The people should by their action spare him unnecessary embarrassment and rely for a satisfactory solution of the grave questions confronting us on his patriotism and honesty.

A dispatch on May 14 to THE NEW YORK TIMES from Max Burgheim, editor of the Freie Presse of Cincinnati, Ohio, reads:

The part of the note referring to the Lusitania catastrophe had better been directed to London.  England, not Germany, is responsible for the destruction of the Lusitania.  England, through the violation of the rights of nations and the brutal threat to starve 70,000,000 Germans, has forced Germany to a policy against English commerce of which the Lusitania was a victim.  Germany declared to our President her willingness to stop submarine warfare if England would allow the importation of food for the German civil population.  England contemptuously cast aside the President’s mediation.

It has not yet been proved that submarine warfare is not in keeping with international law.  Distinguished authorities on international law have declared that Germany was not only justified but bound to adopt this method in the hour of need, because it is the only effective defense against England’s warfare.  Germany cannot cease this warfare unless she wishes to surrender with tied hands to a ruthless enemy.  All we can justly ask of Germany is that neutral ships be not attacked, and that damages be paid in case of loss through mistakes.  Germany has already agreed to this.

Falaba, Cushing, Gulflight

CASE OF THE FALABA.

A Washington dispatch to THE NEW YORK TIMES on March 31, 1915, reported that the records of the State Department’s Passport Bureau show that a passport was issued on June 1, 1911, to Leon Chester Thrasher, a passenger aboard the British African steamship Falaba, which was torpedoed by a German submarine in the “zone of naval warfare” on March 28.  The American citizenship of Thrasher, who was drowned, has been established.

[Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES.]

LONDON, Wednesday, March 31.—­An American citizen, Leon Chester Thrasher, an engineer, was among the victims of the German submarine that sank the British steamer Falaba in St. George’s Channel last Sunday with a loss of 111 lives.  Mr. Thrasher’s name is included in the official list of the missing.  For the last year he had been employed on the Gold Coast, British West Africa, and it is presumed he was returning to his post when he met his death at the hands of the German sea raiders.

The Daily Mail says Mr. Thrasher was bound for Secondee, West Africa.  Reference to the form which has to be filled out to satisfy the Board of Trade and customs requirements by every passenger embarking at a British port before tickets will be issued shows that Mr. Thrasher was a citizen of the United States.  Here are the particulars: