Perth Amboy evening news., 1915-05-17
URGE BERLIN To
AVOID A BREAK
Germans in the United States
Would Effect AmicabIe So
Iution-Hint Arbitration.


that the German governments reply
to President Wilson's note about the
German submarine operations will be
conciliatory and persuasive In tone
and will contain several suggestions
calculated from the German point OF
view to avert ali danger OF break
between the imperial government and
the United States.
The views held In Berlin regarding
the United States position on the sub
marine operations are not definitely
known here, but certainly the most In
teresting phase Of the situation as II
exists In Washington Is the heroic ef-
fort being made In German quarters
here to bring about an entirely AMIGA
BILE adjustment.
Germans here refuse to see in the
presidents note any castigation Of the
German government at which they
should take offense and are devotinx
themselves entirely to formulating
such arguments as can be brought 10
bear In support Of the German opera
tons In a way most likely to appeal to
reason and fairness In the American
public mind-that is, they are refusing
to indulge themselves in the tempta
tion to get angry about the matter and
instead are endeavoring to present
ways In which 1t can be smoothed over
These activities are regarded here as
evidence that Germans In this country
at least recognize the serious possibili-
ties of the situation and are not willing
that the two governments should break
with each other II there is any way to
prevent It. Evidences of this attitude
are found In the self imposed official
silence OF the German ambassador, the
decision Of DR.. Dernburg to eliminate
himself from the situation and. most
important, the private spreading of the
German view In such quarters as are
regarded as likely to afford the easiest
channel of communication to the Amer
lean public. 1t is reported that the
German embassy has even gone to the
length Of advising the German-Ameri-
can press In this country to be moder-
ate In its discussion OF the submarine
issues. The German ambassador de-
MED that any such instructions have
been issued by the embassy, but never
theless there is every reason to expect
that the attitude Of the embassy In
this regard will soon enough find its
reflection In the German-American
newspapers.
Propose Arbitration Plan.
From the discussions that have been
going forward here 1t now appears
clear the main Idea of Germans In this
country is that the Berlin government
should take care of the Lusitanin mat
ter by proposing arbitration and then
dispose of the general question of Ger.
man submarine operations by requir.
ing the United States to renew Its
efforts to get Great Britain to abandon
its starvation policy in return for an
abandonment of the German sub
marine program.
The best German thought In this
country has been concentrated on these
questions for nearly a week now, and
1t may be said positively that their
views already have been communicated
to Berlin In one way or another For
this reason there Is a disposition here
to accord some Importance to them, for
1t is argued that unless the German
overnment actually wishes a break
with the United States 1t will accept
the advice of Germans who are closely
In touch with American public opinion
and the attitude of the administration
at Washington.
The suggestion Of arbitration, which
reached this country first through
semioff1ciai organ In Germany, is most
acceptable TO Germans here. They re-
gard 1t as proposal which the United
States government conld with, difficulty
reject. According to their opinion, 1t
would be reasonable to expect that the
German government would not sub
NIT such a proposal without accom-
panying 1t with an offer to suspend the
submarine operations temporarily. The
arbitration, 1t is suggested, would deal
only with the legal questions involved
and the character and amount Of repar-
the United States from Germany.
This arbitration proposal, however,
regarded as designed chiefly to divert
the attention Of the United States and
afford means Of holding the entire
matter in suspense In order to gain
time for the success of what Ia ex-
pected to be the chief feature Of the
German reply. This most important
feature is the familiar proposal that
the United States secure an abandon
ment Of the German submarine pro-
gram altogether by getting Great
Britain 10 give up her attempt to keep
food from reaching Germany from the
outside world.