ruary 16,
1917, came a report that the men had been released. This proved to be
a false alarm. On February 26, 1917, Berlin notified that their
release, although ordered "some time ago," had been deferred because
an infectious disease had been discovered in their concentration camp
at Brandenburg. They were consequently placed in quarantine "in the
interest of neutral countries." On March 2, 1917, Dr. Ritter informed
Secretary Lansing that the transfer of the American sailors to the
frontier had been arranged but delayed until the quarantine ended. On
March 8, 1917, they were finally released from quarantine and sent to
the Swiss frontier. Members of other neutral crews were sent home
through various frontier towns. All were said to have been penniless
and in rags. Apart from the necessary quarantine (a Spanish doctor
found typhus in the camp), the record stands as an example of
Germany's gift for unscrupulous temporizing and for using
procrastination as a club to hold the United States at bay when on the
brink of war.

The Reichstag met shortly after Germany had compulsorily disposed of
her connections with the United States. An expected address by the
kaiser's Chancellor, Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg, had been deferred until
February 27, 1917, when a tardy official recognition was made of the
American action.

The most deliberate official notice of the course the United States
would take was served on the German Government in the President's
ultimatum arising out of the torpedoing of the _Sussex_ early in 1916.
If Germany continued her ruthless sea warfare, the President warned
her, "the Government of the United States can have no choice but to
sever diplomatic relations with the German Empire altogether." Now the
time had come for the President to go even beyond that step. The day
before the Reichstag listened to the Chancellor's complaint the voice
of the American President was again heard in the Capitol at
Washington.

CHAPTER LXIII

ARMED NEUTRALITY

President Wilson addressed Congress in joint session, February 26,
1917, asking authority to use the armed forces of the United States to
protect American rights on the high seas. He desired to establish a
state of "armed neutrality." This was not a request for a declaration
of war, nor was it an act of war. It was to prepare the United States
to resist what might be warlike acts by Germany.

Reviewing the maritime conditions caused by Germany's submarine