The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-13
WILSON DETERMINES POLICY OF ACTION TO
 BE PURSUED BY THE
 U. s. GOVERNMENT
tContinued from Page One)


 German submarine commanders mast have misunderstood their instructions The American government indicates it's hope that this will be found to be true, and cessation. of the unlawful prac= tices thereby will result.
 "s. In conclusion Germany's atten- lion is called to the earnestness of the government snd people of the United States in this situation It is made plain that the United States will leave tothng undone either in diplomatic
 relations or other action to obtain compliance by Germany to the requests fnade."
 In Friendly Tones The note throughout is eouched In friendly tones but is enthusiastically firm. By the suggestion that German submarine commanders must have mis- understood their instructions or that the German government could not have Intended to destroy innocent lives. room is given for q disavowal by Ger many of the practices in the war zone
 and an assurance that future attacks wll be prohibited
 In executive quarters intense interest revailed today and news of what the American note contained was eagerly sought in the government departments and in diplomatic circles generally. Some international lawyers and diplo- mats who have followed closely Ger nany's course since beginning the sub marine warfare were of the opinion that a compliance by Germany With the terms of the American note would not be surprising and even that such a course would not be departure rom previous expressions. Germany has maintained, 1t was contended, that ihe submarine activity was begun only be- cause England would not permit food stuffs and conditional contrapand destined to civilians to reach Germany and because the neutrals by their pro tests had been powerless to effect an adherence to the rules of international law by the allies in questions of con traband. Should Germany announce her intention to abandon submarine warfare. it was believed by some dirlo- 1 n ats. she would not necessarily make | stipulation, but wouldsstate her ex- | pectation that the United States as the | greatest neutral would secure equal guarantees from the allies on questions | O. contraband.
 | In the event that Germany took the ops posite course and refused to comply with | the wishes of the United States, high of- | ficials declined to predict what steps would be taken beyond indicating that the Washington government would deal with each development in the~situation as It
 arose.
 Reports Unfounded | Reports that Americans had been ad- vised to leave Germany on account of the critical state of relations with the Uni | ted States were declared to be wholly un- | founded by officials.
 1 Americans in all belligerent countries
 were advised by the state department 1t 1 the outbreak of hostiities to leave the danger zones. and no special instructions | have been given since to American envoys i in Europe.
 Messages continued to flood the White
 House and state department today sug- gesting various lines of policy. Conspicu- ous among these was a personal letter from former President Taft expressing his confidence in and his support of MT. Wilson is the situation. He gave hs | own suggestions of what should be done
 by the United States. which, 1t was said did not differ materially from the course
 the President had adopted. The White 1 House let 1t be known that the Presi-
 dent was highly gratified over Mir Taft s | action.
 It became known tonight that Justice | department officials are giving consldera- ton to the question of whether publIca
 tons containing matter such as editorials seeking to justify the sinking of the Lusi- tania and advising the repetition of such
 acts can be kept out of the mails under ] the provision of the penal code. making it an offense to circulate matter of 2
 character intended to incite arson. mur-
 der or assassination" Some officials think
 the law might be construed to apply to
 published speeches of similar chara cter
 Dr. Bernhard Dernberg's utterances still
 are being given attention in high official quarters. and 1t is strongly intimated that some step will be taken to end this activity. It was suggested today thai the German embassy might be informe
 that Dr. Dernberg. German subject
 was making himself offensive to ths
 American government and people.