NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16205, 7 May 1918, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

To-day is tho third anniversary of r one of tho great crimes of the war—tho torpedoing of the Cunard liner Lusitania, off the Old Head of Kinsale, on the south coast of Ireland. Sho had on board 1257 passengers, and a crew if 702, and of this number 1198 men, women, . .children, including .124 citizens of the States, were drowned. The deed was premeditated, for Germans in America had openly boasted, before the Lusitania left Now York, on what proved to be her last voyage, that she would never reach lier destination, and advertisements'in New York papers' warned passengers to that effect. A lying statement was put forward by Germany, as the excuse for this appalling outrage, that the Lusitania was armed, and was carrying munitions and Canadian troops. These assertions were absolutely denied by the American Customs officers, who cleared the ship, and subsequently by a Ger-man-American who, after first "asserting that ho saw four guns mounted on hoard, pleaded guilty to perjury. It speaks strongly for American neutrality that it survived' for close on two years tho strain imposed upon it by this dreadful deed.

Evidence has lately come to light in America, during the investigations that have been conducted into tho operations v of the German spy system in the States, suggesting that if she had not been torpedoed, she might have been destroyed by internal bombs. A German lawyer named Schimmel, who used to practico lin 2sew York, was lately declared by I one of the police -inspectors engaged in probing German-American methods, to have gone into a friend's office when tire news of the sinking of the LusStnnia reached New York, "cursing and +earing his hair." Tho submarine commander, he said, had spoiled his game. "I had fixed that boat so "that she couldn't have reached port. Now he'll get all the credit, and my work has gone for nothing." Schimmel, who got back to Germany soon afterwards, proved to be right. The commander of the submarine was promoted, and a "Lusitania medal" was struck to show Germany's pride in the crime.

The Lusitania crime is three years old, but its consequences to Germany may last for years to come. It was one of the chief originating causes of the determined boycott of German ships and seamen tho British Seamen's Union, under, the fiery leadership of Mr Havelock Wilson, has . vowed to establish after the -war. An incident which occurred just after the steamer had been sunk opened Mr Wilson's eyes as to the whole German nation's share in the guilt. He announced the occurrence to a thousand German sailors, members of the British Seamen s Union, who were being looked after by the Union at a large camp in Northamptonshire. These men, as he recently told an audience, had lived and sailed with English sailors for many years, and at the time he did not regard them as responsible in any way for the German U-boat crimes. They received his announcement in silence, but after he left the camp they broke into wild cheers and sang the "Watch on the Rhine." Men who would do that were not, Mr Wilson concluded, fit for British sailors to live with or work with, henco the threatened boycott which thousands of British sailors have sworn to maintain.

The official report from Washington regarding Germany's anti-American designs in Mexico follows naturally on the active propaganda that Germany has beon carrying on in Mexico for

years. She was encouraging and assisting Mexico in her defiance of the States in the time of Huerta, and it was on the advice of the German Minister that Huerta refused to salute the American flag, an incident which led to America landing marines at Vera Cruz. German agents find in the Mexicans' violent hostility to America fruitful soil for their work, which is also facilitated, no doubt, by the wretched state of tho country, suffering as it is from a severe famine, due to the '■ almost complete failure of the corn crop.

Into minds in -which hatred of tho "Yankees" is inherent, Germany has found it easy to instil contempt for America's military capacity. Besides owning a large part of tho commercial houses in tho country, Germany controls a number of newspapers and furnishes many others with a news service, in which everything that can tell against the United States is exaggerated. A strong, and apparently successful, effort has been made by this means to convince the Mexicans that the few soldiers that America lias sent to France are Avorse than useless, and that instead of being a great naval and military Power, the United States is simply a hollow shell. Mexico, almost to a man, has been induced, most willingly.. to believe that Germany is bound to win, and that after tho war she will, with the help of Japan, see that Mexico is revenged upon her big neighbour. As conditions cannot, apparently, be worse in Mexico than they are, German agents may succeed in inducing tho people to believe that they might be improved by waging war on the United States, which, as it would necessarily involve tho latter retaining large numbers of troops the frontier, would servo Germany's immediate purpose .very well.

Tho agreement- arrived at between tho German and Dutch Governments regarding tho transport of huge quantities of sand and gravel through Holland. from Germany to Belgium, an' 1 the action of tho Dutch in agreeing to the resumption of German railway traffic via lloermOnd in Holland to Belgium, suspended since .the war began, must cause trouble between the British and the Dutch Governments. Tho sand and gravel question became acute towards the end of last year, and led to Great Britain cutting off all commercial cable communication with the Netherlands until the latter agreed to stop the transit to Belgium or all war materials from Gernianv over the Dutch waterways. Statistics showed that these materials were finding their way into the, invaded part of Belgium in quantities out of all proportion to those sent in peace time.

It was shown that the ordinary prewar requirements for the upkeep cf Belgian roads and railways amounted to about 1,320,000 tons •of sand, and gravel annually. This could be supplied more than four times over from Belgian quarries, which up to last October at least wero being worked to their full extent. . In addition large quantities of and gravel were then passing into Belgium over the German railways, and further large quantities went from Holland itself in the shape of sand and gravel of Dutch origin, though the traffic on Belgian roads and railways, except Jor military purposes, was, and is, absolutely insignificant.

On the other hand, tho demand in respect of roads in the area of military operations, for trenches, dug-outs, and pill-boxes is enormous. ' To meet it the Germans have been iimporting sand and gravel by every means in their power. Last year, from January Ist to August 15th, the Germans imported into Belgium via Holland over 3,000,000 tons, and in the second half of August the traffic was at the rate of 5,000,000 tons per annum. Even the Netherlands Government's estimate of 1,650,000 tons annually for civil purposes, grossly excessive as it was, did not represent half what went through.

Britain's objection to facilities being given for the transport of these materials was strengthened by the report of the Geological Survey Office, which examined thirty-nino specimens of tie concrete used in the construction of pill-boxes in Flanders, and found that in thirty-two cases Rhine gravel had been used.

The Germans are reported to have bombed and destroyed the Rockefeller Hospital at Compeigne, conducted by the famous American surgeon, Dr. "Carrel. Alexis Carrel is one of the leading pathologists of America, especially on the surgical side. Prom about 1912 he was engaged in research work at Rockefeller's Institute of Research in Paris. He conducted special researches into the transplanting of organs, and successfully accomplished the transplanting of a kidney from one dog to another. He has also done good and original work in the suturing of .blood vessels and in the transfusion of blood, which has been much used in the present wiar. Since the war broke out he has worked a great deal on disinfectant solutions, and the most widely-used apparatus for the irrigation of wounds is the Carrel-Dakin, with liypo-chlorate solution. In this case Carrel designed the apparatus. He has'also worked with the great American surgeon, Dr. Crile, on surgica! shock. |