The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 1915. GERMANY'S NOTE.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 218, 1 June 1915, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 1915. GERMANY'S NOTE.

(With Wk ’ i® incorporated ®he Taihape ’ Pok t £iatt Wttimarinu Kewa.)

’ Germany. has delivered 1 - er vs &\y t© the Note; then nouiclng. ih© fact, clothed ■^ iPlomatic language, has .a rio|£\ 0 5 :; eity ’ amd equivocation about ’ N tha*t gives no indication. that, . the gh? 0688 j of high seas piracy and, wholes <ivle itfuT-.

‘Ueir of innocents >;ls; to. '.fceas®. : W;hat we ar e most concerned about now is, "what Will America do?. Siie Ivas handed: to Germany definite demands and from the brief cable that reached us yesterday Germany, refuses to concede them. ‘‘Germany's reply is friendly,but refuses to grant the demands.’ ■At this distance it 'is . very difficult indeed to .gunge public feeling in the United Statess, and no doubt w e 'ar e very liable to torsm" incorrect opinions and get rather distorted views of how things actually are, but judging from the fact that even newspapers, that wore at the beginning of the war, .pro-German, bave been rendered sane by the Lusitania shock, and have written stronglly in support of th e -Note sent to GerS many, the world may .expect to find that Uncle Sam will not again with*;, draw into his .shell, of strict neutrality unless his wishes are complied with to some extent; and all civilised , peoples of tha earth now await, almost with bated breath, th« .first word from the American nation on the subject. Germany has played for time and will mo doubt continue her cunning and surreptitious methods so.long as tb e American people Will put up with them, but what will prove the main factor m the final settlement, if experience goes for anything, is what ; is most conducive to a profitable continuance of American trade.- -It, is surprising to realise what -insults-. Americans have taken, almost; in silence, -from Germany's “leather-lipped emissary, Bernstorff”; but it seems that the breaking point has been reached now, and that to vindicate her honour America must make a decided stand on th e side of her demands and in support of humane methods of warfare, so far<as they can be made humane. We are forced to realise, that the millions -of: American subjects must be fed. and, therefore, that no stand will be taken that Is likely to very materially affect her workshops and offices. A writer of some authority justifies America’s neutrality on the ground that by standing aloof she is assisting the Allies to crush Germany, While many people would be. disinclined to accept without reservations the author’s assertion that “but for American assistance the German hordes would .still outnumber the French, the British, - and Russian together,” the figures he quotes give an excellent idea of th e aid the United States manufacturers have lent the ; Allies. 'V'TIS4I figures -are taken from American trade journals, 7 and it is computed that the money value of the war materials ordered —and much of it de- ; Uvered —up to the end of January exceeded the immense total of £100,000,000, Some of th e main items arc as Allows: 1,000,000 rifles.SOO,ooo,ooo cartridges, 15,000,0001 b of explosives, 50,00.0, revolvers, 1500 machine guns, -200 armoured motor guns, 40 9in’ guns, 12 15 m. naval guns, 4,000,000. steel arrows, 50,00.0,000fL ,of lumber for railroads, 6,0.00,000 - kegs of horseshoes, 5,000,000 pairs of socks, 60,000 tons of steel for shrapnel shells, 5.000. yards of cloth for uniforms, 1.000. aluminium canteens, 6500 motor waggons, 8000 kitchen waggons, 2.000. blankets, 2,000,000 pairs woollett gloves, 3,500,000 pairs of boots, 40,000 motor cars. In addition, there were great quantities of overcoats, trousers, underwear, barbed wire, 'steel, knapsacks, cotton djuck for tents and stretchers, and, in fact, huge supplies of everything an army needs. “Georgia,” adds the writer, “is practically denuded- of its famous mules, and more than 150,000 horses have been secured. To help feed the gigantic armies the Allies now have in th e field, the exportable surplus of the greatest wheat crop on record has been poured across the; Atlantic.” Little wonder is it that the American trade combinations such as th e steel and powder trusts shrink from the idea of the States being involved in war. But there is every indication that a crisis has arrived, a parting of the ways, when a choice must be made between the road to liberty and humanity, and that which leads to dishonour and contempt.