This of course was a direct repudiation by Germany of all the promises she had made to the United States.  The President saw the sword being forced into his hands but he was not yet ready to seize it with all his might.  He preferred first to exhaust the expediency of an armed neutrality.  On February 3, he went before a joint session of the house and senate and announced that Ambassador von Bernstorff had been given his passports and all diplomatic relations with the Teuton empire severed.  On February 12, an attempt at negotiation came through the Swiss minister who had been placed in charge of German diplomatic interests in this country.  The President promptly and emphatically replied that no negotiations could be even considered until the submarine order had been withdrawn.

On February 26, the lower house of congress voted formal permission for the arming of American merchant ships as a protection against submarine attacks, and appropriated one hundred million dollars for the arming and insuring of the ships.  A similar measure in the senate was defeated by Senator Robert M. LaFollette of Wisconsin, acting under a loose rule of the senate which permitted filibustering and unlimited debate.  The session of congress expired March 4, and the President immediately called an extra session of the senate which amended its rules so that the measure was passed.

Senator LaFollette’s opposition to the war and some of his public utterances outside the senate led to a demand for his expulsion from that body.  A committee of investigation was appointed which proceeded perfunctorilly for about a year.  The senator was never expelled but any influence he may have had and any power to hamper the activities of the government, were effectually killed for the duration of the war.  The suppression of the senator did not proceed so much from congress or the White House, as from the press of the country.  Without regard to views or party, the newspapers of the nation voluntarily and patriotically entered what has been termed a “conspiracy of silence” regarding the activities of the Wisconsin senator.  By refusing to print his name or give him any sort of publicity he was effectively sidetracked and in a short time the majority of the people of the country forgot his existence.  It was a striking demonstration that propaganda depends for its effectiveness upon publicity, and has given rise to an order of thought which contends that the newspapers should censor their own columns and suppress movements that are detrimental or of evil tendency, by ignoring them.  Opposed to this is the view that the more publicity a movement gets, and the fuller and franker the discussion it evokes, the more quickly will its merits or demerits become apparent.

If any evidence was lacking of German duplicity, violation of promises and general double-dealing, it came to light in the famous document known as the “Zimmermann Note” which came into the hands of the American state department and was revealed February 28.  It was a confidential communication from Dr. Alfred Zimmermann, German Foreign Minister, addressed to the German Minister in Mexico and proposed an alliance of Germany, Mexico and Japan against the United States.  Its text follows: