UNITED STATES.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 December 1915, Page 5

UNITED STATES.

THE ANCONA.

ANOTHER AMERICAN NOTE. Washington, 'Dec. 22. A second Note states that Austria ii* mitted that the Ancona was torpedoed' when her engines had stopped And th» ' w pasengers were still on board. The ad* mission fixed on the submarine con* mander the responsibility of violating the •» law of nations and disregarding humane ' principles of sea warfare. America hold* that detajls of the sinking and additional • pvldence in support of the American report, also the number of Americana killed " and injured, are not essential to the die* , cussion. The culpability of .the com* ' - mander is an established and undisputed , ■' fact. Citizens of the United State* were ' killed, injured, or placed in jeopardy toi" his lawless act.

The 'United States does not feel called upon to debate on ihe principles of Intel* ' national law or humanity thug violated. Those rules have been so long univertallir recognised that the only course for tfct United States is to hold Austria re* • - sponsible for the act of the submarine > and renew the definite and respectful d#*' raands made on December <l. It hopft. Austria will perceive their justke land '' comply with the same frankness and same concern for the existing good reli* ' " tions which prompted the United Stttlff 1 to make them. * i

THE ANCONA OUTRAGE. New York, November lft\ Of all-absorbing interest among otff , national topics is the sinking of th* Italian liner Ancona in the Mediterranean. The Ancona was sunk on her way to this country by a submarine which the Italian Government declare! was German but which flew the Au»* trian flag. Whether the ship wag sutik without warning is still « debattfty) question, for the Government at Wuh« f mgton has not yet succeeded in getting all the facts. It seems certain, however, that she was battered with shells from the submarine, and thlifc several of the passengers who lost their lives were American citizens. ■ ' /

This, brutal attack upqn helpless pal*' sengars, who surely were not aboard a ship carrying munitions, for she wa» : found {or America, has stirred up afreib • the bitter feeling against the Teuton^' alliance that broke out after the sinking . of the Lusitania. There are many signs *' that the American public is losing patfr ence with President Wilson, and tiUe ' growing irritation against the policy o( , , "watchful waiting," which has remltaft ' in nothing, may again make TheOdoiik ' Roosevelt a popular idol. For ,. Roosevelt, whatever his faults may b*,' ' - believes Germany should be promptly and severely to task for out* • rages such as the Lusitania attuiK. Indeed, it is reported that RooMVel} ' feels so acutely the figure his wfantrf, ; has cut in the way that he doubt* whe- ' ther he could ever again endure to viiit '* Europe. It is an open secret tbfct aft#T the sinking of the lusitania, and lAmejrh " can intervention Beemed inevitable, he madp instant preparation* for raWnf ' a force of 12,000 men on the lines of hit old Rough Rider regiment. Every detail had been covered, and the former Bre'ii* ■ dent calculated that within three months t after the declaration of war he and hit , men would be in Flanders. ,

But, instead: of war, came «odleu . ■ delightfully written letters from Mr. Wilson to the German Government, pro> , testing aga\pst the submarine attack*, but getting very little satisfaction from • > Berlin. Although several months have' passed, Germany has not yet disavowed : , the attack upon the Luaitanift, and baa given not one word of regret for killing . - American citizens. s

It is safe to say that the vast ma* > jority of Americans resent the severe tone of the American letter to Britain, , protesting against the interference with American commerce, while Germany it being alowed month after month to W capo the consequences of taking Ameri- • '* can lives. The newspapers in their ; torials and in hundreds of letters from, their readers show plainly the drift of » public opinion in this matter. Here, for v s example, is a letter from the New York '-f Times of this morning, referring to the i Ancona disaster :-7"More bodies of wo« 1 men and children afloat on the high sew. More drivelling words. 0 Lord/ how long?" And below it is another letter which concludes:—"l am sure that there i • are thousands of Americans like myself, sick at heart to feel that in this awful conflict we haven't even maintained ouf national self-respect." It is not only the sinking of pagsen* ger ships carrying American citizens that is stirring the public to demand more vigorous action by the Government, but the destruction of American munition, plants by incendiary fires set by German spies. There is also the irritating mat* v ter of the placing of bombs on British and French passenger ships.' All this dangerous pro-German propaganda in this country is gradually being brought pretty close to the, German Government, and two attaches,'of the Kaiser's Hm- v bassy at Washing-ton are now charged: with having a hand in the firing of munitions factories. It lias been suggested that we neeel not resort to arms to stop this sort of thing. "What we want and ' want very soon," writes a well-known Bostonian, "is a force of language to show the belligerents that are guilty • of all the destruction in this country 1 that unless these acts of destruction are stopped immediately we will rcfuie r the German Embassy all cipher codes that their home Government sends to them, either by mail, cable or wireleat, as well as the cipher codes sent tp their ' Government, No Embassy here in the . United States would dare to institute orders of their own making. All orders come from the. home Government. Who, ]''« then, is making this war on our industries'i" '

In justice to President Wilson, how- ' \ ever, it must be admitted that he has ' succeeded in getting a promise from Germany to sink no more passenger chins without warning and without giving ih» •. passengers time to take to the boat*. Whether this promise is another "mer# scrap of paper" remains to be seen. :