841.857 L 97/137½
Memorandum by the Secretary of State
Senator Kellogg (Minn.) called at the Department on yesterday and left a memorandum which is attached herewith.40 Today I spoke with the senator over the telephone and said the following:
“A careful search of the records has been made and we find that we had no information such as is stated by Senator La Follette in his speech.41 I then tried to get in touch with former Secretary Bryan. I did not know where he was but by good fortune he was in Washington and I got him on the telephone. He said he knew nothing about any ammunition on board the vessel until three or four days after the Lusitania had been sunk. There is absolutely nothing to it. He got hold of La Follette (this is confidential you understand) and told him he ought to deny the statement at once. La Follette said he had been told by a man who claimed that Bryan had told him this story and that he ought to get in touch with this man before he did it. Of course that is an insult to Bryan. I told Mr. Bryan I was going to inform the persons who had been making the inquiry in regard to it and he said ‘All right’. That is the whole story. You can deny it flat-footedly.”