The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1918-06-20

Zalda was the next to go down With
loss of ten. The transport Franconia,
met its fate Oct. 4th with IL lost.
The Genista, mine sweeper. went to
the bottom Oct 9th. The Russian, an
empty transport was sent down Dec. 10.
A few more, French. Italian or Russian
naval units were destroyed. AS means
of harrassing maritime lives of COM
munication. or wearing out the Allies,
the submarine fell far short of fulfilling
German expectations. In two and one
half years it reckoned among its vic
tins only eight vessels of any consider
able size, of the British navy. 1t did
play conspicuous part in defeating
the allied attack upon Gallipoli. The
U-boats have had some success against
transports especially in the Mediter-
ranean. The percentage of loss of
troops conveyed by sea has been infin-
itesimal. From military standpoint,
it has been value, though how much
is impossible to neutrality-suspicious.
in its ability to deter powerful enemy
action. AS fighting instrument it has
not proved its self to be the efficient
agent it was claimed it would be. 1t
has rather been disappointment, The
German Government realized its in
ability on any decisive scale to defeat
the Allied Navies, hence they decided
to use it as an instrument of wonton
destruction and to conduct ruthless war
fare against allied and neutral COM
merce. You will recall the warship
Emden that did considerable damage to
commerce in the Indian ocean. A pas
senger boat bound from Calais to Havn
with 2, 500 refugees on board, was tor
pedoed without moments notice. Fifty
lives were lost. The only reason all
were not lost, was the daring and her
ole action of the steamer Queen, which
ranged up along side the stricken ship
saved most of the passengers. 1t was
no fault of the perpetrators that all did
not go to the bottom. There was abso-
lutely no excuse for the attack. The
attack was prompted by the sheer lust
of murder which is awakened in so
many Germany by the sight OF defense
less enemies. The commander of the
destroying U-boat was true comrade
in arms of the soldiers who had march
ed through Belgium, burning and mas
sacring as they went. Sometimes the
crews of marked vessels were treated
with dire consideration, at other times
they were inhumsnly treated. 1t did
not take long for them to attain the un-
enviable position as published in one of
the leading papers of Germany that
German submarines and aircraft would
wage war against British merchantile
vessels without troubling themselves in
any way about the fate of the crews"
The perfidy of the German govern
ment, as represented by that arch
hypocrite and liar Bernstorff, assured
the u. S. government that a recur.
renee of Incidents similar to the Arabic
case is considered out of the question. "
But was it?
Germany maintained that the sinking
of the Lusitania was justifable. But
in her note from Berlin in which she
held that the incident was closed, these
words were used, Germany repeats that
the pledge that unsrmed merchantmen
shall not be sunk without warning and
unless the safety of the passengers and
crew can be assured, provided. of
course that vessels do not try to escape
or resist.
But this final provision left the door
open for any desirable amount of bar
barity. AS to Germany's conception of
what is meant by assuring the safety
of passengers and crew." We have
had many examples. Her promises
were not worth the paper on which they
were written. For instance: on March
"a, 1916 the Sussex, French passenger
steamer carrying oyer $50 souls, of whom
27O were women and children, was an
preaching the Frenh coast, when about
O'Clock she was struck by a torpedo
from an unseen submarine, 80 lost their
lives, some of them of the % Ameri-
cans who were on board.
This set relations between Germany
and America back to the condition of
tension. Germany tried to evade re-
sponsibility. A note from our Govern
ment to the German, politely and
dehcately informed her that she had
systematically lied and broken her
word. To this peremptory demand the
German Government conditionally
promised reformation, and expressed
the confidence that our government
would cooperate" with them in re-
storing the freedom of the seas. But
she insolently reserved the right to do
as she pleased. This was the logical
conclusion of her note. Of course the
the U. S. government rejected this in
solent proposal. and the discussion end
f