Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-09-30

serve his foreign Fatherland without eX-
posing his own wretched carcass to the
danger which would come to him IL he
served in the trenches beside his fellow
countrymen who have stayed at home
and who at least pretend to no divided
| allegiance.
If no duty had been expressly imposed
upon the United States in this matter
(the German invasion Of Belgium), we
| ought nevertheless to have acted in nc
cordance with the generous instincts Of
| humanity. But as a matter Of fact such
a duty was expressly imposed upon us
by the Hague conventions. The conven-
ton, signed at The Hague october 10,
| 1907. begins by saying that His Majesty
the German Emperor King of Prussia,
. and the other signatory powers, includ-
! ing France. Belgium. Russia and the
United States, have resolved to conclude
n convention laying down clearly the
rights and duties of neutral powers In
case of war on land Artistic ! runs:
THE territory of neutral powers is In
violable" Article states that a neutral
power must not allow belligeronts to
states that "the fact of a neutral power
resisting even by force attempts to violate
its neutrality cannot be regarded as G
hostile act" Article states that "a
neutral power Is not called upon to pre-
vent the export or transport on behalf
of one or other Of the belligerents OF
arms. munitions of war or in general OF
anything which could be of use to an
army or n fleet"
DATES OF RATIFICATION.
This convention was ratified by Belgium
on August s. 1910; by France on october
z, 1910: by Germany, the United States and
Russia on November 81, 1909. IT has been
alleged by individuals anxious to excuse
us for failure to act in accordance with
our duty under this convention that ar
tlcle 90 recites: THE provisions of the
present convention do not apply except
between contracting powers and then
only If all the belligerents are parties
TO the convention" In the frs: place
this objection would be merely technical
even If in some other area OF the wal
beligerent who was not n party to the
convention was concerned, for of course
the convention must be construed with
|
strued In the most technical manner, II
applies to the action taken by Germany
in Belgium. This action was taken on
August 3 and 4, 1914. Germany was then
Mt war only with Franco and Russia
both OF which were signatories to this
convention. Belgium was a signatory
The United States was n signatory Ger
many was not at war at that time with
Servia or Montenegro or England mol
was Austria at war with Belgium. Wher
Germany violated the Hague convention
10 which we We're one OF the signatory
powers all Of the beligerents In the case
We're slgners of the Hague convention
Tho case IL technically no less than NOR
ally complete.
A representative of n great American
arms mandatory informed me recently
that they had been about to abandon
their work prior to the beginning of this
war because the Germans Systematically
cndeavored to underscll them in every
country 1t has been the settled policy
OF Germany to drive all other countries
out of business of manufacturing arms
and supplies because. OF course. II this
were once substantially accomplished
~ helpless before Germany and Germany
has made II evident that she knows ne
such things as international morality and
looks upon all other nationC, including
the United States, merely as possbl,
prey. The Americans who are now striv
ing to prevent the sale OF munitions OF
war 10 the countries endeavoring to sc
cure the redress of Belgium's wrongs
that is, the allied powers. are playinf
the game OF a ruthessly militaristic ant
antl-American Germany against thei
own country as we'll as against the in
tcrests of humanity at large. They are
profoundly unpatriotic from the stand
point OF the interests OF the United States
They are committing the gravest possible
offense against the cause of information
al right and OF the interests of human
ity
GERMANS SOLD ARMS.
1t was Germany which for decades sup
Piled Turkey with the means OF keepinl
the Christians of the European and
Asatic provinces In n state of dreadful
subsection. II was Germany which es
tablished the artillery in the Belgian
forts-and, as one of the men engaged II
the work Informed n friend of mine. thu
German war office was then furnished
with blue-prints of what had been don'
and Of the ncighboring geography so Al
to enable the German armies to take thu
forts with the least possible delay ant
damage. Essen has been the center OF
military supplies to helligerents and has
exported on an enormous scale to bel
ligerents in all the modern wars. making
vast profits from this traffic even In tn,
| late DalkAn wars. Germany has con.