Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-12-31
Vienna NOTE TO
UNITED STATES
GIVEN PENFIELD
Austria's Reply to Last American
Message in Ancons Parleys
is Being Transmitted to
Washington.
THREE THOUSAND WORDS LONG
Officials Indicate There is Still
Opportunity for Averting
a Break.
POSSIBILITY OF A SETTLEMENT

WASHINGTON. Dec. 30.-Aus-
tria's reply to the last American
note on the destruction of the liner
Ancona now is being transmitted to
the United States and probably
will be before President Wilson and
Secretary Lansing within the next
twenty-four hours.
Ambassador Penfield cabled to-
day that the note from the Austrian
foreign office had been delivered to
him, that 1t was about 5000 words
long, and that Il was being trans
lated into the diplomatic code for
the cable.
At the same time In separate dis
patch Ambassador Penfield reported that
Americans in Vienna not having certifi-
Gates of birth or naturalization, were un-
able to leave, because German consular
officers were refusing to wise their pass
ports for travel through Germany, en-
route for Holland to embark for home.
Whether this dispatch reflected state
OF tension in Vienna over the negotiations
was not made clear.
Envoy Sees Lansing.
About the time Ambassador Penfield's g
dispatches were received Baron Zwied-
inek, charge OF the Austrian embassy
here, after a conference with Count Won
Bernstorff, the German ambassador, went
to the State department and conferred
at some length with Secretary Lansing.
Neither would discuss the situation.
Although Ambassador Penfleld ia said
to have given the State department no
light on the tenor OF the Austrian iwply,
there were intimations today from high
official quarters that the situation be-
tween the two countries probably is in a
better way for the preservation Of diplo-
matte relations than it was after the
first exchange of notes.
While there is no disposition In official
quarters to minimize the crucial stage
of the negotiations or to deny that a
crisis prevails. still officials I'm closest
touch with the details indicated toda,
that there was opportunity for avertinI
n break and a settlsment nvhieh. woul
be acceptable 20 both Austria and tn
United States
Three Thousand Words Long.
The fact that the Austrian minister
reply is 1900 words long is taken TO in
dicate In official quarters Is that Il either
contains an argument over the facts witt
the possibility of an offer OF arbitration
settlement of disputed points. or that II
! offers evidence which Austria presents al
newly discovered and as supplementinp
or modifying the official statement bS
the Austrian admiralty upon which Sec
| retary Lansing based his charge OF viola.
tion OF laws OF nations and humanits
and demanding a disavowal Of the act
punishment of the officer responslbie and
reparation for the American victims oi
whom there we're more than twelve.
| II would not be out OF keeping with thS
practice OF nations II the United States
were to reopen the case on a statement
OF new facts and evidence by Austria
In any event, observers of the workings
OF diplomacy here see manifold oppor.
tunities In such lengthy reply as Am
bassador Penfield reports in his hands
for keeping the case in the realm of dip
lomatic discussion until way for settle
ment is found which viii keep the rela-
tions between the two countries unsev-
cred.