Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1918-04-01
Official Gazette Publishes
Threatening Statement by
Netherlands Government
Regarding Incident,
C0NTRADICTS STATEMENT
BY PRESIDENT WILSON
Resents Seizure of Vessels
With All Energy of ConVic-
ton and Wounded National
Feeling, Is Assertion,

The Hague saturday, March go
The seizure of the Dutch merchant
men in American ports is characterized
by the Dutch government in a state
ment in the Official Gazette as an act
of violence which it will oppose with
all the energy of its conviction and
its wounded national feeling The
government takes issue with the
proclamation of President Wilson re-
garding the decision of the United
States saying it contains assertions
which are contrary to the facts.
The statement says the Dutch ma
tion with painful surprise has taken
notice of president Wilson's procla7
nation and that the seizure of a neu-
tral mercantile fleet is uniustifiabl.
1t continues:
Denies Statement.
According to President Wilson's
proclamation, the Netherlands, ow-
ing entirely to German pressure, fall
ed to observe the preliminary ar
rangement which was proposed' for
the purpose of leaving no longer idle
the Dutch tonnage in American ports
and furnishing an opportunity for
making voyages within a period of
ninety days, pending a definite agree
ment on Dutch tonnage and rationing.
This is distinctly incorrect.
1T is equally as incorrect as the al
legation that Germany had threatened
to sink two ships which We're TO sail
from Holland with Americas appro-
val and that Germany had made in
creasing threats to prevent both the
observance of such preliminary ar
rangement and the conclusion of q
permanent one. The real facts of
the case are:
States Dutch Version.
after the (American) war trade
In American ports make trips pending
a definite arrangement the Neither
lands government proposed that some
of the ships should make voyages for
the commission for relief in Belgium,
which Holland has always fostered
sedulously for the benefit of dis
tressed Belgium and northern France.
When information was received that
Germany objected to Americas de-
mand, that Dutch ship sail from Hol
land each time in exchange for a relief
ship sailing from America, the Meth
erlands government deemed 1t duty
imposed by good faith to inform the
A -. 90 ANA
diately, so that ship which was then
on the way toward Argentina could
be given a different destination The
directs consequence was that those
ships were kept moving, which was
exactly in consonance with the pro-
visional agreement.
Refers to Cette Incident.
Respecting sailings to Cette
(France), a Swiss interest with which
Holland sympathized warmly, the ship
owners agreed thereto completely as
soon as France gave assurance that
the ships would not be detained at
Cette. Accordingly, several ships were
chartered for this service. The char
terings and sailings of all these ships
were not sensbly delayed by the
aforementioned objections, neither
did Germany attempt to influence the
execution of the provisional agree
ment, which affected traffic between
transatlantic ports. What did seri-
ously interfere with its execution was
the fact that cable messages to and
from ship owners were extremely
slow in transmission and sometimes
were never delivered. The cause of
this remains unexplained.
Stopped by America.
"The fact that majority of the
ships had been chartered under the
provisional agreement through the
war trade board and part were
already sailing to South America, but
were stopped en- route by the Ameri-
can authorities. while in the Pacific
ships plying between the western
coast of the United States and the
Dutch Fast indies made regular vov-
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