| Description | No thoughtful person can say that he is glad that his country has gone to war, but in the United States things are now much clearer since the decision was made. He hopes that they may be effective and that they can look to a future better world. They hope that it may lead to a federation of democratic and forward-looking nations to make future calamities more improbable. The British and French missions have been received with enthusiasm. [Arthur] Balfour and his staff showed tact and 'Papa [Joseph] Joffre' has become a popular idol, with cinema audiences cheering when he appears. Bumstead has been in Washington, on a Navy Department committee and things are going better than he expected. He has been at dinner with George Hale, Milliken, and Mendenhall and asked their opinion on Larmor's degree problem. Hale and Milliken thought the title 'doctor' was important, and he discusses the differences in Master's degrees. At Yale they understand that a research B.A. from Cambridge and the corresponding degree from Oxford which some Rhodes scholars get is equivalent to a PhD. Hale leans towards uniformity: France is to establish a doctorate correspondign to a PhD and England should not be an exception. Canbridge laboratories facilities and the quality of teaching are quite adequate and he wishes that U.S. universities were as well prepared. They have plenmty of money but lack properly treained men and the atmosphere of scholarship. He has not yet discussed this with Nichols. |