The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-01
REVULSION MAY COME

The recent flood of peace discussion, started by the German offer. increased by the Presidents note and again by the entente reply, are thought to have turned public opinion in this country away from the possibility of war and to have focused attention on the terms of near peace.
 A revulsion is expected to take place in the entente countries, with the result that the War would enter a. period of frightfulness unimagined heretofore. With the nassing for huge offensives by land ana the announcement of ruthlessness by sea, officials look forward to at least a spring and summer of unprecede ented slaughter.
 The German note sweeps away all the issues that have previously loomed so large, such as what armament a mer- chant ship can carry, where it must be located, how 1t may be used, whether the snip IS chartered, requisitioned or still private and replaces them with one clear issue which cannot be ignored WHAT WILL WILSON DO? In this situation President Wilson's pre- vlous policies may guide the future. If 1t IS still the purpose of the imperial gov ernment to prosecute relentless and in- discriminate warfare against vessels of commerce by the use of submarines with out regard to what the government of the United States must consider the sa- cred and indisputable rules of interna- tional law and the universally recognized dictates of humanity, the government of the United States is at last forced to the conclusion that there is but one course lit can pursue.
 Unless the imperial German govern ment should now immediately declare and effect an abandonment of it's present methods of submarine warfare against passenger and freight carrying vessels, the government of the United States can have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with the German empire alto gether. 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.
 THE SUSSEX PLEDGE
 To this note the German government acceded in its reply of May 4, 1916, in what has become known as the Sussex pledge as follows:
 "The German government, guided by this idea, notifies the government of the United States that the German naval forces have received the following orders: Tn accordance with the general princi- pies of visit and search and destruction or merchant vessels recognized by inter- national law. such vessels, both within and without the zone declared as a naval war zone, shall not be sunk without warn ing and without saving human lives, un- less these ships attempt to escape or of fer resistance. "
 This was followed by the qualification the United States declined to recognize
 NO LONGER BINDING
 The pledge has been binding on Ger many up to today, when her new orders were issued, denying the right of visit and search to vessels within wide area This follows close upon an extension o1 the British field of naval operations, an nounced from the American embassy ir London on Saturday, in which an area running out from Jutland and enclosing part of the North sea was declared dan- gerous because of belligerent operations
 Preparations for a wide sea war have been for sometime indicated in many scattered dispatches, but no such ex- treme warfare was contemplated serious ly by officials here. Reports have ire quently come from South American ports of German ships being made ready for dash to sea. Likewise, German naval reports have intimated proba blity of an- other big battle like the Jutland battle last spring, while a recent conference of allied naval authorities forecast much closer cooperation on the seas by the allied fleets.