and that the French and British were right, while the Germans
were wrong.
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