Graham guardian., 1918-12-06
ESTABLISH A PRECEDENT

no responsible authority appears
willing to raise a hand to stop it.
Won Tirpitz, wholesale murder
er of women and children, and
author of submarine piracy, by
whose direct order the Lusitania
with it's precious freight of wo-
men and babes, was sent to the
bottom of the sea, is one of the
latest of the fugitives, having
fled to Switzerland.
His pockets bulging with the
, embezzled millions entrusted to
him by the fallen autocracy from
the billions it wrung from a be-
trayed nation, Won Tirpitz has
followed the example of his dia-
bolical master and sought safety
for his skin on neutral soil.
Other Hun leaders are follow.
ing suit as quickly as they can
bag their ill-gotten wealth. Hol-
land is filling with these past
masters of crime. Switzerland
is being overrun with them and
many of them are dodging into
Sweden, Norway, Denmark and
Spain.
There are just two plausible
explanations of why these men
are running away from the lands
they plunged into ruin.
The lawless leaderless soldiers
of Germany and Austria are re-
turning to their homes, and the
situation in those countries is
hourly becoming more danger
Gus for the tyrants of the old
regime. These soldiers in many
instances, are reverting to savag-
cry. In Austria they are report
ed forming into bandit bands
and taking to the forests and
the rough country. Naturally
the arch criminals like Wilhelm,
Won Tirpitz and their companions
in villiany. see the rising peril
of a reign of terror such as,
more than a century ago, sent to
the guillotine so many members
of the ancient and tyrannical
aristocracy of France.
This is one possible reason.
The other is based upon the ap-
parently supine Indifference with
which the authorities of the al
lied nations and of the United
States veiw the exodus from
Germany to neutral lands and
the seemingly SNUG satisfaction
of the countries whose soil is
being polluted by the presence
of these monster of iniquity.
These criminals think themselves
safe.
While in allied countries and
in the United State academic dis
cussions go on to suffocation and
endlessness about what ought to
be done with or to the ex-kaiser
and his band of murderers while
orators bring round after round
of applause as the more or less
eloquently demand the severe
punishment of the Potsdam gang
of criminals, while lawyers poke
around in the dust of bygone
ages for precedents for furnishing
the ex-emperor for arson, mur-
der, piracy, rape and robbery,
and knowing perfectly well they
won't find any such thing in the
dust heaps of time-while all
these things go uselessly on, time
is flying g-the arch criminals are
grinning, leering at a wounded
and outraged world, as much as
to say, "You can't catch us. We
are above the law. We are sacred
personages, who have sought
refuge in neutral country. We
cannot be held accountable for
purely political offenses. Touch
us it you dare"
And the blood spilled "On
Flanders Fields"-was it shed
that such men as the beast Of
Berlin and his co-workers in in.
fanny might go free--that they
might find a safe refuge on earth
and live out their lives in peace
and luxury?
Why look for precedent? A
r-yrs'r~~F-s sgr---r-s--~-