which are in position to feed it, and manufacture for it
munitions, clothing, and the other supplies that war demands. While
remaining strictly neutral, North and South America can be of great
service to the Allies. To be sure, as a neutral the United States will
be obliged to give some aid to Germany and her allies, such, for
example, as harboring the interned commercial fleet of Germany; but this
aid will be comparatively insignificant. The services which the American
republics can thus render to the cause of liberty and civilization are
probably more considerable than any they could render by direct
contributions of military or naval force. Kept free from the drain of
war, the republics will be better able to supply food, clothing,
munitions, and money to the Allies both during the war and after the
conclusion of peace.

On the whole, the wisest thing the neutral nations can do, which are
remote from the theatres of war, and have no territorial advantages to
seek at the coming of peace, is probably to defend vigorously and with
the utmost sincerity and frankness all the existing rights of neutrals.
By acting thus in the present case they will promote national
righteousness and hinder national depravity, discourage, for the future,
domination by any single great power in any part of the world, and help
the cause of civilization by strengthening the just liberty and
independence of many nations--large and small, and of different
capacities and experiences--which may reasonably hope, if the Prussian
terror can be abolished, to live together in peaceful co-operation for
the common good.

Appeals for American Defense

Need of Further Protecting Neutral Rights Set Forth.

By GEORGE W. WICKERSHAM.

_Formerly United States Attorney General._

_To the Editor of The New York Times:_

The destruction of the Lusitania by the Germans, and the wanton killing
of American men, women, and children, without warning, brings sharply
before the American people the question of how long the present sexless
policy of the conduct of our affairs is to be continued. Germany has
apparently decided to run amuck with civilization. It is now for the
American people to decide whether this nation has any virility left, or
if it is content to sink to the level of China.

A very clear course, it seems to me, is open for us to pursue: We should
cancel all diplomatic relations with a country which has declared war
upon civilization, re