Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1915-05-20

the imperial German government
10 a strict accountability for any in
fringement of those rights, intention
al or unintentionaI
ct does not understand the i'm
perial German government to Ques-
ton those rights. 1t assumes, on the
contrary, that the imperial German
government accepts, as Of course, the
rule that the lives of non-com batants,
whether they be of neutral citizen
ship or citizens of one of the nations
at war cannot lawfully or rightfully
be put in jeopardy by the capture or
destruction Of an unarmed merchant
man and recognize also, as all other
nations do, the obligation TO take the
usual precaution of visit and search
to ascertain whether a suspected
merchantmen is in fact of belligerent
nationality or is in fact carrying con-
traband of war under a neutral flag.
Basis of Objection.
THE government of the United
States, therefore, desires to call the
attention Of the imperial German
government, with the utmost earnest
ness, TO the fact that the objection to
their present method of attack
against the trade of their enemies
lies in the practical impossibility of
employing submarines in the destruc-
ton Of commerce without disregard
ing these rules of fairness, reason,
justice and humanity which all mod
ern opinion regards as imperative.
1T is practically impossible for the
officers of a submarine to visit a mer-
chairman at sea and examine her pa
pers and cargo. It is practically i'm
possible for them to make a prize of
her; and, if they cannot put a prize
crew on board of her, they cannot
sink her without leaving her crew
and all on board of her to the mercy
of the sea in her small boats. These
facts, it is understood, the imperial
German government frankly admit.
Warning Not Given.
Eve are informed that in the in
stances of which we have spoken
time enough for even that poor meas
ure of safety was not given and in at
least two of the cases cited not so
much as a warning was received
Manifestly submarines cannot be US
ed against merchantmen, as the last
few weeks have shown, without an
inevitable violation of many sacred
principles of justice and humanity.
American citizens act within their
indisputable rights in taking their
ships and in travelling wherever their
| legitimate business calls them upon
the high seas, and exercise those
rights in what should be the we'll JUS
titled confidence that their lives will
not be endangered by acts done in
clear violation of universally &C
| knOwledged international obligations
and certainly in the confidence that
their own government will sustain
| them in the exercise of their rights
Criticizes Embassy Act.
There was recently published in
| the newspapers of the United States,
I regret to inform the imperial Ger
man government, a formal warning,
| purporting to come from the imperial
! German embassy at Washington, ad-
! dressed to the people of the United
! States and stating, in effect, that any
! citizen Of the United States who eX-
! ercised his right to travel upon the
seas would do so at his peril if his
| journey should take him within the
zone of waters within which the i'm
perial German navy was using sub
marines against the commerce of
Great Britain and France, notwith-
standing the respectful but very ear
nest protest of his government, the
government of the United States.
al do not refer to this for the pur-
pose of calling the attention of the
imperial German government at this
time to the surprising irregularity of
a communication from the imperial
German embassy at Washington ad-
dressed to the people of the United
States through the newspapers, but
only for the purpose of pointing out
that no warning that an unlawful
and inhuman act will be committed
can possibly be accepted as an excuse
or palliation for that act, or as an
abatement of the responsibility for
it's commission.
Long acquainted as this govern
ment has been with the character of
the imperial German government and
with the high principles of equity by
which they have in the past been actu-
ated and guided, the government of
the United States cannot believe that
the commanders of the vessels which
committed these acts of lawlessness
did so except under a misrepresentation
of the orders issued by the imperial
German naval authorities. 1t takes it
for granted that, at least within the
practical possibilities of every such
! case, the commanders even of sub
marines were expected to do nothing
that would involve the lives of non
combatants or the safety of neutral
ships. even at the cost of falling of
their object of capture or destruction
Asks for DisavowaI.
at confidently expects, therefore
that the imperial German government
will disavow the acts of which the
government of the United States com
plains, that they will make PREPARATION
so far as reparation is possible for in
juries which are without measure, and
Removal of President.