Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-07-24


II bristles with absolutely false state
ments and with an assumption OF
Teutonic virtue that Is amazing even
in the light Of previous assertions OF
similar character. From the express
sion of the satisfaction with which
the Imperial Government learned
how earnestly the Government OF the
United States is concerned in seeing
the principles Of humanity realized In
the present war;" to the assertion that
the case of the Lusitania shows with
horrible cIearpess to what jeopardiz-
ing of human lives the manner of con-
Quoting the war employed by our ad-
versaries leads" the document is one
mass of self-laudation woven around
a clumsy effort to make it appear that
England and not Germany is RESPONSE
BILE for the losses of American lives
and property due to the submarine
Outrages.
The statement that Germany has
been always tenacious of the principle
that war should he conducted against
the armed and organized forces Of an
enemy country, but that the enemy
civilian population must be spared as
far as possible from the measures OF
war;" finds it's contradiction in Bel
GUM, in the wanton naval raid on
Scarborough, Whitby and the Hartle-
pools, in the Zeppelin raids on unpro-
tected cities and towns, and, what
concerns us more intimately. in the
torpedoing Of the Gulfight, the at
lacks on the Gushing and the Ne
braskan and the Lusitania atrocity. in
which more than 1900 innocent nom
combatants. including 10S Americans,
were cruelty murdered by a German
submarine.
The assertion that Germany was
obliged to adopt submarine warfare to
meet the enemy's methods is pure
poppycock. Germany has a powerful
navy. the second in rank Of the navies
of the world, with which to conduct
it's naval warfare according to inter-
national law and the rules of civilized
warfare. The fact that Germany
chooses to keep this navy bottled up
in the Kiel Canal and depend on it's
submarines to accomplish a purpose
for which they are not designed, does
not give Germany either a moral or
legal right to override international
law and trample on the rights of neu-
trails and the laws of humanity.
More humbug and hypocrisy is
manifested in the repetition Of the
threadworn assertion that this fight
for existence" has been forced upon
Germany by its adversaries," and in
the pious mouthings of the godly
character of the German cause. The
world knows where and how the war
started, and the world is we'll aware Of
the fact that only one nation was in
stantly prepared for war when the
declarations of hostilities were issued
in the early days of August a year
ago.
IF the commander Of the German
submarine which destroyed the Lusi-
tania had caused the crew and pas
sengers to take to the boats before
firing a torpedo, this would have
meant the sure destruction of his own
vessel" is the amazing defense of the
worst act Of wholesale murder on the
high seas Of which there is any rec
ord. The answer to this is that if
the submarine was unable to accom-
plish the capture or destruction of
the Lusitania according to the estab-
liShed rules Of naval warfare, it was
the duty of the submarine commander
to save his boat by Withdrawing from
the scene, not by butchering the sub
jects of a neutral country with which
Pvt
out this note. and in Germany's plan
of procedure from the beginning of
the war up to the present time, the
outstanding principle is one of i'm
posing the German will on all other
peoples. Laws. treaties, customs and
are not to be considered;
everything that stands in the way OF
the accomplishment of German aims
and desires is to be brushed aside as
of no consequence. Whatever Ger
many does is right. and whatever her
do is wrong. That is why
Europe is against the Kaiser today. as
it was against Napoleon a century
ago.
But the note reaches the climax of
absurdity. and effroatery as we'll. in
the proposition that Germany be per-
mitted to regulate United States COM
merce and make it conform to the il
legal plan of submarine warfare. 1t
would be laughable if the case were
not fraught with such tragic posi-
bilities. In the circumstances the
only thing the United States can do
is to stick to its original demands and
insist on an immediate compliance
herewith. Any other course would
be craven, dishonorable and certain to
lead this country into complications
of a most dangerous character.