The intimate papers of Colonel House arranged as a narrative by Charles Seymour.

310 INTIMATE PAPERS OF COLONEL HOUSE

patient. There'll be plenty of time left to quarrel when this
dire period is past....
It's no time, then, to quarrel or to be bumptious about a
cargo of oil or of copper, or to deal with these Gov'ts as if
things were normal. Thank God, you are 3000 miles from
it. I wish I were 30,000....
Yours heartily
W. H. P.
Unfortunately, the oil and the copper exporters in the
United States felt differently and protests poured in upon
the State Department in Washington. For Mr. Page, who
was in vital sympathy with the Allied cause, the situation
was worse than trying. His nerves became taut. As usual,
the minor questions were the more vexatious. What was
dangerous was that, in his misunderstanding and irritation
with the State Department, he should lose sight of the
Washington point of view, which he was sent to London to
represent. It was the more difficult to warn Mr. Page to be
careful not to display pro-Ally feeling in that he looked
upon himself as falling over backward in his neutrality, and
was not in a frame of mind to receive criticism philosophically.
Ambassador W. H. Page to Colonel House
LONDON, December 12, 1914
MY DEAR HOUSE:... I am trying my best, God knows, to keep the way as
smooth as possible; but neither Government helps me. Our
Government merely sends the shippers' ex-parte statement.
This Government uses the Navy's excuse.
Oh, well, praise God it goes as well as it does. I get my
facts as best I can —from other neutrals, from shipcaptains, etc. - and I do the best I can, getting thanks for
nothing, getting lectures for - nothing. I happened a little