Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-02-18
STEP TOWARD war;
MR.. LODGE ASSERTS
-
Tells Senate Abandonment OF
"Open Port" Would Be
Unneutral.
URGES RIGHT TO TRAVEL
ON ARMED MERCHANTMEN
Says Change Of Policy Would Make
United States Ally of One Of
the Belligerents.

Senator Lodge, ranking MINOR
ity member of the foreign rela-
tons committee, made a speech
in the Senate today declaring that
abandonment by the United
States at this time of the princi-
pie that its ports were open to
and it's citizens free to travel
upon, merchantmen of belligeren'
nations armed solely for defensive
purposes would be an unneutral
act and a step toward war. He
said it would make the United
States the ally of the belligeren'
whose merchant marine had been
swept from the seas. q
The senator spoke at length, dwell.
ing upon the history OF international
law relating to the arming of mer.
chantmen for defense and citing prece-
dents In the record Of the United
states.
Denied by Secretary Lansing.
He referred to reports that the ad-
ministration was preparing to change
it's policy. which have been denied b,
Secretary Lansing since the issuance
Of the German and Austrian memoran.
dums announcing their intention tc
treat armed merchant ships as war yes.
sells after February -. As late as the
ed by Mr.. Bryan, Senator Lodge said
this government recognized tina,
American citizens were within thetl
undisputed rights in taking their ships
and in travelling wherever their legit-
mate business calls them upon the high
seas"
tice Of all nations In regard to the
armed merchantmen. seems utte,
be in any way altered now or that our
government should be ready to sur.
render the unquestioned rights OF
Americans to travel or ship goods on g
nerchantman subject 20 az
by the courts and by all international
Authorities for at least two centuries.
Not Ground for Abandonment.
The abandonment Of those rights by
any neutral government on the ground
that the invention Of submarines with
the necessary limitations upon the
powers of capture possessed by those
boats is inconceivable. Such abandon
ment could only rest on the ground
that the rights Of neutrals. the rules
which for centuries have been agreed
upon by all nations for the protection
Of innocent lives upon vessels captured
in war, must be thrown aside ana dis.
Of maritime destruction must not be
inn NEEDED in its work Of death and MUIR
der. Such doctrine is revolving to
every instinct Of humanity, to every
principle Of law and justice; ~ .,. -
this matter which is OF even graver
Importance. There can be no question
that any act by neutral which alters
conditions created by the war Is an un-
neutral act and places the neutral upon
the side Of one belligerent or the other
Calls Lansing Note Unanswerable.
This Is emtnently true of any form
of embargo. and there is no need that
I should repeat the unanswerable ar
Kument on this point embodied by Mr..
Lansing in his note Of last August to
the government Of Austria Hungary
The war, and the war alone. has also
created conditions under which any
change at this time in the attitude
which we took onicially at the outset
of the war in regard to armed mer-
chantmen would be an unneutral act.
The merchantmen of one belligerent
have been swept from the seas. There
fore, II we should abandon all the
principles on this subject that we have
ever sustained. II we should abandon
the rules laid down by Mr.. Lansing In
his circular Of September. 1914. and de-
clare that our ports were closed to
armed merchantmen. or that goods and
passengers from the United States
could not be placed on an uncommis-
stoned merchantmen. armed solely for
only ons belligerent: II would alter
would. therefore. be uuneutral. II
would make us at once the ally of the
belligerent whose merchant marine has
been driven from the ocean.
IT cannot believe that the admins
tration thinks for a moment Of alter
ing the well defined position which 1t
took at the outset of the European war
and ] believe that II must stand as
firmly on this question as II has on the
question of the embargo. Should 1t act
otherwise II would accept a humilia-
tion and incur a, danger Of war from
which even the boldest and the most
INSCRIPTIONS would shrink"