Getting Together | Page 2

Altogether he is a very different person from the complacent, parochial
exponent of the tight-little-island theories of yester-year. He has
encountered things at home and abroad which have purged his very
soul. Abroad, he has seen the whole of Belgium and some of the fairest
provinces of France subjected to the grossest and most bestial barbarity.
At home, he has seen inoffensive watering places bombarded by pirate
craft which came up out of the sea like malignant wraiths and then fled
away like panic-stricken window-smashers. He has seen Zeppelins
hovering over close-packed working-class districts in industrial towns,

raining indiscriminate destruction upon men, women, and children. In
fact, he has seen things and suffered things that he never even dreamed
of, and they have broadened his mind considerably.
Last year, under stress of these circumstances, the average Briton
relinquished his age-long propensity to "let George do it," and evolved
a sudden and rather inspiring sense of personal responsibility for the
safety and welfare of his country. He no longer limited his patriotism to
the roaring of truculent choruses at music-halls, or the decorating of his
bicycle with the flags of the Allies. He went and enlisted instead. Now
he has faced Death in person--and outfaced him. He has ceased to
attach an exaggerated value to his own life. Life, he realizes, like Peace,
is only worth retaining on certain terms, the first of which is Honour,
and the second Honour, and the third Honour.
Finally, he regards the present War as a Holy War--a Crusade, in fact.
He went into it with no ulterior motives: his sole impulse was to stand
by his friends, France and Belgium, in the face of the monstrous
outrage that was being forced upon them. He is out, in fact, to save
civilization and human decency. Consequently he finds it just a little
difficult to understand how a warm-hearted and high-spirited nation can
be expected to remain "neutral even in thought."
With this much introduction to the man and his point of view, we will
allow him to speak for himself.
CHAPTER THREE
"Do I realize that you are pro-Ally over here? Well, somehow I have
always felt it, but now I know it. When I get home I shall rub that fact
into everyone I meet. What our people at home don't grasp is the fact
that America is inhabited by two distinct races--Americans, and others.
The others appear to me--mind you, I'm only giving you a personal
impression--to consist either of alien immigrants who have not yet
absorbed their new nationality, or professional anti-Ally propagandists,
or people of mixed nationality with strong commercial interests in
Germany, whose heart is where their treasure is. These make a

surprising amount of noise, and attract a disproportionate amount of
attention: but I know, and I intend the people at home to know, that the
genuine American is with us in this business heart and soul.
"What's that? The Blockade? Yes, I want to talk to you about that. I
take it you will admit that a blockade is a justifiable expedient of war.
There have been one or two of them in history. In the American Civil
War, for instance, the North established a pretty successful blockade
against the Southern ports. British cotton ships were everlastingly
trying to run through that cordon. In fact, I rather think we exchanged a
few cousinly notes on the subject. Of course blockades are irksome and
irritating to neutrals. But we look to you here to endure the
inconvenience, not merely as one of the chances of war, but rather to
show us that you in this country do recognize and indorse the ideal for
which we are fighting. We are fighting for an ideal, you know: I think
the way the old country came into this war, all unprepared and
spontaneously, just because she felt she must stand by her friends, was
the finest thing she has ever done. Of course no sane person expected
America to saddle herself gratuitously with a European War--without
good and sufficient reason, that is--but we in England would like to feel
that your acquiescence in the inconveniences caused by our blockade is
your contribution to the cause--your slap on the back, signifying:--Go
in and win!
"Open your mails? Yes, I'm afraid we do. And we find a good lot inside
them! Do you know, there is a great warehouse in London filled from
top to bottom with rubber, and nickel, and other commodities for which
the Hun longs, disguised as all sorts of things--rubber fruit, for
instance--taken from the most innocent-looking parcels--all dispatched
from the United States to neutral countries in touch with Germany? But
we are most punctilious about it all. Every single article retains its
original address-label, and will be forwarded direct to its