The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1915-04-08

A recent German atrocity, the sinking
by submarines of two defenceless pas
senger steamers without giving those on
board time to take to their boats, or
making any effort to save the drowning,
has, as it should, reused the Indignation
of the civilized world. The New York
Times says: This is not war, it is MUIR
DER" and further: "The destruction of
the Falaba and so large part of her
company in this ruthless way tends to
make the stories of German atrocities
credible. it even gives the color of sup
port to the charge so often heard that
there is in the German nature streak
of ineradicable cruelty not observed in
any of her enemies, an unaccountable
survival from the days of the cave man. ?"
The New York Sun asks, eff the MUIR
der of non-combatants is not piracy,
what is it," The New York Evening
Mail says: "There can be but one opinion
among right-minded men in regard to
the sinking of the English steamers
Falaba and Aguila, with their passen-
gers, by German submarines. In the
light of international law, the act wa s
piracy. In the light of common human
ity, it was wickedness such as the his.
tory of war will find it difficult to match. -
The New York Herald voices its indigna :
ton in these words:
Gerp1any's submarine warfare is re-
version to barbarism. Piracy in it's worst
days never INDUCED itself in such inhu-
man methods as those resorted to by the
German navy, acting under the instruc-
lions of the Kaiser. The ruthless sink
ing of the merchant steamship Falaba
with its load of innocent and peaceful
nor -combatants, the deliberate effort to
sink the lifeboats of the Aguila after
this steamship had been sunk, the cold
Indifference of the gallant" seamen Of
the German navy to the fate of passen-
gers and crew of these and other vessels
similarly attacked-all these things re-
veal the boosted "kultur" in it's proper
garb. 1t is barbarism, barbarism run
mad!
The New York Mail terms it "a dis
grace upon humanity" and asks: els it
not time for the sentiment of the whole
world to protest against the continuance
of such warfare, and to demand of every
nation engaged in war, in the name of all
humanity, an observance of the restraints
that even the old buccaneers observed?"
The Philadelphia Inquirer says: cit was
a slaughter. 1t was massacre And
while the drowning were struggling for
life, the crew of the submarine, which
cir cled around, "laughed and jeered. "
1t seems impossible of belief. And yet,
when it is considered that only hardened
brutes could take the lives of non COM
batants in this heartless manner it is not
so impossible to believe after ALL" The
New York Tribune says that these
pirates should be caught and hanged, be-
cause
This is not war as the civilized world
knows. 1t Is assassination. Officers and
crews committing such crimes forfeit
their right to be treated according to
the laws of war. If captured they should
be tried for murder. What they did is
not covered in any way by the plea of
accident or of military necessity They
took innocent lives in cold blood. We
hope that the brutes who sank the Falaba
and the Aguila will be caught and hanged,
not alone as penalty for their crimes,
but as a vindication of the law of ma
tions which they and their government
have perversely outraged.
If the report that an American.
c. Thrasher, an American mining en-
gineer-was one of the victims in the
sinking of the Fabala, be confirmed, il
would seem that something more than
the "watchful waiting" policy of Presi-
dent Wilson, which has permitted the
murder of Americans in Mexico to con.
tinue, is called for in this case. The
newspapers above quoted-Republic an,
Democratic and Independent voice the
sentiment of the American people.
A appropriations By The Legislature.