The Nome daily nugget., 1915-12-17
City Official Paper
NOME, ALASKA, DEC. 17. 1915.

The prospect of an open rupture with
 Austria over the Ancona affair Is daily
 growing stronger and it is plainly in
 dicated that the government does not
 intend to temporiZe as it did in the
 case of Germany, over like issues.
 Just what will be the effect of this policy remains to be seen but that 1t IS pregnant with numerous possibili- ties affecting our future must neces- sarily be admitted. There Is little probability of the rupture extending to the point of actual belligerency as neither one country or the other are n a position to come to blows and we may. therefore, have little apprehen- sion as to the safety of the natiCn Austria would probably not be inclined to actual hostilities, even in the event that she was not hedged about with a numerous foe, simply because of the almost overwhelming difficulties at tending such an enterprise in the mat ter of transporting a sufficient army to our shores even though 1t could be adequately protected by her. by no means unformidable, war fleet. Under present conditions 1t is. of course, im- possible for her to break through the encircling ring of steel thrown about her by the allies so we are doubtless safe enough from aggression. How ever. a complete severence of relations will relieve Austria of the necessity of recognizing us as a neutral power and she will be under no obligation to respect either our commerce or the lives of our citizens, should she chance to encounter either. Being already in what may be described as a belliger- ent state toward ourselves, she prob ably would not hesitate to do all pos. sible damage to the vessels of our commercial fleet and there would als; | be total absence of regard for the lives Of our citizens. Therein lies our
 danger of becoming involved to the point of hostilities for in this directon alone can Austria. unasslsted by hei allies, strike at us effectively. Should such become the ultimate result of the present difficulties Austria would probably sink any and all American vessels which might be encountered by her submarines. For reprisals fol this and for the lives of those citi- zens who might be killed during such action. either against our own vessels or those of some other nation, wei would have no recourse save through direct hostilities. II
 Beyond the seizure of a few Am II erican owned vessels which are ly- II ing interned in American ports there | are practically no other means for securing satisfaction aside from a di- Il rect resort to arms. Such action, how ever would probably affect the condi- ton of Austria in but a trifing degree as we are already doing that nation practically all the harm that is pos- siole for us to do through assisting its enemies with the full resources oi the country in the way of supplies anj munitions Of war.
 This Is not done officially, of course That Is, the American government does not officially endorse such action, but the mere stamp of official approval would not affect the present situation in great degree. Even a declaration of war against Austria would amount to little more than extending open sanction to actions which hold every