Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-03-28

many does not understand the true posi-
tion of the United states, misinterprets
! events in Congress and Is indifferent to tho
| future. America still holds the whiphand
and can shake Germany by her commercial
power. The German military oligarchy
must be fought not by military, but by po-
| litlcal means.
| TT is to be expected that the German Gov
| Il ernment. or that part of it which controls
the methods of undersea warfare, will take
refuge in the good news that no American
| lives were lost in the attack the Sussex.
Another subterfuge no doubt, will be found
| for the sinking of the Englishman. With
sufficient ingenuity excuses can be manufac-
tured at Wilhelmstrasse for the five fresh
outrages which have been reported When
they are exhausted there will remain the
excellent expedient of an unofficial disavowaL
The attitude of Germany at the moment is
frankly inscrutable. If there is handwriting
on the wall, Daniel has appeared to read
it. and the movements of our Government
and of our people must be governed more by
apprehension than by understanding of what
Germany intends. That is an annoyance
which does not equal in intensity the unhappy
circumstance that German seems completely
in the dark concerning American intentions.
Repeatedly have come written and spoken
words from publicists and politicians OF that
country which indicate that Germany, in spite
of the explicit words of our State Department
mistakes entirely the temper of the nation
one editor wishes to know "why the half
forgotten incident of the Lusitania should be
dragged out again." In the Reichstag CON
cessons" to the United States are denounced,
and in the cafes petitions are circulated for the
resumption of unlimited submarine activity
with pointed reference to undesirable sur
renders of German rights in favor of neutrals.
To fix the blame for this appalling mis-
apprehension after the vote on the McLemore
resolution is not easy matter. If Berlin
thought that the Senate would vote to 1
against the President Berlin was mistaken,
but it found precious consolation in 142 votes
against tabling the cowardly policy offered to
the House. What Germany misunderstands Is
not so much our Observation-Disclosures the coun-
try will go to war or break off negotiations
as demands. The belief persists that a
disavowal, personally conveyed by Bernstorff
to Lansing, is sufficient. For obvious reasons
every move toward such action was adver-
tised as a diplomatic victory: disavowal
which distinctly pledged an end to murder on
the would be victory Of the highest
order. In the present state of mind of Ger
many reputation becomes meaningless, for
the casuists of the military oligarchy there
can repudiate apologies readily they
of humanity.
The misfortune of the State Department
is that it holds 80 effective means Of coercion
over the head y Germany. NGilitarily, Ger
many has nothi. to lose if things come to a
break except the slender, the purely negative,
bonds of courtesy still existing between the
two countries. 1t may be the lesson of the
whole war for us that Germany knows we
cannot put an effective army in the field and
that apologies have gone posthaste to Hol-
land, with its 600 troops, while they have
dallied across the seas to US. AS for our naval
resources, Germany can add them to those
already arrayed against her without danger
so long as Fiel remains safe. Only the seizure
of interned German merchantmen and the
internment of enemy aliens be effected,
and one of these is as worthless as the other
is preposterous.
With hands tied the United States still pos
sesses a force which Germany must be made
to feel. 1t is the potential value of her neu-
trality when the war is over. Even the rapac-
ity of commerce, which would sanctify Ger
many once she regained control of the seas,
will not Withstand a break between her Gov
ernment and ours. The first threat of a
preferential tariff directed against a Germany I
successful perhaps in the field would shatter
the illusion Germany still holds concerning
the impotence of America to strike back. We
can strike back, and our blows will tell more
bitterly in their after-effect when the military
operations of war viii have ceased.
Something of this possibility has been sensed
in Berlin, and the strong party opposing the
U-boat policy is making itself heard. Yet in
time of war statesmen, when they cannot win
new allies, discarded and the diplomacy
of warriors supersedes. That the military
not the civil, authorities of Germany control
its outward relations is obvious That they
have driven Germany 10 desperate extremes
and dastardly expedients and will continue TO
do so while the chance Of victory persists, or
until a social upheaval drives them from
power, may be considered certain. That oil
garchy, recognizing logic but that of a
victorious army, is as inaccessible TO the
representations Of a strategcally ineffective
Government as it is blind to the inexorable
commercial ruin which that success involves. |
Our quarrel never be with Germans.
It win have to be with the rulers of German
destiny who have, at least, driven her into
the open and have pretended that she is naked
Of human impulses and unashamed. On those
rulers we must press TO the limit our demands
and our threats. They must be made to
understand what we want and how we are
capable Of getting our revenge If our lust
claims not granted.