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WASHINGTON CROWING. MORE CERTAIN THAT WAR IS NEARING AN END By John Edwin Nevin. Washington, Dec. 21.-The convic tion that peace in Europe was prob able tonight because of President Wilson's not to belligerents and neu trals is growing here in the nation's capital. Administration officials and diplo mats of experience so declare. They base this belief on their knowledge that the president's frank declara tions of the desire of the people of the country that the belligerents frankly proclaim what they are fight ing for must have great weight in Great Britain. And, after all, offi cials and diplomats alike agree that the final decision is in England's hands. Germany must accept the sugges tion of the head of the greatest neu tral state. In effect she already has avowed her desire to end the war and her willingness to make conces sions to bring about that result. Her alies will follow her lead to any length. But whether the entente powers can be influenced to co-operate with real peace conferences still is very very uncertain. France and Rusia are expected to resent the American note. Naturally, they canot look with equanimity on conferring with an enemy whose armed forces hold portions of their territory. But Great Britain is in a different position and officials here are hopeful that she will see the ad visability of giving the most serious consideration to the suggestions fa "In c4 Bottle Through Stra'w" I bott -. label. 8 e thered by President Wilson. The president hopes so and Ambassador Page will be directed to use all of his influence to attain that end. And it is admitted that Great Britain can influence all of her allies for any plan that meets her approval. Officials at the white house and State Department said that the pres ident now will "mark time" and await the responses from his note before even considering whether any further step will be posible. Up to tonight no word had been received of the manner in which the note was received. It was understood to have been delivered to the British and French foreign offices today and State Department officials said that it should reach all of the chancellor ies to which it was adressed not later than tonight. The British and French govern ments had not yet made the note public in their respective countries so far tonight. It was suggested in dip lomatic circles that probably-a cabi net council and an exchange of opin ion between the allies would precede its being published in any of the en tente countries. It is expected that the note will be published in Ger many as soon as it is delivered in Berlin. The suggestion was made in en tente quarters tonight that it was likely that the joint reply of the al lies to the Teutonic peace .sugges tions would be completed before any action was taken on the Wilson note in view of the president's emphatic disavowal of any connection between the two propositions. If this is so it may be a week or ten days before any reply is received from the en tente. Capital City of Rumor. Washington has been a city of wild Chero Cola is sold only in the Original Bottle measured and filled by machinery a 1d labeled. 'This insures that sat ifactory, uniform fla-. r, absolute cleanliness I purity. all for Chero-Cold in es and look for the PRINK ro-Cola rumor throughout tod y. F4)owing the issuance of a statement bf Secre tary .of State Lansing in which he made it plain that. the growing en croachment on the rights of the United States by all of- the belliger. ents was bringing the United States closer and closer to forced participa tion in the war and that the presi dent's note was virtually in the na ture of self-defense, a report indus triously was circulated by personi close to the entente embassies and a very few correspondents that the Lansing statement was in effect a veiled threat to Germany. This re port gained in strength as it wai spread to such an extent that 11 caused real annoyance both at th< white house and the State I4 part men t.\ Mr. Lansing finally conferred witi the president and isued a statement in which he made it emphatically plain that he had never intended t< be ' understood as indicating any change in policy or neutrality by the United States. What he had done he said, was to show the very direct and necessary interest the United States had in the posible terms which the belligerents may have ir mind. Because of the issuance of the tw< statements reports were set on foo of friction between the president anc his chief adviser. These were declar ed by everyone in a position to knov the facts to be absolutely unwarrant ed. Mr. Lansing, it was explained not -only was in complete acord witi the president in the drafting anc sending of the note, but he -person ally suggested certain changes in thi original draft which materially strengthened it. Lansing's Statement. The original statement, 'as issue< by Secretary Lansing, was as fol lows: "It was not so much our materia interests htat we considered when the note was prepared and sent but the fact that more and more our right: have been infringed and involved b: the belligerents on both sides. The situation had become intolerable t< such an extent that it was becoming increasingly critical. I mean by tha that we are drawing nearer the verg of the war ourselves and we are therefore, entitled to know exactly what each belligerent seeks in orde that we can regulate our conduct it the future. "No warring nation had previously been sounded by President Wilson it preparing this not. There was neither consideration of the Germai overtures or the speech of Premier Lloyd-George in the formulation o the communication. The only thing that the German overtures did wa: to force the withholding of the com munication for a few (lays although the president (lid not definitedly an< finally make 'up his mind to send it forward until last Monday. "Of course one difficulty that face< the president was the fact that th( not might be constructed as a move ment for peace and on the side of th German overtures. To prevent this he specifically disavowed this in the conmunication itself. "Sending of this note will indlicat( that we realize the posibility of oui being forced into the war. Neithei the presidlent nor myself regardIs thh~ note as a peace note; it simply is ar ef'ort to get the belligerents to dle fine the aims for which they are The secretary was asked whethei he believed that the sending of th< note will make for a sp~eedllier end. ing of the wvar. I~e said: "It is possible that it may not but it will indlicate that there is a poss5i. bility of our being forced into the war and1( it' this government wert forced into the war on one side oi the other, it would prove a potent factor otwardl ending the war. This posibiity ought to serve as a re. straining ard sobering force and sa fogu.ard A merican' inrterests."' Folowing his conference with President 'Wilson the secretary ther issued the following additional state. m en t: "'I have le'arned from several quar. te'rs that a wrong im presion wvas made by the statement that I mad< this morning andl I wrsh to correct this impression. My intention was t< suggest the very direct and necessary interest which this country. as onc of the neutral nations, has in the pos sible terms which the belligerent~s may have in mind, and I did not in tendl to intimate that the government was considered any chinage in its 1po1. icy of neutrality which it has consist. ently pursuedl in the face of con stantly increasing dlifficulties. I re. gret that, my words were loen to any other construction, as I now realiz( they were. I think that the whole ton< and language of the notes to th< b~ellige,'ents show the purpose with out further comment on my part. It is needliess to say that I am unreserv. edly in support of that purp~ose and hope to see it accomplishedl." 'rhe secretary had the hardest day since he succeeded Williani J. Bryar as secretary of state. This wvas dip. lomatic dlay, when all diplomats may call withont previous ..appi - et And haraly a .gsingle diploina . to visit the department for a personal word with the secretary and - to ask for' himself whether there was any thing to be learned that -had not been covered in: the public announcement. The German, 'British, Japanese, Italian and Brazilian ambassadors were among the first to call. They were quickly followed by ministers and charges and for the first time since the outbreak of the war "Eddie" Savoy, the secretary's confidential messenger, was found to open tJtyree reception rooms, one for eachof the belligerents and one for the neutrals. Bue even then there was a near col lision as just when Count von Bern storf was being ushered from his conference with Mr. Lansing he came face to face with Sir Cecil Spring Rice, the British" ambassador. Al though before he war they had been very close p6rsonal friends, neither evinced the slightest 'knowledge of who the other was, although the Ger man ambassodor said "it was too dark in the corridor" to se anyone. Entente Surprised. Each of the visiting diplomats was given an official copy of the presi dent's note, although all were fami liar with the contents. They also were told by Mr. Lansing that copies already had been sent to their home governments. The entente represen tative admitted that they had been greatly surprised by the action of the United States. They had had no warning that the president had any such course under consideration and declined to venture a guess as to the reception the proposition would get when it reached their home gov ernments. Count von Bernstorff maintained his optimistic attitude. He reiterated his belief that this action would re sult in a peace conference of the belligerents within a reasonable time. He insisted that the note of the Unit 'ed States is bound to have great weight backed as it will be by the in fluence of the neutrals, The neutral diplomatic representa tives refused to make an ystatements for publication pending word from their home governments. They said they had no doubt that their govern ments would endorse in every way the statements of President Wilson. This was especially so of the repre sentatives of the "buffer" nations Switzerland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden and Hallond. At the latter legation it was said there was no doubt that the people of Holland would aplaud the action of the United States and suport it in every way. Senor Riano, the Spanish ambassa dor, said that he felt "every optimis tic" over the outlook for a restora tion of peace. The position of the European neutral representatives, judging from their puarded conversa tion, which distinctly was not for publication, was that they felt that the president had squarely put up to he belligerents the honesty of their professions that they were fighting to safeguard humanity and for their own existence. If this were so, then these diplomats said, the enemies must consent to a peace conference. Reference to the p)osible concert of nations was said to be a splendid strategic stroke by the president. It was felt that the majority of the belligerents favored such a plan and that they might see an advantage in agreeing to it. The vatican is expected to co-oper ate with the president if given the opplortunity. Speaking for Mgr. B fonzano, the papal envoy, F'ather Biurrage, his secretary, said: "President Wilson has taken a good step. We (devoutly hope' that it will be fruitful in inspiring such furthdr expressions from the belligerents as will open the way for p~eace. The presidlent's communication should be instrumental in securing from the bill igerents such further express ions as will open the way for peace." The president's action was the sub ject of much comment at the capitol. Most of the senators and representa 'tives applauded the action, but sev leral of them expressed the fear that the motive would be misconstrued be cause of the fact that the allies have 'just practically rejectedl the overtures of Germany. Senator Hiitchcocle, Democrat of Nebraska, introduced a resolution, which read: "Resolved, That the senate strong ly endlorses and approves the action taken by the president in sending pidilomatic notes under (late of D~e cember 18 to the nations now engar,ed in wvar, suggesting and recomm(.ndl ing the first steps in posible negotia tions to arrange the terms of peace. "Resolved, Trhat it is the sense of the -senate that this action of the presidlent rep~resents the overwhelm ing public sentiment and arnest de sires of the people of the United States." Senator Borah, Republicr.n of Ida ho, a member of the foreiagn relations committee objected to~ immediiate con sidleration of the desclaration, as he said the subject was of too great im portance to allow snap judgment. Then, at the request of the introducer, it was referred to the foreign rela tions committee floIIeEERomHERs ROADSTER. An extraordinary number of owners have little or no occasion to call on the dealer for service. It is becoming clear that with a little care and a trifling expenditure a car built as Dodge Brothers car is built can maintain itself for an in definite period. This is not an accidental nor an oc casional result. It is the general experience due to the design of the car. Its light, strong construction was' carefully calculated to promote economy as well as capable per formance. It will pay you to visit us and examine this car The gasoline consumption is unusually low, The tire mileage is unsually high. The price of the Touring Car or Roadster, complete, is $785 (f. o. 1S. Detroit) The price of the Winter Touring Car or Roadster complete including regular mohair top is $960 (f. o. b. Detroit) SUMTER MOTOR CO. Opposite Claremont Hotel. - - South Main Street, SUMTER, S. C. Senator Borah gave out a state-inteCuyofCrndSae mient explaining his position. aoead nSlsa nJnav "By objecting to consideration of 11,bigtefrtayo ad the resolution I (lid not of course ini-esatow: tend in any sense to criticise the ac- Ta rc flnli lrno tion of the president," he said. "He Cuti h tt frsicn undoubtedly has actedl up)on full in- tmn ieysxars oeo es formation and after long andl mature adofV..Osenonteou reflection. But wheni I cast a vote inlyladoJmeSiinndnth the senate upon a matter of this kind esbytelnbtenSmrad it must reflect my judlgment.ClrnoCutis "We all want peace. Nothing could Temofsl:Chpraert admore to the happiness of our E .HYSOTI Christmas holidays than to feel thatMatrfrSmeCony it was on the wvay. But I think it will generally be conceded that to want MSrl' AE peace and to secure it are two (liffer ent propositions. The one is a ques- Saeo ot aoia tion of sentiment, the other requires Cut fCaedn a vast amount 'of judgment. Ie re- ConyfSutr peat, I do not find faiult with the pres- o mnPesfrSme ony ident. But I want to be informed i h tt fSuhCrlni h myself when I take part in the p~ro-caeoCobheFriirCmpn "I sometimes think we (do not ap-S.CTeBish&A rcaMrt preciate what this war is about. WegaeCmnyLitdealIwl aire liable to convince both sides inela uli utot tebget~ Europe that we simply want peace, fMnig nte onyo lrn regardless of the worth of it, the re- dn tt frsil nSlsDyi liabhility of it, or the honor of it. IfJaur,17,bigtefstdyo such an opinion of -our attitudle, self-sadmnhtefolwgdscid ish, superficial and indifferent of therelstetow: ins in Europe, we will Althttatolndsuten 'ave but little influence when theCarnoCutysidStecn vital hour comes for action. I sim1- buddo h ot yln fW ply do not propofte to cast any voteC.KnEatblndoJ WBoa~ Inor take any step myself until I a n .H ig;Suhb ado have given the matter every consider-ladfEdoanloWier. ation which it is possible for me tosadtctolndbightw give it."wadeintdapacl5o apI MASTER'S SALE.pafoppes State of South Carolina,MatrfrSmeCon County of Clarendon. County of Sumter. ----------* B y virtue of a decree of the Court of Comon Pleas for Sumter County,WenerouNdaGnrlTo in the State of South Carolins, m Tk rv' the case of T. E. Hodge, as Admin- TeOdSadr rv'.Ts~ istrator of the Estate of Barney R. cilTncI qal ~ubea Hodge, deceased, against Dorothy P. GnrlTncbcueI otist~v Hodge, Barney Grace Hodge, Susiewelkontncrprteouxq~ May Hodge, et al, I will sell at publicadIR .Itct nheierDr auction to the highest bidder at the otMlra ~rce h lo Court Rouse I ~ ~ ~n the Couty of MannCidu h hlyarendon,0 Ste