The close of the present week will see an epoch-making change in the relations between this country and the old world. War knows no limitations, recognizes no boundaries. After a century and a half of political isolation from Europe, the United States will take part, perhaps a decisive part, in the war conference of the entente allies in Paris. For the first time in our history as a nation we will enter the maelstrom of European politics and take a hand in the solution of its problems. Fear of entangling alliances is gone. The economic and physical barriers between this country and Europe have long since disappeared. The need of combined action against a common enemy has now destroyed the last trace of our political isolation.

For these reasons we will watch the coming war conference with unusual interest. It will have before it war problems of every kind. The questions of military, naval, and economic efficiency and cooperation between all the nations at war with Germany will be discussed.

Means for supplying Russia with necessary equipment of every description, from rolling stock and munitions to credits, must be determined. The apportionment of the world's available tonnage, so that Italy may get her raw materials and France her food and coal, will have to be settled. But the conference will do much more than this. Pressing diplomatic and political problems demand immediate settlement and mutual understanding. The Russian project of an allied declaration affirming the Russian resolutions concerning the independence of Poland, the Balkan problem, and China is one of the most important.

There can be no doubt that the representatives of this country will have much to say in the final settlement reached on all these subjects. As a part of the higher civilization of the world, the United States ranks alongside of Europe. For the time being that civilization is threatened by a lawless member. With so many savage races in the world, and so much rich but undeveloped land, it is perhaps too much to expect that this will be the last war. But with a common purpose between this country and the allied nations of Europe, it may well be hoped that the defeat of Germany will mark the end of war in Europe for all time. This is the justification for America's entrance into the struggle. If this end is attained, the dead will not have died in vain.

The Paris conference is an event of immense significance.