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Show If DUMBA MAKES If EXPLANATION jffi Believes He Has the Right to li Call Out His Coun- IB , , try men. TO HIS " Washington, Sept 7. Dr. Constan- j j tin Dumba, the Austro-Hungarlan am- MM bassador, laid before Secretary Lan- fejfii sing today an explanation of a letter 'ill written by him to the Vienna foreign' j'p , office discussing plans for withdraw- JJlifj . ing Austro-Hungarlan labor from the y I American plants making war supplies j for Great Britain and her allies. nail Neither the ambassador nor Mr. Mm ! Lansing would comment upon the in- iTJa tervlew when it was over. The im- vmit presslon prevailed in official quar- 'flF ' ters, however, that the secretary FlEtl would BUbmit the matter to President bins I Wilson, with whom would rest the '.jB tlon was satisfactory. ( K The toxt of Dr. Dumba's letter, refill re-fill ccntly seized by British authorities Mb from Its bearer, James F. J. Archill! Archi-ll! bald, an American, was cabled to the jc state department early today by Am-ijjlll Am-ijjlll bassador Pago at London, and had iiJf ( been the subject of a conference be-ml be-ml j twecn the president and Secretary' ttjll I Lansing beforo the ambassador reach-tjH reach-tjH ed the department. It is understood ? that the use of an American pass- port to shield the messenger who mti carried not only the Dumba letter, but 'Ijjg dispatches from the German embassy ( ft I and other documents, was regarded Jj jj , by them as quite as serious a matter ijflj as the activities revealed in the let-Jjll let-Jjll ter itself. HmI i Mr. Lansing's only statement was ifilf a neSatIve response when asked ifjlttl whether any steps had been taken .JUl toward bringing the situation to the IlJIl' attention of the Austro-Hungarian for- fli . , eign office. jtifl Outlines Austrian View. ? From reliable sources It was learn- 'tjfll ( ed tonight that Dr. Dumba in making jf ' his explanation outlined the Austro- jljl Hungarian view of the plans dealt mm with in his letter, contending that it H contemplated no violation of the jl laws of the United States. So far It U is said no steps had been taken, but i1j the ambassador had been instructed ,i to give widest publicity to a new de- jlp cree of his government making na- Mfcl tionals liable under martial law for !jI ( rendering assistance in the manufac- Jr ' ture of munitions of war for the en- jji , emy. This decree, previously an- fjjl nounced, provides punishment of long rinir ' iviuis ui luijjiiauiiiijeui uiiu evuu Jill , death )by hanging for Austro-Hungarl- Tk ans committing the offenBe at home i ill j I ' or abroad. Co-operation in carrying WW out the purposes of the law, it waB ! 1 pointed "out, was held to be mere ful- ' jf filment of the duty of an ambassador I charged with protection of his nation- j als. It was not denied, however, j that Austria-Hungary's representa- I , tivos, while they had no desire to in- 1 jure American interests, would not hesitate to handicap In any way possible pos-sible the efforts of their enemies to obtain munitions. At the embassy tonight It was stated that Ambassador Dumba expected ex-pected to see Secretary of Labor Wilson Wil-son tomorrow beforo returning to his summer quarters at Lenox, Mass. The ambassador is known to be working on a scheme for setting up an employment em-ployment bureau to take care of men who leave munition factories at his instigation. He wantB the co-operation of labor department officials in the plan. After seeing Secretary Lansing, Dr. Dumba returned to the state department and conferred with Assistant Secretary Phillips, In charge of the western European affairs af-fairs division. It was understood that they discussed some matter of routine business. There has been no suggestion here that tho ambassador had violated American law and apparently the only question Is whether the administration admin-istration will regard his acts as breaches of diplomatic propriety. Dr. Dumba himself asked for the conference confer-ence with Mr. Lansing after the announcement an-nouncement of Archibald's detention and tho publication In this country of extracts from his letter. oo |