REPRISALS.

The time has come when the English and French have had to resort to reprisals for the air raids over undefended towns. Not until every other means of stopping them had been exhausted were the Allies justified in stooping to this policy, but the blood of their murdered non-combatants calls for action, not the action of mere vengeance, as would men of other races and other character, but action for protection. If the Germans have been carrying on their raids with the settled aim of keeping aeroplanes at home for purposes of defense, then reprisals will equalize the military advantage, and maybe even outweigh it, as the Allies now have more machines than their foes. If, on the other hand, the Germans' air raids are a mere exhibition of frightfulness, if they are simple gratifications to some disappointed group of officials, then there is hope that the shedding of German blood and suffering in a few German cities may bring them to their senses. Oft provoked and slow to anger have been the Allies, but now that all else has failed, we must support their stand, and hope that the old philosophy of an "eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" may yet save thousands of English and French non-combatants from death and mutilation.