The Britieh Proclamation forbidding exports to Holland and Scandinavia has
followed President Wilson's general prohibition of trade with neutrals, except under licence. The object is, of course, to prevent the Northern neutrals from continuing to supply Germany with food and raw materials. As America is their chief source of supply for the foodstuffs and other necessaries which they must import, the neutrals cannot but agree in the long run to any terms that the President may impose. The economic blockade of Germany will then be as complete as it can be made at present. Those hasty critics who ask why wo did not long ago prohibit exports to the neutrals forget that America was then the chief neutral Power, and was naturally jealous of her rights. With her help we can do many things that we could not do without her. Indeed, if we had from the outset ridden roughshod over the neutrals, regardless of consequences, we might have offended America so deeply that she would not have come to our assistance in the war.
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