UNITED STATES.
May 3—Government is obtaining official reports on the sinking of the Gulflight from Ambassadors Page and Gerard.
May 5—State Department makes public the text of its reply to the German note in the William P. Frye case, which was forwarded on April 28; the reply declines the suggestion that a German prize court pass on the legality of the destruction and amount of indemnity; it suggests that the German Embassy at Washington be authorized to deal with the matter; it states that unquestionably the destruction of the vessel was a violation of old treaties between the United States and Prussia.
May 6—The State Department has replied to the German complaint that the German steamer Odenwald was "attacked" when she attempted to leave San Juan, Porto Rico, without clearance papers; text not made public.
May 19—American tank steamer Cushing arrives in Philadelphia, and Captain Herland tells the details of the attack made by a German aeroplane on April 28, while the ship was in the North Sea; he states that the aviator manoeuvred to drop a bomb into the funnel, from a height of 300 feet, but the three bombs thrown missed the ship; he says the attack took place at 7 P.M., but there was ample light for the aviator to see the ship's name in eight-foot letters, and the American flags at the masthead and the taffrail; Secretary Bryan has cabled to Ambassador Gerard, asking whether the action of the German Government in placing the William P. Frye case in a prize court is the reply to the American note stating that the United States did not regard prize court proceedings with favor.
May 21—Recent orders from the British Government bring up to $100,000,000 the total contracts for munitions of war given to the Bethlehem Steel Company since hostilities began.
May 22—The French Line has chartered thirty-seven freight steamships to aid in transporting the huge quantities of munitions of war waiting shipment from the United States to the allied countries.
May 24—Italy asks the United States to take over Italian diplomatic affairs at Vienna, and the United States consents; Germany, through Ambassador Gerard, explains that her action of sending the William P. Frye case to a prize court is not intended as an answer to the American note on the matter, but is a necessary procedure under German law.
May 25—United States issues a proclamation of neutrality, under date of May 24, covering the entry of Italy into the war.
May 29—Federal Court at Milwaukee dismisses the action brought by General Samuel Pearson, former Boer commander, in which he sought to restrain the Allis-Chalmers Company and others from manufacturing shrapnel shells, which, it was alleged, were being shipped to the Allies; the court holds that the relief sought by the plaintiff is political rather than legal.