The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1915-12-02

nation American lives are CGlng I'M
perilled and domestic property is be-
Ing destroyed on u scale that APP
proaCheS actual war. Every day
Americans read in their press the au-
thentic reports OF new crimes, of
manufacturing plants in flames, Of
ships that break into rire On the high
seas, hardly out of sight of American
ports. The detailed accounts of con-
Spiracies and plots which lack moth
ing of proof would be incredible if
they had not become SO common as
to lose even a challenge to the ig-
agination.
In the interests Of Germany and
Austria certain American citizens and
other -naturalized 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 Aus
TRAN Ambassador, he has been re-
called at the request of the State De-
partment, but not only have his acts
not been disaVowed, but no successor
has been sent and he has been well
coined home with a decoration con-
ferred only for recognized services to
his own country, while many Of his
Iteutenants remain.
TO have imagined ten years ago
that a time would come when this
country's safety and peace would be
imperilled in the interests of q foreign
nation by residents of the United
States would have been impossible,
yet the thing has happened, the evil
is visible on all sides, and there is no
installing the fact that it is mount
ing. Nor is there any mistaklng the
equally clear circumstance that no
adequate or determined attempt is
being made to deal with a 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 exposes utterly the folly of
the present foreign policy of Mr.. Will
son and the peril at home that has
come as result of the betrayal
abroad of American life and safety.
When Mr.. Wilson told the world on
the morrow of the Lusitania mas
saCre that America was too proud to
fight to protect American women and
children, he told the Germans and the
agents of German activities some
thing which they had long believed
and something that even Bernhard
had ventured to include in his inter-
esting volume.
No American should mistake the
meaning accepted by the Germans for
MI Wilson's Lusitania course. To
them it was frank confession that.
the national administration was too
much concerned with the political
possibilities Of Germun-American OPP
position 10 take any prompt Or def
mite 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 a campaign Of violence
in the United States, just as to the
German government they meant q
guarantee that the submarine cam
paign Of massacre on the high seas
would be met by words, not acts, and
that the sole protection for American
lives would be found in phrases
We have the present violence
within our borders because Mr.. Will
son permitted the murder OF Ameri-
can citizens to go unchallenged save
by words that were rendered harm
less by the explanatory speech that
preceded them. We have violence at
home because Mr. Wilson's Secretary
Of State eagerly Informed the Aus
trian Ambassador, himself the cap
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