Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-09-08
custom ready to begin a days work.
Secret Service Men Pile In

custom ready to begin a days work.
Secret Service Men Pile In
Men of the secret service guard
piled out of the White House and into
the State Department building
through all entrances and some of
them finally caught up with the Presi-
dent as he was about to enter Mr..
Lansing's office.
1t has been customary for the
President to summon the Secretary to
the White House when he wished to
confer with him. President Wilson,
however has departed from that GUS
tom great deal by using the tele-
phone. He has shown it to be his
habit however, to visit other officials
when he has something important to
to-day, he does it without being an
nounced.
Late yesterday Ambassador Dumba
conferred at length with Secretary
Lansing about the correspondence
taken from an American correspond
ent by British secret service men
which disclosed that the Austrian am
bassador was concerned in a project
to interfere with the operations of
American munitions plants. The am
bassador explained that his govern
ment had instructed him to give the
widest publicity to a decree making it
a criminal offense for any Austro-
Hungarian to be concerned in the
manufacture of munitions of war for
his country's enemies
So far as was known the ambassa-
dor did not disclaim his action nor
did he disclaim having reported on
the project to his home government in
documents which were found on tho
American correspondent The State
Department takes the view that there
is no precedent to cover his case but
1T regards the use of an American
passport for a messenger to one of
the belligerent governments as serious
Situation Grave
Secretary Lansing heard all DR..
Dumba had to say and let 1t be known
that he would present the ambassa-
doris explanation to the President It
is known that officials regarded Dr.
Dumba's statement that he had acted
on instructions of his government as
making the situation more grave as
they previously had assumed that he
was acting for himself
After spending fifteen minutes with
Secretary Lansing the President start
ed back for the White House. The
State Department corridor by that
! time was thronged by clerks eager to
get glimpse of the President on such
an unusual occasion. No attempt was
made to keep them back and as the
President moved on he was surround
ed by correspondents who asked about
his talk with the Secretary.
THE State is not trembling" he
said. II just brought over some
papers of a routine nature, which
ordinarily 1 would have sent over.
There is nothing new at ALL"
President Wilson was asked If there
was anything new in connection with
Ambassador Dumba's case.
Nothing at all" he said, "the secre-
tary is handling that"
Then. surrounded by the secret SER
vice men. Mr. Wilson walked down the
stairs and across the street to his office
by the same route as he came.
Had Dumba's Letter
Later it was learned that the pa
pers which President Wilson took to
| Secretary Lansing included a copy of
the letter Dr. Dumba had sent to- his
Foreign Office and which was found
| by the British secret service men.
Photograph copies also had been sent
| to the State Department by Ambas-
sador Page in London.
| Ambassador Dumba in the mean
| time had been to call on Secretary
/ Wilson, of the Department of Labor.
| in connection with a plan to aid in
| securing employment for any Aus
trian subjects who might leave their
places in the munitions plants as the
] result of publication of the decree
threatening punishment. Secretary
| Wilson was not at his office and the
J AMBASSADOR returned TO MS cnancel-
| lory intending to return to the sum-
mer embassy at Lenox, Mass, latez
! to-day.
News of the Presidents call on
Secretary Lansing was received at
| the embassy with undisguised sur
prise 1t was plain that officials
there were at loss to conjecture
what the next move would be.
Secretary Lansing would not dis
cuss the Presidents visit except to
say he was taken by surprise when
the Chief Executive entered his Of
flee unannounced.