The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-05

openly recognized the submarine as the factor which has brought about a great change in naval warfars and which de-
 tt'as Fl 9s ~ e ernational law.
 70 i4'.ss !i-- -iRa smphasized today .-+st ei'icit 9eats on tlta time which must e=e befoFe ia Wilson and Sec ssii all ealQa o a decision, is that any change of whatever character in diplomatic document of such far reachin importance, not only to the com Ing developments of the European war, but which may possibly sometime in the future affect the naval operations of the United States, must be subjected to the most thorouh and painstalzing analy- Sis with a full consideration of it's con- sequences. -t
 DISLIKE INVITATIONS
 President Wilson is not insensible that public opinion in Germany as else where must be considered and that dip- lomat1c negotiations have to be re- garded Tor that important factor At the same time officials dislike the in- tlmations that have come from Ber- I'm that the points for which the American government is ,contending are purely technical and hair splitting and unnecessary of prosecution in view of Germany's concession of pecuniary lia- b1llty for the loss of American lives and her promise of future abstention from lnhuman methods of submarine war fare.
 That is the reason given for the in- slstence of the state department upon it's original "confident expectation" laid ooWn In the first Lusitania note that the imperial government will diSa- vow the acts of which the government of the United States complains" as well as> make reparation for the loss or lives. In fact, the state department has expressly sought to avoid limit ing it's demands upon the German gov- ernment to the loss of American life on the LuSitania. It has insisted that these contentious are irrelevant to the question of the legality of the methods used by. the German naval authori- ties in sinking the vessel"
 In the Lusitania note dated June S. 1916, Secretary Lansing declared that he was contending not only for the mere property rights of the United States, but for nothing less high and sacred than the rights of humanity" Therefore, his objections to the meth- |. ods or German submarine warfare were In the interest of all neutrals and all noncombatants as we'll even of bel- llgerent nationalities. He expressly denounced as unparalleled in modern Warfare the sinking of great pas senger steamer carrying more than a thousand souls who had no part or lot in the conduct of the war, without so much as challenge or warning"
 REASONS FOR REFUSAL
 It was be stated upon authority that 1t is upon this broad ground that the United States government stands to- day, and it is believed that is why if fn clement that involves departure from or surrender of this principle. In a measure Germany recognized this po- sition when she consented to eliminate the proposed reservation of any admis- sion of wrongdoing by her submarine commander for his act in torpedoing an enemy ship carrying munitions.
 All through the first months of the negotiations Germany contended stead fastly to inclxde such a reservation in the agreement and finally when it was apparent that there was no hope of the two governments agreeing on that feature it was eliminated entire- ly from the document.
 Count Won Bernstorff indicated he thought 1t would not be necessary for him to see Secretary Lansing again on the subject His visit today was strict ly formal, lasting less than five min utes. It was evident that the ambas- sador simply delivered the message from his government and that Secre- tary Lansing scarcely did more than accept it for submission to President Wilson.
 The President, just home from his western speaking trip and confror.s~d with many waiting affairs, is urtder- stood to have gone over the situation with the secretary only briefly. To- night he was engaged at his reception to the supreme court, one of the func- ffors of fha White (ouse social sea- sen ofpers ew probably will be-