The Washington times., 1915-06-06

The adherence of the State Depart
ment to those proprieties that dictate
our conduct as a neutral country, mas
produced some strange results. Rather
more than half the population OF the
world Is involved in the war; part or 1t
directly, q good share Of 1t by reason
of being colonial dependencies Of the
nations in conflict. 1t will. perhaps, he
hard to understand why American auto
mobiles, offered for sale in Canala. come
under the contraband rules of Germany !;
but they do, and there's the end OF 1t.
Imagine this case: An American citi-
zen of North Dakota gets into his motor
car and starts on little trip. He nnds
1t desirable to cross the line into
Canada. and traffic or customs officer
holds him DID. There is a hitch. say,
about whether his license number or his
car registry is correct. The American
knows that he is right, and appeals TO
| the nearest American consular oricer to
| straighten the thing out for MIN.
He learns that the consular onicer
| can't do anything for him. because au-
! tomobiles are contraband OF war, ana
| the introduction of them into the terri
| tory of any dependency Of England Is
| forbidden under the German contrapano
rules. A strict construction would make
! 1t improper for an American govern
| mental functionary 70 use his influence 10
| get an American car into CANADA.
Many Odd Cases.
These are some Of the odd. and In
geenral the unforeseen, results Of having
half the world in war. They have we'll
nigh put an end to the usefulness of the
Department Of Commences Bureau o!
Domestic and Foreign Trade. 1t cant
make move without treading on the
toes of contraband. and thus bringing
it's activities within the realm OF the
State Department. The State Depart
ment has other and bigger ftsh to fry
than those Of foreign commerce.
At the beginning OF the war the Tight
ing nations issued lists of articles thai
they would regard as contraband oi
conditional contra band. These have beer
revised and expanded from time to tim'
until they include pretty nearly all the
! subjects OF commerce. The German
government has spoken the last word II
was received in this country about &
month ago. Careful study of its Ian
guage is construed to indicate, that al
CONDITIONAL contraband is to be treatec
as contraband.
which are absolute contraband-arms
| projectiles, explosives, armor, militar,
| equipment. air craft paraphernaiia, ant
all Immediately useful military ani
naval equipment-the next article read
| thus:
ARTICLE 28 The following articles AM
| materials suitable for warlike as wei
as for peaceful purposes. coming unde
the designation of conditional contra
band. shall be considered as contraoan'
OF war"
Hardly Anything Left.
Then follows a long list, headed b!
foodstuffs, forage, and all kinds OF feed
ing stuffs. clothing and all fabrics To-
clothing, and boots and shoes suitable
forv use in war, wool. vehicles. moto
vehicles and their parts, gold and silver
paper money. rubber; railway materi
pels wonder whether anything at al
has been left out
But the acute interest centers in tn
declaration that these articles of con
cred as contraband." This Is presume'
to mean that there is really only on
list, and that articles that could possi
bly, be used in war, whether destine
for the military service or not, are I
be treated alike. as absolute contra
band.
Even this could not be fatal to for
eign commerce but for still more sweep
ing declarations farther on. Article
reads:
I'm the absence of conditions to tn
contrary, the hostile destination is t
be presumed when (a) the goods ar
consigned to an enemy authority or tn
agent of such or to a dealer shown
have supplied articles of the kind 1
question or products thereof to tn
armed forces or the administratio
authorities of the enemy state; (b) tn
goods are consigned to A PERSON Il
TERRITORY BELONGING TO o.
OCCUPIED BY THE ENEMY"
That is, goods within this so-calle
conditional contraband list are to
treated as absolute contraband whe
consigned to a person 'in territory oc
cupied by or belonging to the enemy"
Australia belongs to England. Chal
cannot be shipped under these re