Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1915-04-20
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.

blue devils.
WASHINGTON
Sioux City Journal: The list OF
incidents which may cause friction
between the United States and Ger
many is increasing.
First there was the sinking of two
American merchant vessels by mines
in the North sea off the German
coast. This was a relatively simple
matter, the legitimacy of the Amer
lean claim to reparation depending
on whether or not Germany had TAX
en- proper precautions in laying the
mines and insuring against damage
to neutral shipping.
Then came the sinking of the
William P. Frye, an American grain
carrying vessel, by the German
cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich. In
this case the American government
claims that the Frye was sunk in
violation of international law, while
the German government is under.
stood to contend that as a carrier
of contraband to an enemy port the
Frye got only what was coming te
her. The dispute is one which in
the natural course of affairs must be
settled by an international court
perhaps not until after the close OF
the war.
From an American standpoint the
most critical of the pending cOntro-
versies relates to the death of an
American citizen who was aboard
the British merchant ship Falaba
when it was torpedoed by German
submarine without giving all the
passengers and crew time to escape.
Having previously notified the Ger
man government that it would be
held to 'strict accountability" for
the loss of American lives in con-
nection with submarine operations
against merchant shipping, Wash
ington has asked an explanation
preliminary to filing a demand for
PREPARATION. Berlin in reply has JUS
titled the course Of the submarine,
explaining that as some enemy
merchant ships have been armed and
Others have attempted to ram sub
marines, all are now regarded as
ships of war. Presence of other ships
nearby which might open fire upon
the submarine or attempt to ram
her was offered in explanation of the
hurried torpedoing of the Falaba.
This incident apparently offers ma
terial for an obstinate deadlock.
A similar deadlock seems to be on
the way in the matter of the Oden-
valid, a German merchant ship now
detained, subject to libel proceedings
by the American authorities at San
Juan, Porto Rico. The Odenwald
was suspected of violating the neu-
trality of the port by using it as a
base of supplies for German cruis-
err operating in the Caribbean. Hav-
ing been searched and temporarily
denied clearance, the Odenwald
tried to slip out of the harbor with
out permission, and was halted only
after solid shot from the shore bat
teries had splashed water on her
decks. While an action to conf1scate
the vessel for violating the rules of
the port is pending in the Porto Ri
can courts, Berlin has filed strong
protest at Washington against the
treatment of the Odenwald. In d.
plomatic language Berlin alleges
that the Odenwald was refused
clearance unwarrantedly in order to
give British cruisers chance to or
ganize a marine ambush for her. The
German allegation carries presump-
ton of belief that the American au-
thorities at San Juan wished to help
the allies by an overt act, to the in
jury of Germany. That the German
government, through it's embassy,
should make such an accusation car
ries eloquent suggestion of the anti
American sentiment which must
have been developing in Berlin.
The recent withdrawal of all the
American military observers on duty
with the German army has received
no explanation other than the OBJ
vious diplomatic fiction that their
period of service had expired. The
recall came shortly after the recall
of the military aide to the American
embassy at Berlin, whose name had
been signed to a series of fake wire
less dispatches intended to deceive
the allies as to developments in Ber-
lin. The normal assumption is that
the American military observers
were withdrawn because sentiment