Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-25
REFUsEs SHIPS use !
IN TRADE FOR GRAIN
Dutch Cabinet Formally Re-
iects Offer Made by the
Allied Powers.
REsENTs SEIZURES BY U. S.

LONDON, March 25--The Dutch cab
met Is said to have decided Sunday to
send the allied powers q formal refusal
Of their offer of grain in return for
Dutch ships, a dispatch from The
Hague to the Daily Mail says
fThe original compact for the use of
Dutch ships by Great Britain and the
United States called for the placing
at the disposal of Holland of 100000
tons of foodstuffs. Dutch ships were
to carry this food)
Fear of loss of Ships Quieted.
THE HAGUE Saturday. March Ga
Fears of Dutch ship owners that the
shfps seized by the United States are
lost to them are quieted in a communi-
cation to the Dutch press from the
American legation here The statement
reads:
st appears that fear exists that req
uisitioped Dutch ships will be lost
permanently to their owners and the
Dutch flag. The legation is advised
officially that the United States has not
taken title to any such ships under the
present proclamation. but has merely
taken them over for temporary use.
Liberal chartering rates will be paid
and the ships returned at the termlna-
ton of the present emergency and not
later than the end of the war. The
United States will assume all war ma
rine risks, and in the event of loss
by enemy action in the war zone, as
defined on March 1, 1918, the owners
will be given the option of receiving
payment of the value Of the vessel
or of having the vessel replaced as
soon as possible after the termination
est on the value of the lost vessel.
Dutch crews and officers will be main
tanned at the expense of the United
States until a suitable opportunity Tor
repatriation occurs
Statements Clear the Air.
AMSTERDAM, Saturday. March %
Statements by President Wilson and
Lord Robert Cecil. the British minis
ter of blockade. concerning the Dutch
shipping situation and explanatory ana
By the American and British legations
in The Hague have done much to
clear the air. as was shown by the
feeling on the s,c eour re wher ses ,a
sTt was like waking from a bad
dream" says the Handelsblad's stock
exchange correspondent. The corre-
King feelings remains that Holland has
baen treated ruthlessly because she is
. small country and by party from
which such an action might least be
aay4 that added to this is feeling of
mistrust as to whether the associated
governments, under stress of some fu-
fure necessity of war, may not sud
to modify or rescind their undertaking
toward Holland.
I'VE are blamed for delaying the ne
eptiations under German duress." COM
plains The Hague Vaderland; this ar
gument loses all force when it is re-
membered that we can treat neither
with the entente nor the central pow
srs Without having to reckon with
Most OF the newspapers affect to re-
gard the promised grain supplies as
much In the air. The TELEGRAPH sees a
sinister portent in Germany's disquiet-
eutsof Dutch ships to fetch the sup
piles. while the Courant thinks the best
solution Of the situation would be the
establishment Of some system. like the
Of safety from both the belligerents.
But" says the Courant, they prob
ably will prefer using our country as
the table on which to play out their
respective trump cards"
Gays Seizure of Ships Is Robbery.
AMSTERDAM. March 24-The seizure
OF Dutch ships is characterized by the
Aleuwe Rotterdamsche Courant as an
act of robbery and stain on the his
tory of the United States that cannot
b wiped out in decades" On the other
hand. 1t believes this solution is the
best which under the circumstances
could be attained.
There Is no resisting, it says. Organ
led injustice for the small country like
ours when faced by practically half of
the world. Not only have the associat-
ed governments removed the last SEM
blance Of right from their iron fist deed
and openly exposed themselves as mill
tartsts with whom necessity knows no
moral or legal law, but we avoid Hol-
land itself becoming an accomplice to
an action which cannot bear the light
Of day"
Criticised in Stockholm.
STOCKHOLM, Friday. March 22-The
seizure OF Dutch tonnage in allied
ports is strongly criticised in press
comment here. The Social Demokraten.
which is friendly to the allies, says:
These violent measures, even though
IT is true that in the last analysis they
we're called forth by brutal German
methods Of warfare and Germany's
threatening attitude, nevertheless are
. gross violation of neutrars rights
and deeply compromise the high ideals
which the allies declare inspire them
In their conflict against German mill
tarism."
The Svenska Dagladet refers in its
comment to the gentleman who in the
olden days on the highways and the
byways with his finger on the trigger
used to demand the wayfarer's prop
srty."
Hollands Refusal of Grain
in Return for Ships Not to
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