The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-05-30
|GRMAhY'S REPLY IS A REFUSAL
! To AGREE TO AMERICAN DEMANDS

either for England or France. That
! on the trip on which she was sunk the
! Lusitania carried 5,40O cases of cart
ridges, other war supplies and Cana
dian troops who were enroute to the
front
Germany then calls attention to the
fact that there are American laws
that prohibit in unmistakable terms
the carrying OH merchant vessels,
which also carry pass sengers, any sort
OF munitions Of war. It asks frankly
whether the American government
was aware OF this when the Lusitania
left and whether it knows just how
many passengers were supposed to
Offset each item of munitions In
strong language, Germany asks wheth-
ar the British officials of the Cunard
line acted in good faith with the
American officials who were in charge
of the steamers clearance.
So far as the claim of the president
is concerned that the passengers on
the liner were not given sufficient
time to save themselves, Germany
takes the position that it is impos-
sible to say whether or not this Is the
S0So. ftlIcHLlOu Is Cdllcu " Iuo Sluh-
ing Of the Titanic, and it is suggested
that While it is true that many lives
were lost, there is as yet no explana-
in reality the seaworthy craft that
I the British reports maintain.
Germany finally discusses the pro.
tposals thatrwere made by the United
States In the Joint note sent to Great
! Britain and Germany in which the
United States tried to arrange with
England the abandonment of its "star.
walton blockade" in return for prom
ise from Germany to call off her sub.
marine attacks Germany recalls
that she agreed to accept such a pro-
posal, and asks what England did and
whether in rejecting the suggested ex-
change Of benefits. she has not justf
fed in every way the German subma.
rine blockade.
The note was taken to Ambassador
Gerard without any special formality.
It was carried across from the foreign
Office to the embassy by an under at
tachee and was Immediately put into
code, and sent to the United States.
Although President Wilson was in
possession of the outlines of the note,
he let 1t be known early tonight that
there would be no suggestion Of reply
to it until after the complete text Is
laid before him, probably on Monday.
1t Is not expected that the United
States will act on IL in any way un.
til after It is considered by the presi-
dent and his cabinet on next Tuesday.
Awaiting the Reply.
[By John Edwin Nevin, United Press
..s Staff Correspondent
WASHINGTON, May 29.-The ad.
ministration awaits Germans reply to
President Wilson's submarine war.
bassador Gerard today, but no word
hour tonight That was not surpris.
ing, Secretary bryan said. in view CT
the fact that a previous message from
Gerard. only 200 words long, had TAX
en- forty eight hours for transmission
The reason was that diplomatic mes.
sages have to be transcribed from the
original text into code, sent to Copen-
hagen to the American minister and
repeated over the cable to insure that
no mistakes are made: sent from
Copenhagen to Ambassador Page in
London in the same way and by him
five to six hours is the time. state de.
partment representatives say. need.
ed to transcribe the text into the code
The rest of the time Is taken up In
transmission, the code being a puz-
zling arrangement of figures and
words. ...
The United States, however. has an
inkling of what it can expect in the
German reply Secretary Bryan ad.
mitted this tonight, although he re-
fused to make any comment or to say
whether he considered his informa.
tion satisfactory. He said Ambassa.
dor Gerard had sent the department
a report of all conferences he has had
with the German authorities and given
his opinion of the note, so that Bryan
and the president might know what
to look for ....
Officials we're inclined to pessimism
on the face of the Information avail.
able, but they were far from being
convinced that any break in the
friendly relations between the two
governments is impending They in
sisted that while Germany might ask
an agreement on basic facts before
the American demands were taken up
in detail. it was always possible that
this position had been assumed as
feeler. and was subject to Immediate
change If developments warranted.
This opinion, however, was express.
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