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Show EXTENSION OF SEA WARFARE PROSPECT AMERICANS TO BE WARNED BY GERMANY TO KEEP OFF ANY ARMED MERCHANT VESSELS. Government Officials Still Believe Submarine Issue Will Not be Forced to Conclusion Because of Pos- . sibility of Peace. Washington Information has reached reach-ed hero that Germany and her allies iro considering communicating to the mate department a virtual warning that Americans should keep off armed merchant ships of belligerent nations. This became known following the Intimation In-timation In officlul circles oa Tuesday that the United States might Issue soon a new memorandum setting forth Us attitude toward armed merchantmen. merchant-men. It is not known Just when or in what manner the warning may 'be conveyed, con-veyed, but Germany apparently has been paving the way for such a step several weeks past by submitting to tho state department a series o statements state-ments alleging specific Instances in -which merchant craft of the entente powers have used offensively against submarines guns carried ostensibly for defense. Tho armed ship question, an unsolved unsolv-ed problem throughout all the negotiations nego-tiations over submarine warfare, is Involved In-volved in practically all of the cases now pending between the United States and Germany and over which an admittedly grave situation eventually even-tually will have to be faced. Officials of the American government, however, how-ever, have adopted a waiting attitude during discussion of moves for peace and still believe that the submarine issue will not be forced to a conclusion conclu-sion as long as there is a possibility of tangible developments toward peace. |