It was his duty to collect information and impressions, to discover what important people thought of the United States and of its policies, and to send forward all such data to Washington.

According to Page's theory of the Ambassadorial office, he was a kind of listening post on the front of diplomacy, and he would have grievously failed had he not done his best to keep headquarters informed.

He did not regard it as "loyalty" merely to forward only that kind of material which Washington apparently preferred to obtain; with a frankness which Mr.Wilson's friends regarded as almost ruthless, Page reported what he believed to be the truth.

That this practice was displeasing to the powers of Washington there is abundant evidence.

In early December, 1914, Colonel House was compelled to transmit a warning to the American Ambassador at London.
"The President wished me to ask you to please be more careful not to express any unneutral feeling, either by word of mouth, or by letter and not even to the State Department.