AMERICANS AND THE 'FALABA.'
[To 7117 Roues stoat -sescravoa.-1 St,—Will some of your readers in the United States who occasionally send you striking and deeply interesting letteri kindly tell us the opinion of Americans as to the argument put forward by the pro-German propagandists in attempted justification of the drowning and firing on unarmed non- combatants and also women and children by the crews of German submarines P The treatment of the Falaba's' passengers is a case in point. The German Government and its subservient Press in 'Germany and elsewhere attempt to. justify the action which the crews of the German submarines have been ordered—as is admitted—to carry oat by saying that that action is merely a counter-movement to the attempt of the British Government to starve Germany by means of a maritime blockade. Apart from the fact that the German Government itself officially assures the German people that they need have no fear of being starved, because there is plenty of food in the country, if there be no wasteful con- sumption—apart from this fact, there is no parallelism between the two methods mentioned. Arrangements to cut off an enemy's supplies always leave him an alternative. If he refuses to comply with a demand and prefers to face risk of starvation, the decision is his own. The drowned passengers of the 'Falaba ' were not allowed to have any choice; they were not even offered one. They were done to death sans
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