THE WORLD WAR: PERIOD OF AMERICAN NEUTRALITY  387



763.72/2541
            President Wilson to the Secretary of State

                                     WASHINGTON, 10 May, 1915.
  MY DEAR MR. SECRETARY: After all, this* does not express Page's
own opinion, but what he takes to be public opinion at the moment
in Great Britain.
  It is a very serious thing to have such things thought, because
everything that affects the opinion of the world regarding us affects
our influence for good.
      Faithfully Yours,
                                                         W. W.

763.72111/2236i
            The Secretary of State to President Wilson

                                    WASHINGTON, May 10, 1915.
  MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I am sending you a memorandum by Mr.
Lansing in regard to the question of "Warning". As you and I have
gone over this matter together I need not re-state my views.
  Mr. Villard, of the New York Evening Post, called this morning.
I do not know what value you attach to his opinions but he pre-
sented the idea of calling a conference of neutral nations to discuss
the interference with trade, of which both sides have been guilty.
  I explained to him that the difficulty about calling a neutral con-
ference was that any position taken by such a conference during the
war would be considered, not upon its merits, but as it affected one
side or the other. He thought that both sides had done enough so
that complaint could be made against the action of both sides.
  'With assurances [etc.]                         W. J. BRYAN

                            [Enclosure]
  The Counselor for the Department of State (Lansing) to the
                        Secretary of State

                                   [WASHINGTON,] May 9, 1915.
  DrAR MR. SECRETARY: I have been thinking over your suggestion
that it might be considered that Americans, taking passage in a
British vessel bound for a British port and passing through the
German "'war zone", did so, in a measure at least, at their own
peril
and, therefore, were not entitled to the full protection of this
Government.

* Page's despatch about the Lusitania, which I find I have burned. [Footnote
in the original. The despatch is printed in Foreign Relations, 1915, supp.,
p. 385.)