Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-01-21
QUESTION IS !:
+. A Big ONE

-. ~
John Bassett Moore Talks On
Some Of: Present Day War
Problems.
St.. Louis Jan. 20.-John Bassett
Moore, former counselor of the State
Department in an address before the
second Annual Foreign Trade Con-
vention today on problems of War
and Commerce" asserted that the
pending negotiations between the
United States and Great Britain in re-
gard to the right to visit and search
and British interference with Ameri-
can ships and cargoes could result IN
nothing better than a makeshift; that
the points at issue could be settled
only by the obolition of conditional
contrabrand," and the cooperation OF
neutrals and belligerents in the certi-
~ficat;On of cargOes.
OF the beiligerent's right of visit
and search, he said THE impulse OF
the belligerent is to cut off his enemy
altogether and to prevent him from
getting anything from the outside. Tho
neutral on the other hand naturally
desires that his trade should not be
unduly hampered by an armed con-
flict to which he is not a party.
AT the present moment a negotia-
ton is in progress between the Unit
ed States and Great Britain in regard
to the exercise Of the right of visit
and search particularly in relation to
the question CT co%ntraband. The rep
reservations of the United States are
friendly in tone but were evidently in
spired by the desire to reach an ar
rangement which should be duly con.
siderate of the interests of all con
cerned, of belligerents and neutrals
alike. But, no matter what arrange
ment may be made it can, in the pres
ent state of the law, hardly be ex-
pected to be a more than a makeshift.
The question requires for it's eventual
adjustment a more radical solution
than any of the compromises attempt
ed in recent years have afforded"
Mr.. Moore said that the movement
of American commerce today was by
grace of British control of the sea.
"If,' he continued, instead of the
naval supremacy now exercised in its
own interest and that of its allies by
the largest consumer of our -agricul-
tural productions and fo%odstuffs, the
control of the seas were actually con-
tested by powerful hostile fleets, it
is almost appalling to reflect upon
what might be the present state OF
our commerce. The bare suggestion
of such a predicament justified us in
giving to the subject our most serious
consideration, for We must look to the
future as we'll as to the present."
The position of the United States
had been clear and unequivocal for
more than 100 years and had sought to
exclude altogether from the category
of c%ontraband both raw materials and
food stuffs. He explained the position
of this country at the second Hague
Conference in 1907, in behalf of a
general international agreement as to
contraband, and the defeat Of the prop
osition following the lead of Great
Britain's delegates headed by Lord
Reay. According to this proposition
conditional contraband" was to
consist Of provisions, materials and
articles which are employed for a
double purpose, in peace and in war,
but which, by reason of their charac-
ter. quality and quantity are suitable
and necessary. for military purposes,
and which are destined for the use
of armed forces, or for the military
establishments of the enemy" !
Mr.. Moore said Lord Reay Lad been
more prophetic than he knew when
he pointed to the futility of attempting
to prevent belligerents from obtain
ing the munitions they needed, and
the difficulty in reaching an agree.
ment as to contraband, "by reason of
the increase in the tonnage of ships,
the carrying of mixed cargoes, the
lack of any single destination of ship
or cargo, the multiplication of the
number of articles used in war, and
the development Of railways and 9th.
err means of transportation by land"
"a solution must, in my opinion" ha
continued, "be sought if not in the
abolition of the principle of contra.
band, at any rate in the adoption of a
plan embracing ~ the abolition of
'conditioal contraband, and (2) a sin.
gle list having been agreed upon, in
the cooperation of neutrals and BEL
ligerents in the certifications of the
contents Of cargoes, so that the risk
Of capture may be openly borne by
those who may voluntarily assume
it, and %harassing searches and de.
tentions no more be heard of.
"The seas outside territorial waters
are the common highway of nations"
he said, and none of them has the
right to render the use of that high
way insecure. Few days pass in which
one does not read a report of the
blowing up of a merchant Of: fishing
vessel by contact. with a mine. ASS
method of warfare this must .,be re.
garded as an a~trocity which nc nation
is at liberty to perpetrate."
i PERMIT sKYscRAPERs.
New York, Jan. 20.-The building