The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1916-01-21
= : = O. p. "a Il =. !.
Senate has Heated Debate Over
Germany's sPremeditated Mur-
der Of Americans and Britain's
Attitude Towards Commerce
H.g#sNtEtL " --~----. w I.s .tf.. &
.ESTRAlNT OF NEUTRAL
TRADE STARTS oRAToRY
Williams Of Mississippi Warns
Colleagues That Embargo Up
on Munition Exports Would
Put Dollar Before Human Life
tAssoeiatsd Press " Fedsral wirsless.,


~ 1ASHINGT0N, January 2l--Ger-
NJ many's Hmurder Of American
w citizsns'' in the course Of her
submarine campaign, and Great Bri
tain's perpetual robbery, in the ace.
ion taken by the British against Amer,
lean commerce in the enforcement OF
her orders-in-council bloc,:Lling the
Central Powers, came in for denppcia-
tion in the senate yesterday, in a hea ted
debate, in which the senate divid-
ed along pro-German and pro-Allies
lines. The debate was iaaugurated by
Senator Hoke Smith Of Georgia.
Georgian Starts Trouble
Senator Smith denounced the British
interference with neutral commerce and
declared that the known facts should
lead to action to prevent Great Britain
from advancing her trade at the ex-
pense Of the United States while sim
ultaneonsly she Is destroying Germany
commercially. He asserted that the
rights of citizens Of the United States
and other neutral countries are being
40 ftreckIe7sly aisfega ~ He empha-
sized his deh0dhceneiit Of England 's
treatment Of the American cotton trade.
+. "Shall we eontinue 70 furnish Eng
land with what she IS compelled to
obtain from the United States while
the commercial rights of the citizens
Of this country are being tramped un-
der footf'' he asked. 3 .E.. o
German Raiding Denounced n
This precipitated an angry debate,
in the course of which the activities Of
the German admiralty were denounced
as premeditated murders and the ae-
tivities Of the British navy as robberies
on high seas. A charge was made, by
one speaker, that the British censors
had extracted American trade sec.
rets from the correspondence passing
through their hands and had impaired
the information obtained from inter
eepted mail to British firms. This
charge was fatty denied by other
speakers. - E....-7 ....-
Embargo Upon Munitions
Senator Borah of idaho and Senator
Vardaman of Mississippi agreed with
Senator Hoke Smith that British inter.
ference with American commerce call.
ed for more than diplomatic protests
and endorsed the contentious of the
Georgian that an embargo upon muni-
tion exports would bring the British
TO a realization Of American rights.
Senator John Sharp Williams of Mis-
sissippi said that he would agree to no
action which might lead to the sup
POSITION that the United States would
60 to war for the sake Of dollars or
placed the lives Of its citizens second
ary to the sake Of foreign trade.
Human Life Comes First .-l, 81
This stand was seconded by Sena-
Nor Blair Lee of Maryland, who stated
lat the United States should not place
property rights on the same plane as
the rights of human life. In regard to
the actions of the British towards al.
legged eontraband, at worst it was only
a violation of property rights and In.
volyed nothing that could not be paid
for. He thought il sufficient, he said,
I the United States entered a formal
protest against these violations Of
American rights, then await the Brit.
ish reply in ealmness before present.
ing any demands for restitution. ,ss.