"The American Election"

The presidential election, we are told, will in all probability be fought on domestic issues, and not upon the question of League of Nations or to League of Nations. This may very well be, and yet it is our profound belief that the ultimate issue to be decided by the American people at the polls in November is and must be this: In what temper and to what degree shall they forsake their old aloofness? That they will forsake it is a foregone conclusion. It is as much beyond their power to step back into isolation as it is beyond the power of this century to return to conditions which ended with the nineteenth century. Forces still imperfectly realized have been set loose, which must draw the United States and Great Britain with them, and a blind refusal to recognize the fact will avail nothing. The times call for a courageous acceptance of things as they are, as a first condition of their eventual improvement. We live in a sick world, and we must continue to live in it if we are to set about the business of cure. This it is which gives to the American election an importance far transcending the boundaries of the United States. Its conduct is the affair of the American people alone, but its issue is the concern of all the world. Our interest is perhaps deeper than that of other countries, and the reason for it naturally lies in our common history and in ideals long shared. These together give us the right to await the result with confidence, sure that the deep humanity and sturdy rectitude of judgment which are the heritage of men of English speech will once again prevail. The London Times