OCR Text |
Show DAMAGE CLAIMS The attack upon the Petrohte and the seizure of $2 000 000 by the European Euro-pean belligerents fully illustrate the difficulties under hicn the United States labors while trying to engage in foreign cemmeree and keep out of the war The Petrolite belonged lo the Standard Oil fleet and was bound for Alexandria, Egypt Oil is contraband of war and th,e vessel was sunk bv a German or Austrian snbma ine A protest wonld not lie against the capture of the tanker It is quite another matter if attacks have been iradc withoi t warn ng and more Amen can lives sacrificed The f 000 000 seized bv the British was on its way from New 'iork to Holland being consigned to the Neth erlands Overseas Trust The British of ficials have declared the gold contra band assert ng it was intnded for use in pav ng German trade balances Tne shippers declare it was forwarded in the course of regular b s ness w th the Hollanl company The seizure was probabl made on susp c on the1 case of the Ho k ng be g a pre e lent ft the 8 spi on Bho 1 1 t rn out to be wel f o n led t is t robable the gol 1 wa sp I at Ce man r k for a American f rm would be foolish n leed to nc r sk ng the loss of $" 0 0 If the col 1 was to be use 1 for the p rj one la ne 1 the Nev 1 ok shrpera t I to the ,o ernment at Wash ng to to se re ts return B t as nc got at ons between governments o or 1 matters usually consume m h me the Br t sh gove nment w 11 n lo t I hoi 1 onto the gol I at least nt the war s over and the da of s ttlc np t of he othp la ms arr es Th Intel States has ha 1 some ex re pn e w th eat Pr t n n the set t em t of am I ur ng hp bpl n f pr a wp f t I t g f he f I v nl a u a n f lan ge t I o h S a hn a al 1 Pn ha s n am n st J- ng an 1 a p ntp ag p P of o f n e L p h a ToPthlog w p A a a i w n n pity a(. n nt rf n e The tie an s were ra sferred to a rpn ow a the ft at on apparently he a enoore exng than eve M t A Ja s o vpver was on the na h an I on e t ng that the ra s w re bout to u o tea as ally male t cxrr sh on wh h has s n p 1 o p I ft r Jf o rsp o r lor I h lersta Is Hat th h npans na I R ikpII I! I n lerstan la I the n wp r pre f tP I fro rev ng ron Aran " p The pxt Kief was thPn ta e wh n 11 Alans prcncnti 1 la ms f r dan ages but nothing was I p wh Ip tl war lasted At the clou f Ip war t ! gPs an o to i t I ha f n 111 n Is 1 g 1 h a h ng n K f I h f i a catastrophe arbitrat on was f nail resorted to The co um ss oners ere named and the arb trators n et at Gene a Sw tzer land June 15 18 The Br t s.h agent d 1 not present any summary b t asked an adiournment for e ght months as the two go ernment dd nof agree upon the scope of the arb trat on The treaty seemed doomed as the Br t sh vere obdurate and were ba ked up by a strong party at home preferr ng war to paying a penny for damages Mr Adams was the representative of the American government on tho tribunal and in the nterest of peace advised with h s colleagues It w as dec ded that the indirect claims sho Id be ex eluded from considerat on and instead of n ne and one half ra llion pounds sterling he award carried onl three and one quarter million o nds E en then the popularity of Prom er Qlad stone suffered to some extent John Morlej who left the present British cabinet when war was declared has this to say of the Geneva award So ended what has been called the greatest Of all arbitrations extinguish ing the embers that could not have been left to smolder without constant peril of a vast and protracted coa flagrahon whi h was undoubtedly true. Nevertheless it should be borne in mind that only a little more than one third of what we considered our jutt due was allowed and many Amer icans who suffered damages on ac count of the acts of the British gov ernment were compelled to pocket their losses. Wa should further consider the fact that some of these claims were filed in 1862 and that it was not nntil September 18 2 that the award at Geneva was made The same story is likely to be told of the claims arising from the present war International law and all treaties have been abrogated and unless the Lnited States government sternly in sists those who have suffered great loss will .get little or nothing at the end of a long and vexatioi s controversy In some respects the neutrals are as badly off as the central powers as regards re-gards foreign commerce |