Evening star., 1914-11-17
President Expresses Views on
Neutrality of South Ameri-
can Countries.
CITES STATEMENTS OF
ECUADOR AND COLUMBIA
Refers to Denials From Those Coun-
tries of Giving Aid to German
Fleets in Their Ports.

Questions of neutrality of South
American countries do not concern the
United States i'll Il strict sense, Presi-
dent Wilson declared today
lie expressed the hope that assur-
ances of neutrality given by Ecuador
and Colombia would be sufficient to
satisfy Great Britain and France,
which contend the German fleets have
been receiving aid from ports of those
nations.
No Thought of Interfering.
Inquiry by the State Department
from the United States ministers in
Ecuador and Colombia regarding al
legged violations of neutrality had no
Thought of interfering i'll the remotest
way with the governments OF the
I.atin-Amcricau countries, according
to a statement made public by Secre-
tary Bryan.
colombian legation here a statement
reciting the efforts of the Colombian
government to censor wireless sta
tions.
The first statement follows;
Some of the papers have entlreiy
misunderstood the purpose and scope
of the inquiries made. We simply
asked our representatives to ascertain
the facts. and there has been no
thought Of interfering in the remotest
way with the governments OF the
Latin-American countries
No REQUEST for Interference.
NO request for interference has
h.en made by either Great Britain or
France 1t would seem as If at a time
like this the newspapers of this coun-
try would endeavor to assist the gov
ernment instead of attempting to en-
barrass it by misinterpretation and IN
eXcusable misconstructlon OF what IL
does
The second statement said:
The Colombian legation here mas
given to the State Department the fol-
lowing information, with PERMISSION 10
make it public;
The Colombian government has no
wireless station on the Pacific coast: A
private company owns a radio station
on the Atlantic coast at Cartagena. put
the government has contract giving
il full rights of inspection ana CELL
sorShip in case of war.
Complaints having been made by
the British legation that the office was
not in the hands of characterized
expert the station was closed. After
ward the Colombian government en-
pIoyed professional expert and
opened the station.
Foreign Employees Dismissed.
Further complaint having been
made against the employment of aliens.
all foreign employees We're dismissed,
and since that time it has been ham
died by the government expert. Later
j complaint has been made on the
ground that plain words and phrases
may be used with a conventional and
secret meaning, but the Colombian gov
ernment has not felt that this was a
sufficient reason for closing the sta
tion to commercial uses. This is the
only pending question.
Upon information received from the
British legation that it feared that the
Germans might be hidden in Uraba
and using occult stations, the govern
ment made Investigations at Cartagena,
ut Turbo and at Quibdo and found an
abandoned ship, the Oscar of the Com
pania Bananera, with wireless appara-
tus out of use. \ special official was
sent to bring back the apparatus, and
the British government rendered its
thanks to the government for it's zeal"