World's War Events Volume II Part 39

On March 19 the steamships _Tunisie_ and _Haelen_, under charter to the commission, proceeding to the United States under safe conducts and guarantees from the German Minister at The Hague and bearing conspicuous marking of the commission, were attacked without warning by a German submarine outside the danger zone (56 degrees 15 minutes north, 5 degrees 32 minutes east). The ships were not sunk, but on the _Haelen_ seven men were killed, including the first and third officers; a port boat was sunk; a hole was made in the port bunker above the water line; and the ships sustained sundry damages to decks and engines.

[Sidenote: Consular officers suffer indignities.]

Various Consular officers have suffered indignities and humiliation at the hands of German frontier authorities. The following are ill.u.s.trations:

Mr. Pike, Consul at St. Gall, Switzerland, on proceeding to his post with a pa.s.sport duly indorsed by German officials in New York and Copenhagen, was on November 26, 1916, subjected to great indignities at Warnemunde on the German frontier. Mr. Pike refused to submit to search of his person, the removal of his clothing, or the seizure of his official reports and papers of a private and confidential nature. He was therefore obliged to return to Copenhagen.

Mr. Murphy, the Consul General at Sofia, and his wife, provided with pa.s.sports from the German legations at The Hague and Copenhagen, were on two occasions stripped and searched and subjected to great humiliation at the same frontier station. No consideration was given them because of their official position.

[Sidenote: Outrageous behavior of German officials.]

Such has been the behavior on the part of German officials notwithstanding that Consular officials hold positions of dignity and responsibility under their Government and that during the present war Germany has been placed under deep obligation to American Consular officers by their efforts in the protection of German interests.

[Sidenote: Neutrals on the _Yarrowdale_ held as prisoners.]

On January 19, Mr. Gerard telegraphed that the evening papers contained a report that the English steamer _Yarrowdale_ had been brought to Swinemunde as prize with 469 prisoners on board taken from ships captured by German auxiliary cruisers; that among these prisoners were 103 neutrals.

After repeated inquiries Mr. Gerard learned that there were among the _Yarrowdale_ prisoners seventy-two men claiming American citizenship.

On February 4 Mr. Gerard was informed by Count Montgelas of the Foreign Office that the Americans taken on the _Yarrowdale_ would be released immediately on the ground that they could not have known at the time of sailing that it was Germany's intention to treat armed merchantmen as ships of war.

Despite this a.s.surance, the prisoners were not released, but some time prior to February 17 the German Minister for Foreign Affairs told the Spanish Amba.s.sador that the American prisoners from the _Yarrowdale_ would be liberated "in a very short time."

[Sidenote: A formal demand for release of _Yarrowdale_ prisoners.]

Upon receipt of this information a formal demand was made through the Spanish Amba.s.sador at Berlin for the immediate release of these men. The message sent the Spanish Amba.s.sador was as follows:

[Sidenote: American prisoners must be released.]

"If _Yarrowdale_ prisoners have not been released, please make formal demand in the name of the United States for their immediate release. If they are not promptly released and allowed to cross the frontier without further delay, please state to the Foreign Minister that this policy of the Imperial Government, if continued, apparently without the slightest justification, will oblige the Government of the United States to consider what measures it may be necessary to take in order to obtain satisfaction for the continued detention of these innocent American citizens."

[Sidenote: _Yarrowdale_ men reach Switzerland.]

On February 25 the American Amba.s.sador at Madrid was informed by the Spanish Foreign Office that the _Yarrowdale_ prisoners had been released on the 16th inst. The foregoing statement appears to have been based on erroneous information. The men finally reached Zurich, Switzerland, on the afternoon of March 11.

[Sidenote: Treatment cruel and heartless.]

Official reports now in the possession of the Department of State indicate that these American sailors were from the moment of their arrival in Germany, on January 3, subjected to the most cruel and heartless treatment. Although the weather was very cold, they were given no suitable clothes, and many of them stood about for hours barefoot in the snow. The food supplied them was utterly inadequate. After one cup of coffee in the morning almost the only article of food given them was boiled frosted cabbage, with mush once a week and beans once a week. One member of the crew states that, without provocation, he was severely kicked in the abdomen by a German officer. He appears still to be suffering severely from this a.s.sault. Another sailor is still suffering from a wound caused by shrapnel fired by the Germans at an open boat in which he and his companions had taken refuge after the sinking of the _Georgic_.

[Sidenote: Drowning preferred to German prison.]

All of the men stated that their treatment had been so inhuman that should a submarine be sighted in the course of their voyage home they would prefer to be drowned rather than have any further experience in German prison camps.

It is significant that the inhuman treatment accorded these American sailors occurred a month before the break in relations and while Germany was on every occasion professing the most cordial friendship for the United States.

[Sidenote: Mr. Gerard is deprived of means of communication.]

After the suspension of diplomatic relations the German authorities cut off the telephone at the emba.s.sy at Berlin and suppressed Mr. Gerard's communication by telegraph and post. Mr. Gerard was not even permitted to send to American Consular officers in Germany the instructions he had received for them from the Department of State. Neither was he allowed to receive his mail. Just before he left Berlin the telephonic communication at the emba.s.sy was restored and some telegrams and letters were delivered. No apologies were offered, however.

[Sidenote: The German note to Mexico.]

The Government of the United States is in possession of instructions addressed by the German Minister for Foreign Affairs to the German Minister to Mexico concerning a proposed alliance of Germany, j.a.pan, and Mexico to make war on the United States. The text of this doc.u.ment is as follows:

"BERLIN, January 19, 1917.

"On the 1st of February we intend to begin submarine warfare unrestricted. In spite of this it is our intention to endeavor to keep neutral the United States of America.

[Sidenote: Basis of alliance proposed to Mexico.]

"If this attempt is not successful, we propose an alliance on the following basis with Mexico: That we shall make war together and together make peace. We shall give general financial support, and it is understood that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. The details are left to you for settlement.

[Sidenote: j.a.pan to be included.]

"You are instructed to inform the President of Mexico of the above in the greatest confidence as soon as it is certain there will be an outbreak of war with the United States, and suggest that the President of Mexico on his own initiative should communicate with j.a.pan suggesting adherence at once to this plan; at the same time offer to mediate between Germany and j.a.pan.

"Please call to the attention of the President of Mexico that the employment of ruthless submarine warfare now promises to compel England to make peace in a few months.

"(Signed) ZIMMERMANN."

The United States was, to a large extent, unprepared for war on the outbreak of hostilities with Germany. But when the step finally was taken, all the industrial, economic, and military resources, of the country, were mobilized. An account of how this was accomplished and the results of these efforts are described in the pages following.

PREPARING FOR WAR

NEWTON D. BAKER

SECRETARY OF WAR

[Sidenote: State of war formally declared.]

[Sidenote: Neutrality had delayed military preparations.]

[Sidenote: Great armies necessary.]

[Sidenote: Organization of finance, agriculture and industry.]

On the 6th day of April Congress declared "That the state of war between the United States and the Imperial German Government which had been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared." By this declaration and the proclamation of the President pursuant thereto, the United States entered the great conflict which had raged in Europe from August, 1914, as a belligerent power, and began immediately to prepare to defend the rights of the Nation, which for months had been endangered and denied by high-handed and inhuman acts of the German Government both on land and sea. The peaceful ambitions of our people had long postponed our entrance into the conflict; and adherence to a strict neutrality through long months of delicate situations delayed the beginning of active military preparation. At once, however, upon a declaration of a state of war, Congress began the consideration of the measures necessary for the enlargement of the military forces and the coordination of the industrial strength of the Nation. It was understood at the outset that war under modern conditions involved not only larger armies than the United States had ever a.s.sembled, but also more far-reaching modifications of our ordinary industrial processes and wider departures from the peace-time activities of the people. The task of the United States was not only immediately to increase its naval and military forces, not only to order the agricultural and industrial life of the Nation to support these enlarged military establishments, but also to bear an increasing financial, industrial, and agricultural burden for the support of those nations which, since 1914, have been in arms against the Imperial German Government and have borne not only the full force of the attack of its great military machine, but also the continuing drain upon their economic resources and their capacity for production which so t.i.tanic and long-continued a struggle necessarily entail.

[Sidenote: The whole people wish to help.]

[Sidenote: Benevolent and philanthropic societies.]

The first response from the country to the act of Congress in declaring a state of war came in the form of offers of services from the people, and for weeks there poured into the War Department an almost bewildering stream of letters and visitors offering service of every kind. Without distinction of age, s.e.x, or occupation, without distinction of geographical location or sectional difference, the people arose with but one thought in their mind, that of tendering themselves, their talents, and their substance for the best use the country could make of them in the emergency. Organizations and a.s.sociations sprang up over night in thousands of places, inspired by the hope that collective offers and aggregations of strength and facilities might be more readily a.s.similated by the Government; and benevolent and philanthropic societies began to form for the purpose of taking up as far as might be the vicarious griefs which follow in the train of military operations.

There was at the outset some inevitable crossing of purposes and duplication of effort, and perhaps there may have been some disappointment that a more instantaneous use could not be made of all this wealth of willingness and patriotic spirit; but it was a superb and inspiring spectacle. Out of the body of a nation devoted to productive and peaceful pursuits, and evidencing its collective spirit only upon occasions for the settlement of domestic and inst.i.tutional questions, there arose the figure of a national spirit which had lain dormant until summoned by a national emergency; but which, when it emerged, was seen to embody loyalty to our inst.i.tutions, unity of purpose, and willingness to sacrifice on the part of our entire people as their underlying and dominant character.