The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-09-24
ENGlAND-S
 DISPUTE TIES UP
 NEEDED SUPPLIES
Cargoes Worth Twenty Five Millions Delayed By
 Great Deadlock.

tween the two countries, is no nearer a satisfactory solution of the dispute than at the beginning of it's session. Meanwhile, over twenty-five million dollars worth of supplies for Russia which she urgently needs, have ac- cumulated in Sweden. owing to this country's refusal to allow the transit of goods of Russia until England has modified her demands regu1atin the amount of Sweden's imports.
 The resumption of the meetings of the commission after an adjournment which followed apparently intellectual attempts to arrive at Understand ing,s has reawakened fresh interest in the trade question which is for-the moment the most widely discussed topic in Sweden. Hope is generally. i expressed that 8 compromise will be effected which will result in more friendly relations between England and Sweden. Few areJ pessimistic enough to believe that the misunder- standing will widen into a more seri- ous breach between the two coun- 1 tries The two sharply conflicting points i of view which were presented to a correspondent of the Associated Press by Swedish and English members of kthe commission do not, however, | promise any immediate settlement of l the dispute, nor do they contain i enough in common to suggest the pos
 sibi1ity of compromise. The Eng
 fish members of the commission argue
 that a large amount of supplies, many
 of which are directly connected with
 the maintenance of army and the
 prolongation of the war find transit l through Sweden to Germany. They contend that a conspicuous increase
 in Swedish imports beyond ~4ner own | needs is evidence that these supplies I FO oT0d. hat
 great many of them are articles
 which Germany particularly needs, 1 notably meat. coffee. cocoa, cotton, | copper and lubricants of various sorts Being assured that these are destined for Germany, England claims the right to place such cargoes in the ! prize courts and is enforcing this right.
 1t is admitted that these cargoes are vouched for by Swedish merchants as having Swedish consignees their l ultimate destination but it is claimed
 that through intermediate steps in | Sweden they find their way finally in to Sweden. It is also stated by the + English members of the commission
 that the co11usion of Swedish shippers with Germany has led to the de1iber ate surrender of ships and cargoes to German vessels and that their cap- ture was part of a prearranged plan.
 
 fright of Sweden to continue the sex-
 port of her own products to Germany and to import any quantity of goods tthat it may be reasonably supposed is for Swedish consumption, but argues that this amount should not I exceed her normal imp Calling : attention to her increase in imports, the English commissioners ask Swe- | den to- guarantee that. supplies except for home manufactures will not be .Lsent to Germany or in other words that there shall be no transit of sup l plies through Sweden to Germany. The Swedish members of the com omission reply that her export laws
 which are rigidly enforced by the lgovernment prohibit the sending of most articles to Germany and that ex- l captions are only made to this pro- hibitory list when she is forced into
 an exchange of supplies with Ger many by a shortage of necessary ar ticles in her. country, caused in many
 cases by Englands restriction of her I imports. There are some articles J such as aniline dyes, medical goods and certain kinds of machinery which Sweden can obtain from aGermany, and. in order to get these necessary sup plies she must extend to Germany kspecial licenses contrary to her pro- ! hibitory regulations. But it is con- tended that these supplies which Ger I many obtains under these conditions are almost negligible. Swedish com rnissioners claim that she is justified in refusing to guarantee the stoppage of all transit to Germany, because as an independent nation, she has fright to trade with one country as well as another and that if England sees fit to, hold up her imports,Alshe
 will refuse to transmit supplies to Russia. |
 J7
 lock is the quantity of supplies sent to Germany under the special licenses ? contrary to Sweden's list of forbidden
 exports. The English members of the commission have called for exact figures showing the export to- Ger many, but such statistics it is claim
 ed by the Swedish government are not available. The English and Swe- dish members of the commission also
 disagree as to the usefulness to Ger many for military purposes of such articles as copper which are on Swe- den's free list. The English argue that whether the copper is one kind or another, it can be converted into . copper for military use in Germany
 and that large quantities of copper, oil and cotton have found transit into l Germany.
 : ttistics available in Sweden are mis- leading, they support the English con- l tention that Swedish imports of the articles mentioned have in some cases
 been treb1ed since the beginning of
 the war. The declaration of cotton
 as contraband has of course eliminat-
 ed articles from the discussion.
 From investigations made by an !. impartial observer in Sweden, it is ! clear that although greatly decreased I, by England's supervision, the transit [ [ of considerable supplies to Germany 5 ! being vouched for by Swedish con signees, these supplies often pass through many as a dozen hands before their shipment to, Germany.
 Many Swedish merchants have frank 7 ly stated that when they could not