Arizona republican., 1918-04-13
AMERICA DEFENDS
 l TAXING OVER BIG 1. FLEET 0F HOLLAND
Republican A. p. Leased wireJ

WASHINGTON, April 12.--Ameri- l cas- reply To the recent statement of SThe Netherlands government bitterly tpfotesting against and denOuncing the ,actions of the United States in talk Fing over Dutch ships in it's ports, swas made public tonight in the form tof memorandum by Secretary Lansing, a copy of which has been Sscnt to The Netherlands legation. A Pointing out that. The Netherlands sgovernment itself does not question Nhe legality of the act, Mr. Lansing revotes himself to a demonstration that 1t was an act of necessity re- ssulting from Gcrmany's menacing at Nitude which prevented Holland from Fulfilling her engagements and that instead of an injustice, the step re- suits in real benefit to the Dutch ship owners and people.
 The memorandum follows:
 Text of Memorandum ''The Netherlands government has Assued a statement relative to the recent action of the government of Fthe United States in putting into it's Service for the period of the present swar emergency certain. privately towned vessels of Netherlands registry Flying within the territorial 1urisdic- ktion of the United States, While fthis action is referred to as being sindefensibe from the standpoint of tinternational law, the statement of srhe Netherlands government does not tArgue the question of legality. Nor is this government disposed to do su. ~ Right Well Established
 "The practice of nations and tho Opinions of jurists on the right of a tbelligerent to utilize all vessels which scome voluntarily and internationally nwithin it's Jurisdiction are sufficiently Swell known to render citation of fa,recedent and of authority unneces- ssafy But as The Netherlands gov .ernment themselves suggest. our action must be subjected to a finer lest than that of mere legality It 9natters very little that our act be legal if. as alleged, it violates tra- Nitional friendship and is inconsistent .Nith ideals of right and justice.
 No Coal for Our Ships
 'The Netherlands government first tdeclared that the very presence of uutch ships in our ports resulted From our detention of them with an pnfriendly hand. While our right to -refuse bunkers and cargo licenses is 3conceded. friendship it is said, should lhave led to the granting of special privileges in favor of the subjects Of a friendly state. Our own supply aof bunker coal at seaboard has been Inadequate for our pressing national needs. The cargoes which were de- smanded were largely of grain, of (which our own reserves are all too How. The bunkers, if granted, would .have served to carry this grain to %rhe Netherlands, where, as events
 
 needed and where it would only have Served to release equivalent food .stuffs for the enemy. Such action apon our part, whatever its intention, ywould in fact have been an act bene- ficial to the enemy and having no Aelation to our friendship to The Netherlands. t
 Lay Idle for Months
 "The owners of Dutch ships were However, unwilling that their ships Should perfTm any other service than those which it was clearly inn possible for us to facilitate, and the ships of this maritime nation ac- cordingly lay idle for many months and until the conclusion on January 25, 1918, of the temporary shipping agreement which was proposed by The Netherlands commissioners at London and accepted Dy the united States as a measure to restore the immediate activity of that portion of The Netherlands mercantile fleet Ming within our waters.
 "The statement of The Netherlands Government seems to imply that this ngrcement was in fact lived up to by The Netherlands government, yet evil dence to the contrary is found in the Statement itself which refers to Ger man objections as having prevented Performance by that government of what is enormously referred to as America's demand, but what was in feality a Netherlands undertaking, that Nhen a Dutch ship left the United