The San Francisco call., 1899-04-30
WILLIAM READS
COGHLAN'S SONG
"Hoch der Kaiser"
AmuSes Him.
GERMANS ARE CONCILlATED
NEWSPAPERS GO so FAR AS TO
PRAISE AMERICANS.
Some of the Agrarian Jingo Press,
However, Score What They
Term the Governments
Blundering Policy.
GERMANS ARE C0NCILlATED
NEWSPAPERS GO so FAR AS TO
PRAISE AMERICANS.

Copyrighted. 1899 by the Associated Press
BERLIN, April 29.-The Coghlan in
cident at New York has been very gen
orally discussed by the German papers
this week, although 1T is evident, as
stated to the Associated Press CORE
spondent here by responsible member
Der of the Government, that the jour
nalist mouthpieceS of the Government
did not desire to construe the objec-
tionable utterar es as anything more
than the remarks of man who had
not been accustomed to measuring his
words.
For day or two a number of the
| leading newspapers published severe
structures on the case. With view to
obtaining a declaration from govern
mental headquarters, the correspondent
sought an interview with Privy Coun-
cilor Hamman, as high official of the
Foreign Office. Having been instructed
by the Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Baron Won Bulow, Councillor Hamman
said
so far as the Foregn Office knows,
there never was a serious misunder-
standing between Admiral Won Died
richs and Admiral Dewey, not even
during the early part of last summer.
! We i'll not deny that there may have
been slight bitches at first, for the stu
alton was a difficult one for both Ger
mans and Americans. Admiral Dewey
may possibly have suspected for time
that Admiral Won Diedrichs was in
triguing with tt Spaniards at Manila,
or that Germany may have meant to
take hostile stand. This may have
been due to certain eVolutions OF our
ships which Admiral Dewey miscon-
strued On the other hand, Admiral
Diedrichs probably keenly felt the re-
strictions of stringent blockade,
which greatly hampered the move
ments of his ships. This irksome posi-
tion may have tried the patience Of Ad
miral Won Diedrichs at times. This, we
| believe was the case both at Manila
and at IlOilo, but whatever the little
unpleasantness grew out of, this condi-
/ tion never, if we have been correctly in
formed, took a serious complexion, and
| it never was so understood by either
party. All of this was over long ago
and the grass has overgrown it. Ever
! since the end of last summer the rela-
! tions of Won Diedrichs and Dewey have
been of the most pleasant character,
and according to the latest adviCeS are
/ now, to the extent of rendering mutual
services and fraterniZing on more than
| one occasion. The same conditions eX-
! ist at Samoa, where. all reports to the
! contrary Notwithstanding, our adVices
show that never since the trouble be-
gan have the crew and the commander
of the German cruiser Fake and those
! of the English and American vessels
ceased to be cordial and pleasant. This
has been the case especially with the
Americans. Among the crew of the
United States cruiser Philadelphia are
{ lar Of ~ u
through them friendly intercourse came
quite naturally. All our reports agree
on this point.
German residents of Apia," Coun-
| cilor Hamman continues, especially
mention that they had not had to suf-
| fer nearly as much from the Ameri-
cans on account of passport regulations
and other warlike measures as from
the British, thanks to the more urbane
methods of the former.
! "Regarding the utterances of Captain
Coghlan, the Government" Councillor
Hamman concluded, has attached no
Importance to the incident. The as
/ surances received from Washington on
that subject have been entirely salts
factory"
Some of the newspaper comments
elected by Captain Coghlan's utter
ances are very significant. For exam
pie, the Frankfuerter Zeitung admits
| that 1t saw no necessity for the dis
patch of large German squadron to
Manila, and asserts that the squadron
interfered injudiciously with the Amer
lean blockade The Frankfuerter Zei-
tung alleges that this interference was
due to direct instructions from Empe-
ror William
Even more significant is the fact that
the Cologne Volks Zeitung, the main
organ of the Center, the dominant
party in the Reichstag, has an article
agreeing with the foregoing statement