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ISSUES AND EVENTS 19‘.
1
not more than three years.’ There is no record of a
case, decided according to that Sec. 13, in which
other enterprises than an expedition had come into
question. There is, however, on the other hand, no
reason why the application of the penal provision
should be confined to expeditions proper. The law
enumerates both a military expedition and a military
enterprise, it does not connect them by the participle
and, but by or, so that it would be incorrect to inter-
pret “military expedition or enterprise” as one
single term. Both expressions must, therefore, be
taken in their ordinary, usual sense, they must be
taken in their present sense, as the law was re-
enacted in 1909, and the provision of Sec. 13 must
be interpreted as referring not only to military ex-
peditions but to military enterprises which are not
expeditions as well. For “statutes are to be read
according to the natural and obvious import of their
language,” and “the rule is to take the words in their
ordinary grammatical sense, unless such a construc-
tion would be obviously repugnant to the intention
of the framers of the instrument.” (Sedgwick, Inter-
pretations and Applications of Statutory and Con-
stitutional Law, page 260). The Century Dictionary
defines enterprise as “an undertaking, something
projected and attempted, particularly an undertaking
of some importance, or one requiring boldness,
energy or perseverance.” Now, if we consider the
fact that all‘the orders for war materials given
during one and the same war by one and the same
group of belligerents are, even if given now and then
or successively and even if given by each member of
that group separately, connected with each other
because they all serve the same purpose,,the fact
that the orders given to'American manufacturers
and dealers aggregate an amount of hundreds of
millions of dollars, that the filling of the orders has
been going on for months and is intended for further
months to come, that whole manufacturing plants are
now devoted to this ordered production, that the
war materials produced are transported out of the
United States and that all this is done according to
the directions of belligerent governments, we cannot
fail to see that the whole performance in its entirety
is one gigantic, carefully organized, military enter-
prise, carried on from the territory of the United
States. No doubt, the manufacturers themselves
will call it quite an industrial “enterprise.” That it
is to be carried on against countries with which the
United States is at peace needs no proof.
In such a case it is lawful for the President of the
United States, according to Sec. 14, of the Criminal
Law, to prevent the exportations intended, even if
necessary with military force. It is the province of
the Department of Justice or of the United States
district attorneys to prosecute those criminally liable.
But any citizen may take the initiative and make the
first move. Any citizen who can bring the necessary
proof can go before a United States Commissioner
and begin the proceedings. If the reports that have
appeared in the public press from time to time on
orders for war materials given by the Coalition
Powers, on the erection of new factories for filling
these orders, etc., are based on facts, it would seem‘
that enough could be proved to warrant such pro-
ceedings.
SENTIMENT IN IRELAND.
VVe certainly are not too well informed about Ire-
land. London has hardly ever mentioned her; yet
some significant facts are at our disposal. Some
time ago a member of the Geraldine Club, New
York, stated that England had given orders for riot
shrapnel. We all know that this is not used as a
rule on the battlefield. Whatever it may be for, it
is evident that the .English government is smelling
a necessity for using it. The war is more unpopular
in Ireland than in England. Sir Carson's resigna-
tion is indicative to that effect, considering that it
was in part brought about by the English parlia-
ment’s conscription proposals. England has also
suppressed eight papers in Ireland. Irishmen have
left their country whenever possible. Of the Irish
Y. M. C. A. one out of every nine has enlisted. The
“Leader” points out that in Ireland the recruiting
agents have made no harvest at all. The “New Ire-
land” protests against the increased taxes, demand
that concessions ought to be made to Ireland in
regard to articles such as tea and sugar, on the
ground that the consumption there of these staples
exceeds that of either Scotland or England. Re-
garding this subject the “Leader” says: “If we had
only a fair share of national grit and backbone in
Ireland we would be a country that could not be
cheated, ignored nor despised.” These are facts in-
dicating that Ireland is not to be firmly trusted to
blindly submit to Parliament's proposals when the
final test for Great Britain will arrive. The Allies’
failure in the Balkans and at the Dardanelles as well
as an ineffective campaign in the western war dem-
onstrates that that test is now at hand. The present
is pregnant with indubitably important issues for
the British Government.
GOD’S SEVEN SEAS.
O’er God’s sev’n seas curled ’round His sphere, im-
pearled
Between the Orient and Occident-
Between the poles in mobile circles bent-
O’er God’s sev’n seas, ordained to float the world
Whilst ’round its solar orbit we are whirled-
Seas in the bondage of an empire pent,
Tho’ for the freedom of all nations meant-
None to be interned, its ensign furled.
O’er God’s sev’n seas planned for free interchange
Of whatsoe’er might be with welfare fraught-
The fruit of brawn and brain, of loom or grange,
The craftsman’s product and the sage’s tho’t,
Aye, o'er his seas men float the keels that kill, .
With deadly freight their “ocean greyhounds” fill!
- (Rev. A. D. Smith).
This sonnet dedicated to Mr. Charles R. Bryson,
of Pittsburgh, Pa., who refused an order for several
million dollars for munitions of war, appeared in
Vol. III., 10, incomplete, and we are glad to re-
print the full number of lines for the benefit of our
readers. - ’
Anton Jos. Hecker
DENTIST, D. D. S.
200 West 88th Street ‘
Corner Amsterdam Ave.
PHONE: SCHUYLER $331
liaun: 9 to 12 and 2 to 5 daily
BY open Sundays and
Evenings.