New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-12-06
The Nearest Duty.

weighs all else. Questions Of national de-
fence, of taxation, Of all the routine mat
, tiers Of legislation and politics will claim
attention in their turn, but at the present
hour the problem is not national business,
but national honor.
Sever months ago more than one hun
dred men, women and children were muir
dered upon the high seas by order Of the
Imperial German Government. They
were murdered while travelling under the
protection of international law and with
the explicit guarantee of the President of
the United States, expressed in a formal
communication to the German Govern
ment. The murder was indefensible in
law, in humanity, in reason. 1t was a
piece of savagery unparalleled in the his
tory of civilized nations.
For this crime the President of the
United States demanded of the German
Government a disavowal. Six months
have passed since the demand was made,
and no formal answer has been had, and
there is not the smallest prospect that a
satisfactory answer ever will be returned.
In the mean time the agents Of the lmpe-
rial German Government in this country,
both diplomatic and unofficial, have made
this nation the playground Of anarchy
and the field of violence. In time of
full peace American factories have been
burned, American lives have been sacri-
feed, American laws have been defed.
Only recently has there been on the part
of the national administration the small
est evidence of real appreciation Of the
peril and of the shame which its course
has brought upon the American people.
For nearly six months the Wilson ad-
ministration, influenced by Democratic
politicians and terrorized by the threats
of hyphenated Americans, has faltered in
the face Of its duty and confessed itself
"too proud to fight" the gravest menace
this country has known since the Civil
War. It's course has earned the nation
contempt abroad; it has shattered the
self-respect of Americans at home; it
has established in the minds of foreign
countries the deadly doctrine that Ameri-
cans will not protect their fellow citizens,
and it has permitted to grow up at home
the equally fatal conviction that because
of their political power a fraction Of the
American people, animated by alien sym
pathies, can violate the laws and take the
lives of the citizens of the United States
with impunity.
Such pestilential notions must be de-
stroyed 1t is the duty of the Republi-
cans in Congress TO make plain to the
country without delay or equivocation
that they place national honor and safety
above all political considerations. 1t will
not do to seek by merely negative policies
TO profit by the mistakes Of an admins
tration whose weakness has resulted from
a similar lack of courage. 1t will not do
TO criticise its failure while shrinking
from any definite and clearly outlined
purpose.
The temptation Of the politicians 20
profit by the inability Of Mr.. Wilson to
satisfy the German-Americans, the temp
tation 10 make the Republican party the
beneficiary Of hyphenated wrath, viii, if it
prevails, bring upon the party contempt
that will be deserved. Despite all his
weakness, his failure and his folly, the
people Of the United States will still rally
70 Mr. wilson next year If at that time it
Is clear that he is opposed by united
faction OF hyphenates, eager TO show their
political power by Furnishing the Presi-
dept who was not completely their tool or
utterly subseryient to their wishes.
There Is single course open to tho
minority In Congress which is consonant
alike with national honor and with the
better traditions Of the Republican party.
For seven months the administration has
sacrificed national honor % domestic po-
lltical considerations. II has permitted
our dead 10 be forgotten while it pre-
served the empty fiction Of friendly rela-
tons between their murderers and the
American people.