The Washington times., 1916-03-16
THE SUBMARINE LODGINGS

THE SUBMARINE LODGINGS
| The German naval authorities an
nounce that they have investigated
the sinking Of the Norwegian sailing
vessel Silius, and have determined
that no German submarine was in
volved in the affair. This settles the
matter, so far as Berlin is concerned;
it means that that government has
no intention to accept any RESPONSE
bility whatever.
In the case of the Lusitania the ey-
cuse for sinking her was that she
was armed. There was only one
trifiing weakness with this pretext (:
the Lusitania was not armed at all,
and. everybody who wanted to know
the truth knew it. Germany later
conceded that it had been a "mis-
take" but the damage had been done.
In the case of the Arabic there was
another excuse. The herman sub
marine commander explained that
the movements Of the Arabic led him
to fear that she intended to ram or
otherwise attack him. So he fired
his torpedo. The testimony of Of
ficers, crew, and passengers on the
Arabic agreed that the vessel did
not attempt any hostile act, that no
orders were given to that end, and
that her movements were not such
as could possibly have justified the
suspicion that such thir= was in
mind. -
In the case Of the Persia still
worse apology was offered. The YES
sci was torpedoed and sunk when she
was lying to and helpless. There
was no possibility Of attack or Of
effort to escape. Her people were
being put off in boats when the sub
marine shelled and then torpedoed
her. At first the Austrian naval
authorities explained that the vessel
tried to escape; later, when it became
apparent that there was a chance to
becloud the issue, this was with
drawn and responsibility was denied
entirely.
Now comes the latest development
in this policy Of everlastingly evad-
ing the issue. The Silius was sent
to the bottom off Havre. She had
seven Americans aboard. one of
whom was seriously injured. The
case looked like a very grave one,
for it involved both Norway and
America, both reutrals; it violated
the pledge not to sink merchant ships
without warning and opportunity to
save ships companies.
So now the German naval authori-
ties announce fatty that there was
no submarine attack at all. There is
the testimony Of at least one Ameri-
can that he positively saw the tor
pedo coming. All the circumstances
make it as good as certain that a
submarine did the thing. Other sub
markings had been taking place in
those waters, and there had been no
denial of German responsibility so
long as there was no involvement
with neutrals.
1t is now completely demonstrated
that German pledges about the
method of submarine warfare mean
nothing whatever. There has been
no serious pretense of observing
them, no willingness to admit facts
and meet consequences.
What will the United States do
about it? Continuance of diplomatic
discussion, when the utter insin-
cerity and dishonesty of that process
is obvious, can accomplish no more
tnan to make the United States
ridiculous.
The whole world is convinced that
Germany does not square her conduct
to her word, and plainly does not in
tend to do so. For the American
Government to pretend to believe
that Germany is behaving seriously
or sincerely is to admit that this
country is willing to be partner in a
confidence game, rather than face a
square issue.
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