The Washington herald., 1916-10-13
Germany's War on Merchantmen.

tober g.
But in one way the exposure of noncombatants,
including women and children and other peaceable
travellers, in open boats on the high seas, as
sequel to Germany's submarine attacks mer-
chant vessels, is more barbarous probably than
the slaughter of which the Germans have been
guilty in their Zeppelin raids in England, because
the victims exposed to a slower and more
agonizing death when adrift on the deep at the
mercy of the elements.
Almost all night long" say the press dispatches,
"the boats had drifted.
"The passengers of the Stephano took to the
small boats at 6:3o yesterday evening. They were
adrift until about 2:3o this morning.
They were without money baggage of any
description. They had only the clothes which they
wore.
Fourteen babies were in the boats the Ericsson
found bobbing in the water which had become
the grave of the steamer Stephano bound from
St. Johns to New York"
The authorities that order such things done
awless tyrants; apparently their God is the state,
and the state is practically themselves.
About eighteen months ago The Washington
Herald printed article on the facts and the law
in the of the Falaba, in which the writer said
Shortly prior to the destruction of the Lusitania)
This is no time for the United States to con-
eeal its sentiments in regard to the illegal and bar
barous manner in which one Of its citizens was
done to death in the destruction of the Faaba ii
it be found examination that the facts are as
they have been reported.
And not for moment should it be admitted
that there could be any difference in pru-
ciple between killing him directly with torpedo
or compelling him to take to the open boats the
high in that desperate rush for life in which
so many perished."
Let tbipLy ;r
against civilization only-she is SHINING against
herself; for in her Prize Code of Iooo published
in the Bulletin of Laws (ReichsgesetzblatO Of
August 3, 1914 it is provided, in Article II6 Cen
titled Safety of Persons on BoardO:
Before proceeding to destruction OF the YES
sci (in the exceptional cases in which this is
allowed), the safety of all persons on board, and
so far possible; their effects is to be provided
for, and all ships papers and other evidentary
material, which, according to the views Of the per-
sons at interest, is of value for the formulation Of
the judgment of the prize court are to be taken
over by the commander"
How far sunk in moral decadence a sea-goinC
people must be when in spite of the dictates of
humanity, the noble traditions of the sea- the
positive requirements of international law, and
their own prize code, such horrors as were wit
| messed the other day. of Nantucket, could pos
sibly occur
1t was a mercy that naval vessels of the United
States were and entered with such zest and
success upon the work of rescue But, of course,
for this intervention Germany deserves no credit
! Through Secretary of State Lansing in his in
structons of April IS, 1916 to Ambassador Gerard,
President Wilson gave formal and solemn notice
to Germany, after the destruction of the Sussex
in the following unmstakable and unqualified
terms, not alone in vndication Of American rights
but I'm behalf Of ht1roa nitN and he robt of
trail nations"
1T (the government of the United States) now
owes it to just regard for its own rights to say
to the imperial government that that time has
come 1t has become painfully evident to it that
the position which it took at the very outset is
inevitable, namely, the of submarines for the
destruction of an enemys commerce. is, of neces-
slty because of the very character of the vessels
employed and the very methods of attack which
their employment of course involves utterly in
compatible with the principles of humanity, the
long-established and incontrovertible rights Of
neutrals, and the sacred immunities of noncom-
batants
If it is still the purpose of the imperial gov
ernment to prosecute relentless and indiscrinli-
nate warfare against vessels of commerce by the
use OF submarines without regard to what the gov
eminent of the United States must consider the
sacred and indisputable rules of international law
and the universally recognized dictates of human
ity the government of the United States is at
last forced to the conclusion that there is but one
course it can pursue.
unless the imperial government should now
immediately declare and effect an abandonment Of
ITS present methods of submarine warfare against
passenger and freght-carryng vessels, the govern
ment OF the United States can have no choice but
to sever diplomatic relations with the German EN-
pire altogether. This action the government of
the United States contemplates with the greatest
reluctance, but feels constrained to take in behalf
OF humanity and the rights of neutral nations"
Before the white man came, tuberculosis was
almost unknown among the American Indians
and the aforesaid Indians probably had the finest