The sun., 1918-08-22
The Spanish Government Takes 4
stand Against Subma fine warfare.

The Spanish Government Takes .
stand Against Submarine Warfare.
Spain has at last made a definite
stand against submarine murder and
the destruction Of her commerce. Her
position Is the most decisive taken
by any Of the European neutral ma
lions, and is declared in an official
statement issued by the Spanish Cabi-
net as follows:
The Government has decided TO ad-
dress the Imperial German Government
and declare that owing to reduction Of
tonnage to its extreme limit II will be
obliged. in case OF new sinkings. to sub
stitute therefor German vessels interned
in spanish ports THIS measure does
not imply the confscation of the ships
under definite title. 1t would be only
a temporary solution until thu establish
ment Of peace. when Spanish claims
also will be liquidated"
This action comes as the result of
the intolerable situation which has
been forced upon Spain by Germany.
In no other European country has
the Teutonic propaganda been more
aggressive. Germany early in the
war undertook, In the first place. to
gain the active support Of the Span
iards to the cause Of the Central
Powers. Failing in this she set or,
to gain such n complete control over
the political leaders that she would
be assured Of favorable neutrality.
What Won BERNsToRTF endeavored
to bring about in the United States
Prince HoHENLoHE attempted to &C
complish in Spain. Strikes were
organized and engineered by Ger
man agents. and uprisings against
any political manifestations Of favor
to the Allies were skilfully manipu-
lated through the German embassy
Mt Madrid. HOHENLoHE made an
especial effort to win the strong Con
sentative party by gaining the sup
port Of Don ANTONIO MAURA, its
leader He was at first measurably
successful. But he defeated his own
purpose by openly entering into the
political campaign and issuing litera-
ture extolling the greatness Of the
HohenzOllerns and their Spanish sup
porters. The high spirited Spaniards
came to believe that the party had
been sold out body and soul to Ber-
lin and the Maurists lost heavily in
the provinces.
But throughout all the discussion
Of the relations between Spain and
Germany the principal point, despite
the strong pro-German influences,
came to be the submarine warfare.
The Government found itself forced
to make remonstrances. After each
sinking Of Spanish vessel Germany
offered an apology and promise
Government was attacked in the
press and in the Cortes. One men,
Der declared that the sinking was an
easy matter. as all a U-boat had to
do was 10 dodge out from its base
on the Spanish coast or neighboring
| island, destroy vessel, and return
to Its safe retreat. The result Of
German submarine warfare Is thus
summed up In the statement Of the
Spanish Government:
| LAS a consequence OF the subma rine
campaign more than 20 per cent. OF
our merchant marine has been sunk.
more than 100 Spanish sailors have
persisted. considerable number OF SAIL
ors have been wounded. and numbers
have been shipwrecked and abandoned
Ships needed exclusively for Spanish
use have been torpedoed without the
slightest pretext. serious difficulties re-
sulting to navigation"
The Spanish Government declares
that despite the strong stand 1t has
taken in the submarine warfare 1t
will continue to maintain strict neu-
trallty. 1t must, however, remain a
question how Berlin viii receive this
decision against Germany's barbarOus
method Of warfare and il 1t will be
possible for Spain longer to continue
| AAr III