But still, after twenty-seven
months, the most popular cry among those who voted President Wilson in
for a second term was "he kept us out of war." Three months later the
German "Submarine Blockade" began (February 1917). Then, two months
later still, most of the Peace Party, seeing that their own ships would
be sunk just as readily as French or British ships, gave their vote for
war.
It was a glorious moment in world-history when British, French, and
Americans at last stood side by side. The American Navy led the way,
joining the hunt for German submarines with a keenness whetted by
having been held back so long. The Army followed, bit by bit, until
two million men had gone to Europe, thanks chiefly to the British ships
that took them there. The Nation backed both Army and Navy with vast
sums of money, which it could so easily afford, and with patriotic work
of every splendid kind.
But the war lasted only nineteen months longer; and in that time the
Americans were not able to do anything like what the Allies had done
before and still were doing.
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