The Washington herald., 1915-12-18
Tie .Anslri1n Reply.


In its note to the imperial and royal govern.
ment the sinking Of the Aneona with the Loss
of American lives the State Department very prop.
mand was made on the basis Of the facts Is sci
forth in the Austrian official report which admit.
ted that the Ancona was fired at and sunk before
all the passengers had left her. Any suggestion
therefore, that the State Department is misinform-
ed or request that time be given in which the
submarine commander can be communicated with
will be regarded as futile and immediately repudi-
ated. Again the, intimation came from Vienna, in
the nature of ballon dessai perhaps. THAI it had
no official knowledge Of the attitude of the United
States the submarine question as established by
the correspondence with Germany. This sugges-
ton has been promptly negatived by the announce
nent that the Austro-Hungarian Embassy was fur
nished with copies of all the correspondence with
Germany on the Lusitania, Arabic and other eases.
There being no loophole for proerastnation or
qubbling the royal and imperial government is
faced with the necessity of answering yea" or
may" And it enjoys the additionally unpleasant
knowledge that the United States would rather
prefer the answer to be may" than yea" while
from its own point of view and that of its ally
Germany the results of answering in the negative
cannot be other than unpleasant and may be highly
embarrassing. sr.
Nevertheless the answer it has been disclosed,
is in the nature of refusal to comply with our
demands. The Austro-Hungarian monarchy is the
haughtiest in the world 1t is stiff and full of pride
not like the German full of arrogance but supple
when occasion arises. Moreover the royal and inf
Il Eo> tl,k = L,e ,1S h>>
grossly Disseminated against by the United States
in the of Dr. Dumba.
Again there is little doubt in most minds that
the submarine that perpetrated the Ancona out
rage was German in all but the flag she flew.
Austria, in assuming responsibility for the affair
acted loyalty towards her ally but it cannot be par
tcularly pleasing to nation that up to the present
time has an honorable record in the war to declare
herself the perpetrator of brutalites that Prus-
sian rather glories in but that an Austrian or
Hungarian would to be party to.
1t is because of this feeling that Austria has
in the Ancona case been made dupe of by her
German ally that slight sympathy has been
felt with her, sympathy which, however. is dimin-
ished almost to nothing by a realization of the
willingness which Austria has displayed to be
widespread bomb and arson plots that are now
being dragged to light throughout the United
States. -
But if this is the actual state of affairs it be-
comes all the more vitality necessary that the
United States should act, swiftly and decisively.
If Germany is to be smoked out into the open Aus
tra must not be permitted to stretch herself at the
mouth of the den. That is precisely the attitude
Of the administration. IF the imperial and royal
government chooses to assume responsibility for
The dastardly act of her ally she must pay the full
penalty just as that ally would have to pay it.
But the matter cannot stop there. We cannot
he Ancona case. however much we may want to,
when her ally, Germany, is still in the position
IF upholding the right to commit and of refusing
satisfaction for precisely similar outrage. The
severance of diplomatic relations with Austria |
must be followed by an ultmatum to Germany on |
he Lusitania couched in similar language, failure
o comply with which must lead to sever diplo- |
natc relations with Germany Also The people of
he United States have reached point where they
Jew such contingency without alarm and rather
With feelings Of relief. They do not feel that they
lave played very virie part in their relations
With the central powers and they would welcome
n opportunity to adjust the score. Those who ac-
used the administration of being weak kneed in the
arly stages of the game cannot truthfully claim
hat its action did not at that time reflect the wishes
# the nation. We were asleep and did not know.
3ut our leaders should have been awake and they
we're paid to know. They should have led us
right, not merely in the direction that they
hought we wanted to go. That is all over now
The nation is awake and knows much that it was
gnorant of fifteen months ago. And the admins
ration realizes that whatever its private incli-
ation may be it is incumbent on it to show us
ow to play the part of great nation. |,
The Toast of Today.