d that a modern liner, if actually struck, would
remain afloat long enough to allow of the rescue of her passengers.
The captain of the _Lusitania_ himself seems to have been quite
at ease in his mind on the matter; at all events, he took no
precautionary measures to avoid the danger threatening him, or
to insure the safety of the people on board in case of need. The
rapidity with which the ship went down and the resulting heavy
death-roll can only be attributed to the explosion of the masses
of ammunition which formed part of the cargo.

Let me once more lay stress on the fact that our notice to the
Press had no particular reference to the _Lusitania_, but was simply
a general warning, the publication of which was motived simply
by humanity and wise policy, and was rendered necessary by the
apathetic behavior of the Washington authorities in the matter.
We rightly imagined that many Americans had not taken the trouble
to read the Notes officially exchanged, and would thus rush blindly
into danger. Our failure to achieve any result by our efforts may
be appreciated from an extract from the London _Daily Telegraph_ of
May 3rd, which is before me as I write. The New York correspondent
of this paper dealt with our warning in the following headlines:

"GERMAN THREAT TO ATLANTIC LINERS."

"BERLIN'S LATEST BLUFF."

"RIDICULED IN AMERICA."

On May 7th I travelled to New York in the afternoon--a fact in
itself sufficient to prove that I was not expecting the disaster to
the _Lusitania_. It chanced that Paul Warburg and another American
banker were on the same train. I bought an evening paper at
Philadelphia, and there read the first news about the sinking of
the great liner; I read them to my two travelling companions, both
of whom disbelieved the story at the time; but Jacob Schiff met
us in New York with the news that it was all too true, and that
in the first moment of excitement he had hurried to the station
to inform his brother-in-law, Warburg, of what had happened. I had
come to New York with the intention of being present at a performance
of _The Bat_, given by a German company for the benefit of the German
Red Cross; but when I learned on my arrival at the Ritz-Carlton
Hotel that over one hundred Americans, including many women and
children, had lost their lives in the sinking of the _Lusitania_,
I at once gave up all idea of attending the performance. As the
hotel was soon surrounded on all sides by newsp