The Sentinel=record., 1915-02-24
PRESIDENT WILSON TRYING TO ARRANGE UNDERSTANDING
 ON FOOD QUESTION.
NATURE IS NOT REVEALED
The Wreck of the Evelyn is Viewed By the President as an Accident Due to Failure of Captain to Heed
 instructions of German Admiralty.

Washington Feb. e3.-P~oposals
 have been made informally by the United States government to both
 Great Britain and Germany suggest.
 ing basis for an understanding on
 the subject of foodstuffs for the civ. ilian population of belligerents and submarine warfare against merchant ships.
 These proposals have been guarded with the utmost secrecy and their nature has not been revealed by off. cals, who are reluctant to discuss them because of the delicacy of the negotiations.
 Simultaneously with the revelation tonight that a new move had been made by the Washington government came dispatches telling of the blow ing up of a second American vessel, the steamship Carib, near the Ger. man coast, an incident which in- creased the anxiety on the part of officials for an early understanding with belligerents on pending ques- tons
 The wreck of the first vessel, the Evelyn, was viewed by President Wilson as a tragic accident due to the possible failure of the captafh ta heed the German admiralty's instruc. lions respecting the location of it4 mine fields Officials were inclined tonight to think the Carib disaster was of a similar nature. though they had no official advices As for the proposals made to the belligerents It is known that thev are of far-reach-
 ing importance. They are in TO sense renlies to the notes of Germany and Great Britain. though they relate to the same subject. The belief most "ommorlv held here is that como form of suuorvision over the 4'etribution of foodetuffs to inc civ- Han nonulatiou of Germany either by American consular aoents or Ameri- con orran7at'ons mad been proposed. ft was racal'ed that such a nronosa1 was made hv carmanv but could not h, nvt into effect without the consent of all tho bellieerents.
 Cermanv Nos oFfered to abandpa tor submarine warfare if assured that ehins laden with foodetuffs fa- Cermarv wi11 not be interrupted by Groat Rritain.
 President Wilson discussad with ris cahiret today the general situa- ton produced bv the declaration of q submarine war on merchant vessels and if was eaid later that the replies from England and Germany to the in- formal representations would have . considerable beariug on the final oourse of the American government. < Earlier in tho dav the president indi- cated to callers that he had not do- cided whether the notes received from Germany and Great Britain on the sea zones and the use of neutral flags required rejonders as it was not yet apparent whether there was any necessity to restate the position of the United States so emphaticallv expressed in the correspondence with both belligerents
 The general impression was that the United States government had re- iterated informally 70 the belligerents the seriousness with which it viewed the situation, especially the possible effect on American commerce as result of the retaliatory measures or England and Germany toward each other. Officials spoke guardedly but with no concealment of their appre- bensions over the situation whica might develop if American lives were lost as a result of submarine at tack
 To some extent this tension has been revealed in the accidents which American ships have met in the mine fields through the difficulty of fixing responsibility for such mishaps has prevented the Washington govern ment from taking a decisive stand in the matter.
 The Carib was the second ship in- sured by the government war risk bureau, $235.S50 on her cargo and $22.25S on her hull. With a loss on the Evelyn the bureau probably will have to pay total of s659,000. which about equals the sum collected 10 date in premiums. Undoubtedly both cases will be the subject of civil suits for damages by the bureau.