issue of American arms and ammunition to further embitter the people.
Thus the first note which President Wilson wrote in the _Lusitania_
case not only brought the quarrel between the Navy and Foreign Office
to a climax but it gave the German people the first opportunity they
had had seriously to discuss questions of policy and right.

In the Rhine Valley, where the ammunition interests dominated every
phase of life, the Navy found its staunchest supporters.  In
educational circles, in shipping centres, such as Hamburg and Bremen,
in the financial districts of Frankfort and Berlin, the Foreign Office
received its support.  Press and Reichstag were divided.  Supporting
the Foreign Office were the _Lokal Anzeiger_, the _Berliner Tageblatt_,
the _Cologne Gazette_, the _Frankforter Zeitung_, the _Hamburger
Fremdemblatt_, and the _Vorwaerts_.

The Navy had the support of Count Reventlow, Naval Critic of the
_Deutsche Tageszeitung_, the _Taeglische Rundscha_, the _Vossische
Zeitung_, the _Morgen Post_, the _B. Z. Am Mittag_, the _Muenchener
Neueste Nachrichten_, the _Rheinische Westfaelische Zeitung_, and the
leading Catholic organ, the _Koelnische Volks-Zeitung_.

Government officials were also divided.  Chancellor von
Bethmann-Hollweg led the party which demanded an agreement with the
United States.  He was supported by von Jagow, Zimmermann, Dr. Karl
Helfferich, Secretary of the Treasury; Dr. Solf, the Colonial Minister;
Dr. Siegfried Heckscher, Vice Chairman of the Reichstag Committee on
Foreign Relations; and Philip Scheidemann, leader of the majority of
the Socialists in the Reichstag.

The opposition was led by Grand Admiral von Tirpitz.  He was supported
by General von Falkenhayn, Field Marshal von Mackensen and all army
generals; Admirals von Pohl and von Bachmann; Major Bassermann, leader
of the National Liberal Party in the Reichstag; Dr. Gustav Stressemann,
member of the Reichstag and Director of the North German Lloyd
Steamship Company; and von Heydebrand, the so-called "Uncrowned King of
Prussia," because of his control of the Prussian Diet.

With these forces against each other the internal fight continued more
bitter than ever.  President Wilson kept insisting upon definite
promises from Germany but the Admiralty still had the upper hand.
There was nothing for the Foreign Office to do except to make the best
possible excuses and depend upon Wilson's patience to give them time to
get into the saddle.  The Navy Department, however, was so confident
that it had the Kaiser's support in everything it did, that one of the
submarines was instructed to sink the _Arabic_.

President Wilson's note in the _Arabic_ case again brought the
submarine dispute within Germany to a head.  Conferences were again
held at Great Headquarters.  The Chancellor, von Jagow, Helfferich, von
Tirpitz and other leaders were summoned by the Kaiser.  On the 28th of
August I succeeded in sending by courier to The Hague the following
despatch:


"With the support of the Kaiser, the German Chancellor, Dr. von
Bethmann-Hollweg, is expected to win the fight he is now making for a
modification of Germany's submarine warfare that will forever settle
the difficulties with America over the sinking of the _Lusitania_ and
the _Arabic_.  Both the Chancellor and von Jagow are most anxious to
end at once and for all time the controversies with Washington desiring
America's friendship."  (Published in the Chicago _Tribune_, August
29th, 1915.)


"The Marine Department, headed by von Tirpitz, creator of the submarine
policy, will oppose any disavowal of the action of German's submarines.
But the Kaiser is expected to approve the steps the Chancellor and
Foreign Secretary contemplate taking, swinging the balance in favour of
von Bethmann-Hollweg's contention that ships in the future must be
warned before they are torpedoed."


One day I went to the Foreign Office and told one of the officials I
believed that if the American people knew what a difficult time the
Foreign Office was having in trying to win out over the Admiralty that
public opinion in the United States might be mobilised to help the
Foreign Office against the Admiralty.  I took with me a brief despatch
which I asked him to pass.  He censored it with the understanding that
I would never disclose his name in case the despatch was read in
Germany.

A few days later the Manchester, England, _Guardian_ arrived containing
my article, headed as follows:


HOLLWEG'S CHANGE OF TUNE

Respect for Scraps of Paper

LAW AT SEA

Insists on Warning by Submarines

TIRPITZ PARTY BEATEN

Kaiser Expected to Approve New Policy

"New York, Sunday.

"Cables from Mr. Carl W. Ackerman, Berlin correspondent of the United
Press published here, indicate that the real crisis following the
_Arabic_ is in Germany, not America.  He writes:

"The Berlin Foreign Office is unalterably opposed to submarine
activity, such as evidenced by the _Arabic_ affair, and it was on the
initiative of this Government department that immediate steps were
taken with Mr. Gerard the American Ambassador.  The nature of these
negotiations is still unknown to the German public.

"It is stated on the highest authority that Herr von Jagow, Secretary
of Foreign Affairs, and Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg are unanimous
in their anxiety to settle American difficulties once and for all,
retaining the friendship of the United States in any event.

"The Kaiser is expected to approve the course suggested by the Imperial
Chancellor, despite open opposition to any disavowal of submarine
activities which constantly emanates from the German Admiralty.

"The Chancellor is extremely desirous of placing Germany on record as
an observer of international law as regards sea warfare, and in this
case will win his demand that submarines in the future shall thoroughly
warn enemy ships before firing their torpedoes or shells.

"There is considerable discussion in official circles as to whether the
Chancellor's steps create a precedent, but it is agreed that it will
probably close all complications with America, including the
_Lusitania_ case, which remained unsettled following President Wilson's
last note to Germany.

"Thus if the United States approves the present attitude of the
Chancellor this step will aid in clearing the entire situation and will
materially strengthen the policy of von Bethmann-Hollweg and von Jagow,
which is a deep desire for peace with America."


After this despatch was printed I was called to the home of Fran von
Schroeder, the American-born wife of one of the Intelligence Office of
the General Staff.  Captain Vanselow, Chief of the Admiralty
Intelligence Department, was there and had brought with him the
Manchester _Guardian_.  He asked me where I got the information and who
had passed the despatch.  He said the Navy was up in arms and had
issued orders to the General Telegraph Office that, inasmuch as Germany
was under martial law, no telegrams were to be passed containing the
words submarines, navy, admiralty or marine or any officers of the Navy
without having them referred to the Admiralty for a second censoring.
This order practically nullified the censorship powers of the Foreign
Office.  I saw that the Navy Department was again in the saddle and
that the efforts of the Chancellor to maintain peace might not be
successful after all.  But the conferences at Great Headquarters lasted
longer than any one expected.  The first news we received of what had
taken place was that Secretary von Jagow had informed the Kaiser he
would resign before he would do anything which might cause trouble with
the United States.

Germany was split wide open by the submarine issue.  For a while it
looked as if the only possible adjustment would be either for von
Tirpitz to go and his policies with him, or for von Jagow and the
Chancellor to go with the corresponding danger of a rupture with
America.  But von Tirpitz would not resign.  He left Great Headquarters
for Berlin and intimated to his friends that he was going to run the
Navy to suit himself.  But the Chancellor who had the support of the
big shipping interests and the financiers, saw a possible means of
checkmating von Tirpitz by forcing Admiral von Pohl to resign as Chief
of the Admiralty Staff.  They finally persuaded the Kaiser to accept
his resignation and appoint Admiral von Holtzendorff as his successor.
Von Holtzendorff's brother was a director of the Hamburg-American Line
and an intimate friend of A. Ballin, the General Director of the
company.  The Chancellor believed that by having a friend of his as
Chief of the Admiralty Staff, no orders would be issued to submarine
commanders contrary to the wishes of the Chancellor, because according
to the rules of the German Navy Department the Chief of the Admiralty
Staff must approve all naval plans and sign all orders to fleet
commanders.

Throughout this time the one thing which frightened the Foreign Office
was the fear that President Wilson might break off diplomatic relations
before the Foreign Office had an opportunity to settle the differences
with the United States.  For this reason Ambassador Gerard was kept
advised by Wilhelmstrasse of the internal developments in Germany and
asked to report them fully but confidentially to Wilson.  So, during
this crisis when Americans were demanding a break with Germany because
of Germany's continued defiance of President Wilson's notes, the
American Government knew that if the Foreign Office was given more time
it had a good chance of succeeding in cleaning house.  A rupture at
that time would have destroyed all the efforts of the Foreign Office to
keep the German military machine within bounds.  It would have
over-thrown von Jagow and von Bethmann-Hollweg and put in von Tirpitz
as Chancellor and von Heydebrand, the reactionary leader of the
Prussian Diet, as Secretary of State.  At that time, all the democratic
forces of Germany were lined up with the Foreign Office.  The people
who blushed for Belgium, the financiers who were losing money, the
shipping interests whose tonnage was locked in belligerent or neutral
harbours, the Socialists and people who were anxious and praying for
peace, were looking to the Foreign Office and to Washington to avoid a
break.




CHAPTER IV

THE HATE CAMPAIGN AGAINST AMERICA

While Germany was professing her friendship for the United States in
every note written following the sinking of the _Lusitania_, the
government was secretly preparing the nation for a break in diplomatic
relations, or for war, in the event of a rupture.  German officials
realised that unless the people were made to suspect Mr. Wilson and his
motives, unless they were made to resent the shipment of arms and
ammunition to the Allies, there would be a division in public opinion
and the government would not be able to count upon the united support
of the people.  Because the government does the thinking for the people
it has to tell them what to think before they have reached the point of
debating an issue themselves.  A war with America or a break in
diplomatic relations in 1915 would not have been an easy matter to
explain, if the people had not been encouraged to hate Wilson.  So
while Germany maintained a propaganda bureau in America to interpret
Germany and to maintain good relations, she started in Germany an
extensive propaganda against Wilson, the American press, the United
States Ambassador and Americans in general.

This step was not necessary in the army because among army officers the
bitterness and hatred of the United States were deeper and more
extensive than the hatred of any other belligerent.  It was hardly ever
possible for the American correspondents to go to the front without
being insulted.  Even the American military attaches, when they went to
the front, had to submit to the insults of army officers.  After the
sinking of the _Arabic_ the six military observers attached to the
American Embassy were invited by the General Staff to go to Russia to
study the military operations of Field Marshal von Mackensen.  They
were escorted by Baron von Maltzahn, former attache of the German
Embassy in Paris.  At Lodz, one of the largest cities in Poland, they
were taken to headquarters.  Von Maltzahn, who knew Mackensen
personally, called at the Field Marshal's offices, reported that he had
escorted six American army officers under orders of the General Staff,
whom he desired to present to the Commander-in-Chief.  Von Mackensen
replied that he did not care to meet the Americans and told von
Maltzahn that the best thing he could do would be to escort the
observers back to Berlin.

As soon as the military attaches reached Berlin and reported this to
Washington they were recalled.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

BLOOD-TRAFFICKERS

Cowards, who kill three thousand miles away,
See the long lines of shrouded forms increase!
Yours is this work, disguise it as you may;
But for your greed the world were now at peace.

Month after month your countless chimneys roar,--
Slaughter your object, and your motive gain;
Look at your money,--it is wet with gore
Nothing can cleanse it from the loathsome stain.

You, who prolong this hideous hell on earth,
Making a by-word of your native land,
Stripped of your wealth, how paltry is your worth!
See how men shrink from contact with your hand!

There is pollution in your blood-smeared gold,
There is corruption in your pact with Death,
There is dishonor in the lie, oft-told,
Of your "Humanity"!  'Tis empty breath.

What shall it profit you to heap on high,
Makers of orphans! a few millions more,
When you must face them--those you caused to die,
And God demands of you to pay your score?

He is not mocked; His vengeance doth not sleep;
His cup of wrath He lets you slowly fill;
What you have sown, that also shall you reap;
God's law is adamant,--"Thou shalt not kill"!

Think not to plead:--"I did not act alone,"
"Custom allows it," and "My dead were few";
Each hath his quota; yonder are your own!
See how their fleshless fingers point at you, at you!

You, to whose vaults this wholesale murder yields
Mere needless increments of ghoulish gain,
Count up your corpses on these blood-soaked fields!
Hear . . . till your death . . . your victims' moans of pain!

Then, when at night you, sleepless, fear to pray,
Watch the thick, crimson stream draw near your bed,
And shriek with horror, till the dawn of day
Shall find you raving at your heaps of dead!

JOHN L. STODDARD.


The League of Truth
Head Offices for Germany:
Berlin W
40 Potsdamer Str.

July 4th, 1916.      Printed by Barthe & Co., Berlin W.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

But this was not the only time von Mackensen, or other army officers,
showed their contempt for the United States.  After the fall of Warsaw
a group of American correspondents were asked to go to the headquarters
of General von Besseler, afterward named Governor General of Poland.
The general received them in the gardens of the Polish castle which he
had seized as his headquarters; shook hands with the Dutch, Danish,
Swedish, Swiss and South American newspaper men, and then, before
turning on his heels to go back to his Polish palace, turned to the
Americans and said:

"As for you gentlemen, the best thing you can do is to tell your
country to stop shipping arms and ammunition."

During General Brusiloff's offensive I was invited together with other
correspondents to go to the Wohlynian battlefields to see how the
Germans had reorganised the Austrian front.  In a little town near the
Stochod River we were invited to dinner by Colonel von Luck.  I sat
opposite the colonel, who was in charge of the reorganisation here.
Throughout the meal he made so many insulting remarks that the officer
who was our escort had to change the trend of the conversation.  Before
he did so the colonel said:

"Tell me, do they insult you in Berlin like this?"

I replied that I seldom encountered such antagonism in Berlin; that it
was chiefly the army which was anti-American.

"Well, that's the difference between the diplomats and the army.  If
the army was running the government we would probably have had war with
America a long time ago," he concluded, smiling sarcastically.

Shortly after the sinking of the _Lusitania_ the naval propaganda
bureau had bronze medals cast and placed on sale at souvenir shops
throughout Germany.  Ambassador Gerard received one day, in exchanging
some money, a fifty mark bill, with the words stamped in purple ink
across the face:

"God punish England and America."  For some weeks this rubber stamp was
used very effectively.

The Navy Department realised, too, that another way to attack America
and especially Americans in Berlin, was to arouse the suspicion that
every one who spoke English was an enemy.  The result was that most
Americans had to be exceedingly careful not to talk aloud in public
places.  The American correspondents were even warned at the General
Staff not to speak English at the front.  Some of the correspondents
who did not speak German were not taken to the battle areas because the
Foreign Office desired to avoid insults.

The year and a half between the sinking of the _Lusitania_ and the
severance of diplomatic relations was a period of terror for most
Americans in Germany.  Only those who were so sympathetic with Germany
that they were anti-American found it pleasant to live there.  One day
one of the American girls employed in the confidential file room of the
American Embassy was slapped in the face until she cried, by a German
in civilian clothes, because she was speaking English in the subway.
At another time the wife of a prominent American business man was spit
upon and chased out of a public bus because she was speaking English.
Then a group of women chased her down the street.  Another American
woman was stabbed by a soldier when she was walking on Friedrichstrasse
with a friend because she was speaking English.  When the State
Department instructed Ambassador Gerard to bring the matter to the
attention of the Foreign Office and to demand an apology Wilhelmstrasse
referred the matter to the General Staff for investigation.  The
soldier was arrested and secretly examined.  After many weeks had
elapsed the Foreign Office explained that the man who had stabbed the
woman was really not a soldier but a red cross worker.  It was
explained that he had been wounded and was not responsible for what he
did.  The testimony of the woman, however, and of other witnesses,
showed that the man at the time he attacked the American was dressed in
a soldier's uniform, which is grey, and which could not he mistaken for
the black uniform of a red cross worker.

It was often said in Berlin, "Germany hates England, fights France,
fears Russia but loathes America."  No one, not even American
officials, questioned it.

The hate campaign was bearing fruit.

In January, 1916, there appeared in Berlin a publication called _Light
and Truth_.  It was a twelve-page circular in English and German
attacking President Wilson and the United States.  Copies were sent by
mail to all Americans and to hundreds of thousands of Germans.  It was
edited and distributed by "The League of Truth."  It was the most
sensational document printed in Germany since the beginning of the war
against a power with which Germany was supposed to be at peace.  Page 6
contained two illustrations under the legend:

WILSON AND HIS PRESS IS NOT AMERICA


Underneath was this paragraph:


"An American Demonstration--On the 27th of January, the birthday of the
German Emperor, an immense laurel wreath decorated with the German and
American flags was placed by Americans at the foot of the monument to
Frederick the Great (in Berlin).  The American flag was enshrouded in
black crape.  Frederick the Great was the first to recognise the
independence of the young Republic, after it had won its freedom from
the yoke of England, at the price of its very heart's blood through
years of struggle.  His successor, Wilhelm II, receives the gratitude
of America in the form of hypocritical phrases and war supplies to his
mortal enemy."

[Illustration: First page of the magazine "Light and Truth"]

One photograph was of the wreath itself.  The other showed a group of
thirty-six people, mostly boys, standing in front of the statue after
the wreath had been placed.

When Ambassador Gerard learned about the "demonstration" he went to the
statue and from there immediately to the Foreign Office, where he saw
Secretary of State von Jagow.  Gerard demanded instantaneous removal of
the wreath.  Von Jagow promised an "investigation."  Gerard meanwhile
began a personal investigation of the _League of Truth_, which had
purchased and placed the insult there.

Days, weeks, even months passed.  Von Jagow still refused to have the
wreath removed.  Finally Gerard went to the Foreign Office and told von
Jagow that unless it was taken away that day he would get it himself
and send it by courier to Washington.  That evening Gerard walked to
the statue.  The wreath had disappeared.

Week by week the league continued its propaganda.  Gerard continued his
investigation.

July 4, 1916, another circular was scattered broadcast.  On page 1 was
a large black cross.  Pages 2 and 3, the inside, contained a reprint of
the "Declaration of Independence," with the imprint across the face of
a bloody hand.  Enclosed in a heavy black border on page 4 were nine
verses by John L. Stoddard, the lecturer, entitled "Blood-Traffickers."
(Printed in the beginning of this chapter.)

The league made an especial appeal to the "German-Americans."  Germany,
as was pointed out in a previous article, counts upon some
German-Americans as her allies.  One day Ambassador Gerard received a
circular entitled "An Appeal to All Friends of Truth."  The same was
sent in German and English to a mailing list of many hundred thousands.
Excerpts from this read:


"If any one is called upon to raise his voice in foreign lands for the
cause of truth, it is the foreigner who was able to witness the
unanimous rising of the German people at the outbreak of war, and their
attitude during its continuance.  _This applies especially to the
German-American_.

"_As a citizen of two continents, in proportion as his character has
remained true to German principles, he finds both here and there the
right word to say. . . ._

"Numberless millions of men are forced to look upon a loathsome
spectacle.  _It is that of certain individuals in America; to whom a
great nation has temporarily intrusted its weal and woe_, supporting a
few multi-millionaires and their dependents, setting at
naught--unpunished--the revered document of the Fourth of July, 1776,
and daring to _barter away the birthright of the white race_. . . .  We
want to see whether the united voices of Germans and foreigners have
not more weight than the hired writers of editorials in the newspapers;
and whether the words of men who are independent will not render it
impossible for a subsidised press to continue its destructive work."

Gerard's investigation showed that a group of German-Americans in
Berlin were financing the _League of Truth_; that a man named William
F. Marten, who posed as an American, was the head, and that the editors
and writers of the publication _Light and Truth_ were being assisted by
the Foreign Office Press Bureau and protected by the General Staff.  An
American dentist in Berlin, Dr. Charles Mueller, was chairman of the
league.  Mrs. Annie Neumann-Hofer, the American-born wife of
Neumann-Hofer, of the Reichstag, was secretary.  Gerard reported other
names to the State Department, and asked authority to take away the
passports of Americans who were assisting the German government in this
propaganda.

The "league" heard about the Ambassador's efforts, and announced that a
"Big Bertha" issue would be published exposing Gerard.  For several
months the propagandists worked to collect data.  One day Gerard
decided to go to the league's offices and look at the people who were
directing it.  In the course of his remarks the Ambassador said that if
the Foreign Office didn't do something to suppress the league
immediately, he would burn down the place.  The next day Marten and his
co-workers went to the Royal Administration of the Superior Court,
No. 1, in Berlin, and through his attorney lodged a criminal charge of
"threat of arson" against the Ambassador.

The next day Germany was flooded with letters from "The League of
Truth," saying:


"The undersigned committee of the League of Truth to their deepest
regret felt compelled to inform the members that Ambassador Gerard had
become involved in a criminal charge involving threat of arson. . . .
All American citizens are now asked whether an Ambassador who acts so
undignified at the moment of a formal threat of a wholly unnecessary
war, is to be considered worthy further to represent a country like the
United States."


Were it not for the fact that at this time President Wilson was trying
to impress upon Germany the seriousness of her continued disregard of
American and neutral lives on the high seas, the whole thing would have
been too absurd to notice.  But Germany wanted to create the impression
among her people that President Wilson was not speaking for America,
and that the Ambassador was too insignificant to notice.

After this incident Gerard called upon von Jagow again and demanded the
immediate suppression of the third number of _Light and Truth_.  Before
von Jagow consented Mrs. Neumann-Hofer turned upon her former
propagandists and confessed.  I believe her confession is in the State
Department, but this is what she told me:


"Marten is a German and has never been called to the army because the
General Staff has delegated him to direct this anti-American
propaganda.  [We were talking at the Embassy the day before the
Ambassador left.]  Marten is supported by some very high officials.  He
has letters of congratulations from the Chancellor, General von
Falkenhayn, Count Zeppelin and others for one of his propaganda books
entitled 'German Barbarians.'  I think the Crown Prince is one of his
backers, but I have never been able to prove it."


On July 4th, 1915, the League of Truth issued what it called "A New
Declaration of Independence."  This was circulated in German and
English throughout the country.  It was as follows:

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

A NEW DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

Seven score years have elapsed since those great words were forged that
welded us into a nation upon many fiery battlefields.

In that day the strong voices of strong men rang across the world,
their molten words flamed with light and their arms broke the visible
chains of an intolerable bondage.

But now in the red reflex of the glare cast from the battlefields of
Europe, the invisible manacles that have been cunningly laid upon our
freedom have become shamefully apparent.  They rattle in the ears of
the world.

Our liberty has vanished once again.  Yet our ancient enemy remains
enthroned in high places within our land and in insolent ships before
our gates.  We have not only become Colonials once again, but
subjects,--for true subjects are known by the measure of their willing
subjection.

We Americans in the heart of this heroic nation now struggling for all
that we ourselves hold dear, but against odds such as we were never
forced to face, perceive this truth with a disheartening but unclouded
vision.

Far from home we would to-day celebrate, as usual, the birthday of our
land.  But with heavy hearts we see that this would now seem like a
hollow mockery of something solemn and immemorial.  It were more in
keeping with reality that we burnt incense upon the altars of the
British Baal.

Independence Day without Independence!  The liberty of the seas denied
us for the peaceful Commerce of our entire land and granted us only for
the murderous trafficking of a few men!

Independence Day has dawned for us in alien yet friendly land.  It has
brought to us at least the independence of our minds.

Free from the abominations of the most dastardly campaign of falsehood
that ever disgraced those who began and those who believe it, we have
stripped ourselves of the rags of many perilous illusions.  We see
America as a whole, and we see it with a fatal and terrible clarity.

We see that once again our liberties of thought, of speech, of
intercourse, of trade, are threatened, nay, already seized by the one
ancient enemy that can never be our friend.

With humiliation we behold our principles, our sense of justice trodden
underfoot.  We see the wild straining of the felon arms that would drag
our land into the abyss of the giant Conspiracy and Crime.

We see the foul alliance of gold, murderous iron and debauched paper to
which we have been sold.

We know that our pretenses and ambitions as heralds of peace are
monstrous, so long as we profit through war and human agony.

We see these rivers of blood that have their source in our mills of
slaughter.

The Day of Independence has dawned.

It is a solemn and momentous hour for America,

It is a day on which our people must speak with clear and inexorable
voice, or sit silent in shame.

It is the great hour in which we dare not celebrate our first
Declaration of Independence, because the time has come when we must
proclaim a new one over the corpse of that which has perished.

Berlin, July 4th, 1915.

AN ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA DOCUMENT

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

The League of Truth, however, was but one branch of the intricate
propaganda system.  While it was financed almost entirely by
German-Americans living in Germany who retained their American
passports to keep themselves, or their children, out of the army, all
publications for this bureau were approved by the Foreign Office
censors.  Germans, connected with the organisation, were under
direction of the General Staff or Navy.

In order to have the propaganda really successful some seeds of
discontent had to be sown in the United States, in South America and
Mexico as well as in Spain and other European neutral countries.  For
this outside propaganda, money and an organisation were needed.  The
Krupp ammunition interests supplied the money and the Foreign Office
the organisation.

For nearly two years the American press regularly printed despatches
from the Overseas News Agency.   Some believed they were "official."
This was only half true.  The Krupps had been financing this news
association.  The government had given its support and the two wireless
towers at Sayville, Long Island, and Tuckerton, N. J., were used as
"footholds" on American soil.  These stations were just as much a part
of the Krupp works as the factories at Essen or the shipyards of Kiel.
They were to disseminate the Krupp-fed, Krupp-owned, Krupp-controlled
news, of the Overseas News Agency.

When the Overseas despatches first reached the United States the
newspapers printed them in a spirit of fairness.  They gave the other
side, and in the beginning they were more or less accurate.  But when
international relations between the two countries became critical the
news began to be distorted in Berlin.  At each crisis, as at the time
of the sinking of the _Arabic_, the _Ancona_, the _Sussex_ and other
ships, the German censorship prevented the American correspondents from
sending the news as they gathered it in Germany and substituted "news"
which the Krupp interests and the Imperial Foreign Office desired the
American people to believe.  December, 1916, when the German General
Staff began to plan for an unrestricted submarine warfare, especial use
was made of the "Overseas News Agency" to work up sentiment here
against President Wilson.  Desperate efforts were made to keep the
United States from breaking diplomatic relations.  In December and
January last records of the news despatches in the American newspapers
from Berlin show that the Overseas agency was more active than all
American correspondents in Berlin.  Secretary of State Zimmermann,
Under-secretaries von dem Busche and von Stumm gave frequent interviews
to the so-called "representatives of the Overseas News Agency."  It was
all part of a specific Krupp plan, supported by the Hamburg-American
and the North German Lloyd steamship companies, to divide opinion in
the United States so that President Wilson would not be supported if he
broke diplomatic relations.

Germany, as I have pointed out, has been conducting a two-faced
propaganda.  While working in the United States through her agents and
reservists to create the impression that Germany was friendly, the
Government laboured to prepare the German people for war.  The policy
was to make the American people believe Germany would never do anything
to bring the United States into the war, but to convince the German
public that America was not neutral and that President Wilson was
scheming against the German race.  Germany was Janus-headed.  Head
No. 1 said:


"America, you are a great nation.  We want your friendship and
neutrality.  We have close business and blood relations, and these
should not be broken.  Germany is not the barbaric nation her enemies