Military wagons and their component parts.

Mineral oils, including benzine and motor spirit.
Molybdenum and molybdenite.

Motor vehicles of all kinds and their component parts and accessories.

Naphthalene and its mixtures and derivatives.

Nautical instruments, all kinds of.
Negotiable instruments.

Nickel and nickel ore.

Nitric acid and nitrates of all kinds.

Oils and fats, animal, fish, and vegetable, other than those capable of use as lubricants, and not including essential oils.

Oleaginous seeds, nuts, and kernels.

Oleum.

Paper money.

Paraffin wax.
Peppers.

Phenol (carbolic acid) and its mixtures and derivatives.
Phosphorus and its compounds.

Phosgene.

Potassium salts.

Powders, whether specially prepared for use in war or not.
Projectiles of all kinds and their component parts.

Prussiate of soda.

Railway materials, both fixed and rolling stock.
Ramie.

Range finders and their component parts.

Rattans.

Realizable securities.

Resinous products.

Rubber (including raw, waste, and reclaimed rubber, solutions and jellies containing rubber, or any other preparations containing rubber, balata, and gutta-percha, and the following varieties of rubber, viz, Borneo, Guayule, Jelutong, Palembang, Pontianac, and all other substances containing caoutchouc) and goods made wholly or partly of rubber.

Sabadilla seeds and preparations therefrom.

Scheelite.

Searchlights and their component parts.
Selenium.

Silver.

Skins of calves, pigs, sheep, goats, and deer.

Skins utilizable for clothing suitable for use in war.

Sulphuric ether.

Tanning substances of all kinds, including quebracho wood and extracts for use in tanning.

Telegraphs, materials for.
Telephones, materials for.
Telescopes.

Tin, chloride of tin, and tin ore.

Toluol and its mixtures and derivatives.

Tools capable of being employed in the manufacture of munitions of war.

Tungsten.

Turpentine (oil and spirit).

Tires for motor vehicles and for cycles.

Urea.

Vanadium.

Vegetable fibers and yarns made therefrom.

Vehicles of all kinds, other than motor vehicles, available for use in war, and their component parts.

Vessels, craft, and boats of all kinds.

Warships, including boats and their component parts of such a ature that they can only be used on a vessel of war. Wireless telegraphs, materials for.

Wolframite.

Wood tar and wood-tar oil.

Wool, raw, combed, or carded; wool waste; wool tops and noils, woolen or worsted yarns.

Xylol and its mixtures and derivatives.

Zinc ore.

On the 2d of November Great Britain announced the North Sea a military area.

During the last week the Germans have scattered mines indiscriminately in the open sea on the main trade route from America to Liverpool via the north of Ireland.

Peaceful merchant ships have already been blown up, with loss of life, by this agency.

The White Star liner Olympic escaped disaster by pure luck and but for warnings given by British cruisers other British and neutral merchant and passenger vessels would have been destroyed.

These mines can not have been laid by any German ship of war. They have been laid by some merchant vessel flying a neutral flag, which has come along the trade route as if for purpose of peaceful commerce, and, while profiting to the full by the immunity enjoyed by neutral merchant ships, has wantonly and recklessly endangered the lives of all who travel on the sea.

In these circumstances, having regard to the great interests intrusted to the British Navy, to the safety of peaceful commerce on the high seas, and to the maintenance within the limits of international law of trade between neutral countries, the Admiralty feels it necessary to adopt exceptional measures appropriate to the novel conditions under which this war is being waged.

It therefore gives notice that the whole of the North Sea must be considered a military area. Within this area merchant shipping of

all kinds, traders of all countries, fishing craft and all other vessels will be exposed to the gravest dangers from mines it has been necessary to lay and from warships searching vigilantly by night and day for suspicious craft.

All merchant and fishing vessels of every description are hereby warned of the dangers they encounter by entering this area, except in strict accordance with Admiralty directions. Every effort will be made to convey this warning to neutral countries and to vessels on the sea, but from November 5 onward the Admiralty announces that all ships passing a line drawn from the northern point of the Hebrides through the Farne Islands to Iceland do so at their own peril.

Ships of all countries wishing to trade to and from Norway, the Baltic, Denmark, and Holland are advised to come, if inward bound, by the English Channel and the Strait of Dover. There they will be given sailing directions which will pass them safely, so far as Great Britain is concerned, up the east coast of England to the Farne Islands, whence a safe route will, if possible, be given to Lindesnas Lighthouse.

From this point they should turn north or south, according to their destination, keeping as near the coast as possible. The converse applies to vessels outward bound.

By strict adherence to these routes the commerce of all countries will be able to reach its destination in safety so far as Great Britain is concerned, but any straying even for a few miles from the course thus indicated may be followed by fatal consequences. (The New York Tribune, Nov. 3, 1914.)

On December 26 our Government addressed her first lengthy note on England's violations of neutral rights.

The note is as follows:

American note, December 26, 1914, in reference to the seizure and detention of American cargoes destined for neutral European ports. (Delivered at London Dec. 28 and published three days later.)

(The Secretary of State to the American ambassador at London:) The present condition of American foreign trade resulting from the frequent seizures and detentions of American cargoes destined to neutral European ports has become so serious as to require a candid statement of the views of this Government in order that the British Government may be fully informed as to the attitude of the United States toward the policy which has been pursued by the British authorities during the present war.

You will therefore communicate the following to His Majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, but in so doing you will assure him that it is done in the most friendly spirit and in the belief that frankness will better serve the continuance of cordial relations between the two countries than silence, which may be misconstrued into acquiescence in a course of conduct which this Government can not but consider to be an infringement upon the rights of American citizens.

The Government of the United States has viewed with growing concern the large number of vessels laden with American goods destined to neutral ports in Europe which have been seized on the high seas, taken into British ports, and detained sometimes for weeks by the British authorities. During the early days of the war this Government assumed that the policy adopted by the British Government was due to the unexpected outbreak of hostilities and the necessity of immediate action to prevent contraband from reaching the enemy. For this reason it was not disposed to judge this policy harshly or protest it vigorously, although it was manifestly very injurious to American trade with the neutral countries of Europe. This Government, relying confidently upon the high regard which Great Britain has so often exhibited in the past for the rights of other nations, confidently awaited amendment of a course of action which denied to neutral commerce the freedom to which it was entitled by the law of nations.

This expectation seemed to be rendered the more assured by the statement of the foreign office early in November that the British Government were satisfied with guaranties offered by the Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish Governments as to nonexportation of contraband goods when consigned to named persons in the territories of those Governments, and that orders had been given to the British Fleet and customs authorities to restrict interference with neutral vessels carrying such cargoes so consigned to verification of ship's papers and cargoes.

It is therefore a matter of deep regret that, though nearly five months have passed since the war began, the British Government have not materially changed their policy and do not treat less rigorously ships and cargoes passing between neutral ports in the peaceful pursuit of lawful commerce, which belligerents should protect rather than interrupt. The greater freedom from detention and seizure which was confidently expected to result from consigning shipments to definite consignees rather than "to order" is still awaited.

It is needless to point out to His Majesty's Government, usually the champion of the freedom of the seas and the rights of trade, that peace, not war, is the normal relation between nations and that the commerce between countries which are not belligerents should not be interfered with by those at war unless such interference is manifestly an imperative necessity to protect their national safety, and then only to the extent that it is a necessity. (Sec. 20.) It is with no lack of appreciation of the momentous nature of the present struggle in which Great Britain is engaged and with no selfish desire to gain undue commercial advantage that this Government is reluctantly forced to the conclusion that the present policy of His Majesty's Government toward neutral ships and cargoes exceeds the manifest necessity of a belligerent and constitutes restrictions upon the rights of American citizens on the high seas which are not justified by the rules of international law or required under the principle of selfpreservation.

The Government of the United States does not intend at this time to discuss the propriety of including certain articles in the lists of absolute and conditional contraband which have been proclaimed by His Majesty. Open to objection as some of these seem to this Gov

ernment, the chief ground of present complaint is the treatment of cargoes of both classes of articles when bound to neutral ports.

Articles listed as absolute contraband, shipped from the United States and consigned to neutral countries, have been seized and detained on the ground that the countries to which they were destined have not prohibited the exportation of such articles. Unwarranted as such detentions are, in the opinion of this Government, American exporters are further perplexed by the apparent indecision of the British authorities in applying their own rules to neutral cargoes. For example, a shipment of copper from this country to a specified consignee in Sweden was detained because, as was stated by Great Britain, Sweden had placed no embargo on copper. On the other hand, Italy not only prohibited the export of copper, but, as this Government is informed, put in force a decree that shipments to Italian consignees or "to order" which arrive in ports of Italy can not be exported or transshipped. The only exception Italy makes is of copper which passes through that country in transit to another country. In spite of these decrees, however, the British foreign office has thus far declined to affirm that copper shipments consigned to Italy will not be molested on the high seas. Seizures are so numerous and delays so prolonged that exporters are afraid to send their copper to Italy, steamship lines decline to accept it, and insurers refuse to issue policies upon it. In a word, a legitimate trade is being greatly impaired through uncertainty as to the treatment which it may expect at the hands of the British authorities.

We feel that we are abundantly justified in asking for information as to the manner in which the British Government propose to carry out the policy which they have adopted in order that we may determine the steps necessary to protect our citizens engaged in foreign rade in their rights and from the serious losses to which they are liable through ignorance of the hazards to which their cargoes are exposed.

In case of conditional contraband, the policy of Great Britain appears to this Government to be equally unjustified by the established rules of international conduct. As evidence of this attention is directed to the fact that a number of the American cargoes which have been seized consist of foodstuffs and other articles of common use in all countries which are admittedly relative contraband. In spite of the presumption of innocent use because destined to neutral territory, the British authorities made these seizures and detentions without, so far as we are informed, being in possession of facts which warranted a reasonable belief that the shipments had in reality a belligerent destination, as that term is used in international law. Mere suspicion is not evidence and doubts should be resolved in favor of neutral commerce, not against it. The effect upon trade in these articles betweer neutral nations resulting from interrupted voyages and detained cargoes is not entirely cured by reimbursement of the owners for the damages which they have suffered after investigation has failed to establish an enemy destination. The injury is to American commerce with neutral countries as a whole through the hazard of the enterprise and the repeated diversion of goods from established markets.