Evening star., 1939-11-09

that the Ameri- David Lawrence.
can people Overwhelmingly believe
that sinking of ships-the cause of
the last War-should not be con-
sidered a reason for entry into the
present European war.
Although Congress served notice
by the passage of the neutrality law
last week that it wanted to avoid
any issue with Germany over the
sinking of American vessels or car
goes, there are some members of
Congress who feel that citizens of
the United States should deny them
selves also the opportunity of leas-
ing their vessels for foreign use,
which is, in effect, what transfer
Of registry" really means.
The trouble, of course, is that
emotion about the possibility of a
quarrel over sinking American ships,
even If transferred to foreign cOrpo-
rations, is so intense that the prac-
tical side of the matter has been
almost entirely ignored. To the
shipoWners who face losses of routes
and losses of income due to the
new law, and who in advance do not
ask for the protection of the Amer
lean Government at all and wish to
sail the seas at their own risk, the
question is one of acute importance.
AS for the seamen who cannot be
employed in European trade anyway
because it is a violation of law to
man American ships for contact with
the belligerent countries, the new
statute throws them out of employ
ment.
Few New Routes Available.
Few new routes are available for
the American ships The theory
that all the vessels plying to Europe
could engage in the South American
traffic is excellent on paper, but
there are already in operation ship
ping lines in sharply competitive
business. Other neutral vessels and
British and French merchant ships,
as we'll as Italian liners, are not
going to avoid South America just to
please American shipping lines which
have been virtually driven off the
North Atlantic by war hysteria.
Nobody here is advocating the
granting of subsidies or wages to
the seamen who have lost their jobs,
or will lose them when American
ships are tied up. AS long as the cry
was keep us out of war" and the
argument was accept as valid that
to trade with European countries
meant war, no thought was given to
the economic effects of the change
The people who cried for absolute
embargo on shipping with Europe
did not lose anything themselves on
the transaction, but the investors in
the regular shipping companies will
lose unless Congress reimburses them
or accepts without objection next
January the plans for transferring
registry to foreign countries.
The contention is being made that
to transfer to a foreign flag is a
subterfuge Certainly it is a sub
yerfuge, but it is no different than
the provision in the law which re-
quires payment in cash for arms and
airplanes that are exported to Eu-
rope and doesn't require cash OF
transfer of title for cargoes shipped
across the Canadian boundary or tc
ports in the South Atlantic.
Major Subterfuge.
There will come a time when the
present neutrality law will be con-
demned as hodgepodge, drawn ur
in panic to meet war hysteria that
could have as readily been satisfied
by fiat declaration in advance thai
all ships and citizens travel at theil
own risk, and that the Government
of the United States will not use it!
diplomatic or military powers II
behalf of such ships, corgoes or citi'
Zens. The law as it stands today
contains major subterfuge on thi
very point, for while Americans arr
forbidden to go overseas, the pre-
amble sets forth that America doe
not relinquish her rights under in
ternational law.
Congress wrote other subterfuge
In the law, and now that privat'
citizens who are faced with bank
ruptcy are trying to save their busi
nesses by transferring to foreigl
registry, there are plenty of person
here who want to see legitimat
operations, clearly permissible unde
the law, stopped by some sort o
quasi-legal or moral pressure. Evel
Secretary Hull has been persuade
to ignore the legal view of the com
plication and to accept the theor
that it is morally wrong for Amer
ican ships to transfer registry. Blu
it's really morally wrong in the vie'
of some people to sail the seas at al
or to sell anything to anybody VIII
may carry it to the war zone.
never was morally wrong before i
American history to run a blockad
at ones own risk, and certainly if