Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-02-28
WAR SEEMS CERTAIN

Y any light we may, war appears
to be only a matter of days.
After repeated assaults upon our
national rights, continued insults to
our government and wilful violations
of pledges, Germany at last has been
guilty of the covert act" which the
administration warned the Imperial
Government would be looked upon at
Washington as meaning nothing more
nor less than that Berlin desires to add
America to her long list of opponents
in the field of conflict.
We in the United States can be pa
tient with everything but the loss of
American lives. In the wreck of the
Laconia we have an example of
"frightfulness" second to the Lusi-
tania only in the number of fatalities.
Torpedoed in the darkness, without
warning and with high waves running,
the Laconia went TO her doom so
quickly that there was little time for
those aboard to do more than leap for
the lifeboats and take their chances
in an angry sea. Among those who
died as a result were two American
women, bound upon peaceful errands
and entirely within their rights aboard
the vessel on which they were passeng-
ers. Shall history record that the
nation sat supinely by and permitted
these things to continue? Is the blood
of these helpless women to cry in
vain for vengeance? We think not, if
American manhood has it's way.
The administration announces that
the question of protecting American
rights is now "up to Congress" which
in. a measure is true, and Congress
will not increase its popularity with
the country at large by wasting pre-
cious time in debating the form this
protection shall take. 1t is vain to
suppose that Germany, having gone
the whole length of International
crime, from illegal invasion of neutral
territory to cold blooded murder of
American women and children, will
pause in her insane career. The die
is cast as certainly as though the
armed forces of the two countries had
clashed in open combat. We are in
the war at this moment in everything
but name, and the sooner the country
is put in a state of defense and offense
the better it will be for us in the long
run. The inevitable has been delayed
about as long as 1t is possible to de-
lay it.
The next step probably will be to
give our merchant marine protection
by arming all vessels sufficiently to
withstand the attacks of submarines
under ordinary conditions and, if nee
essary, conveying them through the
danger zone with American warships.
The result of this certainly will be that
some enterprising American gunner
will prick the sensitive skin of one of
the adventurous German U-boats, CIV
ing it a taste of "ruthlessness" after
it's own kind, and Germany will have
either to overlook the sinking of one
of her vessels or declare war on the
United States.
Possibly, it is with the hope thus of
putting the shoe on the other foot"
that the administration has been de-
laying the evil day, and this might not
be undesirable. Nobody wants to rush
headlong into conflict, but everybody
believes that war is certainly coming
and the general desire is to begin pre-
parations for national defense as open
ly and as publicly as it is to be hoped
the government has been doing in
private for many months.