Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1916-08-02
WARNED ABOUT BLACK LIST.
Out Of the Question that u. 8. Should
AcQuiesce in Such Methods.

IL
made public tonight by tho State
Department. Of the many serious
consequences to neutral rights and
neutral relations which such an act
must necessarily involve"
The note Is even more positive in
Its terms than officials have iptimat-
ed. Ambassador Page was instruct
ed BY Acting Secretary Polk to de-
liver it formally and teXtually. It is
AS follows:
The announcement that His Bri-
fannie Majesty's government has
placed the names Of certain persons,
firms and corporations in the United
states upon prospective blacklist
and has forbidden all financial anu
commercial dealings between them
and citizens of Great Britain, has
been received with the most painful
surprise by the people and govern
ment of the United States, and seems
to the government Of the United
states to embody a policy Of arbi-
trary interference with neutral trade
against which 1t Is it's duty to pro-
test in the most decided terms.
The scope and effect of the policy
are extraordinary. British steam
ship companies will not accept car
goes from the prescribed firms or
persons or transport their goods to
any port, and steamship lines under
neutral ownership understand that if
they accept freight from them they
are likely to be denied coal at Brit
ish ports and excluded from other
privileges which they have usually
enjoyed, and may themselves be put
upon the blacklist. Neutral bankers
refuse loans to those on the list and
neutral merchants decline to contract
for their goods, fearing a like pro-
scription. 1t appears that British
officials regard the prohibitions of
the blacklist as applicable to domes-
tic commercial transactions in for
eign countries as we'll as in Great
Britain and her dependencies, for
Americans doing business in foreign
countries have been put on notice
that their dealings with blacklisted
firms are to be regarded as subject to
veto by the British government. BY
the same principle Americans in the
United States might be made subject
to similar punitive action if they
were found dealing with any Of their
own countrymen whose names had
thus been listed.
Disastrous to Neutrals.
The harsh and even disastrous ef-
fects of this policy upon the trade of
the United States and upon the neu-
trail rights upon which it will not fail
to insist are obvious. Upon the list
or those prescribed and in effect shut
out from the general commerce of
the world may be found American
concerns which are engaged in large
commercial operations as importers
of foreign products and materials
and as distributors of American pro-
ducts and manufactures to foreign
countries and which constitute i'm
portant channels through which
American trade reaches the outside
world. Their foreign affiliations have
been fostered for many years, and
when once broken cannot easily or
promptly be re-established. Other
concerns may be put upon the list at
any time and without notice. It is
understood that additions to the pro-
scription may be made whenever on
account Of enemy nationality or en-
emy association Of such persons or
bodies Of persons it appears to His
Majesty expedient to do So. The pos
sibilities Of undeserved injury to
American citizens from such meas
ures, arbitrarily taken, and of seri-
Gus and incalculable Interruptions Of
American trade are without limit.
ut has been stated on behalf of
His Maiesty's government that these
measures were aimed only at the enc
mics of Great Britain and would be
adopted and enforced with strict re-
gard to the rights of ncutrals and
with the least possible detriment to
neutral trade, but it Is evident that
they are inevitably and essentially
inconsistent with the rights of the
citizens Of all the nations not involy-
ed in war. The government of the
United States begs to remind the
government Of His Britannia Majes-
ty that citizens Of the United States
are entirely within their rights in at
tempting to trade with the people of
the governments Of any Of the ma
tons now at war, subject ONLY to
Well-defined International practices
and understandings which the gov
ernment Of the United States deems
the government Of Great Britain TO
have too lightly and too frequently
disregarded.
Wcll-knOwn Remedies.
There are well-known remedies
and penalties for breaches Of block
ade, where the blockade Is real and
in fact effective, for trade in contra
band, for every unneutral act by
Whomsoever attempted The gov
ernment Of the United States cannot
consent to see those remedies and
penalties altered or extended at the
will of q single power or group of
powers to the injury Of its own citi-
zens or in derogation of its own
rights. Conspicuous among the
principles which the civilized nations