The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-01-01
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 tions and that the commerce between countries which are not belligerents should not be interfered by thosa~at war unless such interference is manifestly an imperative necessity to protect their national safety, and then only to the extent that 1t is a necessity. It is with no lack of appreciation of the momen.- ous nature of the present struggle, in which Great Britain is engaged, and with no selfish desire to gain undue commercial advantage that this gov ernment is reluctantly forced to the conclusion that the present policy of his matesty's government toward neu- tral ships and cargoes exceeds the manifest necessity of q belligerent and constitutes restrictions upon the rights of American citizens on the high seas which are not justified by the rules of international law or required under the principle of preservation.
 The government or the United States does not intend at this time to discuss the propriety of including certain ar ticles in the lists of absolute and con ditional contraband, which have beer proclaimed by his majesty Open te ob- jection as some of these seem to this government, the chief ground of pres ent complaint is the Treatment of cargo and of both classes of articles when bound to neutral ports
 Articles Seized
 Articles listed as absolute contraband shipped from the United States and con signed to neutral countries, have been seized and detained on the ground that the countries to which they were de- stined have not prohibited the eXporta- tion of such articles
 UnWarranted such detentions are. in the opinion of this gov arr A1,1a ri ttT ther perplexed by the apparent inde- cision of the British authorities il. ,.p- plying their own rules to neutral car goes. For example, a shipment of con- Der from this country to specified oonsignee in Sweden was detained be- cause as was stated by Great Britain, Sweden had planned no embargo on copper On the other hand, Italy not only prohibited the export of copper, but as this government is informed, put in force a decree that shipments to Italian consgnees or to order which arrive in ports of Italy cannot be eX- ported rtransshipped. The only eX oeption Italy makes is of copper which passes through that country in transit to another country In spite of these decrees, however, the British foreign office has thus far declined to affirm that copper shipments consigned to Italy will not be molested on the high seas. SelZuGeS are so nulHtTOuS sllli uG- lays so prolonged that exporters are afraid to send their copper to Italy, steamship lines decline to accept it and insurers refuse to issue policies upon it. In q word, a legitimate trade is be- ing greatly impaired through uncer tainty as to the treatment which it may expect at the hands of the .5rit- ish authorities.
 Ask For Information
 We feel that we are abundan1y jus tified in asking for information as to the manner in which the British gov crnment propose to carry out the pol icy which they have adopted in order that we may determine the steps lec- essary to protect our citizens engaged in foreign trade in their rights and from the serious losses to which they are liable through ignorance of the hazards to which their cargoes are ex- posed
 '1n the case of conditional contra hand the policy of Great Britain ap- pears to this government to be equal ly unjustified by the established rules Of international conduct. As evidence of this, attention is directed to the fact that a number of the American cargoe5 which have been seized consist of food stuffs and other articles of commercial use in countries were admittedly Tela- tive contra band.
 In spite of the presumption of innocent use because destined to neu- tral5 territory the British authorities made the seizures and detentions with out, so far as we are informed, being in possession of facts which warranted reasonable belief that the shipments had in reality q belligerent destination. as that term is used In international jay. Mere suspicion is not evidence and doubts should be resolved in fayor of neutral commerce, not against it. The effect upon trade in these articles be- tween neutral nations resulting from interrupted voyages and detained car goes is not entirely cured by reimburse- ment of the owners for the damages, which they have suffered, after inves- tigation has failed to establish an ene-' my destination. The injury is to Amcri- can commerce with neutral countries as a whole through the hazard of the en- terprise and the repeated diversion Of goods from established markets.
 Tt also appears that cargoes of this character have been seized by the Brit ish authorities because of a belief that, though not originally so intended by the shippers, they will ultimately reach the territory of the enemies of Great Britain. Yet this belief is frequently reduced to a mere fear in view of the embargoes and which have been decreed by the neutral cOuHtiitS, to NiiSi ii'Sy are destined, on the articles compos- ing the cargoes
 "That a consignment to order or ar tices listed as conditional contraband and shipped to neutral port raises legal presumption of enemy destination appears to be directly contrary to the doctrines previously held by Great Britain and thus stated by Lord Sails bury during the South African war:
 'Foodstuffs, though having hostile destination can be considered as contra band of war only if they are for the enemy forces. It is not sufficient that they are capable of being so used, 1t must be shown that this was in fact ther des- tination at the time of their seizure
 With this statement as to conditional contraban the views of this government are in entire accord, and upon this his toric doctrine, consistently maintained by Great Britain when belligerent as well. as a neutral, American shippers were en- titled to rely
 'The government of the United States readily admits the full right, of bellg- erent to visit and search on the seas the vessels of American citizens or other neu- tral vessels carrying American goods and to detain them WHEN THERE IS SIf1 FICIENT EVIDENCE TO JUSTIFY A RELIEF THAT CONTRABAND AR TICLES ARE IN THEIR CARGOES; but his majesty's government, judging by their own experience in the past, must realize that this government cannot with out protest permit American ships or