This act saved the credit of the allied countries; it was, of course, only the beginning of the financial support that America brought to the allied cause; the advances that were afterward furnished from the American Treasury made possible the purchases of food and supplies in enormous quantities.

The first danger that threatened, the isolation and starvation of Great Britain, was therefore overcome.

It was the joint product of Page's work in London and that of the Balfour Commission in the United States.
III Until these financial arrangements had been made there was no certainty that the supplies which were so essential to victory would ever leave the United States; this obstruction at the source had now been removed.
But the greater difficulty still remained.

The German submarines were lying off the waters south and west of Ireland ready to sink the supply ships as soon as they entered the prohibited zone.

Mr.Balfour and his associates were working also on this problem in Washington; and, at the same time, Page and Admiral Sims and the British Admiralty were bending all their energies in London to obtain immediate cooeperation.
A remark which Mr.Balfour afterward made to Admiral Sims shows the frightful nature of the problem which was confronting Great Britain at that time.
"That was a terrible week we spent at sea in that voyage to the United States," Mr.Balfour said.