Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-12-19
WORLD DETECTS
SHIPPERS FIGHT
Sees British Shipping Prop
aganda Behind Opposition
to Sea Freedom
MOVE GETS AID HERE
New York, Dec. 10

New York, Dec. 19.
The World today printed the follow
ing editorial under the caption, Gree
dom of the Seas:
"The United States went to war with
Germany over the freedom of the seas
That was the vital issue between the
| two nations. Had the Imperial German
Government respected the rule of visit
| and search; had 1t refrained from EN-
| ploying its submarines in ruthless at
tacks on merchant ships, enemy and
| neutral alike; had 1t respected the
rights of nonecombatants to life and
property. no legitimate cause of war
would have existed
From the day that the Lusitania was
sunk until the day that the President
appeared before Congress to urge a
declaration of war against the Imperial
German Government, our controversies
with the Junker autocracy all turned on
! the freedom of the seas.
! Now that the war has been won, now
that Germany has been defeated and
Prussian ,nlitarism has been obliterated,
We are told by Senator Knox, Theodore
! Roosevelt and other distinguished Re-
| publicans that the freedom of the seas
| has no place in the Peace Conference or
! in the peace treaty. The one issue that
we must not deal with and the one priH-
| ciple which We must not assert are the
issue and the principle on which we went
| to war. II is as II certain eminent
| statesmen at the close of the Civil War
had solemnly declared that slavery and
| secession were no concern whatever of
the American people.
| Not being a distinguished Republran
| the London Times is unable to take the
advanced position held by the KnoNes
and the Roosevelts. The most in
fuential of all British newspapers Is
more than willing to concede that the
| United States is not a British colony
| and that It has rights on the seas both
in peace and war which deserve con-
sideration and respect. The legal cor
respondent of the Times goes 50 far
as to insist that 'the law of the past
| has bee nthe same in both countries.
| The prize courts in England and
America have followed the same rule.
| This agreement may be continued If
there is recognition of the facts as they
are among which are the unique posi-
ton of England and the scattered, rag
mentary character her empire"
THAT is the view of most thoughtful
Englshmen, who desire a complete
agreement with the United States on
/
foresee that If such an agreement is
not reached serious and needless differ
ences are bound to arise In. the future
between the two countries.
"The British ,propasanda against the
freedom of the seas which Mr.. Roosevelt
and other Republicans have made their
own WAS instiEated by British shipping
interests, which suddenly became ap-
palied by the rapid Increase in American
shipbuilding and by the prospect that the
United States would soon have. the
greatest merchant marine In the world
They had facilitated themselves that
whatever the cost Of the war might be
Germany had been destroyed as an over
seas rival. When they began to realize
that a possibly more formidable COM
petitor had been created across the At.
lantic they Immediately set up the doc
trine that IL the United states persisted
in maintaining q formidable merchant
marine our ships must sail under the
runs of the British feet and the fiat OF
the British navy must be the law OF the
seas, , .a..'
Part Ct the responsibility for this
acrimonious controversy rests upon Pres
dent Wilson himself. for he has never
defined what he means by the freedom
of the seas and has left the question
subject to all manner Of interpretations
some of them sordid and some of them
silly. But the most foolish and dan.
gerous of all the controversialists are
those Americans who, for partisan rea'
sons at home, are putting forth in new
form the German proposition that tht
United States has no rights on the higl
seas that anybody is bound to respect
The inevitable result Of their folly is tc
:: incite the British extremists and make
it the more difficult for the two Gov
ernments to arrive at the understand
ing that 1t Is essential to the future
welfare of both peoples. fe
: Nobody can deny the interest of tht
: United States in the freedom Of the
seas without declaring, by implication
, at least, that We had no legitimate
cause for war against Germany anG
that we e"been fighting for some
) thing that was not worth fighting for"
, 1t is interesting to note that Franl
!; Cobb, editor of the World, who wen
to Paris as an assistant TO Colonel Il. NJ
' House, has returned.