* * * * We smile at such fantasies, thinking
them too foolish to deserve serious consideration. The Americans themselves are under no such misapprehension. They know that nobody can fool all the American people all the time, but they also know that anybody can fool an enormous number of the American people for sufficient time to cause grave damage. It is for this reason that even the wisest among them are terrified of propaganda. I share their alarm. I feel myself that the best form of Bridits propaganda in the United States is to have no propagiada at all. Let us place at the disposal of the American correspondents in London and the Empire all possible facilities. Let them tell their public the facts in their own language. It is better to risk their indiscretion than to incur their suspicion ; it is far better to tell them too much than too little. In spite of muddles and errors, the facts of the case are overwhelmingly on our side ; let us give America the naked facts.
There is more that we can do ; we can refrain each one of us from saying foolish things. It may be irritating for us, engaged as we are in a most anxious and immediate struggle, to receive kindly advice from across the Atlantic. It is even more irritating for the Americans when their British friends write them long letters telling them what America ought to do. There are ignorant persons in this country who cherish the theory that the United States " ought " to intervene in this war upon our side. Such wishful assumptions upon our part do far more harm than any propaganda which might be issued by the German- American Alliance at Milwaukee. Why should we lower our dignity by squealing for help before we have been hit? How dare we insult two great democracies by such blind impertinence? Let us fight our own great battle with dignity, with courage and in silence. Let us leave it to the American people to make their own great decision, when the moment comes, and in whatever way best suits their interests.
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