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GENERAL NEWS NOTES OF THE DAY. On the hash of reports received on the dea tion of tic- California aad other ships so far. it is stated authoritatively that none of the- cases constitutes the overt act which will hail to war with Germany. Officials opt nly express the belief, low - ever, that the overt ait is merely a question of time-. Prom Bertta a dispatch of yesterday says that James V. ie-rrard, the American ambassador Was asked to sign a proposal reaffirming the treaties of iTiti aad 1812. Gerrnid referred tin- German odi-e ials to Spanish and Swiss intermediaries. The State Department las notified American shipowners that they may arm their ships for defen -. In liii" with that advice, steps for the- arming of th" Until St. Louis. St. Paul ami Lapland were taken yesterday. Most of the four hunelreel ft ml lb IM in Berlin have- applied for passports permitting them to leave Germany for Switzerland or the Scandinavian countries. Great Britinn and France have formally grants 1 safe passage- through the allied blockade lor former Ambassador von Bcinstotff and his suite. The New York state legislature passed the 1,000,000 "defense" bill yesterday afternoon ami it was signed by Governor Whitman. Ove-r sixty ships- have b en sunk by Germa* submarin -s or mines since February 1. tie date sf Germanys blockade order. The- annual report e / the Peoples GuS Light aad Coke Company shows the Bet earnings for 1919 t have been ,977,258. All available six -inch siege guns at West Point were shipped te New York yesterday. United Stat.-s government has begun laying mines in the entrance to Mobile harbor.
