rmously add to the number of the dead.

Fourth--I hope that Germany will acquiesce in the demands that have
been made, and I hope that she will acquiesce in them without
conditions. She can trust the United States to deal justly with her in
the consideration of any changes that she may propose in the
international rules that govern the taking of prizes. The more
generously she acts in this matter the greater will be the glory which
she will derive from it. She has raised a question which is now
receiving serious consideration, namely, whether the introduction of
the submarine necessitates any change in the rules governing the
capture of prizes. The position seemingly taken by Germany, namely,
that she is entitled to drown noncombatants because they ride with
contraband, is an untenable position. The most that she could insist
upon is that, in view of the introduction of this new weapon of
warfare, new rules should be adopted, separating passengers from
objectionable cargo.

If the use of the submarine justifies such a change in the law of
blockade as will permit the cordon to be withdrawn far enough from the
shore to avoid the danger of submarine attack, may it not be found
possible to secure an international agreement by which passengers
will be excluded from ships carrying contraband, or, at least, from
those carrying ammunition?

It would require but a slight change in the shipping laws to make this
separation, and belligerent nations might be restrained from
unnecessarily increasing the contraband list if they were compelled to
carry contraband on transports as they now carry troops.

Personally, I would like to see the use of submarines abandoned
entirely, just as I would like to see an abandonment of the use of
aeroplanes and Zeppelins for the carrying of explosives, but I am not
sanguine enough to believe that any effective instrument of warfare
will be abandoned as long as war continues.

The very arguments which the advocates of peace advance against the
submarine, the aeroplane, and the Zeppelin are advanced for them by
those who conduct war. The more fatal a weapon is the more it is in
demand, and it is not an unusual thing to see a new instrument of
destruction denounced as inhuman by those against whom it is employed,
only to be employed later by those who only a little while before
denounced it.

The above suggestions are respectfully submitted to those of German
birth or descent, and they are subm