New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-11-23
What Was To Be Expected.

which rs uncQuallcd IN ITS long history III
.'c interests of a foreign nation American
res IRE being imperillod and domestic
properly is being destroyed on scale that
approaches actual war. Every day Amcri-
cans .ead iu heir press the authentic re-
,-ts OF aew crimes, Of manufacturing
plants in danes. Of ships that break into
fire on the high seas. Ia. dly out of sight OF
American ports. The detailed accounts of
,onspiracies and plots which lack nothing
OF proof would be incredible if they had
not become so common As 10 lose even a
challenge 70 the imagination.
In the interests Of Germany and Austria
certain American citizens and other non
natural.zed residents of this country are
making war upon the citizens and interests
OF the United States. Certain OF these
crimes having been traced back to the
Austrian Ambassador, he has been re-
called al tee request of the State Depart
ment, but not only have his acts not been
and he has been welcomed home with
decoration conferred only for recognized
rervice to his own country, while many Of
his lieutenants remain.
To have imagined ten years ago that
time would come when this country's safe
ty and peace would be imperilled in the IN
terests of foreign nation by residents Of
the United States would have been impos-
sible, yet the thing has happened, the evil
is visible on all sides, and there is no mis-
taking the fact that it is mounting. Nor
is there any installing the equally clear
circumstance that no adequate or deter
mined attempt is being made 10 deal with
crime that strikes at the very root OF
national existence and is undermining the
fabric of American life.
What is the explanation of it? There
can be but one answer, and the answer ex-
poses utterly the folly of the present for
eign policy Of Mr.. Wilson and the peril at
home that has come as a result Of the be-
trayal abroad of American life and safety.
When Mr.. Wilson told the world on the
morrow of the Lusitania massacre that
America was too proud to fight to protect
American women and children he told the
Germans and the agents Of German activi-
ties something which they had long be-
lieved and something that even Bernhard
had ventured to include in his interesting
volume.
No American should mistake the mean
ing accepted by the Germans for Mr.. Will
sons Lusitania course. To them it was q
frank confession that the national admin
istration was too much concerned with the
political possibilities of German-American
opposition to take any prompt or definite
action to protect American lives. For them
Mr.. Wilson's words "too proud to fight
meant exactly one thing; they meant that
it was safe to proceed with campaign OF
violence IN The United States, just as &c
the German government they meant q
guarantee that the submarine campaign OF
massacre on the high seas would be met by
words not acts, and that the sole protec
ton for American lives would be found III
phrases.
a country that will not protect its citi
zens abroad because it is afraid Of the po-
litical consequences at home, an admins
tration that hesitates and falters IN the
presence Of the plain duty Of protecting
lives, is not an administration or coun-
try to be feared either at home or abroad
by those who know no other restraint than
force and respect neither the dictates OF
humanity nor of international law, save as
these are enforced by arms and warships
We have the present violence within our
borders because Mr.. Wilson permitted the
murder Of American citizens 10 go unchal-
ienged save by words that were rendered
harmless by the explanatory speech that
preceded them. We have violence at home
because Mr.. Wilson's Secretary Of State
eagerly informed the Austrian Arnbassa-
dor, himself the captain of the industry
= murder and violence in the United
.,tates, that the words spoken in protest al
he murder Of Americans on the high sea,
re@e only words. And when Mr.. Bryan
foId DR.. Dumba this he only confirmed ir
private what Mr.. Wilson had proclaimed
in public in his "too proud to fight" speech
The German government believed tha
yr. Wilson did not mean his warnings
over the Lumtania massacre, because they
we're told 10 by those who had every rea
zon 10 know. They were told also that
The words were not meant, because The