Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1915-07-24

neutralS IN time OF war are based upon prlncl-
pie, not upon eXpediency and the principles
are mmutable. 1t is the duty and obligation
of belligerents to find way to adapt the new
circumstances to them.
Germany Out of Bounds,
The events of the past two months have
clearly indicated that it is possible and prac-
ticable to conduct such submarine operations
as have characterized the activity of the i'm
perial German navy within the so-calIed war
zone in substantial accord with the accepted
practice of regulated warfare. The whole
world has looked with interest and increasing
satisfaction at the demonstration of that pos
sbility by German naval commanders. 1t is
manifeStly possible therefore to lift the whole
practice of submarine attack above the criti-
cism which it has aroused and remove the
chief causes of offense.
In view of the admission of ilegality
made by the imperial government when it
pleaded the right of retaliation in defense of
its acts, and in view of the manifest posi-
bilty of conforming to the established rules
of naval warfare, the government of the United
States cannot believe that the imperial gov
ernment will longer refrain from diSavOwng
the wantOn act of its naval commander i'll
sinking the Lusitania or from offering repa-
ration of the American lives lost so far as
reparation can be made for a needless de-
structiOn of human life by an illegal act.
Cant Accept German Plan.
The government of the United States, while
not indifferent to the friendly spirit in which
it is made, cannot accept the suggestion of the
imperial German government that certain YES
sells be designated and agreed upon which shall
be free on the seas now illegally prescribed.
The very agreement would, by implication,
o+Lo 10 nd
be a curtailment and therefore an abandon
ment of the principles for which this govern
ment contends and which in times of calmer
counsels every nation would concede as of
course The government of the United States
and the imperial German government are con-
tending for the same great object, have long
stood together in urging the very principles
upon which the government OF the United
States now so solemnly insists. They are both
contending for the freedom of the seas The
government of the United States will con-
tinue to contend for that freedom from what
ever quarter violated, without compromise and
at any cost 1t invites the practical cOOpera-
ton of the imperial German government at
this time when cooperation may accomplish
most and this great common object be most
strkngly and effectively achieved
u S. to Insist On It,
The imperial German government ex-
presses the hope that this object may be in
some measure accomplished even before the
present war ends 1t can be. The government
of the United States not only feels obliged to
insist upon it, by whomsoever violated or
ignored, in the protection Of its own citizens
but is also deeply interested in seeing it made
practicable between the belligerents themselves
and holds itself ready at any time to act as
the common friend who may be privileged to
suggest way
In the meantime the very value which this
government sets upon tho long and unbroken
friendship between the people and government
of the United States and the people and gov
ernment of the German nation, impels it to
press very solemnly upon the imperial Ger
pan government the necessity for scrupulous
Observance of neutral rights in this critical
matter. Friendship itself prompts it to say
to the imperial government that repetition by
the commanders of German naval vessels Of
acts in contravention of those rights must be
regarded by the government of the United
States, when they affect American citizens as
deliberately unfriendly