The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-06-18
A Barred Zone In \
American Waters

! According to reports received at
! Admiralty is preparing to declare the
! waters of the eastern coast of the
! United States, from Mexico to Cana
! da, danger or barred" zone, which
neutral ships viii enter at their peril
! An examination of the German con-
traband list would show that scarcely
! a commodity exporJable from the
( United States to neutral countries is
not included in that list. If the Ger
mans had never declared a barred
/ zone" they would, therefore, have
/ the right to sink practically all neu-
| trail as well as enemy merchant ships
after giving notice and providing for
| the safety of passengers and crews.
| That would be conformity to inter-
national law. But the Germans in
using their submarine weapon threw
/ off one imposed restraint after an
! other until, in the note handed by
| Ambassador Bernstorff to Secretary
|
ted barred zones in British, French
and Mediterranean waters, and, with
a warning to neutral ships to keep
out, announced that Germany is un-
! able further to forego the full use of
| her submarines.
! What was meant by the ominous
/ expression full use" neutrals as well
as the Entente Allies We're soon to
know. If the German Admiralty
| should now designate Atlantic coas-
! tai waters as a danger zone, the
paretense of conforming to interna-
! tional law in any respect when
| American or neutral passengers and
| trading ships were to be sunk by
| submarines would be> abandoned.
! There would De no more notice of
sinking, no time allowed for taking
| tothe doomed ships boats, liners and
merchantmen would be destroyed by
stealth, torpedoed and shelled, with
preference fol doing the murder
Gus work after dark.
Hitherto the two or more German
submarines operating off our Allan
tic Coast have been on their good be
havior, as it were, when American
| merchant ships were to be sent to
| tile notton. Thee was, of course,
an utt"i disregard of international
law when the t'arolina's people, q
u.uber of who-I perished. were or
In. co into pol's far Cat on the At
laEric; but n the case of American
ships, if not C British, notice of de-
struction was giveE. 1t would be
we'll to remembe" that year before
the note and memoranda aunounc-
| ing a policy of ..frisilst fulness,s,s were
communicated to Secretary Lansing
the Germans insisted upon a right
to sink without notice liners carry
ing guns for defense. Probably the
enemy has not intended to make any
exception of American armed mer-
chant ships in the present raid. But
the distinction will not matter at all
if Atlantic coastal waters are declar-
ed a danger zone; all merchantmen
of whatever kind, and whether arm
ed or not, would be targets at sight
for the submarines.
The view held in some quarters
that the purpose of the anticipated
proclamation would be to frighten
l- l. "a
with the United States seems to i'm
ply that the enemy might continue
to deal leniently with American
ships, making a pretense of giving
them the benefit of a remnant of in
ternational law. But that is not Ger
many's way of conducting subma-
rine campaign against beiligerents.
If she marks out danger zone on
this side of the Atlantic, no favors
are to be expected; "frightfulness"
would be the rule.
If it is argued that for reasons of
policy 'frightfLlness" might be tenn
pered to Americans, the rejoinder
must be that Germany is desperate, !
and that she is determined to play |
all her cards to win the war. If Ger
many believed, with her usual psy-
Geological obtuseness, that pacifists
could be multiplied in the United !
States by stalking out "a danger zone |
on this side of the Atlantic and run +!
ming dmuck in it with flotilla of
submarines, the Imperial Govern
ment would not hesitate to order
''frightfulness" spontaneously with a
further advance of its troops toward
Paris, or with military success of
any kind on land or sea. To think
otherwise would be self-deception, |
mental strabismus, collapse of the
logical faculty.-N. Y. Times.
-O-