Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1916-04-28

z T R B UNR
tons which it had issued TO it's subma-
rine commanders, and assured the gov
ernment of the United States that it
would take every possible precaution.
both to respect the rights of neutrals
and to safeguard the lives of noncom-
batants.
What has actually happened in the |
year which has since elapsed has
shown that those hopes were not Justi- |
fed, those assurances insusceptible of |
being fulfilled. In pursuance of the
policy of submarine warfare against |
the commerce of it's adversaries. thus |
announced and entered upon by the
imperial German government in
despite Of the solemn protest of this
government. the commanders of Ger
man undersea vessels have attacked
merchant ships with greater and great
er activity, not only upon the high
seas surrounding Great Britain and
Ireland, but wherever they encounter
them, in way that has grown more
and more ruthless. more and more
indiscriminate as the months have
gone by, less and less observant of re-
straints of any kind; and have deliv-
cred their attacks without compunc-
ton against vessels of every nationality
and bound upon every sort of er-
rand. 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 increasing numbers. Some
times the merchantmen attacked has
been warned and summoned to sur
render before being fred on or tor
pedOed; sometimes passengers or
crews have been vouchsafed the poor
security of being allowed to take to
the ships boats before she was sent
to the bottom But again and again
no warning 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 followed tragedy on the
seas in such fashion, with such at
tendant circumstances, as to make it
grossly evident that warfare of such a
sort, if warfare it be, cannot be car
ried on without the most palpable
violation of the dictates alike of right
and of humanity Whatever the dispo-
sition and intention of the imperial
German government, it has manifestly
proved impossible for it to keep such
methods of attack upon the commerce
of its enemies within bounds set by
either the reason or the heart of man.
kind.
As to Armed Merchantmen.
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 il
treating all armed merchantmen ol
belligerent ownership as auxiliary yes
sells of war, which it would have the
right to destroy without warning.
The law of nations has long rec
| ognized the right If merchantmen tt
carry arms for protection and to us'
them to repel attack, though to US,
them, in such circumstances, at thei
own risks; but the imperial German
government claimed the right to Sc
these understandings aside in circum
stances which it deemed extraordi
nary. Even the terms in which it an
nounced it's purpose thus still furth
er to relax the restraints it had pre-
violasly professed it's willingness an
J desire to put upon the operations of it
, submarines carried the plain impI
cation that at least vessels whic
: were not armed would still be exemI
from destruction without warning an
Z that personal safety would be accord
| ed their passengers and crews; bl
even that limitation, il it was eve
: practicable to observe it, has in fat
: constituted no check at all upon tn
+ destruction of ships of every sort
S Again and again the imperial Ge
s man government has given this go
Y ernment its solemn assurances that
( least passenger ships would not /
a thus dealt with. and yet it has agai
9 and again permitted its undersea cor
! manders to disregard these assn
8 ances with entire impunity. Gre;
f liners like the Lusitania and the A
d abic and mere ferry boats like tt
Sussex have been attacked withol
9 "a moments warning, sometimes b
Z fore they had even become aware thi
y they were in the presence Of an arme
l. vessel of the enemy. and the lives
e noncombatants, passengers and cre'
it have been sacrificed wholesale, in
It manner which the government of Il
n United States cannot regard
y wanton and without the slightest CT
l. or of justification. No limit CT al
g kind has in fact been set to the ind
g criminate pursuit and destruction
II merchantmen Of all kinds and natio
T. alities within the waters. constant
extending in area, where these opt
ations have been carried on, and Il
o. roll of Americans who have lost the
al lives on ships thus attacked and g
ID stroyed has grown month by mon
D. until the ominous toll has mounted
at to the hundreds.
le Sussex a Late Example.
re One of the latest and most shoe
c. ing instances of this method pf w
Cruel.