GERMAN DUPLICITY TO AMERICA

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 45, 16 November 1917, Page 5

GERMAN DUPLICITY TO AMERICA

Tho London "Daily Telegraph" publishes tho following furtto.PJ%! from Mr. Gerard's book on - Tho Jiirst Days of the Great War": . On January 6 tho Amoncan Association of Commerce aud Trado gave me a dinner at tho Hotel Adlon. This! was made tho occasion of a sort of GormanAmerican love-feast. Speeches were made by Horr Wolf, president of tho American Association of Commerce and Trado; Dr. Helfferich, Ziminermann, von Gwinner, and by me. A tone of tho ercatest friendliness prevailed. The speeches and, in fact the dinner constituted tho last Operate attempt to preserve friendly relations. Bothi thd reasonable men present and 1 kneiv almost to a certainty that a return of ruthless submarine war had been decided on, and that only some lucky chance coild prevent the military, _ backed by "mad/ public opinion, from insisting ou a defianco of international law and tho avs of humanity. On the fay after the'dinner tho Chancellor sent for mo and expressed approval of what I had said. Ho thanked mo for it, and on tho surface it seemed as.if everything was as "merry as a marriage bell. Unfortunately, I am afraid, all this was only on tho surface, and, perhaps, Hin orders to submarine commanders to recommence ruthless war had been given on the day preceding this love-foast. The Germans Uicved that President Wilson had been elected with a mandate to keep out of war at any cost, and that America could be insulted, flouted, and humiliated with impunity. Even before this dinner wo had began to get rumours of a resumption of ruthless submarine war. Within a few days I was cabluiG to the Department information, based not upon absolute facts, but upon reports which seemed reliable and which Tad been collected through the aMe efforts of our very capable naval attache, Commander Gherard , and this nformu tion was confirmed, by the hints «h en mo bv various influential Germans. Again and asain after January i SI was asured by Zimmermann- and others at S Foreign Office that no; hinK kind was contemplated. .No*. "<*" no Gorman moves in the direction of peace jincoro or. «ot?.