Washington, Dec. 23 TRONG, uncompromising stand, in which Germany's right to protest against expressions of public opinion in America is flatly rejected, is being taken by the United States with regard to Germany's demand for an official apology for the speech made by Mr, Harold L. Ickes, the Secretary of the Interior, on December 18. Mr. Ickes, in his speech, denounced Fascism as a "more cruel, if a more refined, voodooism," and an ever-present threat to the United States, England and France.
Mr. Sumner Welles, Under-Secretary of State, disclosed yesterday that the United States had rejected Germany's demand for an official apology. A statement made by Mr. Welles to the German Charge d'Affaires in the United States, (Dr. Thomson), was couched in strong and uncompromising terms, which the United States rarely uses in diplomatic discussions with a friendly Government.
The incident has greatly strained present difficult German-
American relations.
Mr. Welles, it is learned, told the German Charge d'Affaires that Germany's request came with "singular ill grace and impropriety from a Government which has so persistently permitted its controlled press, and officials, to attack American leaders, including President Wilson and President Roosevelt, and present members of the Cabinet."
He advised Dr. Thomson that Mr, Ickes' remarks "represented the feeling of an overwhelming majority of the American people," and said that the recent policy in Germany had shocked and confounded public opinion in the United States "more profoundly than anything that has occurred in many decades.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.