The Washington times., 1915-12-09
THE ANCONA CASE AGAIN

public tomorrow, it is understood
the text of the note it has dispatched
to Vienna concerning the Ancons
case. !.
In this instance the United State.
finds itself with a two-fold griev
ance. Not only was the Ancona SUM
under circumstances that cos
American lives, and that violated
every consideration of humanity, but
the injury was compounded by the
contemptuous attitude of the Vienna
government in failing to answer
American inquiries as to its view Of
the affair. v
A month has elapsed since the An
coma was sent to the bottom of the
Mediterranean. There was a com
plete agreement, as to all essentials
in the stories that crew, officers, anc
passengers told about the barbarity
The ship was attacked without warn,
ing; was shelled after she had stop.
ped; continued to be shelled while
her lifeboats were being put over the
sides with the ships company. Many
of the lives lost were sacrificed b,
this firing; it was testified that the
submarine circled round and round
the ship, firing all the time.
When the earliest inquiries were
made by the American Government
Vienna issued a statement from its
naval authorities, saying the shir
tried to escape, and was not shelled
This was in direct conflict with al
other testimony. Being merely the
statement of the navy, however
Washington wanted it supplemented
and made official and. diplomatic b,
statement from the Vienna foreign
office, and for this the State Depart
ment has pressed ever since. The
foreign office explanation has mo-
been forthcoming despite all insist
ence.
There seems only one explanation
of this delay. If the early assuranc,
from the Austrian naval authorities
was correct, then there is no reason
why the foreign office should della,
giving the diplomatic answer to oul
diplomatic inquiry. If the naval ex
planation was not correct, then Aus
tria is convicted of direct misrepre
sentation. In the beginning tn,
navy officers were able to make tn,
positive statement that the ship wa
not shelled, and that she tried to es
cape. Now they say that they can
not answer our State Department
because they have not been able t,
communicate with the commander O
the submarine.
The two declarations are utterl,
inconsistent with any presumption
of sincerity at Vienna. They sug
gest that the Austrian government
is playing horse with Washington, a
Berlin has done for many month
in regard to its submarine policy ant
acts. Apparently there is defnit
understanding between Berlin an,
Vienna that they will give the Unite,
States no satisfaction, but will sticl
together in defying it and prosecut
ing the submarine warfare as the,
please. They know very well tha
aside from the United States the,
have no need to fear the displeasur
of any neutral; and apparently the
are growing more and more confden
that they need not fear the Unite
States. either. Courtesy gets shorte
and shorter shrift in the successiv
developments of the Teutonic atti
tude toward the United States.
We are assured that the lates
note to Austria is couched in NOR
vigorous language than has yet bee
employed by the Washington Gov
ernment since this series of contro
versies began. 1t is hard to under
stand how it could be more vigorou
| than the Lusitania note, which in
sisted on complete accountability
and even if language should be foun
to strengthen that statement ther
would still have to be misgiving
as to whether any kind of Language
used by our Government, could max
an impression on the Germanic crus
! 1t looks as if something more effec
tive than any sort of languag
would have to be employed if result
shall be attained, and for such dc
velopment the time seemingly is nc
far ahead: