The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1915-06-04
Bankers Opinion On War

THAT a war. with Germaty would interfere
with a still considerable American export
trade to that country is the statement of Henry
Clews, the New York financial authority, who dis
cusses the matter in his regular weekly financial
letter OF May n, before the German reply had
been sent and at a time when It had been init
mated that Germany would at least suspend her
submarine activities against merchant ships, an
intimation that the torpedoing of the American
Hawaiian steamer Nebraskan dispelled very
quickly. eli" '1 .-t1fs
Referring to the general improvement in the
tone of the stock market, the barometer of Amer
lean trade conditions, Mr.. Clews wrote
There is only one influence preventing positive
recuperation and that is less confidence in early
ending of the The outcome Of the Lusitana in.
cident is still matter Of suppressed concern There
with Germany but this problem is still unsettled and
is likely to be of uncertainty until adjustment
Is finally reached. war with Germany Is unthnkable
every effort should be made to prevent such a eatas.
trophe. OF course, sf war did come it would TEN,
poray unsettle finances and trade this side of the
Atlantic Our foreign commerce would be still
disturbed than it now is since exports to Germany
would entirely. At present shipping large
quantities Of merchandise to Germany via Holland,
Denmark, Norway and Sweden This trade would of
Insurance would probab% Ss m;ssd IN moSeTae
liquidation and to The effects of taxation and the
large Government loans All Indications however point
to peaceful settlement For many reasons the United
States desires to preserve harmonious relations with
Germany chief of these being policy of avoiding
foreign alliances and the possibility of being Of
valuable service as peace intermediary.
That Mr.. Clews is in thorough sympathy with
the protest sent to Berlin by President Wilson, he
indicates in his address made on May IS at Cleve-
land, Ohio delivered in his capacity as president
of the American Peace and Arbitration League be-
fore the World Court Congress. Approving of the
effort to establish such court for the settlement
of international questions, he said:
"a world court will, by its existence, tend to
abolish the causes of war, therefore war itself
Refined cultured men have, in all times, looked
with repugnance upon brutality, whether indvd-
ual or organized The savagery of Indian war
fare has caused the various races of Indians to
become almost extinct. The killing of innocent
non-combatants by poisoning the very air they
breathe, the torpedong of unarmed vessels, and
the firing of bombs from the sky upon villages,
towns and cities whose unarmed inhabitants are
peacefully sleeping, are of the same order of brti
tality the burglar who enters house at night
longs to the dark ages, not the present. The war
fare now going on in Europe is leading to the
bankruptcy of all the nations involved, which
would be most unfortunate for us as we'll as for
them as they are the best customers for Our prod
ucts as well as for our manufactured goods; and
the greatest sufferers and victims will be the work
ing classes upon whom the heaviest burdens TALL
Is it not time for them to be boldly outspolen and
insist that such brutally savage wars shall end?
War which cannot be carried on without such
brutality should therefore be discountenanced by
all civilized peoples"