I am charged by the King to thank you for the sentiments which you have expressed and for your sympathy for Belgium.
Our Sovereign wishes you to know that he recalls with pleasure the meeting with the Directors of the American Iron and Steel Institute at Brussels.
I beg you to accept, dear sir, the assurance of my highest regards,
J. INGENBLECK, Secretary.
I spent a good part of the following day in buying war relics, many of them made by the soldiers in the trenches out of such material as exploded shells, buttons from the uniforms of dead soldiers, etc. I purchased some unique postal cards, painted by hand in the trenches by soldiers who were artists. Other relics consisted of hat pins, napkin rings, bracelets and finger rings, all made as before stated, from war material.
A copy of an English publication was brought to my attention during the Belgian conference, and I was struck by a paragraph which is quoted:—
SUBMARINING AMERICA
What Germany is Doing now is Submarining the Monroe Doctrine and that is Submarining America.
In this connection there was some discussion and I was surprised to learn that the French, even those who are at the head of things, have a very hazy idea of what the Monroe Doctrine is. I explained to them that it was a statement made in a message to Congress by President Monroe in 1823, in which he laid down in a few words the principle that America, because of her history and the form of government established in the western world, was not a proper place for the exploitation of despotic governments, and that any attempt on the part of European nations to gain a foothold or to extend their territorial interests on the American continent would be regarded as an act unfriendly to the United States. I explained that this statement was never questioned and had become an accepted principle. The explanation seemed to please the French and Belgians to whom it was translated, and they apparently approve of the idea.