Politics, politics, curse of the country!  It has gotten into the whole war program.  Hoover and McAdoo are at swords drawn.  Hoover had a cable signed by the three Premiers, George, Clemenceau, and Orlando, crying for wheat and charging us with not keeping our word—­and starvation threatening all three countries—­in fact, almost sure, because we have not been able to get the wheat to the ships; and with starvation will come revolution, if it gets bad enough. ...  I asked Hoover about this on Sunday night, ... and he said that a list of eight hundred cars had been on McAdoo’s desk for A week. ...

(McChord said on the bench [Footnote:  The Interstate Commerce Commission.] to-day that he thought Hoover seventy-five per cent right.)

March 1, [1918]

Yesterday, at Cabinet meeting, we had the first real talk on the war in weeks, yes, in months!  Burleson brought up the matter of Russia, ... would we support Japan in taking Siberia, or even Vladivostock?  Should we join Japan actively—­in force?

The President said “No,” for the very practical reason that we had no ships.  We had difficulty in providing for our men in France and for our Allies, (the President never uses this word, saying that we are not “allies").  How hopeless it would be to carry everything seven or eight thousand miles—­not only men and munitions, but food!—­for Japan has none to spare, and none we could eat.  Her men feed on rice and smoked fish, and she raises nothing we would want.  Nor could the country support us.  So there was an end of talking of an American force in Siberia!  Yes, we were needed—­ perhaps as a guarantee of good faith on Japan’s part that she would not go too far, nor stay too long.  But we would not do it.  And besides, Russia would not like it, therefore we must keep hands off and let Japan take the blame and the responsibility.

The question is not simple, for Russia will say that we threw her to Japan, and possibly she would rush into Germany’s arms as the lesser of evils.  My single word of caution was to so act that Russia, when she “came back,” should not hate us, for there was our new land for development—­Siberia—­and we should have front place at that table, if we did not let our fears and our hatred and our contempt get away with us now.

Daniels whispered to-day that Russia had five fast cruisers in the Baltic, which could raid the Atlantic and put our ships off the sea.  He had wired Sims to see if they couldn’t be sunk.  I hope it is not too late; surely England must have done something on so important a matter, though she is slow in thinking.  And how is anyone to get there with the Baltic full of submarines and mines!  The thought is horrible, the possibilities!  We certainly have made a bad fist of things Russian from the start.  They have deserted us because they were trying to drive the cart ahead of the horse, economical revolution before political revolution, socialism ahead of liberty with law.  And they know we are capitalistic, because we do not approve of socialism by force.