The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-05-08

AdA l he FeplN VIII SET tNItH.
Frs. That the tn.k'd States
accepts the German submarine
So. ond. That tho United States
rejects the sug2e ,tion that IL OBJ
tain reciprocal concessions from
.z.-cA!- britain.
Decision 10 take this course vas
!ea. +}.u OF 4 conference ~ the White
IA js. ioNlzhI between President VIII
Son. Secretar,- Of State Lansing and
- - airy uI tire Treasury MCAdoo.
Following the conference il was de-
81 "et that the new note TO Germany
Will set forth that the United States
-5-- tho y e7Y orders to German sub
marine comma nders outlined In the
recent German note. as a compliance
VIII the Presidents demands, At the
n'e time the United States will
watch closely to sec II The German
governments lives up 20 IS agreement.
Liberty of Action.
As 70 the CON iitiona. r,fuEe II tho
German note uTrtN@ the f'Hited states
u hold Great Britain TO compliance
with International law. the uts, notc
VIII st forth the. tho nItcd S'Htr7
eeefves liberty Of action towards amy
Other helhg~rent
II i declared that the note win he
@hc-t phra~ed ~ strong language, ard
thie government position
II ne me Known after the confer
Tared a tentative draft of the new
s,.+~ TO Germany. AMI that secretary
Lansing autgng his week END stay at
,>nr pobv also had prepared a rough
ttqtt TIe t~-n e~a COMPARED 20
night. and II ~ understood an out
-tTTv vay TT 2 -rE--v@vr trrr-t 1thF r.
Secretary Lansing reached the
White House at a.f5 aud remained
,futH "a o'clock. Secretary McAdoo
v-s,s called into conference later, The
"-.-. tat 's.o ~ the Presidents rank
.rx cabinet advisers we're called into
*saltatfoG VAS accepted as an oN1-
deree that the new note 10 Germany
r,a, he nut ON the wires tomorrow
without waiting until the Tuesday
cabinet meeting.
The Note viii he made public ss
soon as il II transmitted 10 Berlin
me feeling is generally shared in
~nirgton that the Cer.hAn note
does not call for a reply. The Presi-
dent IL is pointed out made dehntte
o.rlanus respecting future submarine
opcrations. Germany has compiled
with these demands.
1t has been suthoritatiNe(N an-
raunced that the administration VIII
ignore that part of the German note
'suegestfng that the United States treat
w7rt7 TREAT Britain for rcttef from Ire
features Of the British blockade held
10 he in contravention OF the doctrine
81 freedom of the seas, This sugGes-
non could best he ignored officials
believe. by refusal TO reply ~ the
note If reply is made. reference
- the German suggestion could NOT
aeil he avoided.
'rhe question remaining 10 he ae
c.led Is whether there should ne "A
,azatlve reply 10 the suggested nego-
nations with Great Britain. or whern-
or the question should he NEGATIVELY
treated by failure to give 1t any Off
ciai notice.
Views of Americans
The White House press bureau has
placed before the President thousands
of clippings showing newspaper COM
r1ert in all parts of this country and
IN the foreign press. In addition 10
this the numerous letters have poured
into the White House in which
prominent Americans have given their
views on the submarine question.
While newspapers on the Atlantic
scaboard and in big manufacturing
enters have quite generally treated
the German reply as unsatisfactory.
Che papers in the South and West
have taken the view that the German
concessions meet American demands.
only smaii minority OF Tue press
comment placed before the President
urges that the threat of a severance
OF diplomatic relations be carried out.
The bulk of newspaper comment
appears to bear out the position al
ready tentatively taken by the admin
istration that the German government
should he given an opportunity to
put its new pledges to working test.
The few cases OF submarine attack
recently reported will be considered
as bearing on this question of good
faith on the part of the German gov
eminent.
Count Won Bernstorf, the German
am ba ssa dor, was out OF the city to-
day He has no conference sched-
uled with Secretary Lansing and Is
awaiting an invitation from this gov
eminent before he takes steps to fur
Their the submarine negotiations.