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Show AT IT AGAIN. (Salt Lake Tribune) While Englishmen are speculating as to the object of the German raid. Americans will be struck chiefly by the fact that the Germans have committed com-mitted a new breach of international law and the laws of war. The excuse ready at hand will be that the letter of the law was obsencd Forts existed exist-ed at Hartlepool and at Scarborough, although there are no permanent de fensee at Whitby. The argument will be that the killing of women and children was merely incidental to the bombardment of fortified places. The objection to the slaughter which will be voiced In this country Is that it was unnecessary. It could have no possible object beneficial to the Germans If they had been attempting at-tempting to. land troops for the pur-lose pur-lose of seizing the English seacoast towns they would have had tho same excuse that the Americans had at era Cruz, but the Germans had planned no invasion and were not even attempting to destroy tho forts. , lhe massacre probablv was in eon iiormlty with the German doctrine i ; j that war must be made as lerrible as I possible it would seem that even this doctrine should be applied ac-coiding ac-coiding to that rule of reason which it invokes, but there is no reason in destroying the lives of women and children when nothing is to be accomplished. accom-plished. Another excuse sometimes offered by apologists for the German war theory la that all war is barbarous barbar-ous and that each nation has a right to make war as it will. There is only one justification for war. In the last analysis a war is Justified for self-defense only. The case can be stated clearl by an example. If John Smith is trying to kill Thomas Jones, the latter ha3 a right to kill Smith, but if Jones, after killing Smith or Instead of killing bim, slays Smith's wife and children he is a murderer and beyond the pale of humanity hu-manity The law is the same for a nation and no amount of sophistry can change It. |
