Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1916-06-04
Secretary of State Shows
Difficult Position of This
Government.
AMERICANS LOSING
PATRIOTIC VIGOR
Some Place Right Of Property on Par
With Right Of Life-Germany and
Great Britain Seek to Amend Law
to Suit Themselves.

Watertown, N. W. June 3.-Secre-
tary Lansing, before the Jefferson
County Bar association here tonight,
scored critics of the administration
foreign policy who would have it do
more than has been done in the
negotiations arising from the war, and
replied to those who complain the
United States had been more vigor-
Gus in it's dealings with Germany than
with Great Britain.
"The violation of the national right
of life is a much more serious offense
against an individual and against his
nation" said Secretary Lansing, ethan
the violation of the legal right OF
property Can you doubt for mo-
ment which one gives this govern
ment the greatest concern"
That there was an Influence in
America and even in congress which
put right of property and right of life
on a par, Secretary Lansing declared
showed that the great heart of the
republic is threatened with fatty de-
generacy through those who have lost
their patriotic vigor; that many
Americans have become lovers OF ease
rather than lovers of national hon
ors."
Belligerents Blind to Right and Wrong
Mr.. Lansing read his address. He
said he felt compelled to do so, that
he might not be misunderstood. The
principal part of his address follows:
"The great war has caused so many
conditions and presented so many
questions which were never before
raised or even thought of, that it has
been no easy task to meet and answer
them. The relations between neutrals
and belligerents were never more
difficult of adjustment. It was never
harder to preserve neutral rights from
invasion by the desperate opponents
in the titanic conflict in which the
power, if not the life of the great en-
pires of the earth, is at stake. The
peoples and governments at war are
blinded by passion; their opinions are
unavoidably biased; their conduct fire.
quently influenced by hysterical i'm
pulses which approach to madness.
Patience and forbearance are essen
tial to neutral in dealing with such
nations. Acts which, under normal
conditions, would be most offensive
must be considered calmly and with
out temper. 1t is an extraordinary
situation, and requires extraordinary
treatment with due regard for the
mental state of those who are strain
ing every nerve to defeat their
enemies, and to that end using every
possible means to weaken them in
their industrial as we'll as their mill
tary power.
Neither Side Fair.
"In a nutshell, the situation of our
relations with Great Britain and Ger
many, the two powers with which we
have had our principal controversies,
is this:
Germany having developed the
submarine as an offensive engine of
destruction, asserts that she cannot,
on account of the resulting conditions,
conform to the established rules of
naval warfare, and we should not
therefore insist on strict compliance.
Great Britain has no sympathy with
the German point of view, and de-
mands that submarines observe the
rules of visit and search without ex-
"On the other hand, Great Britain
declares that on account of the new
conditions resulting from submarine
activity and the use of mines from the
geographical position of Germany.
she cannot conform to the established
rules of blockade and contraband, and
we should not therefore hold her to
strict compliance with those rules.
Germany insists, nevertheless, that
Great Britain be made to follow the
existing law.
"Both governments have the same
arguments, based primarily on mill
tary necessity, and offer the same ex-
cuses for their illegal acts, but neither
will admit that the other is in any
way justified for its conduct. Now
what is the United States to do in
these circumstances? If we admit
9 that the arguments advanced are
fx"''nd-and am sure no one will deny
N6lat they are more or less reasonable
and submit to changes in the rules
OF naval warfare, we will be without
any standard of neutral rights. Con-
cseding. that the rules can be modified
ny belligerent to meet new condi-
lions, how far could a belligerent GO
(COn<inUoA An no~o s7