for a
submarine outbreak which would be extended with impunity owing to the
Administration's hesitation in taking action that might not be
sustained by the President's presumed successor, on the theory that
Mr. Wilson's defeat would be tantamount to a popular repudiation of
his policies.

Light was thrown on the German submarine policy by a Berlin dispatch,
dated October 26, 1916, which indicated that the submarines were at
least placating the extremists:

"While the silence of the German press and public on the subject of
sharpened submarine warfare may be attributed in some measure to the
stand of Hindenburg and Ludendorff against it, much more significant
is the growing popular realization that sharpened submarine warfare is
actually in force. And the public is beginning to regard it as
efficient and highly satisfactory. The fact is that it is successful
as never before, for it is sharpened not qualitatively, but
quantitatively."

The British admiralty later reported that between May 4 (the date of
the German pledge) and November 8, 1916, thirty-three vessels had been
sunk by German submarines without warning, resulting in the loss of
140 lives. In the same period 107 ships, all of British registry, had
been sunk and "the lives of the crews and passengers imperiled through
their being forced to take to the sea in open boats while their ships
were a target for the enemy's guns."

President Wilson's success at the polls, which hung in the balance
several days after the election, was the signal for a change of
attitude on Germany's part. The Berlin Government realized that his
foreign policy had received the indorsement of a majority of American
citizens, and the assurance was communicated that the German admiralty
was again on its good behavior.

But many depredations had been committed which Germany would be hard
put to explain satisfactorily. No less than ten pressing American
inquiries regarding sunk ships were sent to the Berlin Foreign Office
as soon as the President, assured that his tenure of office was no
longer in doubt, returned to the consideration of foreign affairs. The
submarine outbreak showed an undoubted disposition on Germany's part
to violate her pledge, and if the Administration was satisfied that
she had done so, its expressed attitude was that no more protests
would be sent. The American answer to Germany's defiance could only be
the dismissal of Count von Bernstorff from Washington and th