New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-06-19
THE PRESIDENTS STYLE
Amazing Examples of Slipshod
English in the Latest Note.
ro the Edltor OF M Tribnne.

SIR In your issue OF June IL CotTe-
spondent takes exception to the praises that
have been bestowed upon Presidents Will
sons literary style as exemplifed in hts re-
cent notes. Your correspondents points
seem TO be well taken. On the same morn
ing appeared the Presidents latest note to
Germany, which had been withheld several
DAYS in order that so the public was in
formed the language might be thoroughly
scrutinized and polished. Yet that note, for
all its admirable content and, especially In
its latter half, its eloquence, contains such
blundcrs and exhibits such awkwardness OF
STYLE that one must wonder If the pending
resignation Of Mr.. Bryan did not shake the
writer's hand.
To begin with, who was the wrtter7 The
document is signed by Robert Lansing, but
in the first sentence we read the phrase
"in reply 20 my note Of May IS" Yet the
note Of May IS was signed by Mr.. Bryan
This may be called n slip, though hardly an
cycusable one in a paper Of such impor-
lance. Is IT also a slip that in the note OF
June the Imperial German Government
which always took a plural verb IN the
earlier note. and was consistently referred
70 by the pronoun "they," has now become
singular and is reduced, like our own gov
ernment, TO a mere it,?
Rut these inconsistencies are trifes com
pared with the turgidity and obscurity oil
such a sentence as the following'
"Tbo Government Of the United States
notes with qualification the full recoghitoh
Iv the Immortal German Government, IN as
ru.sing the cases of the Cushing ana Ihss
GulfIight. Of the principle Of the freedom u
ali parts Of the open sea TO neutral shlPS
land the frank willingness OF the iIhP'i'a
German Government to acKno"4euBc +n tL
meet its liability where the 1acI Oh nan
upon neutral ships which nave hot Oe,'
,uiItv of any hostile act by herman ar
craft or vessels of war is satisfactorily es
tabIisbed. and the Government OF the OhlIeu
c.otos will in due course lay before the I'M
perial German Government, as u teqIe91s'
mil information concerning the aItscK on
the steamer Cushing
Il IS no wonder that the Imperial German
Government must take days TO decipher ana
exactly interpret document containing such
clumsy and ovcrburdened construction.
The next sentence is almost as bad. Who
can tell what the concluding clause, begin
ming with although" modihes or bears
upon?
"With regard to the sinking Of the steamer
Falaba, by which an American cluzen losV
his life, the Government OF the United states
is SURPRISED to find the Imperial German
Government contending that an enort on lh5
mart of a merchantmen to escape capture LHu
secure assistance alters the obligation Oh 1ne
officer seeking TO make the capture IN re-
sract Of the safety of the lives OF those on
hoard the merchantmen, although the vessel
has ceased her attempt to escape when Tor
pcdocd.'
Perhaps the following is what was in
tended:
"The Government of the United States is
surprised to find the Imperial German Gov
eminent contending that an effort on the
part Of a merchantmen TO escape capture
and secure assistance alters the obligation
of the officer seeking to make the capture
10 safeguard the lives of those on board
the merchantman. Such obligation IS GER
tainlv undiminished If the vessel ceases her
attempt TO escape
One other example Of astonishing awk-
wardness:
Nothing but actual forcible resistance or
continued efforts to escape by hlght "heh
ordered TO stop for the purpose of visit on
the part of the merchantmen has ever been
! held to forfeit the lives Of her passengers
or crew"
Here it is obvious that the phrase "on the
mart of the merchantmen" is badly mis-
placed The sentence, of course, should have
read:
Nothing but actual forcible resistance on
| the part Of the merchantmen or continued
efforts to escape by flight when ordered to
stop for the purpose of visit has ever been
| held to forfeit the lives Of the passengers
or crew"
| Some may regard such matters as of small
| Importance, compared with the substance OF
| the Presidents Cor Mr.. Lansing's) note. and
so they are; but at any rate the President
/ is hardly entitled to high credit for literary
! finish so long as notes mulled over for days
finally appear so blemished with crudities
and inconsistencies of expression.
New York, June IT, 1915. G. J. S.