ABSTRACT

THE entry of the United States into the war in the spring of 1917 caused less stir than might have been expected. President Wilson’s suggestions regarding possible terms of peace had been discussed academically, but Japan was a signatory to the Pact of London, agreeing that she would make no separate peace, and was not at all averse to the war continuing under the present profitable conditions. It was true, the participation of the United States threatened to bring the war to an earlier close, but on the other hand it ensured victory, which, with the secession of Russia, had become a little dubious. The Russian revolutionists had issued the reassuring proclamation that Russia would now be able to prosecute the war with undivided enthusiasm, but orders for war stores stopped completely, and it was obvious that the new rulers were in no condition to carry on the conflict. However, the disturbance of conditions in the United States incident to participating in the war promised greater demands for Japanese supplies and larger profits than ever. There was no inclination on Japan’s part for direct participation, though it was diplomatically pressed, and when arm-chair enthusiasts for war suggested from editorial chairs in London or Paris that Japan should send a punitive expedition to Russia in the event of her making a separate peace, Japanese publicists dismissed the idea with contempt. War films had been sent to Japan by the British Government for the purpose of creating enthusiasm for the Allied cause, but they were exhibited to sparse and bored

audiences, and did nothing to arouse an inclination for trench warfare in a distant continent.