New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-05-09
To-day and Tomorrow.

the issue and the gravity Of the present
hour. Officers Of the German govern
ment, acting under orders, following a
deliberate and reasoned policy, have muir
dered 1877 American citizens. Women and
children are among the victims Of an
atrocity unsurpassed in the history Of
civilized nations.
Two questions present themselves to the
United States, to the government and to
the people For the murders that have
been committed there must be every rep
aration that human agencies can make in
the face of an irreparable injury
Every shred Of international law, prac-
tice. tradition, demands that the German
government should disavow the act, pun
ish the murderers make such apology as
can be made for what passes pallia-
ton. Questions Of pecuniary damage,
direct and indirect. should wait until the
larger issue is settled.
There remains an even more patent
duty, a more compelling obligation. There
should come from the Imperial German
Government a guarantee that there shall
be no repetition of the present tragedy,
no second massacre Of American citizens,
Of American women and children travel
ling the high seas. The practice Of muir
der and the policy of assassination must
be renowned.
Failing these things, no American
should misunderstood the meaning Of the
present crisis; no American should shrink
from the facts that cannot be evaded or
avoided. If Germany has once and for all
embarked upon a deliberate campaign Of
murder directed against American citi-
n zens there can be but one consequence
Il the end is inescapabe.
We have endured the sinking of the
FRYE. The killing Of an American citizen
on the Falaba reused only reasonable pro
test. The wanton sacrifice Of three Amer
lean lives on the Gufight was but third
in the steadily mounting series Of out
RACES. In all of these instances the wrong
was unmstakable, the aggression patent
and indefensble
The crime of the Lusitania was greater
only in extent than those which had pre-
ceded. 1t was massacre instead of mere
assassination. 1t was a mere extension of
German activity, mere expansion Of Ger
man purposes. The assassin who had
acted in the dark and on the lonely sea,
only now grown bold, came out into the
daylight TO kill by the score where he
had before slain one by one.
But every American knows, every Ger
man should know, that the sinking Of the
Lusitania is the last crime American
patience will permit to pass, even if par
tally atoned for by such official apologies
and amends as one government can make
10 another.
There is no real danger that Americans
will lose their heads. There is not the
remotest prospect that anger or passion
will drive the people to act in advance of
proper diplomatic procedure. Not even
now is there the remotest chance that we
shall permit our fury 10 dominate our
reason.
But there is plain danger that in Berlin
and in Washington the real decision of the
American people will be mistaken If that
should happen, if the German government
should misunderstood American calmness
and mistake American self-control; if thus
mistaking Americans they should venture
upon one more butchery-then the word
that no one speaks, that lies first on
the tongue Of all Americans would be
heard from one end of the nation 20 the
other.
We shall not make war now 10 avenge
those who have been murdered, however
white hot our anger in the presence Of our
dead. But we shall not continue to avoid