President had agreed to their suggestions in the beginning, he felt, without doubt, that his pledge of approval could not be canceled while the various generals and admirals were still unchanged in their insistence that they must have the protection afforded by an explicit statute.
Even though we knew the utter hopelessness of it, we went ahead with our plans and issued the statement to the press exactly as presented to the Washington correspondents. What followed quickly was another act in the serio-tragic drama of misunderstanding. The Secretaries of State, War, and the Navy had each been asked to give his views, and those that came from the office of Mr. Lansing read as follows:
The Department of State considers it dangerous and of service to the enemy to discuss differences of opinion between the Allies and difficulties with neutral countries.
The protection of information belonging to friendly countries is most important. Submarine-warfare news is a case in point. England permits this government to have full information, but as it is England's policy not to publish details, this government must support that policy.
Speculation about possible peace is another topic which may possess elements of danger, as peace reports may be of enemy origin put out to weaken the combination against Germany.
Generally speaking, articles likely to prove offensive to any of the Allies or to neutrals would be undesirable.
Convinced that a trick had been attempted and eager to find something to sustain their suspicions, the papers seized upon Mr. Lansing's ideas and held them up to heaven in witness of the Administration's dark plot. Not one took into account that the whole proposal rested upon voluntary agreement entirely, not upon law, and that the suggestions of the Department of State were advisory only and without larger power to bind than that allowed by the individual editor. Equally did every paper
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