The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-05-02
PLANNED GIVING
 PERU'S SUBS TO FIGHT AMERICA
South American Naval Lieu. tenants Arrested and I'm ; prisoned When It
 Is Rolled.

Lima, via Colon, May 2.-The ar rest of two Peruvian submarine com manders- and their subsequent impris- onment have given rise to reports of a plot to turn Peruvian undersea boats over to the Germans to prey upon American and allied shipping. Both commanders are ieutenants in the Peruvian navy. They were summar- fly taken from aboard theirs vessels and placed in solitary confinement in military prison.
 In high official circles it has been charged that they got news of a plot among men connected with the gov ernment to deliver these submarines to German agents and that they i'm. mediate1y tendered their resignations. Fearing an exposure, their arrest was ordered by officials of the govern ment- They were held incommunica- do until the scandal could be hush ed.
 The Minister of War and Marine has categorically denied these reports. He admits that the arrest of the two men followed the receipt by him of their resignation from the navy. He regards their act as a serious breach of discipline. He said that he pre- viously had issued orders relieving them of their commands, in view of his policy to assign new commanders to the submarine floti1la every sixty days, and had assigned them to other duty. He asserted that his policy is to give every officer of the Peruvian navy an opportunity to have active service aboard the undersea craft in order to improve the efficiency of the service
 'fThese men objected to the policy land wanted to retain command of the submarines,'' he said. When I re- fused they rendered their resignations. then ordered their arrest-'
 Competent observers of current events here denied this. They charg- ed that the arrest of these men was designed to prevent the truth of the affair becoming public. They assert ed that linen higher up in the gov ernment were plotting to turn these submarines over to Germany" and that when the commanders of the vessels heard of it they resigned and 1 threatened to expose the whole affair 1 They were imprisoned and held unti they were si1enced, it was charged Color was lent to these reports b3 l the fact that there has been mucf German propaganda work here. Since the Unitetd States entered the war an6
 the situation became critical in Soutf America German agents have beer working strenuous1y to influence the l government. I am in a position tt say that they have succeeded to : | certain extent. The wife of Presi
 dent Pardo is of German descent. Hi
 brother, Juan Pardo, who is one O
 the powers back of the government
 was educated in Germany, and Enri que Gildemeister, probably the mos influential German in Peru, is reg ular caller at the palace and wield a tremendous influence with the Pres ident.
 Coincident with the mysterious pur
 chases of fuel oil in large quantities there have been persistent report
 in Lima of German submarine base
 on the Peruvian coast. Meanwhil
 German propagandists have been bus
 Since the exposure of the propagan
 do. in the Commercio, leading news
 paper here, German agents appea
 to have withdrawn their support Q
 that publication and now are conduct
 ing their leading campaign throug
 the Peru, a new newspaper, which
 said to be financed almost entirel by Germans.
 l Well informed men told me that tn ] refusal of the Peruvian government