The United States Government have received from Germany an admission
that the American vessel 'Nebraskan' was sunk by a German submarine. The German Government, in apologizing and promising reparation, explain that no attack on the American flag was intended, and that the affair was an unfortunate accident. The German apology does not, of course, in any way modify the strength of the American case against German submarine warfare. Rather it increases it. For it is obvious that if Germany continues to act on sus- picion, as she certainly must in the particular kind of warfare she conducts at sea, she is sure to kill many neutrals.
The only way to avoid killing neutrals is to act on the American demand that every ship challenged should be visited and the passengers be placed in safety before the vessel is sunk. The German plea is like that of the suspicious Irishman who, sticking a knife into the back of the hand of his opponent at the card-table, exclaimed : " I beg your pardon, Sir, if the ace of clubs isn't under your band."
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