Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1917-09-10

Fair minded people vino have In
formed themselves og the facts obtain
able thus far tu the incident Involving
Sweden as a disguised aid in trans
hitting German messages between
Bueuos Aires and Berlin viii be slow
To decide otherwise than that tha
kaiser has put one over on another OF
his neutral uejFhbors
At least this ought 20 be their astl-
tude until there is a fun Investigation
and the Swedish government is af-
f0rded az opportunity to disentanEle
itself from the mesh of embarrassing
circumstances that have fallen upon
its shoulders as result Of rls eN-
posture made hE EHe state daDa rtmeut
at Washington, through which the
public has been furnished copies Of
secret messages forwarded from the
Argentine capital 10 Berlin by the
German charge at Ghe southern center.
tn one Of which he gives instructions
70 sink certain Argentine vessels With
out leaving q trace either of property
or human life to tell the tale of fheir
fate, and in another making belitlinR
references t0 the officials of the gov
eminent under whose protection he
WIS living IL is fuC0nceivable that
Sweden would lend herself Ia such
conspiracy as has lust been revealed
ger we should not overlook the delicate
position in which that country has
beeu placed since the outbreak Of the
war with the kaiser dguratlvely hold
ing gun 70 her head and compelling
her To give suCh assistance ja fhe con-
signment Of foods and munitions as
the prosecution of their bloody enter
prises. IT has been established that.
Sweden has been generously helpful of
the imperial government. nor SO much .
because of svmpathv with the Ten
tonic military ambitions as ON account
Of the implied threat of Berlin that
TO attempt to enforce curfaffueut az F
shipments might invite enrolment Of /
another enemy to the ka5sersz list
Sweden IS in no position TO resist
Germany as q helfEgereut and fherefara#
the latter has exuarfanre7 little 1fH
Guilty iu enforcing demands for zun-=
plies, even when the latter originated
at an American port. though q recent
proclamation bv President Wilson *
believed to have efectuaIv ended fhfs
not only as fl applies to
Sweden but 10 all other neutral c0un-
tries. several of which were known
"a have been passing along 10 Germany
commodities purchased iu the United
states.
How far (fermauy's dominance of
he Swedish government viii enter
INTO the Argentine affair remains to
De seen. In this same connection there
ire lntImafions r4at the Swedish Ie-
cation a. Washington has been the
agency through which German spies
rave been transmitting their messages
q Berlin, keeping the military there
constantly Informed of the movements
4 American troops on the seas. the de-
1artures Of ships and other details Of
ne war preparations In this country. )
'or weeks washington officials have
'een puzzled 10y the apparently close 3
connections between
he United States and Germany. the
generally accepted theory being that
wireless station has been maintained
. some secret spog along the CalifoT-
-ld OF mexican coast
However, strong deujals have been Z
Inferred by representatives of tibet Z
swedish government in the United g
tates that there has been any par [
icipation by them in German in /
rigues against the United States One
Aplanat1on OF the buenos Aires moi 4
eht u that the messages carried !
lfo0ga the swedish embassy were in
ne German code and therefore were 4
OF understood by the Swedish charge. S
at TINS viii not prove sufficient ex- y
use IQf Argentina which e date can {
ae nothing less than a deliberate ccD- g
piracy Or the part OF Swedish officials 81
J assist In the execution Of the Teu- &