Evening star., 1939-07-16
Chaotic Conditions Buffet US.
In Hunt for Neutrality Formula
Stable International Law Gone by the Boards,
y. S. Seeks Course independently to
Avoid Involvement in War.
BY ". Gerald DozOnep.

serted that the United States would OBJ
serve the principles of the declaration
in dealing with French and British COM
merce.
Due to the imperialistic ambition of
all the great nations during the last
quarter of the 10Th century, very little
was done in the field of neutrality,
Near the end of the century Car Mic
olas II sent out call for the first inter-
national peace conference, which met at
The Hague in 1899. This conference
drafted several conventions which were
later revised and signed at the second
Hague Conference of 1907 The i'm
portant conventions concerning neutral
lty were Convention ": Respecting the
Rights andsDuties of Neutral Powers and
Persons in Case of War on Land. and
Convention XIII: Concerning the Rights
and Duties of Neutral Powers in Naval
War.
The Hague Convention XIII on Naval
Warfare embodied many of the sugges-
tlons proposed by the United States, and
provided that belligerents are bound to
respect the sovereign rights of neutral
powers. Another important and inter-
esting provision was that a neutral power
was not bound to prevent the export or
transit of arms and ammunition destined
for the use of belligerent forces.
In 1909 Congress reWrote the basic
neutrality law of 1894 with one eve on
The Hague conventions and the other Oh
new conditions which bad arisen since
1894. Teeth were put into some of the
more important provisions by providing
fines and prison terms for violations.
During this same year the Declaration
OF London was drawn up. 1t dealt with
the questions of blockade in time of
war, unneutral service, destruction of
the neutral flag. enemy character, con-
voy, resistance to search and compen-
satlon; and it contained the latest list
of contraband of war which the powers
had agreed upon. Unfortunately the
declaration was never ratified.
War Revived Principles.
Upon the outbreak of the World War
the United States suggested that ac-
ceptance of the Declaration of London
by the belligerents would prevent grave
MISUNDERSTANDING that might come up
in their relations with neutral states.
Germany and Austria-H Hungary agreed
to adopt it upon the condition that their
enemies would observe it in like man.
ner Great Britain, however, adopted It
With such notifications as to invalidate
the principles of the declaration. Un-
der these circumstances the United
States had to abandon the Declaration
OF London, falling back upon what it
claimed were recognized principles Of
international law, but realizing at the
same time that international law failed
TO give us definite code which would
cover all emergencies.
The majority of our difficulties from
1914 to 1917 with the allied and the cen.
tral powers arose from the vast exten.
sion OF the meaning of the term con.
traband of war. Because of this exten.
sion the allies, under the leadership Of
Great Britain, claimed enlarged rights
to interfere with our trade to neutral
countries. Since there had been no pre-
ylous agreement on the articles to be
considered contraband among all the
nations, each nation decided for itself
those articles which. it would consider
absolute or conditional contraband.
In 1918 the Navy Department pointed
out that in the instructions which had
been issued after the United States en-
tered the war there was no expressed
distinction between absolute and condi
tlonal contraband. BY the end of the
war virtually every single article of
trade had become contraband.
Revived in 1928.
For some years after the war neutral
lty was thought to be dead. but in 1928
the Sixth International Conference of
American States, which met at Havana.
adopted a convention on maritime neu-
trality which substantially reproduced
the rules of The Hague Convention of
1907.
In 1885, when it appeared likely that
Italy would invade Ethiopia, Congress
passed new Neutrality Act. This act
was revised in 1886 and again in 1887. It
forms the core of the dispute which is
now raging in this country. The isola-
zionist forces want to restrict the dis
cretionary powers of the President and
to keep the arms embargo. Their oppo-
nents, the administrations supporters,
want to give the President wide discre-
ton and lift the arms embargo.
This in brief summary has been the
background of American neutrality. It
shows that through the flow of years,
while there have been two decided cur
rents of policy, the common goal has
been to keep out of war and to secure
and maintain the rights of neutrals.