Cherishing the hope that the peace of Europe and the rights of its
peoples may be secured through solemn compacts, (which should include
the establishment of a permanent international judicial tribunal,
supported by an international force,) Americans see, in the treatment by
the German Government of the Belgian neutralization treaty as nothing
but a piece of paper which might be torn up on the ground of military
necessity, evidence of the adoption by Germany of a retrograde policy of
the most alarming sort. That single act on the part of Germany--the
violation of the neutral territory of Belgium--would have determined
American opinion in favor of the Allies, if it had stood alone by
itself--the reason being that American hopes for the peace and order of
the world are based on the sanctity of treaties.
(g) American public opinion, however, has been greatly shocked in other
ways by the German conduct of the war. The American common people see no
justification for the dropping of bombs, to which no specific aim can be
given, into cities and towns chiefly inhabited by non-combatants, the
burning or blowing up of large portions of unfortified towns and cities,
the destruction of precious monuments and treasuries of art, the
strewing of floating mines through the North Sea, the exacting of
ransoms from cities and towns under threat of destroying them, and the
holding of unarmed citizens as hostages for the peaceable behavior of a
large population under threat of summary execution of the hostages in
case of any disorder.
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