New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-05-12
CAN'T REFUSE DUTY
LONGER, SAYS 7. R.
Declares u. S. Neutrality
Would Have Excited
Pilates Admiration.
SCORN OF NATIONS
EARNED BY STAND
Listen to Feeble Folk Who
Exalt Peace Above
Righteousness.

Theodore Roosevelt wiH say IN
coDyyightcd article, entitled MIR
der on the High Seas 70 BE- pub
rishcd ~ the Jpne "WeiroDoli'ap
Mdgdzine":
"The German submarines have estab-
lisbed no effective blockade Of the Brit
len and French coast lines. They nave
endeayored 20 prevent the access O,
French. British and neutral ships 20
Britain and France By attacks upon
them which defy every principle Of in
ternational law as laid down by in
Vulnerable existing treaties, including
The Hague Conventions. Many o. these
ettacks have represented pure piracy;
and not few Of them have been &C.
COMMANDED By murder on an extended
scale. In the case Of the Lusitania the
scale, was so vast that the murder BE-
came wholesale.
"A number Of American ships had a.
ready been torpedoed in similar fash.
ION In one case the lives lost in
Guided those not only OF the American
caotain. but OF his wife and little
daughter. When the Lusitania sank
some twelve hundred non -combatants.
men. women and children, we've
drowned. and more than hundred Of
these were Americans. Centuries have
passed since any war vessel OF civil
Lied power has shown such ruthless
brutality toward non-combatants. and
especially toward women and children.
The pirates Of the Barbary Coast be-
haved az times in similar fashion, until
the civilized nations joined IN SUP
pressing them; and the pirates who
we're outcasts from among these civil
lied nations also AZ one time perpe-
trated similar deeds, unit. they were
sunk or hung. But none OF these old
time pirates committed murder on so
vast a scale as in the case Of the Lusl-
tania.
The day after the tragedy the news
papers reported in one column that m
Queenstown there lay by the score the
bodies Of women and children, some 81
the dead women still c.asping the
bodies OF the little children they held
in their arms when death overwhelmed
them. In another column they report
cd the glee expressed by the Berlin
journal az this great victory % Ger
man naval policy II was victory
over the defenceless and the unofend-
ing. and its signs and trophies we're
the bodies Of the murdered women and
children.
Our trAaties with Prussia IN l7Sj,
1893 and 1928, still in force in this re-
gard. provide that If one Of the con-
tracing parties should be az war with
any other power the free intercourse
and commerce Of the subjects or eiti.
zens of the party remaining neutral
with the belligerent powers SHAH no.
be interrupted Germany has treate1
this treaty as she has treated oiner
scraps OF paper
But the offence goes far deeper than
this. The action of the German suo-
marines in the cases cited can be lus'l-
fed only by a plea which would Ike.
wise justify the wholesale poisoning 81
wells in the path Of hostile army or
the shipping Of infected rags into me
cities Of a hostile country; plea
which would justify the torture OF
prisoners and the reduction OF capt
ured women TO the Slavery OF concur
mage. Those who advance such plea
will accept but one counter plea
strength. the strength and courage OK
the Just man armed.
when those who guide the military
policy of a state hold up 10 the soldiers
of their army the Huns and the
terror once caused by the Huns for
their imitation. they thereby render
themselves responsible for any Hun
nish deed which may follow The dc.
struction of cities like Louvain and
Dinant. the scientific vivlsecton OF
Belgium as a warning 70 other ma
tions. the hideous wrongdolng 10 CIVIL
ians. men. women and children IN Bel
GUM and Northern France. in order
thereby 20 terrorlze the civilian popl-
lation all these deeds. and those IKE
them. done on the land have now been
paralleled By what has happened on me
sea.
"In the teeth of these things, we
earn as a nation measureless seorn ana
contempt if we follow the lead OF those
who exalt peace above righteousness
if we heed the voices of those feeols
folk who bleat to high Heaven ths'
there is peace when there is no peace
For many months our government mas
preserved between right and wrong
neutrality which would have eSclted
the emulous admiration Of PontlIs
Pilate-the typical neutral OF an
time VS. have urged as lustiLcatloh
for failing 20 do our duty IN Mexico
that to do so would benefit American
dollars Are We now to change races
and advance the supreme interest OF
American dollars as a Justlncation
for continuance in the refusal to 90
the duty imposed on US in connection
with the world war?
Unless we act with immediate Dc,
cision and vigor we shall have failed
in the duty demanded by humanity az
large. and demanded even more clearly
by the self-respect OF the American