The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1915-05-14
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Law and the Lusitania.


tablish international law than one
nation alone can abolish internation-
al law. 1t is the joint creation of
all nations and the general heri-
tage of civilization.
1t represents, in International re-
lati0ns, what the common law" rep
resents to citizens in their domestic
affairs.
Our common law, inherited largely
from England, has been built up by
the immemorial usage of the race.
It typifies the racial sense of social
order. 1t is an expression of the ra-
cial lite. Much Of it has been writ
ten into statutes, all of it has been
established by judicial decisions over
and over again; but if every law
book in England and America were
destroyed, that body of common law,
of rulers for the proper behavior Of
American citizens toward each other,
would still exist. It is an intangible
thing-as intangible as religion and
morality, and just as definite and
permanent. 1t is an inseparable part
of our national culture, existing in
the hearts and consciousness of in
dividuals and upheld by the tacit
consent of the great, ruling majority
of honest men.
. International law, likewise, would
exist if every lawbook on the SUBJ
ject were burned, if every Hague
Convention were repudiated by some
of the signatories, if every treaty
were torn up by angry diplomats
so long as a majority of mankind re-
fused to sanction such anarchy and
upheld the old landmarks of order
and decency.
The great fallacy of the position
occupied at present by Germany
among the powers is her assumption
that she herself can annul old inter-
national laws and make new ones,
by the mere fiat of her kaiser or i'm
perial council.
To get down to cases:
It has always been agreed among
nations in modern times that a
blockade of an enemy's ports is not
valid, and can claim no recognition,
unless it is reflective" Yet Ger
many insists that her submarine
blockade of Great Britain be recog-
nized as such, when more than 80
per cent of British commerce slips
past unhindered.
Such slight effectiveness as Ger
many has given her attempted block
ade has been due to campaign OF
terror rather than to measures re-
cognized by other nations as legiti-
mate. C Germany has threatened to
break the laws of nations unless her
blockade was recognized, and she has
done so.
Because the British fleet is more
powerful than hers, and she has
CucI clO1 2 DScII dUlS ~ use uOLu1uS
but submarines in her naval warfare
and those only against merchant YES
sells, not warships, she has assumed
to change the rules to suit her own
plight. She has declared new in
ternational law, based on the ex-
igencies of submarines alone
Thus, rule of war universally re-
cognized by civilized nations has
been that in attacking an -unarmed
merchant vessel belonging to the
enemy, the attacking belligerent
must board the ship before sinking
it, give official notice and take
proper measures to save the lives of
non combatants aboard, especially
the lives Of neutral citizens or sub
jects. But it is hard and hazardous
for submarine crew always to
carry out this rule. Therefore, says
Germany, the rule is abo1ished-she
has a right to sink an enemy mer
chairman without trying to save
those on board, without giving them
chance to save themselves, even
without any warning whatever. And
if neutrals go down with the torpe-