PROF. PERRY DESCRIBES U. S. WAR SITUATION

Professor Ralph Barton Perry '97, of the Department of Philosophy, has outlined in the Boston Transcript the present situation of the United States. He says:

"President Wilson spoke as he has never spoken before for the conscience and manhood of the American people when on Saturday, February 3, he solemnly announced to Congress that 'this Government has no alternative consistent with the dignity and honor of the United States' but to sever diplomatic relations with Germany.

"There was no doubt as to what he meant. The issue was at last clear to every American. The doubts which had troubled and divided us were dispelled in an instant. We were united and uplifted by an heroic act. We were not light-hearted. Every man knew that this act would probably lead to war, and every man knew that war might sweep away his property, his life or those he loved. There were no boisterous demonstrations. But every man felt a silent thankfulness that through his President he had now committed himself to a cause. He was now given an opportunity in union with his fellow countrymen to exert a great force for right.

"Why was the issue clear? Because on April 18, 1916, the President had announced, with the approval of the American people, that 'unless the imperia. Government should now immediately declare and effect an abandonment of its present methods of submarine warfare against passenger and freight-carrying vessels the Government of the United States can have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with the German empire altogether.'

Because on May 4, 1916, the German Government replied that 'in accordance with the general principles of visit and search and the destruction of merchant vessels recognized by international law such vessels, both within and without the area declared a naval war zone, shall not be sunk without warning and without saving human lives unless the ship attempts to escape or offer resistance.'

"Because on May 8, 1916, the President 'to avoid any possible misunderstanding,' had solemnly declared, with the approval of the American people, that the Government of the United States could not 'for a moment entertain, much less discuss, a suggestion that respect by German naval authorities for the rights of citizens of the United States upon the high seas should in any way or in the slightest degree be made contingent upon the conduct of any other government affecting the rights of neutrals and non-combatants.'

"Because, finally, on January 31, 1917, the German Government announced its intention of abrogating its agreement of May 4, and of defying the President's warning of May 8. In order forcibly to prevent all navigation to and from the Entente countries, the navigation of neutrals being expressly included, Germany now defined a zone surrounding the Entente countries and announced that 'all ships met within that zone will be sunk.'

Shall it be War?

"Shall it, then, be war? This is for Germany, and not for us, to say. The President has taken the narrowest possible ground. He takes his stand on the sacrifice of 'American ships and of American lives,' although he had formerly taken the broader ground of humanity. He has given Germany the benefit of every doubt; and has scrupulously avoided any appearance of partisanship.

"It may be objected that he has not taken as strong action against the Allies as against Germany. Of course he has not; for the simple reason that there has been no provocation. I am aware that many believe the Allied blockade to be illegal.

"Germany has complained of the starvation of women and children by the cutting off of her food supply: although knowing that such a measure is a well-recognized mode of warfare which she has herself employed in the past and is eager to employ in the present. As to the interference with importations into Holland and Denmark, it is a well-known fact that we were ourselves the first country to establish the doctrine of 'ultimate destination,' by preventing importations into the Mexican port of Matamoros because they were sent from there across the Rio Grande into Texas. Similarly, England, aware, for example, that more lard was imported into Copenhagen in three weeks than into all Denmark in the previous eight years, has sought to prevent such importations whenever there was good ground for believing that their ultimate destination was Germany. The Allied blockade has been effective, as a legitimate blockade must be. It has been conducted with every attempt to reduce the loss and inconvenience of neutrals to a minimum.

Both Blockades Not the Same.

"One of the most successful of all methods of muddling the mind and reducing it to a state of indecision is to draw loose comparisons. All important differences can be made to look like differences of degree. Suppose that it be admitted that the Allied blockade is illegal in this or that particular. Shall we then simply lie back and say that all of the belligerents are equally culpable because they all use illegal means to crush the enemy? It would be exactly as reasonable as though one were to refuse to distinguish between the angry man and the murderer because they both wish evil; or between a covetous man and a thief, because they both desire a neighbor's property.

"Black is, if you choose, only a very dark gray, and white a very light one. But it remains important, none the less, to distinguish between black and white. So in the present case the great outstanding fact is this: That, whereas the Allied sort of illegality, if such it be, has caused reparable inconvenience and financial loss, the German sort of illegality has already irreparably destroyed 200 American lives, and now threatens to destroy more. For these lives there is no redress; and to meet this threat there is no course but that of self-protection by force.

Armed Vessels Necessary.

"We must prepare by arming our merchant, vessels, or by convoy and patrol, to give to our people that protection from submarine attack that we have promised them. We must associate ourselves, if the attack comes, with that naval power which alone is capable of reinforcing our efforts and of making them effective. We must prepare for whatever eventualities an impending state of war makes probable. We must train and equip our citizens so that our policy as it develops shall be not only firm but united and powerful.

"We cannot see far ahead. No predictions as to the length or the fortunes of the present war are reliable. But after months of painful doubt and despite the dark prospect of suffering and sacrifice, we can at least be sure that today the bold thing to do is also the wise and the necessary thing to do. We have been cautious and prudent. We have been patient to the verge of dishonor. At length it is permitted us to go forward, one in thought and deed, and to be in the sight of all men that high-spirited nation that we are."