Judsonia weekly advance., 1916-04-26

| anu IuOT6 lAulScrlul0dJe as Lu6 QOQJlS have gone by, less and less observant of restraints of any kind; and have delivered their attacks without com junction against vessels of every na- tionality and bound upon every sort of errand.
 Neutral Vessels Destroyed.
 Vessels of neutral ownership, even vessels of neutral ownership bound from neutral port to neutral port, have been destroyed along with vessels of belligerent ownership in constantly in- creasing numbers. Sometimes the merchantmen attacked has been warned and summoned to surrender before being fired upon or torpedoed; sometimes passengers or crews have been vouchsafed the poor security of boats before she was sent to the bot l tom.
 l But again and again no warning l has been given, no escape even to the ships boats allowed to those on board. What this government foresaw must happen has happened. Tragedy has l followed tragedy on the seas in such 1 fashion, with such attendant circum- stances, as to make it grossly evident that warfare of such a sort if warfare l it be, cannot be carried on without the most palpable violation of the dictates alike of right and humanity. What ever the disposition and intention of ho o1 has manifestly proved impossible for it to keep such methods of attack upon the commerce of its enemies within the bounds set by either the reason or the heart of mankind.
 "In February of the present year the Imperial German government informed this government and the other neutral governments of the world that it had reason to believe that the government of Great Britain had armed all mer- chant vessels of British ownership and had given them secret orders to attack any submarine of the enemy they might encounter upon the seas and that the Imperial German government felt justified in the circumstances in treating all armed merchantmen of belligerent ownership as auxiliary yes sells of war, which it would have the right to dsstroy without warning
 "The law of nations has long recog- nized the right of merchantmen to carry arms for protection, to use them to repel attack though to use them in such circumstances at their own risk; but the Imperial German government claimed the right to set these under standings aside in circumstances which it deemed extraordinary Even the terms in which it announced it's purpose thus still further to relax the restraints it had previously professed it's willingness and desire to put upon the operations of it's submarines car ried the plain implication that at least vessels which were not armed would still be exempt from destruction with out warning and that personal safety would be accorded their passengers and crews; but even that limitation, if it was ever practicable to observe it, has in fact constituted no check at all upon the destruction of ships of every sort
 Again and again the Imperial Ger man government has given this gov ernment its solemn assurances that at least passenger ships would not be thus dealt with, and yet it has again and again permitted it's undersea com- manders to disregard those assurances yxyifh the Lusitania and the Arabic and mere ferry boats like the Sussex have been attacked without a moments warning, sometimes before they had even be- come aware that they were in the pres ence of an armed vessel of the enemy and the lives of noncombanant pas sengers and crew have been sacrificed wholesale in a manner which the gov ernmont of the United States cannot but regard as w&nton and without the slightest color of justification. No limit of any kind has in fact been set to the indiscriminate pursuit and de- struction of merchantmen of all kinds and nationalities within the waters, constantly extending in area, where these operations have been carried on; and the roll of Americans who have lost their lives on ships thus attacked and destroyed has grown month by month until tho ominous toll has mounted into tho hundreds.
 t. S. Government Has Been Patient.
 Recent events make the conclusion inevitable that it is only one instance, even though it be one of the most ex- treme end distressing instances, of the spirit and method of warfare which the Imperial German govern ment has mistakenly adopted, and which from the first exposed that gov ernment to the reproach of thrust.ng all neutral rights aside in pursuit of it's immediate objects.
 ''The government Of the United States has been very patient. At every stage of this distressing experience of tragedy after tragedy, in which it's own citizens were involved, it has sought to be restrained from any ex- treme course of action or of protest by a thoughtful consideration of the ex-