Flood, the president of the Committee for Foreign Affairs
of the American House of Representatives, interpreted it as amounting
to a German agreement to the supply of arms and ammunition to her
enemies.

In view of the situation in the United States, it was to our interest
to leave the struggle for a prohibition of the munitions traffic to
our American friends. The efforts of Senator Stone in this direction
are well known, and have been recently quoted before the Commission of
the German National Assembly. If a considerable number of influential
Americans took up the case for the prohibition there was far more
hope of bringing it about than if it was apparent that the American
Government were surrendering to German pressure. The pacifist Mr.
Bryan was very sensitive on this point and visited me frequently
to assert his neutrality.

I therefore advised the Imperial Government in this matter not to
send an official Note for the moment, so that the American agitation
in favor of the prohibition of munition traffic might have full freedom
for development. As, however, our enemies continually harked back
to the idea that the Imperial Government did not take exception
to the supply of munitions, I was forced, as the result of continual
pressure from our American friends, to alter my attitude, and,
after receiving permission from Berlin, to hand to the Washington
Government on 4th April, 1915, a memorandum, of which I give the
most important part here.

"Further I should like to refer to the attitude of the United States
towards the question of the export of arms. The Imperial Government
is convinced that the Government of the United States agree with
them on this point, that questions of neutrality should be dealt
with not merely with regard to the strict letter, but the spirit
also must be taken into consideration, in which neutrality is carried
through.

"The situation arising out of the present war cannot be compared
with that in any previous war. For this reason no reference to
supplies of arms from Germany in such wars is justified; for then
the question was not whether the combatants should be supplied
with material but which of the competing States should secure the
contract.

"In the present war all the nations which possess a war-industry of
any importance are either themselves involved in the war, or occupied
with completing their own armament, and therefore have prohibited
the export of war material. The U