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Show oo . fiERMANY FAILS TO ANSWER THE It S. Washington, Jan. 23. Although twelve days have elapsed since the proposals for the settlement of the Lusitanla case, agreed upon by Secretary Secre-tary of State Lansing and Count Von ' Bernstorff, were sent to Germany, a reply has not been received from the Berlin government. Official Washington Washing-ton is Inclined to fel therefore that there haa -been some hitch in the negotiations. ne-gotiations. When the proposals wore sent to Berlin there was a tacit understanding understand-ing that a reply might be expected within a week. This period has now stretched to almost two weeks and there has been no word from the German Ger-man foreign office to show when a reply Is taken by some to mean that the German government is preparing to submit new proposals to the United States with reference to the question of disavowal. Whether these new proposals will lead to further exchanges ex-changes between Berlin and Washington Washing-ton depends, ib Is felt hero, on whether wheth-er they contain specific directions with reference to the disavowal uqes-tion uqes-tion or whether they are merely suggestions sug-gestions to Embassador Von Bernstorff Bern-storff that will leave him some latitude lati-tude In closing the negotiations. j From the present state of feeling In official and diplomatic quarters, however, how-ever, it is felt certain that the Lusitanla Lusi-tanla case will be settled satisfactorily satisfactor-ily to both governments. Officialls admit that Germany's conduct since the Arabic was sunk and the written (pledges she has made are tantamount to disavowal of the Lusitanla attack and there is less Inclination than there was at first to split hairs over the phraseology of the written agreement agree-ment designed to conclude the negotiations. ne-gotiations. One explanation of the delay that has found some acceptance In Washington Wash-ington is that the Berlin foreign office has awaited the adjournment of the reichstag before sending its final instructions in-structions to Embassador Von Bernstorff, Bern-storff, to avoid debate on the subject. sub-ject. The reichstag adjourned the middle i laac week. German embassy em-bassy officials expect word from Berlin Ber-lin within the next few days. They continue to maintain their confident aWtude that the settlement of the Lusitania case is only a matter of days. |
