Berlin, May 24.
MERICAN action in convoying war materials to Great Britain would be "plain acts of war and unprovoked aggression" against Germany, Grand Admiral Erich Roeder, Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy, declared in an exclusive interview today.
Grand Admiral Roeder declared that German naval forces "would be justified in dealing with those contraband convoys in accordance with the rules and laws of naval warfare, and would, if need be, justified in resorting to arms if they are prevented by United States men-of-war from exercising their rights, The Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy asserted that aggres-sivaness of the so-called patrol system "cannot be doubted, and actually constitutes support of a British adversary.
Warning Washington against extending this system, Grand Admiral Roeder declared that the patrolling of the Atlantic by United States naval units. has not served any defensive purpose, but has "constituted a new service in favour of the British.
He added that a number of German merchant vessels, for example the Columbus, have fallen victims of this system. "Nobody can expect a German warship commander to look on idly while an American warship communicates the position of his ship to the British Admiralty, "Act of War"
"Such procedure must be regarded as an act of war....and a German commander would be justified to act in accordance with the rules of naval warfare and force the ship in question to cease its hostile activity."
Recalling that neutral] shipping has been warned against sailing with dimmed or blacked-out lights, Grand Admiral Roeder asserted that this also holds true in the'case of neutral warships. He warned that belligerent warships, in the interests of their Own security, will open fire at once on such vessels which can be deemed as having something to hide, and therefore must reckon with ah atta: without warning.
Grand Admiral Roeder asserted that German warlike threats toward the United States are out of the ques. tion, He charged that since the war was not a matter of invading America "American war mongers decided to extend their warlike acts a thousand miles to seek danger in far-away waters with the object of provoking incident!
In view of these obvious facts, Roeder warned, the responsibility for a possible German-United States con-ict must lie exclusively with those who have elected to ignore both the repeated German warnings, and at home, the attitude: of the majority of the American people—Domei.
With Reuter's Special Correspondent In Iraq, May 25.
The Regent of Iraq has arrived in his own country accompanied by a number of Iraq. notables. Emir Abdul Ilah, who was wearing the uniform of a general in the Iraqi Army, expressed his delight on returning to Iraq, At the same time he was deeply moved to see the tragic waste of life among those misguided people that had taken up t their ally, object was to restore his country to a normal state, The Regent said he was pleased to hear that a number of Iraqi rebels, when realized were to fight the British, returned to d rather than go into action,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.