The Alaska citizen., 1917-08-13
lBy Georl, Wasu4yrc)

.u h- New York I.me~ and tAr Ha-aa-sou To-. sewers. articles winch have great. surprised and agt u..a putu, opnlon III switzerland.
 ea.lz,aaul Is rrproa,hed with no, Aa,uz gone to War With Germany ana accused o. supplying Germany v.-a products Doa-a principally n ,aa United States. The lart ls tn- sisted upou that switzerland and other neutral nations of Europe are a,e buyu4 s great dea! more cero a.- and loou-,u.ts from America than before the WAT. And from this is drawn the hasty conelus.ou that these products are no, being employed eN- ,usHely to feed our own population, but thai We are rrselIns them to Germany, thus helping to strengthen the resistance Of inc central empires and to prolong the war.
 As consequence, these papers propose radical reduction wen an n.ardlcron -ol all eNportations to neutral countries lu Europe. These astonishing propositions seem 10 have found ready response in govern mental circles themselves.
 leave to other neurals the task Il. defending themselves as best they may. bu, I trust that you will permit me 10 speak. as briefly as possible, Tor my own country.
 That Switzerland has not broken oil relations with Germany is due 10 the fact (which seems to be little known in the United States) that she 5- held by the treaty ot 1915 Gol- lowing the Napoleonic wars) by which she Is bound. in ease of war between her neighbors, not to ally herself with either side In return, he" nui-hbors bound themselves to re- spect her territory, upon the condi- tion that she, herself, defend ii against all corners Switzerland could not therefore, declare war against Germany unless Germany violated her territory or committed an act con rrary to the independence and hon or of our confederation.
 When Germany declared the block ade, which was the immediate cause of the entry of the United States upon the scene as a belligerent Switzerland made an energetic and indignant protest to Berlin, but Il was impossible for her to consider or construe the measures taken by Germany as an offense against her dignity or her independence direct enough to justify declaration oi war. Switzerland is not mari tlInt ntllON. IltI Has lIO"''' N''1 no ship. The German blockade, there fore, has not, for her, the same sig nificance nor the same results as it has for other nations.
 You must not forget that Switzer- land. in the very center of Europe, finds herself in a very delicate posi- ton. This is a tiny little country, with fewer inhabitants than has one of your great cities. In the very midst of four powerful belligerent nations, she would become at once the active theatre of the European war and would expose herself to certain ruin and utter devastation. While this fact will never prevent the Swiss from showing courage and dignity, one ought to be able to un- derstand (even from so great dis tance from the scene of the hor- TOTS which we have witnessed for nearly three years) why We should earnestly desire to avoid entering lightly into this terrible struggle be- tween great states.
 Our almost unbelievable economic difficulties have been clearly and simply explained in an excellent ar ticle signed Merrick Guthrie, pub lished in the Sunday edition, Oct. l, 1916, of the New York Times. l call your attention to the fact that Switzerland, deprived of any outlet upon the sea and unable to com municate with any other neutral na- ton, is forced to make agreements with the belligerent countries to the end that they may kindly permit the transit through their territory of those products which she must have in order to avoid starvation.
 To us the Indispensable is bread The quantity of wheat which we are able to raise upon our own meagre soil is only sufficient to feed our ,,n,,,I,t ol1f