The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-29
ON NEUTRALITY

To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
 With your kind permission I would like to make a few remarks about neutrality. As the neutrality of our great country is on the verge of being swallowed up in war, some words on this subject might seem appropriate at this time; might serve as funeral dirge at the grave of departed friend. Still, why anyone should want to say something about neu- trality when any standard dictionary will give a full definition, might appear as foolish-as carrying owls to Athens But now, during and before the great world confia grafton, there have been so many kinds of neutrality, which no dictionary can define, that it will not be amiss to pass them in review
 l. There was the neutrality of Belgium, guaranteed by several great powers. How this neutrality has been observed by Bel gium herself, how it has been tempered with as early as the year 1906 by England and France, who tired at the same time to conclude So-called conventions with Holland, and how it was finally shot full of holes by Germany at the beginning of the war, that is known to all who have kept up with current events, as told in the daily press. Then there was the neu- trality of the Ionian and other Greek islands, guaranteed by Great Britain, which latter simply occupied them, be- cause she needed them in her war opera tions, thereby consigning another scrap of paper to the scrap heap.
 But let us be charitable and say that England only took them to better guard their neutrality. There also was or there is I don't know which tense is correct, the neutrality of Greece. I know, and all readers of newspapers know, that large part of Greece, Saloniki, for instance, has been occupied by the allies for their war operations; in fact, the whole subject or question of Greek neutrality is being worked out in the English fashion. What does 1t matter that Greece is being ruined through no fault of hers? The Greek King has told us Americans that Greece would have joined the allies in this war; being dependent for living on the free dom of the sea, which England can and does deny her, but that he wanted the allies to guarantee, the integrity of her territory in Macedonia and Epirus. This the allies refused to do because they were at the same time trying to induce Bull garia to join them, by promising Greek territory to her. No one can blame Greece for her unwillingness to share the fate of other small nations which have been deceived by the great champion of civil ization and self-appointed protector of small nationalities; who has all but ruined her as so many others who have fallen prey to perfide Albion. How and why the neutrality of Italy and of Ru- mania were abandoned and some treaties of friendship put into the discard is also known to the reading public. Italy has been able to negotiate some great war loans in England and France and Pre- mier Bratiano of Rumania has told the world how he had believed in the prom ises of the great allies,
 Coming now to the really neutral na- tions of Europe: Spain, Switzerland, Hol- land and the three Scandinavian king doms, I and all the world, including the belligerents bow to them in admiration. The definition of the dictionary coincides with their neutrality, and especial praise is due to Switzerland, Holland and Swe- den. Being surrounded by belligerent na- tions, they have suffered much from both sides and are so truly desirous of peace that they have abstained from helping either belligerent, though the sentiment of the people is somewhat divided. They have helped to allay the suffering of the and have insisted, impar- tially, that their neucraI rights ce re- spected by both belligerent sides alike. May God bless them! And they are blessed, even though sLrsering, in the en- joyment of peace with honor and the con- sciousness of being right.
 NEW WORLD NEUTRALITY
 Having reviewed neutrality in the old world, we will now regard that of the greatest neutral, our own beloved country of the new world, which has been looked