The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER SATURDAY, JULY 3, 1915. HERR BALLIN'S CRIME.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 54, 3 July 1915, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER SATURDAY, JULY 3, 1915. HERR BALLIN'S CRIME.

In ;i late issue of the London Times there appears a letter from Sir Valentine Chirol regarding tho .sinking ol' the Lusitania, and according to him it seems that the responsibility of tliis outrage must be very largely laid to the charge of Herr Ballin, one of the Kaiser's most trusted advisers on naval matters, "it was a matter of common notoriety in Germany in' 1.912," wrote Sir Valentine, "that itwas largely owing to his advice that the Kaiser shrank from war over the Agadir question. Herr Ballin held that at that time the German submarines wore not sufficiently developed to exercise effective reprisals on the British mercantile marine for the tremendous damage which the mere pressure of British sea-power would inflict on Germany's mercantile marine. During the present war it is Herr Ballin's organs in the Press that have from the tirst advocated the policy of ruthless submarine warfare against British merchant steamers, of which the Lusitania has been the latest and most ghastly victim, and 1 have heard on good authority that his influence with the Kaiser went far to overcome the natural repugnance which lingered in professional naval circles against the adoption of such shameless methods of warfare." It is also recalled by the Press that the Berlin correspondent of "The Times" remarked thai "in most of the Press comments over here there is tin unfortunate absence of any display of the spirit of sportsmanship which is usually associated with occasions of litis kind." Hen Ballin, at the Bankers' Congress in Hamburg, did not attempt to conceal his bitterness. He denounced what he called "a departure from the principle of free and fair play for all. which had made England great, and to pay a heavy subsidy in order to achieve a slight advantage over German shipping." In their gloating* over the shameful act many German newspapers made a special point of the fact that the Lusitania was "the best ship of the Ctinard Line." All of which supports Sir Valentine Chirol in his charging the ciime largely to Herr Ballin. This I will not be forgotten when tho day of reckoning conies round.