Evening star., 1915-05-11
What Shall America Do?


IN seeking 10 preserve from de
struotion III the savage conflict now
raging every prntcctiou gwen by III
tcrnational law to fhe lives AMI
property oi rcutrals and NON comba-
taut>. America : consistent The n;;-
fional sympathy has gone ont M
reserle,llv to suffering -comba-
,ants. to women and children. to the
very Young and the very old. whether
among the helliscrents OF anoas
ncutral> upon whom thc horrors -
war have been forced.
In Belgium. ior in taucc. America
did NOT begin to qtibble when star
vation threatened Ii did not say tp
England These men. women and
children suffer on Your account. Il
is your business. not ours. TO see tina
they do not >tarvc. II did not say
10 Germany BY conquest YOU have
made these sufferers your charge.
l-ou have brought starvation and dis
case upon them. II is your business.
not ours. to relieve the agoilies y"H
have caused. See YOU 10 ii.
On tho contrary. America poured
out its millions freely and >eliI>h
" to feed the hungry and to clothc
the naked in Belgium. though this
country was inactive i'll nearly every
money making industry through the
paralysis OF European war. though II
was paying war tax in time of
peace. and though ii was threatened
and reviled by each belligerent Tor
selling to his enemy what il lawfully
could oi its products ior Which there
was demand.
Serbia and Poland appeal for and
arc receiving or will receive a mea
ure OF the same relief.
Tokens OF our sympathy and oi our
desire TO comfort and to succor have
gone on the Christmas ship TO the
children and women OF all the acccs-
sible belligcrents.
Has Europe reciprocsted our sym
pathetic consideration and regard:
We seem TO have incurred the ILL
will OF all OF the belligerents. Grea,
Britain bitterly reviles us because
some OF our copper and other CON
traband OF war have gone to Ger
many. and because quantities OF our
iood-products have been sold to Ger
The -
more openly in outlying Great Brit
ain, like Australia. than in censored
England In Australia. where before
this war America was the closest.
most valued friend. and Japan hated
bugaboo to frighten not only chill
dren, but adults. Japan is now IN
cartoon the cherished ally, who is 70
hold Uncle Sam from interfering,
while John Bull throttles the kaiser.
Because her enemies are able to
buy from us such war supplies a. we
may lawfully sell, and because she
herself can no longer make such pur-
chases because she has been driven
from the surface OF the seas, Ger
many extends to us her doctrine OF
hate. She lays down new rule of
international law, infringing and re-
strictlng the rights OF neutrals, and
attaches the death penalty to its vio-
lation. And in pursuance of this new
law to which no other nation of the
world has assented she DESTROYS in
cold blood scores of American lives,
including women and children.
England disregards and violates our
right TO trade with the neutral ma
tons OF Europe and infiiots pecuniary
INJURY upon our people in violation
OF international law England Joins
with Germany in sowing mines on
the high seas, thereby unlawfully in
licting death upon unoffending neu-
trails. Germany ofends international
law, no, only by destroying our prop
crty. but by slaughtering with pre-
meditation American men, women
and children.
Competitive barbarism, through
savage reprisals. Is speeding 10 its
logical end To what crime NAV not
national necessity" and the alleged
murderous and unlawful acts OF the
enemy now push both belligerentse
II is a short step from the starvation
of non-combatants and their killing
by shell, by torpedo and by drowning
to their murder by poison or by the
spread of infectious disease.
Shall the next reprisals in competi-
tive savagery be the poisoning of the
enemy's water supply. not merely on
his ships and for his armies, but in
his homes, where non-combatants are
suffering. Or shall the belligerents,
through aeroplanes, dispatched at
night, spread through the sleeping
cities Of the enemy the germs of
loathsome and deadly infectious dis
eases, the pes,ilencc and the plague?
Shall belligerents go mad and in
their madness run amuck among neu-
trails:
Americas junction is 10 check. Il
II can. this belligerent madness. The
inspiring words OF the President in
his speech las, night, though not in
,ended 10 have any application to the
prescu, emergency, suggest the ideal
roic which III thi. world crisis Amer