RUTHLESS WAR

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 300, 2 October 1939, Page 5

RUTHLESS WAR

SUBMARINE ACTIVITY. THREAT TO BRITISH VESSELS. REGARDED AS WARSHIPS. •United Press Association—Copyright.) ' LONDON, October 1. A German radio announcement states that Germany now regards every British merchantman as a warship because merchantmen have recently been attacking German submarines. The Admiralty, quoting the German radio’s threat, has sent a message to all merchantmen as follows: “The announcement may indicate an immediate change in German submarine policy. You should he prepared to meet it.” REACTION IN AMERICA. EFFECT OF NEUTRALITY LAW. (Received This Day, 10.30 a.m.) NEW YORK, October 1. The Washington correspondent of the “New York Times,” referring to the German threat of unrestricted submarine action against British merchantmen, says: “Similar warfare is credited largely with the involvement of the United States in the Great War. “President Wilson departed from traditional policy and admitted armed merchantment to United States ports without the restrictions applying to warships. The pending Neutrality Bill vests in the President the sole decision regarding the status of armed merchantmen. Now that a German move is likely, this previously unremarked provision will become a contentious point in the debate. “It is quite possible, because of the division over neutrality, that if Germany carries out her threat there will he a movement to make more definite -what constitutes a merchantman.”