The Hawaiian gazette., 1918-02-08
THE HAWAIIAN GAZETTE.
lOna nH r pnBsSA s9sn s,s me ADVERTISERS
THE ADVERTISERS SEla-wEEKLY
The Tusca,,id

lvT would be verging upon the miraculous II tho
i United States succeeded in transporting our
hundreds OF thousands Of troops to France through
:he watching submarines without an occasional
marine loss. 1t is Germanys prime object Just
now to prevent the might of the United States
entering the conflict until after her reinforced
ormes on the west front are able to strike their
supreme blow and it may be put down as a GER
tainty that the submarine commanders are under
orders to specialize on American transports.
News Of the torpedoing of the British liner Tus-
cania on Tuesday night, off the north coast of
ireland, with American troops aboard, should not
be surprising. We do not know how many Amer
leans there are in Europe, but il there are two
hundred thousand, as many suppose, Il means that
at the very least a hundred transports have made
the trip in safety from the shores Of the United
States before one was successfully attacked. This
is small percentage, considering the boasts of the
German navy regarding their pirate ships and the
undetermined efficiency Of the Hun = r.. 49,
The attack against the transport cannot be re-
scented as have been the blows struck at merchant
men. The use of the U-boats against Americas
and British troopshps is legitimate use. We
can say that, at least, for the torpedoers of the
Tuscania, and it does not appear that the usual
:helling of small boats and running down Of life
RATS were INDUCED in. .". ~. ~
1t is matter of the highest satisfaction that
The loss of life has been small, compared to
what it might easily have been. The roll of the
many survivors demonstrates also the fact that
the militiamen Of Michigan and Wisconsin, who
formed the greater number OF troops on the sunk
en- ship, must have displayed an iron discipline
The dispatches say the vessel was torpedoed
while the majority Of the men were in their hunks
and that it went down rapidly that the greater
number of survivors were unable to secure their
clothes Under these conditions a manic. among
the national guardsmen would have been almost
excusables but if there had been panic the roll
of the lost would have been thousand soldiers
instead of fewer than hundred. ~ s. "a
These boys from Michigan and Wisconsin, civil
ans only few months ago, win probably never
be called upon to face harder test of discipline
and bravery than they faced when the torpedo
tore its way into their transport. And they met
that test admirably. The number of those saved
testi6es to that. y. "A IN I'LL, t,. WIKI 5si
The loss OF even few American soldiers is to-
be regretted but it will thrill the nation to know
that the national guardsmen of America can do
IS was expected of theni-face death with GOODNESS
and meet the sternest emergency like men. The
ones who have gone will not have died in vain,
even though they had not their chance to strike a.
mans blow against their foe Their death will
arouse America even more than she has been
aroused. and through Wisconsin especially the
effect of Tuesday nights shot in the dark will be
to bring further to the fore the fighting spirit Of
our cit:7 enhcod