The weekly Alaska citizen., 1918-12-16
SOMETHING SENSIBLE

SOMETHING SENSIBLE
 There has been great deal of resentmen aroused by the attitude that Great Britain has apparently taken in regard to the freedom o: the seas. Several statements have been made by leading men and by the press that Grea Britain wo1ild continue to hold the same su premacy of the seas that she had held hereto fore, which she had earned, and would give the same service in policing the high seas as she had always given before. There has beer almost a hysterical treatment of this theme and the fact that they were harping on it SC strenuously was beginning to arouse strong feeling of antagonism in this country. Why should Great Britain make SO many state ments of that sort before there was even any question in the matter? Up to the time wher they began their insistence that they would maintain the supremacy and thus keep th' freedom of the seas, there had been no dis cussion of the subject and there had beer no reason for anyone to think that any other nation was about to usurp the place whicl Great Britain claims as her rightful and priv ileged position.
 Does the clamor that they have raised mean that they are afraid that this Britain supreme freedom of the seas will be taker from them as the result of the formation of { league of nations? It would seem so. Sever al of their leaders have expressed themseve: as unfavorable to the formation of the leagu, of nations, Gone of the basic principles of tht peace terms) saying that it could never take the place of the British supremacy of the seas that had maintained freedom for all nation. of the world for years.
 In this country a storm of protest ha! arisen because of this attitude, and altho con gross showed a tendency to picker and fine fault with the Presidents attitude when thi: clanor went up across the Atlantic, all party strife stopped and congress united in its sup port of the President and his policy as thu nations representative at the coming confer ence. This alone would indicate that at leas feeling of resentment was aroused by the attitude assumed by Great Britain over the question of the freedom of the seas; William Howard Taft, in an address, expressed gen eral opinion that is held by the majority o1 American citizens all over the country. He said in effect that the main reason that America entered the war was to enforce the fredom of the seas, when it was being tc violated by the German underseas warfare "iiN bNN'ItoS OA Iil1oS ACoIuCIlI w lloO1 SOulI be depended upon to secure the freedom o1 the seas at the peace conference; that the great merchant marine which this country has built would never be allowed to lie dormant because of other nations striving to gain con- trol of the marine shipping of the world. This could be taken as almost an answer to the statements made by different English leaders for it goes to show that America will not tol- crate anything but real freedom of the seas and such freedom would not have the mark upon it, ''made by Great Britain
 But at length, one English leader has come to his senses and is trying to quiet the hysterical clamor that is causing resentment against Great Britain over this momentous question. Viscount Grey, former foreign min ister and one of Great Britain's wisest men has made scathing remarks about this unnec- essary alarm that is being felt all over Eng land about this question. He said he thot that altho there might be some hard feelings over the question before it was settled, there was no need for such alarm until some definition of the freedom of the seas had been made that was opposed to their definition; that u1l- til President Wilson made some such defini- ton, there was no occasion to anticipate any difficulty about an agreement being reached regarding the freedom of the seas This is