I answered as best I could, telling him something of the paralysis it had caused in business, of the war tax, and of our anxiety as to the status of our shipping.
"From what I can gather from the newspapers, the sentiment in America is being greatly influenced by the endangering of American shipping,"
"Naturally. But your press endeavours to be neutral, does it not?"
"Not particularly," I admitted. "Sooner or later our papers become partisan. It is difficult not to. In this war one must take sides."
"Certainly. One must take sides. One cannot be really neutral in this war. Every country is interested in the result, either actively now or later on, when the struggle is decided. One cannot be disinterested; one must be partisan."
The staff echoed this.
Having been interviewed by General Foch for some time, I ventured to ask him a question. So I asked, as I asked every general I met, if the German advance had been merely ruthless or if it had been barbaric.
He made no direct reply, but he said:
"You must remember that the Germans are not only fighting against an army, they are fighting against nations; trying to destroy their past, their present, even their future."
"How does America feel as to the result of this war?" he asked, "I suppose it feels no doubt as to the result."