The Washington times., 1915-07-23


arms? Former President Taft Is
famous as a joker. is his assertion
quoted above merely another little
bit of fun? In view of the facts
given 1t seems so.
CHARLES A. GEHR1E.
South Orange. N. ].
What Jefferson DID.
Mr.. Gehrie's challenge would be too
amusing to deserve serious attention.
but for the fact that SO many people
| have been misled into believing the
| very things he presents as facts Mani
| testify. II he were not sincere he would
not ask to be confounded; II he knew
| the truth he would know that his posi-
J ton Is ridiculous. and his facts" en-
/ tirely false. 1t may be worth while
and state the facts as history has made
| them and the most elemental knowl-
edge OF 1t proves them. Mr.. Gehrie
| begins:
| !. During the Napolenoic wars Presi-
dent Thomas Jefferson placed an en-
barge on arms with the full consent
and approval of the American people.
| President Jefferson did nothing Of the
laid on trade in general with France
and Great Britain. 1t was not aimed
at traffic in arms and ammunition.
which We didn't manufacture and no
body thought Of buying from us. 1t
was laid on commerce, and was fol-
lowed. in 1907. by the Embargo Act.
This was passed by Congress: not order-
result Of injuries inflicted on our ship
| ping and trade by the Berlin decree OF
Napoleon and the British orders in
council.
Embargo on Shipping.
1t laid an embargo on all shipping.
foreign and domestic: closed our ports
| against foreign vessels. and held our
own vessels In home ports. 1t was not
aimed at traffic in munitions. arms or
war supplies; had nothing whatever to
do with the set of questions that now
are agitated by pro-Germans obtecting
| to sale Of war supplies abroad. 1t was
merely deslsned to keep our shipping
ish. both of whom persisted in attacks
on II, which threatened to draw us into
war, perhaps against both France and
England.
BY act of Congress. March l. 1909.
this EMBARGO was repealed. and pol
icy of non-intercourse was substituted.
But were these things done with the
lean people" as Nj Gehrie alleges? To
the contrary. the embargo and nom
intercourse acts We're intensely unpop-
ular. caused business depression. did
ace Of complications abroad-for the
war with France and the War Of 1872
did take place despite these futile ef-
forts to prevent-and served Just one
useful purpose: they made perfectly
sure that no Administration In this
country will ever again attempt such
a policy.
The Second Count.
Now We come to Mr.. Gehrie's second
count in GENERALIZATION. He AYERS:
| No. 2. In 1870. when the Franco-Ger-
W. n,,t ho
laid on arms and ammunition by the
United States.
Absolutely not true. No embargo
was laid. and President Grant could
not have laid 1t il he had wanted to.
refused to sell arms to a bellgerent
exactly as. since the present war be-
gan. 1t has refused to sell a large num-
Der, Of Krag rifles that both France
agents. to buy. But during the war
of ls70-71 vast quantities of firearms
were sold by Americans to the COM
batants. President Grant stopped ex-
petitions Of French and German SYM
pathizers sailing, armed. from this
country to aid their respective coun-
tries. Many such. especially Of Ger
mans. who were most nuIIiel Gus here.
were organized The people who want
ed to go and fight for Germany and
France were allowed to go; but they
were not permitted to go organized
and armed: that would have been in
effect hostile act of this country.
Attitude of Grant.
| Reference to the attitude Of Grant
at that time is decidedly unfortunate
for Mr. Gehrie's argument because 1t
recalls to mind the very different pol
icy Of Frederick the Great Of Germany
during our Revolutionary war. He
allowed the lease of 10000 Hessian
troops. fully equipped. to the British
government. to be brought to America
to fight the struggling colonists. These
were regulars. and went with all equip
ment and paraphernalia.
AS third article in his edifying in
dictment. Mr.. Gehrie writes:
Equipped With Mausers.
s. During the Spanish-American wa
Germany laid an embargo on arms a
the request of Mr.. White. American
ambassador at Berlin. The German
government went so far as to stop
Spanish ship loaded with arnns an,
bound for Spain. In 1898 no American
| man shot and she'll
To the contrary, Germany laid n,
| embargo on arms and ammunition 70
Spain. The soldiers Of Spain in Cubs
rifles that had been made in Germa ny
and the traffic in arms and muntion
| went on during the war.
More than this. Germans sold tn
Hamburg American liner Columbia t
Spain. to be converted into a cruiser
sold it after the war had started. Tn
case was closely parallel in many way
to that OF the Alabama, for whicl
Britain paid the United States SIS, 900, 90
after arbitration. Germany paid moth
ing; If the Columbia hAA completed he
conversion there misAk have been al
International incident srswing out o
this affair.
There is no doubt about the power O
a nation to place embargo on sales o
war munitions abroad. IL Switzerland
or any other country. chooses to adop
that policy because OF its close neigh
borship to belligerents, or as a matte
of precaution to protect supplies ii ma
itself need later. that is its own affair
The United States. as already pointe
out. has had some experience wit
embargoes. They served merely to de
stroy our commerce. and didn't kee
. US out OF war. In the case of Switzer