the P. & O. Line superstructures, a light color; the steamer, which was identical with the Arabia, was not traveling on the route regularly used by the passenger steamers between Port Said and Malta, as is made plain on the inclosed map, but was taking a zigzag course toward the west, 120 nautical miles north of that route; this course, on which the submarine had passed three similar steamers at the same spot on the same morning, leads from the Aegean to Malta, so that the Arabia was moving on the transport route CerigoMalta, used solely for war purposes, according to the experiences until now. The commander of the submarine further ascertained that there were large batches of Chinese and other colored persons in their national costumes on board the steamer; he considered them to be workmen soldiers, such as are used in great numbers behind the front by the enemies of Germany; in spite of the clear weather and careful observation, he did not perceive any women and children.

In these eircumstances, the commander of the submarine was convinced that in the case of this steamer he was concerned with a transport ship for troops in the service of the British Government, which is to be considered as an auxiliary warship, according to international law, and can therefore be treated like a warship. He accordingly considered himself justified in attacking the steamer without delay, and sank it.

Should the American Government give the official data showing that the Arabia was at the time of the torpedoing an ordinary passenger steamer, the action of the commander would not have been in accordance with the instructions given him, since these instructions are now, as before, in agreement with the assurances of the German note of May, 1916. This would then be a case of a regrettable mistake, from which the German Government would promptly draw the appropriate consequences.

The undersigned requests the Chargé d'Affaires to bring the above to the knowledge of the American Government and avails himself. (Signed) ZIMMERMANN.

The State Department at Washington found this explanation far from satisfactory, but decided that the next step was too serious to take without further facts. Meanwhile the Marina case was under similar discussion. A German note of Nov. 28 stated that a definite answer to the American inquiry could not be given until more details were forthcoming. On Dec. 11 the State Department announced that as a matter of courtesy it had sent to Berlin the data it had gathered regarding the Marina. Investigation had developed the fact that the vessel had not been under charter or requisition by the British Government, but was carry

ing horses at so much a head. It was not, therefore, a war transport. The United States has demanded that the character of a vessel be determined beyond doubtby actual visit and search, if necessarybefore it is sunk by an enemy. All the evidence goes to show that neither the Marina nor the Arabia was a transport, that both were torpedoed without warning, and that the policy of the German submarine commanders in trying to ascertain the character of their victims by periscope observations is an inexcusable menace to the lives of innocent neutrals. The issue remains unsettled at this writing, but its seriousness is acknowledged at Washington. Marine insurance rates have been substantially increased. The sinking of the American steamship Chemung, which went down near Spain with the Stars and Stripes flying, and the fate of the Columbian, Palermo, Lanao, and other victims of German torpedoes during the month deepened the impression without changing the issue.

Dr. Zimmermann's Defense

Germany's attitude on the subject is indicated in verbal statements made by Dr. Alfred Zimmermann, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, in which he said:

The German naval forces are not sinking neutral merchant ships per se. They are sinking as a defensive measure ammunition transports and other contraband shipments to our enemies that are calculated to lengthen the war. It is not strictly correct, therefore, to speak of "submarine warfare " in this connection. We are conducting cruiser warfare, waged by means of submarines, acting in punctilious compliance with the rules of international law applying to cruiser warfare. Our position, therefore, both militarily and from the viewpoint of international law, is irreproachable, and the propagandistic accusation and charge in connection with ships sunk, as agitated by the English press, are interesting and important only as indicating how hard England is being hit by our defensive submarine measures against England's hunger war and England's economic strangle hold on the neutral nations in question.

Our cruiser warfare with submarines is being conducted in strict compliance with the German prize regulations, which correspond to the international rules laid down and agreed to in the Declaration of London, and this despite the fact that England has refused to be bound by the London Declaration. Germany, accordingly, will continue to exercise her perfect good right to take these defen

sive measures. If neutrals have to lament the loss of ships and cargoes, it should be remembered that the real blame lies on England.

Germany has promised the United States to carry on submarine war according to the international rules of cruiser warfare. The orders to the commanders of our submarines are clear and strict in this direction. I can affirm with absolute certainty that no German submarine has intentionally attacked a merchant ship without warning and without giving all on board ample time and opportunity for rescue.

We are animated by the best feelings toward everybody, but we are fighting for the life and future of our nation. Everybody can understond that at such a moment as this German public opinion analyzes very carefully the facts and compares our attitude with that of the enemy. Of course, we are cut off from the greater part of the communications with the outer world, especially with the United States. Our enemies use the cables, the mails, and the spoken word in order to plead their case before the whole world. But the other nations also ought to hear our voice, our grievances.

The United States Government has filed at Berlin no less than ten inquiries concerning recent submarine acts. Germany's tendency is to base its defense upon the ground that merchantmen carrying a gun for defense are virtually auxiliary cruisers and subject to the same treatment as warships. Such a justification cannot be accepted by the United States Government, which has definitely ruled that merchantmen may carry a defensive gun at the stern without altering their status.

It may be added here that the German merchant submarine Deutschland completed a second successful voyage to the United States during the month just past. After a few days' delay by an accident near New London she sailed on Nov. 21 with a $2,000,000 cargo, and reached Bremen on Dec. 10, having successfully run the British blockade.

out warning by German submarines. Shots and even torpedoes were fired when men and women were making for the boats. One of the last vessels to be sunk without warning by the Germans was the Marina, off the coast of Ireland-a tribute to German frightfulness which still is fresh in the minds of the world.

Since the time of the delivery of the famous German promise to the White House more than 100 British ships have been sent to the bottom of the seas by German submarines, and in these cases a perfunctory warning of a few minutes has been given to those aboard the vessels. Men and women have been set adrift on the high seas in boats, with the result that many were drowned. Others have been killed by the shots which followed so speedily upon the warning solid shot across the vessel's bows. It also is noted that cases have been frequent where the crews of vessels were picked up in an exhausted condition.

In the case of the Cymric, the first flagrant instance of Germany's frightfulness following her promise to the United States, four men were killed when the torpedo from the U-boat struck the ship, which then was 140 miles from land. She had 112 persons aboard, and left New York City on April 29. The attack on her occurred on May 8.

The Canford Chine, which was sunk off the coast of Spain, was given but little time before the German commander of the U-boat sent shots at the vessel. Her crew were tossed about in small boats for more than twelve hours. Eleven men and the master were lost from the Windermere, another victim of a German submarine on June 27, when she went to the bottom off Port Mahon. The Chief Officer and eleven men got into one boat and the Captain and eleven others into the second boat. The Captain's craft is supposed to have capsized in the bad weather.

One of the steamship Calypso's boats was found on the shores of Norway. That is all that is known of her, except that the German Government announced that they had sunk the Calyx, the former name of the Calypso. Thirty perished on this vessel, which undoubtedly received no warning from the Uboat. She left London July 7 and was last seen passing Hull.

The

The Kennett was sunk without warning in the Gulf of Finland, and the Captain and his crew of thirty Russians all perished. Virginia, owned by Edward Grey & Co. of Liverpool, was attacked by a submarine off Cape Matapan. Many shots followed right on the perfunctory warning and nine of the crew were wounded, while, in taking to the boats, the Chief Officer and another man were drowned. Three boats with twenty-five of the crew got away safely, leaving one waterlogged boat for the remaining twentyfive and the Captain. While the Master and the Chief Officer were lowering a wounded native into a boat the submarine discharged

a torpedo, which glanced off the ship and headed back toward the German craft. It exploded sixty yards away. The Captain of the Virginia was twice sucked down with his vessel after the German had fired a second torpedo. He came up and was saved.

In going through the lists of vessels which fell victims to the German submarines one ' comes across the case of the Huntsfall, in which twelve of the crew were killed. The survivors took to the sea in their boats when 195 miles off Malta, and after many hours they finally were rescued by the Dover Castle.

The Euphorbia of the Stag Line of North Shields was sent to the bottom without so much as a preliminary solid shot, and eleven lives were lost. Both the starboard lifeboats were smashed by the explosion, but there were two rafts on the vessel. The survivors got away from the ship in the two port boats and the rafts. Six men were blown to pieces in the stokehold. After towing one lifeboat for six hours the Captain went in his boat to Algiers for assistance. This happened on July 16.

The Swift Wings of N. Hallet & Co. met her fate eighteen miles east of Cape Bengut, Algiers. She had no warning from the U-boat, and two men were killed. On Sept. 8 the Llangorse also was torpedoed without warning, and the Chief Officer perished. Nine days afterward the Lord Tredegar, which left New York Aug. 24, unwarned, was torpedoed off Malta and four men lost their lives. As in other cases, lifeboats were destroyed and damaged by the explosion.

On more than one steamship that was torpedoed the submarine Captain did not give the men a chance to get to their boats, but gave the order to fire three or four minutes after the warning shot. As in the case of the West Point, sunk by the U-53, the commander was in the chart room, hardly having had time to give the order to abandon the ship when the second shot burst right through that structure.

The crew of that vessel while getting into boats had a hard time, because of the shell fire from the submarine while trying to get away from their vessel.

The Stephano, with many American passengers aboard, is another instance in which the lives of not only the crew but women were imperiled, and many undoubtedly would have perished had it not been for the timely aid of the American destroyers.

A second Admiralty table gives the names of 107 ships, all of British registry, sunk by German submarines in the same period, which, it is stated, were sunk and "the lives of the crews and passengers imperiled through their being forced to take to the sea in open boats, while their ships were a target for the enemy's guns."