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Show PLAN TO TRYOUT I GREAT BRITAIN Lansing and Great Importing Firms to Test Sincerity of the Britons. Washington, June 25. After a conference con-ference tomorrow between Secretary Lansing and representatives of the great Importing firms of New York City and other cities, a plan will be formulated to test the sincerity of (Jreat Britain's protestations that she has no disposition unnecessarily to Injure American commerce The plan is to station a general agent of the importers ln England who will get and present in advance of all sailings duplicate bills of lading lad-ing certified to and unobjectionable in evftrj respect, 60 as to leave no shadow of excuse for prize court proceedings pro-ceedings against vessels from neutral ports to the United States or vice versa. This proposition will be a complete counter to the intention of Great Britain, as stated by Lord Crewe, h reafter to send vessels immediate ly to prize courts and abandon diplomacy diplo-macy as a means of settlement. Protest to Be Made. t the same time a protest Is to be made against the operation of British orders in council and the alleged al-leged blockade which prevents, Illegally, Il-legally, the exportation of about $50,-000,000 $50,-000,000 worth of goods practically owned now by American importers in Germany. The protest of importers will detail, de-tail, of course, past and present impairments im-pairments of their business. It is stated that at Rotterdam there are millions of dollars' worth of goods to which no taint or suspicion of fraud could be attached and substantially owned in the United States, which cannot come out because, to all intents in-tents and purposes. Great Britain regards re-gards Rotterdam and other neutral ports as blockaded The action of the importers, it is explained today at the state department, depart-ment, has become imperative because the existing scheme of getting special permits from Great Britain bids fair to be revoked altogether by the British Brit-ish admiraltv. Big Firms Interested. The effect of the protest to be filed will be largely enhanced by the people peo-ple who are behind it Some of these are Marshall Field & Co.. Kaiser & Co, Butler Brothers, Theodore Bock (o. and importers generallv from the big cities Statistics at the state department show that the unobjectionable unobjection-able goods which are held up from the American trade consist of toys, printing paper, clocks, scientific apparatus, ap-paratus, aniline dyes. gloes, and, in fact, nearlv all of the non-contraband product of the German empire The most Innocent materials, coming straight from Scandinavian ports, are Generally suspected" by Great Britain Brit-ain as of German origin and vessels are seized accordingly State department officials who have now had time to review Lord 'rewe's note, declared today that it Is. in addition to the defect! pointed out toda , irrelevant and misleading. Flat Demand Probable. One official said that the result of the attitude of Great Britain as re ' ealed by Lord Crewe will be that 1 the United States will make a flat demand on Great Britain that neutral ships carrying non-contraband cargoes I shall be unmolested in passage to neutral ports The Crewe note, it is stated, is misleading In its figures. It indicates that n sin. ill number of vessels in which Americans are interested have been hold up whereas there have been 1 137 of such cases, according to state department records. Some of these hae l.e. n disposed of, it is true, but the lact remains that the statement of lyord Crewe was misleading. An Important official said "We can, of course, have no objec tion to sending to a prize court any vessel caught iolating international law. Our complaint is against the I sending to prize courts of ships that have not iolated International law. We are not concerned therefore, in the remarks of the judges of British priae courts or the allegations that American attorneys themselves are delaying de-laying the case. The ships ought not to be in those courts at all. we have contended, and we shal so contend again. We cannot permit Great Britain to act as referee for our commerce with the world That Is the right which she is now assuming." oo |