Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1916-05-05


Following is the text OF Germany,
reply TO the latest demands OF Pre-
sident Wilson regarding tht use ol
submarines: hi s
"The undersigned. on behalf OF the
imperial German government. hai
the honor to present to his excel
Ilency. the Ambassador to the United
States. Mr.. James w. Gerard. the
following reply to the note OF April
2O. regarding the conduct OF Ger
IMAM submarine warfare.
THE German government handed
over to the proper naval authorities
FOR further Investigation the note
concerning the Sussex. as communi.
Gated by the government OF the
United States. Judging by the re-
suits that investigation hitherto
yielded, the German government is
alive to the possibility that the ship
mentioned In the note Of April 10
as torpedoed by a German submarine
Is actually identical with the Sussex.
The German government begs TO re-
serve further communications on the
matter until certain points arc. as
icertained which are OF decisive i'm
lportance for establishing the facts Of
the case. Should 1t turn out that the
commander was wrong In assuming
the vessel to be man-of-war. the
German government will not fail to
draw the consequences resulting
therefrom.
I'm connection with the case Of
the Sussex, the government OF the
United States made a series OF state
ments the gist of which is the asser-
tion that the incident Is to be con-
sidered but one instance for levi
dently should read "of') a deliberate
method of indlscriminate destruction
of vessels of all sorts, nationalities
and destinations by German submar-
Inc commanders. The German gov
ernment. however. thinks II OF little
avail to enter into the details in the
present stage OF affairs, more parti-
cularly as the government OF the
United States omitted to substantiate
the assertion by reference to con-
crete facts OK q 5algaasit sl9
THE German government will on
ly state that II has imposed far
reaching restraints upon the use Of
the submarine weapon solely in con-
slderation Of neutrals' interests in
spite Of the fact that these restrlc-
tions necessarily were Of advantage
to Germany's enemies, No such con-
sideration has ever been shown nen-
trails by Great Britain and her allies.
German submarine forces have
had. In fact, orders to conduct sub
marine warfare In accordance with
the general principles Of visit, search
and destruction of merchant vessels
recognized by international law, the
sole exception being the conduct OF
warfare against enemy trade carried
on enemy freight ships encountered
In the war zone surrounding Great
With regard to these no
assurances ever have been given to
the government OF the United States.
No such assurance was contained In
the declaration of February 5, 1916.
errors actually occurred. They
can In no kind OF warfare be avoid
cd altogether and allowances must
be made In the conduct OF naval war
fare against an enemy resorting to all
kinds OF ruses, whether permissible
or Illicit, But apart from the possl-
bility OF errors, naval warfare, Just
like land warfare, Implies unavoid-
able dangers for neutral persons and
goods entering the fighting zone,
Even In cases where naval action Ia
confined to ordinary forms OF cruiser
warfare neutral persons and goods
repeatedly come to grief, The Ger