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THE IFATHERLAND
Fair Play for Germany and Austria-Hungary
Edited by GEORGE Svrvasrsx Vnzmacx and FREDERICK F. Scmmnm
VOL. I. No. 20
DECEMBER 23, 1914
>l?RlCE, 5 CENTS
LET THE FLAG PROTECT THE CARGO
EVERAL ships, sailing under the American flag
to neutral countries, loaded with “conditional”
contraband of war, have been seized or held up by
the English. The last steamer held up was the
George Hawley, owned by the American Exporters
Line, which was detained by the British authorities
December 2nd at Falmouth.
We urge the State Department not to permit such
seizures, even if it should be necessary for the Sec-
retary of State to give Mr. Spring Rice, the English
Ambassador, an unpleasant half hour. For if we fail
to take emphatic measures to protect legitimate car-
goes sailing under the American flag, we commit not
merely a serious breach of neutrality toward one of
the belligerents, but we trample underfoot the rights
Of American citizens.
We commit a breach of neutrality because we de-
part from the traditional policy of the United States
governing traffic with belligerents and neutrals in
times of war. This departure, under the present cir-
cumstances, constitutes an unwarranted discrimina-
tion against Germany and her allies.
In every war that has raged in the past, including
the Russo-Japanese conflict, the United States stead-
fastly held to the following principles:
Era] nations have the right to ship in their own
bottoms conditional contraband, such as foodstuffs,
to a belligerent nation, provided the cargo is not con-
Siied to the military or governmental authorities
. 0f the belligerent nation.
The neutral flag protects the neutral cargo.
This has been our policy; it is a humanitarian pol-
icy; it is an enlightened policy; it is a policy in ac-
cordance with the evolution of international law as
0l3posed to international piracy. This policy nat-
“Tally means that it is possible for us to ship food-
Stuff and other conditional contraband directly to
Germany as well as to neutral nations who may be
her neighbors. If we now depart from this accepted
P01icy, we thereby support the starving-out policy
against the central European powers proclaimed by
England. For this departure reacts greatly to the
disadvantage of Germany. A neutral nation which
in time of war voluntarily surrenders one of its
rights as a neutral to the grave disadvantage of one
of the belligerents and to the advantage of the other,
is guilty of the grossest violation of neutrality.
If President Wilson permits Mr. Bryan to sur-
render the protection of the American flag over
American cargoes, he virtually joins the enemies of
Germany. Portugal has declared war against Ger-
many. Japan has seized Germany’s possessions in
the Pacific. But both countries at least have openly
joined the Allies. If President Wilson fails to pro-
tect our legitimate trade with Germany, he will do
more harm to Germany than either Portugal or
Japan, while still wearing the mask of neutrality.
He would initiate a policy of what has been called
“malignant neutrality.”
Not only would such a surrender be a blow at a
friendly nation; the President, if he were to permit
this new interpretation of American policy, would
be recreant in his duty to his own country. Why
should we surrender a trade of tremendous value as
well as one of the sacred principles of American pol-
icy at the pleasure of England? Of what use is
American citizenship, of what avail
merchant marine, if the Amercan flag ceases to pro-
tect American cargoes in American bottoms?
There is an aspect of the problem that may appeal
even more to the President than commercial and po-
litical considerations. If we permit England to
starve Germany and Austria, we permit her not only
to starve German soldiers, but also German women
and German children. We moreover permit her to
starve the women and children of Belgium, for while
Germany will do her duty by Belgium, she certainly
will not feed the Belgians in preference to her own
women and children. The purely humanitarian as-
pect alone makes it a crime for the United States to
depart from the traditions upheld by every President
up to Woodrow Wilson in every international crisis.
In the present crisis the Amercan Flag, unless craven-
ly furled before the Union jack, protects not only
American cargoes, but also the women and children
of Belgium and of Germany.
Human suffering may be sometimes inevitable.
Perhaps we must permit women and children to
