The Dominion TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1916. AMERICA AND HUMANITY.

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2904, 17 October 1916, Page 4

The Dominion TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1916. AMERICA AND HUMANITY.

The. anxiety boing shown in,the United States concerning the operations of German submarines off the American coast is jierhaps a better reflex of American opinion than the attitude of Pkesident "Wilson. At least we may l hope so. In answer to British representations, the Washington authorities have expressed the opinion that Germany has adhered to its pledges regarding the use of submarines, and that there is no occasion to interfere with the depredations of the sea pirates in American waters. To fully appreciate the strangeness of this-attitude it is necessary to turn back to the noto of protest senfc by America to the German. Government in April last; In that Note, Pkesident Wilson expressod himself strongly and clearly. One of the vital passages read as follows:— ■■■ .

To its pain, it has become, clear to it (the American Government) that the standpoint which it adopted from the beginning is inevitably right—namely, that '■no | employment of submarines for the aestrucnon of enemy trade is of necessity, owing to the character of the ships employed andj tho methods of attack which their uso involves, completely irreconcilable with the principles of, humanity, with the long-existing, undisputed rights of neutrals, and with the. sacred privileges of non-combatanfs. If it is still tho intention of tho Imporial Government to wago further war mercilessly and indiscriminately with submarines against, merchantmen' 'without respect for what tho Government of tho United States must regard as tho sacred and indisputable rules of international law and the generally Tocognised dictates of humanity, tho United States Government will be finally forced to the conclusion that there is only ono course it can take. If tho Imperial Government should not now, without delay,-proclaim and make effective renunciation 'of its present methods of submarine warfare' against passenger arid cargo ships, 'the United States Government' can have no other choice than to' break off completely diplomatic relations with the German Government.

•That is very plain speaking indeed. The f destruction \of enemy trade by submarines, it states, is completely irreconcilable with the principles of humanity, with tho long-existing undisputed rights of neutrals, arid with the sacred privileges of noncombatants. This wo may ■ take it was the considered opinion of the Washington authorities deliberately arrived at after the fullest consideration and-wifch complete knowledge of the whole conditions of submarine piracy as already practised by Germany. Unless Germany abandoned submarine warfare against merchant ships, diplomatic relations were to be broken off.

To this Note Germany made the usual protests, but the exchango of Notes wound up with an undertaking that merchant vessels, "boiti within arid without the area declared as a naval war zone, shall not bo sunk without Avarning and without saving human lives, unless the ship attempts to escape or offer resistance." The American Government, after its downright insistence that submarine attacks on merchant shipping wore irreconcilablo with the laws of numanity and the sacred privileges of non-combatants, was'content to swallow this partial backdown of the German Government under the pretence that the ends it had striven forbad been attained. And what has since followed 1 How 'have the Germanpirates carried out their pledges ? They undertook not to sink trading vessels without warning and without saving the livos of those on board them. They have admittedly since sunk dozens of trading vessels of all nations, and their method of saving the lives of the passengers and crews has been to turn them adrift on the ocean in open boats, allowing in most cases only the briefest or intervals in which to get out the boats and leave the doomed vessel. What happens to tho unfortunate people after they are turned loose in the ship's boats is no concern of the T3ermans. They may sink or swim; women and children may be forced to endure terrible hardships and suffering in these open boats—that is no concern of the Germans. Nor apparently is it any concern of President Wilson. His bold declaration of the principles of humanity; and the sacred rights of.nan.-