Arizona republican., 1915-05-30
THE NEBRASKAN
INCIDENT RECALLED
Secretary Bryan Declines
to Comment on This Case,
Referring Inquirers to the
Facts Given Out Earlier
in the Day
ASSOCIATED PRESS D1sPArcHI

WASHINGTON, May 29-Until tho
official text of the German reply to the
American note concerning the viola-
tions of neutral rights in the war zone
is received, probably tomorrow, the
president will reserve all comment.
This came from the White House to-
night after press dispatches outlining
the German note had peen received.
1t is known, however, that the Unit
ed States is prepared to cOntrovert ev-
cry point mentioned in the summary Of
the German position as published here.
The press outline conforms with Am
bassaGor Gerards dispatches of the last
few days, forcasting the nature of the
German reply. Evidence of an indis-
puJable character was gathered by the
Washington government prior to send
ing the note on May 13 to prove that
the Lusitania carried no guns, mounted
or unmounted that she carried no ex-
plosives within the meaning of the
American statutes and that no British
vessels have cleared from American
ports for several months carrying guns
of any character. q
grave factor was added to the sit
uation by the finding of the American
commission, appointed by Ambassador
Page, that the American steamer Ne
braskan was torpedoed without warn
ing by a submarine, while from German
quarters the claim is persistent that the
vessel must have struck a mine.
The British ambassador here is pre-
pairing to transmit assurances from the
British government that the Lusitania
was not armed and that it could not be
carried on the naval lists as an auXil-
iary cruiser unless armed and COM
missioned. the latter change from a
peaceful merchantmen to an auxialiary
cruiser being possible, according to the
British practice, only in home ports.
The United States moreover, holds that
the carrying Of arms or ammunition or
other cOntraband or few unnamed in
dividuals who might be prospective SOL
diers does not destroy the right under
the international law and humanity Of
a belligerent merchantmen to be Wis
tied and searched before being destroy
ed and neutral or combatant passen-
gers transferred to a place of safety.
While the phraseology of the German
reply is awaited with much interest,
there is a feeting of pessimism in many
quarters over the evasion of the presi-
dents demands for compensation for
the loss of more than a hundred Ameri-
can lives and guarantees that subma-
rine warfare would be so conducted in
the future as to safeguard American
lives and vessels.
Lieut.. Towers. naval attache and
naval Constructor Mcbride of the
American embassy and Consul Wash
ington at Liverpool have reported
through Ambassador Page that after d
technical examination of the Nebraskan
and on the testimony of the chief en-
gineer of the vessel that he saw the
wake of a torpedo, they had no doubt
but that the ship was attacked by Il
submarine. Inasmuch as the Subma-
rines of the allied powers have not at
tackled merchantmen the presumption
of officials is similar to that reached
after the investigation of the attack on
the Gulflight, that a German subma-
rine was responsible and an inquiry to
the German foreign office for its report
on the case is expected TO go forward
in day of two.
The preponderance of evidence
showing an attack on the Nebraslau
after it was believed that submarine
attacks on vessels would cease. al
least while the negotiations were in
progress, admittedly increased the ten
sion in relations with Germany. In
German quarters it was suggested that
if the ship was attacked by n Ger
man submarine, the commander may
have been away from his base too long
to learn of the new developments
Continued on Page Ten)