Special Providence_ American Foreign Policy and How It Changed World - Walter Russell Mead

ChapterFive

THE

CONNECTICUT

YANKEE INTHE

COURTOF

KINGARTHUR

WilsonianismandItsMission

AnotherLogic

I

n1912,senatorsfromstateslikeSouthDakotaandIowafound
themselvesdelugedby mailfromangryconstituents.Fromone
smallcommunityafteranother,theletterscarriedthesamemessage:Stop
theChinaRailwayLoan.
Thesenators,mostofwhomhadpassedtheirlivesinhappyignorance
ofChineserailroadfinancing,senttheirassistantstothelibraryshelves
toresearchtheissue. WithChina'sfinances reelingfollowingyears of
civilandinternationalwar,a groupofEuropeangovernmentshadhelped
puttogethera bond-issuepackagetobailoutChina'srailroadsandsup-
portnewconstructionandbadlyneededrepairs.
Whatmysteriousforcewas responsibleforU.S. farmcommunities