The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 1917. AMERICA ON THE BRINK.

Timaru Herald, Volume CVI, Issue 16227, 24 March 1917, Page 8

The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 1917. AMERICA ON THE BRINK.

There is one way, and only one, apparently, by which wax- between America and Germany can be averted. Germany can avert it by abandoning- her submarine campaign. That she will not do, so far as can be judged,; because "frightfulness" has become 1 her only hope. There is no doubt that when her murder policy was announced she took the risk that it would mean Avar with America. The prospect of another enemy being raised against her was weighed in the scales against the promise of an unrestricted piracy, and was outweighed by it. The campaign of the undersea assassins may not seem so promising to-day as it did in January last, but, having been deliberately begun, it is not likely to be discontinued. The i semiofficial Wow York "World" was not far out when it described the German Note, withdrawing pledges and announcin."' "ruthlessncss," as n rlonlnrntion of war against, the United States. The rutlilossness lias boon performed will) a cheerful absence of discrimination, and all the prospects are that the meetin"' of Congress which has been called for Anril 2nd will moan the issuing of An)erica's deelara I ion..

Tlio noidral movement, insriired by 1:11« iSwins IMJnisfor. M. Rider, to !)vorfc hostilities nmienrs to ho foredoomed |.i> Failure. M. Hitler, urtfuiiiK upoii notorious urof'o(loiil,s, Niisrffosl; that lliero is very 11i,( I<> dill'ereneo bet-ween illo nim.s ol' <iernuiny and the United Pinion. that (l le sinlciu.cjof .Ameriean ships and lives is ;>- small mailer while (Jermauy vie<* with llic J'owor-nlic lias mm-oker? iiT iirofossinns ol! hum;mity, and eo J.'orLb, but 'Anioncniis are too used to such arguments. There

is uracil evidence that they never have been proud of them in their application to the Allies and Germany, thoug-h they have preferred peace, as a nation, to taking part in a war against oppres eion and unrig-hteousness which has not, till recently, threatened any immediate dangers to themselves. M. Maeterlinck, in an address to citizens of nonbelligerent countries, referred f«j them as neutrals, a name which, he added, would" weigh heavily upon them in the future, and already the name has borne heavily upon not a few., Americans. JNow the abominable instincts of. Germany have b'een brought home to Americans in their own relations, and there are some wrongs which a nation cannot endure passively and live. .We are not -sure that tb fi United States was complimented by another argument for intervention, which was advanced last month by the London financial correspondent of the New York "Post." Evidently he thous-ht that it would weigh with certain sections, and it is conceivable that America would have been less tolerant of German crimes and pretensions in the past, if the self-flattering creed of pacifism, had not marched hand 1 in hand with profits. The correspondent 'wrote as follows: "Regarded from the cold-blooded standard of trade [and fhmnce, your entry into the | war would probably benefit America. Whether you enter the war or not,, the United States is likely to suffer, with all neutrals, from; a continuance of the conflict. .That suffering" would be felt both during and after the war. Tour entry into the war, by shortening the conflict, would lessen such loss. and. still more important, would add the.one touch necessary to consolidate vour recent prosperity, namely, further increased American pres-tis-e." "When the United States enters the war," we are told from Slew York to-day, "it will mean an earlier and better -peace," and that hop© may be justly entertained. America, is . preparing for intervention in the best way if a /'gigantic mobilisation, of financial resources to assist the Allies," and the requisitioning of German interned ships, have been given first place in her preparations.