Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-05-11
The Sinking Of the Lusitania.
New York World.)

t-NtW = OK w oTIG.t
The circumstances and the conse-
! quences of the destruction OF the Lus!-
| tania by German submarine call for
| all the self-restraint and self posses
sion that the American people ca
command
| In each case q passenger ship carry ).
ing neutrals and nom conbatants was
| destroyed by a German submarine, and
| hundreds of helpless men women and
| children left to survive or drown, as
! luck decreed. The destruction of The
| Lusitania makes q more dramatic APP
| peal TO the human ina ination than
I did the destruction of the Falba- but
both We're crimes against civilization IN
equal degree.
! How many American lives have been
! snuffed out in the loss Of the Lusitania
we do not Yet know. But il is no
fault of the German Government that
any body escaped from either ship.
ii is no fault Of the German Govern
nlent that every American on board
the Lusitania is not lying at the bo'-
tom of The sea.
/ The German authorities claim in ex-
/ tenUation that fair warning was given
! TO Americans by the German Embassy
IN Washington that the Lusitania was
TO be torpe0oed. Murder does not be-
| come innocent and innOcuous because
! the victim has been warned in advance
J that the blow would he struck if he
persisted IN the exercise Of his Lawful!
! rights.
7 no = s-1 L -
warning that nobody believed the Ger
mans could or would carry out their
threat. People thought better Of them
than they thought of themselves. And
] why they should have carried out thc
threat, abetted by the complaisant in
difference Of the British Government.
is still a mystery
What military advantage was gained
! by such a procedure comparable to the
moral revulsion against Germany thai
il is certain 10 produce? Wars are no.
won by drowning neutrals or non
combatants. We venture to say that
no single act OF this conflict has SO out
ragged American opinion or so ridd!ed
German prestige in this country as the
destruction of the Lusitania. The
Germans have sunk the largest British
ship in active mercantile service. They
have destroyed a small quantity of
munitions of war. They have evident
ly killed large number of Americans
and non combatants. IN the long run
they might better have lost battle.
! The military gains are trif1ing. The
moral losses are incalculable
| The whole German submarine policy
in its campaign. not against British
| ships OF war but against merchantmen
! on the high seas, is a revival Of
! piracy-piracy organized. systematized
and nationalized. II is piracy against
neutrals as well as against enemies
One day it is a British passenger ship
that is torpedoed. Another day it is
an American merchant ship flying the
American flag which is destroyed
without a word of warning. And still
| another day it is defenseless Swedish
or a Norwegian or Dutch ship that is
blown from the face of the waters by
a Germon torpedo.
Modern history affords no other such
example Of a great nation running
| amuck and calling it military neces-
sity.
During the last century the United
! States has had more years Of warfare
than Germany. The life Of this nation
has hung in the balance, too. But we
never found it necessary to make war
Upon neutrals, or upon non combat
ants. or upon women and children. We
never found it necessary to ignore or
f1out all the established rules Of civil
lized warfare. We never found it nee
essary to outrage the moral sentimen.
Of mankind or to defy the moral senti-
ment or TO defy the public opinion of
civilization.
What Germany expects to gain by
her policy is something We cannot
guess. What advantage will it be to
her to be left without friend or
we'll wisher in the world? The war
cannot last forever. Peace will event
TALLY come, if only through exhaustion.
What will be the attitude Of the other
nations toward Germany when the
conflict is finished? How many dec
AIDES must pass before Germany can
live down the criminal record that she
is writing for herself in the annals Of
history?
It has often happened that men in
their desperation have become outlaws
But we recall no other instance in
which a great nation has deliberately
elected to become an outlaw. That is
the tragedy Of the insensate policy
that the German Government is pur-
suing, and eventually the German peo-
pie will pay a staggering price for their
Governments folly-a price that can
not be measured even in treasure or
blood. q