Everywhere abroad
America has been getting the credit for keeping alight the lamp of
humanity, but what are the facts? America's contributions have been
pitifully inadequate and, do not forget it, other peoples have begun to
take stock of us. We have been getting all the credit. Have we deserved
it? We lay claim to idealism, to devotion to duty and to great
benevolence, but now the acid test is being applied to us. This has a
wider import than mere figures. Time and time again, when the door to
Belgium threatened to close, we have defended its portals by the
assertion that this was an American enterprise; that the sensibilities
of the American people would be wounded beyond measure, would be
outraged, if this work were interfered with. Our moral strength has been
based upon this assertion. I believe it is true, but it is difficult in
the face of the figures to carry conviction. And in the last six or
eight months time and again we have felt our influence slip from under
us."
The statement that Germans had taken food intended for the Belgians was
disposed of by Mr. Hoover in a speech in New York City. "We are
satisfied," he said, "that the German army has never eaten one-tenth of
one per cent of the food provided. The Allied governments never would
have supplied us with two hundred million dollars if we were supplying
the German army.
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