The Holly chieftain., 1915-07-16

law. Long before the beginning of
submarine war England practically
completely intercepted legitimate neu-
trail navigation to Germany also. Thus
Germany was driven to a submarine
war on trade.
Would Keep Food From Germany.
"On Nov. IA, 1914, the English pre-
mier declared in the House of Com
mons that 1t was one Of England's
principal tasks to prevent food for the
German population from reaching
Germany via neutral ports. Since
March 1, England has been taking
from neutral ships without further for.
mality all merchandise proceeding to
Germany, as well As all merchandise
coming from Germany, even when neu-
trail property. Just as it was also
with. the Beers. the German people is
now to be given the choice of perish
ing from starvation with Its women
and children or Of relinquishing its in
dependence.
while our enemies thus loudly and
openly proclaimed war without mercy
until our utter destruction, we were
conducting war in selfdefense for our
national existence and for the sake OF
peace of an assured permanency. We
have been obliged to adopt subma-
rine warfare to meet the declared in
tentions of our enemies and the
method of warfare adopted by them in
contravention Of international law.
with all it's efforts in principle to
protect neutral life and property from
damage as much as possible, the Ger
man government recognizes unreserv-
edly in its memorandum of Feb. that
the interests Of neutrals might suffer
from the submarine warfare. How
ever, the American government will
also understand and appreciate that
in the fight for existence which has
been forced upon Germany by it's ad-
versaries and announced by them, 1t
Is the sacred duty Of the imperial gov
ernment to do all within its power to
protect and save the lives of German
subjects.
Enemies Blamed for lusitania Horror.
'If the imperial government were
der Let in these, its duties, it would
be guilty before God and history of
highest humanity which are the foun-
'The case of the Lusitania shows
with horrible clearness to what jeop-
ardizing of human lives the manner of
conducting war employed by our ad-
versaries leads. In the most direct
contradiction Of international law, all
distinction between merchantmen and
war vessels has been oblterated by
the order to British merchantmen to
arm themselves and to ram subma-
rines, and the promise of rewards
therefor, and neutrals who use mer-
chantmen as travellers thereby have
been exposed in an Increasing degree
to all the dangers of war.
IF the commander of the German
submarine which destroyed the Lusi-
tania had caused the crew and pas
sengers to take to the boats before
firing torpedo. this would have
meant the sure destruction Of his own
vessel. After the experiences in sink
ing much smaller and less seaworthy
VESSELS, 1t was to be expected that a
mighty ship like the Lusitania would
remain above water long enough even
after the torpedoing to permit pas
sengers to enter the ships boats.
Explosion fastened Destruction.
circumstances of a very peculiar
kind, especially the presence on
board Of large quantities of highly ex-
plosive materials defeated this expec-
tation.
''In addition it may be pointed out
that if the Lusitania had been spared
thousands of cases of munitions would
have been sent to Germany's enemies
and thereby thousands Of German
mothers and children robbed of bread
winners.
I'm the spirit of friendship where.
with the German nation has been i'm
bued toward the Union and its inhabi-
tants since the earliest days of its ex-
istence, the imperial government will
always be ready to do all it can dur.
ing the present war also to prevent
the jeopardizing of lives of American
citizens The imperial government
therefore, repeats the assurances that
American ships will not be hindered
in the prosecution of legitimate ship
ping and the lives Of American citi-
zens in neutral vessels shall not be
placed in jeopardy.
"In order to exclude any unforeseen
dangers to American passenger steam
ers, made possible in view of the con-
duct of maritime war by Germany's
adversaries, German submarines will
be instructed to permit the free and
REFUSES TO FURNISH BOND.