"SHARING WITH OTHER NATIONS INTERNED GERMAN Saws. (To THE EDITOR OF TRE SUNDAY 30II5N4L.9
The General Laws of Rhode Island, chapter 312, contains a good deal of sound equity as between man and man, regarding the disposition of the estate of a person deceased. Section 42 begins by saying:
If such person dies insolvent, his estate found in this State shall, as far as practicable, be so disposed of that all his creditors here and elsewhere may receive each an equal share in proportion to their respective debts.' Anal a few lines further down in the section occurs the direction= V* ** without preferring any one species of debt to another.'
The substance of the above provisions of our probate law flashed into my mind yesterday morning when reading the information that Senator Lodge lends the weight of his name to the proposal that we dispose of Germany's interned shipping as we please. Would it not be better manners to let the other creditors of Germany littike a -chance to prove their claims too? They may be our allies before many hours. The dividend might not be large, -to be sure; but such a moiety would be equity and good conscience. Moreover, until this war began the United States (I am under the impression) was obliged to do her share toward making private-owned sea-going property as inviolate from capture and confiscation as private property on land is now supposed to be by a belligerent. There are many men still living who can remember the unfavourable remarks when the seizing of Northern-owned property in the South was put over' by the Confederate Government. These ships that we ought to appropriate in some way or other are private-owned property in Germany; and if we force these German ship owners to pay their Government's debts, ought we not to.give other creditors a square deal'? W. J. L. Providence, April 5th, 1917."
—The Providence Sunday Journal, April 8th, 1917.
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