The Washington herald., 1917-06-10
War Not Clear Cut Issue
Between Jehovah and Satan

i a = - -. d.
be sRussisn stan erder, directing that
ihe order OF general Ieopoilsa uon7 be
faken as deelaEation OF Gsr W s,,,,o ON !,
waf party rushed. pattsta as tastI as
p9ssfble Ge7map, and perhaps Rus.
sian stans were anxious 10 get
started before -frtghtsDed Austr.a
sGanId' ~ Sithdraw 70, q .lt,s .pasiac sritish n
nlula which sfonh deprive the war
makcrs' OF "a decent ypretcxG. THIS
yiew of the outbreak Is posstbio
even though the -evidsri be stronger
foS the commonly accepted .es,isf that ,i
forced, war upon . reluctant RussiA
as well as- a peaceful France5 TO
.Amerieaas. the prOtSgonists Of this
| war we've the Germ an and: Russian
sut9srat,ss t ana We have asysTf re re-
two. - * s5s- g,s-s
But even accepting the Rtlsslan 'ysr.
sion. Of tho origins of tie war. Anter-
jeans have felt the responsible tiles and
guilt Of 1914 now have q, merely his
torical interest" aThts4' phase stll-
eSSs eSSiss tTS tS. ess NSSGs SSls %ass
come liberal or reactionsry. in place
OF reactionafy or liberal, So that at
the close II Is not always pertinent to
ask who was to. blame for the. start,
e. e.. IL Napoleon. at the peace of
the reaStionary powers who. began the
war by falling upon republican France
to extinguish liberty, the world would
nave laughed. No Is the Russia Of
today responsible. for atrocities % of
Poland. Rut waiVing this point and
admitting that: Germany was guilty,
and ought, as, q nation. to be pun
ished,- a difnculey sill arises. even
when the fact that the. right peo-
evaded. Would Justice be served 4
the victim OF Q railway wreck him
self assessed the damages, to be paid
him? Would not the spectacle Of judges
sitting on the bench and ntulcting
even an admitted culprit revolt ones
sense OF justice, ~ the judges them
selves pocket the nnc? ..y
U. 8. Doubted Russia.
The answer, then, to the charge
that the United States has dishonored
herself by standing aloof, during the
| critical period Of the war, from a
struggle Of civilization against barbar-
the time of the Russian revolution,
wus not able to admit all the proem-
| ises' upon which the charge Is based.
For an alliance containing the Rus
sian autocracy to talk about fighting.
as an alliance, for the liberties and
rights Of small nations 1--WE have never
doubted the good faith OF Britain and
France toward Belgium, but unfor-
tunately this issue cannot be consid-
| cred alonel, has seemed to Americans
Abdul Hamid and. not the Car whose
dominions the allies were struggling
| to extend. And, when we have been
harried by the Bryce report and
stories Of the horrors in Northern
France, we have sadly remembered
| the cha from Ia prfNaafa IIry
i documented and authenticated, where
/ the troops OF Gen. Rennenkampf, the
brutal Cossack leader, who lies In
| prison today for his noggings, tor
turings. and murders of Russians,
ferocity. We have had detailed ac-
counts. too, Of Jewish massacres, of
the in-treatment Of the Galician- peo-
Piles by the worst type Of reactionary
Russian officials, which caused them
to welcome the 1eturnfns .Austrians
as deliverers. Tn csc things have been
concealed In England.
America could not have interviewed
to help Belgium or France without
! helping the Russian bureaucracy.
Russian victories early in the war
Russian people: the only salvation for
Russia lay in defeat, and until the
! publication by FIRE had been accom-
plished, there was little chance that
Mr.. Wilson could ever be moved to
take more than a nominal part in the
war. And "a point which cannot be
developed here) American opinion has
| strongly suspected that the objects Of
others OF the allies were not wholly
such as to warrant our armed sup
port, rendered as contribution to the
| cause Of humanity. These suspicious
peace note to the President, but by far
the. most serious obstacle to whole
| hearted American partisanshlp dis
appeared with the faIl Of the Czsr.
! Now, and now only, the liberalism of
America can thrill to the thought OF
| world against autocracy and despot-
ism. ask, then, for a verdict of ac-
| quittal on the charge that America
| dishonored herself, and rendered her
subsequent course of action open to
question, by not intervening long ago
against German aggression and Ger
man atrocities on land; and I pass
to the American attitude regarding
the war at sea. g..
washInEton StIH Inactive.
When. in February, 1915, the Ger
man government proclaimed a war
zone around the British islands with
in which all enemy ships will be de-
be exposed to danger" the allies look
ed to America to take some action
against this unheard-of violation Of
sea law, and President Wilson, in q
forcible note. threatened to hold Ger
many to strict accountability" But
two months later. when Thrasher, an
American, died in the Falaba, WASH
ington did not move. Then came the
horror of the Lusitania, and for a few
days the world awaited war, but in
stead Mr.. Wilson .indulged in pro-
tracted negotiations with the German
NONHTnTnAnf A froY -
lives were lost, or imperilled. by the
destruction of the Arabic, Hesperian,
Ancona. and Sussex. The attack on
the sussex, eleven months after the
loss OF the Lusitania, moved Mr.. Will
son to real ultimatum, which Ger
many met by announcing that hence
torth' on condition that America take
vigorous action against the illegal
BRUSH starvation warfare, merchant
men would not be sunk without warn
ing. Inc promise was accepted. the
condition curtly repudiated, by the
President. During the next ten
months scarcely a week passed, with
out violation, by a :U-hoat comman-
3er or the German pledge, but still
washington remained inactive. until,
on the first of last February, Ger
many announced that she proposed to
sink everything in sight. Mr.. Wilson
Immediately broke on diplomatic re-
latlons, experimented, for some weeks
with the idea Of armed neutrality"
then, after: several American cargo
ooats had been sunk with, loss of life
and two American women had died in
the Cunarder Lacoria, he convened
Congress and war was declared.
so stated land have here sum-
marlzed the sea debate as It Is under
stood by most Englishmen0, the sub
marine controversy between America
ana Germany appears to have been
marked by persistent paltering and
evasion On the part of the former,
casuistry II not cowardice dominating
Whlte House policy during two years
Wnen the Presidents main object was
% worry along somehow, without
ing to save .orna dic1ir,n Of nafinnaI