Evening Post. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1917. PREPARING FOR THE "OVERT ACT"

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 46, 22 February 1917, Page 6

Evening Post. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1917. PREPARING FOR THE "OVERT ACT"

It is nearly three weeks since President Wilson made the momentous announcement to Congress that he had. directed his Secretary of State to inform the German Ambassador " that all diplomatic relations between America and Germany are severed, and thait the American Ambassador at Berlin will be immediately withdrawn." The forbearance of the President, which Germany through more than eighteen months of tortuous and indecisive negotiations had come to regard as inexhaustible, had at last reached its limit; Count Bernstorff was given his passports, Mr. Gerard was recalled, and Germany and the United States are no longer on speaking terms. But from the rapture of diplomatic relations the parties have not yet come to blows, and it is by no means clear ithat they ever will. President Wilson is said to recognise that Germany's first overt act against American interests, in pursuance of her warning to the world to desist from, the use of tthe high seas except under the conditions dictated by herself, must lead to war, but the condition has not yet been satisfied. "Overt aat" is a phrase which admits of many interpretations, and no German submarine has yet satisfied the interpretation which the President places upon it. But the American ships which sailed last week for the danger zone are giving Germany ithc chance of putting the matter beyond a doubt if she is anxiouts to take it. With characteristic providence and duplicity, Germany prepared for the possibility It was Jit first semi-officially declared -Limit the St. Louis and other American steamers would be sunk without mercy if they were encountered in the " prohibited zone." A subsequent message said that " the submarines have been ordered to spare the St. Louis, but it is feared that theradiogram will not reach all the submarines." If this fear sho.uld be realised and tho unfortunate miEcarrisgp eho.uid result in the, siukifta of tks, St.,

Louis, the message would stand on record ac a conclusive proof of Germany's benevolence and bona fides, and she might reasonably hope, from the pace ait which the negotiations proceeded last year, that sparring over the circumstances of the miscarriage might postpone the final clash for a few months. According to the Yon Tirpitz school, or some of its most thoroughgoing members, the entry of the United States into the war would really be, a blessing in disguise. It would be a great advantage to Germany to have among the Powers that she defeats one that could afford to pay spot cash on the settlement. "The only result of the United States coming into the war," says the Grazerpost, "would be to pay us money, while the Allies could pay in territory." This would obviously be a highly convenient arrangement for a' nation which is not overflowing with money just now, but there is no evidence that the German Government takes this cheerful view. To sink as many ships as possible without? driving the United States into war is its main concern, but at any moment the incompatibility of these two objects may be revealed by an overt act which all the resources of the Wilhelmstrasse in circumlocution will fail to explain away or to palliate. Against this obvious ( possibility President Wilson,'* with an overwhelming, majority of his fellow-. I countrymen behind him, is endeavouring to make preparation. The neglect of years cannot be repaired in the course of a few days, or even weeks, but from this time forward, at any rate, it looks as though the peace-loving President would not leave things to chance. So far at least as constitutional power is concerned, President Wilson is doing his best to make the position good As we explained on Tuesday, the Constitution of the United States does not give a President the power of making war The complete command of the Federal Army and Navy is vested in ""him. He can make treaties, with the advice and consent of Senate, as declared by a twothirds vote of the members present. But the making of war is a prerogative of Congress alons, Indirectly of course a President can exercise a powerful or even a controlling influence on the issue of peace or war, as the course of American, diplomacy during the last two years abundantly illustrates. A strong President may )ead the ■ nation, or a weak one may allow it to drift, into such a position that the declaration of war by Congrewt may become a mere inevitabla formality But the /formal step to a state of war is nevertheless one which Congress alone can take. In the present case th,e consent of Congress to a declaration of war when the President regards.it as necessary may be accepted as a foregone conclusion 1 His weakness has combined with his strength to ensure that result. Ho was . too strong foft Congress a year ago when it desired to. compromise .with Germany on her proposal that American citizens should be warned off travelling by passenger'ships belonging to the belligerents. What since then has probably seemed to a ! large majority of his fellow-citizens, as it has certainly seemed to the outside world, his weakness and indecision, has I at least had the advantage of convincing them that if the President should ever think it time to declare war, the time must really have come I This combination of causes has been so strengthened by the arrogance and the cruelty of the latest rftase of Germany's submarine policy that practically the whole'country, from Mr. Roosevelt at the one pole of thought to Mr. Henry Ford at the other, appears to ihave rallied with enthusiasm in support of the President It has applauded his rupture of diplomatic relations with Germany, and it is evidently ready to follow him as much further along these lines as he thinks fit and to leave it Ito him to say when. In these circumstances it is hardly possible that Coni gress will decline to pass the resolution " permitting the President to use the army and navy to maintain America's rights and enforce America's obligations under the law of nations." The execution of the insolent threat which Germany has aimed at the dignity and independence of the United States may at any moment precipitate the clash, and it would be absurd if the formality of consulting Congress should then intervene to tie the hands of the President and prevent the prompt adoption of the necessary measures of protection and retaliation.