Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1917-04-03

wanton and wholesale destruction OF
the lives of noncoinbatants, men,
women and children, engaged in pur-
suits which have always, even in the
darkest periods OF modern history
been deemed innocent and legitimate
Property can be paid for; the lives OF
peaceful and innocent people cannot
be.
"The present German submarine
warfare against commerce is war
fare against mankind. 1t is war
against all nations.
American Ships Sunk.
American ships have been sunk,
American lives taken, in ways which
it has stirred us very deeply to learn
of, but the ships and people of other
neutral and friendly nations have been
sunk and overwhelmed in the waters
in the same way. There has been no
discrimination. The challenge is to
all mankind. Each nation must decide
for itself how it will meet it. The
choice we make for ourselves must
be made with moderation of counsel
and a temperatures of judgment be-
fitting our character and our motives
as a nation. We must put excited feel
ing away. Our motive will not be re-
venge or the victorious assertion of
the physical might of the nation, but
only the vindication of right, of
human right. of which we are only a
single champion.
Armed Neutrality Won't Serve.
"When I addressed the congress on
the 10Th Of February last, thought
that it would suffice to assert our neu-
trail rights with arms, our right to use
the seas against unlawful interference,
our right to keep Our people safe
against unlawful violence. But armed
neutrality, it now appears, is imprac-
ticable.
Because submarines are in effect
outlaws when used as the German
submarines have been used against
merchant shipping, it is impossible to
defend ships against their attacks,
as the law of nations has assumed
that merchantmen would defend
themselves against privateers or
cruisers, visible craft giving chase
upon the open sea. 1t is common
prudence in such circumstances, grim
necessity, indeed, to endeavor to de-
stroy them before they have shown
their own intentions. They must be
dealt with upon sight, if dealt with
at ALL
Right Denied by Germans.
"The German government denies
the right Of neutrals to use arms at
all within the areas of the sea which
it has prescribed, even in the defense
of rights which no modern publicist
has ever before questioned their right
to defend. The intimation is conveyed
that the armed guards which we have
placed on our merchant ships will be
treated as beyond the pale OF law and
subject to be dealt with as pirates
would be. Armed neutrality is ineffec-
tual, at best, in such circumstances
and in the face Of such pretensions
it is worse than Intellectual; it is
likely at once to produce what it
was meant to prevent; 1t is practically
certain to draw us into the war with
out either the rights or the effective
ness of belligerents.
Won't Choose Submission.
"There is one choice we cannot
make, we are incapable of making:
We will not choose the path of sub
mission and suffer the most sacred
rights of our nation and our people to
be ignored or violated. The wrongs
against which we now array ourselves
are not common wrongs; they cut to
the very roots Of human life.
With profound sense OF the SOL
emn and even tragical character OF
Continued on Page Nine, Column Two.)