Der Deutsche correspondent. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1841-1918, 1917-04-28


ernment; and that an effective push
against the Germanic allies in Mace
donia and Serbia is out of the ques-
ton.
s. That no effective way of over
coming the submarine blockade has
been found or is likely to be found;
that it is increasing instead of de-
creasing in intensity; that British,
French and Italian shipping has been
sc depleted that what is left can no
longer supply the needs Of the civil
ian populations and of the armies;
that the food supplies of Italy
France and England are actually in
worse condition than those of Ger
many-and growing worse and
worse, while Germany's is but a few
weeks away from substantial inn
provement
g. That unless the United States
is prepared to finance and to feed
France, italy and England, to meet
the cost of all the war to come, and
tc create ships faster than German
submarines can sink them, the war
must come to a close in another few
months.
Now, we do not affirm, of course,
that Mr.. Balfour and his colleagues
said exactly these things to the Presi-
dent and the Cabinet, but in as far as
they did we trust the President and
the Cabinet will henceforth have
confidence in what The American
tells them-for we have reiterated
these things which we have taken the
liberty to assume that the British
Commission told our Government
officials in detail, over and over
again, for weeks past, and have done
SO BECAUSE THEY ARE THE
TRUTH, no matter whether COM
pletely confessed to the President
AND the Cabinet by the British Com
missioners or not.
OF one thing we are sure, and that
is that the President and the Cabinet
have now, for the first time, an ade-
quate conception of European con
ditions; and the reason they have an
adequate conception for the first time
is due to the fact that they have per-
sisted in believing the false and ut
terly untrustworthy reports and So
called news" with which the British
censorship has stuffed American
newspapers, through it's control of
the only avenues by which American
newspapers could get any news at all
from Europe And we cannot refrain
rom pointing out that if our Gov
ernment had firmly insisted upon the
inviolability of mails between other
countries and ours-a long-estab-
lished and undeniable. neutral right
this abuse of censorship in deceiy-
ing and misleading our people would
not have been possible. At this mo-
ment Mr.. Wilson and his Cabinet
know at last whether or not we have
been right all the time in denouncing
this censorship, in exposing its un-
scrupulous and lying character and
liz warning our Government and our
people that they were being con-
stantly deceived as to the real stu
alton of affairs, political and military,
in Europe If they do not know this,
if we have been wrong, if our state
ments are substantially incorrect,
WE STAND READY AND WILLING
TO BE CORRECTED. If, on the con-
trary, the President and his Cabinet
do now know that we are, and all the
time have been, substantially right
in our statements, then 1t seems to
us that the portion of the American
people who do not read the Hearst
papers have a right to be told the
truth by our Government itself
and the right to be guarded against
any more such wholesale suppression
and Justification of the truth as have
marked the whole course of censor
ship during this war. We stand upon
the broad ground that the American
people are the rulers as well as the
citizens of this country, and that they
have the sovereign right to know the
truth, the whole truth and nothing
but the truth about matters which
affect their fortunes and their lives
and the safety and honor of the Re-
public. We appeal to the Congress
to kill this contemplate and danger
Gus espionage bill where it stands.
1t is an offense to decency and to our
common liberties, and it will become,
like the British censorship, an in
strument to hoodwink and deceive
the American people to their humll-
iation and undoing- exactly as the
English people have been deceived
and are deceived at this very mo-
ment We are not children, that we
cannot be trusted to know our own
business affairs; we are not cowards
who dare not be told that we nave
lost a battle-we Americans. we
are free men-our own soverelgns IN
our own land-and we insist that
there is nothing the Government can
possibly know that we have not all
Of us the right to know, the courage
tc hear and the sense to deliberate
upon, with just as much intelligence
and Just as good judgment as any
of our public servants-President,
Cabinet officer, Congressman or any
body else Is not that so, citizens?