The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1915-06-19


stances which led the commander OF
hurried into the course which he took.
Replies as to the Lusitania.
Your exceIIency's note, in discuss
ing the loss of American lives result
ing from the sinking of the steamship
Lusitania, adverts at some length to
certain information which the imper-
ial German government has received
with regard to the character and out
fit of that vessel, and your eXcellency
expresses the fear that this infOrma-
ton may not have been brought to
the attention of the government of the
United States. 1t is stated in the note
that the Lusiania was undoubtedly
equipped with masked guns, supplied
with trained gunners and special am
munition, transporting troops from
Canada, carrying a cargo not permit
ted under the laws of the United
States to a vessel also carrying pas
sengers, and serving, in virtual effect,
as an auxiliary to the naval forces OF
Great Britain.
U. S. Has Official Information.
Fortunately these are matters
concerning which the government of
the United States is in position to
give the imperial German government
official information. OF the facts al
legged in your excellency's note, if true,
the government of the United States
would have been bound to take official
cOgnizance in performing its recog-
nized duty as a neutral power and in
enforcing its national laws. 1t was its
duty to see to it that the Lusitania
was not armed for offensive action,
that she was not serving as a trans
port, and that she did not carry
cargo prohibited by the statutes of
the United States and that, if in fact
she was a naval vessel of Great Brit
ain she should not receive clearance
as a merchantmen; and it performed
that duty and enforced it's statutes
with scrupuloUs vigilance through Its
regularly constituted officials. 1t is
able, therefore, to assure the imperial
German government that it has been
misinformed.
If the imperial German govern
ment should deem itself to be in pos
session of convincing evidence that
the officials of the government of the
United States did not perform these
duties with thoroughness, the govern
ment of the United States sincerely
hopes that it will submit that evidence
for consideration.
Whatever may be the conten-
tions of the imperial German govern
ment regarding the carriage of contra
band of war on board the Lusitania or
regarding the explosion of that mate
rial by the torpedo, it need only be
said that in the view of this govern
ment these contentious are irrelevant
to the question OF the legality of the
methods used by the German naval
authorities in sinking the vessel.
Principles of Humanity First.
"'But the sinking of passenger
ships involves principles of human
ity which throw into the background
any special circumstances of detail
that may be thought to affect the
cases, principles which lift it, as the
imperial German government will no
doubt be quick to recognize and
acknowledge, out of the class of Or
binary subjects of diplomatic discus
Whatever be the other facts re-
| garding the Lusitania, the principal
fact is that a great steamer, primarily
and chiefly conveyance for passen-
| gers and carrying more than a thou
sand souls who had no part or lot in
/ the conduct of the war, was tor
| pedoed and sunk without so much as
a challenge or a warning, and that
men, women and children were sent
| to their death in circumstances IN
paralleled in modern warfare. The
| fact that more than one hundred
| American citizens were among those
who persisted made it the duty of the
! government of the United States to
| speak of these things and once more,
with solemn emphasis, to call the at
tention of the imperial German gov
eminent to the grave responsibility
which the government of the United
States conceives that it has incurred
in this tragic occurrence, and to the
indisputable principle upon which that
responsibility rests.
1.-THE government of the United
States is contending for something
| much greater than are rights of prop
erty or privileges of commerce. 1t
| is contending for nothing less high
and sacred than the rights of human
ity, which every government honors
itself in respecting and which no
government is justified in resigning
on behalf OF those under its care and
authority. Only her actual resistance
| to capture or refusal to stop when or
dered to do so for the purpose of visit
could have afforded the commander
of the submarine any justification for
so much as putting the lives of those
on board the ship in jeopardy. This
principle the government of the
United understands the explicit in
structions issued on August 3, 1914.
by the imperial German admiralty to
its commanders at sea to have recoS-
nized and embodied, as do the naval
code of all other nations, and upon 1t
every traveller and seaman had a right
to depend. 1t is upon this principle
IL