AMERICA AND THE WAR.
[To ran Esrros or an .Sescr.tros.”] SIR,—I feel that some of the statements contained in the grotesque letter of Mr. Archibald Pratt in your issue of April 24th ought not to go unchallenged. As against his statement of a widespread sympathy with Germany on the part of people of English descent in the United States, in my experience, which has been fairly wide, I have met no one not of German blood or without close personal ties with Germany who is really pro-German. The unanimity of the opposition to Germany has in fact surprised even those of us who felt at ones the danger of modern armed Germany, con- secrated to war, to the development of the peaceful, democratic civilization of the world. The swiftness, certainty, and accuracy with which public opinion in this country almost instinctively arrived at a sound conclusion as to the essential cause of the war and the result to be desired give one renewed faith in the future of our civilization. The 'Lusitania ' outrage thoroughly shocked us, but made no essential difference in our conviction as to the wrongness of the German cause. Our mind has been made up from the first. Each day has shown no more clearly the correctness of our first impulse. One result of the crisis brought about by the sinking of the Lusitania ' is the quieting of the pro-German busybodies. They, at any rate, appreciate the strong temper and firm determination of the people of this country. Our German fellow-citizens know the strong feeling of the rest of the country and will heed
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