BLACK LIST PROTEST. EXPLANATIONS AT WASHINGTON:
A POLITICAL MANEUVRE,
Explanations have been given by Sir Cecil Spring Rice, British Ambassador a Washington, with regard to the black-list of firms in the United States These explanations constitute a reply to the process made by the United States, the text of which is published
below.
TEXT OF THE PROTEST.
States The protest by the United against the black list was transmitted to Viscount Grey by Mr. Page, who had received it by telegraph, on July 29th. The following is the test of the dispatch a issued by the Foreign Office:-
THB HONGKONG. DAILY PLESS, THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 7TH, 1918.
WAR CONDITIONS IN GERMANY.
"SOCIAL FERMENT."
A remarkable analysis of the present attitude of the German public is contri--| buted to the Vicuwe Rotterdamsche Cour unt. The writer, who gives a very black description, is described as "A neutral, not a Dutchman, whe has been much in Germany during the wir. He is an ex cellent observer; a very moderate man, rather pro-German. From a feeling of pity, but with calm judgment, he looks upon affairs impartialy."
The follow ing are quotations from his article:--
War weariness presses as a burden which cannot be turned away upon the whole people. This weariness has in the last few months, even week, assumed such proportions that people appear no longer able to fight against it. Those who have to go to the front try to get out of it by every possible means. This burden can The announcement that his Britannic not be lifted, by any victorica. The con- Majesty's Govemment has placed, deditions are made still worse by great bit names of certain persons, firms, and co- terness against the Government, which porations in the United States upon allowed a favourable moment for the con proscriptive black list, and has forbidden clusion of peace to pass in the spring of all financial or commercial dealings 1915. Driven by greed and rage for con tween them and citizens of Great Brita quest, the Government allowed the right has been received with the most painful moment to pass without, as people think, surprise by the people, the Government of the United States, and seems to the any hope of its recurrence.
The lower clases are becoming more and -Government of the United States on-
more radical in their attitude. Their bit body policy of arbitrary interfereterness is continually expressed against with neutral trade against which it is everybody standing above them. People duty to protest in the most decided germs,
in the large townn, especially Berlin, are The scopic and effect of the policy are
in a state of ferment, The Government extraordinary. British steamship cars.
attempts to meet this with general con- pants will not accept cargoes from tempt of the facts of the situation and proscribed from or persons or Transport the people's rights. One wildly reaction their goods to any port; and of steamship lines, if it is true, of neutral ownership, any measure follows another. Little riots understand that if they arcept freight are continually occurring, and they are From them, they are likely to be denied bloodity suppressed. Especially after the coal at British ports and excluded from condemnation of Liebrecht such things other privileges which they have usually were the order of the day. People were enjoyed and may themselves le pat upa furious over that sentence, and as a pro the black list. Neutral bankers refas test agam.st it, among others, the whole of the workmen in the service of the loans to those un the list and neutral mer chants decline to contract for their goods. Elektrisitets Aktiengesellschaft struck fearing a like proscription.
UNDESERVED INJURY TO AMERICAN CITIZENS.
It appears that British officials regard the prohibitions of the black list as ap plicable to domestic commercial transac Lions in foreign countries, as well as in Great Britain and her dependencies, for foreign Americans doing business in countries have been put on notes, that their dealings with black-listed firms e to be regarded as subject to veto by the British Government. By the same pria- riple Americans in the United States might be made subject ta similar punitivo action if they were found dealing with Any of their own countrymen whose
ans had thus been listed.
work for the clay.
Next morning 2,000 of the men were sent to the front. Dr. Hans Wehberg, although nearly blind, was sent away in Sine ten thousands hav: this manter, had to depart. The bitterness following these actrons of the Government has not yet been calmed down.
weg.
MIDDLE-CLASH DISCONTENT.
|
WHY ENGLAND WAS UNPREPARED.
MINISTERS AND A "SINISTER HYPOTHESIS."
MR. CHURCHILI'S 'DEFENCE.
GERMANY'S CRIMES AGAINST CIVILIANS.
FRENCH DEMAND FOR A DAY OF RECKONING:
Every new detail of the fresh series of German atrocities which comes to light increases the popular desire in France Mr. Winston Churchill contributes tot at there shall be a day of reckoning, and the Sunday Pictorial & war article en:
that when the day of peace comes there titled "The Sinister Hypothesis the shall-bo no sentimental softness to favour hypothesis of war with Germany which the escape of the guilty from the punish- haunted diplomacy in the years preceding ment which they have carred, The men 1914.
tality revealed in the Yellow Book which the French Government will publish shortly emphasizes the need of immediate and irrevocable decisions by the Allies in order to protect civilian populations and prisoners of war.
He points out that no democratic coun- try like Great Britain, or the United States, or France, with a Parliamentary government, absorbed in a keen political life and active discussion, can plan and prepare an aggressive war and make all' diplomatic and economic policies conform over a long course of years to the supremtoi military object. The most they can do is to concert the minimum defensive pre cautions.
The following cases in which violence in various forms has been used to compel dividuals to work, and of which there is overwhelming evidence, are taken from the Yellow Book :---
"A woman employed on a farm in the Ardennas testified that her husband was shot for disobeying an order to requisi t on the stock, and that she herself, for the same offence, was imprisoned for two the days.
It is the fashion to write (he says) asa. if the British Government were either entire unconscious of the approaching danger or that they had a load of secret matters and deep forebodings on theis, minds, hidden.
altogether from thoughtless alion
In fact, however, According to a man who was evacu neither of these alternatives, taken sepa-anted from the Nord Department, youths radely, was true; and there is a menaureof the 1915, 1016, and 1917 classes of re- of truth in both of them taken together. eruits have been threatened that, unless The British Government and the House they did the work demanded of them, they of Commons, out of which it had spring, would be sent as prisoners of war to Ger did not believe in the approach of a great many, war, and was determined to prevent it; There is much evidence to show that but at the same time the sinister hypothose who did not work quickly enough thesis was continually present in their were brutally treated, being hit with fists thoughts, and was repeatedly brought to and the butt ends of rifles. incidents and tendencies. the attention of Ministers by disquieting
At village in Meurthe et Moselle, a labour party being late in arriving the mayor was hung up by his arms from a
tree for some time.
For nearly ten years this duality and discordance were the keynote of British polities, and those whose duty it was to watch over the safely of the country lived
"In the Tisné Departament a farmer simultaneously in two different worlds of who did not want to work was undressed thought. There was the actual visible and sent, almost naked, into the fields world, with its peaceful activities and under rifle and shall fire, with his eyes cosmopolitan ainus; and there was abandaged and his hands bound. He wa hypothetical world--a world "beneath left there for a day, and then taken as a the threshold," as it were a world at hostage to Germany, one moment utterly fantastic, at the next "Many witnesses declare that at differ- seeming about to leap into reality-aent places, particularly in the Depart world of monstrous shadows moving inments of the Aisne and Pas de Calais, convulsive combinations through vistas of the inhabitants were forced to work in fathomless catastrophe.
take the nation into full confidence?
No, in the main there was nothing for it but to look after the fleet; to provide for the effective use of our small army, if the situation required it; to preserve steady and consistent friendships with those Powers that shared our anxieties; to avoid provocation or excitement in word or act, and to hope for the best.
A RIVAL COMBINATIONS,
the trenches.
In another locality people have been forced to work in factories, in gun re- pairs, and in the manufacture of stakes for the trenches,
In many places worren have been forced to work on sandbags for the trenchies. Miss B., from an Alsne village, states that she, with 300 women, was made. to do this.
Replying to the question “Why not "A youth of 16 states that in October, 1914, he was forced, with some 50. com- The middle classes are discontented in and state openly in Parliament all anxierades, to do trench work in the Plain of
ties, he argues that it would have, a different. manner. Their efforts are
conjectural and actually extreme-
They were theu taken to L, where directed against Herr vou Behmann-Holl purely tied the walisation of perils still in the Pas de Calais, for six days- One fact in regard to the work-ly improbable. Nor would Germany the Germans used them as shields. Forty ing classes is undeniable, namely the have watched impassively the conversion of them were killed. The witness was Minority "Socialist group has behind of Great Britain into a first-class land wounded by the splinter of a '75' shell. it at least nine-tenths of the members of Power and the consient alteration of the party in the country. The war weari- the whole military balance of Europe. ness, the bitternes of the people, the con The harsh, even disastrous, effects oftinually sharpening attacks on the Glov this policy upon the trade of the United ernment, and the general distress, create States and upon the neutral rights upen an atmosphere which is almost unbear- which it will not fail to insist are bable. The air seems laden with electricity. vious. Upon the list of those prosribed and in' effect shut out from the general commerce of the world may be found American concerns which are engaged in large cominercial operations as importers foreign products and materials and as distributors of American products and manufactures to foreign countries, and
important
channels through which American trade, reaches the outside world. Their foreign affil in- tions may have been fostered for many many years, and when once broken cannot easily or promptly be re-established. Other concerns may be put upon the list at any time and without notice. It is under- stood that additions to the proscription may be made
whenever on account of enemy nationality or cueniy association of such persons or bodies of persons, it appears to his Majesty expedient to do The possibilities of undeserved injury to American citizens from such measures arbitrarily taken and of serious and incalculable interruptions of Ameri ean trade are without limit.
which constitue
ко.
From all this, however, it must not be supposed that there will result a revolu ton in bloody form. Most poople regard this as improbable, but there does exist a visible and growing fear about the dawn of the after-wra period. The ferment is go great, the attacks are so bitter, hate is eating its way so deeply into the whole social life, the Government, and behind it the governing class are working so ritilessly, that a final judgment is anti- cipated that will be worse in its nature than the climax of the war itself.
People no longer talk about the war. For months the question of feeding has been the only theme of conversation. Without question there is starvation in Germany, Systematis under-feeding is so great that the best card system can do. nothing to change it. The little there is is now equally distributed; but it remains too little.
characterize the dealings of friendly Governments with one another,
42 ARBITRARY AND SVIRPING PRACTICES."
This practice has been extended to Lille and the district, as is shown by the cur 1 was very hard to tell beforehandernor and the Mayor of Lille.--Times.
respondence exchange between the Gov- whether this thing would come or not. Very wise men, with full knowledge of all the facts, came to the wrong conelu- sien and very foolish men, giving rein to their prejudices, came to the right conclusion, and are entitled to boast of
it for ever.
WORTHLESS FOOD FAKES.
Food substitutes which a year ago were confidently expected to prove the salva On one hand, there were the preparation of the German people have for some tions rolling forward on all sides-fects time fallen into likepute, - though the an armies growing and improving bulk of the adveements appearing in there were the international antagonisms the papers come from the vendors of these and groupings of the Powers. Europe articles. For some long time the papers was arming as she had never armed before, and practically all her nations have worked honestly at exposing the were ranged in the opposing systems. fraudulent who have tried to foist on On the other hand, it seemed inconceiv-the public such things na bread made of able that any civilised Government would sawdust, but now even the chemical sub take the plunge. The scale of the ratas-stitutes invented by German scientists trophe seemed to be a safeguardin all good faith have been found to be, against its occurrence. The complex if nor actually injurious, at the best very I has been stated on behalf of his
nature of the rival combinations offered unsatisfactory Professor Thans, the Majesty's Government that these mea
masy obstacles to united and simultane greatest of living Germen experts on ous action. sures were aimed only at the enemies of
Their strength was so ter dietetics, in the course of lectures deliver- Great Britain, and would be adopted The spirit of reciprocal trade between rible and ponderous as to impose a vetoed at the Berlin Institute of Pharmacy, and enforced with strict regard to the the United States and Great Britain, the on its own exercise. The stakes were too said that he regretted to have to confess rights of neutrals, and with the least pos-privilege long accorled to the nationals high for mortal man to play.
that his experiments with these substi- sible detriment to neutral trade, but it is of each to come and go with their ships
While the electors of the United Kingutes had led to results that compeilet evident that they are inevitably and ex- and cargoes, to use each other's shipping, dom in 1900 were affirming by the him to warm the people against them. sentially inconsistent with the rights of and be served each by the other's mer-largest majority within living memory "It has proved absolutely impossible, the citizens of all nations not involved in chants, is very seriously impaired by their devotion to the ideals of Peace, he said, to find a satisfactory substitu
arbitrary and sweeping practices such as
Retrenchment, and Reform, their trusted for alive oil, and our attempts to extrac'. this. There is no parpose of inclination leader, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman,il from birch trees and from, glue Lave on the part of the Government of the was principally concerned about the United States to shield American citizens Algeciras Conference, and had already failed. In the same way I cannot recom or business houses in any way from the always, of course, on the express undermend the use of artificial eggs, in the form of so-called egg powders or any legitimate consequences of unneutral acts standing that the British Government
While most of them ars. or practices; it is quite willing that they was not in any way committed to war-ther form should suffer the appropriate penalties authorised military conversations with harmless, their food value is more than
the French General Staff.
doubtful. which international law and the usage of nations have sanctioned.
war.
NECTRAL SAFEGUARD BRUSHER MU?
"
on the brink of rupture--and no rupture hd come. There had been a score of op- portunities, hail any Power wished to make war, Germany seemed with us set on peace.
A wave of uptimisin passed over the mind of the British Government and the House of Commons. Although abrond the increase of armaments was proceed ing with constant acceleration, although- the fifty milion capital tax had been levied in Germany, and that alarm bell was ringing for those that had ears to hear, the struggle to obtain the necessary supplies for the Fleet was unter more prolonged or more severe than in the early months of 1914.
The Government of the United States begs to remind the Government of his Britannic Majesty that citizens of the United States are, entirely within their rights in attempting to trade with the people or the Governments of any of the natious new at war, subject only to well-
Thence onwards along a road marked defined international practices and; an- But His Britannic Majesty's Govern by the milestones of German naval laws. derstandings, which the Government ofment cannot expect the Government of and army augmentations, we came, first, The United States deems the Government the United States to consent to see its
to the assertion by Austria of suvereignty of Great Britain to have too lightly and citizen put upon an re parte black list
over Bosnia and Herzegovina and the 100 frequently disregarded. There are without calling the attention of his German ultimatum to Russia in 1906, well-known reiedies and penalties for Majesty's Government in the gravestondly, in 1911, to the Panther and breaches of blockade, where the blockade terms to the many serious consequences Agadir: and, thirdly, to the bewildering. is real and in fact effective, for trade in to neutral right and rentral relations, entanglements of the Balkan war. contraband, for every unneutral ad by which such an het must necessarily in- whomsoever attempted. The Government volve It hopes and believes that his of the United Stpies cannot consent to Majesty's Goverment in its natural see these remedies and penalties altered absorption in a single pressing object of or extended at the will of a Power or policy, has acted without a full realisa group of Powers to the injury of its own tion of the many undesired and undesir citizens, or in derogation of ite ewnable results that might ensue. rights, Conspicuous among the principles A Correspondent to The Times, writing which the civilized nations of the world from Washington, on July 30th, says: have accepted for the safeguarding of the The black list pretest is widely recog-thought so safe and sure, and the sort of rights of neutrals is the just and honour-nized as a political manœuvre designed to ale principle that neutrals may not be elicit a British disavowal will be pro- condemned nor their goods confiscated, claimed as a great diplomatic tration except upon fair adjudication and after for President Wilson's Administration.
Sir Cecil Spring Rice filed on Satur- an opportunity to be heard in Prize Courts of elundere. Such safeguards the day a supplementary written statement black list brushes aside. It condemns explaining that it was not the inten- without hearing, without notice, and inition to black list neutrals doing business advance. is manifestly out of the with black listed arms unless it was question that the Government of the obvious that such firms were acting habit-
The period inmediately before the Lnited States should acquiesce in such ually and systematically as cover for explosion was the calinest and the most methods or applications of punishment trading between British and black listed hopeful we had known for years. After
firms. The statement also explained that Agadir the policy of Germany towards Somewhere in that inmense organism Whatever may be said with regard to the black list does not affect payments by Great Britain was not only correct but after Agadir the intention had twen the legality in the view of international neutrals to blacklisted firms, and that the considerate. All through the tangles of formed. Keep England out of it," and obligation of the Act of Parliament upon British Government habitually autho the Balkan conferences British and Ger diplomatic persons and methods had been which the practice of the black list, as ritizes British payments to blacklisted man diplomacy laboured in harmony chosen and directed to that end. And wow employed by his Majesty's Govern firms unless it is obvious that such pay- The distrust which had grown up in the somewhere, too, in what we have learned fent, is understood to be based, the ments are passed to or create credit for Foreign Office was sensibly modified. to know so well as "Main Headquarters,'' Government of the United States is con- the enemy in enemy territory,
The peaceful solution of the Balkan trained intelligences, peering at each strained to regard that practice as in-
difficulties gave a tremendous feeling of other over interminable ledgers and cal- consistent with that true justice, sincere
confidence. For months we had nego-culations, were now to say, All is ready. amity, impartial fairness, which should
tiated upon the most difficult questions The hour has come. Move the All (Continued on next Colums.)
(Pontiauce on Rezt Column.) Highest graciously to consent."
to its citizens,
This statement and Sir Coil Spring Rice's previous notes constitute a prac tically complete reply to the President's protest.
..
These were the times when the sinister hypothesis prowled about Whitehall and glared in at the presale family mansion windows of Downing Street, and when it was felt that in the turn of a diploma tie phrase or of a Parliamentary answer there might lie the difference between peace and was-between the nineteenth
wentieth century world, which we life they used to live in the Stone Age
But however near We may have ocyme
MAIN HEADQUARTERS. continued to flow through its long reaches sincerely anxious to be friends with Eng- to the cataclysm, the diplomatic language
The German Ministers were no doubt of solemn grimace, and even the most at land. It was their interest; it was their tentive eye could hardly comprehend inclination. More, it was according to where the real intention lay, or what it their instructions. For in truth there was a policy behind a polioy: The deep purposes of the German nation did not lie in the German Foreign Ofice. The soul of Germany had been surrendered to the General Staff.
WAS,
JUST BEFORE THE EXPLOSION.
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