The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. THURSDAY MARCH 18, 1915. THE AMERICAN STANDPOINT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 66, 18 March 1915, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

THURSDAY MARCH 18, 1915. THE AMERICAN STANDPOINT.

For the cause that lnek» atsitfanes. For the torrma that needs resistant*, ■For the future in thetiistanoe, And the good that we can d*.

President Wikon has decided to protest oner more against the British interpretation of the rules of inter- ; national law in regard to the ri"ht, of search, and the enforcement of blockade. It will be remembered that last December the American Government made a formal complaint to the effect that American commercial interests were being needlessly injurcl by the British method of enforcing the right of search. The British reply was a defence of England's claim to search for contraband, absolute or conditional, and ac England wae certainly within the letter of the law, the Americans could do no more. But a few weeks ago, the Germans, feeling the pressure of the British blockade, which was now sufficiently effective to cut off most of their foreign supplies of food and war material, announced that after the 18th of February a war zone would hr established around bhe British Islands, and any vessel trading within those limits was liable to be eunk without warning. While the destruction of neutral shipping would, ac far as possible, be avoided, Gprmany could not frttarantee the security of any vessels within tho zone, and the Government strongly advised all neutral shipping to keep out of the are* of danger. The American Government entered a strong protest, and warned Germany that the sinking of any American chip under such .conditions would involve serious consequences. The German Ambassador at Washington then intimated that bis Government would relax in severity of the intended blockade if Britain would exempt from the list of contraband foodstuffs intended for the civil population. This proposal was fa-vourably entertained by the American Government, and wae submitted to Britain, but the British authorities pointed out that it wae quite impossible to distinguish between food intended for the German people and eupplies for the German armies. England therefore declined to modify Tier plans, more especially ac her antagonist has persistently violated all the recognised laws of warfare, and the use of submarines against unarmed merchantmen is simply organised piracy and assassination. And now we learn that another protect is to he issued by Washington against England's decision to uphold the right of search and to enforce the law of nations against trade in contraband. Though we have covered this ground on previous occasions, it seems desirable to traverse it again, because many people appear unable to grasp the true meaning and purpose of these American protests. In our opinion the course i that President Wilson and his advisers have adopted in regard to the rights and duties of belligerente does very little credit either to, their statesmanship or their cense of moral responsibility. For it has been perfectly evident all along that Washington has followed a policy of pure and unadulterated selfishneee. There have been many shameful incidents in this war. many outrageous violations of the principles of international law against which the United States might well have protested. For it wae largely owing to American efforte that the Hague Tribunal wae established and the Hague Conventions were adopted; and it wae surely to be expected that the American Government would not allow Germany to trample underfoot the rights of humanity and civilisation as she has done without raising at least a formal objection. But no official rebuke hae ever been administered by President Wilson to the ravagers of Belgium, these modern Huns and Vandals, who have publicly announced their intention of reducing millions of helpless and unarmed people to submission by a deliberate policy of "frightfulncss" and barbarism. It was only when American trade appeared likely to be interfered with by the exigencies of the war that President \Vilson"s voice was heard, declaiming, not against slaughter and outrage in hapless Belgium, but against anything and everything that could hy any chance prevent the Americans from making the maximum amount of profit from the war with the least possible inconvenience and delay. Never in modern times has any great nation so clearly and forcibly declared that commercial profit and material gain are of more importance to it than any other considerations. It is a painful spectacle, and we can hardly doubt that in years to come President Wilson will have good cause to regret the subservience to the enormously powerful financial and commercial interests of his country which has placed him in this undignified and humiliating position. Of course, no reasonable man has either iwppeted or wished that the Americans would intervene actively on our sid>. Yot, whjle no onp imagined that the United Status would lake up arms against the Germans either for Belgian's sake or for England's, we had a right to expect that a nation which has always boasted of its humanity, and its efforts to mitigate tlie horrors of war, .would have given England wiJt^SRSP

its etrong moral support against an 1 utterly unscrupulous and barbarous i enemy. But the Americana haTe not. allowed considerations of humanity or ) morality to obtrude themselves into 1 their view of the case, which is, to use ! one of their fa-rourite piirases, '-strictly \ business." To them the war, like every i other combination of circumstances, is ' ■merely an opportunity for coining money, ' and they have simply T>ent all their ener- . gies to the congenial task of making the s most and the best of it. As a natural.« consequence the various American pro- ] teste against England's interpretation of ; the laws of warfare on the high seas have been marked not only by a deter- ' ruination to ignore moral principles altogether, but by an amount of impudent effrontery that it is difficult to charac- < terise too strongly. It must be remem- ' bered that the right of search against ' which Washington first protested is \ one of the most firmly estab- i Jished of all belligerent rights. No ', Power before this in modern times , has ever questioned the right of belligerente to stop ana search neutral ' ships, to prevent them from carrying ' contraband to the enemy. Nor hae any | Power before this denied the right of ' belligerente to treat ac contraband and ' to confiscate cargoes clearly intended ' for the support and sustenance of com- ■ batants. And the only excuse for the \ attitude of the Americans on this question is that they consider the ordinary ! laws and «sages of warfare should be ' waived on their behalf so that they j may make money out of both sides at I once. A» to the more recent develop- ' menbs following on Germany's "paper \ blockade," and her indiscriminate at- i; tack* upen merchant shipping, we might \ surely have expected that now at List J the American nation would have "iven ! us the full weight of its moral support. > and Kould have denounced the utterly ' barbarous and iniquitous tactics of tbc ) enemy. But no:—all that President s Wilson hae done hae been to suggest a ' "roodus virondi" which would leave Ger- « many free still to draw quan-. i tities of food and material tot her ' armies Irom neutral-.sourcee,. and would , incidentally allow the United States to I go on making huge profits out of the ' necessities of all the belligerent Powera I at once. And now, because England refuses to surrender her incontestable rights at eea, or to allow Germany a chance of replenishing her resources and prolonging the war indefinitely, President Wileon protests once more against ■ England's action because it interferes | with American trade. It is, we repeat, 1 a painful and humiliating spectacle, and • every friend and admirer of the Aineri- i can 'ipbopfcaaahßt-.nregrEt^hali'.'at--.thie « great crisis their country's fortunes had c not been committed to other hands. ( ■- . •. ..-•'.. ■ ' f