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 VI

THE CABINET MEETING AT WASHINGTON

the morning of March 20th, there appeared in the morning papers of the United States a dispatch from Berlin, stating that negotiations were believed to be under way between the governments of Germany and Denmark, having in view the purchase by Germany of the Danish island of St. Thomas in the West Indies. "This movement," read the dispatch, "is the first step in a policy of the German Empire of acquiring, by purchase, certain coaling and refitting stations for the use of its great merchant marine, whose activities, released by the Peace of Geneva, are once more in full swing. Germany realizes and accepts the new conditions which have been brought about by the great war. For the future, 47