Evening star., 1939-11-21
Worse Than Subs

Although warfare at sea is usually
subordinate to land conflict when
belligerent can contact one another,
it is in many ways fraught with far
more danger for those who wish to
remain neutral, and therefore more
likely to broaden the scope of war,
than is land conflict.
Maritime warfare is likely enough
to provoke neutrals into belligerency
when conducted with surface war
ships, and when it goes beneath the
surface in the form of submarines it
becomes far more destructive and
therefore more contagious. But even
worse than the submarine, because
there is no human hand to stay it's
destruction, is the floating mine,
lethal device which deals out death
and disaster indiscriminately to
friend and foe alike.
A glance over the list of eleven YES
sells sunk in the North Sea the past
four days, for the most part by mines,
shows the destructiveness of this kind
of warfare. Six of the ships were
British, fair game for any Ger
man sea operations But five others
were neutrals-one Dutch, one Swed-
ish, one Yugoslav, one Lithuanian
and one Italian. And the largest
loss of life-eighty-five in one stroke
occurred when the Netherlands
steamer Simon Bolivar was sunk.
For the first time in the present
war an Italian ship was sunk, but it
is no new occurrence for the Dutch
and the Swedes. The experience of
these neutrals during the past three
days shows how wise was the prohi-
bition in the American neutrality law
against travel by American vessels
and citizens in war zones. It is al
ready evident that Congress by its
last neutrality enactment, made a
real contribution to the cause of
keeping the United States at peace.
Losses by neutrals from mines
demonstrate how uncertain are the
guarantees of international law. The
Hague conference in 1907 adopted
number of conventions governing
various phases of war from its dec
laration to its conclusion. One of
these related to the laying of auto
matte contact mines. 1t provided, in
those articles which have. specific
application to the present situation,
first, that unanchored automatic
contact mines must be so constructed
as to become harmless within one
hour after the person who laid them
ceases to control them; second, an
chored mines must become harmless
when they have broken loose from
their moorings; third, mines must
not be laid off the coast and ports of
an enemy with the sole purpose of
intercepting commercial shipping
and when they are employed every
precaution must be taken for the
security of peaceful shipping; fourth,
belligerents, in addition to doing their
utmost to render the mines harmless
within a limited time, must give
notice to both shipowners and gov
ernments as soon as military ext
gencies permit, should the mines
cease to be under surveillance.
The British and German govern
ments accuse one another of respon-
sibility for the disasters which have
overtaken shipping during the past
three days.
Whichever is to blame, shipowners
have not been notified of this mine
field in the North Sea, nor have
there been precautions taken for the
protection of peaceful shipping as
required by international convention
to which both Germany and Britain
are parties.
Indiscriminate use of mines is not
war on the enemy but war against
mankind, and peaceful use of the
seas, which under international law
are the highways of intercourse be-
tween all nations.