The Washington herald., 1918-02-08

By VICTOF
Editor Of the {
"Spurlos versenkt'-to sink without
leaving q trace.
The words OF a madman, We In
America said. when intercepted dis
patches revealed to US that the Ger
man minister to the Argentine felt
that spuricS versenkt wpuld be q Mt
fate for Argentina's ships.
We condemn this diplomat for his
horrible suggestion. We thought the
idea personal with HIM. It never oc-
CURED to any OF US that spurios
versenl<t might be the policy Of the
German nation.
But IL Is exactly that-probably was
at the time the minister to the Ar
gentine used the phrase.
Whenever you read. as you fire.
quently can nowadays. Of lifeboats
being shelled by a submarine as they
leave q torpedoed vessel-that Ii
spurios versenkt-
Sometimes the U-boat commanders
save ammunition. In the North Sea
after a torpedoing, a U-boat captain
offered to tow the lifebots to shore.
He suggested that the boats be made
last " OAlC duONACN " hCh
all were tied together he attached the
rope of the foremost boat to the sub
marine and submerged, pulling the
Hfeboats with him. All capsized.
That was spurios versenkt.
To Inspire Terror.
German newspapers explained that
= spurlos versenkt was a justiaable
policy when the matter first came up
in the empire.
Merely to sink a ship and per-
NIT those on board to reach land
in safety was not productive of the
terror the Germans hoped to in
spire by their submarine warfare.
1t was still easy to get crews
for munition and food ships both
in neutral and belligerent ports.
Spurlos versenkt would change
all this.
The adoption of the spurlos YER
senkt policy was not attended by
public promulgations and notices to
foreign nations. Little is. known
about this policy in America Yet
much has been printed on the sub
ject in Germany.
1t seems that the policy did not
have its origin in the navy or
among the professional pilitarists.
but among the class that always
has been regarded as in the lead
in humanitarianism in every nation
the university professor group.
Indeed. most credit seems to
go to Professor Oswald Flamm. a
man of the highest standing in
German educational circles. In ex-
planning the policy OF spurlos ver-
ERnl-f Drnfaa6nR 10,
Berlin "'Woche" this:
IF neutrals were destroyed so
that they disappeared without leav-
ing any trace, terror would soon
keep seamen and ira pelers away
from the danger zones"
For Retail Murder. ...
OF course. the operation of the
policy is not yet in full swing,
owing to the fact that not all u
boats are equipped for retail muir
der. Torpedoes are too expensive
and too precious to be used on life
\boats- Special guns are needed for
his work.
The newest type of submarines,
Pwever, gre properly equipped. 1t
heir perations that you see record
ANN fne newspapers. Doubtless the
eat f1ture will see a large increase
40 the U-boat barbarity directed
aaifist the victims of torpedoed ships.
but the German peopIe-they are
human beings like the rest Of us-do
they acquiesce in these policies of
horror?" This question is frequently
asked.
The German people have not been
deceived about spurlos versenkt. They
understand the policy and they ap-
prove 1t.
The fooIing of the German people is
q fundamental thing. and it has con-
tinued through many, many years.
The German state of mind Is such
now that all the militarists have to
do Is to tell the people that a thing is
right and that ends f.
The Kaiser said the sinking Of the
Louisitania was right and imme-
diately il became right.
Hence. We find a clergyman. D.
Baumgartner, on page seven, in
saying:
Anyone who cannot bring himself
to approve from the bottom Of his
heart the sinking of the Lusitania,
who cannot conquer his sense of the
monstrous cruelty to countless per-
fectly innocent victims and
give himself up to honest joy at this
victorious exploit OF German defen-
siye poverAsuch a one we deem no
true German"
Fools Them All the Time.
Lincoln said that no one could fool
all the people all the time. The
Kaiser. however, fools all the Ger
man people all the time.
First he fooled them into madness
-megalomania, to have an exagger-
ated notion OF oneself. Under the
spell Of this madness It has been
easy for him to weld the whole Ger
man people into a compact force,
with the conquest of Europe. and the
conquest of the world, as its reasons
for existence.
He has fooled them into believing
that, hs Is the chosen of the Al
mighty that in his hands, they, too,
are he instrument of the Almighty,
oosriNUED on PAGE ELEVEN.