WHO ARE THE HUNS?

324 The Monroe Doctrine and Neutrality.
their hypnotized eyes. We hope that they will realize howlittle
ideas of conquest or chauvinistic policies have to do with
true German feeling, and how, little the real thoughts and
ambitions of the German Kaiser, that much-misunderstood and
grossly-abused man, have to do with the caricatures and
insults and calumnies spread through foreign countries.
The Americans are the people who are supposed to act as
mediators in the matter of peace, for the position as well as
the constituent elements of their country would render this
rôle a natural one for the United States. But it is to be feared
that the short-sighted policy of the government will make all
American claims to this important post absolutely untenable.
The universal disappointment of the German nation with
regard to the attitude hitherto assumed by the American
Government may make the negotiations for peace all the more
difficult.
V. Regarding the Monroe Doctrine and Neutrality in General.
The steadily growing entanglement of the American continent
in the European war, especially the participation of
Canada, the breaches of neutrality by the United States, etc.,
have brought important international questions to the fore,
which are also related to the so-called Monroe Doctrine; and
to other problems to which we have already referred in the
1st edition.
According to the Monroe Doctrine, the entire western
hemisphere is regarded as one single unit so far as its economic
territory is concerned;—this territory is supposed to have
common political interests. If this interpretation is accepted,
it must appear that any act undertaken by a single member of
this united America is to be regarded as an action for which the
whole of this unified American sphere of interests is responsible,
and in especial the United States. If European states are not to
have the right of interfering in domestic American or "Pan-
American" affairs, even when these affect their interests, be it
in a commercial, be it in a political sense, it must naturally be
understood on the other hand that all the separate states
belonging to this assumed American complexus must refrain
from all interference in the domestic politics or conflicts of