New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-08-31
What Is To Be Praised.

of the dispute with Germany there VIII DE
No disposition anywhere to deny him full
credit and due praise. Such a solution
will meet the approval of the enormous
majority of his fellow countrymen, who
have not the smallest desire to see this
country enter the European conflict.
But there is one aspect Of the dispute
that ought not to be overlooked by any
one. because such misapprehension Will
prove expensive. in the future. If Ger
many has now consented TO forego her
submarine war, so far as it is conducted
in defiance of international law, If she has
consented to warn passenger ships in ad-
vance of sinking them, it is not because Of
any power Of phrase displayed IN any OF
our various notes to the German Govern
ment. Words have not persuaded the
Germans. A victory for the peaceful and
natient methods is not disclosed, if, indeed,
the German-American difficulty is now as
good as settled.
Take the sequence of events and the
fact will be patent. Germany announced
her submarine blockade with its illegal
details in February, The United States
replied by refusing TO recognize this block
ade and asserting that Germany would be
held TO strict accountability for any injury
TO American citizens.
To this Germany replied by sinking the
Iusitania and thus numbering something
over q hundred Americans. In his turn
the President addressed a message to Ger
many demanding reparation, a cessation
Of assassination, and asserted that his gov
eminent would omit no act necessary to
,nrotect American lives and rights. Ger
many answered with a note utterly irrele-
want and we replied by a declaration that
further. assassination, another act put
ting American lives in jeopardy, would be
accepted as deliberately unfriendly." To
this Germany answered by sinking the
Arabic and killing more Americans.
Such is the history of German-American
negotiations from February to August.
Now. the essential thing to note is that IN
aU this time the words Of the American
Government have been absolutely without
effect. Admirable as the President s
words were, they were powerless to change
the course Of German policy. The sinking
Of the Arabic marked the bankruptcy of
ordinary diplomatic methods.
The real praise that Mr.. Wilson deserves
flows from the fact that with the sinking
of the Arabic he recognized the truth. In
stantly the word came from Washington
that the administration no longer con-
templated using words. 1t intended to
break off relations with Germany just as
soon as formal proof was in its hands. IT
had resolved to act, it had determined to
take the first of the two steps that might
lead to war and would not shrink from
the first because the second might follow.
Now note the change. Within relatively
few hours the German Ambassador is on
the wire dispatching a frantic appeal
TO Washington on behalf of his govern
ment that there shall be no action taken
before Germany is heard Was there any
such appeal after the Lusitania? Was
there any such petition after the American
indignation at the German answer to the
Lusitania demand was made manifest?
There was, Of course, nothing of the sort
The German Government was satisfied
that the United States was still willing to
talk. and therefore it went on numbering
Let us see this thing exactly as 1t IS
The Tribune is not engaged, as some of
its contemporaries have suggested, in any
effort to detract from the credit due Mr.
Wilson if the German affair is settled
without war or surrender of American
rights. But it does believe that it is OF
prime importance that praise shall be dis
eliminating, that we shall not make the
mistake of celebrating the method that
failed and ignoring the method that proved
successful. 1t was the decision to act
not the power of the phrases that preceded
the decision to act, that made Bernstorf
vocal and Berlin voluble.
The weakest thing in the whole history
of Mr.. Wilson's administration has been
his complete faith in the empire of words
lie has seen in the happy or the fitting
phrase not words but power This error
led him into the Mexican failure. 1t has
led him into a number of blunders only
less vital. 1t gravely hindered his dealing
with the German affair. Precisely as long
as he chung to a faith in words, the Ger.
man peril continued to mount and grow
until we were within two steps of war.
Then Mr.. Wilson abandoned words. Al
that point he wisely and completely broke
with his own method. And in a few hours
the gravest international crisis this coun-
try has faced since 1898 was terminated
for the time; let us hope for all time
Again The Tribune repeats il is not seek
ing to detract from Mr.. Wilson's glory
but it does believe that he and his fellow
countrvmen should recognize that the