THE "BLACK-LIST."

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVI, Issue 3563, 25 September 1916, Page 3

THE "BLACK-LIST."

AMERICA'S STRONG PROTEST

TEXT OF THE NOTE TO BRITAIN

At various times during the war differences of opinion have arisen between Britain and the United States ami other neutrals as to the effect of British war measures upon the rights of neutrals, but so far those have had no very serious results. That trouble has been avoided is certainly not Germany's fault. The Lusitania, the Appn.ni, the Deutschla'nd, the mails question, many aspects of-the blockade, and other incidents have been seized upon by the enemy and used with 'the greatest energy in the effort to embroil Britain with fre4h enemies. The "black-list" is one of the latest, and in some ways one of the most interesting of these pegs upon which Germany is trying to hang trouble. The American Government, in July, sent an emphatic Note to the British Government dealing with the " black-list question"; and as the 'matter has not been closed yet, the text of this important document makes interesting' reading. The Note is as. follows: — '•" The announcement that his Britannic Majesty's Government has placed the names of "certain persons, firms, and, corporations in the United States upon a prospective ' black-list,' and has forbidden all financial or commercial dealings between them and citizens nf Grfnt .Britain, has boon received with the most painful surprise by the people and Government of the United States, seems to the Government of the United States to embody a policy of arbitrary interference with neutral trade against which it is the fluty to protest in the most decided terms.

"The scope and effect of the policy are extraordinary. British steamship companies will not accept cargoes from the proscribed 'firms or persons or transport their goods to any port, and steamship lines under neutral ownership understand thaft if • they accept freight from them they are likely to be denied coal at British ports and excluded from other privileges which they have usually enjoyed, and may themselves be put.upon the black-list. Neutral bankers refuse loans to those on the list, and neutral merchants de-* dine to contract for their goods, fearing a like proscription.

! "It appears that British officials i regard the prohibitions of the blacklist as applicable to domestic commercial transactions in foreign countries as well os in Great Britain and her dependencies, for Americans doing business in foreign countries have been rtnt on notice that their dealings with black-listed firms are to h<? regarded as subject to veto by the British Government. T*v the same principle Americans in the United .-'States might be made subject to similar punitive action if they were found dealing with any of: tlieir own conntrvmen whose names' had thus", been listed.

United"States to Insist on Rights.

' '"The harsh s and even disastrous effects of this policy upon the trade of the United States and upon the neutral rights upon which it will not fail to insist aro> obvious. Upon the list of those" proscribed and in effect shut out from the general commerce of the world may.be found American concerns -which are engaged in large commercial operations as importers of foreign products and materials and as distributors of American products and manufactures to foreign countries, and which constitute important channels through which American trade- reaches the outside world. Their foreign affiliations may have been fostered for many years, and when "mice broken cannot easily or promptly bo re-estab-lished. Other concerns may be put. upon the list at any tinl.;.' and without notice. i

" It is understood that additions to the proscription may be made ' whenever on account of enemy nationality or enemy' association of such persons or bodies of persons it appears to his Majesty expedient to do so.' The possibilities of -undeserved injury to American citizens from such measures, arbitrarily taken, and of serious and incalculable interruptions of American trade are without ■ limit.

" It has been stated on behalf of his Majesty's Government that these measures were aimed only at the enemies of Great Britain and would he adopted and enforced with strict regard to the "rights of neutrals and with the least possible detriment to neutral trade, but it is evident that they are inevitably and essentially inconsistent with the rights of the citizens of all the. not involved in war. The Government of the United States begs to remind tlu> Government of his Britannic Maiesty that --citizens of the United States aiv entirely within their I rights in attempting to trade with the people or the Governments of any of the nntons now at war. subject only to woU-defino'"'! inter nation a! practices and understandings, which. M;e Oovprmvont of the Urptivj Rhit.>s ,hp«iK t.he Government of Great. Hritr.:" to have- too lightly and too frequently disregarded.

Blockade Breaches Penalised,

"There arc well-known remedies and penalties for breaches of blockade where the blockade is real and in fact effective, for trade in contraband, for every unneutral a«.:t by whomsoever attempted. 9 The Government of the United .States cannot consent- to see those remedies and penalties altered or extended at the will of a single Power or group of Powers to the injury of its own citizens or in derogation of its own rights. " Conspicuous among tile principles which the .civilised nations'.of. thp t world have accepted for the -safeguarding of the rights of neutrals is the just and honourable principle that neutrals may not be condemned nor their goods confiscated except upon -fair adjudication and after an' opportunity to bo heard in prize courts or elsewhere. Such safeguards the black-list brushes aside. It condemns without hearing, without notice, and in advance. It is manifestly out of the question that the Government of the United States should a-equiesc-i! in such methods or .applications of punishment to its citizens.

" AVliatcver may be said with regard to the legality, in the .view of international obligation, of the Act of Parliament xipon which the practice of the black-list as now employed by his Majesty's Government is understood to be based, . the Government of the United States is constrained to_ regard that practice as inconsistent with that true jiistice, sincere amity, ancf impartial fairness which should characterise the dealings of friendly Governments with one another. The spirit of reciprocal trade, between the United States and Great Britain, the privilege, long accorded to the nationals of, each

to conic and go with their ships and cargoes, to use each the other's shipping and be served each by the other's merchants,' is very seriously impaired by arbitrary and sweeping' practice such as this.

Citizens Must Be Neutral.

" There is no .purpose or inclination on the part ol! the Government of the United States |o shield American citizens or business houses in any way from the legitimate consequences of umzeufcrsjl acts or practices; it is quite willing that they should-suffer the appropriate penalties which international law and the usage of nations have sanctioned; but his Britannic Majesty's Government cannot expect the Government of the United States to consent to see its citizens put upon an ex parte black-list without calling the attention of his Majesty's Government in the, gravest terms to the many serious consequences to neutral right and neutral relations which such an act must necessarily involve. It hopos and believes that his Majesty's Government, in its natural .absorption in a single pressing object of policy, has acted without ;i full realisation of the many undesircd mid undesirable results that might ensue."