The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1915-01-08
SHOULD BE AMIcABLY SETTLED

SlOuRh SLdIeoHIdHSnIP anu Soou VIII
on both sides of the ocean to AMIGA
oly settle the dispute Letween Amer
Ca and Great Britain regarding
snlps that are suspected of
carrying contraband of war.
The Star does not think Great Brit
ain and the allies will give up the
right of search. 1t thinks that they
will do all they can to make it as
easy as possible, but it does not be- !
lieve they will give it up for any
thing less than the open threat of
war, and maybe not then.
Is it worth while for America to
go to war over this question? The
Star thinks not All the trouble and
expense that searching our compar-
atively few ships would make US in a
year would not be the equivalent of
the harm that would be done to our
country and the entire world in day
sometimes an hour-of war.
As it happens, the two interests
copper mines and the oil fields. Cop
per and gasoline are both invaluable
to Germany and Austria as NUM-
tons of war, and of both there is
great danger of their running short.
They cannot produce enough of either
for home consumption in time of
peace, and the war drain on their
supplies must bring them in danger
of extinction.
It will be remembered that when
the war began, almost the first ships
to come under the American flag
were the Standard Oil tank steamers,
many of which had been of German
registry. It was all right for these
ships, which were owned by Amer
lean capital, to join the merchant
marine of their own country; but if
their owners are trying to use our
flag for purely selfish reasons, we had
better have insisted that they join
the list of British prizes.
Some of these Standard Oil ships
have been seized by the British, but
always released. Their pertinacity
in venturing into dangerous waters is
remarkable, and that the Standard
Oil trust is perfectly willing for its
merchandise to float to a market over
sea of blood has been proven by the
events of the past few years in Mex
leo.
Less extensive but fully as selfish
is the copper trust. 1t has shipped
in the last few months to neutral
ports many thousand tons more of
copper than was likely to be needed
by the countries to whom those ports
belonged. AS there is certainty of
death to some of their men in every
ton of hostile copper, there is no
wonder that the allies are disposed to
prevent its shipment.
There are other interests, notably
naval stores, that must suffer by pro-
hibitio1 of shipping our products to
neutral ports. Turpentine is an in
dustry in which Floridians are much
interested, but, unlike Standard Oil,
it has never organized into a trust
capable of swaying national legisla-
ton. The Star regrets to see our
turpentine industry so hampered, but
it doesn't believe it would be helped
by foreign war.
As a matter of exact legal justice,
hoxx k4 10 hot
cargo shipped from America to a
neutral port shall go to its destina-
ton unmolested. 1t is none of our
affair if cargo of copper or tur-
pentine landed in Holland or Norway
goes straight to Germany In fact,
we might legally insist, and probably
would if we had the power to en-
force it, that our merchant ships go
straight to Hamburg, Bremen and
Trieste and unload at those ports
whatever the Germans and Austrians
chose to buy. But if we were engag-
ed in war we would not allow any ma
ton to treat US so, if we had the
power to prevent it. The United
States blockaded southern ports dur
ing the civil war, and the rest of the
world acknowledged the blockade. II
recognized it because no nation
thought it worth while to fight the
United States to break the blockade
and it isn't worth the while of the
United States to fight Great Britain
France and Russia in order that we
may ship comparatively small
amount of our products to Germany
and Austria.
There is no taking sides in thi!
question. If the German navy con
trolled the sea, it would blockad,
Britain, and Judging by the expires
sions of the German press the United
States would have to fight the Ger
!. mans in order to ship to Britain no
only contraband of war but bread an,
meat to feed the non-combatants