100 years ago in The Saratogian
Wednesday, Feb. 28, 1917
Today’s Saratogian calls on the United States to declare war on Germany in retaliation for the deaths of two American passengers on a torpedoed British ocean liner.
Mary and Elizabeth Hoy died of exposure in a lifeboat after the Laconia was sunk by a German submarine last Sunday. As many as four American crew members may also be lost. The Cunard liner was torpedoed without warning off the coast of Ireland, in keeping with Germany’s policy of unrestricted submarine warfare against all shipping bound for Great Britain or France.
President Woodrow Wilson broke off diplomatic relations with Germany earlier this month. Two days ago he requested Congressional authorization to arm American merchant ships. According to The Saratogian, these measures are no longer enough.
“It is held by many of our officials, students of international law and publications of standing that the sinking of the Laconia is an act of war on the part of Germany against the United States,” the editorial claims.
“It is time for President Wilson to defend the rights of the people in this country according to the oath he took upon becoming President. He is in the same position as was [James Madison] when, in 1812, he went before Congress and said, ‘War, in effect, has long been declared on the United States while we, as a country, are still at peace.’
“Congress was then asked to reply to war and acts of war with a declaration of war. That is what the nation should do now.”
While President Wilson has demanded that Germany guarantee the rights of Americans as neutral citizens while traveling on passenger ships, he said Monday that Germany had not yet committed the “overt act” that would compel him to ask Congress for a war declaration.
SUNDAY MOVIE SHOWDOWN
After a temporary injunction against the city of Saratoga Springs that lasted two months, the Broadway Theater will most likely be compelled to close this Sunday.
State supreme court justice Henry V. Borst granted the injunction to Broadway manager Samuel Newton Jr. last December 27. It blocked the city from taking action to close the Broadway, despite a November Appellate Division ruling reaffirming that Sunday movie shows were illegal under New York State’s law against public amusements on the Christian Sabbath.
The other Spa City theaters have remained closed on Sundays because the injunction only covered the Broadway. In court today, Justice Borst “sustained the demurrer to the complaint in the action of Sam Newton, Jr.” Translated from legalese, that means that the injunction has been vacated, and “hereafter the picture houses must remain closed.”