The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-12-17


 CTS had perished in the Lusitania, they remained perfectly quiet un-
 til MT. Wilson left the hall and
 immediately after they broke in- to cheering and laughter.
 "A fortnight prior to the torpedoing of the Lusitania a concert had been organized for the benefit of the in- termed German sailors-it was to take place on the very day that the Lusi- tania was sunk. The committee or the Union immediately cancelled the holding of the concert, and the Ger mans in the camp were called togeth- er-there were some 800 men: It was explained to them that a terrible ca ,tastrophe had occurred, and 500 of their fellow members (these interned German sailors we had regarded as our Union fellowmen, were German union men) had been done to death. There was dead silence. Not even a word or expression of regret came ;, from any of the 800 Germans. But i after I had left the hall they imme- fdiately broke into cheering, ana there was great hilarity manifested. This just filled the cup.
 There is a wide difference between the pacifists and the seamen in their knowledge of the German nation, for the British seafaring men have been i in close touch with the Germans for the past 50 years, and many of the older men can remember Germans first entering British ships, and after wards becoming one of our keenest competitors in the carrying trade oi | the world. At the same time, the British sailor has had more to do with the organizing of the Germans as Trade Unionists than any other class of workmen, and at the commence ment of the war these was no class of workmen who showed more kind. ly feeling to Germans than the Bri- tish sailor. In order that the incon- yenience of war should be as little felt as possible by the German seafarine men who had settled in this country they established an internment camp which can be rightly described as one of the best organized camps in Great Britain.
 l A fortnight prior to the torpedoine of the Lusitania a concert had been organized for the benefit of the in- termed men-it was to take place or the very day that the Lusitania wal sunk. The @Committee of the Unior 1 immediately cancelled the holding oi the concert, and the Germans in the camp were called together-there were some 800 men. It was explained to them that terrific catastrophe had occurred, and 50 of their fellow members had been done to death There was a dead silence. Not ever a word or expression of regret came from any of the 800 Germans. But after I had left the hall they imme- diately broke into cheering, and there was great lhi1arity manifested. This just filled the cup of bitterness for the British sailor. And following the Lusi tania incident came the U-boat fright. fitness Ships were sunk without warning hundreds of miles from land and scores of seamen died an agoniz ing death through starvation, frost bite and other terrible sufferings. The enemy knew perfectly we'll that Bri. tain depended entirely on her ship! and men to carry on the war both or behalf of this country and our allies and that if by any means they coult terrify the British sailor to remain or shore, instead of following his lawfu occupation, the war would speedil! come to close, with the Germans or ftop. Then God help England! The, have not succeeded in their cowardl! 1scheme-
 Some of the pacifists have said tha the German nation cannot be helt responsible for the actions of the Ma val or Military authorities. This ab solutely deny. Two wears ago, a President of the Sailors and Fire mems Union, I deemed it my duty t. address a communication to the or iganized workers of Germany. Befor, the war we were affiliated to the In lternationa1 Transport Workers Fed eration, the headquarters of whicl are in Berlin. I called their atten ttion to the deliberate murders tha had been committed in the name o
 Germany, and pointed out to then that, as the German Socialist Part.
 was supposed to have about 5,000,00 votes, they must surely have som
 influence with the German govern
 ment, and that a protest from then
 to their ministers, should have the ef
 feet of at least compelling them t play the game fairly. The Contra
 Committee appointed commission o four. I have in my possession tn original report, bearing the signatur of four of the most prominent Ger man working-class leaders-some 0 the gentlemen whom Ramsay Mac Donald and his friends are dying t meet at Stockholm. The purport 0 the report was that, because Britai
 had blockaded German ports, the Ger
 mans were quite justified in every
 thing they had done in connectio
 with the U-boat warfare. The
 thought it was altogether a wron
 thing to blockade the German port.
 and thereby bring about a scarcity c
 food for the German civil population
 Strange kind of reasoning this, fror
 a nation that had adopted these yer
 tactics at the siege of Paris! So
 Al I L.,