The Cordova daily times., 1917-05-10
ALLIED BLOCKADE WAS A FORGED
 ISSUE
(By Associated Press)

PARIS, May g. - Baron Deyne Cochin, under secretary of the foreign office in charge of blockade questions, in a talk with American correspon- dents on the entente blockade policy against Germany, said:
 "Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg. the German chancellor, and Dr. Alfred Zimmerman, the German foreign sec retary, in their recent declarations, sought to throw upon the entente the responsibility for a continuance of which, it was asserted, was causing the death of women and children. The entente is not at all responsible for situation which it did not create and which grows out of the most unquali | fled aggression. The blockade, such | the Germans understand it, does not resemble in any way that which we have organized and which we are pur- suing. 1 "M. Zimmerman complains of the | l inhuman extention Great Britain is making in the North sea war zone, | that is to say the laying of mines to | bar the way of the submarines. But | It was not the allies, but Germany England, before the war, notably in | 1907 at The Hague. showed herself | hostile to the use of submarine mines | Germany demanded the right to use mines, in terms, furthermore, which | would hardly permit one to foresee | the use which she would make of ! them. From the early days of the | war Germany spread mines in the | North sea and elsewhere around the | English coasts in order to intercept | the commercial routes.--I Iha- -aiii~sa-ssssf Amfraftfes first announced the fact in order to warn peaceful navigation and then gave notice of retaliatory mea- sures which they respectfully an 'nounced they would have to take. The laying of mines in open sea assuredly | is destructive to the liberty of the | sea. It affects the innocent as much as the neutrals.
 M. Zimmerman attributes to the 'en- tente the project of waging war of extermination, not only against the | armies of the central empires, but also against women and children. The en- | tente powers have never had such | black designs. They want to obtain | Ireparation for the past, guarantees for | the future. They desire to obtain them | with the least loss and suffering pos sible. They asked only to maintain ! peace; attacked, they were obliged to struggle to conquer that peace. They | hope to accomplish it at the lowest | possible cost; they wish to compel 1 their adyersaries to wield They have l no desire to exterminate them. They do not profess, as does the German manual of instructions to officers, that Humanitarian considerations such as those respecting the care of persons and their property can only come into question if the nature and aim of the war permits of it and that the only real humanity rests frequently in the employment of severity
 France does not believe that she | is required to renounce the use of pressure and constraint, the legiti- macy of which has been admitted by all states, and notably by Germany. M. Zimmerman complains that the wo- men and children suffer from the ob-
 stacles placed by the allies to the i feeding of Germany. Bismarck, did
 he not refuse an armistice in 1870
 asked for by Jules Favre, because he
 did not wish to allow Paris to be re-
 provisioned, which would prolong the
 time necessary to reduce the city by
 famine?' And the city of Paris, was 1t
 not compelled by famine only to ca
 pitulate in 1871? Is not a blockade
 which stops all communication by sea
 recognized in procedure of war as
 lawful?
 "M. Zimmerman reproaches the en-
 tente for injuring indirectly women
 and children, who suffer from the dearth of food, who would not suffer
 any more if Germany would resign it.
 self to yield as Paris did in 1871. But
 M. Zimmerman, has he ever re-
 preached Germany for having directly injured women and children of France
 and Belgium. massacred by German
 troops at the beginning of the war, or
 of having them put in front of the
 armies to serve as shields? Has he
 protested against the deportations
 which have caused the revival of slav-
 cry in a country occupied by the Ger
 man armies?