From the first of August, 1914, New Hampshire was unneutral, both in thought and in speech. At the very outset the citizens of the state were strongly inclined to take sides in the conflict that broke out so fiercely and unexpectedly in Europe. Quickly and openly they judged, and the great majority formed the conviction to which they have adhered steadfastly to this day. Even the President's great neutrality proclamation failed to influence materially the spirit of New Hampshire men and women. Germany was held responsible for bringing an unjustifiable war upon a Europe desirous of peace.

The violation of the guaranteed neutrality of Belgium was vigorously condemned. The reports of the brutal treatment accorded to innocent non-combatants in Belgium, France and Serbia were at first not credited, but this feeling changed to deep resentment and horror when the unbelievable was proved to be true. The alliance with the conscienceless Turk, murderer of hundreds of thousands of Armenians and Syrians, deprived Germany of almost the last vestige of sympathy she might still have enjoyed. The fiendish slaying of Edith Cavell affected our state profoundly.

There was outspoken applause when Great Britain entered the struggle because Germany had violated her treaty with Belgium. As the German army approached Paris in its first rapid advance, New Hampshire not only realized keenly that an

ancient friend was in serious danger, but a deep humanitarian impulse. arose which it would have seemed impossible to awaken in the heart of the American nation for the distress of a people three thousand miles distant. With the greatest satisfaction we learned that an American had organized a relief committee to feed and clothe and otherwise assist the stricken and helpless in the districts which had been so wantonly pillaged and destroyed.

It

The introduction of poisonous gases and of submarine warfare gave the final touch to an already overstrained patience so that discussion of active interference by the United States was no longer uncommon. is characteristic of New Hampshire men and women, as it is characteristic of the whole of our country, that the prime motive in the expression of readiness to participate in the war rested upon a feeling of resentment that a nation could commit such outrages against civilized man, rather than upon a desire for revenge because of direct loss of American lives and American property. When, however, the sinking of the Lusitania proved that the humane instincts of civilized nations were unknown to the German militarists, New Hampshire seemed ready for war. There was little argument as to whether submarine warfare was justified on the ground of military expediency. The whole trend of thought showed an unalterable belief that exposing innocent women and children and even non

combatant men to the perils then experienced in sea travel was intolerable. Although it had been published in all our newspapers that Germany gave official notice to Americans to keep off the Lusitania when it was about to make its last fateful journey, there were few in our state who believed that the German military authorities would dare to do so frightful a deed. There was no patience with the idea that Americans could be bullied into acceptance of this curtailment of their rights. They had the right to travel on the high seas and no nation would venture to act so contrary to accepted ideas of civilization as to sink a vessel filled with neutral travelers going from one part of the world to another on legitimate business.

Few in our state sympathized for a moment with the McLemore resolution warning Americans to keep off the sea. We had the right to travel where we pleased, outside the actual theatre of war. It did not occur to us that it would be necessary to resort to arms in order that this right might be respected. The usual conduct, the ordinary doctrines, the common humanity of advanced nations, we believed, would prevail with German high officers so that they would surely issue commands that peaceful travelers were not to be molested. When we found that they were no respecters of international law, or of the universally accepted tenets of Christian nations, New Hampshire was ready to resist. From that time until April 6, 1917, our state waited, and not very patiently, for a declaration by the President and the Congress that the United States as a whole would oppose to the utmost of its ability the barbarous methods of warfare now adopted for the first time among modern peoples.

From the time war was declared in Europe the citizens of New Hampshire displayed a noble humanitarian spirit in coming to the aid and relief of

suffering people in the afflicted areas. Surgical dressings societies, organized by the Woman's Civic Federation of the state, existed in many towns and cities and sent abroad large quantities of materials. In addition to these the Peter Bent Brigham societies should especially be mentioned. The Committee for Belgian Relief, under the leadership of Herbert Hoover, was receiving much financial. aid from our citizens. Care of French orphans, assistance to wounded French soldiers, and the furnishing of general supplies for the French Red Cross, were enterprises to which many were devoting much time. The Canadian Red Cross received from New Hampshire many thousands of surgical dressings, bandages, and other field and hospital necessaries, while contributions were generously made to the Canadian Patriotic Fund. Here and there in the state there were contributions of money and of materials made for the relief of other stricken nations, as, for example, the Serbians and Armenians. Our lack of neutrality, shown by the great extent and enthusiasm of these societies, is very striking.

To such a degree had these various organizations occupied the attention of the people and seized upon their sympathies that it was some time after the opening of the war in 1914 before the American Red Cross succeeded in gaining an effective entrance into the state. A state chapter was created in Concord somewhat early, and gradually from this an organization was built up throughout New Hampshire with local branches owing allegiance to it. The spread of this definite organization, however, was comparatively slow until the United States itself actually became involved in the war. From that point the spread of the Red Cross proceeded very rapidly and extended so widely that when the state chapter determined in the autumn of 1917 to dissolve, in harmony with a new national Red Cross plan of organ