The Elbert County tribune., 1916-05-12

Shown Neut-ais In Restraint Of Sub
marine Warefare = Partially Is
Charged to United States and Sale
Of Munitions 10 Cited as Evidence.
Tho German admiralty has Is
sued new order to commanders
Of submarines that no more mer-
chant vessels are to be sunk with
out first being visited and
searched and that the people on
board are to be given chance to
save their lives.
Berlin. Germany (by wireless via
Sayville. N ~. May 5.-Foilowing is
the text OF the note OF the German
government In reply to the American
note respecting submarine warfare.
delivered yesterday by Gottlieb Won
Jagow. the foreign secretary. to Am
bassador Gerard:
The undersigned. on behalf of the
imperial German government has the
honor to present to his excellency. the
ambassador of the United States. Mr..
u,
to the note OF April 20 regarding the
conduct Of German submarine war
fare:
The German government handed
over to the proper naval authorities
for early investigation the evidence
concerning the Sussex as communi
Gated by the government OF the United
States. Judging by the results that
the investigation has hitherto yielded.
the German government is alive to the
possibility that the ship mentioned in
the note of April 10 as having been
torpedoed by q German submarine is
actually identical with the Sussex
Looking Into tho Sussex Case.
The German government begs to
reserve further communication on the
matter until certain points are aseer.
tained which are of decisive import.
ance for establishing the facts in the
case. Should 1t turn out that the com
mander was wrong in assuming the
vessel to be a man -of-war the German
government will not fail to draw the
consequence resulting therefrom.
In connection with the case of the
Sussex the government of the United
States made q series OF statements the
gist of which Is the assertion that the
incident Is to be considered but one in.
stance of q deliberate method of indis-
crimtnate destruction of vessels OF all
sorts. nationalities and destinations by
German submarine commanders.
Repudiate Charge by U. 8.
The German government must en-
phatically repudiate the assertion. The
German government. however. thinks
1t of little avail to enter into details
in the present stage of affairs. more
particularly at the government OF the
United States omitted to substantiate
the assertion by reference to concrete
facts.
THE German government will only
state that II has imposed far-reaching
restraints upon the use OF the subma-
rine weapon. solely In consideration OF
neutral interests. In spite of the tact
that these restrictions are necessarily
OF advantage to Germany's enemies.
No such consideration has ever been
shown neutrals by Great Britain and
her allies.
Orders international Law Obeyed.
The German submarine forces
have had. in fact orders to conduct
the submarine warfare In accordance
with the general principles of visit
and search and the destruction OF mer.
chant vessels recognized by Interna-
tional law. the sole exception being
the conduct of warfare against enemy
trade carried on enemy freight ships
encountered In the war zone sur
rounding Great Britain. With regard
to these no assurances have ever
been given to the government OF the
United States. No such assurances
are contained in the declaration of
February 8. 1916.
The German government cannot
admit any doubt that these orders
were given or are executed in good
faith. Errors actually occurred. They
can In no kind of warfare be avoided
altogether. Allowances must be made
In the conduct of naval warfare
against an enemy resorting to all
kinds of rusos. whether permissible or
ILLICIT
Danger Can't Be Avoided.
But apart from the possibility of
errors. naval warfare. Just like war
fare on land. implies unavoidable dan
gers for neutral persons and goods en-.
tering the fighting zone. Even in
cases where the naval action is con.
fined to ordinary forms OF cruiser
warfare. neutral persons and goods re-
peatedly come to grief
THE German government has re-
peatedly and explicitly pointed out the
dopOaro frap, y,,ipaa that h,y1 t.a A.