Elko independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1915-current, 1917-07-10
Government Committee on Public Information Issues Sum-
mary Covering Americas Reasons for Entering European
Conflict; Facts Which Should be Familiar to Every Man.
Woman and Child in America

the land Quarrels and civil wars Q
} the Barbary States, but We tszkA
them for obstructing the trSsSor q
the seas.
And in the decades ever since. 81
though the Imagination q cur PEG.
pie has been engroSSsd in the i'm,
mense labor Of winning the west, our
department OF state has never lost
sight OF the compelling interest tina!
we have upon the seas. and has con-
stantly striven 10 gain the assent of
all nations to maritime code which
should be framed and enforced by a
Joint responsibility. Various watch
words have arisen in this long con.
troyersy. We have urged the invio.
liability OF private property at sea,
| We have asked for a liberal free list
! and a narrow definition of contra
band. But our main insistence has
not been on any such details. One
salient idea has guided our diplo.
macy, The law Of the sea must be
founded not on might but on right
and common accord, upon a code
binding all alike, which cannot be
changed or set aside by the will OF
any one nation. Our ideal has been
not weakening but Strengthening
OF legal restraint by the free will
and agreement of all. We have asked
nothing for ourselves that we do not
ask for the whole world. The seas
will never be free, in our American
meaning, until all who sail thereon
have had voice In framing sea
laws. The just governance of the
seas must rest on the consent of the
governed.
No other question OF international
policy has found the great powers
more divided. But in our insistence
on this fundamental principle, we
have been strengthened by the sup.
port of many other countries. AZ
times we have had the support OF
Great Britain. No one of our secre.
taries OF state has more clearly de.
fned our ideal than has Viscount
Grey, recently British secretary of
state for foreign affairs. None OF
our statesmen has ever gone so far
as he in advocating Limitation of the
rights or belligerents on the sea. II
was on his initiative that the inter.
national naval conference was sum.
moned to London in 1909, and IL was
under his guidance that the eminent
international lawyers and diplomats
and admirals who gathered there
drew up the Declaration OF London.
While there were in that declara.
ton sections that did not quite meet
our approval and that we should
have liked to amend, the document
was from our point OF view a ire.
mendous step in advance. For al
though, like any effort to concisely
formulate the baord principles OF
equity, 1t did not wholly succeed in
Its purpose, II was at least an homes,
attempt to arrive at an agreement on
complete international code OF sea
law, based upon mutual consent and
could not be altered by any bellig
erent in the heat OF conflict.
But the Declaration OF Londof
was not ratified by the British Par
iiamaat for tho nnfnt Of ,,{,,,, -.
vailing then in England was that
power dependent almost wholly upor
its navy for protection could not safe
ly accept further limitations upon nc
ton at sea unless there were compeu
sating limitations on land powers. AM
this latter concession Germany con
sistently refused to make. The con
ference therefore came to naught
And the London Declaration hayin,
been rejected by the strongest mari
time power, It's endorsement was post
poned by all the other countries in
yolved. Our motives, however. re
NAMED unchanged; and our govern
ment persisted in It's purpose to SO
cure a general ratification either n
this declaration or OF some simI,a
maritime code.
There has been Ia our dipfomac
one or more outstanding aspiration,
We have constantly sought to sui
stitute judicial for military settl,
ment OF disputes between nations.
The genesis OF this idea dates fror
! the discussions over the federal q,
SANITATION of our 10 original state,
which were almost as Jealous Of theI
sover.ignties as are the nations q
: Europe today. The FIRST grcat s,e
L toward the League OF Honor. whic
: we hope will at last bring peace +,
the world, was taken when our !
states agreed to dlsarm and submit
all their disputes TO the high tribun,
OF the new federation.
And this idea OF an interstate eour
which except at the time of our Civ
war has given this nation intern,
" peace, has profoundly Influenced o.,
foreign policy. OF our efforts 10 brin
Others to our way OF thinking. an M,
n torieal iesume was presented nv ~,