The currency of the country was taken out of the hands of self-appointed trustees of the nation and placed in the hands of a government commission, the Federal Reserve Board. By this act the money-changers were driven from the temple of the nation and the currency of the country will henceforth flow in the interest of the little banker as well as the powerful money baron, in the interest of the laborer as well as the captain of industry. The nation applauded this act and proclaimed abroad that "The Federal Reserve Law is enough to make any administration illustrious in history."

Great corporations were also placed in the hands of a commission-the Federal Trade Commission. No longer would the captains of industry and finance be permitted to sit "at the levers of control" and make or mar at will the fortunes of friendly or rival concerns. The watchful interference of this commission was designed to permit young industries to develop without fear of the great corporations. Moreover, it was designed to direct the great as well as the small into safer channels where designing politicians and unscrupulous lawyers, who once fattened on the old Sherman Anti-trust law and kept business panicky, would be deprived of an unholy instrument.

The powers and duties of the Interstate Commerce Commission were increased. This was the first of the commissions to be established and it served as a model for guidance in creating the other two. It was now

empowered to exercise a certain control over the business transactions of railroads and other common carriers where free and fair competition might be interfered with.

Through these commissions-the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Interstate Commerce Commission-the large fields of business, finance and industry were brought under governmental control. This work of restoration that President Wilson outlined at the beginning of his administration was now completed and the nation's Constitution of Peace was written.

However, there were still other things necessary to be done. But they pertained especially to the conservation and development of our national resources for the benefit of the whole people. President Wilson declared that Congress should address itself to this new problem with the same vigor that it employed in inaugurating a new government by commission. Nor did the administration wait. The President called the nation's attention to the fact that our agricultural activities had never been given the efficiency of great business undertakings; nor had they served the people as they should through the instrumentalities of science taken directly to the farm, or afforded the facilities of credit best suited to their practical needs.

The Smith-Lever Agricultural Extension Act came as a result of this great demand. It was passed March 8,

1914, appropriating about half a million dollars for immediate use by the Department of Agriculture and the colleges of the several states. However, the Act contemplates a gradual increase until the annual appropriation amounts to several million dollars.

The mineral resources of Alaska were locked up in the Arctic Circle and were available only to corporations of great wealth. But in order that they might be employed by the nation as a whole, Congress authorized the President to begin the construction of a thousand miles of trunk-line railway to connect the ports on the Pacific with the coal fields of the interior, and thus make available for national use the almost unlimited coal of Alaska.

Other measures of conservation were begun, such as the protection of forests and waterpower and mineral deposits. Moreover, movements looking to the conservation of health and the encouragement of good roads and rural credits were begun. Then the European War appeared.

Just at this time the American people were passing out of an old era into a new national life made possible by this Constitution of Peace. What the future would be was predicted with an assurance that brought hope to the souls of men who had suffered because of injustices in the nation. But as the transfer was about to be made, the European war closed up the past and gave a new era not only to America, but to the entire civilized

world. Therefore, what the future will be even to America no man can prophesy with certainty.

The great issues, therefore, in the second half of the Wilson Administration instead of pertaining largely to matters of strictly domestic concern, such as conservation of public health and national resources, relate to the European war and we have neutrality, American rights on the high seas, preparedness, merchant marine, and commercial and educational preparedness as the paramount issues.

Before approaching these new issues, however, it is necessary to take a survey of President Wilson's foreign policy during this period when the Constitution of Peace was being wrought out.

CHAPTER VIII

A NEW FOREIGN POLICY

On March 4, 1913, when Woodrow Wilson took the oath of office as President of the United States, two grave responsibilities were laid upon his administration: (1) To set up the rule of right and justice in this nation; and (2) to maintain a just relation to all foreign nations.

In the previous chapters we have seen how heroically he undertook the first task and with what success he inaugurated a set of reforms that were to affect the whole country. The second task, however, was not so simple, and the reason is obvious. In the first place, the President of the United States, in dealing with foreign nations, must be guided by what foreigners and strangers to our ideals may do; and in the second place, international problems are not solved, as a rule, with that same regard for absolute right and justice as are domestic problems. Moreover, in dealing with intranational questions, the responsibility for the solution may be placed in a large measure upon Congress and the people. But in dealing with international questions, the responsibility for solution is placed almost entirely upon the President of the United States.