Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1944-03-29
Let Us Try to
Save Rome

~ ~ WI
THE universally discussed proposal of the Ger
Il man military authorities in Italy to demiIi-
tarize and declare Rome an "open city" obliges
America and Great Britain to choose between
two courses.
America and Great Britain may arbitrarily
reject Germanys unilateral declaration as de-
ceptive and faithless, and proceed under the plea
of war time necessity to bomb the Eternal
City"
Or the two Allied nations may move in &C
cordance with established precedent and have
the sincerity of the German proposition ascer-
tanned by the good Offices of a provenly neutral
power like Switzerland
The course of arbitrary rejection is fraught
with peril and pitfalls.
The Most Rev Joseph p Hurley bishop of
the Catholic diocese of ST. Augustine, Fla, and
a consistently vigorous supporter of the Ameri-
can war effort has called this course "booby
trap set by Hitler"
"H uDe spring the trap, so cunningly pre-
pared by the arch-criminal of our times" the
bishop recently warned, "De shall destroy not
only the capital of Christendom tOith all that it
holds so sacred to Christian hearts, but De shall
also destroy prestige and thereby make
decent peace almost impossible.
"The Nazis r0ant the Americans to destroy
Rome so that American influence for good
among countries UHI be impaired. They knoW
that they haze already lost this and they are
preparing for the next.
Ear from, saving American liUes, the de-
\struction OF Rome may lOeU cost us the loss OF
countless thousands of additional tiUes."
THE course of careful investigation by neu-
trail power is the right and logical method OF
procedure for nations which aspire to world
leadership in the years ahead.
This course follows Humanitarian customs
and practices.
It prevents the danger of discovering too
late that the Nazi government, despite its repu-
tation for hypocrisy and perfidy was genuine in
its intention to remove all troops and military
installations from Rome.
1t avoids the risk of needlessly killing thou
sands of men, women and children hopefully
seeking refuge in an ''open city"
And it passes back to the Germans the mighty
responsibility Of determining whether many of
the worlds greatest treasures shall be spared or
sacrificed
Rome does not belong to any one nation,
creed or age.
The accurately named eternal city" belongs
in very real sense to all nations, all creeds, all
ages.
The soil of Rome has been made holy by the
lives and deaths of apostles and martyrs of many
races
The progress of 40 centuries has found ex-
preston in its hills and plains.
The genius of hundreds of the greatest men
who ever lived has achieved Immortality in its
churches and palaces, in it's Justly famous mu
seums and in its vast and irreplaceable libraries.
The loss of such store of beauty, knowl
edge and culture would be comparable only with
the destruction of the ancient library of Alexan-
dria, and as generally deplored by outraged pos
terity.
Let America and Great Britain eschew hasty
decisions and rash deeds in their approach to the
gates of Rome
If the eternal city, must be laid waste, let
the guilt and blame be added to the atrocities
already imputed to Nazi Germany.