It was plain, that the object of this protocol was specifically for the purpose of withdrawing from German warships facilities which they, had hitherto enjoyed and which were not in violation of American neutrality. What advantage could the United States derive from the closing of these ports to German warships ? Was not Mr. Lansing's purpose not so much to benefit the United States as to make it easier for the Allies to conquer the German fleet in American waters?
One of the worst cases of an attempt to mislead the public was discovered January 4, 1916, when Secretary Lansing gave out the text of a dispatch from Consul Garrels at Alexandria, who reported on the sinking of the steamer "Persia". Quite by accident it was discovered that Mr. Garrels had stated that the "Persia" carried a 4.7 in gun. The State Department gave out the entire dispatch to the reporters — except the part dealing with the armament, which was left out. Why? Because the mention of the gun would have put the case in a light more favorable for the Central Powers. But Mr. Lansing excised this part, evidently for the special purpose of injuring the cause of the Central Powers in the eyes of the American people.
"UNNEUTRAL AMERICA"—Senator James P. Clarke, Democrat, of Arkansas, in the course of his speech, March 3, 1916, in defense of his vote against tabling the Gore resolution, said :
"I believe that if we had preserved a condition of absolute neutrality from the beginning, the unfortunate struggle in Europe would now be well on its way to an adjustment.
"There is no overlooking the fact that all our public acts and declarations have led in a certain direction and have created a distinct impression that official America, at least, was interested in the success of one of the parties in this great struggle. It will not require much ingenuity to guess which one, because it has almost become a saying that any one who professes to be neutral is in sympathy with the Germans, and that everybody else occupying an official position, has taken a stand on the other side of the controversy.
VILLARD, HENRY — A distinguished war correspondent, afterwards built the Northern Pacific Railroad, largely with German capital. Born in Speyer 1835. His real name was Heinrich Hillgard; married a daughter of William Lloyd Garrison, famous abolitionist. Father of Oswald Garrison Villard, editor New York "Evening Post".
VIRGINIA—FIRST GERMANS—Jamestown, Va., the cradle of Anglo- Saxon America, is the place where the Germans are met with for the first time. The earliest incidents on record are cases of imported contract laborers. Those sent to Virginia in 1608 were skilled workmen, glass- blowers. Capt. John Smith ("John Smith, the Generali Historie of Virginia, New England, the Summer Isles", London, 1624, p. 94), characterizing his men, gives the following account of them : "labourers. ... that neuer did know what a dayes work was : except the Dutch-men (Germans) and Poles, aiid some dozen others". In 1620 four millwrights from Hamburg were sent to the same settlement to erect saw mills. ("The Records of the Virginia Company," ed. S. M. Kingsbury, Washington, 1906, I, pp. 368, 372, 428). In England timber was still sawed by hand. (Edward Eggleston, "The Beginners of a Nation", New York, 1896, p. 82).
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