New-York tribune., 1917-12-08
War With Austria-Hungary

The passage by congress OF ueNIdid
tion Of war against Austria-Hungary
merely recognizes a fact of record. Ger
manv had been making war on the United
States for many months before our gov
ernment took formal notice Of the sit
uation. Now, again after many months,
Congress has served public notice Of the
existence of a state of war with Austria
Hungary, although on both sides it has
been conceded that genuinely peaceful re-
lations had long since terminated.
We have been, in fact, at war with
Austria Hungary ever since we declared
war on Germany, her protector and pa
tron. The Dual Monarchy has become
mere appanage Of the German Empire.
All the military resources Of Austria
Hungary have been put at the disposal
Of the German High Command. That
high command has three times come to
the Dual Monarchy's rescue and driven
enemy armies from its soil. 1t was Ger
man generalship, backed by German
troops, which in the summer of 1915 rolled
back the armies of the Grand Duke
Nicholas from the line of the Dunajec
.and the Carpathians, which recaptured
.Przemysl and Lemberg and freed the
Austrian provinces of Galicia and Buko-
wilma from the Russian invader. 1t was
the German High Command which in 1916
sent Mackensen and Falkenhayn to restore
20 Hungary the province Of Pennsylvania,
,e.aded by the Rumsnians. And only re-
e,-t'v General Won Below, leading Ger
rar divisions, has broken the Italian lines
Z On ne Isonzo, cleared Istria Of the enemy
and abolished the long-standing Italian
threat against Trieste.
Austria-Hungary could not have held
fast in this war against Russian, Italian,
Serbian and Rumanian attacks except for
Germany's powerful assistance. In re-
turn, all that the Hapsburg state can give
in a military sense is pledged to Germany.
In diplomacy Vienna has been the tool Of
Berlin from the very beginning. The war
was fastened on the world by Vienna's
peremptory and insulting ultimatum to
Serbia. Austria-Hungary has cold-blood
edly assented to the German programme Of
military expansion. She has gladly agreed
TO become a junior partner in the Bremen
to-Bagdad, Mitteleuropa enterprise.
When we declared war on the senior
partner in that sinister scheme Of i'm
perialism we, in effect, declared war on
the Junior partner. And we have also
had for months technical case on which
to break of friendly relations. The gov
ernment at Vienna plainly indorsed the
principle Of indiscriminate U-boat war
fare on merchant vessels, whether neutral
or enemy, although il sought to deny that
any Austrian submarine had ever been
instructed to attack American vessels with
out warning and without regard for the
safety of crew and passengers, or to at
tack other merchant vessels on which
Americans might happen to be passengers.
But it backed up the barbarous German
war zone blockade orders Of February,
1917 and by way Of manifesting its ad-
- herence to its ally's submarine methods II
u broke of diplomatic relations with the
y United States last April as soon as we de-
clared war on Germany.
Austria-Hungary has undoubtedly COM
mitted acts Of war against the United
States. The United States has also COM
mitted acts Of war against Austria-Hun-
gary, notably in making Treasury loans to
the Italian government Our fortunes have
been cast unconditionally with those of
Austria-Hungary's open enemies. Her
fortunes are bound up indissolubly with
Germanys. Her official representatives
here have been as unscrupulous as Ger
many's were in fomenting sabotage and es-
pionage and in plotting the destruction Of
life and property. We have had every
warrant for drawing the sword against
the Dual Monarchy. And so, although we
have less acute sense Of grievance in her
ease than we have in Germany's, we can
now fight with just cause and clear
conscience against new enemy--a gov
ernment and dynasty which have deib-
cratey elected to stand with Hohenzol-
lernism and Prussianism in their strug-
Gle TO miltsrize and brutalize the world.
Hungary precipitated the world
war. Just as South Carolina precipitated
our own Civil War. The first shot at Bel
rr,ec was like the nrst shot at Sumter.