Administration or the state of public sentiment. If his Government
were adequately informed the Ambassador is confident that it would
look at the demands of the United States in a different fashion.

The President apparently appreciated the view presented by the
Ambassador. In any event, he authorized him to send an agent to
Berlin, and it is presumed that thereupon he was apprised of the
identity of the man selected. Count von Bernstorff vouched for Mr.
Gerhard as thoroughly informed on the entire diplomatic situation as
well as upon the condition of public sentiment. In addition, he is
carrying full explanatory reports from the Ambassador himself.

[Dr. Meyer-Gerhard arrived in Berlin via Copenhagen on June 16 and
reported at the German Colonial Office. While en route The Providence
Journal and The New York Tribune published stories, varying in detail,
to the effect that the United States Government had been hoaxed into
obtaining safe conduct into Germany for a Dr. Alfred Meyer, reported
to be a German buyer of munitions of war in this country, either under
the name of Dr. Anton Meyer-Gerhard, falsely given, or under
Meyer-Gerhard's protection. On receiving assurances to the contrary
from Count von Bernstorff, Secretary Lansing announced on June 18 that
the charge was false.]

Germany's Press Opinion

_Editorial comment of the German newspapers on President Wilson's note
of June 9 was reported by_ THE TIMES _staff correspondent in Berlin on
June 12 as being "surprisingly restrained and optimistic." Captain L.
Persius, the naval critic of the Berliner Tageblatt, which is close to
Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg, writing under the caption, "On the Way to an
Understanding," said:_

An agreement is possible and the Washington Government shows an honest
desire to arrive at an agreement. This is characteristic of the
American note. There is no evidence of rattling the sabre, as those
who viewed American statesmen and American conditions rightly
anticipated. The hopes of our enemies who have already rejoiced at the
thought that the Stars and Stripes soon would be floating beside the
union jack and the tricolor are proved false, and one can anticipate
that the answer of our Government will put aside that last stumbling
block to doing away with all differences. The note indicates that
America by no means takes the position that the German Admiralty must
issue an order to end the submarine warfare before any negotiation