New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-10-07
Leading Financier
Claims knowledge
Wall St. Startled.
ENVOY DUE TO SEE
WILSON TUESDAY
Will Follow Presidents
Meeting with Won
BernStOrff. $

The president Of one OF Wall
Street's-and the nation's-strong-
est financial institutions summoned
eight or nine reporter friends to his
Office yesterday afternoon.
Gentlemen" he said, when they
had assembled, 81 have information
Of the gravest Importance for you
and for your papers. give it to you
freely, but with the condition that
my name is not connected with it in
any way"
Then the newspaper men took this
statement from the banker:
although / am not at liberty to
name the sources Of my information,
/ know for positive fact that Ger
many has asked President Wilson to
act for peace. / am informed that
Ambassador Gerard is on his way to
this country from Berlin with def
mite peace proposals from the
Kaiser"
Before the next edition Of the
evening papers were off the presses
the news had spread by grapevine
through the financial district. It
had been flashed to Washington, too,
and there a general inquiry was i'm
mediately begun in diplomatic circles
to get at the source and determine
the reliability of the bankers infor-
nation.
Wall Street Prices Fall.
Wall Street reacted without waiting
for corroboration. Prices that had
stood firm under the effect Of less re-
sponsible peace reports showed a sharp
decline in the last hour Of trading, as
the first furry settled into steady and
heavy selling.
Although IL stands contradicted In
the most positive terms by the German
Embassy. there were few who classed
the bankers information with the wild
cat rumors of the last months, which
have started nowhere and ended, when
spent. in the same place. The stand
ing and responsibility Of the agent
through whom it was transmitted to
the public was such that Count Won
BernstorfY. the German Ambassador.
personally made denial.
James w. Gerard. American Ambas-
sador to Berlin. Is not expected to
reach New York until Tuesday. He IS
aboard the steamship Frederik VIII. OF
the Scandinavian American Line. in
midocean. He sailed for home Satur-
DAY. as was understood then and as
was insisted yesterday by the State De-
partment. for the purpose Of spending
a vacation as far as possible from the
cares Of his embassy.
Will See President
He will have a conference with Pres
ident Wilson, who will have returned TO
Shadow Lawn before he lands Admit
ting this, and explaining that such .
conference would naturally be an in0'
dent Of his visit, Acting Secretary Polk,
in charge of the State Department dur
ing the illness of Secretary Lansing,
expressed the opinion il was highly
improbable" the ambassador would
have any such message for the Presi-
dent as indicated.
II Ambassador Gerard lands so early
Tuesday that he is able TO get TO
Shadow Lawn before nightfall, his visit
to the President will come directly on
the heels of one by the German Ambss-
sador. Count Won Bernstorf, it is
known, has an engagement with Mr..
is expected to present an autograph let
ter from the Kaiser in answer to the
Presidents personal appeal for the CO.
operation Of European rulers In relief
work for the Poles.
Wall Streets conjecturing and de-
ductions invariably took into account
the warning which David Lloyd George
issued q week ago to "well meaning but
misguided" peacemakers. In an inter-
view with an American newspaper man
Lloyd George said that Great Britain
asked no intervention when she was
not prepared TO fight and would toll
crate none now, with her organization
complete and her entire strength in the
field.
Banker IL Pro-Ally.
One suggestion was that Lloyd
Georges delineaticn Of the British atti-
tude toward peace might have been in
spired by forcknowledge of . German
plan to send Ambassador Gerard home
with an olive branch. Another was
that the new peace talk had been
started in an effort to lessen popular
Allies are soon TO attempt to float in
the United States. But against this 10
the known fact that the banker in
question is in fairly close touch with
j. P. Morgan and himself an out-and-
out pro-Ally.
Wall Street also, considering this.
saw q new significance in Mr.. Morgsn's
sudden departure for Europe last week