The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-11-08


 with American ships and cargoes de- stined in good faith to neutral ports and lawfully entitled to proceed have become increasingly vexatious, caus- ing American ship owners and Ameri- can merchants to complain to this goyernment of the failure to take steps to prevent an exercise of be1lig- 4erent power in contravention of their just right" t4
 Wants Increase of Trade
 MT. Lansing refrains from com menting on statistics furnished by Great Britain to show an increased export trade of the United States to the neutral countries of Europe since the war began, further than to sug- gest that the British figures fail to take into account the increased price of comm odities resulting from the war and a diminution in .the volume of trade of the neutral countries with the warning nations which caused them to buy in other markets.
 ItNis contended by Secretary Lan-+ sing that many detentions were made while search was pursued for evidence to show that the carGoeS were contra band or that ships violated the non intercourse orders of Great Britain. Some, it is asserted were seized on belief or bare suspicion of the contra band nature of their cargoes. MT. Lansing says that from 1888 to the beginning of the pfesent war the prin- cipa1 maritime nations, including Great Britain. dta< not contemplate search in port, but search at sea to determine whether a vessel carried contraband. He contends that the British assertion that the position of the United States concerning search at sea is inconsistent with it's practice in the American civil war, is based on miscOnception. It is conceded that there may have been irregularities at the beginning of the civil war, but that careful search of the United | States records show concIusiVeIy | there were no. instances when vessels | were brought into port for search | prior to instituting prize court pro- | ceedings, or that captures were made | on other grounds than evidence found 1 on the ship and not upon cir l cumstances ascertained from eexternal 1 search. ITO back up this assertion | MT. Lansing aPpends to the note a by Gideon We1les, Secretary of the | Navy, to American naval officers for i their guidance during the civil war.
 Condemns Port Searches.
 Great Britain's contention that
 
 sells into port for fsearch-as conten- ton, Mr. Lansing says. that is based | on the size and seaworthiness of mod | ern sea carriers and the difficulty of | covering the real tranaction in the in tr1cate trade operations of the present 1 day-is dismissed on the ground that, 1 hampered as they are by censorship, | they are not more complex and dis l guised than in wars in recent years. The note includes extract from a | report of a board of naval experts to l the effect that present facilities for | boarding and inspecting ships are | greater than in former times. ! Phis government complains that the | British prize court changed the prac- | tice of Great Britain of more than a | century in determining whether ves- l sel was prize, with the result that in l nocent vessels or carEoes are detained l on mere suspicion. The British con- tention that its practice as, to estab- 1 fishing enemy destination followed the 1 American position in the civil war is 1 disputed. The United, States refuses 1 to accept as a rule of evidence the l presumption that certain military commodities shipped to a neutral are intended for enemy uses. /
 Secretary Lansing calls attention to the fact that the British government admits that British exports to neutral countries ''have also materially in creased since the present war began" The United States holds that if the rule of presum ption of ultimate enemy destination applies to American ship 1 ments it must apply also to British [ Shipments. Great Britain,'' it is de- c1ared,A cannot expect the United States, to submit to such manifest in Justice or to permit the rights of it's citizens to be so seriously impaired. The United States, it is set forth, maintains the right to sell goods into the general stock of a neutral country ''and denounces as illegal and unjusti- fable any attempt of a belngerent to intefere with that right on the ground that it suspects that the previous SUD- ply of such goods in the neutral coun- try, which the imports renew or re- place, has been sold to an enemy.
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 Must Contest Seizures.
 In view of these considerations the United States has no other course, Secretary Lansing declares, but to contest seizures of vessels at sea upon conjectural suspicion and the practice of detaining them in port for the pur- pose of obtaining evidence to justify prize court proceedings. To this MT.