The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1917-09-21
UN-NEUTRAL NEUTRALITY"

Sweden, presumably a friendly ma
ton with the United States, is ac-
cused of very un-neutral act and the
severing of diplomatic relations with
that country-and the further posi-
bility Of creating a crisis in Argen-
tina, which will cause a declaration of
war by that country on Germany, de-
spite the Teuton recent attempt to re-
tain the friendship Of that country.
1t may also lead to severance of
friendly relations with all the coun-
tries with which Germany is at war
and Sweden. The Swedish Foreign
Minister and her diplomatic repre-
sentative of Beunos Aires are involv
cd in the disclosure, which in some
unexplained way fell into the posses
sion of the U. S. Secret Service. From
this it seems that Germany was using
Swedish diplomatic agencies to ad-
wise Germany Of the sailing of Amer
lean and Argentine ships, and in the
correspondence captured the torpedo
ing Of the latter's merchant vessel
was discussed, as cold-bloodedly as if
it related to a paper of pins. The cold
brutality of Germany, so often shown
during the war, as in the sinking Of
the Lusitania, appears in black and
white in the captured documents, and
it is said that not since the attempt
to involve this nation in war with
Mexico and Japan has so fragrant an
act been committed by representa-
tives of nations supposed to be on
friendly terms.
AS for Sweden, she is practically
at the mercy of the United States so
far as bread supplies are concerned
and no doubt she will try to clear
her skirts of this dastardly act by
promptly disavowing it and Furnishing
the parties concerned in it and make
suitable apologies and guarantees for
the future. Commenting on this, the
St. Louis Republic says:
"The fact which will strike the or
binary observer most forcibly in
connection with the disclosures made
by Secretary Lansing, however, is not
the close relations existing between
Germany and Sweden, although posi-
tive proof of Swedish duplicity has
hitherto been lacking but the heart
less language that of the Luxburg
messages themselves.
While suggesting that the Argen-
tine ships whose movements she re-
ported be spared, if possible, this typ
ical Prussian advises that they be
sunk without leaving any trace (spur-
los versenkt), if it is decided to de-
stroy them. Can anybody more cold
blooded than this be imagined? No
b. h. Ao1r
bers of the crew or passengers al
lowed to escape. After torpedoing
the vessels, every survivor, whether
armed or unarmed, male or female,
is to be systematically murdered, SO
no witness may survive to report the
event.
"Even a Turkish massacre of Ar
menians becomes respectable by the
side of this sort of thing. Even a
/ Turk would spare an inotfensive
stranger, q citizen OF a friendly,
neutral country, whom he found
struggling in the sea after his boat
had been sunk. Not so these goth cen
tury representatives of German kul-
tur. The Argentine ships were to be
destroyed and everyone on board
drowned or shot, not because they had
done anything to offend Germany,
but merely to hide the evidence of the
former crime.
an the face of such evidence of
villianry, carried out to its tragic con-
clusion in other cases, if not in this,
the soul sickens. We can no longer
wonder at the foul crimes committed
by the Germans in this war. Military
necessity they may call it, but the
world looks upon it as proof of di-
seased moral condition, which only the
complete crushing of Germany's mil
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