The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1916-05-13
SARCASM IN The
GERMAN ANSWER
Unofficial Text of the Note Laid
Before President and His
Cabinet at Once.
NEW ORDERS FOR U-BOATS
Unarmed Merchant Vessels Will Not
Be Sunk Without Warning, But
Under Certain Conditions.

Under Certain Conditions.
Washington.-The German reply to
President Wilson's last note on the
submarine dispute has been received
in Washington from Ambassador
Gerard. The unofficial copy was laid
before the President and cabinet as
soon as received. The text of the
reply as transmitted to Ambassador
Gerard of the United States by For
eign Secretary Won Jagow, follows:
"The undersigned, on behalf of the
imperial German government, has the
honor to present to his excellency, the
ambassador to the United States, Mr..
James w. Gerard, the following reply
to the note of April 20, regarding the
conduct of German submarine war
fare.
1.-THE German government handed
over to the proper naval authorities
for further investigation evidence con-
corning the Sussex as communicated
by the government of the United
States. Judging by the results that
investigation hitherto yielded, the
German government is alive to the
possibility that the ship mentioned
in the note of April 10 as torpedoed
by a German submarine is actually
identical with the Sussex.
1.-THE German government begs to
reserve further communications on
the matter until certain points are as
certained which are of decisive i'm
portance for establishing the facts Of
the case Should it turn out that the
commander was wrong in assuming
the vessel to be a man-of-war. the
German government will not fail to
draw the consequences resulting
therefrOm.
"In 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 yes
sells of all sorts, natiOnalities and des-
tinations by German submarine COM
manders.
1.-THE German government must en-
phatically repudiate the assertion. The
German government, however, thinks
it of little avail to inter into the de-
tails 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. The German gov
eminent will only state that it has i'm
posed far-reaching restraints upon the
use of the submarine weapon solely in
consideration of neutrals' interests in
spite of the fact that these restrictions
necessarily were of advantage to Ger
many's enemies. No such considera
ton has ever been shown neutrals by
Great Britain and her allies.
German submarine forces have
had, in fact, orders to conduct sub
marine warfare in accordance with
the general principles of visit, search
and destruction of merchant vessels
recognized by international law, the
sole exception being the conduct Of
warfare against enemy trade carried
on enemy freight ships encountered il
the war zone surrounding Great Brit
ain. With regard to these no assur
ances ever have been given to the gov
eminent of the United States. M
such assurance was contained in thu
declaration of February 8, 1916.
1.-THE German government canno
admit any doubt that these orders
were given and are executed in goot
faith. Errors actually occurred. The.
can in no kind of warfare be avoided
altogether, and allowances must b.
made in the conduct of naval warfar
against an enemy resorting to al
kinds of ruses, whether permissibl
or illicit. But apart from the posi-
bility of errors, naval warfare, jus
like land warfare, implies unavoidable
dangers, for neutral persons and good
entering the fighting zone. Even il
cases where naval action is confine
to ordinary forms of cruiser warfar
neutral persons and goods repeated
come to grief
''The German government has II
peatedly and explicitly pointed out tn
dangers from mines, as they have lie
to the loss of numerous ships. tn
German government made several pr
posals to the government of the Unite
States in order to reduce to the min
mum for American travellers and good
the inherent dangers of naval warfar,
Unfortunately, the government of tn
United States decided not to acceI
the proposals. Had it accepted tn
government of the United State