The Philadelphia Public Ledger says "the final word of
diplomacy has obviously been said," and the Administration cannot
"engage in further debate or yield on any point." The Chicago Herald
believes the note is couched in terms that "no intelligent man would
resent from a neighbor whose friendship he values." The St. Louis
Republic says: "One hundred and twenty-eight years of American history
and tradition speak in President Wilson's vindication." The St. Paul
Pioneer Press calls the note "a great American charter of rights," and
the Charleston News and Courier declares that "we have drawn a line
across which Germany must not step." The Portland Oregonian says: "If
there was any expectation that the President's note to Germany would
yield any measure of American rights or descend from the noble and
impressive determination of the original warning to and demand upon
Germany, it has not been fulfilled."

Austria-Hungary's Protest

_An Associated Press dispatch dated London, July 16, says:_

According to an Amsterdam dispatch to Reuter's Telegram Company it is
stated from Vienna that the Austro-Hungarian Minister of Foreign
Affairs sent a note to the American Ambassador at Vienna on June 29,
drawing attention to the fact that commercial business in war material
on a great scale is proceeding between the United States and Great
Britain and her Allies, while Austria-Hungary and Germany are
completely cut off from the American market.

It is set forth in the note that this subject has occupied the
Government of the Dual Monarchy from the very beginning, and, although
the Government is convinced that the American attitude arises from no
other intention than to observe the strictest neutrality and
international agreements, yet "the question arises whether conditions
as they have developed during the course of the war, certainly
independently of the wish of the American Government, are not of such
a kind as in their effect to turn the intentions of the Washington
Cabinet in a contrary direction.

"If this question is answered in the affirmative, and its affirmation
cannot be doubted," according to the opinion of the Austro-Hungarian
Government, "then the question follows whether it does not seem
possible, or even necessary, that appropriate measures should be taken
to make fully respected the wish of the American Government to remain
a strictly impartial vis-a-vis of both belligerent parties."

The note continues