The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1917-04-03

The Charleston American has, in
photograp phic reproduction, the fol-
lowing letter signed by Secretary OF
State Lansing. This is a reply to
question asked of him by the Hon.
George Holden Tinkham. on Febru-
ary %, 1917. Secretary Lansins's re-
ply is dated March 9th, and was re-
ceived by the Hon. Tinkham on March
81.
How this correspondence came
about is explained below by Mr.. Emil
Ahlborn, 258 Marlborough street,
Boston, in exhibit B."
Address Official Communications TO
the secretary OF state, Washington.
d. c.
Received March 13.
Department Of State,
Washington, March 9, 1917.
The Honorable George Holden
! Tinkham, House of Representatives.
Mr.. Dear Mr. Tinkham: | am IN
receipt Of your letter Of February 20,
1917, enclosing communication from
Mr.. Emil Ahlborn, 258 Marlborough
street, Boston, Mass. requesting tnat
he be informed why this government
omitted from its official publication
of the documents relating to bellis-
erents and the rights OF neutrals and
commerce the British admiralty Or
der of November 2, 1914, declaring
/ the North sea a military area.
! In reply / would suggest that M
Ahlborn be informed that as 1t was
! impossible to publish all the materla!
! in the department relating to the war
and as the order Of November 2, 1914
| has already been made public by the
department. it was deemed unneces-
sary at the time to reprint the order
in the Official White Book.
| I am, my dear Mr.. Tinkham,
J Very sincerely yours,
ROBERT LANSING.
! 7n3.T211-Tinkham G. H. u.
Memorandum.
23S Marlborough Street,
Boston, March p, 1917
| When my attention was called tc
the omission from the official Whltt
Book, published by the State Depart
ment, of the British admiralty order
o. November .. 1914, declaring thF
whole of the North sea "a military
area" where merchant shipping Of
all kinds. traders of all countries
fishing craft and all other vessels vii
| be exposed to the gravest danger from
mines and from warsh1ps,
! asked one of my senator's. Mr.. weeks
and my congressman. Mr.. Tinkham
i to ascertain the reason why this Brit.
ish admiralty order had been omitted
bv our state department. Later
also learned, from the Congression'
al Record, that at least two Amerl'
j can ships. the Carib and the Evelyn
had been sunk there with loss Of
American lives.
Mr.. Lansings letter to my con-
gresham, Mr.. Tinkham. printed IN
PHOTOGRAPHIC reproduction on the at
tached sheet, speaks for itself
In case you should have no immed-
late access to the official White Book
refererd to by Mr. Lansing. L wlsH
to state that it begins with dlspatcheS
date August, 1914. and that it pur,
| norts TO be a complete collection OF
the important documents IN question
most of which, understand, had pre-
yiouslv "been made public This
! expression is apt to confuse the cas-
nal reader. (There is Fundamental
difference between making publlc
and Officially publishing. =. The Tor.
mer means giving copies of news and
! documents to the representatives OF
| the newspapers, as is done twice dalls
by the department OF state. TO DC
used by the editors Of these papers
as thev see fit. The latter means
publishing under the authority OF the
! deDartment of state. Our department
! Of state has never officially published
| the British admiralty order OF NOV,
omber 9. 1914. which was the mrs.
| document issued by any OF the Del
ligerents, proclaiming the ruthless
ness of naval warfare.
The British admiralty order Of NOV
ember 2, 1914, was the first order Is
sued by any of the European belhg-
erents to establish military area
| ~ .he high seas. We did not protest
against this. 49,.
| The American ships sunk in this
orea we're the first American ships 80
sunk. We did not specifically pro-
test against their sinking.
The american lives lost when these
ships %ere sssk unwarned, were the
first American nves SO lost. We ut
tered no protest.
If the loss of american lives on
American ships, sunk unwarned IN
the military area established by the
German order of January 81, l9lf,
has created, as has been claimed a
"state of war" between the United
States and Germany, such state OF
| war" has existed between the United
States and Great Britain since the
winter of 1914-1915, when the Ameri-
can steamships Carib and Evelyn. and
possibly others. were sunk unWarn-
ed with loss of American lives.
That the state department has en-
deavored to suppress the facts by
omitting the British admiralty order