New Britain herald., 1916-07-22
Neutral Diplomat Says England
 Has Made Greatest Mistake
LONDON FINANCIERS OBJECT
By No Means Unanimous in Approval of Step-May Affect Success of French and Russian Loans in This Country, He Says.

 ] -(Delayed)-A neutral diplomat ex- 1 ceptiOnally well informed regarding 1 the details of the economic war 1 which Great Britain is waging on the l Central Powers declared today to a representative of the Associated Press i that he regarded the recent publica- 1 ton by the British government of the blacklist of certain American firms as the greatest possible tactical blunder at this stage, when a French loan is about to be f1oated in America and important Russian financial arrange ments are under way there. Ut is a blunder," continued the diplomat, "because it is unnecessary, since for months most of the firms on the list have been on a sub rosa black list. At any rate they were not on the white list, so the government had complete control over any of their operations which touched British ter- ritory.
 London Financiers Disapprove.
 The financial section of London is by no means unanimous in approval of the measure, even those in it's fa- vor being dissatisfied with it's scope, cOntending that some omissions from the list are more significant than in- clusions. One large banking institu- tion on the list maintains close con- nection with one of London's largest banks and at the request of the latter some time ago made extensive changes in it's directorate in order to eliminate men objectionable to it's London cor respondent. This London bank now wants to know why it is prevented from carrying on it's American busi- ness through the blacklisted bank, while American firms known to have been actively connected with German loans and other activities are still on the white list.
 Its publication at this time is mystery.
 The list was only published in the official London Gazette. None of the London papers printed it.
 Uneasiness in London.
 Great uneasiness exists among American branch houses here whose home firms have financial or trading connection with Germany
 Attention is called in these circles to the appearance on the South American list Of several firms de- clared to be financed by New York banking institutions which invest heavily in the Anglo-French loan.
 Discussing these assertions, Lord Robert Cecil, minister of war trade, stated today that it was quite possib ble the government had not placed certain American firms with close German connections on the list for the very good reason that they have proven friends of the allies in regard to the Anglo-F'rench loan. On the other hand, he said, if other friends of the allies were suffering through the in- clusion of some Of their connections on the list. the British government was ready to make necessary amends Lord Robert declared that names might be added to the list from time | to time, while others might be re- I moved.
 The admitted the possibility of mak- | ing mistakes in the compilation of the | list but stated that its publication was much better than a. possible extreme l jaw providing that no British subject should trade with the enemy, no mat | ter what his donnicile.
 l Washington, July 22.-Sir Cecil Sprtng-Rioe and Acting Secretary Polk today discussed the British blacklist of firms in the United States under the trading with the enemy 1 act, but no amour cement of their talk was made.