New Britain herald., 1916-02-18
UNNEUTRAL ACT AND
 STEP TOWARD WAR
Surrender by US. of Rights Rela- tive to Belhgerent Merchantmen
DECLARES SENATOR LODGE

l America Must Not Abandon Princinlea 1 That It's Ports Are Open to and It's
 Citizens Free to Travel On Traders 1 Armed For Defense.
 Washington, Feb. 1S.-Senator
 Lodge, ranking minority member of
 the foreign relations committee, made
 a speech in the senate today declaring
 that abandonment by the United
 States at this time of the principles
 that it's ports were open to and it's cit | izens free to travel upon merchantmen 1 of belligerent nations armed solely for l defense purposes would be an unneu- l tral act and a step toward war. He said 1 it would make the United States the
 ally of the belligerent whose mer- l chant marine had been swept from the 1 seas.
 1 The senator spoke at length dwell- ing upon the history of international l law relating to the arming of mer- 1 chantmen for defense and citing prec- l edents in the record of the United States. He referred to reports that the administration was preparing to ! change it's policy, which have been de-
 bied by Secretary Lansing since the issuance of the German and Austrian mem oranda announcing their inten- tion to treat. armed merchant ships as war vessels after Feb. 29 As late as the presidents note of May 13, 1913 signed by MT. Bryan, Senator Lodge said this government recognized that America citizens were within their indisputed rights in taking their ships l and in travelling wherever their legiti- ] mate business calls them upon the
 high seas.' ...-. Practice of All Nations. Such" the senator added, "has been the practice of all nations in re- gard to armed merchantm It seems
 utterly incredible that this position
 should be in any way altered now or that our government should be ready to surrender the unquestioned rights of Americans to travel or ship goods on belligerent merchantmen sub ject to all the rules which have been established by the courts and by all international auth critics for at least two centuries r. I
 The abandonme ent of those rights by an neutral government the ground that the invention of subma- rines with the necessary limitations upon the powers of capture possessed by those boats is inconceiVa ble. Such abandonment could only rest on the ground that the rights of neutrals, the rules which for centuries have been greed upon by all nations of the pro- lection of innocent lives upon vessels captured in war must be thrown aside and discarded in order that a new in- structment of maritime destruction
 must not be inpeded in it's work of death and murder. Such a doctrine is revolting to every instinct of human ity, to every principle of law and jus tice.
 Another Side of Matter.
 "There is, however, another side to this matter which is of even greater
 importance. There can be no question that any act by neutral which alters conditions created by the war is an unneutral act and placed the neutral upon the side of one belligerent or the other
 '"This is eminently true of any form of embargo. The war, and the war alone has also created conditions un- der which any change at this time i1l the attitude which we took officla Fly at the outset of the war in regard to armed merchantmen would be an un-
 neutral act. The merchantmen of one
 belMgerent have been swept from the seas Therefore if we should abandon all the principles on this ject that we have ever sustained, if we should abandon the rules laid down by MT. Lansing in his circular of September 1914 and declare that our ports were closed to armed merchantmen, or that goods and passeng gers from the United States could not be placed on an un- commissioned merchantmen, armed solely for self-defense, our action would affect only one belligerent; 1t would alter conditions created by the war, ana would therefore be unneu- tral. It would make us at once the
 ally of the belligerent whose merchant
 marine has been driven from tlle
 ocean. It would be step toward war.
 Must Stand Firmly.
 'I cannot believe that the admins tration thinks for a moment of alter ing the we'll defined position which it took at the outset of the European war, and I believe that it must stand as firmly on this question as it has on the question of the embargo Should it act otherwise it would accept a hu- initiation and incur a. danger of war from which even the boldest and the most interruptions would shrink.'' GraVest Crisis Senator Sterling, of South Dakota spoke on his resolution to declare the senate's concern at the recent German naval order to sink all armed allied merchant ships: He said the issue brought the United States to. it's "gravest international crisis.'' 'Tnstead of yielding to the claims of the German admiralty,' said he,
 s'their very mention should meet with vigorous protest Instead of denying