Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-05-27

of correspondence. The practice ac-
tually followed by the allied govern
ments must be said to justify the con-
clusion, therefore that the announce
ment of Feb. Is was merely notice
that one illegal practice had been
abandoned to make place for the de-
velopment of another more onerous
and vexatious in character.
The present practice is a violation,
not only Of the spirit of the announce
ment Of Feb. Is, but of the rule of
The Hague Convention upon which it
Is concededly based. Aside from this,
it is a violation Of the prior practice
Of nations which Great Britain and
fl1er allies have in the past insisted to
establish and maintain notwithstand-
ing the statement in the memoran-
dunn that as late as 1907 the letters
and dispatches themselves could be
war between the United States and
Mexico the United States forces al
loved British steamers to enter. and
depart from the port Of Vera Cruz
without faeiestins the mails intended
for inland points. During the Ameri-
can civil war Lord Russell endeavor-
ed ia induce the United States to con-
eede that "Hef Majesty's mails on
board a private vessel should be ex.
emyted from visitation or detention"
fhis exemption Of fnaiis was Urged
in bctobef fsss In tbs ease Of British
mails on board the Adela. On Octo-
Der 81, Secretary Seward announced
that public mails Of any friendly or
neutral power duly certified or au-
thenticated as such shall not be
searched or opened. but be put as
speedily as may be convenient on the
way to their designed destination In
accordance with this announcement
the government Of the United States
in the case Of the British steamship
Peterhoff which had been seized with
her mails against the protest OF Her
Matestys government, had her mails
forwarded to destination unopened.
The same rule was followed by France.
az I am advised, in the Franco-Prus-
sian war Of 1870; by the United states
in the Spanish-American war or 1885,
nv Great Britain in the South African
war. in the case of the German mail
steamers Bundesrath and General; oy
japan and substantially by Russia IN
the Russo-Japanese war OF 1904. ana
even in the present war, as the mem
orandum of Great Britain and France
states. their enemy, Germany has oe-
sisted from the practice OF 1nter1er-
ence with neutral malls, even on
hoard belligerent steamers. This IS IL
,ustrated by the case Of the French
steamer Floride, captured by the aux
iliary cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedr1cn'
cited by the British and French gov
ernments in support of their argu-
ment regarding parcel mails.
In this case the letter mails Of the FLOR
ida. amounting to la sacks. were for
warded to their destination by the COM
mander at the first opportunity upon ar
irving in the United States. 1t would
seem. therefore, to be conclusively estao-
lished that the interferences with mails
| of which this government justly COM
| Mains are wrong In principle and in
practice.
The arbitrary methods employed by the
British and French governments nave re-
suited most disastrously to citizens OF the
United States. Important papers when
can never be duplicated, or can be du-
plicated only with great difficulty. such
| as United States patents for inventions,
rare documents, legal papers relating to
the settlement of estates, powers Of at
torney. fire insurance claims, income tax
| es,, ;1or matters have heen
lost. Delays in receiving shipping docu-
ments have caused great loss and lncon-
venience by preventing prompt delivery
of goods. In the case Of the Macniff Hor-
ticultural Co of New York, large ship
ments of plants and bulbs from Holland
were, 1 am informed, frozen on the
wharves because possession could not be
obtained in the absence Of documents re-
lating to them which had been removed
from the New Amsterdam, Oosterdik and
| Rotterdam. Business opportunities are
lost by failure to transmit promptly bids,
specifications and contracts. The Stand
ard UNDERGROUND Cable Co. of Pittsburg.
for example, sent by mail tender and
specifications for certain proposed electri-
cal works to be constructed in Christian
| d.
papers have failed to arrive, the Ameri-
can company was told that the bids could
not be longer held open and the contract
was awarded to a British competitor.
| Checks. drafts, money orders. securities
and similar property are lost or detained
| for weeks and months.
Business correspondence relating to
legitimate and bonafide trade between
neutral countries, correspondence Of a
personal nature and also certain off =
cial correspondence such as money or
| der lists and other matter forwarded
by government departments are de-
tanned. lost or possibly destroyed. For
instance. the postmaster general in
| forms me that certain international
money order lists from the United
| States and Germany. Greece and 9TH
err countries and from Germany to
| the United States sent through the
mails have not reached their destin-
alton though dispatched several
months ago. 1t was necessary to have
some of these lists duplicated and
again dispatched by the steamship
Frederick VIII. which sailed from New
York on April 10 and from which all
the mails intended for Germany have
been taken and held in British juris-