Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1916-05-02


Ireland as embraced within the seat
of war and of destroying all merchant
ships owned by its enemies that
might be found within that zone of
danger, and warned all vessels. neu-
trail as well as belligerent, to keep
to enter them at their peril, the gov
eminent of the United States earnest
ly protested.
Peril Was Shown.
THE government of the United
States took the position that such a
policy could not be pursued without
constant gross and palpable violation
Of the accepted law Of nations, partic-
ularly if submarine craft were to be
employed as it's instruments, inasmuch
as the rules prescribed by that law,
rules founded on the principles of hui
manity and established for the protec-
ton of the lives of noncombatants at
sea, could not in the nature of the
case be observed by such vessels.
1T based it's protest on the ground
that persons Of neutral nationality and
vessels of neutral ownership would be
exposed to extreme and intolerable
risks; and that no rights to close any
part of the high seas could lawfully
be asserted by the imperial govern
ment in the circumstances then exist
ing.
THE law of nations in these mat
tiers, upon which the government of
the United States based that protest,
is not of recent origin or founded upon
merely arbitrary principles set up by
convention. 1t is based, on the con-
trary, upon manifest principles of hui
manity, and has long been established
with the approval and by the express
assent of all civilized nations
Persists in Policy.
"The imperial government, notwith-
standing, persisted in carrying out
the policy announced, expressing the
hope that the dangers involved, at any
rate to neutral vessels, would be re-
duced to minimum by the instruc-
lions which it issued to the command
ers of its submarines, and assuring
the government of the United States
that it would take every possible pre-
caution both to respect the rights of
neutrals and to safeguard the lives of
noncombatants.
I'm pursuance of this policy of sub
marine warfare against the commerce
of its adversaries, thus announced and
thus entered upon in despite of the
solemn protest of the government of
the United States, the commanders of
the imperial governments undersea
vessels have carried on practices of
such ruthless destruction which have
made it more and more evident as the
months have gone by that the i'm
perial government has found it i'm
practicable to put any such restraint
upon them as it had hoped and prom
ised to put
Again and again the imperial gov
eminent has given it's solemn assur-
ances to the government of the United
States that at least passenger ships
would not be thus dealt with, and yet
it has repeatedly permitted its under
sea commanders to disregard those as
surances with entire impunity.
AS recently as February last it save
notice that it would regard all armed
merchantmen owned by it's enemies as
part of the armed forces of it's adver-
saries and deal with them as men-of-
war, this, at least by implication,
pledging itself to give warning to YES
sells which were not armed and to af-
ford security of life to their passen-
gers and crews; but even this limita-
ton their submarine commanders have
recklessly ignored.
Neutral Vessels Sunk.
Vessels of neutral ownership, even
vessels of neutral ownership bound
from neutral port to neutral port, have
been destroyed along with vessels Of
belligerent ownership in constantly in