South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-03-22
THE EUROPEAN WAR ZONE" AND
OUR RIGHT OF PROTEST.

likewise with Germany's ban upon
hipments 20 the allies or neutrals.
They may accept il philosophically
and adjust business 10 il. Diplomatic
| protests there may be by the state de-
paStment, but these protests will get
& nowhere. II Is inconvenient, but it is
j Inevitable. We viii not 90 anything To
. prevent or interfere with the blockade
T. for the two simple reasons that we
have no right 10 do so nor any means
| for doing Sc.
The blockade and bans if not Of
1 American invention. were ct least
) among the effective devices used in
this country as an incident of war.
And as Z happens, cotton was Jne Of
It's important victims. The United
Sfates does not like cotton TO be de
ciared contraband by the allies. but it
was the United States that first de-
c1ared cotton contraband when during
The civil war. southern ports were all
hicckaded and commerce in cotton be-
tween the cOnfederacy and England
wss smut Off. England did not like it
and protested. bat that was all the
Eood it did her.
The principle or starving an enemy
into subsection. including the civil
popuisttsn. women and children, was
adoEted by the federal government
during the civil war and il does not lie
IN our mouth to protest against the
inhumanity OF the allies thus treating
Germany. or Germany the allies.
though the latter seem quite as pow
erless as we are on the point. Nor is
there any particular ground for pro-
test on the theory that the blockade
lie not an actual blockade. New de-
vices in war make new rules of war
The distance at which battle lines fight
IS different now from what il was
when men ran at each other with six
teen-fOOt spears and twO-foot short
swords. The original blockade was
that OF a city 1t was then called
siege" and an enemy camped around
close to the outer walls and used seal
ing ladders, catapaults and ballistas.
as against large stones. boiling water.
hot lead. arrows and fighting men on
the wall tops. The line moved back
when gunpOwGer substituted artillery
and the wall became entertainments.
The glorifi 'ation of war has now made
the city only a unit in the nation and
the siege has 10 he siege OF a nation
rather than a city.
When the siege was on the water
front 1T was called ''blockade" and
the enemy ships hung outside the
ports as in our civil war. and the op-
position tried TO run the blockade with
ammunition and food supplies. The
last blockade declared by the United
States was that of the island of Cuba
after the declaration OF war with
Spain. All the Cuban ports were
closed
The increased radius of our modern
battleships and the introduction and
development of the submarine has
again moved the line back and the
war zone" as Germany calls it. is a
large range OF waters. Great Britain
| declares war zone" also, but admits
that it does not reach from the east
ern 10 the western side of the Atlantic.
Just where it stops, no one knows. 1t
is somewhere. however. in the general
vicinity of Germany. and anyone at
tempting TO run this blockade line
is liable TO be picked up by any war
ship OF the allies.
The hardship of the blockade order
is considerably modified by the Brit
ish, however. in their purely voluntary
offer to buy instead of confiscating
captured cargoes. Under the law of
blockade, If they had chosen To re-
gard the present status as such, the
allies would have the right TO confis-
cate cargoes as well as 20 sink the
blockade-running ships The test Of
whether a blockade is a real blockade
or not is it's effectiveness. II Great
Britain can prevent any ship from
reaching German. Germany is effec-
tually "blockadCd." 1t makes no diff
ference where the imaginary line is
drawn. provided it does not take in the
whole ocean. The only point To be
considered are these: is the cargo
consigned 10 an enemy port and can
the blockading fleet prevent the CON
signment from reaching that port. The
circle can be drawn as large as the
blo1kading fleet can be effective. pro-
vided the blockade is OF the ports Of
the enemy country and not the ports
OF the neutral country.
The blockade OF German ports viii
affect the United States most seriously
IN the platter OF certain imports such
% dye stuffs and chemicals. of which
Germany has had a practical monopo-
Isl Of manufacture and for which all
the wcrld is dependent on the German
factories The market for American
products in Germany which VII be
lost is insignificant compared with
the disadvantage which we viii suffer
by inability 70 import those German
wares which enter into certain Amer
lean manufactures.