New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-11-01

"The President Of the United States
has denied that there wss any post
script TO the Lusitania note. and we
are all bound, Of course, 70 accept IN
Presidents denial just as he makes II,
said Senator Lodge.
81 need hardly say that ] would not
willingly bring an unfounded cnsrge
against any one, high or low, and II
misled into doing so, / should be quick
TO retract IL.
THE President makes one mistake
The statement which he characterize
as untrue, that there was such post
script, was not mine, but was made by
Mr.. Breckenridge. a former Assistant
Secretary of War, according TO the
evidence Of two independent wit
resses, both gentlemen Of high char,
acter. responsibility and veracity. and
Mr.. Breckenridge was in position 70
know, II, as he is reported 70 have sara,
he had seen the postscript
Wilson Denial Not Clear
Rearing in mind the public and
hitherto uncontroverted fact that MI
Bryan had informed the Austro- Hun
garian Ambassador that the strict ac-
countability' note of May 10 meant
nothing, which fact was at once caoled
by the ambassador 70 Berlin, 1t seemed
to me that Mr.. Breckinridge's state
nent as testified 70 by two indepen-
dent witnesses ought properly TO be
laid before the public.
"The President, II will also be OBJ
served. saws that the clause proposing
arbitration was suggested. and, after
consideration, he rejected it. This sug-
II H. pracFHapf
cred the exact proposition said by Mr..
Breckenridge to have been embodied in
the postscript, and may have been
what Mr.. Breckenridge had in mind
when talking TO DR.. Bailey and Mr..
Jeffries about the postscript. which
was rejected without having been re-
ferred TO the Cabinet, and it may also
have been the reason for Mr. Bryan's
statement to the Austro-Hungarian
Ambassador that the note meant moth
ing
II would also call your attention to
statement by Mr.. Charles Warren.
n Republican Presidential Elector OF
New Jersey, who states that he was
told by a member of President Will
sons official family that the PROPOSE
ton to arbitrate the loss of life on
the Lustania was TO be embodied in
note to Ambassador Gerard, and was
not TO be a postscript to the strict
accountability note. He states fur
Their what Mr.. Tumulty did TO pre-
vent such action, and Mr.. Tumulty,
when Mr.. Warren's statement was
brought TO his attention, said that he
apprised the President that there was
a proposition for arbitration from
member Of the Cabinet
81 mention this only because the
President and Mr.. Tumulty both agree
that there was a proposition for ar
bitrating the loss of American lives
on the Lustania to accompany the
strict accountability note, which was
suggested by some one. considered by
the President and by him rejected.
"As | have previously pointed out,
the suggestion for a proposition of ar
bitration to accompany the strict ac-
countability' note, whether as a post
script or as separate note, and the
methods Of its suggestion, considera-
ton and rejection, are only OF interest
as throwing light on the manner in
which our foreign relations have been
dealt with by this Administration.
"This question of the arbitration
proposition does not In the least alter
the essential fact that the strict &C
countability' note meant nothing, as
Mr.. Bryan declared 20 the Austro-
Hungarian Ambassador and as events
since that time have painfully demon
strated. The utter emptiness Of the
note of May Is, with its threat Of
strict accountability and omit no
word or act has been strikingly shown
once more within forty-eight hours, if
press reports are 10 be believed, by
the destruction Of the lives Of Ameri-
cans rightfully on board the steam
ship Marina, which was blown up by a
submarine"