New Britain herald., 1915-06-12

the idea of having the matter thrust on the committee so suddenly but he did believe there was great deal of to, or proceeding from. ports within the belligcrent territory affected To Insist Upon Position.
 l There is no doubt that our gov- l ernment will insist upon this position: that is all important thing, the exact I date of the note is not material My reason for desiring to have the matter l presented to Great Britain at once was ] not that Germany had any right to ask it, but because I was anxious to make ]! 1t as easy as possible for Germany to accept the demands of the United States and cease to employ Subma- rines against merchantmen. There is no reason why any German -Anner- ican should doubt the presidents in tentions in this matter. I am sure that everyone, upon reflection, recog- nize that our duty to prevent loss of life is more urgent than our duty to prevent interference with trade--loss of trade can he compensated for with money, but no settlement that the United States and Germany may reach
 
 down with the Lusitania-and war would be the most expensive of all settlements because it would cnor- mously add to the number of the dead.
 Hopes Demands Will Be Accepted.
 Fourth: I hope that Germany will acquisce in the demands that have been made, and I hope that she will acquiesce in them without conditions. She can trust the United States to deal justly with her in the consideration of any changes that she may propose in the international rules that gov ern the taking of prizes. The more generously she acts in this matter, the greater will be the glory which she will derive from it. She has raised a question which is now receiving ser ious consideration, namely. whether the introduction of. the submarine nec- essitates any change in the rules gov. erning the capture of prizes. The position seemingly taken by Germany, namely that she is entitled to drown non-com batants because they ride with contraband, is an untenable position; the most that she could insist upon is this new weapon of warfare, new rules should be adopted-separat passengers from objectionable cargo
 If the use of the submarine jus- tifles such a change in the law of blockade as will permit the cordon to be withdrawn far enough from the shore to avoid the danger of submarine attack, may it not be found possible to secure an international agreement by which passengers will be excluded from ships carrying contraband, or at a ct frn yv1y ,i- tion? It would require but a slight change in the shipping laws to mako this separation, and belligerent nations might be restrained from unnecessar- fly increasing the contraband list If they were compelled to carry contra band on transport as they now carry troops.
 Has No Use for Submarines.
 Personally, would like to see the use of submarines abandoned entirely just as I would like to see an aban- donment of the use of aeroplanes and Zeppelins for the carrying of explos- ives, but | am n atn sanguine enough to believe that any effective, instru- ment of warfare wilisbe abandoned as long as war continues. The very ar guments which the advocates of peace advance against the submarine, the aeroplane and the Zeppelin are ad- vanced before them by those who con- duct war. The more fatal weapon is the more it is in demand, and it is not an unusual thing to see a new instrument of destruction denounced as inhuman by those against whom it is employed, only to be employed later by those who, only little while before, denounced it.
 The above suggestions are respect fully submitted to those of German birth or descent and they are sub- n1itted in the same spirit to natural ized citizens from other countries. To the naturalizzed citizen this is the land of adoption, but in one sense it may be nearer to him that it is to us who are native born, for those who come here are citizens by voluntary choice, while we are here by accident of birth. They may be said to have paid higher compliment to the United States than we who first saw the light under the Stars and Stripes. But. more than that, it is the land Of their children and their childrens' children, no matter for what reason they crossed the ocean. They not only share with us the shaping of our nations des- tiny, but their descendants have part with ours in all the blessings which 1 the present generation can. by wise and patriotic action, bcdueath to the gen. Icrations that are to follow.