The midland journal., 1916-05-12


But Expects United States TO Com
pei Enemies To Conform To Rec
osnlzed Rules OF War.
The German government has assured
President Wilson that merchant yes
sells shall not be sunk without warn
ing, or without visit and search, and
that human lives shall be saved unless
the ship attempts to escape or to offer
resistance.
In effect, this is compliance with
the demand made by President Wilson
in his vigorous note to Germany sent
to Berlin three weeks age last We'd
nesday.
President Wilson will accept the as
suranee of Germany in good faith that
the German government will abandon
the present method of submarine war;
fare, torpedoing defenseless ships with
out warning, and that he will regard
the German pledge as an acceptable
compliance with the American de-
mand.
In such case, the United States
might not reply to the note and would
await evidence of the actual abandon
ment of Germany's present practices
of submarine warfare which is de-
clared.
: Berlin (By Wireless to Sayville,
N Y).-Following is the text of the
note Of the German Government in re-
ply to the American note respecting
submarine warfare, delivered by Gott-
1ieb Won Jagow, the Foreign Secretary,
70 Ambassador Gerard:
~The undersigned, on behalf of the
Imperial German Government, has the
honor to present to His Excelency the
Ambassador OF the United States, Mr..
James w. Gerard. the following reply
to the note of April 20 regarding the
conduct OF German submarine warfare.
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.
Identical With Sussex.
Judging by the results that the In
vestigation has hitherto yielded, the
German Government is alive to the
possibility that the ship mentioned in
the note of April 10 as having been tor
pedoed by a German submarine is,
actually identical with the Sussex.
"Th6 German Government begs to
reserve further communication on the
matter until certain points are ascer-
tanned which are OF decisive imper-
tance for establishing the facts of the
case. Should it turn out that the com.
mander was wrong in assuming the
vessel. to be man of war. the German
Government will not fail to draw the
consequence resulting therefrom.
U. S. Charges Repudiated.
sTn connection with the case of the
Sussex the Government of the United
States made a series of statements,
the gist of which is the assertion that
the incident is to be considered but
one instance of a deliberate method of
indiscriminate destruction of vessels
of all sorts. nationalities and destina-
tions by German submarine command
ers.
'The German Government must
emphatically repudiate the assertion.
The German Government. however,
thinks it Of little avail to enter into
details in the present stage of affairs.
more particularly as the Government
OF the United States omitted to sub
stantiate the assertion by reference to
concrete facts,
Has imposed Restraints.
"The German Government will only
state that it has imposed far-reaching
restraints upon the use Of the sub
marine weapon, solely in consideration
Of neutrals' interests, in spite Of the
fact that these restrictions are neces-
sarily Of advantage to Germany's
enemies. No such consideration has
ever been shown neutrals by Great Bri-
tain and her allies
"The German submarine forces have
had, In fact, orders to conduct the sub
marine warfare in accordance with the
general principles Of visit and search
and the destruction Of merchant yes
sells recognized by international law,
the sole exception being the conduct
of warfare against enemy trade carried
on enemy freight ships encountered in
the war zone surrounding Great Bri-
tain. With regard to these no assur.
ances have ever been given to the Gov.
ernment Of the United States No such
assurances are contained in the
declaration Of February s. 1916.
Executed In Good Faith.
-The German Government cannot