A fac-simile of that infernal advertisement[A] of the Cleveland Automatic Tool Company in the American Machinist was laid on the desk of every member of the Reichstag; and the papers are full of accounts of great deliveries of war munitions by America, possibly preparing people for a break. If Bulgaria comes in, Germany will undoubtedly take a strip in Servia and keep a road to Constantinople and the East. The new Turkish Ambassador has just arrived. The old one was not friendly to Enver Bey and so was bounced; he remains here, however, as he fears if he went to Turkey he would get some "special" coffee. The hate for Americans grows daily.
[A] This was an advertisement in an American newspaper about machines for the manufacture of particularly deadly shells and was much used in Germany to show how America was helping the Entente.
All rumours are that in the recent council at Posen the Chancellor, advocating concessions in submarine war, won out over von Tirpitz. But von Tirpitz will die hard, and there will be trouble yet, as the Navy will be very angry if the present methods are abandoned. Members of the Reichstag have telegraphed backing up the Chancellor; but it is hard for any civilian idea to prevail against Army or Navy.
Probably the Admiralty will say that the submarine which torpedoed the Arabic was lost, in order to avoid disgracing an officer.
If the Arabic question is not complicated with the Lusitania a solution will be easier. The common people have been aroused by von Tirpitz's press bureau and it will be simpler for the Chancellor to "back track," taking as an example a case like the Arabic when the ship was going West and carried no ammunition.
The defeat of the Russians is undoubtedly crushing. Is England waking up too late? There will be a big offensive soon against the West lines.
I have heard nothing up to to-day from the State Department re the Arabic, except one cable asking me to request a report.
A correspondent has just been in and says that the General Staff people threaten to expel him because he went to Copenhagen and sent out news about the petition to the Chancellor not to annex Belgium. The Foreign Office had no objection; this shows how the line is forming between the Chancellor and the Military. All correspondents to-day say the Germans are trying to dragoon them into sending only news which the General Staff wants sent, and the Military have added their censorship to that of the Foreign Office.
An official told me that Bernstorff, while not exactly exceeding his instructions in his "Arabic Note" (of Sept. 1, 1915), had put the matter in a manner they did not approve.
Orders have now, apparently, been given to all German officials to say that the war will last a long time—at least a year and a half.