Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-12
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
BERN, Switzerland. February II, Via
Paris February -. 4 a.m.-Ambassador
Gerard will receive President Shulthess
and Herr Hoffman,, chief of the SWISS
foreign department.. tomorrow. The Two
Swiss officials will call at the home OF
Pleasant A. Stovall. the American min
lister to Switzerland. where Mr.. Gerard
is stopping.
ZURICH. Switzerland, via Paris. Feb
ruary 1.-THE American ambassador.
James w. Gerard. arrived at the Swiss
boundary at Schachausen at o'clock
yesterday afternoon. He was met by the
American minister to Switzerland. Pleas
ant A. Stovall. and representatives Of
the Swiss army. including Col. Bruegger
and Capt. Rudolph Iselin. Swiss mill
tary guard of honor was also in walt
ing, and a big delegation of citizens
greeted the former American ambassa-
for to Germany. The trip from Berlin
was made without noteworthy incident.
although some curiosity was displayed
by those who gathered along the route
through Germany. Mr.. Gerard diser1-
barked at Zurich with about 120 other
Americans. intending, at fist. to remain
there but when he was assured Of ac-
commodations at Bern he left i'm
m meQlately Tor Clty. ne w
main in Bern for two or three days.
arranging for his trip to Paris.
Relieved on Crossing Frontier.
Most of the members of Ambassador
Gerard's large party gave a genuine
sigh of relief when the Swiss border
was reached, for the strain of the last
few days had told more or less on the
ma jority of the travellers Ambassador
Gerard met cordially the horde of news
papermen who crowded about him on
his arrival at Zurich, clamoring for in
terviews for papers all over the civ
ilized world, but he kept rigidly to
his determination not to speak for pub
lication until after he has reported to
President Wilson in Washington.
The strain of the situation for the
Americans in Berlin had been height
ened toward the end by the efforts Of
! the German authorities to induce Mr..
Gerard to open negotiations for an
amendment to the Prussian-American
treaty of 1899. AT the same time the
German newspapers were flooded with
reports of the seizure of German ships
by America and with stories of diff
culties and indgnities encountered by
Count Won Bernstorff Ambassador
Gerard was refused permission to COM
municate in cipher with Washington,
and the authorities ignored all denials
of the stories printed in the German
newspapers until an official message re-
ceived through the Spanish embassy
made it clear that the stories were
false. Prior to this Ambassador Gerard's s
telephone wires We're cut, his mail and
telegraphic privileges stopped, so that
he could not even instruct the Ameri-
can consuls. and he was, in his own
words, a prisoner.
The combined result was uncertainty
and petty friction, which was only in
creased when the foreign office and
military authorities shifted the re-
sponsibility for the delay in Gerard's
departure from one to another. No
American, least of all Ambassador
Gerard, could obtain any definite in
formation. 1t was pointed out to the
officials in vain that their measures
were only applicable to actual war, and
that the admirable self-restrain and
politeness of the German people, with
the resultant good effect. was being
ar1iZel