New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-01-05

slider the Austrian relations as q wh0Ie
much less the relations with the
Teutonic allies as a body. Any Viola
tion OF the pledge in the. Ancona nov
tbet non-combatants will be safeguard
"a will be ignored entirely so long as
no American happens 70 be lnvolveo:
The official attitude Is that the Onltea
States must consider the Austrian
pledge as applying 20 Americans only
and that so long a. luck keeps tlen'
safe in the general slaughter Nasnins-
ton cannot accuse Vienna OF PAD lalVh.
When an American IS lnVoNeo' eA-
cuses for Austria, II seems, are sousn..
,Tbo Yasaks Naru case was thrown out
bccanes of n flaw in the legal evidence
If American citizenship OF man porn
80 American parents. The Persia case
! made 20 hinge on the question OF a
small gun. mounted astern. although IN
cgses Of ships on the Atlantic TINS gov
eminent has already ruled that Sueh
ouns nre permissible. Secretary Ian
sing declared to-day that the ATTITUDE
Of This government had not been OF.
fciollv determined in cases like that OF
The Persia. and would not be until a
case was presented. The Persia case is
not vet Official" in this respect.
Note Rumors Persist.
Meanwhile what seem 70 be "feeIers
As 20 the opposite course are appearing
There are reports that the admlnlstra-
ton will send joint note 10 {ne
Teutonic allies warning them That TINS
Governments patience Is ABOUT eN-
bausted and demanding a fiat undef-
standing as 70 their conduct or the
var To preserve neutrality IN rumorS'
tbore also was one Jhat the govern
mont would send a JOINT note 10 the
Entente Allies. demanding tnat they
case to carry any guns at al on
merchant vessels.
The attitude on the gun question IL
Illustrates well the present mental con-
dition of the administration. Onder
international law vessels are not con-
sidered armed unless they carry gun
of more than six inches, so long as inc
guns are al the stern, and can De uSed
for defence only. Early N the war an
understanding was reached with Eng-
land that no guns would be carried on
ouv ships under her flag sailing from
American ports This government AT
that time stated its agreement with the
international rule, but explained that
the agreement with Great Britain was a
special matter. The question was
raised I'm the Hesperian case, but the
administration dodgei the issue there
in another way.
The presence of q 4.7-inch gun on.the
Persia offers q possible excuse for
avoiding action if the State Department
will change its attitude An excuse for
this has already been offered I'm the
statement that the original ruling sp-
plied only 70 American waters and was
under Federal rather than international
law Secretary Lansing declared to-
day that the government had not passed
on the question as affecting such a
case as that Of the Persia and would
not until a case is officially presented.
Thus tonight the State De- artment is
in a position 20 find the gun a suf-
fcient excuse Il u wishes 20 evade an
Issue in the Persia case, or 70 find it no
excuse al all il 10 wishes TO make the
issue.
VIII Go to Congress.
II became almost certain to-day that
the question would be taken 10 Con
gress Senator Stone, chairman of the
Foreign Relations Committee conferred
with the President, and IL was intimat-
ed that the whole committee would be
consulted later The Senator and many
others are emphatic that the President
ought TO send the whole question to