New Britain herald., 1916-05-27

1 returns, and similar matters have been 1 lost.
 Delays in receiving documents have
 caused great loss and inconvenience
 by preventing prompt delivery of l goods.
 Tn the case of the Macniff Horticul i tural company of New York large l shipments of plants and bulbs from i Holland were, I am informed, frozen | on the wharves because possession l could not be obtained in the absence 1 of documents relating to them which | had been removed from the Nieuw 1 Amsterdam, Costerdyk, and Rotter- | dam.
 1 Business opportunities are lost by l failure to transmit promptly bids, spe- 1 cilcations, and contracts.
 The Standard Underground Cable l company of Pittsburgh, for example, | sent by mail a tender and specltlca- 1 tons for certain proposed electrical ] works to be constructed in Christiania; after several weeks of waiting the pa l pers failed to arrive. The American 1 company was told that the bids could l not be longer held open and the con- | tract was awarded to British compet- i itor.
 SIloChS, QrdICS, money OIuoIS, oS- 1 curlt1es, and similar property are lost or detained for weeks and months. Business correspondence relating to l legitimate and bona fide trade between
 neutral countries, correspondence such
 as money order lists and other matter l forwarded by Government depart l ments are detained, lost, or possibly ] destroyed. For instance, the Postmas- | ter General informs me that certain 1 international money order lists from | the United States to Germany, Greece | and other countries and from Ger | many to the United States, sent 1 through the mails, have not reached their destination, though dispatched l several months ago. It was neces- | sary to have some of these lists du- | plicated and. again despatched by the l steamship Frederick VIII., which
 sailed from New York on April 19, l and from which all the mails intend ! ed for Germany have been taken 1 and held in British Jurisdiction. As a further example of the delay and loss consequent upon the British practice the Postermaster General also sends me a copy of a letter from the British Postal Administration ad-
 hitting that the mails were removed from the steamer Medan in the Downs on Jan. 30 last and not forwarded un- til some time "between the 2d of Feb ruary and the 2d of March," and that 182 bags of these mails were lost during transmission to Holland on the 26th day of February bp the Dutch steamship Mecklenburg." The Medan arrived safely at Rotterdam a day two after she left the DoWns N11p,a oon1n1aintS similar n the foregoing have been received by this Government. the details of which are avaiIab bIe but I believe I have cited sufficient facts to show the unpreCe- dented and vexatious nature of the in- terference with mails persisted in by British and French authorities. All Laws Smashed.
 Not only are American commercial interests injured but rights of pro- perty are violated, and the rules of international law and custom are pal pabIy disregarded. I can only add
 that this continuing offense has led to such losses to American citizens
 and to a possible responsibility of the United States to repair them that
 this Government will be compelled in the near future to press claims for
 full reclamation upon the attention Of his Majesty's Government and that Of the French Republic.
 The principle being plain ana
 definite, and the present practice or
 the Governments of Great Britain and France being clearly in contraventlon
 of the principle, I will state more in detail the position of the Government of the United States in regard to the treatment of certain classes of sealed
 mails under a strict application of the
 principle upon which our Govern l m ments seem to be in general accord.
 The Government of the United
 States is inclined to the opinion that
 the class of mail matter which in- cludes stocks, bonds, coupons, and similar securities is to be regarded
 as of the same nature as merchant disc or other articles of property and subject to the same exercise of belli- gerent rights Money orders, checks drafts, notes and other negotiable in struments which may pass as the equivalent of money are it is consid- cred, also to be classed as merchant disc. Correspondence, including shipping documents, money or 1 der lists and papers of that char acter, even though relating to "enemy supplies or exports unless carried 1 on the same ship as the property re- 1 ferred to- are, in the opinion of this