On the 28th of March the passenger
^J**35&.*
ST. AUL AM) MINNEAPOLIS. MI^N.. SATURDAY. MAECH 1. 1916
steamer Falaba was toipedoed by a
German submarine and an Amtiiean
citizen was killed, but nothing was
done On the 28th of April the Amer
lean \essel Cushin^ was attacked and
crippled by a German aeroplane Ou
the 1st of May the American \essel
Gulfllght was torpedoed and sunk by a
German submarine and two or moie
Americans ere killed, yet nothing was
done. On the 7th of May the Lusita
nia was torpedoed and sunk by a Ger
man submarine and more than 100
Americans and 1,100 other noncom
batants were drowned The very thing
which our government had warned
Germeny she must not do, Germany
did of set purpose and in the most con
fcemptuous and shocking way Then,
when all America was stirred to the
depths, our government addressed an
other note to Germany. It repeated
Its assertion of Ameffian rights and
renewed its bold' declaration of pur
pose. It declared again that the Amer
ican government "must hold the im
perial German government to a strict
accountability for any infringement of
those rights, Intentional or Incidental,"
and it declared that It would not "omit
any word or any act necessary to the
performance of its sacred duty of main
taining the rights of the United States
and its citizens and of safeguarding
their free exercise and enjoyment."
Still nothing was done and a long
and technical correspondence ensued,
haggling over petty questions of de
tail, every American note growing less
and less strong and peremptory until
the Arabic was torpedoed and sunk
and more American lives were destroy
ed, and still nothing was done, and
the correspondence continued until the
allied defense against German subma
rine warfare made it unprofitable and
led to its abandonment, and the cor
respondence is apparently approaching
Its end without securing even that par
tial protection for the future which
might be found in an admission that
the destruction of the Lusitania was
forbidden by law. The later corre
spondence has been conducted by our
state department with dignity, but it
has been futile. An admission of lia
bility for damages has been secured,
but the time for real protection to
American rights has long since passed.
