The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-02-15
Teutons Declare United States
Is Already To Be Counted
Among Allies.
BREATHE SARCASTIC
REFERENCES TO WILSON
While America Gives Won
Berns.orf Great arewell,
Germany Tries to Spur Its
People to Hatred,
(BS STAN Correspondent of the In
tcruatiOnai News ScrNiCc.)

! (BA stan correspondent of the In
tcrnatiOnal News Scr,iCc.)
! Berlin tvia Sayviile). Feb. IA
wave of intense bitterness is sweeping
! Germany from one end Of the empire
! to the other, bitterness concentrated
against the person Of President Will
| son.
1t IS imposs BILE 10 exaggerate this
feeling. Three chief reasons are
! given
! i. President Wilson's action in
breaking off diplomatic relations with
| Germany.
| , His suggestion 10 the rest of the
| neutral world to follow his example.
3. What is described as an effort on
the part of tine president tftentit1
! Austria Hungary from Germany and
thus disrupt the central alliance.
| II is safe to "a that the third Tea-
son is uppermost in the minds Of the
! people here at present All Germany
is possessed with the firm conviction
that President Wilson is deliberately
! pursuing well defined plan to pa-
| cate Austria and BY instil'ug her with
| prospects of keeping the friendship Of
! the United States PROMPT her To threw
! over her allies
| The German public-and evidently
/ 10 Berlins otficialdom as welI-it is
! utterly ineXpiiCable why the Austrian
am bassador. Count Tarnowski Won
| Tarnow. has not been sent home since
| Austria Hungary has otticially gone on
| record with all possible emphasis and
| posltlvenesS as adhering nnqualifiedtS
to the German t-boat decree.
The fervent antagonism which is
now evidenced on all sides and which
may be safely described as the fam
| ing up OF national hatred. has as
| sumed It's present intensity by clearly
noticeable degrees The break with
, Germany astonished Germany. The
/ sug gestion to neutrals TO isolate the
j empire caused country wide indigna-
/ ton, The alleged discrimination in
| favor of the Austrian ambassador
| formed The climax TO this mental pro-
| cess
| Responsible officials with whom the
| correspondent has conversed since the
| departure of Ambassador Gerard
pointed out repeatedly and emphatt-
/ cally that in their opinion President
! Wilson hY his attitude toward Ger
many completely reversed his stand
/ on peace as expressed in the recent
senate speech. II was more than hint
cd that that speech gave the final i'm
| petus to the long STAYED off unrestrict-
| ed submarine war. il being argued
that President Wilson's expressed ar
dent wish for early peace could have
found no more practical response than
this warfare which Germany is conf
dent VII end the war before many
months have passed.
There is hut one accurate wsv OF
describing the feeling here toward the
United States, Germany considers
/ America now one Of the allies
smcrica Tempting Fate.
The announcement came upon the
bools Of officially inspired statements
lin Yesterdays evening newspa pers
warning neutrals and particularly tho
Inited States. against tempting
ltate
Two .lain factors are believed to he
res ponsible for this latest affirma-
ton OF Germany's infiexible intention
to push through her U-boat cam pal gn
against England
/ The news that three American
steams ships. the Rochester. Orleans
and Gold Shell. are now on the high
seas en- route for ports on the way
10 which they must traverse the bar
red zone
= The report from Washington. re-
iCciVed here by way of London and
Amsterdam. that Germany had aske ID
the Swiss minister to broach to the
United States government the ques-
ton Of negotiating for a modification
of the submarine warfare.
Caused Il Sensation.
This latter report caused a sensa-
: non IN .ReFi+n.a--The public was
astounded. since the purport and tenor
of the declaration of January 81 left
no doubt in the minds of the people
here that the government meant what
il said and that as Foreign Secretary
Zimmerman put 1t two days later;
There is no step backward"
From a high official source the cor
respondent learns that the foreign of
fee was equally astonished. 1t was
explained that the suggestion for
negotiations" emanated from the
Swiss minister that Germany merely
answered that suggestion by saying
; she was willing to negotiate provided
that unrestricted warfare in the bar
red zone is not To be interfered with"
Germany. it is further explained,
had no idea Of negotiating with re-
srec- to notifications" but did want
to come to an agreement with the
~ United States about the treaty Of
.a9. TO guarantee the safety OF ma
tionals and property in each coun-
try.
In some mysterious manner. either
intentional or by a misunderstanding,
: il is believed here. the Interpretation
went ont from Washington that Ger
: many had made advances with view
to backing down"
To dispel this theory. il appears. "a
the ch,-f purpose OF the latest official
announcement.
WILL Ri NO LET UP
IN SUBMARINE PROGRAM