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Show WILL GO ABROAD AT THEIR PERIL AMERICANS WILL BE ADVISED NOT TO TAKE PASSAGE ON MERCHANTMEN AT PRESENT. United States to Adopt German View of Controversy, Which May Result Re-sult in Exchange of Notes With Great Britain. "Washington. The United Statos Rill adopt the suggestion of the Ger man government and wain Americans, not to take passage on armed merchantmen. mer-chantmen. Definite information that this is the intention of President Wilson, anc that an announcement to this effect will shortly he made to the state de parment, was forthcoming Sundaj night from an authoritative source. In diplomatic circles discussion cen. tered on the probability of the presi dent taking this course and its in evitable consequences. Even the most conservative opinion holds that the re sultant situation will involve this country in a controversy with Great Britain which may easily prove too the most troublesome and embarrassing embarras-sing of any the United States has yet had to face. No one conversant with the facts in the case goes so far as to forecast anything more serious growing out of the controversy than a loss of foreign for-eign trade. But that the United States must expect to suffer seriously in this respect if the German contention as to armed merchantment is upheld by this government, is considered inevitable by best informed statesmen. This loss, it is pointed out, can be inflicted on American commerce by retaliatory measures, which it must b expected the allies will promptly take. If the United States prohibits the clearance from its ports of armed merchantmen, the allies maybe counted count-ed upon to reply toy. discontinuing the entrance into Americans ports of all kinds of their merchantmen. Denied the use of allid mrchantmn, .which now carry almost all the foreign trade of the United States, the seriousness of the loss may be easily calculated. |