The Alaska daily empire., 1914-08-17
NEUTRAL RIGHTS
 AND CONTRABAND
(By Gertrude E. Mallette)

tenttOn Of belligerenl sulPS III AAAiVA' can harbors turns our attention, for the moment, to the question of the rights of neutrals during the present conflict of powers In Europe, and our commercial world Is asking under what rules 1t may do business abroad,
 A belligerent has the right under international law, to confscate ship flying the flag of an enemy, or a neutral ship laden with cargo more than half of which Is contraband. un- der the latter circumstance the ship must be taken to Prize Court for ad' Indication and may not be destroyed unless the safety of it's captor or the jeopardizing of the operations in which the captor Is at the time en- gagged become imminent Officers and men actually belonging to an enemy's forces may be taken from a neutral ship by a belligerent, but the progress of the ship from which they are taken may not be cut of. The right to search ships for men or contraband goods Is established, though a strict interpretation of the international law would argue that belligerent may net capture reservists on their return to join an army but not already en- rolled in that army.
 The recent proclamation of Presi- dent Wilson forbidding American citi- zens to enlist or enter the service of belligerents, to hire or retain per son to go beyond the limits of the United States for the purpose of en- listment or to hire or retain a person to enlist or enter the service of belli- gerents may render subject to the treatment of belligerents many of the transatlantic liners which have re- gently been enrolled as auxiliaries of belligerent navies. This will. under the neutrality laws, result in their be. ing forced to leave our ports within the stipulated twenty-four hours.
 Though the definition of "ccntra' ; band" is still more or less elastic there is now a list which can never
 be contraband, and the cargoes oi ships are roughly divided into three classes, namely, absolute contraband conditional contraband, and non-con'
 traband. The conditional contraband list is of particular interest to the ship l ping interests of the Pacific coast and, as stated in Article 35 of the Lon
 don Declaration, 1t is as follows: Conditional contraband Is not lia ble to capture except when found on board vessel bound for territory
 belonging to or occupied by an enc my or for the armed forces of the enc , my, and when it Is not to be discharg
 ed at an intervening neutral port. The
 ships papers are conclusive proof both as to the voyage in which the vessel is engaged and as to the port of discharge of the goods, unless she
 is found clearly out of the course in dicated by her papers and unable to give adequate reasons to justify such deviation"
 Conditional contraband may without notice be treated as contraband, sub ject to the above rule. The condition al contraband list recently given forth by Great Britain is as follows: Food stufrs. forage and grain suitable for animals. clothing fabrics for clothing boots and shoes suitable for use in war; gold and silver in coin or bullion and paper money; vehicles of all kinds suitable for use in war and their com, ponent parts; railway materials, both fixed and rolling stock and materials for telegraph wires and wireless telegraphs and telephones. fuels and lubricants; powder and explosives not specially prepared for use in war; barbed wire and implements for fix. ing and cutting same; horseshoes and shoeing materials; harness and sad. dlery; field glasses, telescopes. chrono- meters. and all kinds of nautical in. struments.
 The absolute list includes the fol. lowing: Arms of all kinds, including arms for sporting purposes and their distinctive component parts; powder and explosives especially prepared for use in war; gun mountings, Timber boxes, limbers, military wagons. field forges and their distinctive component parts; clothing and equipment of a distinctly military character; all kinds of harness of distinctively military character; saddle. pack and draft ami mals suitable for use in war; articles of camp equipment and component parts; armor plates; warships, includ- ing boats and their component parts of such nature that they can be used only on boats of war; aeroplanes, air ships, balloons, and air craft of all kinds and their component parts, to- gether with accessories and articles recognizable for use in connection with balloons and air craft; imple- ments and apparatus designed exclu- sively for the manufacture of muni. tions of war. for the manufacture of or repairs of arms for use on land or sea.