4 NOVEMBER 1916, Page 15

The world has been surprised, and naturally, by Mr. Wilson's

statement that it is for the last time that America has kept out of a world-wide war, and that in future it may be assumed that she will take her share in the conflict on one side or the other. We have no doubt that President Wilson is perfectly sincere in this statement, but we cannot help feeling that there is here a note of real pathos. Consciously or unconsciously it contains a recognition of the fact that, whether through mistake or the force of circumstances, he did not choose the right path, and that his experience of what has hap- pened in the last two and a half years would in future lead him to another course of action.