The Daily News. SATURDAY, MAY 8, 1915. AMERICA'S OBLIGATIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 283, 8 May 1915, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, MAY 8, 1915. AMERICA'S OBLIGATIONS.

If v,y compare the attitude of President Wilson with that of the Kaiser relative to international obligations there is very little dill'ercnce discernible—merely the distinction between the active and the passive, or, to use a stronger term, the bully and the coward. The" Kaiser treats a solemn guarantee as a scrap of paper; Dr. Wilson simply ignores or treats it as a mischievous farce. When the Hague Convention was signed by the United States under the direction of President Roosevelt there was no i]iiestion that it was intended that America should carry out the Convention as loyally as the other nations who were pledged to its adherence. Mr. Roosevelt has made this fact absolutely ineonfcrover-' tihle in his scathing denunciation of his sn:-cossor's unpardonable indili'crciire. To make that guarantee worth anything, it wa-, of course. necessary actively to enforce it again any Power breaking the Convention or a ting against its clear purpose. To make it real'v cd'ective it should bo en- j

forced as quickly against non-signatory as against signatory Towers. Ilow has tile United States lived up to its obligallon? Trcsident, Wilson and Secretary Hryan take i's- view that when the t'lii'ed States assumes obligations in onli-v to secure small and unoiremling neutral nations against hideous wren:;, that it . action is not predicated on any in-i-iitioii to male the guarantee effective. T'li ; means that v.hell the time 1 cirti'i"; to lake action and redeem pro-ii'i-i-i mate in the abstract. Halt it pays bet 1 ci' to dbregard solemn obligations

and prc-erve ignoVe pence than to take the nobler'and better pari of intervention at all costs. It is either that or cowardice, and there is not much to choe-e between the two. Elaborate (er I 'eic:>! arguments have been adduced to ju -t:ly this timid and schish abandonment of duty. The essence of those specious arguments favors all too slronglv of the -anug' hypocrisy of a despicable Cliailbautl. They cannot be justified except on the ground that the American Prevalent is dead to all influences outside the almighty dollar. Had he po-1- ;ed the sincerity and courage that

one looks for in the Iwnd of a "rout nation Mm l Al!ii. here w:< , a. opportunity oE showing the world that violation and disaster could not lie indicted oil 11. lii'Tltl-;il nation like 1 Vh/him without hiking action involviii;.' eourii<>;e l«"'l Hi'lf-swrifico worthy of the richest and most -.K'i" l ' neutral nation. I'resi'lwit Wikon v»y take some comfort from the fait that America, is alone at pea.-e anion,!;' all Uio great Powers of the worM, tint what a, peace! A peace shorn of honor and cal'iu:.; down on'if-; anilior the withering contempt and scorn o! the world. There was a. virility • ihout the Kaiser s i-i■ iiiTli).o| ;] )( . scrap (>r paper. hut I'residcnt Wilson's doploralile -Isirl in;; of a manifest duty ivill he-mirdi the fair name of America and caver him with rontemptuon.s derision '-V havin;:' ahondoned the cause of peice at ! In- period of the greatest crisis in the world's history. America had, ami even "on' has. the onport unity of 'provimr her ■ as a nation. h,i AVilson • " that his policy ! s. Icofacss is fa.ta'. to .he prestige of ■

his country. Jt twins incredible that a nation v/hidi lias fought so hard for independence and liberty yliouUl so signally fail in its obligations to preserve, tlio. independence of tlic weaker nations whose integrity she lias (tritli others) guaranteed. It is some consolation to find that at last the American press is rising to the occasion, for some of her k-ading journals have recently faced the situation and advocated that the time to risk action has arrived. Will America dare? We shall see.