The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-10-28
Piracy and Conspiracy.

danger that the chief conspirators in the gigantic
plot Matched in this country with the object Of
destroying factories and vessels sailing from
United States ports may escape justice un-
worthy of credence To believe that any such
possibility exists is to believe that all of the vast
machinery of the government for the detection of
crime and the capture of criminals is worthless
and that those in control of it, well their sub
ordinates, are worse than inefficient A great deal
more evidence must be produced before any one is
convinced that such is the case
The government, it is true, is confronted with
IA formidable task in tracing the plot from bottom
to top and securing evidence against the princi-
pals well as their agents; but the Department
of Justice and the Secret Service appear to be
aroused at last to realization of the fact that
secret enemies of the United States organized
and established within its borders that they have
for months been carrying on warfare against
us with bomb and torch. ard that they equip
ped and prepared to kill and destroy whenever
and wherever they believe the ends they seek de-
mand it. The authorities in the past have been
disposed to make light of attribute to causes
other than the true one, long series of fires and
explosions in factories, merchant vessels, on
our warships and military reservations and even
in the Capitol at Washington.
But disclosures of the past few days in New
York and New Jersey have warned them that
the time for deceiving themselves and the public
is past. The government is face to face with in
controvertibie proof that Germany's warfare
against her enemies has been brought to our
peaceful shores, that America and Americans are
being made the victims of murder and arson for
the purpose of weakening Germanys foes. 1t is
situation calling for stern measures, sparing no
guilty person. The Prussian military system put
a woman to death for an offense Insignificant in
comparison with the crimes which its agents or
sympathizers have committed on the soil of
ton at peace with the world. The government at
Washington faces crisis no less threatening than
that brought about by Germany's methods of sub
marine warfare. Unless it acts swiftly and de-
cisively in protecting its neutrality and its nsti
tutons in obliterating the whole nest of conspira
tors, the system of warfare which the British navy
smashed on the high seas will obtain foothold in
our own country, the work of the submarine will
be transferred to the ports of America.
Five men in custody in New York. They
are not cranks or fanatics, but capable and efici
emit agents equipped for the deliberate carrying out
of the desperate work entrusted to them and for
which they were provided with unlimited financial
resources. One Of these men has confessed that
he is an officer in the German army, sent here by
an official agency on his mission of destruction.
With his associates he is charged with conspiracy
against the United States, and it is suggested that
a charge of piracy is not improbable in some of
the cases.
These are grave crimes, the penalties for which
are severe. Those accused entitled to spe-
cial privileges consideration. They have knowl-
edge which it is vitality necessary should be in
the possession of our government agents. All OF
the means at the command of Secret Service and
police should be called upon to draw from them
The full details of the conspiracy and the names
Of the conspirators those in high places having
of it. If the official representatives Of
a government with which our own government
maintains friendly relations of the
it is Uncomfortable that all were, ignor
withheld their knowledge from the State
Department, they cannot escape share OF the
nor the Washington government
all to take cognizance of the circumstances. We
have submitted to contempt and indignities and
to every form of attack upon neutrality at
The hands of agents the associates of agents OF
Vited disaster. The opportunity is here and it is
plainly our duty to make the most Of it, to rid
ourselves of the existing menace and with ore
short and sharp campaign sweep our shores clear
Of those seeking our destruction. The men in Gus
ody in New York hold the secret of the combina-
ion. The anxious interest of the whole country
S centered in the efforts of the all powerful
agencies of the United States government to COM
pei them to yield it up.