By 1914, Banu was also writing for the Flacăra satellite Semnalul, for the PNL paper Democrația, and for the literary bimonthly Văpaia.Baiculescu et al., pp. 178, 613, 694 In July, days after the Sarajevo assassination, Banu was selected on a panel of deputies, headed by Mihail G. Orleanu, which proposed democratic reforms to the 1866 constitution. Other members included Iorga, Constantin Stere, Nicolae Romanescu, and Vintilă Brătianu."Comisiunile de studii ale Constituantei", in Gazeta Ilustrată, Nr. 30/1914, p. 4 Romania kept neutral during the first two years of war, but an intellectual battle divided Romanian society, between "Francophiles", who supported the Entente, and "Germanophiles", who looked to the Central Powers. Banu and the National Liberals leaned toward the Entente Francophiles. In October 1914, he directed a rally of university students who vandalized the offices of Ziua, a Germanophile daily put out by Ioan Slavici, and chanted threats against Grigore Gheorghe Cantacuzino, owner of the Germanophile Seara.Carmen Patricia Reneti, "Relații româno-germane în anul 1914", in Revista de Istorie Militară, Nr. 1–2/2010, pp. 36, 39
