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Show M TOO EASY WITH THE ENEMY. B Congress and the administration are singularly easy- H going and generous toward the enemies of the United M States in two particulars. Although the United States H has been at war since April 6, no law has been passed pro- H Iiibiting trading with the enemy. Germans in neutral M countries are obtaining money from the United States and M sending it to Germany. The other mistake is the assump- M lion that all enemy aliens in the United States are harm- B Jess unless they attract attention by some overt act. M Central and South America have many enterprising fl German residents, some of them citizens of the republics A and others retaining their German allegiance. All of M them are, in fact, loyal to Germany, and the German era- B pire claims them, even if they have expatriated themselves. m These men are keen traders, usually leaders in business, 1 the resourceful financially and otherwise. Many of them H have established connections in the United States through M which they buy and sell. They have strong credits here m and can obtain heavy advantages. The coffee interests m of certain republics are largely in German hands, and the M business is financed from the United States. The Ger-fl Ger-fl t mans concerned are now drawing upon America for gold M or its equivalent against the worthcoming crops, and there .. - as nothing to prevent this dispatch of this money to Ger- m many. Congress is either utterly ignorant of the situa- H tion or absolutelyindifferent to it. The President's em-B em-B " hargo against gold exports means nothing so long as B American citizens are permitted to.'trade with the enemy H in neutral countries. B As for alien enemies, all that the Unitel States gov- M eminent needs to do is to study the Mare Island explosion. B This occurred in a government reservation, supposedly B under strict guard. In a manner not yet discovered alien B enemies or American traitors gained entrance and placed B explosives so that a powder mazagine was blown up. fl Yet alien enemies are permitted to violate th,e Presi- B dent's proclamation ordering them kept away from navy B yards, arsenals and other government property. Licenses B are given to alien enemiesto remain within the proscribed B areas. The Department of Justice seems to be seized with B a morbid fear that influential Germans may be made B angry if the government dares to make itself safe against B plotters and bomb-throwers. B Keenly intelligent enemies are permitted to remain B in the District of Columbia, where they can learn many B important government plans and military secrets. Why B is this? Is the Department of Justice thinking more of B the German vote than the German bomb? Are the official B -representatives of Bulgaria permitted to come and go B freely through the United States, gathering any informa-B informa-B j lion that may be desired by their masters in Berlin? Does B the Department of Justice repose full confidence in the B good faith and forbearance of the enemy? If so, the B American people will no longer have faith in the Depart- B ment of Justice. B , Must Americans be burned or blown to atoms in some B t horrible railroad wreck or factory explosion before the B authorities awake to the fact that the enemy must be B watched? What better warning is needed than the Maro B , Island explosion? B , The people do not care to have their safety depend B upon the generosity of the enemy. They would rather B I f see some proof that their own protectors were on the job. B j Washington Post. |
