The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-04-04

GERMANY SEES
NO CAUSE FOR
WAR With U. S.
Set Up Alibi-RespOnsibility
Lies With America.
Demands for Electoral Reform
Grows in Berlin.
AMERICANS SAFE IN GERMANY
AMERICANS SAFE IN GERMANY
UnmOlested as Long as Ger
mans Are Safe i'm u. S.
kaiSer'S Failure to Make Arbi-
tratiOn Treaty Criticised.

Berlin. April 4-OfficiaIs here to-
DAY said they could not see any reason
Tor Americas adopting a hostile atti-
tude toward Germany.
They protested that responsibility
must rest with the United States and
that it does not lie with Germany
In the meantime it was asserted
Germany will treat Americans still
remaining in Germany just the same
as heretofore
Berlin newspapers and public dis
cuSsion among Germans is divided
between the American situation and
the franchise reform movement in
Germany.
Leader Bassermann of the Ma
tional Liberal party, today wrote to
Deputy Stresemann expressing agree
ment with the latters reichStag speech
for electoral reforms and especially
favoring an immediate change in the
electoral franchise in Prussia.
Can Stay in Germany.
The Hague, April 4.-Germany re
ceives the news of President Wilson's
address with the deepest chagrin,'
foreign office officials formally stated
to correspondents today, according to
Berlin dispatches.
German government leaders added,
it was said, that Americans could re-
main unmolested in Germany, as long
as Germans were unmolested in Amer
lea.
Germans Face New Foe.
4
must not underestimate the import
ance of the United States entering the
war, for America is the richest coun-
try in the world" declared the zBer-
liner T Gissd today accordfg/ to
president Wilson ''the editorial as
serted. Ought to know a war declara-
ton is matter of greater moment to
America than to Germany.
The German people, however, seem
a ct
great neutral power will not defeat
Germany
I'VE regret America is thus causing
prolongation of the war. But the
German people bravely face their en-
envy and their new task"
Germany Pays the Penalty
Berlin. April Via London, April
-. - President Wilson's message is
not surprising" says the Tageblatt,
but do the people of the United
States have the same view? That is
hard to say.
German policy row pays the pen
atty for failure to conclude a Bryan
treaty with the United States, such as
Great Britain and other great powers
made If such an agreement existed,
the United States would be compelled
to submit even the most important
questions to a commission for inveSti-
cation before break king off relations.
Such an investigation would take a
year 1t is not impossible that Presi-
dent Wilson would have awaited him
self of such way out of a serious sit
uation.'
Makes U-Boats More Glorious
Amsterdam, April 4.-Tuesday eve
ming newsp9 pers in western Germany
as far as could be reached from Am
sterdam contained no mention of the
recent events in Washington. The
midday edition of the Cologne Gazette
carried a leading editorial under the
caption, America Before the Deci-
sion in which it says:
when President Wilson replied to
our procla mation of unrestricted sub
marine warfare with a rupture of re-
Iations the world was surprised but
his attitude since that time has been
more than a surprise. Nobody, even
in anti-Germap circles in the United
States believed that tension between
the two countries would go beyond a
diplomatic rupture. 1t is not Germany
but the United States which took the
rupture as a starting point for warfare
The American people does not desire
war but probably it will believe the
president if he decl; res i cannot be
avoided.
I'VE await to see whether President
Wilson will plunge the American peo-
pie into war in order to make free
seas for Anglo-American business, If
this is his end he VIII never attain
it Our U-poats will continue their
excellent work until the sea tyrants
lose their breath and the seas be-
con,e really free. The work of the
more enemies they have to conquer"