The Rice belt journal., 1916-04-28
congress HEARS last
NOTE TO germany READ
PRESIDENT INFORMS Congress
OF DE"h"~~ -" r,.oEptA,
GOVERNMENT.
SUB warfare lUS' CEA. E
submarine Policy Must Undergo I'm.
mediate Change If Friendly ReIa.
tions Are to Prevail, Says Presl.
dent-sussex Case Explained.


washington. - President Wilson's
iong'eXpected final warning to Ger
many that the United States will break
Off diplomatic relations unless she
abandons her present methods of sub
marine warfare and Immediately de-
clares her intention to do so was de-
iiyered Wednesday in Il note to Ber.
lin and was announced by the presi.
dent in an address to a Joint session
OF congress. The president demands
nothing less than the abandonment Of
submarine warfare against commerce.
Both the presidents address and
the American note declare In un.
equiyocai terms that only by Germany
acceding to the demand can the break
Ing off Of relations altogether be pre-
vented.
The president considers that the
next step depends solely upon Ger.
many and that three OF four days con.
stitute a reasonable time for a reply
He Is willing to discuss how subma-
rine warfare may be conducted with
in the limits Of international law and
humanity after Germany abandons
her present methods.
Diplomatic history records but one
instance as yet where a breaking Of
relations between two first class pow.
ers has not eventually brought war
that which now exists between Ger
many and Italy.
Congress received the presidents
declaration Of his course with mixed
evidences Of concern and appreciation.
President Wilson's words leave no
opportunity for double meaning. In
| his address to congress he said:
Il have deemed it my duty to say
to the imperial German government
that If it Is still its purpose to prose-
cute relentless and indiscriminate war.
fare, the government of the United
States is at last forced to the conclu-
sion that there is but one course it
can pursue; and that unless the i'm
perial German government should
now, Immediately, declare and effect
an abandonment Of its present meth
DDS of warfare against passenger and
| freight-carrying vessels this govern.
ment can have no choice but to sever
diplomatic relations altogether"
The note to Berlin declares:
"The government of the United
States has been very patient. 1t has
accepted the successive explanations
and assurances of the imperial govern
/ ment as of course given in entire sin
Cerity and good faith and has hoped
| even against hope that It would prove
! to be possible for the imperial govern
ment so to order and control the acts
/ of its naval commanders as to square
its policy with the recognized princi-
pies Of humanity as embodied in the
law of nations. 1t has made every al
lowance for unprecedented conditions
and has been willing to wait until the
| facts became unmistakable and sus-
ceptible of only one Interpretation.
1T now owes it to just regard for
its own rights to say to the imperial
government that the time has come.
1T has become painfully evident to
It that the position which it took at
the very outset Is inevitable, namely,
the use of submarines for the destruc-
| tiOn Of an enemy's commerce is Of ne
cessity, because of the very character
Of the vessels employed and the very
methods of attack which their employ
ment OF course involves, utterly in
compatible with the principles Of hui
manity, the long-established and in
controvertible rights of neutrals and
the sacred immunities of noucombas-
ants.
'If It is still the purpose Of the i'm
perial government to prosecute relent,
less and indiscriminate warfare
against vessels of commerce by the
use Of submarines, without regard TO
what the government Of the United
States must consider the sacred and
indisputable rules Of international law
and the universally reco2 2nized die
tates of humanity, the government OF
the United States is at last forced to
the conclusion that there is but one
course it can pursue.
Information now in the possession
of the government of the United
States fully establishes the facts in
the case of the Sussex, and the infer
ences which my government has
drawn from that information 1t re-
CARDS as confirmed by the circum-
/ stances set forth in your excellency' s
note of the 10th. On the oath OF
! March, 1916, at about $3.50 o'clock in
the afternoon, the unarmed steamer
/ Sussex, with 1926 or more passengers
on board. among whom were a num-
ber of American citizens, was torpe-
doed while crossing from Folkstone to
Dieppe. The Sussex was never armed.
About eighty of her passengers,
noncombatants of all ages and sexes