File No. 763.72/2925
The Chargé in Germany (Grew) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 10, 1.35 p. m.]
4450. I learn that one of the most forcible arguments against a resumption of reckless submarine warfare advanced by Helfferich in his speech, mentioned in my 4417,1 October 2, 6 p. m., was that a break with the United States and the resulting combined pressure of Great Britain and the United States on the neutral countries contiguous to Germany would force an effective closing of those frontiers to the supplies which still enter Germany in certain quantities.
The report published in the Lokal-Anzeiger yesterday that the Party of the Center had split on the submarine issue and that the majority would vote for submarine warfare has been officially denied by the party organ. If the submarine issue comes to a vote in the Reichstag, the indications are still that the Chancellor will have a majority, but even if a contrary vote should be passed, it now seems improbable that the policy of the Government would be altered at present.