LUSITANIA RECALLED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 September 1939, Page 5

LUSITANIA RECALLED

The news of the torpedoing of the Athenia electrified the United States and immediately recalled to Americans the Lusitania outrage, which precipitated America’s entry into the Great War. The sinking was announced by radio shortly after President Roosevelt’s nation-wide broadcast in which he said: “Even a neutral has a right to take account of the facts. Even a neutral cannot be asked to close his mind or. conscience.” The Athenia’s fate has caused anxiety over the breadth of the Atlantic Ocean, where thousands of Americans are fleeing from the war zone. The Associated Press correspondent in Washington states that the White House announced that the vessel was carrying mostly Canadians and some Americans. , President Roosevelt’s secretary announced: “According to official information, the ship came from Glasgow to Liverpool and was bound for Canada, bringing refugees. I would point out that this will show there is no possibility, according to official information, that the ship was carrying any munitions or anything of that kind.” AMERICANS ABOARD The Americans aboard the Athenia include the wife of Mr Addison Mallery, Mayor of Saratoga Springs; Miss Rowena Simpson, .daughter of the vice-president of the Houston National Bank of Commerce; Miss Helen Hannay, daughter of Judge Allan Hannay; Miss Dorothy Fouts, daughter of the attorney; Miss Betsy Brown, daughter of a prominent Texas attorney; Miss Genevieve Morrow, daughter of the president of the Houston Chamber of Commerce; the daughter of Mr B. D. Hull, chief, engineer of the SouthWestern Telephone Company; the wife, son and daughter of Mr Robert Bridge, Disaster Relief Director of the American Red Cross; Miss Margaret Rooke, Professor of Italian in Smith College; and Mrs Mark Feder, chairman of the Cincinnati Women’s City Charter Committee. A Vancouver message says that Sir Richard Lake, former Lieutenant-Gov-ernor of Saskatchewan, and Lady Lake were aboard the Athenia. MID=WEST OPINION The special correspondent of the As.-, sociated Press of America, after touring the traditional isolationist MidWest, writes: “The vast dread of war, yet the almost fatalistic acceptance of the idea that sooner or later America will become involved, is plainly evident in the farm belt. Bankers, politicians, store clerks and filling station workers all expressed the same thought—‘We don’t want war, but we will probably be in there fighting before it is finished. Our sympathies lie naturally with England and France. Just let London and Paris be bombed, beat a few drums and tremendous war sentiment can be whipped up overnight.' ” This was written before the Athenia disaster shocked America. Simultaneously with the report of the Athenia’s sinking, the correspond-, ent of the United Press of America at San Juan, Porto Rico, cabled that the French freighter Carbet ran for shelter at San Juan after being chased by German submarines. The correspondent added that German submarines were reported off Jamaica.