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Show PUBLIC OPINION IS SOUGHT ON BELGIArJ CASE Result of American Thought Will Determine Future Action of the State Department. WAHIl I MJTO.V, Dec 0. American public, opinion will decide w hat steps, if any, the government .shall tako to follow up itn protect to Germany ugainftt the deportation of llnlans. f '1m nccl lor Von lit; I li mann- Hollweg 'a conversation with !hnrgn Grow of tho j American emha.'isy in Ilerlin haH eon- i vinrnd fltato depart incut otfi' ialfi that (i fir many 'a formal reply to t ho Ameri-ran Ameri-ran protnut will hold the deportation : j u t i tied on tho ground of social necca-: flit v. 1 It was admitted that tho action of th wtatn department in publishing tho text of tho prute-nt wan tor the purpose of Hounding public opinion on the subject. sub-ject. Ofliciah wero not greiitly encouraged by today ' pren dispatcher! outlining , Ihfl f ort heomi tig German reply. So Jar a can bo determined from this sum- ; inary tho reply contains li' Me, officials hfllieve, that Wd not been said to I'liarRo Grow beforo tlio formal American Ameri-can protect wh h Hent. May Hold Reply. V hot her Germany 's reply would be nindo public or answered with a further i note by this government will not be decided until the attitudo of the American Ameri-can public, has been learned and tho actual text of tho German answer has been examined. Tho state department is conscious that ii already 'has exceeded ex-ceeded tho conventional bounds of diplomacy di-plomacy in making several informal as wrdl as formal representations in the en no, but it is cuer to emphasize its position la every reasonable way. The personal views of President Wilson are et to bo laid hefore German officials by Ambassador Gerard, now on his way fcfick to Horlin. Official information shows that the deportations are continuing. Home of (he statements reported to do contained In the Gorman reply differ widely from the official information reaching "the department, de-partment, especially as to tho soverity with which tho deportations are being carried out. No Discrimination. Tho depart ment has been convinced that tho employed and those of independent inde-pendent means havo beeu taken indiscriminately indis-criminately with tho unemployed and tho dependent. Officials are satisfied with the accuracy ac-curacy of their in Tor mat ion to date. One official said tho department was ready to go ahead with that as a basis if it wore decided to take further action. ac-tion. Tho gen oral failure of tho represen-I represen-I tat ions of the United States, Holland, iS pain and tho Vatican is causing in-j in-j creasing concern hero for tho continu-i continu-i anco of relief work in Belgium, espe- dally in view of the second official statement from ft n gland published today to-day that Germany's action was threatening threat-ening tho w'holo foundation of Belgian relief. |