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OCR
THE FATHERLAND
country that were almost identical in language in which they refer
to an alleged ‘German plot to get possession of the plants making
war materials in order to embarrass the United States in the prose-
cution of its policies.’
“The articles were evidently part of the inspired press campaign
to embarrass the German government in its relations with your gov-
ernment, and were, of course, mischievous fabrications.
“The criticisms directed against our negotiations looking to the
prevention of exports of liquid chlorine to the Allies by buying the
product seems strangely out of place, having regard to the fact that
the British government has from the beginning of the war concluded
contracts in this country wliereby--
"(a) Every American manufacturer of rubber goods and of
woollen goods has been compelled as a condition of securing the
crude rubber or raw wool required in his business to sell his entire
product through a British agency, and has been prevented from
Supplying any part of it to Germany or Austria-Hungary, or from
dealing with any neutral nation except through the British agency.
Copper and Beef Restrictions
“(b) The copper producers of the country have been required to
deal with their output of copper in like manner.
“(c) The packing industries of America have likewise been com-
Delled to withhold their product from neutral countries, as well as
from the enemies of Great Britain, except to the extent to which
Great Britain, through its own agents, may permit such sales.
"(d) Efforts in the same direction are now being made to tie up
the entire cotton crop.
"Does the World regard this course of action on the part of Great
Britain as ‘the meddling by a prevented friendly government with
the domestic affairs of the United States ?'
“It would be difficult to conceive of more liigli-lianded practices
or more flagrant violations of the spirit and intent of your anti-trust
laws than are embodied in these arrangements. Yet when the Ger-
man government endeavors to secure control of the output of a
Single factory, its entirely legitimate action is widely denounced as
amounting to a propaganda ‘involving the United States in the com-
Dlications of the European war.’
"Surely, no reasoning mind can be misled by such manifest evi-
dences of blind partisanship, unfairness and insinceritY- I doubt
Whether the World has ever witnessed a Dubllclly Camlmlgn 0’ 3
secret-service bureau approaching the dimensions, influence and eth-
Ciency of that which is maintained in this country by our cI16mle5-
Denies Fomenting Strikes
"2. In answer to the inference based on certain of theletters that
It 0? any one connected with the German E0"9"1m6nt. has him" 90"‘
Funed in fomenting or encouraging strikes in factories manufactur-
mg war materials, I have only to say that there is no basis for fill)’
Such assertion 0; insinuation. No such transaction or negotiation,
3‘ l5 Suggested by the above-mentioned letter from Mr. Dencken to
Mr. Marlow or by the McLane letter, ever occurred.
“Whilst it is true, as above stated, that all sorts of offers and PTO‘
Dosals were and are being constantly made to me (as they are doubt-
less being made to the representative of the Allies in this c0untI'Y)v
upon that and every other conceivable subject by people-U"l"“0“"'
‘0 us, whom we never took the trouble to answer or investigate, and
‘0 whose proposals we paid not the slightest attention, no such trans-
action as has been sought to be adduced from the one-sided corre-
5P0ndence that has been printed ever took place- 0111' Only Offmsev
On the face of these letters, is that of having permitted unknown
P501316 to write letters to us and of having tl1Cl<5d 9-W31? the lm“‘'5
Instead of consigning them to the waste basket-
"For months past the newspapers have been filled with inspired
l’0mances of our attempts to foment labor troubles, which I am glad
of the opportunity to set at rest. It is quite on a par with the base-
less ind ridiculous assertion that ‘the large tl’3"53Ctl0“5 of Germany
Suggest a weekly expenditure of $2,000,000’ These sens'ational.false-
h00ds follow one another so thick and fast that it is impossible to
dell)’ them if one were disposed to do so.
editorial policy to prevent such attacks.
.63
Germany and The Fatherland
"3. As to T1115 FATIIERLAND2
“No agent or representative of the German government has or
ever had, directly or indirectly, any control over or voice in the or-
ganization, promulgation, publication, management, policy or affairs
of THE FAIHERLAND. The paper was in existence and had, I am
told, a wide circulation as a publication of avowedly pro-German
sympathies, long before Dr. Dernburg or I or any of us came to this
country.
“It so happens that the transaction referred to in Mr. Viereck's
letter of July 1, 1915 (which was entirely legitimate and unobjection-
able), was never carried out, for the reason that Mr. V iereck re-
fused to subscribe to the conditions set forth in that letter. I ex-
plained to him that we were not in sympathy with his attacks upon
the administration, and especially upon the President, and that we
would lend no substantial support to the publication, notwithstanding
any claim to which it might otherwise be entitled because of its pro-
German attitude, unless we could have a sufficient control over its
I did this notwithstanding
our desire to assist a publication that would place the merits of the
German point of view before the American public. Mr. Viereck
declined to permit his policies to be in any way influenced by our
wishes, and much that he has said in his paper has been against our
vigorous and persistent protest. .
“-1. As to the so-called German information service,and the al-
leged newspaper propaganda:
“It is not true that an effort has at anytime been secretly made to
influence American public opinion. The existence of the German
Information Service was publicly announced to all the leading news-
papers of the country upon its inauguration in October last and
has become well known to the public ever since. It was founded
for the purpose, as then stated, of counteracting the partisan news
service that up to that time had been coming via England, in which
the happenings of the war and the conditions in European countries
were being grossly misrepresented to the injury of, Germany.
To Continue’ Propaganda
“The Embassy, which has a natural and legitimate interest that
reliable information regarding Germany should be made available
to the press of this country, has always openly assisted that service
by giving it access to authentic news items and official reports. Ger-
many is and has been avowedly and anxiously seeking and will con-
tinue to seek for its cause the moral support of America and of the
other neutral countries of the world. It believes in the justice of
its cause and will leave no effort untried to place the merits of its
cause before the world-notwithstanding the stupendous obstacles
it will be required to overcome in order to secure a fair hearing at
the bar of enlightened public opinion.
“VVith every means of cable and almost every other form of com-
niuiiicatioii in the hands of its enemies, with all the powerful nuan-
cial interests of the country arrayed against it, with a press bureau
unequalled in the annals of history for efficiency and imagination
working night and day, year in and year out, manufacturing the
most revolting tales of atrocities to poison the public mind, I fail
to see anything reprehensible in the desire of Germany to get its
case before the people whose friendship it has had in the past, and
whose good opinion and sympathetic interest it is anxious to retain.
“This effort it has made in the open and in this it will persevere,
notwithstanding the discouragements put in its way by this latest
attempt to distort its motives and to attribute malign purposes to
legitimate and praiseworthy undertakings. For every dollar that it
has expended in advancing that praiseworthy object, it is safe to
say that thousands of dollars have been expended by our enemies in
subsidizing the sources of information by means of garbled cen-
sored cable reports and by the many subterranean channels that are
open to them, through their control of the news, their vast ex-
penditures and the far-reaching financial interests that are behind
them.
“‘It is because we are frankly solicitous for the good opinion of
your people and resentful of these baseless attacks upon our integ-
rity and the use we have made of American hospitality that I have‘
taken the liberty of trespassing to this extent upon public attention."
