The Sentinel=record., 1918-09-17

Washington, Sept 16.-The United States, as was fully expected, has uu- conditionally rejected Germany's peace feeler. In doing so the government has spoken for all the co-belligerents
 Almost immediately after receiving the Austrian governments note from the minister of Sweden. MT Ekrengen, Secretary Lansing tonight issued this formal statement:
 T am authorized by the president to state that the following will be the reply of this governent to the Austro- Hungarian note proposing an unor ficial conference of belligerents:
 "The government of the United
 States feels that Is only one reply
 which it can make to the suggestion of | the imperial Austro- Hungarian gov
 ernment. It has repeatedly and with entire candor stated the terms upon which the United tSates woull con- tsider peace and can and will entertain 10 proposal for a conference noon a matter concerning which 1t has made
 it's position and purpose so plain MT Lansins's statement was given out within half an hour after he had
 received the Austrian proposal. IL would have been forthcoming almost immediately upon the delivery of the Austrian note had it not been founa necessary, in order to avoid the pos sibility of grave error, to make a caro- ful comparison between the official text and that which was received in news dispatches last night from Am sterdam Thus, emphasis was added to the declination, if any were needed. the quickness of the reply indicating the existence of no shadow of doubt in the mind of the administration as to what it should be.
 As soon as Mr. Lansings reply can be put in form 1t will be handed to the Swedish minister for transmission to Austria
 The Swedish legation notified the state department early in the after noon that they had received the note and that it would be presented as soon as it could be decoded and translated from the French. This consumed sev- eral hours and it was not until ego o'clock that MT Ekrengen appeared. He remained with the secretary only two minutes.
 There is some reason to believe that the secretary acted with this unpre- cedented nromptness in matter of such great import with the design not nn1Xr fn fpdipata p1nu hn pnusffnr, C the United States government but per haps to anticipate and prevent as far as possible newspaper discussions of the Austrian proposition, which might convey to the enemy a misleading i'm pression that there was any consid- erable element in the United State; willing to consider negotiated peace such as the mon binding. discussions proposed by Austria, might develop | Also, it is understood there was a purpose to sound the note which th- entente powers might repeat in then own answer. These powers had gone
 on record formally as accepting the | ident Wilson as their own.
 l While no reference to it was made
 in the reply which the United States l government is making to Austria, it ii known that one of the most objection
 able features of Baron Burian's propo- sition was the secrecy suggested fol the 'non-binding" conference. It was Irealized by officials here that the pur- lpose was to barter away the rights oi
 various nationalities in star-chamber proceedings so that the victims would
 have no knowledge of their fate until
 it was beyond recall. This system oi
 barter was particularly denounced by President Wilson in one of his speech es.
 That the German people themselves
 were to be kept in the dark, by thu military masters. and prevented from
 having any voice in the peace whici
 was to be imposed upon them. was re- garded as an assured fact There hal been some apprehension in admins Itration circles of a combination 0