The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-04
ANY SACRIFICE BUT HONOR

| AOA e' Io iiAeihitotif PcelSC
 ANY SACRIFICE BUT HONOR i He is understood to have declared tha' | he has always been willing to do any thing except sacrifice honor in order tt ! maintain the United States at peace. Al ] the same time the President declared hs
 did not see how the United States could | do anything but sever diplomatic rela. | tons with any nation which killed Amer 1 jeans in violation of international law l Although both Secretary Lansing an6 l Count Won Bernstorff have fatly declined | to comment upon the statements regard
 ing the possibility of war, attributed tc President Wilson, it was. learned today | that mention of the result of a break
 of diplomatic relations had been discussed 1 quite casually and informally by the sec | retary and the ambassador late in Jan. ! uary. According to authoritative sources | the discussion came at time when Sec | retary Lansing informed the ambassador 1 precisely what kind of a communication i from Germany would settle the Lusitanis
 case. in manner satisfactory to tn, | United States.
 DISCUSSED WITH BERNSTORFF | The ambassador is said to have informed 1 MT. Lansing that he believed his govern i nent might change some of the expres | siCns used in the document which tn, secretary had indicated would be accept l able. They agreed that the ambassador should submit the document to his gov. ernment and see what changes it would l suggest, which the: ambassador did I At the same time, quite informally ht l is understood to have asked the secre | tery what he thought would be the ulti | mate result should Germany fail to mee ! the requirements of the United States l Secretary Lansing, 1t is said, told tht 1 ambassador that in event of a complete | disagreement on the subject, the United | States might be obliged to break off dip lomatic relations. The ambassador is re- liably represented as having replied tha i he fully understood the view of the secre- l tary and to have added the hope that
 nothing of the kind ever would occur. WITHOUT A CHECK l The ambassador pointed out that witt | diplomatic relations severed there would 1 be no agency by which the enthusiasm of naval commanders could be held ir check, and that some circumstances was almost certain to occur to lead to hos tilities. The ambassador is also repre- sehted as having pointed out that the | notifications in the conduct of subma. i rine warfare, made since the beginnina
 of the war, had been solely on account l of regard for the wishes of the United l States.
 l HO iutHOiitY HUH WllOlil tIlS lnCell l gence was obtained, said it should bt understood that the ambassador was only 1 expressing his own personal opinions an6 ! that the conversation with Secretary l Lansing was absolutely informal and no 1 to be regarded as significant of any. thing.
 STATEMENT BY REED 1 After the vote in the Senate, Senator Reed, democrat, read a statement say- 1 ing he felt it was highly important that | tEe impression in Germany that the country and Congress was not behind the | President should be removed, and that
 therefore, he was opposed to the Gore resolution.
 "It is of the highest importance" said
 Ee, that all the world understand that on any question of the rights of the ! American government, or the American | citizens, our great people stand as a
 unit, and it should be understood that they will uphold. sustain and defend
 those rights if necessary to the last ! breath.''
 l Senator Reed assailed the resolution in l the Senate yesterday.
 | "I believe the effect of those utterances yesterday are to assert that in this na- ! ton are those considering the interests
 of Germany rather than of the United 1 States' said he There has been much
 talk of traitors. believe it would be difficult to find in the whole United | States 1000 men who wouldn't assert the | highest degree of loyalty to the country T utterly abominate and repudiate the 1 statesmen attributing to any one the de- sire to act against the interests of the l United States merely because of his con- clusion that he will be in accord with the 1 interests of the supporters of one of the belligerents."
 BEFOGGED THE ISSUE Senator Jones, republican, declared the tabling of the resolutions had further befogged rather than clarified any issue. Nothing has been decided today eX- cept that the Senate of the United States can be gagged absolutely" he said. 'We have not passed on the issue. We nave only done like the ostrich, and in the face of danger have covered our heads in the sand. voted against the resolu- tfon on general principles A motion
 to table is always made either to cut off debate or avoid an issue.
 Have we complied with the request of the President? What did he say to Representative Pou? That he felt justi- fled in asking permission to urge an
 early vote on the resolution in order to give an opportunity for full public
 discussion we have"
 Perhaps the senator from Washington is not in touch with the subterranean passageway to the White House. sug- gested Senator Borah.
 ISSUE NOT SETTLED "It is easy to introduce another reso- lution," continued Senator Jones. 1.-The Senate has not settled the issue yet. The President is not advised on the senti- ment of the Senate on this proposition
 and the people of this country and the nations abroad know it."
 | He expressed the hope that the discus sion would serve to prevent any Ameri- cans taking passage on any ships owned by belligerent nations.
 "The nations danger should hang on the foolhardiness of no man." he said. Senator McCumber protested that de- bate could not be shut off and that either later today, or tomorrow, he would call up his resolution.
 Senator Clarke, democrat of Arkansas. also protested against the Senate's ac- tion.
 .'The Senate has not disposed of the question today with the dignity the sub | feet demands" said he. HAVE LEANED TO ALLIES q believe that if we had been abso- lutely neutral from the beginning added Senator Clarke, ''that the unfortunate struggle in Europe would now be vel on it's way to an adjustment There is no overlooking the fact that all the declarations of this government have led in a certain direction; that official Amer ica at least, was interested in the sue. cess of one of the contestants. and il does not require much ingenuity to de view of official Washington is the view 70 tho n, arioop Daon1a s,r of fbn m os.