TEXT OF THE ANNEX TO GERMAN NOTE, OUTLINING BARRED ZONES AND PRESCRIBING CONDITIONS FOR AMERICAN VESSELS.

[By wireless to Sayville.]

BERLIN, January 31.

Following is the annex referred to in the German note:

"From February 1, 1917, within barred zones around Great Britain, France, Italy, and in the eastern Mediterranean, as outlined in the following, all sea traffic forthwith will be opposed. Such barred

zones are:

"In the North Sea, the district around England and France, which is limited by a line 20 nautical miles; the district along the Dutch coast as far as the Terschelling Lightship, the degree of longitude of the Terschelling Lightship to Udsir; a line from there across the point 62° north latitude, 5° longitude, westward along 62° to a point 3 nautical miles south of the south point of Farove (Faroe Island?), from there across the point 62° north west, to 61° north, 15° west; then 57° north, 20° west, to 47° north, 20° west; farther, to 43° north, 15° west; then on degree latitude 43° north to the point 20 nautical miles from Cape Finisterre and 20 nautical miles distant along the Spanish north coast as far as the French frontier.

"Concerning the south, in the Mediterranean: For neutral shipping there remains open the sea district of a line from Point de les Paquett to 38° 20′ north and 6° east, as well as north and west of a zone 60 sea miles broad along the north African coast, beginning on (?) degrees west longitude.

"In order to connect this sea district with Greece, the zone leads 20 sea miles in width north or east, following this line: Thirty-eight degrees north and 6° east, 38° north, and 11° 30' east, to 34° north and 11° 30' east to 34° north and 22° 30' east. From there it leads to a zone 20 sea miles broad west of 22° 30′ east longitude into Greek territorial waters.

"Neutral ships plying within the barred zones do so at their own risk. Although precautions are being taken to spare neutral ships which on February 1 are on the way to ports in the barred zone, during an appropriate delay, yet it is urgently to be advised that they should be warned and directed to other routes by all means. available.

"Neutral ships lying in ports of the barred zones can with the same safety abandon the barred zones if they sail before February 5 and take the shortest route into the open district.

"Traffic of regular American passenger steamers can go on unmolested if

"(a) Falmouth is taken as the port of destination; and if

"(b) On the going and return journey the Scilly Islands, as well as the point 50° north, 20° west, be steered on. Along this route no German mines will be laid.

"(c) If steamers on this journey bear the following special signals, which only they will be permitted to display in American ports: A coating of paint on the ship's hull and the superstructure in vertical stripes three meters broad, alternating white and red; on every mast a large flag of checkered white and red, on the stern the American national flag; during darkness the national flag and the coat of

paint to be as easily recognizable as possible from a distance; and the ships must be completely and brightly illuminated.

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(d) If only one steamer runs each week in each direction, arriving at Falmouth on Sundays, leaving Falmouth on Wednesdays. (e) If guaranties and assurances are given by the American Government that these steamers carry no contraband (according to the German list of contraband).

"Two copies of maps on which the barred zones are outlined are added."

The meaning of the new order as interpreted by the chancellor in his address to the Reichstag:

The chancellor opened the sitting with a speech of which the keynote words were:

"We have been challenged to fight to the end. We accept the challenge; we stake everything; and we shall be victorious."

He indicated that Germany was ready to accept the consequences of unrestricted U-boat warfare which had been decided upon. He wound up by saying:

"As regards all that human strength can do to enforce success for the fatherland, be assured, gentlemen, that nothing has been neglected. Everything in this respect will be done."

At the outset of his address the chancellor explained why in March and May, 1916, he opposed unrestricted submarine war, and why again in September, "according to the unanimous judgment of the political and military authorities, the question was not thought ripe for decision." On this matter he said:

"By the development of the situation the decision concerning submarine warfare has been forced into the last acute stage. The question of U-boat war, as members of the Reichstag will remember, has occupied us three times in this committee, namely, in March, May, and September of last year. On each occasion in an exhaustive statement I expounded the points for and against in this question. I emphasized on each occasion that I was speaking pro tempore, and not as a supporter in principle or opponent in principle of the unrestricted employment of U boats, but in consideration of the military, political, and economic situation as a whole.

"I have always proceeded from the standpoint of whether U-boat war would bring us nearer victorious peace or not. Every means, I said in March, that was calculated to shorten the war constitute the most humane policy to follow. When the most ruthless methods are considered best calculated to lead us to victory, and swift victory, I said, then they must be employed.

MUST STRIKE NOW.

"This moment has now arrived," he continued. "Last autumn the time was not yet ripe, but to-day the moment has come when, with the greatest prospect of success, we can undertake the enterprise. We must, therefore, not wait any longer.

"Where has there been any change in the situation?" the chancellor asked. "In the first place, the most important fact of all is that the number of our submarines has been very considerably in

creased as compared with last spring, and thereby a firm basis for success has been established.

"The second codecisive reason is the bad cereal harvest of the world. This fact already confronts England, France, and Italy with serious difficulties, which by means of unrestricted U-boat war will be brought to a point of unbearableness.

"The coal question, too, is a vital question in war. Already it is critical in Italy and France, as you know. Our submarines will make it still more critical.

"To this must be added, especially as regards England, the supply of ore for the production of munitions, in the widest sense, and of timber for coal mines. The enemy's difficulties are rendered still more acute by the increasing lack of enemy cargo space. In this respect time and U-boat and cruiser warfare have prepared the ground for the decisive blow.

"The entente suffers owing to lack of cargo space. The lack makes itself felt in Italy and France no less than in England. If we may now venture to estimate the positive advantages of unrestricted U-boat war at a very much higher value than last spring, the dangers which arise for us from U-boat war have correspondingly decreased since that time."

READY TO ACCEPT ALL CONSEQUENCES.

The chancellor discussed in detail the political situation and then referred to military affairs as follows:

"A few days ago Field Marshal von Hindenburg described the situation to me thus: Our front stands firm on all sides. We have everywhere the requisite reserves. The spirit of our troops is good and confident. The military situation as a whole permits us to accept all the consequences which unrestricted U-boat war may bring, and as this U-boat war is the means of injuring our enemies the most grievously it must be begun.

"The admiralty staff and the high-seas fleet entertain the firm conviction (a conviction which has practical support in the experience gained in U-boat cruiser warfare) that Great Britain will be brought to peace by arms. Our allies agree with our views. Austria-Hungary adheres to our procedure also in practice. Just as we lay a blockaded area around Great Britain and the west coast of France, in which we will try to prevent all shipping traffic to the enemy countries, Austria-Hungary declares a blockaded area around Italy.

"To all neutral countries a free path for mutual intercourse is left outside the blockaded area. To America we offer, as we did in 1915, safe passenger traffic under definite conditions, even with Great Britain.

The chancellor here read the note to the United States and said that corresponding notes had been sent to the other neutral States. He concluded as follows:

"No one among us will close his eyes to the seriousness of the step we are taking. That our existence is at stake everyone has known since August 4, 1914, and this has been brutally emphasized by the rejection of our peace offer. When, in 1914, we had to seize and have

recourse to the sword against Russia's general mobilization we did so with the deepest sense of responsibility toward our people and conscious of resolute strength, which says: 'We must, and therefore we can.' Endless streams of blood have since been shed, but they have not washed away the 'must' and the 'can.'

"In now deciding to employ our best and sharpest weapon we are guided solely by sober consideration of all the circumstances that come into the question and by the firm determination to help our people out of the distress and disgrace which our enemies contemplate for them.

"Success lies in a higher hand, but as regards all that human strength can do to enforce success for the Fatherland be assured, gentlemen, that nothing has been neglected. Everything in this respect will be done."

The chancellor was followed by the secretary of state for the admiralty, who spoke of the situation from the technical military and naval viewpoint. Detailed statistical data in regard to the economic position of the world was supplied by the secretary of the interior, and the foreign secretary, Herr Zimmermann, replied to several special questions.

After the ministers had spoken the committee went into secret session at which speeches were made by representatives of the Centrist, National Liberal, and Progressive parties.

On the 1st of February the following memorandum was given out:

MEMORANDUM DRAWN BY BERNSTORFF DELIVERED WITH NOTE; IT SAYS 66 ALL SHIPS WITHIN BARRED ZONES WILL BE SUNK."

WASHINGTON, February 1.

A second memorandum, delivered yesterday with the German note, and made public late to-day by the State Department, differs in some respects from the substance of the note itself. The understanding is that it was prepared at the German Embassy on instructions from Berlin prior to President Wilson's peace address to the Senate, and withheld then on account of the address. When Count von Bernstorff received the note and memorandum yesterday from Berlin he decided to deliver with them the original document prepared by him. The memorandum reads:

"After bluntly refusing Germany's peace offer the entente powers stated in their note addressed to the American Government that they are determined to continue the war in order to deprive Germany of German Provinces in the west and east, to destroy Austria-Hungary, and to annihilate Turkey. In waging war with such aims the entente allies are violating all rules of international law, as they prevent the legitimate trade of neutrals with the central powers and of the neutrals among themselves. Germany has so far not made unrestricted use of the weapons which she possesses in her submarines. Since the entente powers, however, have made it impossible to come to an understanding based upon equality of rights of all nations, as

prop 'by the central powers, and have instead declared only such a peace to be possible which shall be dictated by the entente allies, and shall result in the destruction and the humiliation of the central powers, Germany is unable further to forego the full use of her submarines.

"The Imperial Government, therefore, does not doubt that the Government of the United States will understand the situation thus forced upon Germany by the entente allies' brutal methods of war and by their determination to destroy the central powers, and that the Government of the United States will further realize that the now openly disclosed intention of the entente allies gives back to Germany the freedom of action which she reserved in her note addressed to the Government of the United States on May 4, 1916. "Under these circumstances Germany will meet the illegal measures of her enemies by forcibly preventing after February 1, 1917, in a zone around Great Britain, France, Italy, and in the eastern Mediterranean all navigation, that of neutrals included, from and to England and from and to France, etc. All ships met within that zone will be sunk.

"The Imperial Government is confident that this measure will result in a speedy termination of the war and in the restoration of peace, which the Government of the United States has so much at heart. Like the Government of the United States, Germany and her allies had hoped to reach this goal by negotiations. Now that the war, through the fault of Germany's enemies, has to be continued, the Imperial Government feels sure that the Government of the United States will understand the necessity of adopting such measures as are destined to bring about a speedy end of the horrible and useless bloodshed. The Imperial Government hopes all the more for such an understanding of her position, as the neutrals have under the pressure of the entente powers suffered great losses, being forced by them either to give up their entire trade or to limit it according to conditions arbitrarily determined by Germany's enemies in violation of international law."

Two days after the publication of the German submarine order the President addressed Congress as follows:

TEXT OF PRESIDENT WILSON'S ADDRESS.

WASHINGTON, February 3. The President's address to the joint session of Congress to-day was as follows:

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GENTLEMEN OF THE CONGRESS: The Imperial German Government on the 31st day of January announced to this Government and to the Governments of the other neutral nations that on and after the 1st day of February, the present month, it would adopt a policy with regard to the use of submarines against all shipping seeking to pass through certain designated areas of the high seas, to which it is clearly my duty to call your attention.

"Let me remind the Congress than on the 18th of April last, in view of the sinking on the 24th of March of the cross-channel steamship Sussex by a German submarine, without summons or warning, and the consequent loss of the lives of several citizens of 84610-H. Doc. 2111, 64–2, pt. 1—————11