The Washington telegrams in Friday's papers announce that the State
Department has sent two Notes, one to London
and one to Berlin. That addressed to the British Government concerns the use of the American flag on the • Lusitania. It pointa out that the frequent use of neutral flags by British merchant ships might endanger the safety of vessels entitled to fly the American flag. The Note, or rather the Memorandum, is not in any way a protest against the action of the' Lusitania,' for the good reason that there is no legal ground for protest, but is merely a friendly statement that the continued use of the Stars and Stripes might coin psalm Ise the eafety of American vessels and embarrass their voyages upon the high seas. We shall deal with the matter when the full text of the American Note is published. In this context we may mention the not unreasonable suggestion that it might be "an under- stood thing" that the American flag should always be used when there were American passengers on board a vessel.
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