Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-09-25
THE "BLACk LIST"
From the London Times.

l.. H.. III From the London Times
Protests continue 10 reach against our action
in prohibiting our nationals from trading with GER
tain firms in the United States The agitation start
ed with the publication last month Of the "blark list
Of these firms and was famed by the appearance
of a note from Washington sharply accusing us OF
brushing aside" neutral rights. Our economic
measures against the enemy have thus produced YET
another controversy with friends across the Az
Iantic We are 10th to believe that the controversy
is or is likely TO become serious. 1ierman-Amer-
lean traders whom we have blacklisted may well DE
ANNOYED at finding that they no longer line their
pockets by frIrthering from New York the trans
Atlantic schemes Of their friends in Germany; but
we are convinced that in the main the cutlery and
even its official manifestations are dne to the same
factor as has been at the bottom Of more than one
OF our recent controversies with the United States
misunderstanding.
The principle behind the Diack list is quite simple.
The list is based upon the incOntestable right OF
governments to tell their subjects with whom they
NAV or NAV not trade. 1t is Alright which exists
and is sometimes invoked in times Of peace. The
United States and Great Britain and other coun-
tries used it to suppress the opium traffic In times
of war its invocation is a matter Of course In the
American civil war the North forbade by prociama-
modification of the Philippines-and this parallel is
now to the point-the United States rigidly entorc
ed il against neutral traders in the Philippines who
were suspected Of dealing with the insurrect0nary
Aruinaldo. In this war one of the first acts of
Great Britain was to place an embargo upon the ex
port of various imperial products to countries which
were not Allies, and nobody seriously questioned
the Justice of it's action. In the same way We can
now hardly be denied the right to our traders
that they must not have dealings with residents in
neutral countries who are even suspected OF aiding
or abetting in any way the affairs of the enemy, and
to tell them who these people are The American
black list was in fact, promulgated after the most
careful consideration after similar black lists had
been for some time in force regarding other neutral
countries on both sides of the Atlantic. Possibly
there NAV be some mistakes in it. If SO they can
be easily rectified and doubt will be. The more
closely il is studied the more clearly does our war
trade policy appear to have been formulated with
all possible regard not only for the rights but also
for the convenience Of neutras AS the cotton oper
atiyes of Lancashire discovered during the civil war;
innocent neutrals must sometimes suffer from the
trade policies of belligerens and il may be that the
plight of neutrals who thus suffer is sometimes az
gravated by the spectacle of the prosperity of neigh
bors whom the accident of commerce has rendered
the gamers from war trades. But, further Off
cial discussion will surely show, in all sin.
certify affirm that in telling our merchants with
whom they may trade and in indicating to our ship
owners whose goods they may or may not carry, we
are simply trying to contribute to the canse of civil
lization by bringing the to its foregone conclu-
sion as quickly possible and are doing so with a
clear conscience, whether look at the business
from the legal or from the ethical point of view
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