Omaha daily bee., 1917-02-03
POSTPONE GOINGS
OF ALL j. s. CRAFT
Secretary Lansing Advises
European Sailings Delayed
Until Action Taken.
WISER TO AWAIT DECISION

Washington, Feb. 2. - European
sailings of all American ships shoult
postpone leaving port, according tc
the opinion of the State department
Secretary Lansing sent this message
to the International Mercantile Ma.
rine i'll regard to the sailing of the
American steamer St. Louis for Eng.
land tomorrow. The secretary said
no orders had been sent against its
sailing, but that it was the depart.
ment's belief it would be wiser tc
await the decision of the country or
the submarine controversy.
No Announcement Made.
New York, Feb. 3.-Pending Of.
fetal advices from Secretary Lansing
of the State department, President
P. A. S. Franklin of the international
Mercantile Marine said tonight that
no official announcement could be
made as to the, sailing of the Ameri-
can line steamship St. Louis, sched-
uled to leave here at noon tomorrow
on its regular trip to Liverpool. Upon
being informed that Mr.. Lansing had
stated in Washington that the line
probably would be advised not to send
the ship away, he added that natu-
rally he would act in conformity with
such a recommendation.
Preparations for the sailing of the
ship proceeded today and when the
passenger office closed for the night it
was announced that passage had been
booked by 2S0 persons, with only
fifteen cancellations. Of the number
now listed 1870 are in the cabin and a
large percentage of them are Ameri-
can citizens.
British Lines Not Advised.
None of the British lines has re-
ceived any new instructions as to the
sailing of their ships, local representa-
tives announced tonight. During the
day five ifreighters, one OF them an
American vessel, left for transatlantic
ports. The American ship was the
Dochra for Genoa. Several ships OF
Great Britain and allied nations,
among them the White Star liner
Adriatic, are announced to sail to-
morrow. ......
A complete tie UP, temporarily at
least, of Dutch and scandinavian
shipping, was indicated this afternoon
bv cable Instructions received by va
rious lines. The Scandinavian-Amerl-
can line, whose passenger vessel,
Hellig Olav, was held in port yester..
dav. received word that all sailings OF
passenger ships had been temporarily
suspended. c.--,:
The ROYAL Netherlands Steamship
company. which has ten vessels IN
American ports loading cargo, con-
signed TO the Dutch government, have
been ordered to remain in port until
further notice. Six vessels owned, by
the Swedish-American-M Mexico line
also have been stopped pending FUR
ther orders
Great Liner Delayed.
The Holland-America line, with the
steamer Noordam here loading to sail
Monday for Rotterdam, with pas
senbers and cargo, was advised that
the liner Nieuw Amsterdam. their
largest vessel, had been recalled, and
it was reported officials said, that de-
layed cables would bring them similar
to those received by other
neutral foreign lines.
Ships of POLAND and Scandinavian
countries have for nearly year been
calling at Kirkwell in compliance with
the order of the British government
for examination and inspection TO
passengers and cargo there. Under
provisions of the German note as it is
interpreted by local representatives
they are barred from going into the
indicated war zone, around the Brit
ish isles. These conflicting orders
have added the uncertainty and SER
iousness of the situation.