New-York tribune., 1922-01-02

Still Leaves Legitimate Field Of
Action; Piracy Justly Branded

Action; Piracy Justly Branded
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir Your excellent editorial of this
morning on Real Submarine Limita-
tlon" establishes some of the grounds
for believing the American propositions
for regulation of submarine warfare to
be sound and practicable. Still other
things may properly be said in this
connection.
To the objection that the submarine
IS not adapted TO the work Of seizure
a'd search of commercial vessels and
cannot as rule place the passengers
and crew in safety before sinking such
vessel the simple answer is that no
provision Of international law requires
the submarine to be the exclusive
agency attacking foreign commerce.
All former methods of doing SO, under
decent and human conditions, remain
n the disposal Of any war,ing powcr.
Further even under the proposed re
strictions the submarine would be far
from helpless. She would still have
the right to sink vessels refusing to
obey her command to halt. and mem
bcrs of her crew could take off tho
captain and other hostages from aly
non conveyed vessel and hold them as
security for the safety of 'nombcrs OF
the submarine crew detailed to seize,
destroy or hurl overheard guns, ammu-
milton and other contraband articles.
Her agents could then smash the
wireless and so disable the machinery
Of the vessel as to delay her move
ments and thus increase the chance Of
her capture by any craft capable Of
taking her into port or placing her
passengers and crew in safety before
sinking her. She could make prisoners
of at least q limited number of mill
tary leaders or other important per-
sonagcs found on board the vessel. I'm
der some circumstances she could com
pei the vessel to proceed at sackcncd
speed to suitable place for cfrecting
her complete capture by an adequate
force.
The provision that submarines dsrc-
garding the principles Of humanity and
sinking trade or passenger vessels oc-
cupied by civilians shall be held to be
piratical craft and their officers, If cap
tured, summarily hanged would be ef-
fcctivc in more than one way BY plac-
ing the brand Of explicit outlawry upon
those engaged in this criminal type Of
submarine warfare it would isolate the
offending nation from the moral sup
port of the neutral world and condemn
her in advance; nor could she find any
plausible defense which could placatc
an adverse sentiment throughout the
world and even among her own people.
Further, knowledge not only Of the
danger, but also of the stigma and in
fanny of the service, thus officially cs-
tablishcd, would render it difficult for
her to obtain officers and scamcn for
illegal submarine service. Moreover.
even the most powerful nation cannot
be absolutely certain Of " inning n war
in which il is engaged, and there will
be some deterrent from unlawful con-
uuCl Ill VIC kilONiSuSc lnut Al III loses
the war an inevitable condition of peace
viii be the delivering up Of all subma-
rine captains guilty of international
piracy, as defined in the proposed rcgu-
lations, to 4 certain and shameful
death, together with such government
officials as shall have been responsible
for ordering the illegal mode Of war
fare.
Without doubt, it would be much bet
ter for the world if submarine warfare
could be entirely eliminated, and still
better, immcasurably so, if war itself
could be made eternaliy impossible, as
will one day be the case. But until
the world has advanced to this higher
point it is clear that the American pro-
posals for limiting submarine warfare
and barring the wholesale murder of
non-combatants are Of real value and
capable Of at least greatly mitigating
the evils and horrors Of naval war.
JAMES f. MORTON Jr.
New York, Dec. 80, 1921.