There has been a great deal of discussion during the
week on the subject of reprisals. A considerable number of persons and newspapers demand that open towns in Germany should be bombed as an answer to the air raids here. We have often expressed our opinion about reprisals, and do not want to go into the whole question again now. But we would suggest that persons whose minds are exercised on the matter—who are unable to reconcile in a final judgment their moral dislike of reprisals and their feeling that after all reprisals may be the only effectual means of stopping German air raids on open towns—should remember that in spite of all the discussions it remains a purely military question. The best and truest reprisal is to beat the enemy. That deprives him of his power to do as he pleases. If our military leaders and experts tell us that the bombing of open towns in Germany is the most valuable military measure we can adopt to beat down the enemy's power in the air, well and good. We should think many times before resisting their opinion. But hitherto they have said nothing of the kind.
