The Washington herald., 1915-02-09
LESSON In NEUTRALITY.
By an American in Congress Whose
Kin Are Fighting for Kaiser.
Speech Of Representative Dan. " STEPHENS.
Nebraska
From The Congressional Record

Speech Of Representative Dan. v STEPHENS. OF
Nebraska.
| From the Congressional Record.
! The naturaIlzed citizens of the United
i States appreciate the blessings of this
/ new and wonderful land where they have
made their homes and to which they owe
| their allegiance. They are all bitterly
| opposed to war and they want to be
neutral 1t is true they have a deep and
! profound sympathy for their respective
/ fatherlands, and it is commendable that
! they have; but in spite of it all they are
/ for their own adopted country first and
| the hot-headed partisans who have tried
! to mislead them into believing that Pres
| ident Wilson and Secretary Bryan are
not observing absolute neutrality will find
! that their efforts have been wasted. II
| there is one virtue greater than any other
| In our German-American citizens, ii is
! his sense of loyalty to his government
! He feels that he must depend upon this
| government for life. liberty, and oppor-
| tunity. He knows that his government
| must be loyalty supported in times of
| stress like these and he hates most cor
! daily an agitator. 1t is true he feels
| keenly the dire stress of his fatherland.
! and he may fellow his yerg natural and
worthy sentiments of affection for his
cOuntrymen by wishing success to tho
| German cause. No one can Criticise him
for that.
His Kin in kaIser's Army.
My own blood and kin are now serving
| in the kaiser's army fighting for Ger
manys cause, il they have not already
died for their country; but that is no
| reason why l should insist upon this
country becoming an ally of Germany. |
wish my country to give Germany a fair
deal in this deadly struggle with the
allies, and that is whats this country is
doing. its slanderers to the contrary not
withstanding.
We are not to blame because the allied
navies have blockaded German and Aus
trian ports We do not own these ma
vies, nor did We aid or abet this horrible
war in any particular. We cannot be
expected to change our laws or morals
in crisis like the one confronting dis
nation simply because Germany and Aus
tria, our old-time friends and customers
have got pinched in the war game. II
the situation were reversed, and Ger
many and Austria had England surround
ed. we would go right on trading with
Germany and Austria just as We always
have before this nightmare came upon
the world
Would BE Anront TO Allies.
Trade takes no cognizance of diplo-
macy and diplomacy does not inter-
fere with trade save when the peace
and welfare of the nation is at stake.
At such times military law supersedes
civil law. But we are not at war with
any nation. Our peace and welfare
is not menaced by trade, because we
defend trade only when il is legal,
therefore there is no national reason
why our usual laws of trade should
not continue in force.
international law is the result of
centuries of usage and formal agree
ments of. international conventions of
nations. international agreements are
made in times of peace for the guild
ance of nations in times of war. For
the United States now, after all Eu-
rope is afiame with war. and one side
has the other at a disadvantage in the
matter of getting outside supplies, to
attempt to change our attitude on the
subject in question would be an af-
front to the nations which Temporal
rily have the advantage. The allies
would very properly ask us why we
did not say that we would not live
up to international laws and customs
before the war broke out. Why did
we wait until our actions would in
jure them only before declaring a
new policy in regard to supplying
provisions to belligerents
Might Invite WaA
If the allies did not have all they
could do to meet their enemy, they
might even consider our conduct in
passing such a resolution an affrOnt
that we would have to make good by
force. We would be in the attitude
of supplying freely all of the demands
of the belIigerents on both sides Of
this controversy when they botn were
free to buy from us. but when one
has obtained the upper hand of the
other and shut him off from our mar
kets, to refuse to sell to the other
would certainly be an unfriendly act !
against the allies and n friendly act
to the Germans and Austrians. who |
are at present shut off from our mar
kets. II the situation were reversed, |
and Germany and Austria had the al |
lies completely shut off from our mar ]
kets, | appreheRd that the German /
and Austrian sympathizers would not /
now be petitioning Congress to pass
this resolution; but. on the other hand, |
the sympathizeTs of the allies would !
no doubt be petitioning us to pass this |
resolution It depends altogether !
upon whose OK is gored.
1t Is certainly a good. time for the |
citizens of this country to leave deli !
cate matters of foreign relations to
our diplomats II is a splendid oppor- |
tunity for us to show the world our /
LOYALTY to our own country by hold |
ing up the hands of President Wilson
and his great Secretary OF State. We ,
are at peace with all the world, and .
the way to keep at peace is for our |
citizens to quit fighting the battles
of their respective belligerent favor
a.. 1k;. n,t{on needS the suupOrt /