New Britain herald., 1917-01-08

! reau. He at once took it up with the printing office. It was read by one man and then sent to the print ing ofice.'
 "At about II o'clock I received the newspaper correspondents and told them I would have an important com munication at o'clock to be released the next morning. I told them in confidence, as I was afraid it's con- tents might come back from Europe in garbled form. Further, I thought 1t courteous not to make 1t public until it had been received by the countries to which it was addressed. I told them it did not contain any proposal of peace nor offer of media ton.
 ''That evening at my house Am bassador Willard, of Spain, told me he had been advised of the contents of the note by the president and we dis cussed the advisability of him ad- dressing Spain on the subject. The next morning the note was made pub lie in the press
 No Knowledge of Leak.
 Have you any information as to leak of the note about II o'clock on Wednesday," asked Rep. Campbell. Not to my knowledge" said Mr. Lansing.
 Its been suggested here that rep resentatives of two newspapers may have sent out information at that time"
 II have seen references to it in the newspapers" Has anything been done at the state department to show whether there is any foundation for that?"
 Nothing at all think it would be easy to find Out.'
 MT. Lansing said that on the morn ing of the conference with the news paper men three other men were present waiting to see him but that he did not know they were in the room until after he had talked to the newspaper men.
 'Who were these men?" asked Rep. Lenroot.
 ''Mr. A. E. Snowden of New York; E. R. Gaylor, civil engineer of the navy, and Dr. N. T. Mclean, of the navy" said MT. Lansing. ".The two naval officers were about to proceed to Haiti.''
 "It is not likely that they would say anything about your statement 9" suggested Rep. Bonnet. "Very improbable" t$Mr. Bonnet recalled that Secretary Lansing had stated he never specu- lated and added: For that reason isn't it possible that you gave little thought to the effect some statement made by you might have on the stocy market
 T never gave it a thought" said the secretary. Tt never entered my 1 mind I was entirely anxious to pre- serve the courtesy due to foreign na- tions in the matter" Was MT. SnoWden connected with the National Manufacturers Associa- tion?" ''I think so."
 Did it occur to you that he might make use of the information ?''
 T didn't know he was there" Gave No Hint of Notes Purpose. Questioned further about his con. ference with the newspapermen, Sec. retary Lansing said: i My statements regarding the note : were entirely negative. sai6 nothing whatever about a request fol terms having been made. I gave nc details. I stated that at o'clock the, would be able to get an importan communication sent to belligerent gov ernments. I said that it was not { proposal of peace or an offer of medi 1 ation. Then I explained the reason . wished them to preserve confidence knew the note was in the hands of tn, l printer and wanted to guard agains any more rumors that might get out. Representative Chipperf1eld asked 1 Secretary Lansing about his two state ments explaining the note after it hat ] been made public. Were these state 1 nlents made entirely on your ow1 1 initiative?" asked Chipperfield. l "See here,' Secretary Nansing de