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diff --git a/15770-h/15770-h.htm b/15770-h/15770-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..71c4f2a --- /dev/null +++ b/15770-h/15770-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9900 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Germany, The Next Republic?, by Carl W. Ackerman</title> +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: medium; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +H4 { text-align: left } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + + hr.full { width: 100%; + height: 5px; } + pre {font-size: 8pt;} + +</STYLE> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Germany, The Next Republic?, by Carl W. +Ackerman</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Germany, The Next Republic?</p> +<p>Author: Carl W. Ackerman</p> +<p>Release Date: May 5, 2005 [eBook #15770]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC?***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Al Haines</h3></center><br><br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<BR><BR><BR> + +<TABLE BORDER="5px" CELLPADDING="20px"> +<TR> +<TD> +The title "GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC?" is chosen because the author +believes this must be the goal, the battlecry, of the United States and +her Allies. As long as the Kaiser, his generals and the present +leaders are in control of Germany's destinies the world will encounter +the same terrorism that it has had to bear during the war. Permanent +peace will follow the establishment of a Republic. But the German +people will not overthrow the present government until the leaders are +defeated and discredited. Today the Reichstag Constitutional +committee, headed by Herr Scheidemann, is preparing reforms in the +organic law but so far all proposals are mere makeshifts. The world +cannot afford to consider peace with Germany until the people rule. +The sooner the United States and her Allies tell this to the German +people officially the sooner we shall have peace. + +</TD> +</TR> + + +</TABLE> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="A DOCUMENT CIRCULATED BY "THE LEAGUE OF TRUTH"" BORDER="2" WIDTH="429" HEIGHT="636"> +<H5> +[Frontispiece: A DOCUMENT CIRCULATED BY "THE LEAGUE OF TRUTH"--THE +RED BLOODY HAND ON THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? +</H1> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<center> +<H5>BY</H5> +</center> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CARL W. ACKERMAN +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +NEW YORK +<BR> +GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +1917</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap00"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PREFACE +</H3> + +<P> +I was at the White House on the 29th of June, 1914, when the newspapers +reported the assassination of the Archduke and Archduchess of Austria. +In August, when the first declarations of war were received, I was +assigned by the United Press Associations to "cover" the belligerent +embassies and I met daily the British, French, Belgian, Italian, +German, Austro-Hungarian, Turkish and Japanese diplomats. When +President Wilson went to New York, to Rome, Georgia, to Philadephia and +other cities after the outbreak of the war, I accompanied him as one of +the Washington correspondents. On these journeys and in Washington I +had an opportunity to observe the President, to study his methods and +ideas, and to hear the comment of the European ambassadors. +</P> + +<P> +When the von Tirpitz blockade of England was announced in February, +1915, I was asked to go to London where I remained only one month. +From March, 1915, until the break in diplomatic relations I was the war +correspondent for the United Press within the Central Powers. In +Berlin, Vienna and Budapest, I met the highest government officials, +leading business men and financiers. I knew Secretaries of State Von +Jagow and Zimmermann; General von Kluck, who drove the German first +army against Paris in August, 1914; General von Falkenhayn, former +Chief of the General Staff; Philip Scheidemann, leader of the Reichstag +Socialists; Count Stefan Tisza, Minister President of Hungary and Count +Albert Apponyi. +</P> + +<P> +While my headquarters were in Berlin, I made frequent journeys to the +front in Belgium, France, Poland, Russia and Roumania. Ten times I was +on the battlefields during important military engagements. Verdun, the +Somme battlefield, General Brusiloff's offensive against Austria and +the invasion of Roumania, I saw almost as well as a soldier. +</P> + +<P> +After the sinking of the <I>Lusitania</I> and the beginning of critical +relations with the United States I was in constant touch with James W. +Gerard, the American Ambassador, and the Foreign Office. I followed +closely the effects of American political intervention until February +10th, 1917. Frequent visits to Holland and Denmark gave me the +impressions of those countries regarding President Wilson and the +United States. En route to Washington with Ambassador Gerard, I met in +Berne, Paris and Madrid, officials and people who interpreted the +affairs in these countries. +</P> + +<P> +So, from the beginning of the war until today, I have been at the +strategic points as our relations with Germany developed and came to a +climax. At the beginning of the war I was sympathetic with Germany, +but my sympathy changed to disgust as I watched developments in Berlin +change the German people from world citizens to narrow-minded, +deceitful tools of a ruthless government. I saw Germany outlaw +herself. I saw the effects of President Wilson's notes. I saw the +anti-American propaganda begin. I saw the Germany of 1915 disappear. +I saw the birth of lawless Germany. +</P> + +<P> +In this book I shall try to take the reader from Washington to Berlin +and back again, to show the beginning and the end of our diplomatic +relations with the German government. I believe that the United States +by two years of patience and note-writing, has done more to accomplish +the destruction of militarism and to encourage freedom of thought in +Germany than the Allies did during nearly three years of fighting. The +United States helped the German people think for themselves, but being +children in international affairs, the people soon accepted the +inspired thinking of the government. Instead of forcing their opinions +upon the rulers until results were evident, they chose to follow with +blind faith their military gods. +</P> + +<P> +The United States is now at war with Germany because the Imperial +Government willed it. The United States is at war to aid the movement +for democracy in Germany; to help the German people realize that they +must think for themselves. The seeds of democratic thought which +Wilson's notes sowed in Germany are growing. If the Imperial +Government had not frightened the people into a belief that too much +thinking would be dangerous for the Fatherland, the United States would +not today be at war with the Kaiser's government. Only one thing now +will make the people realize that they must think for themselves if +they wish to exist as a nation and as a race. That is a military +defeat, a defeat on the battlefields of the Kaiser, von Hindenburg and +the Rhine Valley ammunition interests. Only a decisive defeat will +shake the public confidence in the nation's leaders. Only a destroyed +German army leadership will make the people overthrow the group of men +who do Germany's political thinking to-day. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +C. W. A. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +New York, May, 1917. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<TABLE BORDER="5px" CELLPADDING="20px"> +<TR> +<TD> +"Abraham Lincoln said that this Republic could not exist half slave and +half free. Now, with similar clarity, we perceive that the world +cannot exist half German and half free. We have to put an end to the +bloody doctrine of the superior race--to that anarchy which is +expressed in the conviction that German necessity is above all law. We +have to put an end to the German idea of ruthlessness. We have to put +an end to the doctrine that it is right to make every use of power that +is possible, without regard to any restriction of justice, of honour, +of humanity." + +<BR><BR> + +<I>New York Tribune,<BR> +April 7, 1917.</I> +</TD> +</TR> +</TABLE> + + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H3> + +<CENTER> + +<TABLE WIDTH="80%"> +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="85%"> +<a href="#chap00">PREFACE +</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="85%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="85%"> +<a href="#chap01">MOBILIZATION OF PUBLIC OPINION +</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="85%"> +<a href="#chap02">"PIRATES SINK ANOTHER NEUTRAL SHIP" +</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="85%"> +<a href="#chap03">THE GULF BETWEEN KIEL AND BERLIN +</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="85%"> +<a href="#chap04">THE HATE CAMPAIGN AGAINST AMERICA +</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="85%"> +<a href="#chap05">THE DOWNFALL OF VON TIRPITZ AND VON FALKENHAYN +</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="85%"> +<a href="#chap06">THE PERIOD OF NEW ORIENTATION +</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="85%"> +<a href="#chap07">THE BUBBLING ECONOMIC VOLCANO +</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="85%"> +<a href="#chap08">THE PEACE DRIVE OF DECEMBER 12TH +</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="85%"> +<a href="#chap09">THE BERNHARDI OF THE SEAS +</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="85%"> +<a href="#chap10">THE OUTLAWED NATION +</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="85%"> +<a href="#chap11">THE UNITED STATES AT WAR +</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="85%"> +<a href="#chap12">PRESIDENT WILSON +</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="15%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="85%"> +<a href="#chap13">APPENDIX +</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</H2> + +<H4> +<a href="#img-front"> +A DOCUMENT CIRCULATED BY "THE LEAGUE OF TRUTH"--THE RED BLOODY HAND ON +THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE . . . Frontispiece +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<a href="#img-026"> +FIRST PAGE OF THE AUTHOR'S PASSPORT +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<a href="#img-044"> +A "BERLIN" EXTRA +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<a href="#img-075"> +BLOOD-TRAFFICKERS +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<a href="#img-080"> +FIRST PAGE OF THE MAGAZINE "LIGHT AND TRUTH" +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<a href="#img-085"> +AN ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA DOCUMENT +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<a href="#img-124"> +GOTT STRAFE ENGLAND +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<a href="#img-140"> +THIS IS THE PHOTOGRAPH OF VON HINDENBURG WHICH EVERY GERMAN HAS IN HIS +HOME +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<a href="#img-149"> +THE FOOD SITUATION AT A GLANCE +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<a href="#img-172"> +THE POPE TO PRESIDENT WILSON----"HOW CAN MY PEACE ANGEL FLY, MR. +PRESIDENT, WHEN YOU ALWAYS PUT SHELLS IN HER POCKETS?" +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<a href="#img-183"> +"GOD WILL NOT PERMIT THE GERMAN PEOPLE TO GO DOWN" +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<a href="#img-196"> +THE NEW WEATHER CAPE +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<a href="#img-202"> +CHART SHOWING TONNAGE OF SHIPS SUNK BY GERMAN SUBMARINES FROM REAR +ADMIRAL HOLLWEG'S BOOK +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<a href="#img-220"> +AN ADVERTISEMENT IN THE BERLIN "DEUTSCHE TAGES-ZEITUNG" FOR THE +BOOK--"PRESIDENT BLUFF" MEANING PRESIDENT WILSON +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<a href="#img-239"> +THE KAISER'S NEW YEAR ORDER TO THE ARMY AND NAVY +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<a href="#img-248"> +SCHWAB TO MR. WILSON--"FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, GREAT LITTLE LEADER, THE +WHOLE PLACE WILL BLOW UP IF YOU SMOKE HERE!" +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<a href="#img-260"> +"THE NEW OLD PRESIDENT. LONG LIVE AMERICA! LONG LIVE PEACE! LONG +LIVE THE AMMUNITION FACTORIES!" +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<a href="#img-269"> +THE WILSON WILL +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<a href="#img-274"> +THE AUTHOR'S CARD OF ADMISSION TO THE REICHSTAG ON APRIL 5TH, 1916 +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<a href="#img-282"> +AMBASSADOR GERARD ARRIVING IN PARIS +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<a href="#img-288"> +A POST-CARD FROM GENERAL VON KLUCK +</A> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? +</H1> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MOBILIZATION OF PUBLIC OPINION +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H3> + +<P> +The Haupttelegraphenamt (the Chief Telegraph Office) in Berlin is the +centre of the entire telegraph system of Germany. It is a large, brick +building in the Franzoesischestrasse guarded, day and night, by +soldiers. The sidewalks outside the building are barricaded. Without +a pass no one can enter. Foreign correspondents in Berlin, when they +had telegrams to send to their newspapers, frequently took them from +the Foreign Office to the Chief Telegraph Office personally in order to +speed them on their way to the outside world. The censored despatches +were sealed in a Foreign Office envelope. With this credential +correspondents were permitted to enter the building and the room where +all telegrams are passed by the military authorities. +</P> + +<P> +During my two years' stay in Berlin I went to the telegraph office +several times every week. Often I had to wait while the military +censor read my despatches. On a large bulletin board in this room, I +saw, and often read, documents posted for the information of the +telegraph officials. During one of my first waiting periods I read an +original document relating to the events at the beginning of the war. +This was a typewritten letter signed by the Director of the Post and +Telegraph. Because I was always watched by a soldier escort, I could +never copy it. But after reading it scores of times I soon memorised +everything, including the periods. +</P> + +<P> +This document was as follows: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> + Office of the Imperial Post & Telegraph<BR> + August 2nd, 1914. +</P> + +<P> + Announcement No. 3. +</P> + +<P> +To the Chief Telegraph Office: +</P> + +<P> +From to-day on, the Post and Telegraph communications between Germany +on the one hand and: +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1. England,<BR> + 2. France,<BR> + 3. Russia,<BR> + 4. Japan,<BR> + 5. Belgium,<BR> + 6. Italy,<BR> + 7. Montenegro,<BR> + 8. Servia,<BR> + 9. Portugal; +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +on the other hand are interrupted because Germany finds herself in a +state of war. +</P> + +<P> +(Signed) Director of the Post and Telegraph. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +This notice, which was never published, shows that the man who directed +the Post and Telegraph Service of the Imperial Government knew on the +2nd of August, 1914, who Germany's enemies would be. Of the eleven +enemies of Germany to-day only Roumania and the United States were not +included. If the Director of the Post and Telegraph knew what to +expect, it is certain that the Imperial Government knew. This +announcement shows that Germany expected war with nine different +nations, but at the time it was posted on the bulletin board of the +Haupttelegraphenamt, neither Italy, Japan, Belgium nor Portugal had +declared war. Italy did not declare war until nearly a year and a half +afterwards, Portugal nearly two years afterward and Japan not until +December, 1914. +</P> + +<P> +This document throws an interesting light upon the preparations Germany +made for a world war. +</P> + +<P> +The White, Yellow, Grey and Blue Books, which all of the belligerents +published after the beginning of the war, dealt only with the attempts +of these nations to prevent the war. None of the nations has as yet +published white books to show how it prepared for war, and still, every +nation in Europe had been expecting and preparing for a European +conflagration. Winston Churchill, when he was First Lord of the +Admiralty, stated at the beginning of the war that England's fleet was +mobilised. France had contributed millions of francs to fortify the +Russian border in Poland, although Germany had made most of the guns. +Belgium had what the Kaiser called, "a contemptible little army" but +the soldiers knew how to fight when the invaders came. Germany had new +42 cm. guns and a network of railroads which operated like shuttles +between the Russian and French and Belgian frontiers. Ever since 1870 +Europe had been talking war. Children were brought up and educated +into the belief that some day war would come. Most people considered +it inevitable, although not every one wanted it. +</P> + +<P> +During the exciting days of August, 1914, I was calling at the +belligerent embassies and legations in Washington. Neither M. +Jusserand, the French Ambassador, nor Sir Cecil Spring-Rice, the +British Ambassador, nor Count von Bernstorff, the Kaiser's +representative, were in Washington then. But it was not many weeks +until all three had hastened to this country from Europe. Almost the +first act of the belligerents was to send their envoys to Washington. +</P> + +<P> +As I met these men I was in a sense an agent of public opinion who +called each day to report the opinions of the belligerents to the +readers of American newspapers. One day at the British Embassy I was +given copies of the White Book and of many other documents which Great +Britain had issued to show how she tried to avoid the war. In +conversations later with Ambassador von Bernstorff, I was given the +German viewpoint. +</P> + +<P> +The thing which impressed me at the time was the desire of these +officials to get their opinions before the American people. But why +did these ambassadors want the standpoints of their governments +understood over here? Why was the United States singled out of all +other neutrals? If all the belligerents really wanted to avoid war, +why did they not begin twenty years before, to prevent it, instead of, +to prepare for it? +</P> + +<P> +All the powers issued their official documents for one primary +purpose--to win public opinion. First, it was necessary for each +country to convince its own people that their country was being +attacked and that their leaders had done everything possible to avoid +war. Even in Europe people would not fight without a reason. The +German Government told the people that unless the army was mobilised +immediately Russia would invade and seize East Prussia. England, +France and Belgium explained to their people that Germany was out to +conquer the world by way of Belgium and France. But White Books were +not circulated alone in Europe; they were sent by the hundreds of +thousands into the United States and translated into every known +language so that the people of the whole world could read them. +</P> + +<P> +Then the word battles between the Allies and the Central Powers began +in the United States. While the soldiers fought on the battlefields of +Belgium, France, East Prussia and Poland, an equally bitter struggle +was carried on in the United States. In Europe the object was to stop +the invaders. In America the goal was public opinion. +</P> + +<P> +It was not until several months after the beginning of the war that Sir +Edward Grey and Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg began to discuss what +the two countries had done before the war, to avoid it. The only thing +either nation could refer to was the 1912 Conference between Lord +Haldane and the Chancellor. This was the only real attempt made by the +two leading belligerents to come to an understanding to avoid +inevitable bloodshed. Discussions of these conferences were soon +hushed up in Europe because of the bitterness of the people against +each other. The Hymn of Hate had stirred the German people and the +Zeppelin raids were beginning to sow the seeds of determination in the +hearts of the British. It was too late to talk about why the war was +not prevented. So each set of belligerents had to rely upon the +official documents at the beginning of the war to show what was done to +avoid it. +</P> + +<P> +These White Books were written to win public opinion. But why were the +people <I>suddenly</I> taken into the confidence of their governments? Why +had the governments of England, France, Germany and Russia not been so +frank before 1914? Why had they all been interested in making the +people speculate as to what would come, and how it would come about? +Why were all the nations encouraging suspicion? Why did they always +question the motives, as well as the acts, of each other? Is it +possible that the world progressed faster than the governments and that +the governments suddenly realised that public opinion was the biggest +factor in the world? Each one knew that a war could not be waged +without public support and each one knew that the sympathy of the +outside world depended more upon public opinion than upon business or +military relations. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H3> + +<P ALIGN="center"> +How America Was Shocked by the War +</P> + +<P> +Previous to July, 1914, the American people had thought very little +about a European war. While the war parties and financiers of Europe +had been preparing a long time for the conflict, people over here had +been thinking about peace. Americans discussed more of the +possibilities of international peace and arbitration than war. +Europeans lived through nothing except an expectancy of war. Even the +people knew who the enemies might be. The German government, as the +announcement of the Post and Telegraph Director shows, knew nine of its +possible enemies before war had been declared. So it was but natural, +when the first reports reached the United States saying that the +greatest powers of Europe were engaged in a death struggle, that people +were shocked and horrified. And it was but natural for thousands of +them to besiege President Wilson with requests for him to offer his +services as a mediator. +</P> + +<P> +The war came, too, during the holiday season in Europe. Over 90,000 +Americans were in the war zones. The State Department was flooded with +telegrams. Senators and Congressmen were urged to use their influence +to get money to stranded Americans to help them home. The 235 U.S. +diplomatic and consular representatives were asked to locate Americans +and see to their comfort and safety. Not until Americans realised how +closely they were related to Europe could they picture themselves as +having a direct interest in the war. Then the stock market began to +tumble. The New York Stock Exchange was closed. South America asked +New York for credit and supplies, and neutral Europe, as well as China +in the Far East, looked to the United States to keep the war within +bounds. Uncle Sam became the Atlas of the world and nearly every +belligerent requested this government to take over its diplomatic and +consular interests in enemy countries. Diplomacy, commerce, finance +and shipping suddenly became dependent upon this country. Not only the +belligerents but the neutrals sought the leadership of a nation which +could look after all the interests, except those of purely military and +naval operations. The eyes of the world centred upon Washington. +President Wilson, as the official head of the government, was signalled +out as the one man to help them in their suffering and to listen to +their appeals. The belligerent governments addressed their protests +and their notes to Wilson. Belgium sent a special commission to gain +the President's ear. The peace friends throughout the world, even +those in the belligerent countries, looked to Wilson for guidance and +help. +</P> + +<P> +In August, 1914, Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, the President's wife, was +dangerously ill. I was at the White House every day to report the +developments there for the United Press. On the evening of the 5th of +August Secretary Tumulty called the correspondents and told them that +the President, who was deeply distressed by the war, and who was +suffering personally because of his wife's illness, had written at his +wife's bedside the following message: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"As official head of one of the powers signatory to The Hague +Convention, I feel it to be my privilege and my duty, under Article III +of that Convention, to say to you in the spirit of most earnest +friendship that I should welcome an opportunity to act in the interests +of European peace, either now or at any other time that might be +thought more suitable, as an occasion to serve you and all concerned in +a way that would afford me lasting cause for gratitude and happiness. +</P> + +<P> + "(Signed) WOODROW WILSON." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The President's Secretary cabled this to the Emperors of Germany and +Austria-Hungary; the King of England, the Czar of Russia and the +President of France. The President's brief note touched the chord of +sympathy of the whole world; but it was too late then to stop the war. +European statesmen had been preparing for a conflict. With the public +support which each nation had, each government wanted to fight until +there was a victory. +</P> + +<P> +One of the first things which seemed to appeal to President Wilson was +the fact that not only public opinion of Europe, but of America, sought +a spokesman. Unlike Roosevelt, who led public opinion, unlike Taft, +who disregarded it, Wilson took the attitude that the greatest force in +the world was public opinion. He believed public opinion was greater +than the presidency. He felt that he was the man the American people +had chosen to interpret and express their opinion. Wilson's policy was +to permit public opinion to rule America. Those of us who spent two +years in Germany could see this very clearly. +</P> + +<P> +The President announced the plank for his international policy when he +spoke at the annual meeting of the American Bar Association, at +Washington, shortly after the war began. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-026"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-026.jpg" ALT="First page of the author's passport" BORDER="2" WIDTH="450" HEIGHT="639"> +<H5> +[Illustration: First page of the author's passport.] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"<I>The opinion of the world is the mistress of the world</I>," he said, +"and the processes of international law are the slow processes by which +opinion works its will. What impresses me is the constant thought that +that is the tribunal at the bar of which we all sit. I would call your +attention, incidentally, to the circumstance that it does not observe +the ordinary rules of evidence; which has sometimes suggested to me +that the ordinary rules of evidence had shown some signs of growing +antique. Everything, rumour included, is heard in this court, and the +standard of judgment is not so much the character of the testimony as +the character of the witness. The motives are disclosed, the purposes +are conjectured and that opinion is finally accepted which seems to be, +not the best founded in law, perhaps, but the best founded in integrity +of character and of morals. That is the process which is slowly +working its will upon the world; and what we should be watchful of is +not so much jealous interests as sound principles of action. The +disinterested course is not alone the biggest course to pursue; but it +is in the long run the most profitable course to pursue. If you can +establish your character you can establish your credit. +</P> + +<P> +"Understand me, gentlemen, I am not venturing in this presence to +impeach the law. For the present, by the force of circumstances, I am +in part the embodiment of the law and it would be very awkward to +disavow myself. But I do wish to make this intimation, that in this +time of world change, in this time when we are going to find out just +how, in what particulars, and to what extent the real facts of human +life and the real moral judgments of mankind prevail, it is worth while +looking inside our municipal law and seeing whether the judgments of +the law are made square with the moral judgments of mankind. For I +believe that we are custodians of the spirit of righteousness, of the +spirit of equal handed justice, of the spirit of hope which believes in +the perfectibility of the law with the perfectibility of human life +itself. +</P> + +<P> +"Public life, like private life, would be very dull and dry if it were +not for this belief in the essential beauty of the human spirit and the +belief that the human spirit should be translated into action and into +ordinance. Not entire. You cannot go any faster than you can advance +the average moral judgment of the mass, but you can go at least as fast +as that, and you can see to it that you do not lag behind the average +moral judgments of the mass. I have in my life dealt with all sorts +and conditions of men, and I have found that the flame of moral +judgment burns just as bright in the man of humble life and limited +experience as in the scholar and man of affairs. And I would like his +voice always to be heard, not as a witness, not as speaking in his own +case, but as if he were the voice of men in general, in our courts of +justice, as well as the voice of the lawyers, remembering what the law +has been. My hope is that, being stirred to the depths by the +extraordinary circumstances of the time in which we live, we may +recover from those steps something of a renewal of that vision of the +law with which men may be supposed to have started out in the old days +of the oracles, who commune with the intimations of divinity." +</P> + +<P> +Before this war, very few nations paid any attention to public opinion. +France was probably the beginner. Some twenty years before 1914, +France began to extend her civilisation to Russia, Italy, the Balkans +and Syria. In Roumania, today, one hears almost as much French as +Roumanian spoken. Ninety per cent of the lawyers in Bucharest were +educated in Paris. Most of the doctors in Roumania studied in France. +France spread her influence by education. +</P> + +<P> +The very fact that the belligerents tried to mobilise public opinion in +the United States in their favour shows that 1914 was a milestone in +international affairs. This was the first time any foreign power ever +attempted to fight for the good will--the public opinion--of this +nation. The governments themselves realised the value of public +opinion in their own boundaries, but when the war began they realised +that it was a power inside the realms of their neighbours, too. +</P> + +<P> +When differences of opinion developed between the United States and the +belligerents the first thing President Wilson did was to publish all +the documents and papers in the possession of the American government +relating to the controversy. The publicity which the President gave +the diplomatic correspondence between this government and Great Britain +over the search and seizure of vessels emphasised in Washington this +tendency in our foreign relations. At the beginning of England's +seizure of American merchantmen carrying cargoes to neutral European +countries, the State Department lodged individual protests, but no heed +was paid to them by the London officials. Then the United States made +public the negotiations seeking to accomplish by publicity what a +previous exchange of diplomatic notes failed to do. +</P> + +<P> +Discussing this action of the President in an editorial on "Diplomacy +in the Dark," the New York <I>World</I> said: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"President Wilson's protest to the British Government is a clear, +temperate, courteous assertion of the trade rights of neutral countries +in time of war. It represents not only the established policy of the +United States but the established policy of Great Britain. It voices +the opinion of practically all the American people, and there are few +Englishmen, even in time of war, who will take issue with the +principles upheld by the President. Yet a serious misunderstanding was +risked because it is the habit of diplomacy to operate in the dark. +</P> + +<P> +"Fortunately, President Wilson by making the note public prevented the +original misunderstanding from spreading. But the lesson ought not to +stop there. Our State Department, as Mr. Wickersham recently pointed +out in a letter to the <I>World</I>, has never had a settled policy of +publicity in regard to our diplomatic affairs. No Blue Books or White +Books are ever issued. What information the country obtains must be +pried out of the Department. This has been our diplomatic policy for +more than a century, and it is a policy that if continued will some day +end disastrously." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Speaking in Atlanta in 1912, President Wilson stated that this +government would never gain another foot of territory by conquest. +This dispelled whatever apprehension there was that the United States +might seek to annex Mexico. Later, in asking Congress to repeal the +Panama Tolls Act of 1912, the President said the good will of Europe +was a more valuable asset than commercial advantages gained by +discriminatory legislation. +</P> + +<P> +Thus at the outset of President Wilson's first administration, foreign +powers were given to understand that Mr. Wilson believed in the power +of public opinion; that he favoured publicity as a means of +accomplishing what could not be done by confidential negotiations; that +he did not believe in annexation and that he was ready at any time to +help end the war. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H3> + +<P ALIGN="center"> +Before the Blockade +</P> + +<P> +President Wilson's policy during the first six months of the war was +one of impartiality and neutrality. The first diplomatic +representative in Washington to question the sincerity of the executive +was Dr. Constantine Dumba, the exiled Austro-Hungarian Ambassador, who +was sent to the United States because he was not a noble, and, +therefore, better able to understand and interpret American ways! He +asked me one day whether I thought Wilson was neutral. He said he had +been told the President was pro-English. He believed, he said, that +everything the President had done so far showed he sympathised with the +Entente. While we were talking I recalled what the President's +stenographer, Charles L. Swem, said one day when we were going to New +York with the President. +</P> + +<P> +"I am present at every conference the President holds," he stated. "I +take all his dictation. I think he is the most neutral man in America. +I have never heard him express an opinion one way or the other, and if +he had I would surely know of it." +</P> + +<P> +I told Dr. Dumba this story, which interested him, and he made no +comments. +</P> + +<P> +As I was at the White House nearly every day I had an opportunity to +learn what the President would say to callers and friends, although I +was seldom privileged to use the information. Even now I do not recall +a single statement which ever gave me the impression that the President +sided with one group of belligerents. +</P> + +<P> +The President's sincerity and firm desire for neutrality was emphasised +in his appeal to "My Countrymen." +</P> + +<P> +"The people of the United States," he said, "are drawn from many +nations, and chiefly from the nations now at war. It is natural and +inevitable that there should be the utmost variety of sympathy and +desire among them with regard to the issues and circumstances of the +conflict. Some will wish one nation, others another, to succeed in the +momentous struggle. It will be easy to excite passion and difficult to +allay it. Those responsible for exciting it will assume a heavy +responsibility, responsibility for no less a thing than that the people +of the United States, whose love of their country and whose loyalty to +the government should unite them as Americans all, bound in honour and +affection to think first of her and her interests, may be divided in +camps of hostile opinion, hot against each other, involved in the war +itself in impulse and opinion, if not in action. +</P> + +<P> +"My thought is of America. I am speaking, I feel sure, the earnest +wish and purpose of every thoughtful American that this great country +of ours, which is of course the first in our thoughts and in our +hearts, should show herself in this time of peculiar trial a nation fit +beyond others to exhibit the fine poise of undisturbed judgment, the +dignity of self-control, the efficiency of dispassionate action; a +nation that neither sits in judgment upon others nor is disturbed in +her own counsels and which keeps herself fit and free to do what is +honest and disinterested and truly serviceable for the peace of the +world." +</P> + +<P> +Many Americans believed even early in the war that the United States +should have protested against the invasion of Belgium. Others thought +the government should prohibit the shipments of war supplies to the +belligerents. America <I>was</I> divided by the great issues in Europe, but +the great majority of Americans believed with the President, that the +best service Uncle Sam could render would be to help bring about peace. +</P> + +<P> +Until February, 1915, when the von Tirpitz submarine blockade of +England was proclaimed, only American interests, not American lives, +had been drawn into the war. But when the German Admiralty announced +that neutral as well as belligerent ships in British waters would be +sunk without warning, there was a new and unexpected obstacle to +neutrality. The high seas were as much American as British. The +oceans were no nation's property and they could not justly be used as +battlegrounds for ruthless warfare by either belligerent. +</P> + +<P> +Germany, therefore, was the first to challenge American neutrality. +Germany was the first to threaten American lives. Germany, which was +the first to show contempt for Wilson, forced the President, as well as +the people, to alter policies and adapt American neutrality to a new +and grave danger. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +"PIRATES SINK ANOTHER NEUTRAL SHIP" +</H3> + +<P> +On February 4th, 1915, the <I>Reichsanzeiger</I>, the official newspaper of +Germany, published an announcement declaring that from the 18th of +February "all the waters surrounding Great Britain and Ireland as well +as the entire English channel are hereby declared to be a war area. +All ships of the enemy mercantile marine found in these waters will be +destroyed and it will not always be possible to avoid danger to the +crews and passengers thereon. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Neutral shipping is also in danger in the war area</I>, as owing to the +secret order issued by the British Admiralty January 31st, 1915, +regarding the misuse of neutral flags, and the chances of naval +warfare, it can happen that attacks directed against enemy ships may +damage neutral vessels. +</P> + +<P> +"The shipping route around the north of The Shetlands in the east of +the North Sea and over a distance of thirty miles along the coast of +The Netherlands will not be dangerous." +</P> + +<P> +Although the announcement was signed by Admiral von Pohl, Chief of the +Admiralty Staff, the real author of the blockade was Grand Admiral von +Tirpitz. In explanation of the announcement the Teutonic-Allied, +neutral and hostile powers were sent a memorandum which contained the +following paragraph: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"The German Government announces its intention in good time so that +hostile <I>as well as neutral</I> ships can take necessary precautions +accordingly. Germany expects that the neutral powers will show the +same consideration for Germany's vital interests as for those of +England, and will aid in keeping their citizens and property from this +area. This is the more to be expected, as it must be to the interests +of the neutral powers to see this destructive war end as soon as +possible." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +On February 12th the American Ambassador, James W. Gerard, handed +Secretary of State von Jagow a note in which the United States said: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"This Government views these possibilities with such grave concern that +it feels it to be its privilege, and indeed its duty in the +circumstances, to request the Imperial German Government to consider +before action is taken the critical situation in respect of the +relations between this country and Germany which might arise were the +German naval officers, in carrying out the policy foreshadowed in the +Admiralty's proclamation, to destroy any merchant vessel of the United +States or cause the death of American citizens. +</P> + +<P> +"It is of course unnecessary to remind the German Government that the +sole right of a belligerent in dealing with neutral vessels on the high +seas is limited to visit and search, unless a blockade is proclaimed +and effectively maintained, which the Government of the United States +does not understand to be proposed in this case. To declare and +exercise the right to attack and destroy any vessel entering a +prescribed area of the high seas without first accurately determining +its belligerent nationality and the contraband character of its cargo, +would be an act so unprecedented in naval warfare that this Government +is reluctant to believe that the Imperial German Government in this +case contemplates it as possible." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +I sailed from New York February 13th, 1915, on the first American +passenger liner to run the von Tirpitz blockade. On February 20th we +passed Queenstown and entered the Irish Sea at night. Although it was +moonlight and we could see for miles about us, every light on the ship, +except the green and red port and starboard lanterns, was extinguished. +As we sailed across the Irish Sea, silently and cautiously as a muskrat +swims on a moonlight night, we received a wireless message that a +submarine, operating off the mouth of the Mersey River, had sunk an +English freighter. The captain was asked by the British Admiralty to +stop the engines and await orders. Within an hour a patrol boat +approached and escorted us until the pilot came aboard early the next +morning. No one aboard ship slept. Few expected to reach Liverpool +alive, but the next afternoon we were safe in one of the numerous snug +wharves of that great port. +</P> + +<P> +A few days later I arrived in London. As I walked through Fleet street +newsboys were hurrying from the press rooms carrying orange-coloured +placards with the words in big black type: "Pirates Sink Another +Neutral Ship." +</P> + +<P> +Until the middle of March I remained in London, where the wildest +rumours were afloat about the dangers off the coast of England, and +where every one was excited and expectant over the reports that Germany +was starving. I was urged by friends and physicians not to go to +Germany because it was universally believed in Great Britain that the +war would be over in a very short time. On the 15th of March I crossed +from Tilbury to Rotterdam. At Tilbury I saw pontoon bridges across the +Thames, patrol boats and submarine chasers rushing back and forth +watching for U-boats, which might attempt to come up the river. I +boarded the <I>Batavia IV</I> late at night and left Gravesend at daylight +the next morning for Holland. Every one was on deck looking for +submarines and mines. The channel that day was as smooth as a small +lake, but the terrible expectation that submarines might sight the +Dutch ship made every passenger feel that the submarine war was as real +as it was horrible. +</P> + +<P> +On the 17th of March, arriving at the little German border town of +Bentheim, I met for the first time the people who were already branded +as "Huns and Barbarians" by the British and French. Officers and +people, however, were not what they had been pictured to be. Neither +was Germany starving. The officials and inspectors were courteous and +patient and permitted me to take into Germany not only British +newspapers, but placards which pictured the Germans as pirates. Two +days later, while walking down Unter den Linden, poor old women, who +were already taking the places of newsboys, sold German extras with +streaming headlines: "British Ships Sunk. Submarine War Successful." +In front of the <I>Lokal Anzeiger</I> building stood a large crowd reading +the bulletins about the progress of the von Tirpitz blockade. +</P> + +<P> +For luncheon that day I had the choice of as many foods as I had had in +London. The only thing missing was white bread, for Germany, at the +beginning of the war, permitted only Kriegsbrot (war bread) to be baked. +</P> + +<P> +All Berlin streets were crowded and busy. Military automobiles, +auto-trucks, big moving vans, private automobiles, taxi-cabs and +carriages hurried hither and thither. Soldiers and officers, seemingly +by the thousands, were parading up and down. Stores were busy. Berlin +appeared to be as normal as any other capital. Even the confidence of +Germany in victory impressed me so that in one of my first despatches I +said: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Germany to-day is more confident than ever that all efforts of her +enemies to crush her must prove in vain. With a threefold offensive, +in Flanders, in Galicia and in northwest Russia, being successfully +prosecuted, there was a spirit of enthusiasm displayed here in both +military and civilian circles that exceeded even the stirring days +immediately following the outbreak of the war. +</P> + +<P> +"Flags are flying everywhere to-day; the Imperial standards of Germany +and Austria predominate, although there is a goodly showing of the +Turkish Crescent. Bands are playing as regiment after regiment passes +through the city to entrain for the front. Through Wilhelmstrasse the +soldiers moved, their hats and guns decorated with fragrant flowers and +with mothers, sisters and sweethearts clinging to and encouraging them." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +A few weeks before I arrived the Germans were excited over the shipment +of arms and ammunitions from the United States to the Allies, but by +the time I was in Berlin the situation seemed to have changed. On +April 4th I telegraphed the following despatch which appeared in the +<I>Evening Sun</I>, New York: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"The spirit of animosity towards Americans which swept Germany a few +weeks ago seems to have disappeared. The 1,400 Americans in Berlin and +those in the smaller cities of Germany have little cause to complain of +discourteous treatment. Americans just arriving in Berlin in +particular comment upon the friendliness of their reception. The +Germans have been especially courteous, they declare, on learning of +their nationality. Feeling against the United States for permitting +arms to be shipped to the Allies still exists, but I have not found +this feeling extensive among the Germans. Two American doctors +studying in German clinics declare that the wounded soldiers always +talk about 'Amerikanische keugel' (American bullets), but it is my +observation that the persons most outspoken against the sale of +ammunition to the Allies by American manufacturers are the American +residents of Berlin." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Two weeks later the situation had changed considerably. On the 24th I +telegraphed: "Despite the bitter criticism of the United States by +German newspapers for refusing to end the traffic in munitions, it is +semi-officially explained that this does not represent the real views +of the German Government. The censor has been instructed to permit the +newspapers to express themselves frankly on this subject and on +Secretary Bryan's reply to the von Bernstorff note, but it has been +emphasised that their views reflect popular opinion and the editorial +side of the matter and not the Government. +</P> + +<P> +"The <I>Lokal Anzeiger</I>, following up its attack of yesterday, to-day +says: +</P> + +<P> +"'The answer of the United States is no surprise to Germany and +naturally it fails to convince Germany that a flourishing trade in +munitions of war is in accord with strict neutrality. The German +argument was based upon the practice of international law, but the +American reply was based upon the commercial advantages enjoyed by the +ammunition shippers.'" +</P> + +<P> +April 24th was von Tirpitz day. It was the anniversary of the entrance +of the Grand Admiral in the German Navy fifty years before, and the +eighteenth anniversary of his debut in the cabinet, a record for a +German Minister of Marine. There was tremendous rejoicing throughout +the country, and the Admiral, who spent his Prussian birthday at the +Navy Department, was overwhelmed with congratulations. Headed by the +Kaiser, telegrams came from every official in Germany. The press paid +high tribute to his blockade, declaring that it was due to him alone +that England was so terror-stricken by submarines. +</P> + +<P> +I was not in Germany very long until I was impressed by the remarkable +control the Government had on public opinion by censorship of the +press. People believe, without exception, everything they read in the +newspapers. And I soon discovered that the censor was so accustomed to +dealing with German editors that he applied the same standards to the +foreign correspondents. A reporter could telegraph not what he +observed and heard, but what the censors desired American readers to +hear and know about Germany. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-044"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-044.jpg" ALT="A Berlin "Extra"" BORDER="2" WIDTH="440" HEIGHT="622"> +<H5> +[Illustration: A Berlin "Extra"] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +I was in St. Quentin, France (which the Germans on their 1917 +withdrawal set on fire) at the headquarters of General von Below, when +news came May 8th that the <I>Lusitania</I> was torpedoed. I read the +bulletins as they arrived. I heard the comments of the Germans who +were waging war in an enemy country. I listened as they spoke of the +loss of American and other women and children. I was amazed when I +heard them say that a woman had no more right on the <I>Lusitania</I> than +she would have on an ammunition wagon on the Somme. The day before I +was in the first line trenches on the German front which crossed the +road running from Peronne to Albert. At that time this battlefield, +which a year and a half later was destined to be the scene of the +greatest slaughter in history, was as quiet and beautiful as this +picturesque country of northern France was in peace times. Only a few +trenches and barbed wire entanglements marred the scene. +</P> + +<P> +On May 9th I left St. Quentin for Brussels. Here I was permitted by +the General Government to send a despatch reflecting the views of the +German army in France about the sinking of the <I>Lusitania</I>. I wrote +what I thought was a fair article. I told how the bulletin was posted +in front of the Hotel de Ville; how the officers and soldiers marching +to and away from the front stopped, read, smiled and congratulated each +other because the Navy was at last helping the Army "win the war." +There were no expressions of regret over the loss of life. These +officers and soldiers had seen so many dead, soldiers and civilians, +men and women, in Belgium and France that neither death nor murder +shocked them. +</P> + +<P> +The telegram was approved by the military censor and forwarded to +Berlin. I stayed in Belgium two days longer, went to Louvain and Liége +and reached Berlin May 12th. The next day I learned at the Foreign +Office that my despatch was stopped because it conflicted with the +opinions which the German Government was sending officially by wireless +to Washington and to the American newspapers. I felt that this was +unfair, but I was subject to the censorship and had no appeal. +</P> + +<P> +I did not forget this incident because it showed a striking difference +of opinion between the army, which was fighting for Germany, and the +Foreign Office, which was explaining and excusing what the Army and +Navy did. The Army always justified the events in Belgium, but the +Foreign Office did not. And this was the first incident which made me +feel that even in Germany, which was supposed to be united, there were +differences of opinion. +</P> + +<P> +In September, 1915, while the German army was moving against Russia +like a surging sea, I was invited to go to the front near Vilna. +During the intervening months I had observed and recorded as much as +possible the growing indignation in Germany because the United States +permitted the shipment of arms and ammunition to the Allies. In June I +had had an interview with Secretary of State von Jagow, in which he +protested against the attitude of the United States Government and said +that America was not acting as neutral as Germany did during the +Spanish-American war. He cited page 168 of Andrew D. White's book in +which Ambassador White said he persuaded Germany not to permit a German +ship laden with ammunition and consigned for Spain to sail. I thought +that if Germany had adopted such an attitude toward America, that in +justice to Germany Washington should adopt the same position. After +von Jagow gave me the facts in possession of the Foreign Office and +after he had loaned me Mr. White's book, I looked up the data. I found +to my astonishment that Mr. White reported to the State Department that +a ship of ammunition sailed from Hamburg, and that he had not +protested, although the Naval Attaché had requested him to do so. The +statements of von Jagow and Mr. White's in his autobiography did not +agree with the facts. Germany did send ammunition to Spain, but +Wilhelmstrasse was using Mr. White's book as proof that the Krupp +interests did not supply our enemy in 1898. The latter part of +September I entered Kovno, the important Russian fortress, eight days +after the army captured it. I was escorted, together with other +foreign correspondents, from one fort to another and shown what the 42 +cm. guns had destroyed. I saw 400 machine guns which were captured and +1,300 pieces of heavy artillery. The night before, at a dinner party, +the officers had argued against the United States because of the +shipment of supplies to Russia. They said that if the United States +had not aided Russia, that country would not have been able to resist +the invaders. I did not know the facts, but I accepted their +statements. When I was shown the machine guns, I examined them and +discovered that every one of the 400 was made at Essen or Magdeburg, +Germany. Of the 1,300 pieces of artillery every cannon was made in +Germany except a few English ship guns. Kovno was fortified by +<I>German</I> artillery, not American. +</P> + +<P> +A few days later I entered Vilna; this time I was moving with the +advance column. At dinner that night with General von Weber, the +commander of the city, the subject of American arms and ammunition was +again brought up. The General said they had captured from the Russians +an American machine gun. He added that they were bringing it in from +Smorgon to show the Americans. When it reached us the stamp, written +in English, showed that it was manufactured by Vickers Limited, +England. Being unable to read English, the officer who reported the +capture thought the gun was made in the United States. +</P> + +<P> +In Roumania last December I followed General von Falkenhayn's armies to +the forts of Bucharest. On Thanksgiving Day I crossed by automobile +the Schurduck Pass. The Roumanians had defended, or attempted to +defend, this road by mounting armoured guns on the crest of one of the +mountain ranges in the Transylvanian Alps. I examined a whole position +here and found all turrets were made in Germany. +</P> + +<P> +I did not doubt that the shipment of arms and ammunition to the Allies +had been a great aid to them. (I was told in Paris, later, on my way +to the United States that if it had not been for the American +ammunition factories France would have been defeated long ago.) But +when Germany argued that the United States was not neutral in +permitting these shipments to leave American ports, Germany was +forgetting what her own arms and munition factories had done <I>for +Germany's enemies</I>. When the Krupp works sold Russia the defences for +Kovno, the German Government knew these weapons would be used against +Germany some day, because no nation except Germany could attack Russia +by way of that city. When Krupps sold war supplies to Roumania, the +German Government knew that if Roumania joined the Allies these +supplies would be used against German soldiers. But the Government was +careful not to report these facts in German newspapers. And, although +Secretary of State von Jagow acknowledged to Ambassador Gerard that +there was nothing in international law to justify a change in +Washington's position, von Jagow's statements were not permitted to be +published in Germany. +</P> + +<P> +To understand Germany's resentment over Mr. Wilson's interference with +the submarine warfare, three things must be taken into consideration. +</P> + +<P> +1. The Allies' charge that all Germans are "Huns and Barbarians." +</P> + +<P> +2. The battle of the Marne and the shipment of arms and ammunition from +the United States. +</P> + +<P> +3. The intrigue and widening breach between the Army and Navy and the +Foreign Office. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H3> + +<P> +One weapon the Allies used against Germany, which was more effective +than all others, was the press. When the English and French indicted +the Germans as "Barbarians and Huns," as "pirates," and "uncivilised" +Europeans, it cut the Germans to the quick; it affected men and women +so terribly that Germans feared these attacks more than they did the +combined military might of their enemies. This is readily understood +when one realises that before the war the thing the Germans prided +themselves on was their commerce and their civilisation,--their Kultur. +Before the war, the world was told by every German what the nation had +done for the poor; what strides the scientists had made in research +work and what progress the business men had made in extending their +commerce at the expense of competitors. +</P> + +<P> +While some government officials foresaw the disaster which would come +to Germany if this national vanity was paraded before the whole world, +their advice and counsel were ignored. Consul General Kiliani, the +Chief German official in Australia before the war, told me he had +reported repeatedly to the Foreign Office that German business men were +injuring their own opportunities by bragging so much of what they had +done, and what they would do. He said if it continued the whole world +would be leagued against Germany; that public opinion would be so +strong against German goods that they would lose their markets. +Germany made the whole world fear her commercial might by this foolish +bragging. +</P> + +<P> +So when the war broke out and Germans were attacked for being +uncivilised in Belgium, for breaking treaties and for disregarding the +opinion of the world, it was but natural that German vanity should +resent it. Germans feared nothing but God and public opinion. They +had such exalted faith in their army they believed they could gain by +Might what they had lost in prestige throughout the world. This is one +of the reasons the German people arose like one man when war was +declared. They wished and were ready to show the world that they were +the greatest people ever created. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H3> + +<P> +The German explanation of why they lost the battle of the Marne is +interesting, not alone because of the explanation of the defeat, but +because it shows why the shipment of arms and ammunition from the +United States was such a poisonous pill to the army. Shortly after my +arrival in Berlin Dr. Alfred Zimmermann, then Under Secretary of State, +said the greatest scandal in Germany after the war would be the +investigation of the reasons for the shortage of ammunition in +September, 1914. He did not deny that Germany was prepared for a great +war. He must have known at the time what the Director of the Post and +Telegraph knew on the 2nd of August, 1914, when he wrote Announcement +No. 3. The German Army must have known the same thing and if it had +prepared for war, as every German admits it had, then preparations were +made to fight nine nations. But there was one thing which Germany +failed to take into consideration, Zimmermann said, and that was the +shipment of supplies from the United States. Then, he added, there +were two reasons why the battle of the Marne was lost: one, because +there was not sufficient ammunition; and, two, because the reserves +were needed to stop the Russian invasion of East Prussia. I asked him +whether Germany did not have enormous stores of ammunition on hand when +the war began. He said there was sufficient ammunition for a short +campaign, but that the Ministry of War had not mobilised sufficient +ammunition factories to keep up the supplies. He said this was the +reason for the downfall of General von Herringen, who was Minister of +War at the beginning of hostilities. +</P> + +<P> +After General von Kluck was wounded and returned to his villa in +Wilmersdorf, a suburb of Berlin, I took a walk with him in his garden +and discussed the Marne. He confirmed what Zimmermann stated about the +shortage of ammunition and added that he had to give up his reserves to +General von Hindenburg, who had been ordered by the Kaiser to drive the +Russians from East Prussia. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H3> + +<P> +At the very beginning of the war, although no intimations were +permitted to reach the outside world, there was a bitter controversy +between the Foreign Office, as headed by the Chancellor von +Bethmann-Hollweg; the Navy Department, headed by Grand Admiral von +Tirpitz, and General von Moltke, Chief of the General Staff. The +Chancellor delayed mobilisation of the German Army three days. For +this he never has and never will be forgiven by the military +authorities. During those stirring days of July and August, when +General von Moltke, von Tirpitz, von Falkenhayn, Krupps and the Rhine +Valley Industrial leaders were clamouring for war and for an invasion +of Belgium, the Kaiser was being urged by the Chancellor and the +Foreign Office to heed the proposals of Sir Edward Grey for a Peace +Conference. But the Kaiser, who was more of a soldier than a +statesman, sided with his military friends. The war was on, not only +between Germany and the Entente, but between the Foreign Office and the +Army and Navy. This internal fight which began in July, 1914, became +Germany's bitterest struggle and from time to time the odds went from +one side to another. The Army accused the diplomats of blundering in +starting the war. The Foreign Office replied that it was the lust for +power and victory which poisoned the military leaders which caused the +war. Belgium was invaded against the counsel of the Foreign Office. +But when the Chancellor was confronted with the actual invasion and the +violation of the treaty, he was compelled by force of circumstance, by +his position and responsibility to the Kaiser to make his famous speech +in the Reichstag in which he declared: "Emergency knows no law." +</P> + +<P> +But when the allied fleet swept German ships from the high seas and +isolated a nation which had considered its international commerce one +of its greatest assets, considerable animosity developed between the +Army and Navy. The Army accused the Navy of stagnation. Von Tirpitz, +who had based his whole naval policy upon a great navy, especially upon +battleship and cruiser units, was confronted by his military friends +with the charge that he was not prepared. As early as 1908 von Tirpitz +had opposed the construction of submarines. Speaking in the Reichstag +when naval appropriations were debated, he said Germany should rely +upon a battleship fleet and not upon submarines. But when he saw his +great inactive Navy in German waters, he switched to the submarine idea +of a blockade of England. In February, 1915, he announced his +submarine blockade of England with the consent of the Kaiser, but +without the approval of the Foreign Office. +</P> + +<P> +By this time the cry, "Gott strafe England," had become the most +popular battle shout in Germany. The von Tirpitz blockade announcement +made this battlecry real. It made him the national hero. The German +press, which at that time was under three different censors, turned its +entire support over night to the von Tirpitz plan. The Navy +Department, which even then was not only anti-British but +anti-American, wanted to sink every ship on the high seas. When the +United States lodged its protests on February 12th the German Navy +wanted to ignore it. The Foreign Office was inclined to listen to +President Wilson's arguments. Even the people, while they were +enthusiastic for a submarine war, did not want to estrange America if +they could prevent it. The von Tirpitz press bureau, which knew that +public opposition to its plan could be overcome by raising the cry that +America was not neutral in aiding the Allies with supplies, launched an +anti-American campaign. It came to a climax one night when Ambassador +Gerard was attending a theatre party. As he entered the box he was +recognised by a group of Germans who shouted insulting remarks because +he spoke English. Then some one else remarked that America was not +neutral by shipping arms and ammunition. +</P> + +<P> +The Foreign Office apologised the next day but the Navy did not. And, +instead of listening to the advice of Secretary of State von Jagow, the +Navy sent columns of inspired articles to the newspapers attacking +President Wilson and telling the German people that the United States +had joined the Entente in spirit if not in action. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE GULF BETWEEN KIEL AND BERLIN +</H3> + +<P> +At the beginning of the war, even the Socialist Party in the Reichstag +voted the Government credits. The press and the people unanimously +supported the Government because there was a very terrorising fear that +Russia was about to invade Germany and that England and France were +leagued together to crush the Fatherland. Until the question of the +submarine warfare came up, the division of opinion which had already +developed between the Army and Navy clique and the Foreign Office was +not general among the people. Although the army had not taken Paris, a +great part of Belgium and eight provinces of Northern France were +occupied and the Russians had been driven from East Prussia. The +German people believed they were successful. The army was satisfied +with what it had done and had great plans for the future. Food and +economic conditions had changed very little as compared to the changes +which were to take place before 1917. Supplies were flowing into +Germany from all neutral European countries. Even England and Russia +were selling goods to Germany indirectly through neutral countries. +Considerable English merchandise, as well as American products, came in +by way of Holland because English business men were making money by the +transaction and because the English Government had not yet discovered +leaks in the blockade. Two-thirds of the butter supply in Berlin was +coming from Russia. Denmark was sending copper. Norway was sending +fish and valuable oils. Sweden was sending horses and cattle. Italy +was sending fruit. Spanish sardines and olives were reaching German +merchants. There was no reason to be dissatisfied with the way the war +was going. And, besides, the German people hated their enemies so that +the leaders could count upon continued support for almost an indefinite +period. The cry of "Hun and Barbarian" was answered with the battle +cry "Gott strafe England." +</P> + +<P> +The latter part of April on my first trip to the front I dined at Great +Headquarters (Grosse Haupt Quartier) in Charleville, France, with Major +Nicolai, Chief of the Intelligence Department of the General Staff. +The next day, in company with other correspondents, we were guests of +General von Moehl and his staff at Peronne. From Peronne we went to +the Somme front to St. Quentin, to Namur and Brussels. The soldiers +were enthusiastic and happy. There was plenty of food and considerable +optimism. But the confidence in victory was never so great as it was +immediately after the sinking of the <I>Lusitania</I>. That marked the +crisis in the future trend of the war. +</P> + +<P> +Up to this time the people had heard very little about the fight +between the Navy and the Foreign Office. But gradually rumours spread. +While there was previously no outlet for public opinion, the +<I>Lusitania</I> issue was debated more extensively and with more vigour +than the White Books which were published to explain the causes of the +war. +</P> + +<P> +With the universal feeling of self confidence, it was but natural that +the people should side with the Navy in demanding an unrestricted +submarine warfare. When Admiral von Bachmann gave the order to First +Naval Lieutenant Otto Steinbrink to sink the Lusitania, he knew the +Navy was ready to defy the United States or any other country which +might object. He knew, too, that von Tirpitz was very close to the +Kaiser and could count upon the Kaiser's support in whatever he did. +The Navy believed the torpedoing of the Lusitania would so frighten and +terrorise the world that neutral shipping would become timid and enemy +peoples would be impressed by Germany's might on the seas. Ambassador +von Bernstorff had been ordered by the Foreign Office to put notices in +the American papers warning Americans off these ships. The Chancellor +and Secretary von Jagow knew there was no way to stop the Admiralty, +and they wanted to avoid, if possible, the loss of American lives. +</P> + +<P> +The storm of indignation which encircled the globe when reports were +printed that over a thousand people lost their lives on the Lusitania, +found a sympathetic echo in the Berlin Foreign Office. "Another navy +blunder," the officials said--confidentially. Foreign Office officials +tried to conceal their distress because the officials knew the only +thing they could do now was to make preparation for an apology and try +to excuse in the best possible way what the navy had done. On the 17th +of May like a thunderbolt from a clear sky came President Wilson's +first Lusitania note. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Recalling the humane and enlightened attitude hitherto assumed by the +Imperial German Government in matters of international life, +particularly with regard to the freedom of the seas; having learned to +recognise German views and German influence in the field of +international obligations as always engaged upon the side of justice +and humanity;" the note read, "and having understood the instructions +of the Imperial German Government to its naval commanders to be upon +the same plane of human action as those prescribed by the naval codes +of other nations, the government of the United States is loath to +believe--it cannot now bring itself to believe--that these acts so +absolutely contrary to the rules and practices and spirit of modern +warfare could have the countenance or sanction of that great +government. . . . Manifestly submarines cannot be used against +merchantmen as the last few weeks have shown without an inevitable +violation of many sacred principles of justice and humanity. American +citizens act within their indisputable rights in taking their ships and +in travelling wherever their legitimate business calls them upon the +high seas, and exercise those rights in what should be a well justified +confidence that their lives will not be endangered by acts done in +clear violation of universally acknowledged international obligations +and certainly in the confidence that their own government will sustain +them in the exercise of their rights." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +And then the note which Mr. Gerard handed von Jagow concluded with +these words: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"It (The United States) confidently expects therefore that the Imperial +German Government will disavow the acts of which the United States +complains, that they will make reparation as far as reparation is +possible for injuries which are without measure, and that they will +take immediate steps to prevent the recurrence of anything so obviously +subversive of the principles of warfare, for which the Imperial German +Government in the past so wisely and so firmly contended. The +Government and people of the United States look to the Imperial German +Government for just, prompt and enlightened action in this vital +matter. . . . Expressions of regret and offers of reparation in the +case of neutral ships sunk by mistake, while they may satisfy +international obligations if no loss of life results, cannot justify or +excuse a practice, the natural necessary effect of which is to subject +neutral nations or neutral persons to new and immeasurable risks. The +Imperial German Government will not expect the Government of the United +States to omit any word, or any act, necessary to the performance of +its sacred duty of maintaining the rights of the United States and its +citizens, and of safeguarding their free exercise and enjoyment." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Never in history had a neutral nation indicted another as the United +States did Germany in its first <I>Lusitania</I> note without immediately +going to war. Because the Foreign Office feared the reaction it might +have upon the people, the newspapers were not permitted to publish the +text until the press bureaus of the Navy and the Foreign Office had +mobilised the editorial writers and planned a publicity campaign to +follow the note's publication. But the Navy and Foreign Office could +not agree on what should be done. The Navy wanted to ignore Wilson. +Naval officers laughed at President Wilson's impertinence and, when the +Foreign Office sent to the Admiralty for all data in possession of the +Navy Department regarding the sinking of the <I>Lusitania</I> the Navy +refused to acknowledge the request. +</P> + +<P> +During this time I was in constant touch with the Foreign Office and +the American Embassy. Frequently I went to the Navy Department but was +always told they had nothing to say. When it appeared, however, that +there might he a break in diplomatic relations over the Lusitania the +Kaiser called the Chancellor to Great Headquarters for a conference. +Meanwhile Germany delayed her reply to the American note because the +Navy and Foreign Office were still at loggerheads. On the 31st of May +von Jagow permitted me to quote him in an interview saying: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"America can hardly expect us to give up any means at our disposal to +fight our enemy. It is a principle with us to defend ourselves in +every possible way. I am sure that Americans will be reasonable enough +to believe that our two countries cannot discuss the <I>Lusitania</I> matter +<I>until both have the same basis of facts</I>." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The American people were demanding an answer from Germany and because +the two branches of the Government could not agree on what should be +said von Jagow had to do something to gain time. Germany, therefore, +submitted in her reply of the 28th of May certain facts about the +<I>Lusitania</I> for the consideration of the American Government saying +that Germany reserved final statements of its position with regard "to +the demands made in connection with the sinking of the <I>Lusitania</I> +until a reply was received from the American Government." After the +note was despatched the chasm between the Navy and Foreign Office was +wider than ever. Ambassador Gerard, who went to the Foreign Office +daily, to try to convince the officials that they were antagonising the +whole world by their attitude on the <I>Lusitania</I> question, returned to +the Embassy one day after a conference with Zimmermann and began to +prepare a scrap book of cartoons and clippings from American +newspapers. Two secretaries were put to work pasting the comments, +interviews, editorials and cartoons reflecting American opinion in the +scrap book. Although the German Foreign Office had a big press +department its efforts were devoted more to furnishing the outside +world with German views than with collecting outside opinions for the +information of the German Government. Believing that this information +would be of immeasurable benefit to the German diplomats in sounding +the depths of public sentiment in America, Gerard delivered the book to +von Jagow personally. +</P> + +<P> +In the meantime numerous conferences were held at Great Headquarters. +Financiers, business men and diplomats who wanted to keep peace with +America sided with the Foreign Office. Every anti-American influence +in the Central Powers joined forces with the Navy. The <I>Lusitania</I> +note was printed and the public discussion which resulted was greater +than that which followed the first declarations of war in August, 1914. +The people, who before had accepted everything their Government said, +began to think for themselves. One heard almost as much criticism as +praise of the <I>Lusitania</I> incident. For the first time the quarrel, +which had been nourished between the Foreign Office and the Admiralty, +became nation-wide and forces throughout Germany lined up with one side +or the other. But the Navy Department was the cleverer of the two. +The press bureau sent out inspired stories that the submarines were +causing England a loss of a million dollars a week. They said that +every week the Admiralty was launching two U-boats. It was stated that +reliable reports to Admiral von Tirpitz proved the high toll taken by +the submarines in two weeks had struck terror to the hearts of English +ship-owners. The newspapers printed under great headlines: "Toll of +Our Tireless U-Boats," the names and tonnage of ships lost. The press +bureau pointed to the rise in food prices in Great Britain and France. +The public was made to feel a personal pride in submarine exploits. +And at the same time the Navy editorial writers brought up the old +issue of American arms and ammunition to further embitter the people. +</P> + +<P> +Thus the first note which President Wilson wrote in the <I>Lusitania</I> +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. +</P> + +<P> +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 <I>Lokal Anzeiger</I>, the <I>Berliner Tageblatt</I>, +the <I>Cologne Gazette</I>, the <I>Frankforter Zeitung</I>, the <I>Hamburger +Fremdemblatt</I>, and the <I>Vorwärts</I>. +</P> + +<P> +The Navy had the support of Count Reventlow, Naval Critic of the +<I>Deutsche Tageszeitung</I>, the <I>Täglische Rundscha</I>, the <I>Vossische +Zeitung</I>, the <I>Morgen Post</I>, the <I>B. Z. Am Mittag</I>, the <I>Münchener +Neueste Nachrichten</I>, the <I>Rheinische Westfälische Zeitung</I>, and the +leading Catholic organ, the <I>Koelnische Volks-Zeitung</I>. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +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 <I>Arabic</I>. +</P> + +<P> +President Wilson's note in the <I>Arabic</I> 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: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"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 <I>Lusitania</I> and +the <I>Arabic</I>. 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 <I>Tribune</I>, August +29th, 1915.) +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"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." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +A few days later the Manchester, England, <I>Guardian</I> arrived containing +my article, headed as follows: +</P> + +<BR> + +<CENTER> +<P> + HOLLWEG'S CHANGE OF TUNE +</P> + +<P> + Respect for Scraps of Paper +</P> + +<P> + LAW AT SEA +</P> + +<P> + Insists on Warning by Submarines +</P> + +<P> + TIRPITZ PARTY BEATEN +</P> + +<P> + Kaiser Expected to Approve New Policy +</P> + +</CENTER> + +<P> + "New York, Sunday. +</P> + +<P> +"Cables from Mr. Carl W. Ackerman, Berlin correspondent of the United +Press published here, indicate that the real crisis following the +<I>Arabic</I> is in Germany, not America. He writes: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"The Berlin Foreign Office is unalterably opposed to submarine +activity, such as evidenced by the <I>Arabic</I> 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. +</P> + +<P> +"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. +</P> + +<P> +"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. +</P> + +<P> +"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. +</P> + +<P> +"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 +<I>Lusitania</I> case, which remained unsettled following President Wilson's +last note to Germany. +</P> + +<P> +"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." +</P> + +<P> + +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 <I>Guardian</I>. 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. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE HATE CAMPAIGN AGAINST AMERICA +</H3> + +<P> +While Germany was professing her friendship for the United States in +every note written following the sinking of the <I>Lusitania</I>, 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. +</P> + +<P> +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 <I>Arabic</I> 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. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as the military attaches reached Berlin and reported this to +Washington they were recalled. +</P> + +<BR> + +<CENTER> +<A NAME="img-075"></A> +<TABLE WIDTH="80%" BORDER="5px" CELLPADDING="20px"> +<TR> +<TD> +<H4 ALIGN="center"> + BLOOD-TRAFFICKERS +</H4> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Cowards, who kill three thousand miles away,<BR> + See the long lines of shrouded forms increase!<BR> + Yours is this work, disguise it as you may;<BR> + But for your greed the world were now at peace. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Month after month your countless chimneys roar,--<BR> + Slaughter your object, and your motive gain;<BR> + Look at your money,--it is wet with gore<BR> + Nothing can cleanse it from the loathsome stain. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + You, who prolong this hideous hell on earth,<BR> + Making a by-word of your native land,<BR> + Stripped of your wealth, how paltry is your worth!<BR> + See how men shrink from contact with your hand! +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + There is pollution in your blood-smeared gold,<BR> + There is corruption in your pact with Death,<BR> + There is dishonor in the lie, oft-told,<BR> + Of your "Humanity"! 'Tis empty breath. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + What shall it profit you to heap on high,<BR> + Makers of orphans! a few millions more,<BR> + When you must face them--those you caused to die,<BR> + And God demands of you to pay your score? +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + He is not mocked; His vengeance doth not sleep;<BR> + His cup of wrath He lets you slowly fill;<BR> + What you have sown, that also shall you reap;<BR> + God's law is adamant,--"Thou shalt not kill"! +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Think not to plead:--"I did not act alone,"<BR> + "Custom allows it," and "My dead were few";<BR> + Each hath his quota; yonder are your own!<BR> + See how their fleshless fingers point at you, at you! +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + You, to whose vaults this wholesale murder yields<BR> + Mere needless increments of ghoulish gain,<BR> + Count up your corpses on these blood-soaked fields!<BR> + Hear . . . till your death . . . your victims' moans of pain! +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Then, when at night you, sleepless, fear to pray,<BR> + Watch the thick, crimson stream draw near your bed,<BR> + And shriek with horror, till the dawn of day<BR> + Shall find you raving at your heaps of dead! +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + JOHN L. STODDARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + The League of Truth<BR> + Head Offices for Germany:<BR> + Berlin W<BR> + 40 Potsdamer Str. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + July 4th, 1916. Printed by Barthe & Co., Berlin W. +</P> + +</TD> +</TR> +</TABLE> +</CENTER> + +<BR> + +<P> +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: +</P> + +<P> +"As for you gentlemen, the best thing you can do is to tell your +country to stop shipping arms and ammunition." +</P> + +<P> +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: +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me, do they insult you in Berlin like this?" +</P> + +<P> +I replied that I seldom encountered such antagonism in Berlin; that it +was chiefly the army which was anti-American. +</P> + +<P> +"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. +</P> + +<P> +Shortly after the sinking of the <I>Lusitania</I> 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: +</P> + +<P> +"God punish England and America." For some weeks this rubber stamp was +used very effectively. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +The year and a half between the sinking of the <I>Lusitania</I> 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. +</P> + +<P> +It was often said in Berlin, "Germany hates England, fights France, +fears Russia but loathes America." No one, not even American +officials, questioned it. +</P> + +<P> +The hate campaign was bearing fruit. +</P> + +<P> +In January, 1916, there appeared in Berlin a publication called <I>Light +and Truth</I>. 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: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> + WILSON AND HIS PRESS IS NOT AMERICA +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Underneath was this paragraph: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"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." +</P> + +<A NAME="img-080"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-080.jpg" ALT=" First page of the magazine "Light and Truth"" BORDER="2" WIDTH="395" HEIGHT="629"> +<H5> +[Illustration: First page of the magazine "Light and Truth"] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +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 <I>League of Truth</I>, which had +purchased and placed the insult there. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +Week by week the league continued its propaganda. Gerard continued his +investigation. +</P> + +<P> +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.) +</P> + +<P> +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: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"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. <I>This applies especially to the +German-American</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>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. . . .</I> +</P> + +<P> +"Numberless millions of men are forced to look upon a loathsome +spectacle. <I>It is that of certain individuals in America; to whom a +great nation has temporarily intrusted its weal and woe</I>, supporting a +few multi-millionaires and their dependents, setting at +naught--unpunished--the revered document of the Fourth of July, 1776, +and daring to <I>barter away the birthright of the white race</I>. . . . 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." +</P> + +<P> +Gerard's investigation showed that a group of German-Americans in +Berlin were financing the <I>League of Truth</I>; that a man named William +F. Marten, who posed as an American, was the head, and that the editors +and writers of the publication <I>Light and Truth</I> 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. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +The next day Germany was flooded with letters from "The League of +Truth," saying: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"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." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +After this incident Gerard called upon von Jagow again and demanded the +immediate suppression of the third number of <I>Light and Truth</I>. 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: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"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." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +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: +</P> + +<CENTER> +<A NAME="img-085"></A> +<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="5px" CELLPADDING="20px"> +<TR> +<TD> +<P CLASS="noindent"> +A NEW DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE +</P> + +<P> +Seven score years have elapsed since those great words were forged that +welded us into a nation upon many fiery battlefields. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +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! +</P> + +<P> +Independence Day has dawned for us in alien yet friendly land. It has +brought to us at least the independence of our minds. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +We see the foul alliance of gold, murderous iron and debauched paper to +which we have been sold. +</P> + +<P> +We know that our pretenses and ambitions as heralds of peace are +monstrous, so long as we profit through war and human agony. +</P> + +<P> +We see these rivers of blood that have their source in our mills of +slaughter. +</P> + +<P> +The Day of Independence has dawned. +</P> + +<P> +It is a solemn and momentous hour for America, +</P> + +<P> +It is a day on which our people must speak with clear and inexorable +voice, or sit silent in shame. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +Berlin, July 4th, 1915. +</P> + +<CENTER> +<P> +<B>AN ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA DOCUMENT</B> +</P> +</CENTER> + +</TD> +</TR> +</TABLE> +</CENTER> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +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. +</P> + +<P> +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 <I>Arabic</I>, the <I>Ancona</I>, the <I>Sussex</I> 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. +</P> + +<P> +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: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"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 +picture her." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Head No. 2, turned toward the German people, said: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Germans, President Wilson is anti-German. He wants to prevent us from +starting an unlimited submarine war. America has never been neutral, +because Washington permits the ammunition factories to supply the +Allies. These factories are killing your relatives. We have millions +of German-Americans who will support us. It will not be long until +Mexico will declare war on the United States, and our reservists will +fight for Mexico. Don't be afraid if Wilson breaks diplomatic +relations." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The German press invasion of America began at the beginning of the war. +Dr. Dernburg was the first envoy. He was sent to New York by the same +Foreign Office officials and the same Krupp interests which control the +Overseas agency. Having failed here, he returned to Berlin. There was +only one thing to save German propaganda in America. That was to +mobolise the Sayville and Tuckerton wireless stations, and Germany did +it immediately. +</P> + +<P> +At the beginning of the war, when the British censors refused the +American correspondents in Germany the right of telegraphing to the +United States via England, the Berlin Government granted permission to +the United Press, The Associated Press and the <I>Chicago Daily News</I> to +send wireless news via Sayville. At first this news was edited by the +correspondents of these associations and newspapers in Berlin. Later, +when the individual correspondents began to demand more space on the +wireless, the news sent jointly to these papers was cut down. This +unofficial league of American papers was called the "War-Union." The +news which this union sent was German, but it was written by trained +American writers. When the Government saw the value of this service to +the United States it began to send wireless news of its own. Then the +Krupp interests appeared, and the Overseas News Agency was organised. +At that moment the Krupp invasion of the United States began and +contributed 800,000 marks annually to this branch of propaganda alone. +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Hammann, for ten years chief of the Berlin Foreign Office +propaganda department, was selected as president of the Overseas News +Agency. The Krupp interests, which had been subscribing 400,000 marks +annually to this agency, subscribed the same amount to the reorganised +company. Then, believing that another agency could be organised, +subscribed 400,000 marks more to the Transocean News Agency. Because +there was so much bitterness and rivalry between the officials of the +two concerns, the Government stepped in and informed the Overseas News +Agency that it could send only "political news," while the Trans-ocean +was authorised to send "economic and social news" via Sayville and +Tuckerton. +</P> + +<P> +This news, however, was not solely for the United States. Krupp's eyes +were on Mexico and South America, so agents were appointed in +Washington and New York to send the Krupp-bred wireless news from New +York by cable to South America and Mexico. Obviously the same news +which was sent to the United States could not be telegraphed to Mexico +and South America, because Germany had a different policy toward these +countries. The United States was on record against an unlimited +submarine warfare. Mexico and South America were not. Brazil, which +has a big German population, was considered an un-annexed German +colony. News to Brazil, therefore, had to be coloured differently than +news to New York. Some of the colouring was done in Berlin; some in +New York by Krupp's agents here. As a result of Germany's anti-United +States propaganda in South America and Mexico, these countries did not +follow President Wilson when he broke diplomatic relations with Berlin. +While public sentiment might have been against Germany, it was, to a +certain degree, antagonistic to the United States. +</P> + +<P> +Obviously, Germany had to have friends in this country to assist her, +or what was being done would be traced too directly to the German +Government. So Germany financed willing German-Americans in their +propaganda schemes. And because no German could cross the ocean except +with a falsified neutral passport, Germany had to depend upon +German-Americans with American passports to bring information over. +These German-Americans, co-operating with some of the Americans in +Berlin, kept informing the Foreign Office, the army and navy as well as +influential Reichstag members that the real power behind the government +over here was not the press and public opinion but the nine million +Americans who were directly or indirectly related to Germany. During +this time the Government felt so sure that it could rely upon the +so-called German-Americans that the Government considered them as a +German asset whenever there was a submarine crisis. +</P> + +<P> +When Henry Morgenthau, former American Ambassador to Turkey, passed +through Berlin, en route to the United States, he conferred with +Zimmermann, who was then Under Secretary of State. During the course +of one of their conversations Zimmermann said the United States would +never go to war with Germany, "because the German-Americans would +revolt." That was one of Zimmermann's hobbies. Zimmermann told other +American officials and foreign correspondents that President Wilson +would not be able to bring the United States to the brink of war, +because the "German-Americans were too powerful." +</P> + +<P> +But Zimmermann was not making these statements upon his own authority. +He was being kept minutely advised about conditions here through the +German spy system and by German-American envoys, who came to Berlin to +report on progress the German-Americans were making here in politics +and in Congress. +</P> + +<P> +Zimmermann was so "dead sure" he was right in expecting a large portion +of Americans to be disloyal that one time during a conversation with +Ambassador Gerard he said that he believed Wilson was only bluffing in +his submarine notes. When Zimmermann was Under Secretary of State I +used to see him very often. His conversation would contain questions +like these: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, how is your English President? Why doesn't your President do +something against England?" +</P> + +<P> +Zimmermann was always in close touch with the work of Captains von +Papen and Boy-Ed when they were in this country. He was one of the +chief supports of the little group of intriguers in Berlin who directed +German propaganda here. Zimmermann was the man who kept Baron Mumm von +Schwarzenstein, former Ambassador to Tokyo, in the Foreign Office in +Berlin as chief of foreign propaganda and intrigue in America and +China. Mumm had been here as Minister Extra-ordinary several years ago +and knew how Germany's methods could be used to the best purpose, +namely, to divide American sentiment. Then, when Zimmermann succeeded +Jagow he ousted Mumm because Mumm had become unpopular with higher +Government authorities. +</P> + +<P> +One day in Berlin, just before the recall of the former German military +and naval attaches in Washington, I asked Zimmermann whether Germany +sanctioned what these men had been doing. He replied that Germany +approved everything they had done "because they had done nothing more +than try to keep America out of the war; to prevent American goods +reaching the Allies and to persuade Germans and those of German descent +not to work in ammunition factories." The same week I overheard in a +Berlin cafe two reserve naval officers discuss plans for destroying +Allied ships sailing from American ports. One of these men was an +escaped officer of an interned liner at Newport News. He had escaped +to Germany by way of Italy. That afternoon when I saw Ambassador +Gerard I told him of the conversation of these two men, and also what +Zimmermann had said. The Ambassador had just received instructions +from Washington about Boy-Ed and von Papen. +</P> + +<P> +Gerard was furious. +</P> + +<P> +"Go tell Zimmermann," he said, "for God's sake to leave America alone. +If he keeps this up he'll drag us into the war. The United States +won't stand this sort of thing indefinitely." +</P> + +<P> +That evening I went back to the Foreign Office and saw Zimmermann for a +few minutes. I asked him why it was that Germany, which was at peace +with the United States, was doing everything within her power to make +war. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Germany is not doing anything to make you go to war," he replied. +"Your President seems to want war. Germany is not responsible for what +the German-Americans are doing. They are your citizens, not ours. +Germany must not be held responsible for what those people do." +</P> + +<P> +Had it not been for the fact that the American Government was fully +advised about Zimmermann's intrigues in the United States this remark +might be accepted on its face. The United States knew that Germany was +having direct negotiations with German-Americans in the United States. +Men came to Germany with letters of introduction from leading +German-Americans here, with the expressed purpose of trying to get +Germany to stop its propaganda here. What they did do was to assure +Germany that the German-Americans would never permit the United States +to be drawn into the war. Because of their high recommendations from +Germans here some of them had audiences with the Kaiser. +</P> + +<P> +Germany had been supporting financially some Americans, as the State +Department has proof of checks which have been given to American +citizens for propaganda and spy work. +</P> + +<P> +I know personally of one instance where General Director Heinicken, of +the North German-Lloyd, gave an American in Berlin $1,000 for his +reports on American conditions. The name cannot be mentioned because +there are no records to prove the transaction, although the man +receiving this money came to me and asked me to transmit $250 to his +mother through the United Press office. I refused. +</P> + +<P> +When Zimmermann began to realise that Germany's threatening propaganda +in the United States and Germany's plots against American property were +not succeeding in frightening the United States away from war, he began +to look forward to the event of war. He saw, as most Germans did, that +it would be a long time before the United States could get forces to +Europe in a sufficient number to have a decisive effect upon the war. +He began to plan with the General Staff and the Navy to league Mexico +against America for two purposes. One, Germany figured that a war with +Mexico would keep the United States army and navy busy over here. +Further, Zimmermann often said to callers that if the United States +went to war with Mexico it would not be possible for American factories +to send so much ammunition and so many supplies to the Allies. +</P> + +<P> +German eyes turned to Mexico. As soon as President Wilson recognised +Carranza as President, Germany followed with a formal recognition. +Zubaran Capmany, who had been Mexican representative in Washington, was +sent to Berlin as Carranza's Minister. Immediately upon his arrival +Zimmermann began negotiations with him. Reports of the negotiations +were sent to Washington. The State Department was warned that unless +the United States solved the "Mexican problem" immediately Germany +would prepare to attack us through Mexico. German reservists were +tipped off to be ready to go to Mexico upon a moment's notice. Count +von Bernstorff and the German Consuls in the United States were +instructed, and Bernstorff, who was acting as the general director of +German interests in North and South America, was told to inform the +German officials in the Latin-American countries. At the same time +German financial interests began to purchase banks, farms and mines in +Mexico. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE DOWNFALL OF VON TIRPITZ AND VON FALKENHAYN +</H3> + +<P> +After the sinking of the <I>Arabic</I> the German Foreign Office intimated +to the United States Government and to the American correspondents that +methods of submarine warfare would be altered and that ships would be +warned before they were torpedoed. But when the Navy heard that the +Foreign Office was inclined to listen to Mr. Wilson's protests it made +no attempt to conceal its opposition. Gottlieb von Jagow, the +Secretary of State, although he was an intimate friend of the Kaiser +and an officer in the German Army, was at heart a pacifist. Every time +an opportunity presented itself he tried to mobilise the peace forces +of the world to make peace. From time to time, the German financiers +and propaganda leaders in the United States, as well as influential +Germans in the neutral European countries, sent out peace "feelers." +Von Jagow realised that the sooner peace was made, the better it would +be for Germany and the easier it would be for the Foreign Office to +defeat the military party at home. He saw that the more victories the +army had and the more victories it could announce to the people the +more lustful the General Staff would be for a war of exhaustion. Army +leaders have always had more confidence in their ability to defeat the +world than the Foreign Office. The army looked at the map of Europe +and saw so many hundred thousand square miles of territory under +occupation. The Foreign Office saw Germany in its relation to the +world. Von Jagow knew that every new square mile of territory gained +was being paid for, not only by the cost of German blood, but by the +more terrible cost of public opinion and German influence abroad. But +Germany was under martial law and the Foreign Office had nothing to say +about military plans. The Foreign Office also had little to say about +naval warfare. The Navy was building submarines as fast as it could +and the number of ships lost encouraged the people to believe that the +more intensified the submarine war became, the quicker the war would +end in Germany's favour. So the Navy kept sinking ships and relying +upon the Foreign Office to make excuses and keep America out of the war. +</P> + +<P> +The repeated violations of the pledges made by the Foreign Office to +the United States aroused American public opinion to white heat, and +justly so, because the people here did not understand that the real +submarine crisis was not between President Wilson and Berlin but +between Admiral von Tirpitz and Secretary von Jagow and their +followers. President Wilson was at the limit of his patience with +Germany and the German people, who were becoming impatient over the +long drawn out proceedings, began to accept the inspired thinking of +the Navy and to believe that Wilson was working for the defeat of +Germany by interfering with submarine activities. +</P> + +<P> +On February 22nd, 1916, in one of my despatches I said: "The patient +attitude toward America displayed during the <I>Lusitania</I> negotiations, +it is plain to-day, no longer exists because of the popular feeling +that America has already hindered so many of Germany's plans." At that +time it appeared to observers in Berlin that unless President Wilson +could show more patience than the German Government the next submarine +accident would bring about a break in relations. Commenting on this +despatch the <I>Indianapolis News</I> the next day said: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"In this country the people feel that all the patience has been shown +by their government. We believe that history will sustain that view. +Almost ten months ago more than 100 American citizens were deliberately +done to death by the German Government, for it is understood that the +submarine commander acted under instructions, and that Germany refuses +to disavow on the ground that the murderous act was the act of the +German Government. Yet, after all this time, the <I>Lusitania</I> case is +still unsettled. The administration has, with marvellous +self-restraint, recognised that public opinion in Germany was not +normal, and for that reason it has done everything in its power to +smooth the way to a settlement by making it as easy as possible for the +Imperial Government to meet our just demands. Indeed, the President +has gone so far as to expose himself to severe criticism at home. We +believe that he would have been sustained if he had, immediately after +the sinking of the _Lusitania_, broken off diplomatic relations. +</P> + +<P> +"But he has stood out against public opinion in his own country, waited +ten months for an answer, and done everything that he could in honour +due to soften the feeling here. Yet just on the eve of a settlement +that would have been unsatisfactory to many of our people, Germany +announced the policy that we had condemned as illegal, and that plainly +is illegal. The trouble in Berlin is an utter inability to see +anything wrong in the attack on the <I>Lusitania</I>, or to appreciate the +sense of horror that was stirred in this country by it. The idea seems +to be that the policy of frightfulness could be extended to the high +seas without in any way shocking the American people. Nothing has come +from Berlin that indicates any feeling of guilt on the part of the +German people or their Government. +</P> + +<P> +"In the United States, on the contrary, the act is regarded as one of +the blackest crimes of history. And yet, in spite of that feeling, we +have waited patiently for ten months in the hope that the German +Government would do justice, and clear its name of reproach. Yet now +we are told that it is Germany that has shown a 'patient attitude,' the +implication or insinuation being that our long suffering administration +has been unreasonable and impatient. That will not be the verdict of +history, as it is not the verdict of our own people. We have made +every allowance for the conditions existing in Germany, and have +resolutely refused to take advantage of her distress. We doubt whether +there is any other government in the world that would have shown the +patience and moderation, under like provocation, that have been shown +by the American Government in these <I>Lusitania</I> negotiations." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +I sent the editorial to von Jagow, who returned it the next day with +the brief comment on one of his calling cards: "With many thanks." +</P> + +<P> +About this time Count Reventlow and the other naval writers began to +refer to everything President Wilson did as a "bluff." When Col. E. M. +House came to Berlin early in 1916, he tried to impress the officials +with the fact that Mr. Wilson was not only not bluffing, but that the +American people would support him in whatever he did in dealing with +the German Government. Mr. Gerard tried too to impress the Foreign +Office but because he could only deal with that branch of the +Government, he could not change the Navy's impression, which was that +Wilson would never take a definite stand against Germany. On the 8th +of February, the <I>London Times</I> printed the following despatch which I +had sent to the United States: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Mr. Gerard has been accused of not being forceful enough in dealing +with the Berlin Foreign Office. In Berlin he has been criticised for +just the opposite. It has been stated frequently that he was too +aggressive. The Ambassador's position was that he must carry out Mr. +Wilson's ideas. So he tried for days and weeks to impress officials +with the seriousness of the situation. At the critical point in the +negotiations various unofficial diplomats began to arrive and they +seriously interfered with negotiations. One of these was a politician +who through his credentials from Mr. Bryan met many high officials, and +informed them that President Wilson was writing his notes for 'home +consumption.' Mr. Gerard, however, appealed to Washington to know what +was meant by the moves of this American with authority from Mr. Bryan. +This was the beginning of the reason for Secretary Bryan's resigning. +</P> + +<P> +"Secretary Bryan had informed also former Ambassador Dumba that the +United States would never take any position against Germany even though +it was hinted so in the <I>Lusitania</I> note. Dumba telegraphed this to +Vienna and Berlin was informed immediately. Because of Mr. Gerard's +personal friendship and personal association with Secretary of State +von Jagow and Under Secretary of State Zimmermann, he was acquainted +with Secretary Bryan's move. He telegraphed to President Wilson and +the result was the resignation of Mr. Bryan." +</P> + +<P> +In December, the <I>Ancona</I> was torpedoed and it was officially explained +that the act was that of an Austrian submarine commander. Wilson's +note to Vienna brought about a near rupture between Austria-Hungary and +Germany because Austria and Hungary at that time were much opposed to +Germany's submarine methods. Although the submarines operating in the +Mediterranean were flying the Austrian flag, they were German +submarines, and members of the crews were German. Throughout the life +of the Emperor Franz Josef the Dual Monarchy was ruled, not from +Vienna, but from Budapest by Count Stefan Tisza, the Hungarian Premier. +I was in Budapest at the time and one evening saw Count Tisza at his +palace, which stands on the rocky cliff opposite the main part of +Budapest, and which overlooks the valley of the Danube for many miles. +Tisza, as well as all Hungarians, is pro-American before he is +pro-German. +</P> + +<P> +"To think of trouble between Austria-Hungary and the United States is +sheer nonsense," he said in his quiet but forceful manner. "I must +confess, however, that we were greatly surprised to get the American +note. It is far from our intention to get into any quarrel with +America. Perhaps I should not say quarrel, because I know it would not +be that, but of course matters do not depend upon us entirely. There +is no reason for any trouble over the <I>Ancona</I> question. It must be +settled satisfactorily," he said emphatically, "not only from the +standpoint of the United States, but from our standpoint." +</P> + +<P> +The <I>Ancona</I> crisis brought the Foreign Office new and unexpected +support. Hungary was opposed to a dispute with America. In the first +place, Hungarians are more of a liberty loving people than the Germans, +and public opinion in Hungary rules the country. While there is a +strong Government press, which is loyal to the Tisza party, there is an +equally powerful opposition press which follows the leadership of Count +Albert Apponyi and Count Julius Andrassy, the two most popular men in +Hungarian public life. Apponyi told me on one occasion that while the +Government was controlled by Tisza a great majority of the people sided +with the opposition. He added that the constant antagonism of the +Liberals and Democrats kept the Government within bounds. +</P> + +<P> +Hungarians resented the stain upon their honour of the <I>Ancona</I> +incident and they were on the verge of compelling Berlin to assume +responsibility for the sinking and adjust the matter. But Berlin +feared that if the _Ancona_ crime was accredited to the real murderers +it would bring about another, and perhaps a fatal crisis with the +United States. So Vienna assumed responsibility and promised to punish +the submarine commander who torpedoed the ship. +</P> + +<P> +This opposition from Hungary embittered the German Navy but it was +helpless. The growing fear of the effects which President Wilson's +notes were having upon Americans and upon the outside neutral world +caused opposition to von Tirpitz to gain more force. In desperation +von Tirpitz and his followers extended the anti-American propaganda and +began personal attacks upon von Bethmann-Hollweg. +</P> + +<P> +Bitterness between these two men became so great that neither of them +would go to the Great Headquarters to confer with the Kaiser if the +other was there. The personal opposition reached the point where the +Kaiser could not keep both men in his cabinet. Von Tirpitz, who +thought he was the hero of the German people because of the submarine +policy, believed he had so much power that he could shake the hold +which the Kaiser had upon the people and frighten the Emperor into the +belief that unless he supported him against the Chancellor and the +United States, the people would overthrow the Hohenzollern dynasty. +But von Tirpitz had made a good many personal enemies especially among +financiers and business men. So the Kaiser, instead of ousting the +Chancellor, asked von Tirpitz to resign and appointed Admiral von +Capelle, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy and a friend of the +Chancellor, as von Tirpitz' successor. Admiral von Mueller, Chief of +the Naval Cabinet, who was always at Great Headquarters as the Kaiser's +personal adviser on naval affairs, was opposed to von Tirpitz and +exposed him at the Great Headquarters conferences by saying that von +Tirpitz had falsified the Navy's figures as to the number of submarines +available for a blockade of England. Von Capelle supported von Mueller +and when the friends of von Tirpitz in the Reichstag demanded an +explanation for the ousting of their idol, both the Chancellor and von +Capelle explained that Germany could not continue submarine warfare +which von Tirpitz had started, because of the lack of the necessary +submarines. +</P> + +<P> +This was the first big victory of the Foreign Office. The democratic +forces in Germany which had been fighting von Tirpitz for over a year +were jubilant. Every one in Germany who realised that not until the +hold of the military party upon the Kaiser and the Government was +dislodged, would the Government be able to make peace now breathed +sighs of relief and began to make plans for the adjustment of all +differences with the United States and for a peace without annexation. +Von Tirpitz had had the support of all the forces in Germany which +looked forward to the annexation of Belgium and the richest portions of +Northern France. Von Tirpitz was supported by the men who wanted the +eastern border of Germany extended far into Poland and Lithuania. +</P> + +<P> +Even Americans were delighted. Washington for the first time began to +see that eleven months of patience was bearing fruit. But this period +of exaltation was not destined to last very long. While the Chancellor +had cleaned house in the Navy Department at Berlin he had overlooked +Kiel. There were admirals and officers in charge there who were making +preparations for the Navy. They were the men who talked to the +submarine commanders before they started out on their lawless sea +voyages. +</P> + +<P> +On March 24th the whole world was shocked by another U-boat crime. The +<I>Sussex</I>, a French channel steamer, plying between Folkstone and +Dieppe, was torpedoed without warning and Americans were among the +passengers killed and wounded. When the news reached Berlin, not only +the Chancellor and the Foreign Office were shocked and horrified, but +the American Embassy began to doubt whether the Chancellor really meant +what he said when he informed Gerard confidentially that now that von +Tirpitz was gone there would be no new danger from the submarines. +Even the new Admiralty administration was loathe to believe that a +German submarine was responsible. +</P> + +<P> +By April 5th it was apparent to every one in Berlin that there would be +another submarine crisis with the United States and that the +reactionary forces in Germany would attempt again to overthrow the +Chancellor. Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg, who had been doing everything +possible to get some one to propose peace, decided to address the +Reichstag again on Germany's peace aims. It was announced in the +newspapers only a few days beforehand. The demand for tickets of +admission was so great that early in the morning on the day scheduled +for the address such dense crowds surrounded the Reichstag building +that the police had to make passages so the military automobiles could +reach the building to bring the officials there. +</P> + +<P> +The Chamber itself was crowded to the rafters. On the floor of the +House practically every member was in his seat. On the rostrum were +several hundred army and naval officers, all members of the cabinet, +prominent business men and financiers. Every one awaited the entrance +of the Chancellor with great expectations. The National Liberals, who +had been clamouring for the annexation of Belgium, the conservatives, +who wanted a stronger war policy against England, the Socialists, who +wanted real guarantees for the German people for the future and a peace +without annexation, sat quietly in their seats anxiously awaiting the +Chancellor's remarks which were expected to satisfy all wants. +</P> + +<P> +The Chancellor entered the chamber from the rear of the rostrum and +proceeded to his desk in the front platform row, facing the House and +galleries. After a few preliminary remarks by President Kaempf, the +Chancellor arose. To the Chancellor's left, near the rear of the hall +among his Socialist colleagues, sat a nervous, determined and defiant +radical. He was dressed in the uniform of a common soldier. Although +he had been at the front several months and in the firing line, he had +not received the iron cross of the second class which practically every +soldier who had seen service had been decorated with. His clothes were +soiled, trousers stuffed into the top of heavy military boots. His +thick, curly hair was rumpled. At this session of the Reichstag the +Chancellor was to have his first encounter with Dr. Karl Liebknecht, +the Socialist radical, who in his soldier's uniform was ready to +challenge anything the Chancellor said. +</P> + +<P> +The Chancellor began his address, as he began all others, by referring +to the strong military position of the German army. He led up, +gradually, to the subject of peace. When the Chancellor said: "We +could have gotten what we wanted by peaceful work. Our enemies chose +war." Liebknecht interjected in his sharp, shrill voice, "<I>You</I> chose +the war!" There was great excitement and hissing; the President called +for order. Members shouted: "Throw him out!" But Liebknecht sat there +more determined than ever. +</P> + +<P> +The Chancellor continued for a few minutes until he reached the +discussion of the establishment of a Flemish nation in Belgium, when +Liebknecht again interrupted, but the Chancellor continued: "Gentlemen, +we want neighbours who will not again unite against us in order to +strangle us, but such that we can work with them and they with us to +our mutual advantage." A storm of applause greeted this remark. +Liebknecht was again on his feet and shouted, "Then you will fall upon +them!" +</P> + +<P> +"The Europe which will arise from this, the most gigantic of all +crises, will in many respects not resemble the old one," continued von +Bethmann-Hollweg. "The blood which has been shed will never come back; +the wealth which has been wasted will come back but only slowly. In +any case, it must become, for all living in it, a Europe of peaceful +labour. The peace which shall end this war must be a lasting one and +not containing the germ of a fresh war, but establishing a final and +peaceful order of things in European affairs." +</P> + +<P> +Before the applause had gotten a good start the fiery private in the +Socialists' rank was again on his feet, this time shouting, "Liberate +the German people first!" +</P> + +<P> +Throughout the Chancellor's speech there was not one reference to the +Sussex. The Chancellor was anxious if he could to turn the world's +attention from the Sussex to the larger question of peace, but the +world was not so inclined. On the 18th of April I asked Admiral von +Holtzendorff, Chief of the Admiralty Staff, for his opinion about the +<I>Sussex</I>. Two days later he approved the interview, in which I quoted +him as saying: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"We did not sink the <I>Sussex</I>. I am as convinced of that as of +anything which has happened in this war. If you read the definite +instructions, the exact orders each submarine commander has you would +understand that the torpedoing of the <I>Sussex</I> was impossible. Many of +our submarines have returned from rounding up British vessels. They +sighted scores of passenger ships going between England and America but +not one of these was touched. +</P> + +<P> +"We have definitely agreed to warn the crews and passengers of +passenger liners. We have lived up to that promise in every way. We +are not out to torpedo without warning neutral ships bound for England. +Our submarines have respected every one of them so far, and they have +met scores in the North Sea, the Channel and the Atlantic." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +On the same day that Ambassador Gerard handed von Jagow Secretary +Lansing's note, Under Secretary of State Zimmermann approved the von +Holtzendorff interview. Zimmermann could not make himself believe that +a German submarine was responsible and the Government had decided to +disavow all responsibility. But such convincing reports began to +arrive from the United States and from neutral European countries which +proved beyond a doubt that a German submarine was responsible, that the +Government had to again bring up the submarine issue at Great +Headquarters. When the von Holtzendorff interview was published in the +United States it caused a sensation because if Germany maintained the +attitude which the Chief of the Admiralty Staff had taken with the +approval of the Foreign Office, a break in diplomatic relations could +not be avoided. Secretary Lansing telegraphed Ambassador Gerard to +inquire at the Foreign Office whether the statements of von +Holtzendorff represented the opinions of the German Government. Gerard +called me to the Embassy but before I arrived Dr. Heckscher, of the +Reichstag Foreign Relations Committee, came. Gerard called me in in +Heckscher's presence to ask if I knew that the von Holtzendorff +interview would bring about a break in diplomatic relations unless it +was immediately disavowed. He told Dr. Heckscher to inform Zimmermann +that if the Chief of the Admiralty Staff was going to direct Germany's +foreign policies he would ask his government to accredit him to the +naval authorities and not to the Foreign Office. Heckscher would not +believe my statement that Zimmermann had approved the interview and +assured Gerard that within a very short time the Foreign Office would +disavow von Holtzendorff's statements. When he arrived at the Foreign +Office, however, Zimmermann not only refused to disavow the Admiral's +statement but informed Heckscher that he had the same opinions. +</P> + +<P> +President Wilson was at the end of his patience. Probably he began to +doubt whether he could rely upon the reports of Ambassador Gerard that +there was a chance of the democratic forces in Germany coming out ahead +of the military caste. Wilson showed his attitude plainly in the +<I>Sussex</I> note when he said: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"The Government of the United States has been very patient. At every +stage of this distressing experience of tragedy after tragedy it has +sought to be governed by the most thoughtful considerations of the +extraordinary circumstances of an unprecedented war and to be guided by +sentiments of very genuine friendship for the people and the Government +of Germany. It has accepted the successive explanations and assurances +of the Imperial Government as of course given in entire sincerity and +good faith, and has hoped even against hope that it would prove to be +possible for the Imperial Government so to order and control the acts +of its naval commanders as to square its policy with the recognised +principles of humanity as embodied in the law of nations. It has made +every allowance for unprecedented conditions and has been willing to +wait until the facts became unmistakable and were susceptible of only +one interpretation. It now owes it to a just regard, for its own +rights to say to the Imperial Government that that time has come. It +has become painfully evident to it that the position which it took at +the very outset is inevitable, namely that the use of submarines for +the destruction of enemy commerce is of necessity, because of the very +character of the vessels employed and the very methods, of attack which +their employment of course involves, utterly incompatible with the +principles of humanity, the long established and incontrovertible +rights of neutrals and the sacred immunities of non-combatants. +</P> + +<P> +"If it is still the purpose of the Imperial Government to prosecute +relentless and indiscriminate warfare against vessels of commerce by +the use of submarines without regard to what the Government of the +United States must consider the sacred and indisputable rules of +international law and the universally recognised dictates of humanity, +the Government of the United States is at last forced to the conclusion +that there is but one course it can pursue. Unless the Imperial +Government should now immediately declare and effect an abandonment of +its present methods of submarine warfare against passenger and freight +carrying vessels, the Government of the United States can have no +choice but to sever diplomatic relations with the German Government +altogether. This action the Government of the United States +contemplates with the greatest reluctance but feels constrained to take +in behalf of humanity and the rights of neutral nations." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +After von Jagow read the note the Foreign Office Telegraph Bureau sent +it to Great Headquarters, which at this time was still located in +Charleville, France, for the information of the Kaiser and General von +Falkenhayn. It was evident to every one in Berlin that again, not only +the submarine issue was to be debated at Great Headquarters, but that +the Kaiser was to be forced again to decide between the Chancellor and +his democratic supporters and von Falkenhayn and the military party. +Before the Conference convened General Headquarters sent inquiries to +five government departments, the Foreign Office, the Navy, the Ministry +of War, the Treasury, and Interior. The Ministers at the head of these +departments were asked to state whether in their opinion the +controversy with America should be adjusted, or whether the submarine +warfare should be continued. Dr. Karl Helfferich, the Vice Chancellor +and Minister of Interior, Secretary of State von Jagow, and Count von +Roedern, Minister of Finance, replied to adjust the difficulty. The +Army and Navy said in effect: "If you can adjust it without stopping +the submarine warfare and without breaking with the United States do +so." +</P> + +<P> +The latter part of April the Kaiser summoned all of his ministers and +his leading generals to the French chateau which he used as his +headquarters in Charleville. This city is one of the most picturesque +cities in the occupied districts of northern France. It is located on +the banks of the Meuse and contains many historic, old ruins. At one +end of the town is a large stone castle, surrounded by a moat. This +was made the headquarters of the General Staff after the Germans +invaded this section of France. Near the railroad station there was a +public park. Facing it was a French chateau, a beautiful, comfortable +home. This was the Kaiser's residence. All streets leading in this +direction were barricaded and guarded by sentries. No one could pass +without a special written permit from the Chief of the General Staff. +Von Falkenhayn had his home nearby in another of the beautiful chateaux +there. The chief of every department of the General Staff lived in +princely fashion in houses which in peace time were homes for +distinguished Frenchmen. There were left in Charleville scarcely a +hundred French citizens, because obviously French people, who were +enemies of Germany, could not he permitted to go back and forth in the +city which was the centre of German militarism. +</P> + +<P> +When the ministers arrived at the Kaiser's headquarters, His Majesty +asked each one to make a complete report on the submarine war as it +affected his department. Dr. Helfferich was asked to go into the +question of German finance and the relation of America to it. Dr. +Solf, the Colonial Minister, who had been a very good friend of +Ambassador Gerard, discussed the question of the submarine warfare from +the stand-point of its relation to Germany's position as a world power. +Admiral von Capelle placed before the Kaiser the figures of the number +of ships sunk, their tonnage, the number of submarines operating, the +number under construction and the number lost. General von Falkenhayn +reported on the military situation and discussed the hypothetical +question as to what effect American intervention would have upon the +European war theatres. +</P> + +<P> +While the conferences were going on, Dr. Heckscher and Under Secretary +Zimmermann, who at that time were anxious to avoid a break with the +United States, sounded Ambassador Gerard as to whether he would be +willing to go to Great Headquarters to confer with the Kaiser. The +Foreign Office at the same time suggested the matter to the General +Staff and within a few hours Mr. Gerard was invited to go to +Charleville. Before the ambassador arrived the Kaiser called all of +his ministers together for a joint session and asked them to make a +brief summary of their arguments. This was not a peace meeting. Not +only opponents of submarine warfare but its advocates mobilised all +their forces in a final attempt to win the Kaiser's approval. His +Majesty, at this time, was inclined towards peace with America and was +very much impressed by the arguments which the Chancellor and Dr. +Helfferich presented. But, at this meeting, while Helfferich was +talking and pointing to the moral effect which the ruthless torpedoing +of ships was having upon neutral countries, von Falkenhayn interrupted +with the succinct statement: +</P> + +<P> +"Neutrals? Damn the neutrals! Win the war! Our task is to win. If +we win we will have the neutrals with us; if we lose we lose." +</P> + +<P> +"Falkenhayn, when you are versed in foreign affairs I'll ask you to +speak," interrupted the Kaiser. "Proceed, Dr. Helfferich." +</P> + +<P> +Gentleman that he is, von Falkenhayn accepted the Imperial rebuke, but +not long afterward his resignation was submitted. +</P> + +<P> +As a result of these conferences and the arguments advanced by +Ambassador Gerard, Secretary von Jagow on May 4th handed the Ambassador +the German note in reply to President Wilson's <I>Sussex</I> ultimatum. In +this communication Germany said: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Fully conscious of its strength, the German Government has twice in +the course of the past few months expressed itself before all the world +as prepared to conclude a peace safeguarding the vital interests of +Germany. In doing so, it gave expression to the fact that it was not +its fault if peace was further withheld from the peoples of Europe. +With a correspondingly greater claim of justification, the German +Government may proclaim its unwillingness before mankind and history to +undertake the responsibility, after twenty-one months of war, to allow +the controversy that has arisen over the submarine question to take a +turn which might seriously affect the maintenance of peace between +these two nations. +</P> + +<P> +"The German Government guided by this idea notifies the Government of +the United States <I>that instructions have been issued to German naval +commanders that the precepts of the general international fundamental +principles be observed as regards stopping, searching and destruction +of merchant vessels within the war zone and that such vessels shall not +be sunk without warning and without saving human life unless the ship +attempts to escape or offers resistance</I>." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +At the beginning of the war it was a group of military leaders +consisting of General von Moltke, General von Falkenhayn, General von +Mackensen, General von Herringen, Grand Admiral von Tirpitz, and a few +of the Prussian military clique, which prevailed upon the Kaiser to go +to war after the assassination of the heir to the Austrian throne and +his wife. The Allies proclaimed in their publications, in the press +and in Parliaments that they were fighting to destroy and overthrow the +military party in Germany which could make war without public consent. +Millions of Allied soldiers were mobilised and fighting in almost a +complete ring surrounding Germany, Austria Hungary, Bulgaria and +Turkey. They had been fighting since August, 1914, for twenty-one +months, and still their fighting had not shattered or weakened the hold +which the military party had upon the people and the Kaiser. Von +Tirpitz and von Falkenhayn, who, shortly after the war began, became +the ringleaders of Germany's organised Might, had fallen not <I>before +the armed foes on the battlefield but before an unarmed nation with a +president whose only weapon was public opinion</I>. First, von Tirpitz +fell because he was ready to defy the United States. Then came the +downfall of von Falkenhayn, because he was prepared to damn the United +States and all neutrals. Surely a nation and a government after +thirteen months of patience and hope had a right to believe that after +all public opinion was a weapon which was sometimes more effective than +any other. Mr. Wilson and the State Department were justified in +feeling that their policy toward Germany was after all successful not +alone because it had solved the vexing submarine issue, but because it +had aided the forces of democracy in Germany. Because, with the +downfall of von Falkenhayn and von Tirpitz, there was only one +recognised authority in Germany. That was the Chancellor and the +Foreign Office, supported almost unanimously by the Socialists and by +the Liberal forces which were at work to reform the German Government. +</P> + +<P> +But this was in May, 1916, scarcely eight months before the Kaiser +<I>changed his mind and again decided to support the people who were +clamouring for a ruthless, murderous, defiant war against the whole +world</I>, if the world was "foolish" enough to join in. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE PERIOD OF NEW ORIENTATION +</H3> + +<P> +Dr. Karl Liebknecht, after he had challenged the Chancellor on the 4th +of April, became the object of attack by the military authorities. The +Chancellor, although he is the real Minister of Foreign Affairs, is, +also, a Major General in the Army and for a private like Liebknecht to +talk to a Major General as he did in the Reichstag was contrary to all +rules and precedents in the Prussian Army. The army was ready to send +Liebknecht to the firing squad and it was only a short time until they +had an opportunity to arrest him. Liebknecht started riots in some of +the ammunition factories and one night at Potsdamer Platz, dressed in +civilian clothes, he shouted, "Down with the Government," and started +to address the passers-by. He was seized immediately by government +detectives, who were always following him, and taken to the police +station. His home was searched and when the trial began the papers, +found there, were placed before the military tribunal as evidence that +he was plotting against the Government. The trial was secret, and +police blockaded all streets a quarter of a mile away from the court +where he was tried. Throughout the proceedings which lasted a week the +newspapers were permitted to print only the information distributed by +the Wolff Telegraph Bureau. But public sympathy for Liebknecht was so +great that mounted police were kept in every part of the city day and +night to break up crowds which might assemble. Behind closed doors, +without an opportunity to consult his friends, with only an attorney +appointed by the Government to defend him, Liebknecht was sentenced to +two years' hard labour. His only crime was that he had dared to speak +in the Reichstag the opinions of some of the more radical socialists. +</P> + +<P> +Liebknecht's imprisonment was a lesson to other Socialist agitators. +The day after his sentencing was announced there were strikes in nearly +every ammunition factory in and around Berlin. Even at Spandau, next +to Essen the largest ammunition manufacturing city in Germany, several +thousand workmen left their benches as a protest, but the German people +have such terrible fear of the police and of their own military +organisation that they strike only a day and return the next to forget +about previous events. +</P> + +<P> +If there were no other instances in Germany to indicate that there was +the nucleus for a democracy this would seem to be one. One might say, +too, that if such leaders as Liebknecht could be assisted, the movement +for more freedom might have more success. +</P> + +<P> +It was very difficult for the German public to accept the German reply +to President Wilson's <I>Sussex</I> note. The people were bitter against +the United States. They hated Wilson. They feared him. And the idea +of the German Government bending its knee to a man they hated was +enough cause for loud protests. This feeling among the people found +plenty of outlets. The submarine advocates, who always had their ears +to the ground, saw that they could take advantage of this public +feeling at the expense of the Chancellor and the Foreign Office. +Prince von Buelow, the former Chancellor, who had been spending most of +his time in Switzerland after his failure to keep Italy out of the war, +had written a book entitled "Deutsche Politik," which was intended to +be an indictment of von Bethmann-Hollweg's international policies. Von +Buelow returned to Berlin at the psychological moment and began to +mobilise the forces against the Chancellor. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-124"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-124.jpg" ALT="Gott strafe England" BORDER="2" WIDTH="136" HEIGHT="176"> +<H5> +[Illustration: Gott strafe England.] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +After the <I>Sussex</I> dispute was ended the Socialist organ <I>Vorwaerts</I>, +supported by Philip Scheidemann, leader of the majority of the +Socialists, demanded that the Government take some steps toward peace. +But the General Staff was so busy preparing for the expected Allied +offensive that it had no time to think about peace or about internal +questions. When von Falkenhayn resigned and von Hindenburg arrived at +Great Headquarters to succeed him the two generals met for the first +time in many months. (There was bitter feeling between the two.) Von +Falkenhayn, as he turned the office over to his successor, said: +</P> + +<P> +"Has Your Excellency the courage to take over this position now?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have always had the courage, Your Excellency," replied von +Hindenburg, "but not the soldiers." +</P> + +<P> +In the Reichstag there has been only one real democratic party. That +is the Socialist. The National Liberal Party, which has posed as a +reform organisation, is in reality nothing more than the party +controlled by the ammunition and war industries. When these interests +heard that submarine warfare was to be so restricted as to be +practically negligible, they began to sow seeds of discontent among the +ammunition makers. These interests began to plan for the time when the +submarine warfare would again be discussed. Their first scheme was to +try to overthrow the Chancellor. If they were not successful then they +intended to take advantage of the democratic movement which was +spreading in Germany to compel the Government to consent to the +creation of a Reichstag Committee on Foreign Affairs to consult with +the Foreign Office when all questions of international policy, +including submarine warfare, was up for discussion. Their first policy +was tried early in July. Seizing that clause in the German note which +said that Germany would hold herself free to change her promises in the +<I>Sussex</I> case if the United States was not successful against England, +the Navy began to threaten the United States with renewed submarine +warfare unless President Wilson acted against Great Britain. +</P> + +<P> +Reporting some of these events on June 12th, the <I>Evening Ledger</I> of +Philadelphia printed the following despatch which I sent: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"BERLIN, July 12.--The overthrow of Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, +champion of a conciliatory policy toward the United States, and the +unloosing of German submarines within three months, was predicted by +von Tirpitz supporters here to-day unless President Wilson acts against +the British blockade. +</P> + +<P> +"Members of the Conservative party and those favouring annexation of +territory conquered by Germany joined in the forecast. They said the +opinion of America will be disregarded. +</P> + +<P> +"A private source, close to the Foreign Office, made this statement +regarding the attempt to unseat Bethmann-Hollweg at a time when the war +is approaching a crisis: +</P> + +<P> +"'Unless America does something against England within the next three +months there will be a bitter fight against the Chancellor. One cannot +tell whether he will be able to hold his own against such opposition. +The future of German-American relations depends upon America.' +</P> + +<P> +"Despite this political drive against the man who stood out against a +break with the United States in the <I>Lusitania</I> crisis, Americans here +believe Bethmann-Hollweg will again emerge triumphant. They feel +certain that if the Chancellor appealed to the public for a decision he +would be supported. +</P> + +<P> +"The fight to oust the Chancellor has now grown to such proportions +that it overshadows in interest the Allied offensive. The attacks on +the Chancellor have gradually grown bolder since the appearance of +Prince Buelow's book 'Deutsche Politik,' because this book is believed +to be the opening of Buelow's campaign to oust the Chancellor and step +back into the position he occupied until succeeded by Bethmann-Hollweg +in 1909. +</P> + +<P> +"The movement has grown more forceful since the German answer to +President Wilson's ultimatum was sent. The Conservatives accepted the +German note as containing a conditional clause, and they have been +waiting to see what steps the United States would take against England. +</P> + +<P> +"Within the past few days I have discussed the situation with leaders +of several parties in the Reichstag. A National Liberal member of the +Reichstag, who was formerly a supporter of von Tirpitz, and the von +Tirpitz submarine policies, said he thought Buelow's success showed +that opposition to America was not dead. +</P> + +<P> +"'Who is going to be your next President--Wilson or Hughes?' he asked, +and then, without waiting for an answer, continued: +</P> + +<P> +"'If it is Hughes he can be no worse than Wilson. The worst he can do +is to declare war on Germany and certainly that would be preferable to +the present American neutrality. +</P> + +<P> +"'If this should happen every one in our navy would shout and throw up +his hat, for it would mean unlimited sea war against England. Our +present navy is held in a net of notes. +</P> + +<P> +"'What do you think the United States could do? You could not raise an +army to help the Allies. You could confiscate our ships in American +ports, but if you tried to use them to carry supplies and munitions to +the Allies we would sink them. +</P> + +<P> +"'Carrying on an unlimited submarine war, we could sink 600,000 tons of +shipping monthly, destroy the entire merchant fleets of the leading +powers, paralyse England and win the war. Then we would start all +over, build merchantmen faster than any nation, and regain our position +as a leading commercial power.' +</P> + +<P> +"Friends of the Chancellor still hope that President Wilson will take a +strong stand against England, thereby greatly strengthening +Bethmann-Hollweg's position. At present the campaign against the +Chancellor is closely connected with internal policies of the +Conservatives and the big land owners. The latter are fighting +Bethmann-Hollweg because he promised the people, on behalf of the +Kaiser, the enactment of franchise reforms after the war." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P>enting on this despatch, the New York <I>World</I> said: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Not long ago it was the fashion among the opponents of the +Administration to jeer loudly at the impotent writing of notes. And +even among the supporters of the Administration there grew an uneasy +feeling that we had had notes <I>ad nauseam</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"Yet these plodding and undramatic notes arouse in Germany a feeling +very different from one of ridicule. The resentful respect for our +notes is there admirably summed up by a member of the Reichstag who to +the correspondent of the United Press exclaimed bitterly: 'Our present +navy is held in a net of notes.' +</P> + +<P> +"Nets may not be so spectacular as knuckle-dusters, but they are +slightly more civilised and generally more efficient." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The National Liberal Reichstag member who was quoted was Dr. Gustav +Stressemann. Stressemann is one of the worst reactionaries in Germany +but he likes to pose as a progressive. He was one of the first men to +suggest that the Reichstag form a committee on foreign relations to +consult with and have equal power of decision with the Foreign Office. +</P> + +<P> +For a great many months the Socialist deputies of the Prussian Diet +have been demanding election reforms. Their demands were so insistent +that over a year ago the Chancellor, when he read the Kaiser's address +from the throne room in the residence palace in Berlin to the deputies, +promised election reforms in Prussia--after the war. But during last +summer the Socialists began to demand immediate election reforms. To +further embarrass the Chancellor and the Government, the National +Liberals made the same demands, knowing all the time that if the +Government ever attempted it, they could swing the Reichstag majority +against the proposal by technicalities. +</P> + +<P> +Throughout the summer months the Government could not hush up the +incessant discussion of war aims. More than one newspaper was +suppressed for demanding peace or for demanding a statement of the +Government's position in regard to Belgium and Northern France. The +peace movement within Germany grew by leaps and bounds. The Socialists +demanded immediate action by the Government. The Conservatives, the +National Liberals and the Catholic party wanted peace but only the kind +of a peace which Germany could force upon the Entente. The Chancellor +and other German leaders tried again throughout the summer and fall to +get the outside world interested in peace but at this time the English +and French attacks on the Somme were engaging the attention and the +resources of the whole world. +</P> + +<P> +Before these conflicting movements within Germany can be understood one +must know something of the organisation of Germany in war time. +</P> + +<P> +When the military leaders of Germany saw that the possibility of +capturing Paris or of destroying London was small and that a German +victory, which would fasten Teutonic peace terms on the rest of the +world, was almost impossible, they turned their eyes to +Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, the Balkans and Turkey. Friederich Naumann, +member of the Progressive Party of the Reichstag, wrote a book on +"Central Europe," describing a great nation stretching from the North +Sea to Bagdad, including Germany, all of Austria-Hungary, parts of +Serbia and Roumania and Turkey, with Berlin as the Capital. It was +toward this goal which the Kaiser turned the forces of Germany at his +command. If Germany could not rule the world, if Germany could not +conquer the nine nations which the Director of the Post and Telegraph +had lined up on the 2nd of August, 1914, then Germany could at least +conquer the Dual Monarchy, the Balkans and, Turkey, and even under +these circumstances come out of the war a greater nation than she +entered it. But to accomplish this purpose one thing had to be +assured. That was the control of the armies and navies and the foreign +policies of these governments. The old Kaiser Franz Josef was a man +who guarded everything he had as jealously as a baby guards his toys. +At one time when it was suggested to the aged monarch that Germany and +Austria-Hungary could establish a great kingdom of Poland as a buffer +nation, if he would only give up Galicia as one of the states of this +kingdom, he replied in his childish fashion: +</P> + +<P> +"What, those Prussians want to take another pearl out of my crown?" +</P> + +<P> +In June the Austro-Hungarian General Staff conducted an offensive +against Italy in the Trentino with more success than the Germans had +anticipated. But the Austrians had not calculated upon Russia. In +July General Brusiloff attacked the Austrian forces in the +neighbourhood of Lusk, succeeded in persuading or bribing a Bohemian +army corps to desert and started through the Austrian positions like a +flood over sloping land. Brusiloff not only took several hundred +thousand prisoners. He not only broke clear through the Austrian lines +but he thoroughly demoralised and destroyed the Austrian army as a unit +in the world war. Von Hindenburg, who had been made Chief of the +German General Staff, was compelled to send thousands of troops to the +Wohlynian battlefields to stop the Russian invasion. But von +Hindenburg did not look with any degree of satisfaction upon the +possibility of such a thing happening again and informed the Kaiser +that he would continue as Chief of the General Staff only upon +condition that he be made chief of all armies allied to Germany. At a +Conference at Great Headquarters at Pless, in Silicia, where offices +were moved from France as soon as the Field Marshal took charge, +Hindenburg was made the leader of all the armed forces in Central +Europe. Thus by one stroke, really by the aid of Russia, Germany +succeeded in conquering Austria-Hungary and in taking away from her +command all of the forces, naval and military, which she had. At the +same time the Bulgarian and Turkish armies were placed at the disposal +of von Hindenburg. So far so good for the Prussians. +</P> + +<P> +But there were still some independent forces left within the Central +Powers. Hungary was not content to do the bidding of Prussia. +Hungarians were not ready to live under orders from Berlin. Even as +late as a few months ago when the German Minister of the Interior +called a conference in Berlin to mobilise all the food within the +Central Powers, the Hungarians refused to join a scheme which would rob +them of food they had jealously guarded and saved since the beginning +of the war. +</P> + +<P> +In the Dual Monarchy there are many freedom loving people who are +longing for a deliverer. Hungary at one time feared Russia but only +because of the Czar. The real and most powerful democratic force among +the Teutonic allies is located there in Budapest. I know of no city +outside of the United States where the people have such love of freedom +and where public opinion plays such a big role. Budapest, even in war +times, is one of the most delightful cities in Europe and Hungary, even +as late as last December, was not contaminated by Prussian ideas. I +saw Russian prisoners of war walking through the streets and mingling +with the Hungarian soldiers and people. American Consul General Coffin +informed me that there were seven thousand Allied subjects in Budapest +who were undisturbed. English and French are much more popular than +Germans. One day on my first visit in Budapest I asked a policeman in +front of the Hotel Ritz in German, "Where is the Reichstag?" He shook +his head and went on about his business regulating the traffic at the +street corner. Then I asked him half in English and half in French +where the Parliament was. +</P> + +<P> +With a broad smile he said: "Ah, Monsieur, voila, this street your +right, vis a vis." Not a word of German would he speak. +</P> + +<P> +After the Allied offensive began on the Somme the old friends of von +Tirpitz, assisted by Prince von Buelow, started an offensive against +the Chancellor, with renewed vigour. This time they were determined to +oust him at all costs. They sent emissaries to the Rhine Valley, which +is dominated by the Krupp ammunition factories. These emissaries began +by attacking the Chancellor's attitude towards the United States. They +pointed out that Germany could not possibly win the war unless she +defeated England, and it was easy for any German to see that the only +way England could be attacked was from the seas; that as long as +England had her fleet or her merchant ships she could continue the war +and continue to supply the Allies. It was pointed out to the +ammunition makers, also, that they were already fighting the United +States; that the United States was sending such enormous supplies to +the Entente, that unless the submarines were used to stop these +supplies Germany would most certainly be defeated on land. And, it was +explained that a defeat on land meant not only the defeat of the German +army but the defeat of the ammunition interests. +</P> + +<P> +From April to December, 1916, was also the period of pamphleteering. +Every one who could write a pamphlet, or could publish one, did so. +The censorship had prohibited so many people and so many organisations +from expressing their views publicly that they chose this method of +circulating their ideas privately. The pamphlets could be printed +secretly and distributed through the mails so as to avoid both the +censors and the Government. So every one in Germany began to receive +documents and pamphlets about all the ails and complaints within +Germany. About the only people who did not do this were the +Socialists. The "Alt-Deutsch Verband," which was an organisation of +the great industrial leaders of Germany, had been bitterly attacked by +the Berlin <I>Tageblatt</I> but when the directors wanted to publish their +reply the censors prohibited it. So, the Alt-Deutsch Verband issued a +pamphlet and sent it broadcast throughout Germany. In the meantime the +Chancellor and the Government realised that unless something was done +to combat these secret forces which were undermining the Government's +influence, that there would be an eruption in Germany which might +produce serious results. +</P> + +<P> +Throughout this time the Socialist party was having troubles of its +own. Liebknecht was in prison but there was a little group of radicals +who had not forgotten it. They wanted the Socialist party as a whole +to do something to free Liebknecht. The party had been split before +the advance of last summer so efforts were made to unite the two +factions. At a well attended conference in the Reichstag building they +agreed to forget old differences and join forces in support of the +Government until winter, when it was hoped peace could be made. +</P> + +<P> +The Socialist party at various times during the war has had a difficult +time in agreeing on government measures. While the Socialists voted +unanimously for war credits at the beginning, a year afterward many of +them had changed their minds and had begun to wonder whether, after +all, they had not made a mistake. This was the issue which brought +about the first split in the Socialists' ranks. When it came time in +1916 to vote further credits to the Government the Socialists held a +caucus. After three days of bitter wrangling the ranks split. One +group headed by Scheidemann decided to support the Government and +another group with Herr Wolfgang Heine as the leader, decided to vote +against the war loans. +</P> + +<P> +Scheidemann, who is the most capable and most powerful Socialist in +Germany, carried with him the majority of the delegates and was +supported by the greater part of public opinion. Heine, however, had +the support of men like Dr. Haase and Eduard Bernstein who had +considerable influence with the public but who were not organisers or +men capable of aggressive action, like Scheidemann. As far as +affecting the Government's plans were concerned the Socialist split did +not amount to much. In Germany there is such a widespread fear of the +Government and the police that even the most radical Socialists +hesitate to oppose the Government. In war time Germany is under +complete control of the military authorities and even the Reichstag, +which is supposed to be a legislative body, is in reality during war +times only a closed corporation which does the bidding of the +Government. The attitude of the Reichstag on any question is not +determined at the party caucuses nor during sessions. Important +decisions are always arrived at at Great Headquarters between the +Chancellor and the military leaders. Then the Chancellor returns to +Berlin, summons the party leaders to his palace, explains what the +Government desires and, without asking the leaders for their support, +tells them <I>that</I> is what <I>von Hindenburg</I> expects. They know there is +no choice left to them. Scheidemann always attends these conferences +as the Socialist representative because the Chancellor has never +recognised the so-called Socialist Labour Party which is made up of +Socialist radicals who want peace and who have reached the point when +they can no longer support the Government. +</P> + +<P> +One night at the invitation of an editor of one of Berlin's leading +newspapers, who is a Socialist radical, I attended a secret session of +the Socialist Labour Party. At this meeting there were present three +members of the Reichstag, the President of one of Germany's leading +business organisations, two newspaper editors, one labour agitator who +had been travelling to industrial centres to mobilise the forces which +were opposed to a continuation of the war, and a rather well known +Socialist writer who had been inspiring some anti-Government pamphlets +which were printed in Switzerland and sent by mail to Germany. One of +the business men present had had an audience of the Kaiser and he +reported what the monarch told him about the possibilities of peace. +The report was rather encouraging to the Socialists because the Kaiser +said he would make peace as soon as there was an opportunity. But +these Socialists did not have much faith in the Kaiser's promises and +jokingly asked the business man if the Kaiser did not decorate him as a +result of the audience! +</P> + +<P> +The real object of this meeting was to discuss means of acquainting the +German people with the American organisation entitled the League to +Enforce Peace. An American business man, who was a charter member of +the American organisation, was there to explain the purposes of the +League. The meeting decided upon the publication in as many German +newspapers as possible of explanatory articles. The newspaper editor +present promised to prepare them and urged their publication in various +journals. The first article appeared in <I>Die Welt Am Montag</I>, one of +the weekly newspapers of Berlin. It was copied by a number of +progressive newspapers throughout the Empire but when the attention of +the military and naval authorities was called to this propaganda an +order was issued prohibiting any newspaper from making any reference to +the League to Enforce Peace. The anti-American editorial writers were +inspired to write brief notices to the effect that the League was in +reality to be a League against Germany supported by England and the +United States. +</P> + +<P> +Throughout the summer and fall there appeared in various newspapers, +including the influential <I>Frankfurter Zeitung</I>, inspired articles +about the possibilities of annexing the industrial centres and +important harbours of Belgium. In Munich and Leipsic a book by Dr. +Schumacher, of Bonn University, was published, entitled, "Antwerp, Its +World Position and Importance for Germany's Economic Life." Another +writer named Ulrich Bauschey wrote a number of newspaper and magazine +articles for the purpose of showing that Germany would need Antwerp +after this war in order to successfully compete with Holland, England +and France in world commerce. He figured that the difference between +the cost of transportation from the Rhine Valley industrial cities to +Antwerp and the cost of transportation from the Rhine Valley to Hamburg +and Bremen would be great enough as to enable German products to be +sold in America for less money than products of Germany's enemies. +</P> + +<P> +These articles brought up the old question of the "freedom of the +seas." Obviously, if the Allies were to control the seas after the +war, as they had during the war, Germany could make no plans for the +re-establishment of her world commerce unless there were some +assurances that her merchant fleet would be as free on the high seas as +that of any other nation. During the war Germany had talked a great +deal about the freedom of the seas. When the <I>Lusitania</I> was torpedoed +von Jagow said in an interview that Germany was fighting for the free +seas and that by attacking England's control, Germany was acting in the +interests of the whole world. But Germany was really not sincere in +what she said about having the seas free. What Germany really desired +was not freedom of the seas in peace time because the seas had been +free before the war. What Germany wanted was free seas in war +time,--freedom for her own merchant ships to go from Germany to any +part of the world and return with everything except absolute +contraband. Germany's object was to keep from building a navy great +enough to protect her merchant fleet in order that she might devote all +her energies to army organisation. But the freedom of the seas was a +popular phrase. Furthermore it explained to the German people why +their submarine warfare was not inhuman because it was really fighting +for the freedom of all nations on the high seas! +</P> + +<A NAME="img-140"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-140.jpg" ALT="This is the photograph of von Hindenburg which very +German has in his home" BORDER="2" WIDTH="357" HEIGHT="626"> +<H5> +[Illustration: This is the photograph of von Hindenburg which very +German has in his home.] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +While these public discussions were going on, the fight on the +Chancellor began to grow. It was evident that when the Reichstag met +again in September that there would be bitter and perhaps a decisive +fight on von Bethmann-Hollweg. The division in Germany became so +pronounced that people forgot for a time the old party lines and the +newspapers and party leaders spoke of the "Bethmann parties" and the +"von Tirpitz party." Whether the submarine should be used ruthlessly +against all shipping was the issue which divided public sentiment. The +same democratic forces which had been supporting the Chancellor in +other fights again lined up with the Foreign Office. The reactionaries +supported Major Bassermann, who really led the fight against the +Chancellor. During this period the Chancellor and the Foreign Office +saw that the longer the war lasted the stronger the von Tirpitz party +would become because the people were growing more desperate and were +enthused by the propaganda cry of the Navy, "Down with England." The +Chancellor and the Foreign Office tried once more to get the world to +talk about peace. After the presidential nominations in America the +press began to discuss the possibilities of American peace +intervention. Every one believed that the campaign and elections in +America would have an important effect on the prospects of peace. +Theodore Wolff, editor of the Berlin <I>Tageblatt</I>, who was the +Chancellor's chief supporter in newspaper circles, began the +publication of a series of articles to explain that in the event of the +election of Charles E. Hughes, Germany would be able to count upon more +assistance from America and upon peace. At the time the Allies were +pounding away at the Somme and every effort was being made to bring +about some kind of peace discussions when these battles were over. +</P> + +<P> +On September 20th a convention of Socialists was held in Berlin for the +purpose of uniting the Socialist party in support of the Chancellor. +The whole country was watching the Socialist discussions because every +one felt that the Socialist party represented the real opinion of the +people. After several days of discussion all factional differences +were patched up and the Socialists were ready to present a solid front +when the fight came in the Reichstag on September 28th. On the 27th, +Berlin hotels began to buzz with excitement over the possibilities of +overthrowing the Chancellor. The fight was led by the National +Liberals and Centre Party groups. It was proposed by Dr. Coerting, an +industrial leader from Hannover, to move a vote of lack of confidence +in the Chancellor. Coerting was supported by the big ammunition +interests and by the von Tirpitz crowd. Before the Reichstag convened +the Chancellor went to Great Headquarters for a final conference with +the Kaiser and Field Marshal von Hindenburg. Before he left it looked +as if the Chancellor would be overthrown. But when he returned he +summoned the Reichstag leaders who were supporting him and several +editors of Liberal newspapers. The Chancellor told them that von +Hindenburg would support him. The next day editorials appeared in a +number of newspapers, saying that von Hindenburg and the Chancellor +were united in their ideas. This was the most successful strategic +move the Chancellor had made, for the public had such great confidence +in von Hindenburg that when it was learned that he was opposed to von +Tirpitz the backbone of opposition to the Chancellor was broken. On +the 28th as von Bethmann-Hollweg appeared in the Reichstag, instead of +facing a hostile and belligerent assembly, he faced members who were +ready to support him in anything he did. The Chancellor, however, +realised that he could take some of the thunder out of the opposition +by making a strong statement against England. "Down with England," the +popular cry, was the keynote of the Chancellor's remarks. In this one +speech he succeeded in uniting for a time at least public sentiment and +the political parties in support of the Government. +</P> + +<P> +A few days afterward I saw Major Bassermann at his office in the +Reichstag and asked him whether the campaign for an unlimited submarine +warfare would be resumed after the action of the Reichstag in +expressing confidence in the Chancellor. He said: +</P> + +<P> +"That must be decided by the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Marine and +the General Staff. England is our chief enemy and we must recognise +this and defeat her." +</P> + +<P> +With his hands in his pocket, his face looking down, he paced his +office and began a bitter denunciation of the neutrality of the United +States. I asked him whether he favoured the submarine warfare even if +it brought about a break with the United States. +</P> + +<P> +"We wish to live in peace and friendship with America," he began, "but +undoubtedly there is bitter feeling here because American supplies and +ammunition enable our enemies to continue the war. If America should +succeed in forcing England to obey international law, restore freedom +of the seas and proceed with American energy against England's +brutalisation of neutrals, it would have a decisive influence on the +political situation between the two countries. If America does not do +this then we must do it with our submarines." +</P> + +<P> +In October I was invited by the Foreign Office to go with a group of +correspondents to Essen, Cologne and the Rhine Valley Industrial +centres. In Essen I met Baron von Bodenhausen and other directors of +Krupps. In Dusseldorf at the Industrie Klub I dined with the steel +magnates of Germany and at Homburg-on-the-Rhine I saw August Thyssen, +one of the richest men in Germany and the man who owns one-tenth of +Germany's coal and iron fields. The most impressive thing about this +journey was what these men said about the necessity for unlimited +warfare. Every man I met was opposed to the Chancellor. They hated +him because he delayed mobilisation at the beginning of the war. They +stated that they had urged the invasion of Belgium because if Belgium +had not been invaded immediately France could have seized the Rhine +Valley and made it impossible for Germany to manufacture war munitions +and thereby to fight a war. They said they were in favour of an +unlimited, ruthless submarine warfare against England and all ships +going to the British Isles. Their opinions were best represented in an +inspired editorial appearing in the <I>Rhieinische Westfälische Zeitung</I>, +in which it was stated: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"The war must be fought to a finish. Either Germany or England must +win and the interests here on the Rhine are ready to fight until +Germany wins." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Do you think Germany wants war with America?" I asked Thyssen. +</P> + +<P> +"Never!" was his emphatic response. "First, because we have enemies +enough, and, secondly, because in peace times, our relations with +America are always most friendly. We want them to continue so after +the war." +</P> + +<P> +Thyssen's remarks could be taken on their face value were it not for +the fact that the week before we arrived in these cities General +Ludendorf, von Hindenhurg's chief assistant and co-worker, was there to +get the industrial leaders to manufacture more ammunition. Von +Falkenhayn had made many enemies in this section because he cut down +the ammunition manufacturing until these men were losing money. So the +first thing von Hindenburg did was to double all orders for ammunition +and war supplies and to send Ludendorf to the industrial centres to +make peace with the men who were opposed to the Government. +</P> + +<P> +Thus from May to November German politics went through a period of +transformation. No one knew exactly what would happen,--there were so +many conflicting opinions. Political parties, industrial leaders and +the press were so divided it was evident that something would have to +be done or the German political organisation would strike a rock and go +to pieces. The Socialists were still demanding election reforms during +the war. The National Liberals were intriguing for a Reichstag +Committee to have equal authority with the Foreign Office in dealing +with all matters of international affairs. The landowners, who were +losing money because the Government was confiscating so much food, were +not only criticising von Bethmann-Hollweg but holding back as much food +as they could for higher prices. The industrial leaders, who had been +losing money because von Falkenhayn had decreased ammunition orders, +were only partially satisfied by von Hindenburg's step because they +realised that unless the war was intensified the Government would not +need such supplies indefinitely. They saw, too, that the attitude of +President Wilson had so injured what little standing they still had in +the neutral world that unless Germany won the war in a decisive way, +their world connections would disappear forever and they would be +forced to begin all over after the war. Faced by this predicament, +they demanded a ruthless submarine warfare against all shipping in +order that not only England but every other power should suffer, +because the more ships and property of the enemies destroyed the more +their chances with the rest of the world would be equalised when the +war was over. Food conditions were becoming worse, the people were +becoming more dissatisfied; losses on the battlefields were touching +nearly every family. Depression was growing. Every one felt that +something had to be done and done immediately. +</P> + +<P> +The press referred to these months of turmoil as a period of "new +orientation." It was a time of readjustment which did not reach a +climax until December twelfth when the Chancellor proposed peace +conferences to the Allies. +</P> + +<BR> + +<CENTER> +<A NAME="img-149"></A> +<!-- main table - shell for inner three tables --> +<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="5px" CELLPADDING="10px"> + +<!-- start of first inner table --> +<TR> +<TD> +<TABLE WIDTH="100%"> + +<TR> +<TH ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" COLSPAN="2" WIDTH="100%"> +WHAT YOU CANNOT EAT OR DRINK +<BR> +FOODSTUFFS WHICH ARE COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED IN GERMANY +</TH> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD WIDTH="100%"> +<OL> +<LI>Rice</LI> +<LI>Coffee</LI> +<LI>Tea</LI> +<LI>Cocoa</LI> +<LI>Chocolate</LI> +<LI>Olive oil</LI> +<LI>Cream</LI> +<LI>Fruit flavorings</LI> +<LI>Canned soups or soup cubes</LI> +<LI>Syrups</LI> +<LI>Dried vegetables, beans, peas, etc.</LI> +<LI>Nuts</LI> +<LI>Candy (a very limited number of persons can buy one-quarter of a pound about once a week).</LI> +<LI>Malted milk</LI> +<LI>Beer made of either malt or hops</LI> +<LI>Caviar</LI> +<LI>Ice cream</LI> +<LI>Macaroni</LI> +</OL> +</TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> +</TD> +</TR> +<!-- end of first inner table --> + +<!-- start of second inner table --> +<TR> +<TD> +<TABLE WIDTH="100%"> +<TR> +<TH ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%"> +WHAT YOU MAY EAT +<BR> +FOOD OBTAINABLE ONLY BY CARD +</TH> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD WIDTH="100%"> +<OL> +<LI>Bread, 1,900 grams per week per person.</LI> +<LI>Meat, 250 grams (1/2 pound) per week per head.</LI> +<LI>Eggs, 1 per person every two weeks.</LI> +<LI>Butter, 90 grams per week per person.</LI> +<LI>Milk, 1 quart daily only for children under ten and invalids.</LI> +<LI>Potatoes, formerly 9 pounds per week; lately in many parts of Germany no potatoes were available.</LI> +<LI>Sugar, formerly 2 pounds per month, now 4 pounds, but this will not continue long.</LI> +<LI>Marmalade, or jam, 1/4 of a pound every month.</LI> +<LI>Noodles, 1/2 pound per person a month.</LI> +<LI>Sardines, or canned fish, small box per month.</LI> +<LI>Saccharine (a coal tar product substitute for sugar), about 25 small tablets a month.</LI> +<LI>Oatmeal, 1/2 of a pound per month for adults or 1 pound per month for children under twelve years.</LI> +</OL> +</TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> +</TD> +</TR> +<!-- end of second inner table --> + +<!-- start of third inner table --> +<TR> +<TD> +<TABLE WIDTH="100%"> +<TR> +<TH ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%"> +WHAT YOU CAN EAT +<BR> +FOOD WHICH EVERY ONE WITH MONEY CAN BUY +</TH> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD WIDTH="100%"> +<OL> +<LI>Geese, costing 8 to 10 marks per pound ($1.60 to $2 per pound).</LI> +<LI>Wild game, rabbits, ducks, deer, etc.</LI> +<LI>Smuggled meat, such as ham and bacon, for $2.50 per pound.</LI> +<LI>Vegetables, carrots, spinach, onions, cabbage, beets.</LI> +<LI>Apples, lemons, oranges.</LI> +<LI>Bottled oil made from seeds and roots for cooking purposes, costing $5 per pound.</LI> +<LI>Vinegar.</LI> +<LI>Fresh fish.</LI> +<LI>Fish sausage.</LI> +<LI>Pickles.</LI> +<LI>Duck, chicken and geese heads, feet and wings.</LI> +<LI>Black crows.</LI> +</OL> +</TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> +</TD> +</TR> +<!-- end of third inner table --> + +<!-- start of fourth inner table --> +<TR> +<TD> +<TABLE WIDTH="100%"> +<TR> +<TH ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="100%"> +THE FOOD SITUATION AT A GLANCE +</TH> +</TR> + +</TABLE> +</TD> +</TR> +<!-- end of fourth inner table --> + +<!-- close of outer table --> +</TABLE> + +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BUBBLING ECONOMIC VOLCANO +</H3> + +<P> +When I entered Germany in 1915 there was plenty of food everywhere and +prices were normal. But a year later the situation had changed so that +the number of food cards--Germany's economic barometer--had increased +eight times. March and April of 1916 were the worst months in the year +and a great many people had difficulty in getting enough food to eat. +There was growing dissatisfaction with the way the Government was +handling the food problem but the people's hope was centred upon the +next harvest. In April and May the submarine issue and the American +crisis turned public attention from food to politics. From July to +October the Somme battles kept the people's minds centred upon military +operations. While the scarcity of food became greater the Government, +through inspired articles in the press, informed the people that the +harvest was so big that there would be no more food difficulties. +</P> + +<P> +Germany began to pay serious attention to the food situation, when +early in the year, Adolph von Batocki, the president of East Prussia +and a big land owner, was made food dictator. At the same time there +were organised various government food departments. There was an +Imperial Bureau for collecting fats; another to take charge of the meat +supply; another to control the milk and another in charge of the +vegetables and fruit. Germany became practically a socialistic state +and in this way the Government kept abreast of the growth of Socialism +among the people. The most important step the Government took was to +organise the Zentral Einkaufgesellschaft, popularly known as the "Z. E. +G." The first object of this organisation was to purchase food in +neutral countries. Previously German merchants had been going to +Holland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries to buy supplies. +These merchants had been bidding against each other in order to get +products for their concerns. In this way food was made much more +expensive than it would have been had one purchaser gone outside of +Germany. So the Government prohibited all firms from buying food +abroad. Travelling agents of the "Z. E. G." went to these countries +and bought all of the supplies available at a fixed price. Then these +resold to German dealers at cost. +</P> + +<P> +Such drastic measures were necessitated by the public demand that every +one share alike. The Government found it extremely difficult to +control the food. Farmers and rich landowners insisted upon +slaughtering their own pigs for their own use. They insisted upon +eating the eggs their chickens laid, or, upon sending them through the +mail to friends at high prices, thereby evading the egg card +regulations. But the Government stepped in and farmers were prohibited +from killing their own cattle and from sending foods to friends and +special customers. Farmers had to sell everything to the "Z. E. G." +That was another result of State Socialism. +</P> + +<P> +The optimistic statements of Herr von Batocki about the food outlook +led the people to believe that by fall conditions would be greatly +improved but instead of becoming more plentiful food supplies became +more and more organised until all food was upon an absolute ration +basis. +</P> + +<P> +"Although the crops were good this year, there will be so much +organisation that food will spoil," said practically every German. +Batocki's method of confiscating food did cause a great deal to spoil +and the public blamed him any time anything disappeared from the +market. One day a carload of plums was shipped from Werder, the big +fruit district near Berlin, to the capital. The "Z. E. G." confiscated +it but did not sell the goods immediately to the merchants and the +plums spoiled. Before this was found out, a crowd of women surrounded +the train one day, which was standing on a side track, broke into a car +and found most of the plums in such rotten condition they could not be +used. So they painted on the sides of the car: "This is the kind of +plum jam the 'Z. E. G.' makes." +</P> + +<P> +There was a growing scarcity of all other supplies, too. The armies +demanded every possible labouring man and woman so even the canning +factories had to close and food which formerly was canned had to be +eaten while fresh or it spoiled. Even the private German family, which +was accustomed to canning food, had to forego this practice because of +a lack of tin cans, jars and rubber bands. +</P> + +<P> +The food depots are by far the most successful undertaking of the +Government. In Cologne and Berlin alone close to 500,000 poor are +being fed daily by municipal kitchens. Last October I went through the +Cologne food department with the director. The city has rented a +number of large vacant factory buildings and made them into kitchens. +Municipal buyers go through the country to buy meat and vegetables. +This is shipped to Cologne, and in these kitchens it is prepared by +women workers, under the direction of volunteers. +</P> + +<P> +A stew is cooked each day and sold for 42 pfennigs (about eight cents) +a quart. The people must give up their potato, fat and meat cards to +obtain it. In Berlin and all other large cities, the same system is +used. In one kitchen in Berlin, at the main market hall, 80,000 quarts +a day are prepared. +</P> + +<P> +In Cologne this food is distributed through the city streets by +municipal wagons, and the people get it almost boiling hot, ready to +eat. Were it not for these food depots there would be many thousands +of people who would starve because they could not buy and cook such +nourishing food for the price the city asks. These food kitchens have +been in use now almost a year, and, while the poor are obtaining food +here, they are becoming very tired of the supply, because they must eat +stews every day. They can have nothing fried or roasted. +</P> + +<P> +In addition to these kitchens the Government has opened throughout +Germany "mittlestand kueche," a restaurant for the middle classes. +Here government employees, with small wages, the poor who do not keep +house and others with little means can obtain a meal for 10 cents, +consisting of a stew and a dessert. But it is very difficult for +people to live on this food. Most every one who is compelled by +circumstances to eat here is losing weight and feels under-nourished +all the time. +</P> + +<P> +A few months ago, after one of my secretaries had been called to the +army; I employed another. He had been earning only $7 a week and had +to support his wife. On this money they ate at the middle class cafes. +In six months he had lost twenty pounds. +</P> + +<P> +Because the food is so scarce and because it lacks real nourishment +people eat all the time. It used to be said before the war that the +Germans were the biggest eaters in Europe--that they ate seven meals a +day. The blockade has not made them less eaters, for they eat every +few hours all day long now, but because the food lacks fats and sugars, +they need more food. +</P> + +<P> +Restaurants are doing big business because after one has eaten a "meal" +at any leading Berlin hotel at 1 o'clock in the afternoon one is hungry +by 3 o'clock and ready for another "meal." +</P> + +<P> +Last winter the Socialists of Munich, who saw that the rich were having +plenty of food and that the poor were existing as best they could in +food kitchens, wrote Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg and demanded the +immediate confiscation of all food in Germany, even that in private +residences. +</P> + +<P> +The Socialists' demand was, as are most others, thrown into the waste +basket because men like the Chancellor, President Batocki, of the Food +Department, wealthy bankers, statesmen and army generals have country +estates where they have stored food for an indefinite period. They +know that no matter how hard the blockade pinches the people it won't +starve them. +</P> + +<P> +When the Chancellor invites people to his palace he has real coffee, +white bread, plenty of potatoes, cake and meat. Being a government +official he can get what he wants from the food department. So can +other officials. Therefore, they were willing to disregard the demand +of the Bavarian Socialists. +</P> + +<P> +But the Socialists, although they don't get publicity when they start +something, don't give up until they accomplish what they set out to do. +First, they enlisted the Berlin Socialists, and the report went around +to people that the rich were going to Copenhagen and bringing back food +while the poor starved. So the Government had to prohibit all food +from coming into Germany by way of Denmark unless it was imported by +the Government. +</P> + +<P> +That was the first success of the Bavarian Socialists. Now they have +had another. Batocki is reported as having announced that all food +supplies will be confiscated. The Socialists are responsible. +</P> + +<P> +Excepting the very wealthy and those who have stored quantities of food +for the "siege," every German is undernourished. A great many people +are starving. The head physician of the Kaiserin Augusta Victoria +Hospital, in Berlin, stated that 80,000 children died in Berlin in 1916 +from lack of food. The <I>Lokal-Anzeiger</I> printed the item and the +Foreign Office censor prohibited me from sending it to New York. +</P> + +<P> +But starvation under the blockade is a slow process, and it has not yet +reached the army. When I was on the Somme battlefields last November +and in Rumania in December the soldiers were not only well fed, but +they had luxuries which their families at home did not have. Two years +ago there was so much food at home the women sent food boxes to the +front. To-day the soldiers not only send but carry quantities of food +from the front to their homes. The army has more than the people. +</P> + +<P> +It is almost impossible to say whether Germany, as a nation, can be +starved into submission. Everything depends upon the next harvest, the +length of the war and future military operations. The German +Government, I think, can make the people hold out until the coming +harvest, unless there is a big military defeat. In their present +undernourished condition the public could not face a defeat. If the +war ends this year Germany will not be so starved that she will accept +any peace terms. But if the war continues another year or two Germany +will have to give up. +</P> + +<P> +I entered Germany at the beginning of the Allied blockade when one +could purchase any kind and any quantity of food in Germany. Two years +later, when I left, there were at least eighteen foodstuffs which could +not be purchased anywhere, and there were twelve kinds of food which +could be obtained only by government cards. That is what the Allied +blockade did to the food supplies. It made Germany look like a grocery +store after a closing out sale. +</P> + +<P> +Suppose in the United States you wanted the simplest breakfast--coffee +and bread and butter. Suppose you wanted a light luncheon of eggs or a +sandwich, tea and fruit. Suppose for dinner you wanted a plain menu of +soup, meat, vegetables and dessert. At any grocery or lunch counter +you could get not only these plain foods, but anything else you wanted. +</P> + +<P> +Not so in Germany! For breakfast you cannot have pure coffee, and you +can have only a very small quantity of butter with your butter card. +Hotels serve a coffee substitute, but most people prefer nothing. For +luncheon you may have an egg, but only one day during two weeks. +Hotels still serve a weak, highly colored tea and apples or oranges. +For dinner you may have soup without any meat or fat in it. Soups are +just a mixture of water and vegetables. Two days a week you can get a +small piece of meat with a meat card. Other days you can eat boiled +fish. +</P> + +<P> +People who keep house, of course, have more food, because as a rule +they have been storing supplies. Take the Christian Scientists as an +instance. Members of this Church have organised a semi-official club. +Members buy all the extra food possible. Then they divide and store +away what they want for the "siege"--the time when food will be scarcer +than it is to-day. +</P> + +<P> +Two women practitioners in Berlin, who live together, bought thirty +pounds of butter from an American who had brought it in from +Copenhagen. They canned it and planned to make this butter last one +year. Until a few weeks ago people with money could go to Switzerland, +Holland and Denmark and bring back food with them, either with or +without permission. Some wealthy citizens who import machinery and +other things from outside neutral countries have their agents smuggle +food at the same time. +</P> + +<P> +While the Dutch, Danish and Swiss governments try to stop smuggling; +there is always some going through. The rich have the money to bribe +border officers and inspectors. When I was in Düsseldorf, last +October, I met the owner of a number of canal boats, who shipped coal +and iron products from the Rhine Valley to Denmark. He told me his +canal barges brought back food from Copenhagen every trip and that the +border authorities were not very careful in making an investigation of +his boats. +</P> + +<P> +In Düsseldorf, too, as well as in Cologne, business men spoke about the +food they got from Belgium. They did not get great quantities, of +course, but the leakage was enough to enable them to live better than +those who had to depend upon the food in Germany. +</P> + +<P> +When the food supplies began to decrease the Government instituted the +card system of distribution. Bread cards had been very successful, so +the authorities figured that meat, butter, potato and other cards would +be equally so. But their calculations were wrong. +</P> + +<P> +When potato cards were issued each person was given nine pounds a week. +But the potato harvest was a big failure. The supply was so much less +than the estimates that seed potatoes had to be used to keep the people +satisfied. Even then the supply was short; and the quantity to be sold +on potato cards was cut to three pounds a week. Then transportation +difficulties arose, and potatoes spoiled before they reached Berlin, +Munich, Hamburg, Dresden, Leipsic and other large cities. +</P> + +<P> +The same thing happened when the Government confiscated the fruit crop +last year. +</P> + +<P> +One day I was asked on the telephone whether I wanted to buy an +11-pound ham. I asked to have it sent to my office immediately. When +it came the price was $2.50 a pound. I sent the meat back and told the +man I would not pay such a price. +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right," he replied. "Dr. Stein and a dozen other people +will pay me that price. I sent it to you because I wanted to help you +out." +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Ludwig Stein, one of the editors of the <I>Vossiche Zeitung</I>, paid +the price and ordered all he could get for the same money. +</P> + +<P> +When I left Berlin the Government had issued an order prohibiting the +sale of all canned vegetables and fruit. It was explained that this +food would be sold when the present supplies of other foods were +exhausted. There were in Berlin many thousand cans, but no one can say +how long such food will last. +</P> + +<P> +When Americans ask, "How long can Germany hold out?" I reply, "As long +as the German Government can satisfy the vanity and stimulate the +nerves of the people, and as long as the people permit the Government +to do the nation's thinking." +</P> + +<P> +How long a time that will be no one can say. It was formerly believed +that whenever a nation reached the limit which Germany has reached it +would crumple up. But Germany fails to crumple. Instead of breaking +up, she fights harder and more desperately. Why can she do this? The +answer is simple: Because the German people believe in their Government +and the Government knows that as long as it can convince the people +that it is winning the war the people will fight. +</P> + +<P> +Germany is to-day in the position of a man on the verge of a nervous +breakdown; in the position of a man who is under-nourished, who is +depressed, who is weighed down by colossal burdens, who is brooding +over the loss of friends and relatives, but of a man who feels that his +future health and happiness depend upon his ability to hold out until +the crisis passes. +</P> + +<P> +If a physician were called in to prescribe for such a patient his first +act would in all probability be to stimulate this man's hope, to make +him believe that if he would only "hold out" he would pass the crisis +successfully. But no physician could say that his patient could stand +it for one week, a month or a year more. The doctor would have to +gamble upon that man's nerves. He would have to stimulate him daily, +perhaps hourly. +</P> + +<P> +So it is with the German nation. The country is on the verge of a +nervous breakdown. Men and women, business men and generals, long ago +lost their patience. They are under-nourished. They are depressed, +distressed, suffering and anxious for peace. It is as true of the +Hamburg-American Line directors as it is true of the officers at the +front. +</P> + +<P> +There have been more cases of nervous breakdowns among the people +during the last year than at any time in Germany's history. There have +been so many suicides that the newspapers are forbidden to publish +them. There have been so many losses on the battlefields that every +family has been affected not once, but two, three and four times. +Dance halls have been closed. Cafes and hotels must stop serving meals +by 11 o'clock. Theatres are presenting the most sullen plays. Rumours +spread like prairie fires. One day Hindenburg is dead. Two days later +he is alive again. +</P> + +<P> +But the Kaiser has studied this war psychology. He and his ministers +know that one thing keeps the German people fighting--their hope of +ultimate victory; their belief that they have won already. The Kaiser +knows, too, that if the public mind is stimulated from day to day by +new victories, by reports of many prisoners, of new territory gained, +of enemy ships torpedoed, or by promises of reforms after the war, the +public will continue fighting. +</P> + +<P> +So the Kaiser gambles from day to day with his people's nerves. For +two years he has done this, and for two years he has been supported by +a 12,000,000-man-power army and a larger army of workers and women at +home. The Kaiser believes he can gamble for a long time yet with his +people. +</P> + +<P> +Just as it is impossible for a physician to say how long his patient +can be stimulated without breaking down, so is it impossible for an +observer in Germany to say how long it will be before the break-up +comes in Germany. +</P> + +<P> +Many times during the war Germany has been on the verge of a collapse. +President Wilson's ultimatum after the sinking of the Sussex in the +English Channel brought about one crisis. Von Falkenhayn's defeat at +Verdun caused another. The Somme battle brought on a third. General +Brusiloff's offensive against the Austrians upset conditions throughout +the Central Powers. Rumania's declaration of war made another crisis. +But Germany passed all of these successfully. +</P> + +<P> +The ability of the German Government to convince the people that Wilson +was unneutral and wanted war caused them to accept Germany's note in +the <I>Sussex</I> case. The defeat at Verdun was explained as a tactical +success. The Somme battles, with their terrible losses, failed to +bring a break-up because the Allies stopped attacking at the critical +moment. +</P> + +<P> +Von Hindenburg as chief of the General Staff of Central Europe remedied +the mistakes of the Austrians during Brusiloff's attacks by +reorganising the Dual Monarchy's army. The crisis which Rumania's +entrance on the Allies' side brought in Germany and Hungary was +forgotten after von Mackensen took Bucharest. +</P> + +<P> +In each of these instances it will be noticed that the crisis was +successfully passed by "stimulation." The German mind was made to +believe what the Kaiser willed. +</P> + +<P> +But what about the future? Is there a bottomless well of stimulation +in Germany? +</P> + +<P> +Before these questions can be answered others must be asked: Why don't +the German people think for themselves? Will they ever think for +themselves? +</P> + +<P> +An incident which occurred in Berlin last December illustrates the fact +that the people are beginning to think. After the Allies replied to +President Wilson's peace note the Kaiser issued an appeal to the German +people. One morning it was printed on the first pages of all +newspapers in boldface type. When I arrived at my office the janitor +handed me the morning papers and, pointing to the Kaiser's letter, said: +</P> + +<P> +"I see the Kaiser has written US another letter. You know he never +wrote to US in peace time." +</P> + +<P> +There are evidences, too, that others are beginning to think. The +Russian revolution is going to cause many Socialists to discuss the +future of Germany. They have discussed it before, but always behind +closed doors and with lowered voices. I attended one night a secret +meeting of three Socialist leaders of the Reichstag, an editor of a +Berlin paper and several business men. What they said of the Kaiser +that night would, if it were published, send every man to the military +firing squad. But these men didn't dare speak that way in public at +that time. Perhaps the Russian revolt will give them more courage. +</P> + +<P> +But the Government is not asleep to these changes. The Kaiser believes +he can continue juggling public opinion, but he knows that from now on +it will be more difficult. But he will not stop. He will always hold +forth the vision of victory as the reward for German faithfulness. +Today, for instance, in the United States we hear very little about the +German submarine warfare. It is the policy of the Allies not to +publish all losses immediately; first because the enemy must not be +given any important information if possible, and, secondly, because, +losses have a bad effect upon any people. +</P> + +<P> +But the German people do not read what we do. Their newspapers are +printing daily the ship losses of the Entente. Submarines are +returning and making reports. These reports are published and in a way +to give the people the impression that the submarine war is a success. +We get the opposite impression here, but we are not in a position +better to judge than the Germans, because we don't hear everything. +</P> + +<P> +The important question, however, is: What are the German people being +told about submarine warfare? +</P> + +<P> +Judging from past events, the Kaiser and his Navy are undoubtedly +magnifying every sinking for the purpose of stimulating the people into +believing that the victory they seek is getting nearer. The Government +knows that the public favours ruthless torpedoing of all ships bound +for the enemy, so the Government is safe in concluding that the public +can be stimulated for some months more by reports of submarine victory. +</P> + +<P> +Military operations in the West are probably not arousing the +discussion in Berlin that the plans against Russia are. The Government +will see to it that the press points regularly to the possibilities of +a separate peace with Russia, or to the possibility of a Hindenburg +advance against England and France. +</P> + +<P> +The people have childlike faith in von Hindenburg. If Paul von +Hindenburg says a retreat is a victory the people will take his +judgment. But all German leaders know that the time is coming when +they will have to show the German people a victory or take the +consequences themselves. +</P> + +<P> +Hence it would not be surprising if, after present military operations +are concluded, either by an offensive against Russia or by an attack on +the Western line, the Chancellor again made peace proposals. The +Socialists will force the Chancellor to do it sooner or later. They +are the real power behind the throne, although they have not enough +spunk to try to oust the Kaiser and tell the people to do their own +thinking. +</P> + +<P> +A big Allied military victory would, of course, change everything. +Defeat of the German army would mean defeat of von Hindenburg, the +German god. It would put an end to the Kaiser's juggling with his +people's nerves. But few people in Germany expect an Entente victory +this year, and they believe that if the Allies don't win this year they +never will win. +</P> + +<P> +Germany is stronger militarily now than she has been and Germany will +be able for many months to keep many Entente armies occupied. Before +the year is passed the Entente may need American troops as badly as +France needed English assistance last year. General von Falkenhayn, +former chief of the German General Staff, told me about the same thing +last December, in Rumania. +</P> + +<P> +"In war," he remarked, "nothing is certain except that everything is +uncertain, but one thing I know is certain: We will win the war." +</P> + +<P> +<I>America's entrance, however, will have the decisive effect</I>. The +Allies, especially the French, appreciate this. As a high French +official remarked one day when Ambassador Gerard's party was in Paris: +</P> + +<P> +"There have been two great moments in the war for France. The first +was when England declared war to support us. The second was the +breaking of diplomatic relations between the United States and Germany." +</P> + +<P> +The Germans don't believe this. As General von Stein, Prussian +Minister of War, said, Germany doesn't fear the United States. He said +that, of course, for its effect upon the German people. The people +must be made to believe this or they will not be able to hate America +in true German fashion. +</P> + +<P> +America's participation, however, will upset Hindenburg's war plans. +American intervention can put a stop to the Kaiser's juggling with his +people's minds by helping the Allies defeat Germany. Only a big +military defeat will shake the confidence of the Germans in the Kaiser, +Hindenburg and their organised might. The people are beginning to +think now, but they will do a great deal more thinking if they are +beaten. +</P> + +<P> +So the answer to the question: "How long can Germany hold out?" is +really answered by saying that Germany can keep on until she is +decisively defeated militarily. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE PEACE DRIVE OF DECEMBER 12TH +</H3> + +<P> +I +</P> + +<P> +Disturbed by internal political dissension and tormented by lack of +food the German ship of state was sailing troubled waters by November, +1916. Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg's speech to the Reichstag on +September 28th satisfied no one. After he had spoken the only thing +people could recall were his words: +</P> + +<P> +"The mighty tasks which await us in all the domains of public, social, +economic, and political life need all the strength of the people for +their fulfilment. It is a necessity of state which will triumph over +all obstacles to utilise to the utmost those forces which have been +forged in the fire and which clamour for work and creation. <I>A free +path for all who are capable--that must be our watch-word</I>. If we +carry it out freely, without prejudice, then our empire goes to a +healthy future." +</P> + +<P> +The press interpreted this as meaning that the Chancellor might some +day change his mind about the advisability of a ruthless submarine +warfare. Early in November when it appeared that the Allies would not +succeed in breaking through at the Somme peace forces were again +mobilised. But when various neutral countries sounded Germany as to +possible terms they discovered that Germany was the self-appointed +"victor" and would consider only a peace which recognised Germany as +the dominant power in Europe. The confidence of the army in the +victory was so great that the following article was printed in all the +German newspapers: +</P> + +<P> +"FAITH IN VICTORY" +</P> + +<P> +"Great Headquarters sends us the following: +</P> + +<P> +"Since the beginning of the war, when enemies arose on all sides and +millions of troops proceeded from all directions--since then more than +two long years have brought no more eventful days than those of the +present. The unity of the front--our enemies have prepared it for a +long time past with great care and proclaimed it in loud tones. Again +and again our unexpected attacks have disturbed this boldly thought out +plan in its development, destroying its force, but now at last +something has been accomplished that realises at least part of the +intentions of our enemies and all their strength is being concentrated +for a simultaneous attack. The victory which was withheld from them on +all the theatres of war is to be accomplished by an elaborate attack +against the defensive walls of our best blood. The masses of iron +supplied them by half the world are poured on our gallant troops day +and night with the object of weakening their will and then the mass +attacks of white, yellow, brown and black come on. +</P> + +<P> +"The world never experienced anything so monstrous and never have +armies kept up a resistance such as ours. +</P> + +<P> +"Our enemies combine the hunger and lie campaign with that of arms, +both aimed at the head and heart of our home. The hunger campaign they +will lose as the troublesome work of just an equal administration and +distribution of the necessities of life is almost complete. And a +promising harvest has ripened on our broad fields. From the first day +of the war, we alone of all the belligerent nations published the army +reports of all of our enemies in full, as our confidence in the +constancy of those at home is unlimited. But our enemies have taken +advantage of this confidence and several times a day they send out war +reports to the world; the English since the beginning of their +offensive send a despatch every two hours. Each of these publications +is two or three times as long as our daily report and all written in a +style which has nothing in common with military brevity and simplicity. +This is no longer the language of the soldier. They are mere fantastic +hymns of victory and their parade of names and of conquered villages +and woods and stormed positions, and the number of captured guns, and +tens of thousands of prisoners is a mockery of the truth. +</P> + +<P> +"Why is all this done? Is it only intended to restore the wearying +confidence of their own armies and people and the tottering faith of +their allies? Is it only intended to blind the eagerly observing eye +of the neutrals? No, this flood of telegrams is intended to pass +through the channels which we ourselves have opened to our enemy, and +to dash against the heart of the German people, undermining and washing +away our steadfastness. +</P> + +<P> +"But this despicable game will not succeed. In the same manner as our +gallant troops in the field defy superior numbers, so the German people +at home will defy the enemies' legions of lies, and remember that the +German army reports cannot tell them and the world at large everything +at present, but they never publish a word the truth of which could not +be minutely sifted. With proud confidence in the concise, but +absolutely reliable publications of our own army administration, +Germany will accept these legions of enemy reports at their own value, +as wicked concoctions, attempting to rob them of calm and confidence +which the soldier must feel supporting him, if he joyfully risks his +all for the protection of those at home. Thus our enemies' legions of +lies will break against the wall of our iron faith. Our warriors defy +the iron and fire--those at home will also defy the floods of printed +paper and remain unruffled. The nation and army alike are one in their +will and faith in victory." +</P> + +<A NAME="img-172"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-172.jpg" ALT=" THE POPE TO PRESIDENT WILSON" BORDER="2" WIDTH="433" HEIGHT="643"> +<H5> +[Illustration: THE POPE TO PRESIDENT WILSON----"HOW CAN MY PEACE ANGEL +FLY, MR. PRESIDENT, WHEN YOU ALWAYS PUT SHELLS IN HER POCKETS?"] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +This is a typical example of the kind of inspired stories which are +printed in the German newspapers from time to time to keep up the +confidence of the people. This was particularly needed last fall +because the people were depressed and melancholy over the losses at the +Somme, and because there was so much criticism and dissatisfaction over +the Chancellor's attitude towards the submarine warfare and peace. +People, too, were suffering agonies in their homes because of the +inferior quality of the food,--the lack of necessary fats and sugar +which normal people need for regular nourishment. The Socialists, who +are in closer touch with the people than any others, increased their +demands for peace while the National Liberals and the Conservatives, +who wanted a war of exhaustion against Great Britain, increased their +agitation for the submarine warfare. The Chancellor was between two +tormentors. Either he had to attempt to make peace to satisfy the +Socialists and the people, or he had to give in to the demands for +submarine warfare as outlined by the National Liberals. One day +Scheidemann went to the Chancellor's palace, after he had visited all +the big centres of Germany, and said to von Bethmann-Hollweg: +</P> + +<P> +"Unless you try to make peace at once the people will revolt and I +shall lead the revolution!" +</P> + +<P> +At the same time the industrial leaders of the Rhine Valley and the +Army and Navy were serving notice on the Government that there could +not possibly be a German victory unless every weapon in Germany's +possession, which included of course the submarine, was used against +Germany's so-called chief foe--England. +</P> + +<P> +Confronted by graver troubles within Germany than those from the +outside, the Chancellor went to Great Headquarters to report to the +Kaiser and to discuss with von Hindenburg and Ludendorf what should be +done to unite the German nation. +</P> + +<P> +While the Army had been successful in Roumania and had given the people +renewed confidence, this was not great enough to carry the people +through another hard winter. +</P> + +<P> +While Germany had made promises to the United States in May that no +ships would be sunk without warning, the submarines were not adhering +very closely to the written instructions. The whole world was aroused +over Germany's repeated disregard of the rules and practice of sea +warfare. President Wilson through Ambassador Gerard had sent nine +inquiries to the Foreign Office asking for a report from Germany on the +sinking of various ships not only contrary to international law but +contrary to Germany's pledges. In an attempt to ward off many of the +neutral indictments of Germany's sea warfare the official North German +Gazette published an explanation containing the following: +</P> + +<P> +"The activity of our submarines in the Atlantic Ocean and White Sea has +led the press of the entire world to producing articles as to the +waging of cruiser warfare by means of submarines. In both cases it can +be accurately stated that there is no question of submarine warfare +here, but of cruiser warfare waged with the support of submarines and +the details reported hitherto as to the activities of our submarines do +not admit of any other explanation, in spite of the endeavours of the +British press to twist and misrepresent facts. It is also strictly +correct to state that the cruiser warfare which is being waged by means +of submarines is in strict compliance with the German prize regulations +which correspond to the International Rules laid down and agreed to in +the Declaration of London which are not being any more complied with by +England. The accusations and charges brought forward by the British +press and propaganda campaign in connection with ships sunk, can be +shown as futile, as our position is both militarily and from the +standpoint of international law irreproachable. We do not sink neutral +ships per se, as was recently declared in a proclamation, but the +ammunition transports and other contraband wares conducive to the +prolongation of the war, and the rights of defensive measures as +regards this cannot be denied Germany any more than any other country. +</P> + +<P> +"Based on this idea, it is clearly obvious that the real loss of the +destruction of tonnage must be attributed to the supplies sent to +England and not to the attitude displayed by Germany which has but +recourse to purely defensive measures. If the attitude displayed by +England towards neutrals during the course of this war be considered, +the manner in which it forced compulsory supplies of contraband goods, +etc., it can be further recognised that England is responsible for the +losses in ships; as it is owing to England's attitude that the cause is +to be found. . . . +</P> + +<P> +"Although England has hit and crippled legitimate trade to such an +extent, Germany does not wish to act in the same manner, but simply to +stop the shipments of contraband goods calculated to lengthen the war. +England evidently is being hard hit by our defensive submarine measures +and is therefore doing all in her power to incite public opinion +against the German methods of warfare and confuse opinion in neutral +countries. . . . +</P> + +<P> +"Therefore it must again be recalled that it is: +</P> + +<P> +"England, which has crippled neutral trade! +</P> + +<P> +"England, which has rendered the freedom of the seas impossible! +</P> + +<P> +"England, which has extended the risk of contraband wares in excess of +international agreements, and now raises a cry when the same weapons +are used against herself. +</P> + +<P> +"England, which has compelled the neutrals to supply these shipments of +contraband goods calculated to lengthen the war! +</P> + +<P> +"As the neutrals quietly acquiesced when there was a question of +abandoning trade with the Central Powers they have remedies in hand for +the losses of ships which affect them so deeply. They need only +consider the fact that the German submarines on the high seas are able +to prevent war services to the enemy in the shipments of contraband +goods, in a manner that is both militarily and from the standpoint of +international law, irreproachable. If they agree to desist from the +shipment of contraband goods and cease yielding to British pressure +then they will not have to complain of losses in ships and can retain +the same for peaceful aims." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +This was aimed especially at America. Naval critics did not permit the +opportunity to pass to call to the attention of the Government that +Germany's promises in the <I>Sussex</I> case were only conditional and that, +therefore, they could be broken at any time. The Chancellor was in a +most difficult situation; so was von Hindenburg and the Kaiser. On +December 10th it was announced that the Reichstag would be called to a +special session on the twelfth and that the Chancellor would discuss +the international situation as it was affected by the Roumanian +campaign. +</P> + +<P> +The meeting of December 12th was the best attended and most impressive +one of the Reichstag since August 4th, 1914. Before the Chancellor +left his palace he called the representatives of the neutral nations +and handed them Germany's peace proposal. The same day Germany sent to +every part of the globe through her wireless stations, Germany's note +to the Allies and the Chancellor's address. +</P> + +<P> +The world was astonished and surprised at the German move but no one +knew whether it was to be taken seriously. Great Britain instructed +her embassies and legations in neutral countries to attempt to find out +whether the Chancellor really desired to make peace or whether his +statements were to be interpreted as something to quiet internal +troubles. +</P> + +<P> +During the days of discussion which followed I was in close touch with +the Foreign Office, the American Embassy and the General Staff. The +first intimation I received that Germany did not expect the peace plan +to succeed was on December 14th at a meeting of the neutral +correspondents with Lieut. Col. von Haeften. When von Hindenburg +became Chief of the General Staff he reorganised the press department +in Berlin and sent von Haeften from his personal staff to Berlin to +direct the press propaganda. As a student of public opinion abroad von +Haeften was a genius and was extremely frank and honest with the +correspondents. +</P> + +<P> +"We have proposed peace to our enemies," he said to the correspondents, +"because we feel that we have been victorious and because we believe +that no matter how long the war continues the Allies will not be able +to defeat us. It will be interesting to see what effect our proposal +has upon Russia. Reports which we have received, coming from +unquestionable sources, state that internal conditions in Russia are +desperate; that food is scarce; that the transportation system is so +demoralised and that it will be at least eight months before Russia can +do anything in a military way. Russia wants peace and needs peace and +we shall see now whether she has enough influence upon England to +compel England to make peace. We are prepared to go on with the war if +the Allies refuse our proposals. If we do we shall not give an inch +without making the Allies pay such a dear cost that they will not be +able to continue." +</P> + +<P> +The Foreign Office was not optimistic over the possibilities of +success; officials realised that the new Lloyd-George Cabinet meant a +stronger war policy by Great Britain, but they thought the peace +proposals might shake the British confidence in the new government and +cause the overthrow of Lloyd-George and the return of Asquith and +Viscount Edward Grey. +</P> + +<P> +From all appearances in Berlin it was evident to every neutral diplomat +with whom I talked that while Germany was proclaiming to the whole +world her desire for peace she had in mind only the most drastic peace +terms as far as Belgium, certain sections of northern France, Poland +and the Balkans were concerned. Neutrals observed that Germany was so +exalted over the Roumanian victory and the possibilities of that +campaign solving the food problem that she was not only ready to defy +the Allies but the neutral world unless the world was ready to bow to a +German victory. There were some people in Germany who realised that +the sooner she made peace the better peace terms she could get but the +Government was not of this opinion. The Allies, as was expected, +defiantly refused the Prussian olive branch which had been extended +like everything else from Germany with a string tied to it. For the +purposes of the Kaiser and his Government the Allies' reply was exactly +what they wanted. +</P> + +<P> +The German Government was in this position: If the Allies accepted +Germany's proposal it would enable the Government to unite all factions +in Germany by making a peace which would satisfy the political parties +as well as the people. If the Allies refused, the German Government +calculated that the refusal would be so bitter that it would unite the +German people political organisations and enable the Government to +continue the war in any way it saw fit. +</P> + +<P> +Nothing which had happened during the year so solidified the German +nation as the Allies' replies to Berlin and to President Wilson. It +proved to the German people that their Government was waging a +defensive war because the Allies demanded annexation, compensation and +guarantees, all of which meant a change in the map of Europe from what +it was at the beginning of the war. The interests which had been +demanding a submarine warfare saw their opportunity had come. They +knew that as a result of the Allies' notes the public would sanction an +unrestricted sea warfare against the whole world if that was necessary. +</P> + +<P> +From December 12th until after Christmas, discussions of peace filled +the German newspapers. By January 1st all possibilities of peace had +disappeared. The Government and the public realised that the war would +go on and that preparations would have to be made at once for the +biggest campaign in the history of the world in 1917. +</P> + +<P> +Throughout the peace discussions one thing was evident to all +Americans. Opposition to American intervention in any peace discussion +was so great that the United States would not be able to take any +leading part without being faced by the animosity of a great section of +Germany. When it was stated in the press that Joseph O. Grew, the +American Charge d'Affaires, had received the German note and +transmitted it to his Government, public indignation was so great that +the Government had to inform all of the German newspapers to explain +that Germany had not asked the United States to make peace; that +Germany had in fact not asked any neutrals to make peace but had only +handed these neutrals the German note in order to get it officially +before the Allies. At this time the defiant attitude of the whole +nation was well expressed in an editorial in the <I>Morgen Post</I> saying: +"If Germany's hand is refused her fist will soon be felt with increased +force." +</P> + +<P> +II +</P> + +<P> +The Conferences at Pless +</P> + +<P> +As early as September, 1916, Ambassador Gerard reported to the State +Department that the forces demanding an unrestricted submarine campaign +were gaining such strength in Germany that the Government would not be +able to maintain its position very long. Gerard saw that not only the +political difficulties but the scarcity of food and the anti-American +campaign of hate were making such headway that unless peace were made +there would be nothing to prevent a rupture with the United States. +The latter part of December when Gerard returned from the United States +after conferences with President Wilson he began to study the submarine +situation. +</P> + +<P> +He saw that only the most desperate resistance on the part of the +Chancellor would be able to stem the tide of hate and keep America out +of the war. On January 7th the American Chamber of Commerce and Trade +in Berlin gave a dinner to Ambassador Gerard and invited the +Chancellor, Dr. Helfferich, Dr. Solf, Minister of Foreign Affairs +Zimmermann, prominent German bankers and business men, leading editors +and all others who a few months before during the <I>Sussex</I> crisis had +combined in maintaining friendly relations. At this banquet Gerard +made the statement, "As long as such men as Generals von Hindenburg and +Ludendorf, as long as Admirals von Capelle, von Holtzendorff and von +Mueller headed the Navy Department, and the Chancellor von +Bethmann-Hollweg directed the political affairs there would be no +trouble with the United States." Gerard was severely criticised abroad +not only for this statement but for a further remark "That the +relations between Germany and the United States had never been better +than they were to-day." Gerard saw before he had been in Berlin a week +that Germany was desperate, that conditions were getting worse and that +with no possibilities of peace Germany would probably renew the von +Tirpitz submarine warfare. He chose desperate means himself at this +banquet to appeal to the democratic forces in Germany to side with the +Chancellor when the question of a ruthless submarine warfare again came +up. +</P> + +<P> +The German Government, however, had planned its moves months in +advance. Just as every great offensive on the battlefields is planned, +even to the finest details, six months before operations begin, so are +the big moves on the political chessboard of Europe. +</P> + +<P> +There are very few men in public life in Germany who have the courage +of their convictions to resign if their policies are overruled. Von +Jagow, who was Secretary of State from the beginning of the war until +December, 1916, was one of these "few." Because von Jagow had to sign +all of the foolish, explanatory and excusing notes which the German +Government sent to the United States he was considered abroad as being +weak and incapable. But when he realised early in November that the +Government was determined to renew the submarine warfare unless peace +was made von Jagow was the only man in German public life who would not +remain an official of the Government and bring about a break with +America. Zimmermann, however, was a different type of official. +Zimmermann, like the Chancellor, is ambitious, bigoted, cold-blooded +and an intriguer of the first calibre. As long as he was Under +Secretary of State he fought von Jagow and tried repeatedly to oust +him. So it was not surprising to Americans when they heard that +Zimmermann had succeeded von Jagow. +</P> + +<P> +The Gerard banquet, however, came too late. The die was cast. But the +world was not to learn of it for some weeks. +</P> + +<P> +On the 27th of January, the Kaiser's birthday, the Chancellor, Field +Marshal von Hindenburg, First Quartermaster General Ludendorf, Admirals +von Capelle, von Holtzendorff and von Mueller and Secretary of State +Zimmermann were invited to Great Headquarters to attend the Kaiser's +birthday dinner. +</P> + +<P> +Ever since von Hindenburg has been Chief of the General Staff the Grand +Chief Headquarters of the German Army have been located at Pless, on +the estate of the Prince of Pless in Silicia. Previously, the Kaiser +had had his headquarters here, because it was said and popularly +believed that His Majesty was in love with the beautiful Princess of +Pless, an Englishwoman by birth. When von Hindenburg took his +headquarters to the big castle there, the Princess was exiled and sent +to Parkenkirchen, one of the winter resorts of Bavaria. +</P> + +<P> +On previous birthdays of the Emperor and when questions of great moment +were debated the civilian ministers of the Kaiser were always invited. +But on the Kaiser's birthday in 1917 only the military leaders were +asked. Dr. Helfferich, Minister of Colonies Solf, German bankers and +business men as well as German shippers were not consulted. Germany +was becoming so desperate that she was willing to defy not only her +enemies and neutral countries but her own financiers and business men. +Previously, when the submarine issue was debated the Kaiser wanted to +know what effect such a warfare would have upon German economic and +industrial life. But this time he did not care. He wanted to know the +naval and military arguments. +</P> + +<P> +In August, 1914, when the Chancellor and a very small group of people +were appealing to His Majesty not to go to war, the Kaiser sided with +General von Moltke and Admiral von Tirpitz. During the various +submarine crises with the United States it appeared that the Kaiser was +changing--that he was willing and ready to side with the forces of +democracy in his own country. President Wilson and Ambassador Gerard +thought that after the downfall of von Tirpitz and von Falkenhayn the +Kaiser would join hands with the reform forces. But in 1917 when the +final decision came the Kaiser cast his lot with his generals against +the United States and against democracy in Germany. The Chancellor, +who had impressed neutral observers as being a real leader of democracy +in Germany, sided with the Kaiser. Thus by one stroke the democratic +movement which was under way in Germany received a rude slap. The man +the people had looked upon as a friend became an enemy. +</P> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H3> + +<CENTER> +<P> +The Break in Diplomatic Relations +</P> +</CENTER> + +<P> +On January 30th the German Government announced its blockade of all +Allied coasts and stated that all shipping within these waters, except +on special lanes, would be sunk without notice. Germany challenged the +whole world to stay off of the ocean. President Wilson broke +diplomatic relations immediately and ordered Ambassador Gerard to +return home. Gerard called at the Foreign Office for his passports and +said that he desired to leave at once. Zimmermann informed him that as +soon as the arrangements for a train could be made he could leave. +Zimmermann asked the Ambassador to submit a list of persons he desired +to accompany him. The Ambassador's list was submitted the next day. +The Foreign Office sent it to the General Staff, but nearly a week +passed before Gerard was told he could depart and then he was +instructed that the American consuls could not accompany him, but would +have to take a special train leaving Munich a week or two later. +American correspondents, who expressed a desire to accompany the +Ambassador, were refused permission. In the meantime reports arrived +that the United States had confiscated the German ships and Count +Montgelas, Chief of the American division of the Foreign Office, +informed Gerard the American correspondents would be held as hostages +if America did this. Gerard replied that he would not leave until the +correspondents and all other Americans were permitted to leave over any +route they selected. Practically all of the correspondents had handed +in their passports to the Foreign Office, but not until four hours +before the special train departed for Switzerland were the passports +returned. When Gerard asked the Foreign Office whether his passports +were good to the United States the Foreign Office was silent and +neither would the General Staff guarantee the correspondents a safe +conduct through the German submarine zone. So the only thing the +Ambassador could do was to select a route via Switzerland, France and +Spain, to Cuba and the United States. +</P> + +<P> +The train which left Berlin on the night of February 10th carried the +happiest group of Americans which had been in Europe since the war +began. Practically no one slept. When the Swiss border was reached +the Stars and Stripes were hung from the car windows and Americans +breathed again in a free land. They felt like prisoners escaping from +a penitentiary. Most of them had been under surveillance or suspicion +for months. Nearly every one had had personal experiences which proved +to them that the German people were like the Government--there was no +respect for public sentiment or moral obligation. Some of the women +had upon previous occasions, when they crossed the German frontier, +submitted to the most inhuman indignities, but they remained in Germany +because their husbands were connected in some way with United States +government or semi-public service work. They were delighted to escape +the land where everything is "verboten" except hatred and militarism. +The second day after Gerard's arrival in Berne, American Minister +Stoval gave a reception to the Ambassador and invited the Allied +diplomats. From that evening on until he sailed from Coruña, Spain, +the Ambassador felt that he was among friends. When the Americans +accompanying the Ambassador asked the French authorities in Switzerland +for permission to enter France the French replied: +</P> + +<P> +"Of course you can go through France. You are exiles and France +welcomes you." +</P> + +<P> +After the Americans arrived in Paris they said they were not considered +exiles but guests. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<CENTER> +<A NAME="img-183"></A> +<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="5px" CELLPADDING="20px"> +<TR> +<TD> + +<P> +On the Kaiser's birthday services were held in all Protestant churches +in Germany. The clergy was mobilised to encourage the people. On +January 29th I sent the following despatch, after attending the +impressive services in the Berlin Cathedral: +</P> + +<P> +"Where one year ago Dr. Dryander, the quiet white-haired man who is +court preacher, pleaded for an hour for peace in the services marking +the Kaiser's birthday, this year his sermon was a fiery defence of +Germany's cause and a militant plea for Germany to steel herself for +the decisive battle every one believes is coming. +</P> + +<P> +"In this changed spirit he reflected the sentiment of the German +people. His sermon of Saturday has evoked the deepest approval +everywhere. +</P> + +<P> +"'We know,' be said, 'that before us is the decisive battle which can +be fought through only with the greatest sacrifices. But in all cases +of the past God has helped us, and God will fight for us to-day, +through our leaders and our soldiers. We neither willed nor wanted +this war--neither the Kaiser nor the people. We hoped for peace as the +Kaiser extended his peace proposal, but with unheard of frivolity and +insults our enemies slapped the back of the Kaiser's extended hand of +peace. +</P> + +<P> +"'To such enemies there is only one voice--that of the cannon. We +continue the war with a clear conscience and with trust in God that he +will bring us victory. God cannot--he will not--permit the German +people to go down.'" +</P> + +<CENTER> +<P> +<B> +"GOD WILL NOT PERMIT THE GERMAN PEOPLE TO GO DOWN" +</B> +</P> +</CENTER> + +</TD> +</TABLE> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BERNHARDI OF THE SEAS +</H3> + +<P> +After the break in diplomatic relations the slogan of German Militarism +became: +</P> + +<P> +"Win or lose, we must end the war." +</P> + +<P> +To many observers it seemed to be insanity coupled with desperation +which caused the Kaiser to defy the United States. There was no doubt +that Germany was desperate, economically, morally and militarily. +While war had led German armies far into enemy territory, it had +destroyed German influence throughout the world; it had lost Germany's +colonies and Pacific possessions and it had turned the opinion of the +world against Germany. But during the time Germany was trying to +impress the United States with its sincerity after the <I>Sussex</I> +incident the German Navy was building submarines. It was not building +these ships to be used in cruiser warfare. It was building them for +the future, when submarine war would be launched on a big scale, +perhaps on a bigger scale than it had ever before been conducted. +</P> + +<P> +After the new blockade of the Allied Coast was proclaimed, effective +Feb. 1, 1917, some explanation had to be made to convince the public +that the submarine war would be successful and would bring the victory +which the people had been promised. The public was never informed +directly what the arguments were which convinced the Kaiser that he +could win the war by using submarines. But on the 9th of February +there appeared a small book written by Rear Admiral Hollweg entitled: +"Unser Recht auf den Ubootkrieg." (Our Right in Submarine Warfare.) +The manuscript of this book was concluded on the 15th of January, which +shows that the data which it contained and the information and +arguments presented were those which the Admiralty placed before the +Kaiser on his birthday. The points which Rear Admiral Hollweg makes in +his book are: +</P> + +<P> +1. America's unfriendly neutrality justifies a disregard of the United +States; +</P> + +<P> +2. The loss of merchant ships is bringing about a crisis in the +military and economic conditions of the Allies; +</P> + +<P> +3. England, as the heart of the Entente, must be harmed before peace +can be made; +</P> + +<P> +4. Submarines can and must end the war. +</P> + +<P> +This book is for the German people a naval text book as General von +Bernhardi's book, "Germany and the Next War," was a military text book. +Bernhardi's task was to school Germany into the belief in the +unbeatableness of the German army. Hollweg's book is to teach the +German people what their submarines will accomplish and to steal the +people for the plans her military leaders will propose and carry +through on this basis. +</P> + +<P> +The keynote of Hollweg's arguments is taken from the words of the +German song: "Der Gott der Eisen wachsen Liesz," written by Ernst +Moritz Arndt. Hollweg quotes this sentence on page 23: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Lieber ein Ende mit Schrecken, als ein Schrecken ohne Ende." +</P> + +<P> +("Rather an end with Terror than Terror without End.") +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In the chapter on "The Submarine War and Victory" the writer presents +the following table: +</P> + +<P> + Status of merchant ships in 1914: +</P> + +<TABLE WIDTH="100%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">Sunk or</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" CHAR="." VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">Captured</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">Percentage</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> England (Exclusive of colonies)</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">19,256,766 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">2,977,820 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">15.5 </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">France </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">2,319,438 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">376,360 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">16.2 </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">Russia </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">1,053,818 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">146,168 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">13.8 </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">Italy </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">1,668,296 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">314,290 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">18.8 </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">Belgium </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">352,124 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">32,971 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">9.3 </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top">Japan </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">1,708,386 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">37,391 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">0.22</TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR> + +<TABLE WIDTH="100%"> +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="40%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" COLSPAN="2"> (Figures for Dec. 1916 estimated) </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" COLSPAN="3"> The World Tonnage at beginning of war was </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">49,089,553</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" COLSPAN="3">Added 1914-16 by new construction </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">2,000,000</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" COLSPAN="3"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">---------------</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" COLSPAN="3"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">51,089,553</TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR> + +<TABLE> +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%">Of this not useable are:</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%"> Tonnage Germany </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">5,459,296</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%"> Austria </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">1,055,719</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%"> Turkey</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">133,158</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%"> In Germany and Turkey held enemy shipping </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20%"> 200,000 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%"> Ships in U. S. A. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">2,352,764 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%"> Locked in Baltic and Black Sea </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">700,000 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%"> Destroyed enemy tonnage </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">3,885,000 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">---------------</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%">Total </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">13,785,937 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%">Destroyed neutral tonnage (estimated) </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20%">900,000 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">---------------</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">14,685,937</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%">Requisitioned by enemy countries for war purposes, transports, etc.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%">England </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">9,000,000 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%">France </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">1,400,000 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%">Italy </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">1,100,000 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%">Russia </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">400,000 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%">Belgium </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">250,000 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">---------------</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">12,150,000</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">---------------</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">26,835,937</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="30%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="20%">---------------</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" COLSPAN="3"> Remaining for world freight transmission <BR>still useable at the beginning of 1917 </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20%">24,253,615 tons </TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR> + +<P> +To the Entente argument that Germany has not considered the speedy +construction of merchant ships during war time the author replies by +citing Lloyd's List of December 29, 1916, which gave the following +tonnage as having been completed in British wharves: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + 1913 .......... 1,977,000 tons<BR> + 1914 .......... 1,722,000 tons<BR> + 1915 .......... 649,000 tons<BR> + 1916 .......... 582,000 tons +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"These figures demonstrate that England, which is the leader of the +world as a freight carrier is being harmed the most." Admiral Hollweg +cites these figures to show that ship construction has decreased in +England and that England cannot make good ship losses by new +construction. +</P> + +<P> +On page 17 Rear Admiral Hollweg says: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"We are conducting to-day a war against enemy merchant vessels +different from the methods of former wars only in part by ordinary +warships. The chief method is by submarines based upon the +fundamentals of international law as dictated by German prize court +regulations. The German prize regulations were at the beginning of the +war based upon the fundamental principles of the London Declaration and +respected the modern endeavours of all civilised states to decrease the +terrors of war. These regulations of sea laws were written to decrease +the effects of the unavoidable consequences of sea warfare upon +non-combatants and neutrals. As far as there have been changes in the +regulations of the London Declaration during the war, especially as far +as changes in the contraband list have been extended, we Germans have +religiously followed the principle set by the English of, 'an eye for +an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +On page 19 he states: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Americans would under no circumstances, not even to-day, if they were +faced by a superior sea power in war, refuse to follow this method of +warfare by the ruthless use of pirate ships. May our submarine +campaign be an example for them! The clever cruiser journey of U-53 +off the Atlantic Coast gave them clearly to understand what this method +was. Legally they cannot complain of this warfare. The other neutrals +cannot complain either against such sea warfare because they have ever +since the Middle Ages recognised the English method of sea warfare." +</P> + +<A NAME="img-196"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-196.jpg" ALT="The New Weather Cape" BORDER="2" WIDTH="371" HEIGHT="626"> +<H5> +[Illustration: The New Weather Cape] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +In the chapter entitled "The Opponent," on page 27 the author says: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Before there is a discussion of our legal right to the submarine +warfare a brief review of the general policies of our opponents during +the war will be given. This account shall serve the purpose of +fortifying the living feeling within us of our natural right and of our +duty to use all weapons ruthlessly. +</P> + +<P> +"If we did not know before the publication of the Entente Note [The +Allies' peace reply to Germany] what we were up against, now we know. +The mask fell. Now we have confirmation of the intentions to rob and +conquer us which, caused the individual entente nations to league +together and conduct the war. The neutrals will now see the situation +more clearly. For us it is war, literally to be or not to be a German +nation. Never did such an appeal [The Entente Note] find such a +fruitful echo in German hearts. . . ." +</P> + +<HR WIDTH="60%" ALIGN="center"> + +<P> +"I begin with England, our worst enemy." +</P> + +<P> + +On page 31 Admiral Hollweg speaks of the fact that at the beginning of +the war many Germans, especially those in banking and business circles, +felt that Germany was so indispensable to England in peace time that +England would not conduct a war to "knock out" Germany. But Hollweg +says the situation has now changed. +</P> + +<P> +On pages 122 to 126 he justifies the ruthless submarine warfare in the +following way: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"It is known that England and her allies declared at the beginning of +the war that they would adhere to the Declaration of London. It is +just as well known that England and the Allies changed this declaration +through the Orders in Council and other lawless statements of authority +until the declaration was unrecognisable and worthless--especially the +spirit and purpose of the agreement were flatly pushed aside until +practically nothing more remains of the marine laws as codified in +1909. The following collection of flagrant breaches of international +law will show who first broke marine laws during the war." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Ten gross violations of marine law in war time by England. +</P> + +<P> +"1. Violation of Article IV of the Maritime Declaration of April 16th, +1855. Blockading of neutral harbours in violation of international law. +</P> + +<P> +"2. Violation of Article II of the same declarations by the +confiscation of enemy property aboard neutral ships. See Order in +Council, March 11th, 1915. +</P> + +<P> +"3. Declaration of the North Sea as a war zone. British Admiralty +Declaration, November 3, 1914. +</P> + +<P> +"4. England regarded food as contraband since the beginning of the war. +The starvation war. England confiscated neutral food en route to +neutral states whenever there was a possibility that it would reach the +enemy. This violated the recognised fundamental principles of the +freedom of the seas. +</P> + +<P> +"5. Attempt to prevent all communications between Germany and neutral +countries through the violation of international law and the seizing of +mail. +</P> + +<P> +"6. Imprisonment of German reservists aboard neutral ships. +</P> + +<P> +"7. a. Violation of Article I of The Hague Convention by the +confiscation of the German hospital ship <I>Ophelia</I>. b. Murdering of +submarine crew upon command of British auxiliary cruiser <I>Baralong</I>. +c. Violation of Article XXIX, No. 1, of London Declaration by +preventing American Red Cross from sending supplies to the German Red +Cross. +</P> + +<P> +"8. a. Destruction of German cruisers <I>Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse</I> in +Spanish territorial waters by English cruiser <I>Highflyer</I>. b. +Destruction of German cruiser <I>Dresden</I> in Chinese waters by British +cruiser <I>Glasgow</I>. c. Attack of British warships on German ship +<I>Paklas</I> in Norwegian waters. +</P> + +<P> +"9. England armed her merchant ships for attack. +</P> + +<P> +"10. Use of neutral flags and signs by British merchantmen in violation +of Articles II and III of the Paris Declaration." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +On page 134, after discussing the question of whether the English +blockade has been effective and arguing that England by seizing neutral +ships with food on the supposition that the food was going to Germany, +he says: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"We may conclude from these facts that we Germans can now consider +ourselves freed from the uncomfortable conditions of the London +Declaration and may conduct the war as our own interests prescribe. We +have already partially done this in as much as we followed the English +example of extending the lists of war contraband. This has been +inconvenient for the neutrals affected and they have protested against +it. We may, however, consider that they will henceforth respect our +proposals just as they have in the past accepted English interests. +England demanded from them that they assist her because England was +fighting for the future of neutrals and of justice. We will take this +principle also as basis for what we do and even await thereby that we +will compel England to grant us the kind of peace which can lay new +foundations for sea warfare and that for the future the military acts +of belligerents against neutrals will not be carried to the extremes +they have been for centuries because of England's superior sea power. +This new era of civilised warfare we bring under the term 'freedom of +the seas.'" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Hollweg's next justification of the unlimited submarine warfare is that +Secretary of State Lansing in a note to Count von Bernstorff at first +said merchant ships could not be armed and then changed his mind. +</P> + +<P> +On page 160 Hollweg says: "And now in discussing the question of the +legal position of the submarine as a warship I cite here the statements +of the German authority on international law, Professor Dr. Niemeyer, +who said: 'There can be absolutely no question but that the submarine +is permitted. It is a means of war similar to every other one. The +frightfulness of the weapon was never a ground of condemnation. This +is a war in which everything is permitted, which is not forbidden.'" +</P> + +<P> +On page 175 in the chapter entitled "The Submarine War and Victory" the +author says: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Every great deed carries with it a certain amount of risk. After the +refusal of our peace proposal we have only the choice of victory with +the use of all of our strength and power, or, the submission to the +destructive conditions of our opponents." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +He adds that his statements shall prove to the reader that Germany can +continue the hard relentless battle with the greatest possibility and +confidence of a final victory which will break the destructive +tendencies of the Entente and guarantee a peace which Germany needs for +her future existence. +</P> + +<P> +On page 193 he declares: "All food prices in England have increased on +the average 80% in price, they are for example considerably higher in +England than in Germany. A world wide crop failure in Canada and +Argentine made the importation of food for England more difficult. +</P> + +<P> +"England earns in this war as opposed to other wars, nothing. Part of +her industrial workers are under arms, the others are working in making +war munitions for her own use, not, however, for the export of valuable +wares." +</P> + +<P> +Admiral Hollweg has a clever theory that the German fleet has played a +prominent role in the war, although most of the time it has been +hugging the coasts of the Fatherland. He declares that the fleet has +had a "distance effect" upon the Allies' control of the high seas. On +page 197 he says: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"What I mean in extreme by 'fernwirkung' [distance effect] I will show +here by an example. The English and French attack on Constantinople +failed. It can at least be doubted whether at that time when the +connection between Germany and Turkey was not established a strong +English naval unit would have brought the attack success. The +necessity of not withdrawing the English battleships from the North Sea +prevented England from using a more powerful unit at Constantinople. +To this extent the German battle fleet was not without influence in the +victory for the defender of Constantinople. That is 'distance effect.'" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +On page 187 Hollweg declares: "England not only does not make money +to-day by war but she is losing. The universal military service which +she was forced to introduce in order to hold the other Allies by the +tongue draws from her industry and thereby her commerce, 3,500,000 +workmen. Coal exportation has decreased. During the eleven months +from January to November, 1916, 4,500,000 tons less coal was exported +than in 1915. In order to produce enough coal for England herself the +nation was compelled by the munitions obligation law to put miners to +work." +</P> + +<P> +On page 223 the author declares: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"That is, therefore, the great and important role which the submarines +in this war are playing. They are serving also to pave the way in the +future for the 'freedom of the seas.'" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +He adds that the submarines will cut the thread which holds the English +Damocles' sword over weak sea powers and that for eternity the +"gruesome hands" of English despotism will be driven from the seas. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-202"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-202.jpg" ALT="CHART SHOWING TONNAGE OF SHIPS SUNK BY GERMAN SUBMARINES" BORDER="2" WIDTH="426" HEIGHT="629"> +<H5> +[Illustration: CHART SHOWING TONNAGE OF SHIPS SUNK BY GERMAN SUBMARINES +FROM REAR ADMIRAL HOLLWEG'S BOOK] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Germany's submarine warfare which was introduced in February, 1915, +began by sinking less than 50,000 tons of ships per month. By +November, 1915, the amount of tonnage destroyed per month was close to +200,000 tons. By January, 1916, the tonnage of ships destroyed by +submarines had fallen to under 100,000 tons. In April, 1916, as Grand +Admiral von Tirpitz' followers made one more effort to make the +submarine warfare successful, nearly 275,000 tons were being destroyed +a month. But after the sinking of the <I>Sussex</I> and the growing +possibilities of war with the United States the submarine warfare was +again held back and in July less than 125,000 tons of shipping were +destroyed. +</P> + +<P> +At this time, however, the submarine campaign itself underwent a +change. Previously most of the ships destroyed were sunk off the coast +of England, France or in the Mediterranean. During the year and a half +of the submarine campaign the Allies' method of catching and destroying +submarines became so effective it was too costly to maintain submarine +warfare in belligerent waters. The German Navy had tried all kinds of +schemes but none was very successful. After the sinking of the +<I>Ancona</I> the Admiralty planned for two submarines to work together, but +this was not as successful as it might have been. During May, June and +July the submarine warfare was practically given up as the losses of +ships during those months will show. There was a steep decline from a +quarter of a million tons in April to less than 140,000 tons in May, +about 125,000 tons in June and not much more than 100,000 tons in July. +</P> + +<P> +During these three months the Navy was being bitterly criticised for +its inactivity. But as the events six months later will show the +German navy simply used these months to prepare for a much stronger +submarine campaign which was to begin in August. By this time it was +decided, however, not to risk a submarine campaign off the Allied +coasts but to operate in the Atlantic, off the coasts of Spain and +Norway. This method of submarine warfare proved very successful and by +November, 1916, Germany was sinking over 425,000 tons of ships per +month. +</P> + +<P> +During this swell in the success of the submarine campaign the U-53 was +despatched across the Atlantic to operate off the United States coasts. +</P> + +<P> +U-53 was sent here for two purposes: First, it was to demonstrate to +the American people that, in event of war, submarines could work terror +off the Atlantic coast. Second, it was to show the naval authorities +whether their plans for an attack on American shipping would be +practical. U-53 failed to terrorise the United States, but it proved +to the Admiralty that excursions to American waters were feasible. +</P> + +<P> +On February 1, when the Kaiser defied the United States by threatening +all neutral shipping in European waters, Germany had four hundred +undersea boats completed or in course of construction. This included +big U-boats, like the U-53, with a cruising radius of five thousand +miles, and the smaller craft, with fifteen-day radius, for use against +England, as well as supply ships and mine layers. But not all these +were ready for use against the Allies and the United States at that +time. About one hundred were waiting for trained crews or were being +completed in German shipyards. +</P> + +<P> +It was often said in Berlin that the greatest loss when a submarine +failed to return was the crew. It required more time to train the men +than to build the submarine. According to Germany's new method of +construction, a submarine can be built in fifteen days. Parts are +stamped out in the factories and assembled at the wharves. But it +takes from sixty to ninety days to educate the men and get them +accustomed to the seasick motion of the U-boats. Besides, it requires +experienced officers to train the new men. +</P> + +<P> +To meet this demand Germany began months ago to train men who could man +the newest submarines. So a school was established--a School of +Submarine Murder--and for many months the man who torpedoed the +<I>Lusitania</I> was made chief of the staff of educators. It was a new +task for German kultur. +</P> + +<P> +For the German people the lessons of the <I>Lusitania</I> have been exactly +opposite those normal people would learn. The horror of non-combatants +going down on a passenger liner, sunk without warning, was nothing to +be compared to the heroism of aiming the torpedo and running away. +Sixty-eight million Germans think their submarine officers and crews +are the greatest of the great. +</P> + +<P> +When the Berlin Foreign Office announced, after the sinking of the +<I>Sussex</I>, that the ruthless torpedoing of ships would be stopped the +German statesmen meant this method would be discontinued until there +were sufficient submarines to defy the United States. At once the +German navy, which has always been anti-American, began building +submarines night and day. Every one in the Government knew the time +would come when Germany would have to break its <I>Sussex</I> pledge. +</P> + +<P> +The German navy early realised the need for trained men, so it +recalled, temporarily, for educational work the man who sank the +<I>Lusitania</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"But, who sank the <I>Lusitania</I>?" you ask. +</P> + +<P> +"The torpedo which sank the <I>Lusitania</I> and killed over one hundred +Americans and hundreds of other noncombatants was fired by Oberleutnant +zur See (First Naval Lieutenant) Otto Steinbrink, commander of one of +the largest German submarines." +</P> + +<P> +"Was he punished?" you ask. +</P> + +<P> +"Kaiser Wilhelm decorated him with the highest military order, the Pour +le Merite!" +</P> + +<P> +"Where is Steinbrink now?" +</P> + +<P> +"On December 8, 1916, the German Admiralty announced that he had just +returned from a special trip, having torpedoed and mined twenty-two +ships on one voyage." +</P> + +<P> +"What had he been doing?" +</P> + +<P> +"For several months last summer he trained officers and crews in this +branch of warfare, which gained him international notoriety." +</P> + +<P> +It is said that Steinbrink has trained more naval men than any other +submarine commander. If this be true, is there any wonder that Germany +should be prepared to conduct a ruthless submarine warfare throughout +the world? Is it surprising that American ships should be sunk, +American citizens murdered and the United States Government defied when +the German navy has been employing the man who murdered the passengers +of the <I>Lusitania</I> as the chief instructor of submarine murderers? +</P> + +<P> +The Krupp interests have played a leading role in the war, not only by +manufacturing billions of shells and cannon, and by financing +propaganda in the United States, but by building submarines. At the +Krupp wharves at Kiel some of the best undersea craft are launched. +Other shipyards at Bremen, Hamburg and Danzig have been mobilised for +this work, too. Just a few weeks before diplomatic relations were +broken a group of American doctors, who were investigating prison camp +conditions, went to Danzig. Here they learned that the twelve wharves +there were building between 45 and 50 submarines annually. These were +the smaller type for use in the English Channel. At Hamburg the +Hamburg-American Line wharves were mobilised for submarine construction +also. At the time diplomatic relations were severed observers in +Germany estimated that 250 submarines were being launched annually and +that preparations were being made greatly to increase this number. +</P> + +<P> +Submarine warfare is a very exact and difficult science. Besides the +skilled captain, competent first officers, wireless operators and +artillerymen, engineers are needed. Each man, too, must be a "seadog." +Some of the smaller submarines toss like tubs when they reach the ocean +and only toughened seamen can stand the "wear and tear." Hence the +weeks and months which are necessary to put the men in order before +they leave home for their first excursion in sea murder. +</P> + +<P> +But Germany has learned a great deal during two years of hit-and-miss +submarine campaigns. When von Tirpitz began, in 1915, he ordered his +men to work off the coasts of England. Then so many submarines were +lost it became a dangerous and expensive military operation. The +Allies began to use great steel nets, both as traps and as protection +to warships. The German navy learned this within a very short time, +and the military engineers were ordered to perfect a torpedo which +would go through a steel net. The first invention was a torpedo with +knives on the nose. When the nose hit the net there was a minor +explosion. The knives were sent through the net, permitting the +torpedo to continue on its way. Then the Allies doubled the nets, and +two sets of knives were attached to the German torpedoes. But +gradually the Allies employed nets as traps. These were anchored or +dragged by fishing boats. Some submarines have gotten inside, been +juggled around, but have escaped. More, perhaps, have been lost this +way. +</P> + +<P> +Then, when merchant ships began to carry armament, the periscopes were +shot away, so the navy invented a so-called "finger-periscope," a thin +rod pipe with a mirror at one end. This rod could he shoved out from +the top of the submarine and used for observation purposes in case the +big periscope was destroyed. From time to time there were other +inventions. As the submarine fleet grew the means of communicating +with each other while submerged at sea were perfected. Copper plates +were fastened fore and aft on the outside of submarines, and it was +made possible for wireless messages to be sent through the water at a +distance of fifty miles. +</P> + +<P> +A submarine cannot aim at a ship without some object as a sight. So +one submarine often acted as a "sight" for the submarine firing the +torpedo. Submarines, which at first were unarmed, were later fitted +with armour plate and cannon were mounted on deck. The biggest +submarines now carry 6-inch guns. +</P> + +<P> +Like all methods of ruthless warfare the submarine campaign can be and +will be for a time successful. Germany's submarine warfare today is +much more successful than the average person realises. By December, +1916, for instance, the submarines were sinking a half million tons of +ships a month. In January, 1917, over 600,000 tons were destroyed. On +February nearly 800,000 tons were lost. The destruction of ships means +a corresponding destruction of cargoes, of many hundreds of thousands +of tons. When Germany decided the latter part of January to begin a +ruthless campaign German authorities calculated they could sink an +average of 600,000 tons per month and that in nine months nearly +6,000,000 tons of shipping could be sent to the bottom of the +ocean,--then the Allies would be robbed of the millions of tons of +goods which these ships could carry. +</P> + +<P> +In any military campaign one of the biggest problems is the +transportation of troops and supplies. Germany during this war has had +to depend upon her railroads; the Allies have depended upon ships. +Germany looked at her own military situation and saw that if the Allies +could destroy as many railroad cars as Germany expected to sink ships, +Germany would be broken up and unable to continue the war. Germany +believed ships were to the Allies what railroad carriages are to +Germany. +</P> + +<P> +The General Staff looked at the situation from other angles. During +the winter there was a tremendous coal shortage in France and Italy. +There had been coal riots in Paris and Rome. The Italian Government +was so in need of coal that it had to confiscate even private supplies. +The Grand Hotel in Rome, for instance, had to give up 300 tons which it +had in its coal bins. In 1915 France had been importing 2,000,000 tons +of coal a month across the Channel from England. Because of the +ordinary loss of tonnage the French coal imports dropped 400,000 tons +per month. Germany calculated that if she could decrease England's +coal exports 400,000 tons a month by an ordinary submarine campaign +that she could double it by a ruthless campaign. +</P> + +<P> +Germany was looking forward to the Allied offensive which was expected +this Spring. Germany knew that the Allies would need troops and +ammunition. She knew that to manufacture ammunition and war supplies +coal was needed. Germany calculated that if the coal importations to +France could be cut down a million tons a month France would not be +able to manufacture the necessary ammunition for an offensive lasting +several months. +</P> + +<P> +Germany knew that England and France were importing thousands of tons +of war supplies and food from the United States. Judging from the +German newspapers which I read at this time every one in Germany had +the impression that the food situation in England and France was almost +as bad as in Germany. Even Ambassador Gerard had somewhat the same +impression. When he left Germany for Switzerland on his way to Spain, +he took two cases of eggs which he had purchased in Denmark. One night +at a reception in Berne, one of the American women in the Gerard party +asked the French Ambassador whether France really had enough food! If +the Americans coming from Germany had the impression that the Allies +were sorely in need of supplies one can see how general the impression +must have been throughout Germany. +</P> + +<P> +When I was in Paris I was surprised to see so much food and to see such +a variety. Paris appeared to be as normal in this respect as +Copenhagen or Rotterdam. But I was told by American women who were +keeping house there that it was becoming more and more difficult to get +food. +</P> + +<P> +After Congress declared war it became evident for the first time that +the Allies really did need war supplies and food from the United States +more than they needed anything else. London and Paris officials +publicly stated that this was the kind of aid the Allies really needed. +It became evident, too, that the Allies not only needed the food but +that they needed ships to carry supplies across the Atlantic. One of +the first things President Wilson did was to approve plans for the +construction of a fleet of 3,000 wooden ships practically to bridge the +Atlantic. +</P> + +<P> +During the first three months of 1917 submarine warfare was a success +in that it so decreased the ship tonnage and the importations of the +Allies that they needed American co-operation and assistance. <I>So the +United States really enters the war at the critical and decisive +stage</I>. Germany believes she can continue to sink ships faster than +they can be built, but Germany did not calculate upon a fleet of wooden +bottom vessels being built in the United States to make up for the +losses. Germany did not expect the United States to enter the war with +all the vigour and energy of the American people. Germany calculated +upon internal troubles, upon opposition to the war and upon the +pacifists to have America make as many mistakes as England did during +the first two years of the war. But the United States has learned and +profited by careful observation in Europe. Just as England's +declaration of war on Germany in support of Belgium and France was a +surprise to Germany; just as the shipment of war supplies by American +firms to the Allies astonished Germany, so will the construction of +3,000 wooden vessels upset the calculations of the German General Staff. +</P> + +<P> +While American financial assistance will be a great help to the Allies +that will not affect the German calculations because when the Kaiser +and his Generals decided on the 27th of January to damn all neutrals, +German financiers were not consulted. +</P> + +<P> +Neither did the German General Staff count upon the Russian Revolution +going against them. Germany had expected a revolution there, but +Germany bet upon the Czar and the Czar's German wife. As Lieutenant +Colonel von Haeften, Chief Military Censor in Berlin, told the +correspondents, Germany calculated upon the internal troubles in Russia +aiding her. But the Allies and the people won the Russian Revolution. +Germany's hopes that the Czar might again return to power or that the +people might overthrow their present democratic leaders will come to +naught now that America has declared war and thrown her tremendous and +unlimited moral influence behind the Allies and with the Russian people. +</P> + +<P> +Rear Admiral Hollweg's calculations that 24,253,615 tons of shipping +remained for the world freight transmission at the beginning of 1917, +did not take into consideration confiscation by the United States of +nearly 2,500,000 tons of German and Austrian shipping in American +ports. He did not expect the United States to build 3,000 new ships in +1917. He did not expect the United States to purchase the ships under +construction in American wharves for neutral European countries. +</P> + +<P> +The German submarine campaign, like all other German "successes," will +be temporary. Every time the General Staff has counted upon "ultimate +victory" it has failed to take into consideration the determination of +the enemy. Germany believed that the world could be "knocked out" by +big blows. Germany thought when she destroyed and invaded Belgium and +northern France that these two countries would not be able to "come +back." Germany thought when she took Warsaw and a great part of +western Russia that Russia would not he able to continue the war. +Germany figured that after the invasion of Roumania and Servia that +these two countries would not need to be considered seriously in the +future. Germany believed that her submarine campaign would be +successful before the United States could come to the aid of the +Allies. German hope of "ultimate victory" has been postponed ever +since September, 1914, when von Kluck failed to take Paris. And +Germany's hopes for an "ultimate victory" this summer before the United +States can get into the war will be postponed so long that Germany will +make peace not on her own terms but upon the terms which the United +States of Democracy of the Whole World will dictate. +</P> + +<P> +One day in Paris I met Admiral LeCaze, the Minister of Marine, in his +office in the Admiralty. He discussed the submarine warfare from every +angle. He said the Germans, when they figured upon so many tons of +shipping and of supplies destroyed by submarines, failed to take into +consideration the fact that over 100 ships were arriving daily at +French ports and that over 5,000,000 tons of goods were being brought +into France monthly. +</P> + +<P> +When I explained to him what it appeared to me would be the object of +the German ruthless campaign he said: +</P> + +<P> +"Germany cannot win the war by her submarine campaign or by any other +weapon. That side will win which holds out one week, one day or one +hour longer than the other." +</P> + +<P> +And this Admiral, who, dressed in civilian clothes, looked more like a +New York financier than a naval officer, leaned forward in his chair, +looked straight at me and concluded the interview by saying: +</P> + +<P> +"The Allies will win." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE OUTLAWED NATION +</H3> + +<P> +During the Somme battles several of the American correspondents in Berlin +were invited to go to the front near Peronne and were asked to luncheon +by the Bavarian General von Kirchhoff, who was in command against the +French. When the correspondents reached his headquarters in a little +war-worn French village they were informed that the Kaiser had just +summoned the general to decorate him with the high German military order, +the Pour le Merite. Luncheon was postponed until the general returned. +The correspondents watched him motor to the chateau where they were and +were surprised to see tears in his eyes as he stepped out of the +automobile and received the cordial greetings and congratulations of his +staff. Von Kirchhoff, in a brief impromptu speech, paid a high tribute +to the German troops which were holding the French and said the +decoration was not his but his troops'. And in a broken voice he +remarked that these soldiers were sacrificing their lives for the +Fatherland, but were called "Huns and Barbarians" for doing it. There +was another long pause and the general broke down, cried and had to leave +his staff and guests. +</P> + +<P> +These indictments of the Allies were more terrible to him than the war +itself. +</P> + +<P> +General von Kirchhoff in this respect is typical of Germany. Most +Germans, practically every German I knew, could not understand why the +Allies did not respect their enemies as the Germans said they respected +the Allies. +</P> + +<P> +A few weeks later, in November, when I was on the Somme with another +group of correspondents, I was asked by nearly every officer I met why it +was that Germany was so hated throughout the world. It was a question I +could not easily answer without, perhaps, hurting the feelings of the men +who wanted to know, or insulting them, which as a guest I did not desire +to do. +</P> + +<P> +A few days later on the train from Cambrai to Berlin I was asked by a +group of officers to explain why the people in the United States, +especially, were so bitter. To get the discussion under way the Captain +from the General Staff who had acted as our escort presented his +indictment of American neutrality and asked me to reply. +</P> + +<P> +This feeling, this desire to know why Germany was regarded as an outlawed +nation, was not present in Germany early in 1915 when I arrived. In +February, 1915, people were confident. They were satisfied with the +progress of the war. They knew the Allies hated them and they returned +the hate and did not care. But between February, 1915, and November, +1916, a great change took place. On my first trip to the front in April, +1915, I heard of no officers or men shedding tears because the Allies +hated them. +</P> + +<P> +When I sailed from New York two years ago it seemed to me that sentiment +in the United States was about equally divided; that most people favoured +neutrality, even a majority of those who supported the Entente. The +feeling of sympathy which so many thousands of Americans had for Germany +I could, at that time, readily understand, because I myself was +sympathetic. I felt that Germany had not had a fighting chance with +public opinion in the United States. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-220"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-220.jpg" ALT="AN ADVERTISEMENT IN THE BERLIN "DEUTSCHE TAGES-ZEITUNG"" BORDER="2" WIDTH="343" HEIGHT="653"> +<H5> +[Illustration: AN ADVERTISEMENT IN THE BERLIN "DEUTSCHE TAGES-ZEITUNG" +FOR THE BOOK--"PRESIDENT BLUFF" MEANING PRESIDENT WILSON] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +I could not believe that all the charges against Germany applied to the +German people. Although it was difficult to understand what Germany had +done in Belgium, although it was evident and admitted by the Chancellor +that Germany violated the neutrality of that country, I could not believe +that a nation, which before the war had such a high standing in science +and commerce, could have plotted or desired such a tremendous war as +swept Europe in 1914. +</P> + +<P> +When I arrived in Berlin on March 17, 1915, and met German officials and +people for the first time, I was impressed by their sincerity, their +honesty and their belief that the Government did not cause the war and +was fighting to defend the nation. At the theatre I saw performances of +Shakespeare, which were among the best I had ever seen. I marvelled at +the wonderful modern hospitals and at the efficiency and organisation of +the Government. I marvelled at the expert ways in which prison camps +were administered. I was surprised to find railroad trains clean and +punctual. It seemed to me as if Germany was a nation which had reached +the height of perfection and that it was honestly and conscientiously +defending itself against the group of powers which desired its +destruction. +</P> + +<P> +For over a year I entered enthusiastically into the work of interpreting +and presenting this Germany to the American people. At this time there +was practically no food problem. German banks and business men were +preparing for and expecting peace. The Government was already making +plans for after the war when soldiers would return from the front. A +Reichstag Committee had been appointed to study Germany's possible peace +time labour needs and to make arrangements for solving them. +</P> + +<P> +But in the fall of 1915 the changes began. The <I>Lusitania</I> had been +destroyed in May and almost immediately the hate campaign against America +was started. I saw the tendency to attack and belittle the United States +grow not only in the army, in the navy and in the press, but among the +people. I saw that Germany was growing to deeply resent anything the +United States Government said against what the German Government did. +When this anti-American campaign was launched I observed a tendency on +the part of the Foreign Office to censor more strictly the telegrams +which the correspondents desired to send to the American newspapers. +Previously, the Foreign Office had been extremely frank and cordial and +permitted correspondents to send what they observed and heard, as long as +the despatches did not contain information which would aid the Allies in +their military or economic attacks on Germany. As the hate articles +appeared in the newspapers the correspondents were not only prohibited +from sending them, but they were criticised by the Foreign Office for +writing anything which might cause the American people to be angered at +Germany. One day I made a translation of a bitter article in the <I>B. Z. +am Mittag</I> and submitted it to the Foreign Office censor. He asked why I +paid so much attention to articles in this newspaper which he termed a +"Kaese-blatt"--literally "a cheese paper." He said it had no influence +in Germany; that no one cared what it said. This newspaper, however, was +the only noon-day edition in Berlin and was published by the largest +newspaper publishing house in Germany, Ullstein & Co. At his request I +withdrew the telegram and forgot the incident. Within a few days, +however, Count zu Reventlow, in the <I>Deutsche Tageszeitung</I>, and Georg +Bernhard, in the _Vossische Zeitung_, wrote sharp attacks on President +Wilson. But I could not telegraph these. +</P> + +<P> +Previous to the fall of 1915 not only the German Government but the +German people were charitable to the opinions of neutrals, especially +those who happened to be in Germany for business or professional reasons, +but, as the anti-American campaign and the cry that America was not +neutral by permitting supplies to be shipped to the Allies became more +extensive, the public became less charitable. Previously a neutral in +Germany could be either pro-German, pro-Ally or neutral. Now, however, +it was impossible to be neutral, especially if one were an American, +because the very statement that one was an American carried with it the +implication that one was anti-German. The American colony itself became +divided. There was the pro-American group and the pro-German government +group. The former was centred at the American Embassy. The latter was +inspired by the German-Americans who had lived in Germany most of their +lives and by other sympathetic Americans who came from the United States. +Meanwhile there were printed in German newspapers many leading articles +and interviews from the American press attacking President Wilson, and +any one sympathising with the President, even Ambassador Gerard, became +automatically "Deutschfeidlich." +</P> + +<P> +As the submarine warfare became more and more a critical issue German +feeling towards the United States changed. I found that men who were +openly professing their friendship for the United States were secretly +doing everything within their power to intimidate America. The +Government began to feel as if the American factories which were +supplying the Allies were as much subject to attack as similar factories +in Allied countries. I recall one time learning at the American Embassy +that a man named Wulf von Igel had asked Ambassador Gerard for a safe +conduct, on the ground that he was going to the United States to try and +have condensed milk shipped to Germany for the children. Mr. Gerard +refused to ask Washington to grant this man a safe conduct. I did not +learn until several months afterwards that Herr von Igel had been asked +to go to the United States by Under Secretary of State Zimmermann for one +of two purposes, either he was to purchase a controlling interest in the +Du Pont Powder Mills no matter what that cost, or he was to stir up +dissatisfaction in Mexico. Zimmermann gave him a card of introduction to +Count von Bernstorff, the German Ambassador in Washington, and told him +that the German Embassy would supply him with all necessary funds. +</P> + +<P> +Carrying out the German idea that it was right to harm or destroy +American property which was directly or indirectly aiding the Allies, +both Germany and Austria-Hungary published notices that their citizens in +the United States were not permitted to work in such factories. And +plots which Captains Boy-Ed and von Papen instigated here were done with +the approval and encouragement of the German Government. If any proof is +needed for this statement, in addition to that already published, it is +that both of these men upon their return to Germany were regarded as +heroes and given the most trusted positions. Captain Boy-Ed was placed +at the head of the Intelligence Department of the Navy and Captain von +Papen was assigned to the Headquarters of the General Commanding the +operations on the Somme. +</P> + +<P> +As the food situation in Germany became worse the disposition of the +people changed still more. The Government had already pointed out in +numerous public statements that the United States was not neutral because +it overlooked the English blockade and thought only about the German +submarine war. So as food difficulties developed the people blamed the +United States and held President Wilson personally responsible for the +growing shortages within Germany. The people believed Mr. Wilson was +their greatest enemy and that he was the man most to be feared. How +strong this feeling was not only among the people but in Government +circles was to be shown later when Germany announced her submarine +campaign. +</P> + +<P> +As was pointed out in a previous chapter while Germany was arguing +against shipments of war munitions from the United States she was herself +responsible for the preparations which Russia and Roumania had made +against her, but this proof of deception on the part of the Government +was never explained to the German people. Furthermore the people were +never told why the United States asked for the recall of Germany's two +attaches who were implicated in spy plots. Nothing was ever published in +the German newspapers about Herr von Igel. The newspapers always +published despatches which told of the destruction of ammunition +factories by plotters, but never about the charges against and arrests of +German reservists. Just as the German Government has never permitted the +people to know that it prepared for a war against nine nations, as the +document I saw in the Chief Telegraph Office shows, so has it not +explained to the people the real motives and the real arguments which +President Wilson presented in his many submarine notes. Whenever these +notes were published in the German newspapers the Government always +published an official explanation, or correspondents were inspired to +write the Government views, so the people could not think for themselves +or come to honest personal conclusions. +</P> + +<P> +The effectiveness of Mr. Wilson's diplomacy against Germany was decreased +by some German-Americans, and the fact that the United States is to-day +at war with Germany is due to this blundering on the behalf of some of +those over-zealous citizens who, being so anxious to aid Germany, became +anti-Wilson and in the long run defeated what they set out to accomplish. +Had the German Government not been assured by some German-Americans that +they would never permit President Wilson to break diplomatic relations or +go to war, had these self-appointed envoys stayed away from Berlin, the +relations between the United States and Germany might to-day be different +than they are. Because if Germany at the outset of the submarine +negotiations had been given the impression by a united America that the +President spoke for the country, Germany would undoubtedly have given up +all hope of a ruthless submarine warfare. +</P> + +<P> +I think President Wilson and Mr. Gerard realised that the activities of +the German-Americans here were not only interfering with the diplomatic +negotiations but that the German-Americans were acting against their own +best interests if they really desired peace with Germany. +</P> + +<P> +When some of the President's friends saw that the German people were +receiving such biased news from the United States and that Germany had no +opportunity of learning the real sentiment here, nor of sounding the +depth of American indignation over the <I>Lusitania</I> they endeavoured to +get despatches from the United States to Germany to enlighten the people. +Mr. Roy W. Howard, President of the United Press, endeavoured several +times while I was in Berlin to get unadulterated American news in the +German newspapers, but the German Government was not overly anxious to +have such information published. It was too busy encouraging the +anti-American sentiment for the purpose of frightening the United States. +It was difficult, too, for the United Press to get the necessary +co-operation in the United States for this news service. After the +settlement of the _Sussex_ dispute the Democratic newspapers of Germany, +those which were supporting the Chancellor, were anxious to receive +reports from here, but the German Foreign Office would not encourage the +matter to the extent of using the wireless towers at Sayville and +Tuckerton as means of transmitting the news. +</P> + +<P> +How zealously the Foreign Office censor guards what appears in the German +newspapers was shown about two weeks before diplomatic relations were +broken. When the announcement was wirelessed to the United States that +Germany had adopted the von Tirpitz blockade policy the United Press sent +me a number of daily bulletins telling what the American Press, +Congressmen and the Government were thinking and saying about the new +order. The first day these despatches reached me I sent them to several +of the leading newspapers only to be notified in less than an hour +afterward by the Foreign Office that I was to send no information to the +German newspapers without first sending it to the Foreign Office. Two +days after the blockade order was published I received a telegram from +Mr. Howard saying that diplomatic relations would be broken, and giving +me a summary of the press comment. I took this despatch to the Foreign +Office and asked permission to send it to the newspapers. It was +refused. Throughout this crisis which lasted until the 10th of February +the Foreign Office would not permit a single despatch coming direct from +America to be printed in the German newspapers. The Foreign Office +preferred to have the newspapers publish what came by way of England and +France so that the Government could always explain that only English and +French news could reach Germany because the United States was not +interested in seeing that Germany obtained first hand information. +</P> + +<P> +While Germany was arguing that the United States was responsible for her +desperate situation, economically, and while President Wilson was being +blamed for not breaking the Allied blockade, the German Foreign Office +was doing everything within its power to prevent German goods from being +shipped to the United States. When, through the efforts of Ambassador +Gerard, numerous attempts were made to get German goods, including +medicines and dye-stuffs, to the United States, the German Government +replied that these could not leave the country unless an equal amount of +goods were sent to Germany. Then, when the State Department arranged for +an equal amount of American goods to be shipped in exchange the German +Foreign Office said all these goods would have to be shipped to and from +German ports. When the State Department listened to this demand and +American steamers were started on their way to Hamburg and Bremen the +German Navy was so busy sewing mines off these harbours to keep the +English fleet away that they failed to notify the American skippers where +the open channels were. As a result so many American ships were sunk +trying to bring goods into German harbours that it became unprofitable +for American shippers to try to accommodate Germany. +</P> + +<P> +About this time, also, the German Government began its policy of +discouraging American business in Germany. Ambassador Gerard had had a +long wrangle with the Chancellor over a bill which was introduced in the +Reichstag shortly after the beginning of the war to purchase all foreign +oil properties "within the German Customs Union." The bill was examined +by Mr. Gerard, who, for a number of years, was a Supreme Court Judge of +New York. He discovered that the object of the bill was to put the +Standard Oil Company out of business by purchasing all of this company's +property except that located in Hamburg. This was the joker. Hamburg +was not in the German Customs Union and the bill provided for the +confiscation of all property not in this Union. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Gerard called upon the Chancellor and told him that the United States +Government could not permit such a bill to be passed without a vigorous +protest. The Chancellor asked Mr. Gerard whether President Wilson and +Secretary of State Bryan would ever protect such a corporation as the +Standard Oil Company was supposed to be. Mr. Gerard replied that the +very fact that these two officials were known in the public mind as +having no connection with this corporation would give them an opportunity +of defending its interests the same as the Government would defend the +interests of any other American. The Chancellor seemed surprised at this +statement and Mr. Gerard continued about as follows: +</P> + +<P> +"You know that Germany has already been discriminating against the +Standard Oil Company. You know that the Prussian State Railways charge +this American corporation twice as much to ship oil from Hamburg to +Bremen as they charge the German oil interests to ship Roumanian oil from +the Austrian border to Berlin. Now don't you think that's enough?" +</P> + +<P> +The interview ended here. And the bill was never brought up in the +Reichstag. +</P> + +<P> +But this policy of the Government of intimidating and intriguing against +American interests was continued until diplomatic relations were broken. +In December, 1916, Adolph Barthmann, an American citizen, who owned the +largest shoe store in Berlin, desired to close his place of business and +go to the United States. It was impossible for him to get American shoes +because of the Allied blockade and he had decided to discontinue business +until peace was made. +</P> + +<P> +Throughout the war it has been necessary for all Americans, as well as +all other neutrals, to obtain permission from the police before they +could leave. Barthmann went to Police Headquarters, and asked for +authority to go to the United States. He was informed that his passport +would have to be examined by the General Staff and that he could call for +it within eight days. At the appointed day Barthmann appeared at Police +Headquarters where he was informed by the Police Captain that upon orders +of the General Staff he would have to sign a paper and swear to the +statement that neither he nor the American firms he represented had sold, +or would sell, shoes to the Allies. Barthmann was told that this +statement would have to be sworn to by another American resident of +Berlin and that unless this was done he would not be permitted to return +to Germany after the war. Mr. Barthmann had to sign the document under +protest before his American passport was returned. +</P> + +<P> +The facts in this as in the other instances which I have narrated, are in +the possession of the State Department at Washington. +</P> + +<P> +When the German Government began to fear that the United States might +some day join the Allies if the submarine campaign was renewed, it +campaigned by threatening the United States with a +Russian-Japanese-German alliance after the war against England and the +United States. These threats were not disguised. Ambassador Gerard was +informed, indirectly and unofficially of course, by German financiers and +members of the Reichstag that Germany "would be forced" to make such an +alliance if the United States ever joined the Allies. As was shown later +by the instructions of Secretary of State Zimmermann to the German +Minister in Mexico City, Germany has not only not given up that idea, but +Germany now looks forward to Mexico as the fourth member of the league. +</P> + +<P> +As Germany became more and more suspicious of Americans in Germany, who +were not openly pro-German, she made them suffer when they crossed the +German frontier to go to neutral countries. The German military +authorities, at border towns such as Warnemuende and Bentheim, took a +dislike to American women who were going to Holland or Denmark, and +especially to the wives of U. S. consular officials. One time when I was +going from Berlin to Copenhagen I learned from the husband of one of the +women examined at the border what the authorities had done to her. I saw +her before and after the ordeal and when I heard of what an atrocious +examination they had made I understood why she was in bed ten days +afterward and under the constant care of physicians. Knowing what German +military officers and German women detectives had done in some of the +invaded countries, one does not need to know the details of these +insults. It is sufficient to state that after the wives of several +American officials and other prominent American residents of Berlin had +been treated in this manner that the State Department wrote a vigorous +and defiant note to Germany stating that unless the practice was +immediately discontinued the United States would give up the oversight of +all German interests in Allied countries. The ultimatum had the desired +effect. The German Government replied that while the order of the +General Staff could not be changed it would be waived in practice. +</P> + +<P> +No matter who the American is, who admired Germany, or, who respected +Germany, or, who sympathised with Germany as she was before, or, at the +beginning of the war, no American can support this Germany which I have +just described, against his own country. The Germany of 1913, which was +admired and respected by the scientific, educational and business world; +the Germany of 1913 which had no poor, which took better care of its +workmen than any nation in the world; the nation, which was considered in +the advance of all countries in dealing with economic and industrial +problems, no longer exists. The Germany which produced Bach, Beethoven, +Schiller, Goethe and other great musicians and poets has disappeared. +The musicians of to-day write hate songs. The poets of to-day pen hate +verses. The scientists of to-day plan diabolical instruments of death. +The educators teach suspicion of and disregard for everything which is +not German. Business men have sided with the Government in a ruthless +submarine warfare in order to destroy property throughout the world so +that every nation will have to begin at the bottom with Germany when the +war is over. +</P> + +<P> +The Germany of 1914 and 1915 which arose like one man to defend the +nation is not the Germany which to-day is down on the whole world and +which believes that its organised might can defend it against every and +all nations. The Germany I saw in 1915, composed of sympathetic, calm, +charitable, patient people is to-day a Germany made up of nervous, +impatient, deceptive and suspicious people. +</P> + +<P> +From the sinking of the <I>Lusitania</I> to February, 1917, President Wilson +maintained diplomatic relations with Germany in order to aid the +democratic forces which were working in that country to throw out the +poison which forty years of army preparation had diffused throughout the +nation. President Wilson believed that he could rely upon the Chancellor +as a leader of democracy against von Tirpitz and von Falkenhayn, as +leaders of German autocracy. The Chancellor knew the President looked +upon him as the man to reform Germany. But when the crisis came the +Chancellor was as weak as the Kaiser and both of them sanctioned and +defended what von Hindenburg and Ludendorf, the ammunition interests and +the navy, proposed. +</P> + +<P> +If the United States were to disregard absolutely every argument which +the Allies have for fighting Germany there would still be so many +American indictments against the German Government that no American could +have a different opinion from that of President Wilson. +</P> + +<P> +Germany sank the <I>Lusitania</I> and killed over 100 Americans and never +apologised for it. +</P> + +<P> +Germany sank the <I>Ancona</I>, killed more Americans and blamed Austria. +</P> + +<P> +Germany sank the <I>Arabic</I> and torpedoed the <I>Sussex</I>. +</P> + +<P> +Germany promised after the sinking of the <I>Sussex</I> to warn all merchant +ships before torpedoing them and then in practice threw the pledges to +the winds and ended by breaking all promises. +</P> + +<P> +Germany started anti-American propaganda in Germany. +</P> + +<P> +The German Government made the German people suspect and hate President +Wilson. +</P> + +<P> +Germany supplied Russia and Roumania with arms and ammunition and +criticised America for permitting American business men to aid the Allies. +</P> + +<P> +Germany plotted against American factories. +</P> + +<P> +Germany tried to stir up a revolt in Mexico. +</P> + +<P> +Germany tried to destroy American ammunition factories. +</P> + +<P> +Germany blamed the United States for her food situation without +explaining to the people that one of the reasons the pork supply was +exhausted and there was no sugar was because Minister of the Interior +Delbrueck ordered the farmers to feed sugar to the pigs and then to +slaughter them in order to save the fodder. +</P> + +<P> +Germany encouraged and financed German-Americans in their campaigns in +the United States. +</P> + +<P> +Germany paid American writers for anti-American contributions to German +newspapers and for pro-German articles in the American press. +</P> + +<P> +Germany prohibited American news associations from printing unbiased +American news in Germany. +</P> + +<P> +Germany discriminated against and blacklisted American firms doing +business in Germany. +</P> + +<P> +Germany prevented American correspondents from sending true despatches +from Berlin during every submarine crisis. +</P> + +<P> +Germany insulted American women, even the wives of American consular +officials, when they crossed the German border. +</P> + +<P> +Germany threatened the United States with a +Russian-Japanese-German-Mexican alliance against England and the United +States. +</P> + +<P> +German generals insulted American military observers at the front and the +U. S. War Department had to recall them. +</P> + +<P> +These are Uncle Sam's indictments of the Kaiser. +</P> + +<P> +Germany has outlawed herself among all nations. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE UNITED STATES AT WAR +</H3> + +<P> +When the German Emperor in his New Year's message said that victory +would remain with Germany in 1917 he must have known that the submarine +war would be inaugurated to help bring this victory to Germany. In +May, 1916, Admiral von Capelle explained to the Reichstag that the +reason the German blockade of England could not be maintained was +because Germany did not have sufficient submarines. But by December +the Kaiser, who receives all the figures of the Navy, undoubtedly knew +that submarines were being built faster than any other type of ship and +that the Navy was making ready for the grand sea offensive in 1917. +Knowing this, as well as knowing that President Wilson would break +diplomatic relations if the submarine war was conducted ruthlessly +again, the Kaiser was a very confident ruler to write such a New Year's +order to the Army and Navy. He must have felt sure that he could +defeat the United States. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<CENTER> +<A NAME="img-239"></A> +<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="5px" CELLPADDING="20px"> +<TR> +<TD> + +<CENTER> +<P> +To My Army and My Navy! +</P> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Once more a war year lies behind us, replete with hard fighting and +sacrifices, rich in successes and victories. +</P> + +<P> +Our enemies' hopes for the year 1916 have been blasted. All their +assaults in the East and West were broken to pieces through your +bravery and devotion! +</P> + +<P> +The latest triumphal march through Roumania has, by God's decree, again +pinned imperishable laurels to your standards. +</P> + +<P> +The greatest naval battle of this war, the Skager Rak victory, and the +bold exploits of the U-boats have assured to My Navy glory and +admiration for all time. +</P> + +<P> +You are victorious on all theatres of war, ashore as well as afloat! +</P> + +<P> +With unshaken trust and proud confidence the grateful Fatherland +regards you. The incomparable warlike spirit dwelling in your ranks, +your tenacious, untiring will to victory, your love for the Fatherland +are guaranties to Me that victory will remain with our colours in the +new year also. +</P> + +<P> +God will be with us further! +</P> + +<P> +Main Headquarters, Dec. 31, 1916. +</P> + +<P> + WILHELM. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<B> +THE KAISER'S NEW YEAR ORDER TO THE ARMY AND NAVY +</B> +</P> + +</TD> +</TR> +</TABLE> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<P> +Ambassador Gerard warned the State Department in September that Germany +would start her submarine war before the Spring of 1917 so the United +States must have known several months before the official announcement +came. But Washington probably was under the impression that the +Chancellor would not break his word. Uncle Sam at that time trusted +von Bethmann-Hollweg. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-248"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-248.jpg" ALT="SCHWAB TO MR. WILSON" BORDER="2" WIDTH="374" HEIGHT="632"> +<H5> +[Illustration: SCHWAB TO MR. WILSON--"FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, GREAT LITTLE +LEADER, THE WHOLE PLACE WILL BLOW UP IF YOU SMOKE HERE!"] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Diplomatic relations were broken on February 1st. Ambassador Gerard +departed February 10th. Upon his arrival in Switzerland several German +citizens, living in that country because they could not endure +conditions at home, asked the Ambassador upon his arrival in Washington +to urge President Wilson if he asked Congress to declare war to say +that the United States did not desire to go to war with the German +people but with the German Government. One of these citizens was a +Prussian nobleman by birth but he had been one of the leaders of the +democratic forces in Germany and exiled himself in order to help the +Liberal movement among the people by working in Switzerland. This +suggestion was followed by the President. When he spoke to the joint +session of Congress on February 1st he declared the United States would +wage war against the Government and not against the people. In this +historic address the President said: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"I have called the Congress into extraordinary session because there +are serious, very serious, choices of policy to be made, and made +immediately, which it was neither right nor constitutionally +permissible that I should assume the responsibility of making. +</P> + +<P> +"On the 3rd of February last I officially laid before you the +extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German Government, that on +and after the 1st day of February it was its purpose to put aside all +restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink every +vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and +Ireland or the western coasts of Europe, or any of the ports controlled +by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean. +</P> + +<P> +"That had seemed to be the object of the German submarine warfare +earlier in the war, but since April of last year the imperial +Government had somewhat restrained the commanders of its under-sea +craft, in conformity with its promise then given to us that passenger +boats should not be sunk, and that due warning would be given to all +other vessels which its submarines might seek to destroy, when no +resistance was offered or escape attempted, and care taken that their +crews were given at least a fair chance to save their lives in their +open boats. The precautions taken were meagre and haphazard enough, as +was proved in distressing instance after instance in the progress of +the cruel and unmanly business, but a certain degree of restraint was +observed. +</P> + +<P> +"The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every +kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their +destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom +without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on +board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of +belligerents. Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the +sorely bereaved and stricken people of Belgium, though the latter were +provided with safe conduct through the prescribed areas by the German +Government itself, and were distinguished by unmistakable marks of +identity, have been sunk with the same reckless lack of compassion or +of principle. +</P> + +<P> +"I was for a little while unable to believe that such things would in +fact be done by any government that had hitherto subscribed to the +humane practices of civilised nations. International law had its +origin in the attempt to set up some law, which would be respected and +observed upon the seas, where no nation had right of dominion and where +lay the free highways of the world. By painful stage after stage has +that law been built up, with meagre enough results, indeed, after all +was accomplished that could be accomplished, but always with a clear +view at least of what the heart and conscience of mankind demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"This minimum of right the German Government has swept aside under the +plea of retaliation and necessity, and because it had no weapons which +it could use at sea except these, which it is impossible to employ as +it is employing them without throwing to the winds all scruples of +humanity or of respect for the understandings that were supposed to +underlie the intercourse of the world. +</P> + +<P> +"I am not now thinking of the loss of property involved, immense and +serious as that is, but only of the wanton and wholesale destruction of +the lives of non-combatants, men, women and children, engaged in +pursuits which have always, even in the darkest periods of modern +history, been deemed innocent and legitimate. Property can be paid +for; the lives of peaceful and innocent people cannot be. +</P> + +<P> +"The present German warfare against commerce is a warfare against +mankind. It is a war against all nations. American ships have been +sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply +to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and friendly +nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters in the same way. +There has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all mankind. +Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. The choice we +make for ourselves must be made with a moderation of counsel and a +temperateness of judgment befitting our character and our motives as a +nation. We must put excited feeling away. Our motive will not be +revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical might of the +nation, but only the vindication of right, of human right, of which we +are only a single champion. +</P> + +<P> +"When I addressed the Congress on the twenty-sixth of February last I +thought that it would suffice to assert our neutral rights with arms, +our right to use the seas against unlawful interference, our right to +keep our people safe against unlawful violence. But armed neutrality, +it now appears, is impracticable. +</P> + +<P> +"Because submarines are in effect outlaws when used as the German +submarines have been used, against merchant shipping, it is impossible +to defend ships against their attacks, as the law of nations has +assumed that merchantmen would defend themselves against privateers or +cruisers, visible craft giving chase upon the open sea. It is common +prudence in such circumstances--grim necessity, indeed--to endeavour to +destroy them before they have shown their own intention. They must be +dealt with upon sight, if dealt with at all. +</P> + +<P> +"The German Government denies the right of neutrals to use arms at all +within the areas of the sea which it has proscribed, even in the +defence of rights which no modern publicist has ever before questioned +their right to defend. The intimation is conveyed that the armed +guards which we have placed on our merchant ships will be treated as +beyond the pale of law and subject to be dealt with as pirates would be. +</P> + +<P> +"Armed neutrality is ineffectual enough at best; in such circumstances +and in the face of such pretensions it is worse than ineffectual; it is +likely to produce what it was meant to prevent; it is practically +certain to draw us into the war without either the rights or the +effectiveness of belligerents. +</P> + +<P> +"There is one choice we cannot make, we are incapable of making: We +will not choose the path of submission and suffer the most sacred +rights of our nation and our people to be ignored or violated. The +wrongs against which we now array ourselves are not common wrongs; they +cut to the very roots of human life. +</P> + +<P> +"With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the +step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities which it involves, +but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty, I +advise that the Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial +German Government to be in fact nothing less than war against the +Government and people of the United States; that it formally accept the +status of belligerent which has thus been thrust upon it, and that it +take immediate steps not only to put the country in a more thorough +state of defence, but also to exert all its power and employ all its +resources to bring the Government of the German Empire to terms and end +the war. +</P> + +<P> +"What this will involve is clear. It will involve the utmost +practicable co-operation in counsel and action with the governments now +at war with Germany, and, as incident to that, the extension to those +governments of the most liberal financial credits in order that our +resources may, so far as possible, be added to theirs. +</P> + +<P> +"It will involve the organisation and mobilisation of all the material +resources of the country to supply the materials of war and serve the +incidental needs of the nation in the most abundant and yet the most +economical and efficient way possible. +</P> + +<P> +"It will involve the immediate full equipment of the navy in all +respects, but particularly in supplying it with the best means of +dealing with the enemy's submarines. It will involve the immediate +addition to the armed forces of the United States, already provided for +by law in case of war, at least 500,000 men, who should, in my opinion, +be chosen upon the principle of universal liability to service; and +also the authorisation of subsequent additional increments of equal +force so soon as they may be needed and can be handled in training. +</P> + +<P> +"It will involve also, of course, the granting of adequate credits to +the Government, sustained, I hope, so far as they can equitably be +sustained by the present generation, by well conceived taxation. I say +sustained so far as may be by equitable taxation because it seems to me +that it would be most unwise to base the credits which will now be +necessary entirely on money borrowed. It is our duty, I most +respectfully urge, to protect our people so far as we may against the +very serious hardships and evils which would be likely to arise out of +the inflation which would be produced by vast loans. +</P> + +<P> +"In carrying out the measures by which these things are to be +accomplished we should keep constantly in mind the wisdom of +interfering as little as possible in our own preparation and in the +equipment of our own military forces with the duty--for it will be a +very practical duty--of supplying the nations already at war with +Germany with the materials which they can obtain only from us or by our +assistance. They are in the field, and we should help them in every +way to be effective there. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall take the liberty of suggesting, through the several executive +departments of the Government, for the consideration of your committees +measures for the accomplishment of the several objects I have +mentioned. I hope that it will be your pleasure to deal with them as +having been framed after very careful thought by the branch of the +Government upon which the responsibility of conducting the war and +safeguarding the nation will most directly fall. +</P> + +<P> +"While we do these things, these deeply momentous things, let us be +very clear, and make very clear to all the world what our motives and +our objects are. My own thought has not been driven from its habitual +and normal course by the unhappy events of the last two months, and I +do not believe that the thought of the nation has been altered or +clouded by them. +</P> + +<P> +"I have exactly the same thing in mind now that I had in mind when I +addressed the Senate on the 22d of January last; the same that I had in +mind when I addressed the Congress on the 3d of February and on the +26th of February. Our object now, as then, is to vindicate the +principles of peace and the justice in the life of the world as against +selfish and autocratic power and to set up among the really free and +self-governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose and of +action as will henceforth insure the observance of those principles. +</P> + +<P> +"Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the +world is involved and the freedom of its peoples, and the menace to +that peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic governments +backed by organised force which is controlled wholly by their will, not +by the will of their people. We have seen the last of neutrality in +such circumstances. +</P> + +<P> +"We are at the beginning of an age in which it will be insisted that +the same standards of conduct and of responsibility for wrong done +shall be observed among nations and their governments that are observed +among the individual citizens of civilised states. +</P> + +<P> +"We have no quarrel with the German people. We have no feeling toward +them but one of sympathy and friendship. It was not upon their impulse +that their government acted in entering this war. It was not with +their previous knowledge or approval. +</P> + +<P> +"It was a war determined upon as wars used to be determined upon in the +old unhappy days when peoples were nowhere consulted by their rulers +and wars were provoked and waged in the interest of dynasties or of +little groups of ambitious men who were accustomed to use their +fellowmen as pawns and tools. +</P> + +<P> +"Self-governed nations do not fill their neighbour states with spies or +set the course of intrigue to bring about some critical posture of +affairs which will give them an opportunity to strike and make +conquest. Such designs can be successfully worked only under cover and +where no one has the right to ask questions. +</P> + +<P> +"Cunningly contrived plans of deception or aggression, carried, it may +be, from generation to generation, can be worked out and kept from the +light only within the privacy of courts or behind the carefully guarded +confidences of a narrow and privileged class. They are happily +impossible where public opinion commands and insists upon full +information concerning all the nation's affairs. +</P> + +<P> +"A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by a +partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic government could be +trusted to keep faith within it or observe its covenants. +</P> + +<P> +"It must be a league of honour, a partnership of opinion. Intrigue +would eat its vitals away; the plottings of inner circles who could +plan what they would and render account to no one would be a corruption +seated at its very heart. +</P> + +<P> +"Only free peoples can hold their purpose and their honour steady to a +common end and prefer the interests of mankind to any narrow interest +of their own. +</P> + +<P> +"Does not every American feel that assurance has been added to our hope +for the future peace of the world by the wonderful and heartening +things that have been happening within the last few weeks in Russia? +</P> + +<P> +"Russia was known by those who knew it best to have been always in fact +democratic at heart, in all the vital habits of her thought, in all the +intimate relationships of her people that spoke for their natural +instinct, their habitual attitude toward life. +</P> + +<P> +"Autocracy that crowned the summit of her political structure, long as +it had stood and terrible as was the reality of its power, was not in +fact Russian in origin, in character or purpose, and now it has been +shaken, and the great, generous Russian people have been added in all +their native majesty and might to the forces that are fighting for +freedom in the world, for justice and for peace. Here is a fit partner +for a league of honour. +</P> + +<P> +"One of the things that have served to convince us that the Prussian +autocracy was not and could never be our friend is that from the very +outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting communities +and even our offices of government with spies, and set criminal +intrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity of council, our +peace within and without, our industries and our commerce. +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed, it is now evident that its spies were here even before the war +began; and it is unhappily not a matter of conjecture, but a fact +proved in our courts of justice, that the intrigues, which have more +than once come perilously near to disturbing the peace and dislocating +the industries of the country, have been carried on at the instigation, +with the support, and even under the personal direction, of official +agents of the imperial Government accredited to the Government of the +United States. +</P> + +<P> +"Even in checking these things and trying to extirpate them we have +sought to put the most generous interpretation possible upon them, +because we knew that their source lay, not in any hostile feeling or +purpose of the German people toward us (who were, no doubt, as ignorant +of them as we ourselves were), but only in the selfish designs of a +government that did what it pleased and told its people nothing. But +they have played their part in serving to convince us at last that that +Government entertains no real friendship for us, and means to act +against our peace and security at its convenience. +</P> + +<P> +"That it means to stir up enemies against us at our very doors the +intercepted note to the German Minister at Mexico City is eloquent +evidence. +</P> + +<P> +"We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we know +that in such a government, following such methods, we can never have a +friend, and that in the presence of its organised power, always lying +in wait to accomplish we know not what purpose, there can be no assured +security for the democratic governments of the world. +</P> + +<P> +"We are now about to accept gage of battle with this natural foe to +liberty and shall, if necessary, spend the whole force of the nation to +check and nullify its pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that +we see the facts with no veil of false pretence about them, to fight +thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its +peoples, the German peoples included, for the rights of nations great +and small, and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of +life and of obedience. +</P> + +<P> +"The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted +upon the trusted foundations of political liberty. +</P> + +<P> +"We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. +We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the +sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of +the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have +been as secure as the faith and the freedom of the nation can make them. +</P> + +<P> +"Just because we fight without rancour and without selfish objects, +seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share with all +free peoples, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations as +belligerents without passion and ourselves observe with proud punctilio +the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be fighting for. +</P> + +<P> +"I have said nothing of the governments allied with the imperial +Government of Germany, because they have not made war upon us or +challenged us to defend our right and our honour. The Austro-Hungarian +Government has, indeed, avowed its unqualified indorsement and +acceptance of the reckless and lawless submarine warfare adopted now +without disguise by the imperial Government, and it has therefore not +been possible for this Government to receive Count Tarnowski, the +ambassador recently accredited to this Government by the imperial and +royal Government of Austria-Hungary, but that Government has not +actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the United States on +the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present at least, of +postponing a discussion of our relations with the authorities at +Vienna. We enter this war only where we are clearly forced into it +because there are no other means of defending our rights. +</P> + +<P> +"It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as belligerents +in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus, +not in enmity toward a people or with the desire to bring any injury or +disadvantage upon them, but only in armed opposition to an +irresponsible government which has thrown aside all considerations of +humanity and of right and is running amuck. +</P> + +<P> +"We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the German people, +and shall desire nothing so much as the early re-establishment of +intimate relations of mutual advantage between us--however hard it may +be for them, for the time being, to believe that this is spoken from +our hearts. We have borne with their present Government through all +these bitter months because of that friendship--exercising a patience +and forbearance which would otherwise have been impossible. +</P> + +<P> +"We shall, happily, still have an opportunity to prove that friendship +in our daily attitude and actions toward the millions of men and women +of German birth and native sympathy who live amongst us and share our +life, and we shall be proud to prove it toward all who are in fact +loyal to their neighbours and to the Government in the hour of test. +They are, most of them, as true and loyal Americans as if they had +never known any other fealty or allegiance. They will be prompt to +stand with us in rebuking and restraining the few who may be of a +different mind and purpose. +</P> + +<P> +"If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with with a firm hand +of stern repression; but if it lifts its head at all, it will lift it +only here and there, and without countenance, except from a lawless and +malignant few. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a distressing and oppressive duty, gentlemen of the Congress, +which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be, +many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful +thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most +terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilisation itself seeming to be +in the balance. +</P> + +<P> +"But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the +things which we have always carried nearest our hearts--for democracy, +for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their +own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a +universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall +bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last +free. +</P> + +<P> +"To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything +that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who +know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her +blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and +happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she +can do no other." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +After this speech was printed in Germany, first in excerpts and then as +a whole in a few papers, there were three distinct reactions: +</P> + +<P> +1. The Government press and the circles controlled by the Army +published violent articles against President Wilson and the United +States. +</P> + +<P> +2. The democratic press led by the <I>Vorwaerts</I> took advantage of +Wilson's statements to again demand election reforms. +</P> + +<P> +3. Public feeling generally was so aroused that the official <I>North +German Gazette</I> said at the end of a long editorial that the Kaiser +favoured a "people's kingdom of Hohenzollern." +</P> + +<P> +The ammunition interests were among the first to express their +satisfaction with America as an enemy. The <I>Rheinische Westfaelische +Zeitung</I>, their official graphophone, said: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"The real policy of America is now fully disclosed by the outbreak of +the war. Now a flood of lies and insults, clothed in pious +phraseology, will descend on us. This is a surprise only to those who +have been reluctant to admit that America was our enemy from the +beginning. The voice of America does not sound differently from that +of any other enemy. They are all tarred with the same brush--those +humanitarians and democrats who hurl the world into war and refuse +peace." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The <I>Lokal Anzeiger</I>, which is practically edited by the Foreign +Office, said President Wilson's attempt to inveigle the German people +into a revolt against the dynasty beats anything for sheer hypocrisy in +the records of the world. +</P> + +<P> +"We must assume that President Wilson deliberately tells an untruth. +Not the German Government but the German race, hates this Anglo-Saxon +fanatic, who has stirred into flame the consuming hatred in America +while prating friendship and sympathy for the German people." +</P> + +<P> +The <I>Lokal Anzeiger</I> was right when it said the German people hated +America. The <I>Lokal Anzeiger</I> was one of the means the Government used +to make the German people hate the United States. +</P> + +<P> +The <I>North German Gazette</I>, which prints only editorials dictated, or +authorised by, the Secretary of State, said: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"A certain phrase in President Wilson's speech must be especially +pointed out. The President represents himself as the bearer of true +freedom to our people who are engaged in a severe struggle for their +existence and liberty. What slave soul does he believe exists in the +German people when it thinks that it will allow its freedom to be meted +out to them from without? The freedom which our enemies have in store +for us we know sufficiently. +</P> + +<P> +"The German people, become clearsighted in war, and see in President +Wilson's word nothing but an attempt to loosen the bonds between the +people and princes of Germany so that we may become an easier prey for +our enemies. We ourselves know that an important task remains to us to +consolidate our external power and our freedom at home." +</P> + +<P> +But the mask fell from the face of Germany which she shows the outside +world, when the Kaiser issued his Easter proclamation promising +election reforms after the war. Why did the Kaiser issue this +proclamation again at this time? As early as January, 1916, he said +the same thing to the German people in his address from the throne to +the Prussian Diet. Why did the Kaiser feel that it was necessary to +again call the attention of the people to the fact that he would be a +democrat when the war was over? The Kaiser and the German army are +clever in dealing with the German people. If the Kaiser makes a +mistake or does something that his army does not approve it can always +be remedied before the mistake becomes public. +</P> + +<P> +Last Fall a young German soldier who had been in the United States as a +moving picture operator was called to the General Staff to take moving +pictures at the front for propaganda purposes. One week he was ordered +to Belgium, to follow and photograph His Majesty. At Ostend, the +famous Belgian summer resort, the Kaiser was walking along the beach +one day with Admiral von Schroeder, who is in command of the German +defences there. The movie operator followed him. The soldier had been +following the Kaiser several days so His Majesty recognised him, +ordered him to put up his camera and prepare to make a special film. +When the camera was ready His Majesty danced a jig, waved his sceptre +and then his helmet, smiled and shouted greetings to the camera +man--then went on along the beach. +</P> + +<P> +When the photographer reached Berlin and showed the film to the censors +of the General Staff they were shocked by the section of the Kaiser at +Ostend. They ordered it cut out of the film because they did not think +it advisable to show the German people how much their Emperor was +enjoying the war! +</P> + +<P> +The Kaiser throughout his reign has posed as a peace man although he +has been first a soldier and then an executive. So when the Big War +broke out the Kaiser had a chance to make real what had been play for +him for forty years. Is it surprising then that he should urge the +people to go on with the war and promise them to reform the government +when the fighting was over? +</P> + +<P> +The Kaiser's proclamation itself shows that the Kaiser is not through +fighting. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Never before have the German people proved to be so firm as in this +war. The knowledge that the Fatherland is fighting in bitter self +defence has exercised a wonderful reconciling power, and, despite all +sacrifices on the battlefield and severe privations at home, their +determination has remained imperturbable to stake their last for the +victorious issue." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Could any one except a soldier who was pleased with the progress of the +war have written such words? +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"The national and social spirit have understood each other and become +united, and have given us steadfast strength. Both of them realise +what was built up in long years of peace and amid many internal +struggles. <I>This was certainly worth fighting for</I>," the Emperor's +order continued. "Brightly before my eyes stand the achievements of +the entire nation in battle and distress. The events of this struggle +for the existence of the empire introduce with high solemnity a new +time. +</P> + +<P> +"It falls to you as the responsible Chancellor of the German Empire and +First Minister of my Government in Prussia to assist in obtaining the +fulfilment of the demands of this hour by right means and at the right +time, and in this spirit shape our political life in order to make room +for the free and joyful co-operation of all the members of our people. +</P> + +<P> +"The principles which you have developed in this respect have, as you +know, my approval. +</P> + +<P> +"I feel conscious of remaining thereby on the road which my +grandfather, the founder of the empire, as King of Prussia with +military organisation and as German Emperor with social reform, +typically fulfilled as his monarchial obligations, thereby creating +conditions by which the German people, in united and wrathful +perseverance, will overcome this sanguinary time. <I>The maintenance</I> of +the <I>fighting force</I> as a real people's army and the promotion of the +social uplift of the people in all its classes was, from the beginning +of my reign, my aim. +</P> + +<P> +"In this endeavour, while holding a just balance between the people and +the monarchy to serve the welfare of the whole, I am resolved to begin +building up our internal political, economic, and social life as soon +as the war situation permits. +</P> + +<P> +"While millions of our fellow-countrymen are in the field, the conflict +of opinions behind the front, which is unavoidable in such a +far-reaching change of constitution, must be postponed in the highest +interests of the Fatherland until the time of the homecoming of our +warriors and when they themselves are able to join in the counsel and +the voting on the progress of the new order." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It was but natural that the Socialists should hail this declaration of +the Kaiser's at first with enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +"Internal freedom in Prussia--that is a goal for which for more than +one hundred years the best heads and best forces in the nation have +worked. Resurrection day of the third war year--will go down in +history as the day of the resurrection of old Prussia to a new +development," said the <I>Vorwaerts</I>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"It has brought us a promise, to be sure; not the resurrection itself, +but a promise which is more hopeful and certain than all former +announcements together. This proclamation can never be annulled and +lapse into dusty archives. +</P> + +<P> +"This message promises us a thorough reform of the Prussian three class +electoral system in addition to a reform of the Prussian Upper House. +In the coming new orientation the Government is only one factor, +another is Parliament, the third and decisive factor is the people." +</P> + +<P> +Other Berlin newspapers spoke in a similar vein but not one of them +pointed out to the public the fact that this concession by the Kaiser +was not made in such a definite form, <I>until the United States had +declared war</I>. As the United States entered the war to aid the +democratic movement in Germany this concession by the Kaiser may be +considered our first victory. +</P> + +<P> +As days go by it becomes more and more evident that the American +declaration of war is having an important influence upon internal +conditions in Germany just as the submarine notes had. The German +people really did not begin to think during this war until President +Wilson challenged them in the notes which followed the torpedoing of +the <I>Lusitania</I>. And now with the United States at war not only the +people but the Government have decided to do some thinking. +</P> + +<P> +By April 12th when reports began to reach Germany of America's +determination to fight until there was a democracy in Germany the +democratic press began to give more serious consideration to Americans +alliance with the Allies. Dr. Ludwig Haas, one of the Socialist +members of the Reichstag, in an article in the Berlin <I>Tageblatt</I> made +the following significant statements. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"One man may be a hypocrite, but never a whole nation. If the American +people accept this message [President Wilson's address before Congress] +without a protest, then a tremendous abyss separates the logic of +Germans from that of other nations. +</P> + +<P> +"Woodrow Wilson is not so far wrong if he means the planning of war +might be prevented if the people asserted the right to know everything +about the foreign policies of their countries. But the President seems +blind to the fact that a handful of men have made it their secret and +uncontrolled business to direct the fate of the European democracies. +With the press at one's command one can easily drive a poor people to a +mania of enthusiasm, when they will carry on their shoulders the +criminals who have led to the brink of disaster." +</P> + +<A NAME="img-260"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-260.jpg" ALT="THE NEW OLD PRESIDENT." BORDER="2" WIDTH="392" HEIGHT="632"> +<H5> +[Illustration: "THE NEW OLD PRESIDENT. LONG LIVE AMERICA! LONG LIVE +PEACE! LONG LIVE THE AMMUNITION FACTORIES!"] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<BR> + +<P> +Dr. Haas was beginning to understand that the anti-American campaign in +Germany which the Navy started and the Foreign Office encouraged, had +had some effect. +</P> + +<P> +Everything the United States does from now on will have a decisive +influence in the world war. The Allies realise it and Washington knows +it. Mr. Lloyd-George, the British Prime Minister, realised what a +decisive effect American ships would have, when he said at the banquet +of the American Luncheon Club in London: +</P> + +<P> +"The road to victory, the guaranty of victory, the absolute assurance +of victory, has to be found in one word, 'ships,' and a second word, +'ships,' and a third word, 'ships.'" +</P> + +<P> +But our financial economic and military aid to the Allies will not be +our greatest contribution towards victory. The influence of President +Wilson's utterances, of our determination and of our value as a +friendly nation after the war will have a tremendous effect as time +goes on upon the German people. As days and weeks pass, as the victory +which the German Government has promised the people becomes further and +further away, the people, who are now doing more thinking than they +ever have done since the beginning of the war, will some day realise +that in order to obtain peace, which they pray for and hope for, they +will have to reform their government <I>during the war</I>--not after the +war as the Kaiser plans. +</P> + +<P> +Military pressure from the outside is going to help this democratic +movement in Germany succeed in spite of itself. The New York World +editorial on April 14th, discussing Mr. Lloyd-George's statement that +"Prussia is not a democracy; Prussia is not a state; Prussia is an +army," said: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"It was the army and the arrogance actuating it which ordered +hostilities in the first place. Because there was no democracy in +Prussia, the army had its way. The democracies of Great Britain and +France, like the democracy of the United States, were reluctant to take +arms but were forced to it. Russian democracy found its own +deliverance on the fighting-line. +</P> + +<P> +"In the fact that Prussia is not a democracy or a state but an army we +may see a reason for many things usually regarded as inexplicable. It +is Prussia the army which violates treaties. It is Prussia the army +which disregards international law. It is Prussia the army, +represented by the General Staff and the Admiralty, which sets at +naught the engagements of the Foreign Office. It is Prussia the army +which has filled neutral countries with spies and lawbreakers, which +has placed frightfulness above humanity, and in a fury of egotism and +savagery has challenged the world. +</P> + +<P> +"Under such a terrorism, as infamous at home as it is abroad, civil +government has perished. There is no civil government in a Germany +dragooned by Prussia. There is no law in Germany but military law. +There is no obligation in Germany except to the army. It is not +Germany the democracy or Germany the state, it is Germany the army, +that is to be crushed for its own good no less than for that of +civilisation." +</P> + +<P> +The United States entered the war at the psychological and critical +moment. We enter it at the moment when our economic and financial +resources, and <I>our determination</I> will have the decisive influence. +We enter at the moment when every one of our future acts will assist +and help the democratic movement in Germany succeed. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PRESIDENT WILSON +</H3> + +<P> +The United States entered the war at a time when many Americans +believed the Allies were about to win it. By May 1st, 1917, the +situation so changed in Europe that it was apparent to observers that +only by the most stupendous efforts of all the Allies could the German +Government be defeated. +</P> + +<P> +At the very beginning of the war, when Teutonic militarism spread over +Europe, it was like a forest fire. But two years of fighting have +checked it--as woodsmen check forest fires--by digging ditches and +preventing the flames from spreading. Unlimited submarine warfare, +however, is something new. It is militarism spreading to the high seas +and to the shores of neutrals. It is Ruthlessism--the new German +menace, which is as real and dangerous for us and for South America as +for England and the Allies. If we hold out until Ruthlessism spends +its fury, we will win. But we must fight and fight desperately to hold +out. +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Kaempf, President of the Reichstag, declared that President Wilson +would "bite marble" before the war was over. And the success of +submarine warfare during April and the first part of May was such as to +arouse the whole world to the almost indefinite possibilities of this +means of fighting. The real crisis of the war has not been reached. +We are approaching it. The Allies have attempted for two years without +much success to curb the U-boat danger. They have attempted to build +steel ships, also without success, so that the real burden of winning +the war in Europe falls upon American shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately for the United States we are not making the blunders at the +beginning of our intervention which some of the European nations have +been making since August, 1914. America is awakened to the needs of +modern war as no other nation was, thanks to the splendid work which +the American newspapers and magazines have done during the war to +present clearly, fairly and accurately not only the great issues but +the problems of organisation and military tactics. The people of the +United States are better informed about the war as a whole than are the +people in any European country. American newspapers have not made the +mistakes which English and French journals made--of hating the enemy so +furiously as to think that nothing more than criticism and hate were +necessary to defeat him. Not until this year could one of Great +Britain's statesmen declare: "You can damn the Germans until you are +blue in the face, but that will not beat them." +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<CENTER> +<A NAME="img-269"></A> +<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="5px" CELLPADDING="20px"> +<TR> +<TD> + +<P> +Professor Charles Gray Shaw, of New York University, stated before one +of his classes in philosophy that there was a new "will" typified in +certain of our citizens, notably in President Wilson. +</P> + +<P> +"The new psychology," said Professor Shaw, "has discovered the new +will--the will that turns inward upon the brain instead of passing out +through hand or tongue. Wilson has this new will; the White House +corroborates the results of the laboratory. To Roosevelt, Wilson seems +weak and vacillating; but that is because T. R. knows nothing about the +new will. T. R. has a primitive mind, but one of the most advanced +type. In the T. R. brain, so to speak, will means set teeth, clenched +fist, hunting, and rough riding. +</P> + +<P> +"Wilson may be regarded as either creating the new volition or as +having discovered it. At any rate, Wilson possesses and uses the new +volition, and it remains to be seen whether the political world, at +home and abroad, is ready for it. Here it is significant to observe +that the Germans, who are psychologists, recognize the fact that a new +and important function of the mind has been focused upon them. +</P> + +<P> +"The Germans fear and respect the Wilson will of note writing more than +they would have dreaded the T. R. will with its teeth and fists." +</P> + +<P> +As a psychologist Professor Shaw observed what we saw to be the effect +in Germany, of Mr. Wilson's will. +</P> + +<CENTER> +<P> +<B>THE WILSON WILL</B> +</P> +</CENTER> + +</TD> +</TR> +</TABLE> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<P> +The United States enters the greatest war in history at the +psychological moment with a capable and determined president, a united +nation and almost unlimited resources in men, money and munitions. +</P> + +<P> +There is a tremendous difference between the situation in the United +States and that in any other European country. During the two years I +was in Europe I visited every nation at war except Serbia, Bulgaria and +Turkey. I saw conditions in the neutral countries of Holland, Denmark, +Switzerland and Spain. The one big thing which impressed me upon my +arrival in New York was that the United States, in contrast to all +these countries, has, as yet, not been touched by the war. Americans +are not living under the strain and worry which hang like dreadful dull +clouds over every European power. In Switzerland the economic worries +and the sufferings of the neighbouring belligerents have made the Swiss +people feel that they are in the centre of the war itself. In France, +although Paris is gay, although people smile (they have almost +forgotten how to smile in Germany), although streets are crowded, and +stores busy, the atmosphere is earnest and serious. Spain is torn by +internal troubles. There is a great army of unemployed. The submarine +war has destroyed many Spanish ships and interrupted Spanish trade with +belligerents. Business houses are unable to obtain credit. German +propaganda is sowing sedition and the King himself is uncertain about +the future. But in the United States there is a gigantic display of +energy and potential power which makes this country appear to possess +sufficient force in itself to defeat Germany. Berlin is drained and +dead in comparison. Paris, while busy, is war-busy and every one and +everything seems to move and live because of the war. In New York and +throughout the country there are young men by the hundreds of +thousands. Germany and France have no young men outside the armies. +Here there are millions of automobiles and millions of people hurrying, +happy and contented, to and from their work. In Germany there are no +automobiles which are not in the service of the Government and rubber +tires are so nearly exhausted that practically all automobiles have +iron wheels. +</P> + +<P> +Some Americans have lived for many years with the idea that only +certain sections of the United States were related to Europe. Many +people, especially those in the Middle West, have had the impression +that only the big shipping interests and exporters had direct interests +in affairs across the ocean. But when Germany began to take American +lives on the high seas, when German submarines began to treat American +ships like all other belligerent vessels, it began to dawn upon people +here that this country was very closely connected to Europe by blood +ties as well as by business bonds. It has taken the United States two +years to learn that Europe was not, after all, three thousand miles +away when it came to the vital moral issues of live international +policies. Before Congress declared war I found many Americans +criticising President Wilson for not declaring war two years ago. +While I do not know what the situation was during my absence still the +impression which Americans abroad had, even American officials, was +that President Wilson would not have had the support of a united people +which he has to-day had he entered the war before all question of doubt +regarding the moral issues had disappeared. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-274"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-274.jpg" ALT="THE AUTHOR'S CARD OF ADMISSION TO THE REICHSTAG." BORDER="2" WIDTH="433" HEIGHT="653"> +<H5> +[Illustration: THE AUTHOR'S CARD OF ADMISSION TO THE REICHSTAG ON APRIL +5TH, 1916.] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +In the issue of April 14th of this year the <I>New Republic</I>, of New +York, in an editorial on "Who willed American participation?" cast an +interesting light upon the reasons for our intervention in the Great +War. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Pacifist agitators who have been so courageously opposing, against +such heavy odds, American participation in the war have been the +victims of one natural but considerable mistake," says <I>The New +Republic</I>. "They have insisted that the chief beneficiaries of +American participation would be the munition-makers, bankers and in +general the capitalist class, that the chief sufferers would be the +petty business men and the wage-earners. They have consequently +considered the former classes to be conspiring in favour of war, and +now that war has come, they condemn it as the work of a small but +powerful group of profiteers. Senator Norris had some such meaning in +his head when he asserted that a declaration of war would be equivalent +to stamping the dollar mark on the American flag. +</P> + +<P> +"This explanation of the great decision is an absurd mistake, but the +pacifists have had some excuses for making it. They have seen a great +democratic nation gradually forced into war, in spite of the manifest +indifference or reluctance of the majority of its population; and they +have rightly attributed the successful pressure to the ability of a +small but influential minority to impose its will on the rest of the +country. But the numerically insignificant class whose influence has +been successfully exerted in favour of American participation does not +consist of the bankers and the capitalists. Neither will they be the +chief beneficiaries of American participation. The bankers and the +capitalists have favoured war, but they have favoured it without +realising the extent to which it would injure their own interests, and +their support has been one of the most formidable political obstacles +to American participation. The effective and decisive work on behalf +of war has been accomplished by an entirely different class--a class +which must be comprehensively but loosely described as the +'intellectuals.' +</P> + +<P> +"The American nation is entering this war under the influence of a +moral verdict reached, after the utmost deliberation by the more +thoughtful members of the community. They gradually came to a decision +that the attack made by Germany on the international order was +sufficiently flagrant and dangerous to justify this country in +abandoning its cherished isolation and in using its resources to bring +about German defeat. But these thoughtful people were always a small +minority. They were able to impose their will upon a reluctant or +indifferent majority partly because the increasingly offensive nature +of German military and diplomatic policy made plausible opposition to +American participation very difficult, but still more because of the +overwhelming preponderance of pro-Ally conviction in the intellectual +life of the country. If the several important professional and social +groups could have voted separately on the question of war and peace, +the list of college professors would probably have yielded the largest +majority in favour of war, except perhaps that contained in the Social +Register. A fighting anti-German spirit was more general among +physicians, lawyers and clergymen than it was among business +men--except those with Wall Street and banking connections. Finally, +it was not less general among writers on magazines and in the +newspapers. They popularised what the college professors had been +thinking. Owing to this consensus of influences opposition to pro-Ally +orthodoxy became intellectually somewhat disreputable, and when a final +decision had to be made this factor counted with unprecedented and +overwhelming force. College professors headed by a President who had +himself been a college professor contributed more effectively to the +decision in favour of war than did the farmers, the business men or the +politicians. +</P> + +<P> +"When one considers the obstacles to American entrance into the war, +the more remarkable and unprecedented does the final decision become. +Every other belligerent had something immediate and tangible to gain by +participating and to lose by not participating. Either they were +invaded or were threatened with invasion. Either they dreaded the loss +of prestige or territory or coveted some kind or degree of national +aggrandisement. Even Australia and Canada, who had little or nothing +to gain from fighting, could not have refused to fight without severing +their connection with the British Empire, and behaving in a manner +which would have been considered treacherous by their fellow Britons. +But the American people were not forced into the war either by fears or +hopes or previously recognised obligations. On the contrary, the +ponderable and tangible realities of the immediate situation counselled +neutrality. They were revolted by the hideous brutality of the war and +its colossal waste. Participation must be purchased with a similarly +colossal diversion of American energy from constructive to destructive +work, the imposition of a similarly heavy burden upon the future +production of American labour. It implied the voluntary surrender of +many of those advantages which had tempted our ancestors to cross the +Atlantic and settle in the New World. As against these certain costs +there were no equally tangible compensations. The legal rights of +American citizens were, it is true, being violated, and the structure +of international law with which American security was traditionally +associated was being shivered, but the nation had weathered a similar +storm during the Napoleonic Wars and at that time participation in the +conflict had been wholly unprofitable. By spending a small portion of +the money which will have to be spent in helping the Allies to beat +Germany, upon preparations exclusively for defence, the American nation +could have protected for the time being the inviolability of its own +territory and its necessary communications with the Panama Canal. Many +considerations of national egotism counselled such a policy. But +although the Hearst newspapers argued most persuasively on behalf of +this course it did not prevail. The American nation allowed itself to +be captured by those upon whom the more remote and less tangible +reasons for participation acted with compelling authority. For the +first time in history a wholly independent nation has entered a great +and costly war under the influence of ideas rather than immediate +interests and without any expectation of gains, except those which can +be shared with all liberal and inoffensive nations. +</P> + +<P> +"The United States might have blundered into the war at any time during +the past two years, but to have entered, as it is now doing, at the +right time and in the clear interest of a purely international +programme required the exercise of an intellectualised and imaginative +leadership. And in supplying the country with this leadership Mr. +Wilson was interpreting the ideas of thoughtful Americans who wished +their country to be fighting on the side of international right, but +not until the righteousness of the Allied cause was unequivocally +established. It has taken some time to reach this assurance. The war +originated in conflicting national ambitions among European Powers for +privileged economic and political positions in Africa and Asia, and if +it had continued to be a war of this kind there never could have been a +question of American intervention. Germany, however, had been dreaming +of a more glorious goal than Bagdad and a mightier heritage than that +of Turkey. She betrayed her dream by attacking France through Belgium +and by threatening the foundations of European order. The crucifying +of Belgium established a strong presumption against Germany, but the +case was not complete. There still remained the dubious origin of the +war. There still remained a doubt whether the defeat of German +militarism might not mean a dangerous triumph of Russian autocracy. +Above all there remained a more serious doubt whether the United States +in aiding the Allies to beat Germany might not be contributing merely +to the establishment of a new and equally unstable and demoralising +Balance of Power in Europe. It was well, consequently, to wait and see +whether the development of the war would not do away with some of the +ambiguities and misgivings, while at the same time to avoid doing +anything to embarrass the Allies. The waiting policy has served. +Germany was driven by the logic of her original aggression to threaten +the security of all neutrals connected with the rest of the world by +maritime communications. The Russian autocracy was overthrown, because +it betrayed its furtive kinship with the German autocracy. Finally, +President Wilson used the waiting period for the education of American +public opinion. His campaign speeches prophesied the abandonment of +American isolation in the interest of a League of Peace. His note of +last December to the belligerents brought out the sinister secrecy of +German peace terms and the comparative frankness of that of the Allies. +His address to the Senate clearly enunciated the only programme on +behalf of which America could intervene in European affairs. Never was +there a purer and more successful example of Fabian political strategy, +for Fabianism consists not merely in waiting but in preparing during +the meantime for the successful application of a plan to a confused and +dangerous situation. +</P> + +<P> +"What Mr. Wilson did was to apply patience and brains to a complicated +and difficult but developing political situation. He was distinguished +from his morally indignant pro-Allies fellow countrymen, who a few +months ago were abusing him for seeking to make a specifically American +contribution to the issues of the war, just as Lincoln was +distinguished from the abolitionists, not so much by difference in +purposes as by greater political wisdom and intelligence. It is +because of his Fabianism, because he insisted upon waiting until he had +established a clear connection between American intervention and an +attempt to create a community of nations, that he can command and +secure for American intervention the full allegiance of the American +national conscience. His achievement is a great personal triumph, but +it is more than that. It is an illustration and a prophecy of the part +which intelligence and in general the 'intellectual' class have an +opportunity of playing in shaping American policy and in moulding +American life. The intimate association between action and ideas, +characteristic of American political practice at its best, has been +vindicated once more. The association was started at the foundation of +the Republic and was embodied in the work of the Fathers, but +particularly in that of Hamilton. It was carried on during the period +of the Civil War and was embodied chiefly in the patient and +penetrating intelligence which Abraham Lincoln brought to his task. It +has just been established in the region of foreign policy by Mr. +Wilson's discriminating effort to keep the United States out of the war +until it could go in as the instrument of an exclusively international +programme and with a fair prospect of getting its programme accepted. +In holding to this policy Mr. Wilson was interpreting with fidelity and +imagination the ideas and the aspirations of the more thoughtful +Americans. His success should give them increasing confidence in the +contribution which they as men of intelligence are capable of making to +the fulfilment of the better American national purposes." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +During 1915 and 1916 our diplomatic relations with Germany have been +expressed in one series of notes after another, and the burden of +affairs has been as much on the shoulders of Ambassador Gerard as on +those of any other one American, for he has been the official who has +had to transmit, interpret and fight for our policies in Berlin. Mr. +Gerard had a difficult task because he, like President Wilson, was +constantly heckled and ridiculed by those pro-German Americans who were +more interested in discrediting the Administration than in maintaining +peace. Of all the problems with which the Ambassador had to contend, +the German-American issue was the greatest, and those who believed that +it was centred in the United States are mistaken, for the capital of +German-America was <I>Berlin</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"I have had a great deal of trouble in Germany from the American +correspondents when they went there," said Ambassador Gerard in an +address to the American Newspapers Publishers Association in New York +on April 26th. +</P> + +<P> +"Most of them became super-Ambassadors and proceeded to inform the +German Government that they must not believe me--that they must not +believe the President--they must not believe the American people--but +believe these people, and to a great extent this war is due to the fact +that these pro-German Americans, a certain number of them, misinformed +the German Government as to the sentiments of this country." +</P> + +<P> +James W. Gerard's diplomatic career in Germany was based upon +bluntness, frankness and a kind of "news instinct" which caused him to +regard his position as that of a reporter for the United States +Government. +</P> + +<P> +Berlin thought him the most unusual Ambassador it had ever known. It +never knew how to take him. He did not behave as other diplomats did. +When he went to the Foreign Office it was always on business. He did +not flatter and praise, bow and chat or speak to Excellencies in the +third person as European representatives usually do. Gerard began at +the beginning of the war a policy of keeping the United States fully +informed regarding Germany. He used to report daily the political +developments and the press comment, and the keen understanding which he +had of German methods was proved by his many forecasts of important +developments. Last September he predicted, in a message to the State +Department, ruthless submarine warfare before Spring unless peace was +made. He notified Washington last October to watch for German intrigue +in Mexico and said that unless we solved the problem there we might +have trouble throughout the war from Germans south of the Rio Grande. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-282"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-282.jpg" ALT="AMBASSADOR GERARD ARRIVING IN PARIS" BORDER="2" WIDTH="371" HEIGHT="622"> +<H5> +[Illustration: AMBASSADOR GERARD ARRIVING IN PARIS] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +During the submarine controversies, when reports reached Berlin that +the United States was divided and would not support President Wilson in +his submarine policy, Ambassador Gerard did everything he could to give +the opposite impression. He tried his best to keep Germany from +driving the United States into the war. That he did not succeed was +not the fault of <I>his</I> efforts. Germany was desperate and willing to +disregard all nations and all international obligations in an attempt +to win the war with U-boats. +</P> + +<P> +Last Summer, during one of the crises over the sinking of a passenger +liner without warning, Mr. Gerard asked the Chancellor for an audience +with the Kaiser. Von Bethmann-Hollweg said he would see if it could be +arranged. The Ambassador waited two weeks. Nothing was done. From +his friends in Berlin he learned that the Navy was opposed to such a +conference and would not give its consent. Mr. Gerard went to Herr von +Jagow who was then Secretary of State and again asked for an audience. +He waited another week. Nothing happened and Mr. Gerard wrote the +following note to the Chancellor: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Your Excellency, +</P> + +<P> +"Three weeks ago I asked for an audience with His Majesty the Kaiser. +</P> + +<P> +"A week ago I repeated the request. +</P> + +<P> +"Please do not trouble yourself further. +</P> + +<P> +"Respectfully, +</P> + +<P> +"JAMES W. GERARD." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The Ambassador called the Embassy messenger and sent the note to the +Chancellor's palace. Three hours later he was told that von +Bethmann-Hollweg had gone to Great Headquarters to arrange for the +meeting. +</P> + +<P> +Sometimes in dealing with the Foreign Office the Ambassador used the +same rough-shod methods which made the Big Stick effective during the +Roosevelt Administration. At one time, Alexander Cochran, of New York, +acted as special courier from the Embassy in London to Berlin. At the +frontier he was arrested and imprisoned. The Ambassador heard of it, +went to the Foreign Office and demanded Cochran's immediate release. +The Ambassador had obtained Mr. Cochran's passports, and showed them to +the Secretary of State. When Herr von Jagow asked permission to retain +one of the passports so the matter could be investigated, the +Ambassador said: +</P> + +<P> +"All right, but first let me tear Lansing's signature off the bottom, +or some one may use the passport for other purposes." +</P> + +<P> +The Ambassador was not willing to take chances after it was learned and +proved by the State Department that Germany was using American +passports for spy purposes. +</P> + +<P> +In one day alone, last fall, the American Embassy sent 92 notes to the +Foreign Office, some authorised by Washington and some unauthorised, +protesting against unlawful treatment of Americans, asking for reforms +in prison camps, transmitting money and letters about German affairs in +Entente countries, and other matters which were under discussion +between Berlin and Washington. At one time an American woman +instructor in Roberts' College was arrested at Warnemuende and kept for +weeks from communicating with the Ambassador. When he heard of it he +went to the Foreign Office daily, demanding her release, which he +finally secured. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Gerard's work in bettering conditions in prison camps, especially +at Ruhleben, will be long remembered. When conditions were at their +worst he went out daily to keep himself informed, and then daily went +to the Foreign Office or wrote to the Ministry of War in an effort to +get better accommodations for the men. One day he discovered eleven +prominent English civilians, former respected residents in Berlin, +living in a box stall similar to one which his riding horse had +occupied in peace times. This so aroused the Ambassador that he +volunteered to furnish funds for the construction of a new barracks in +case the Government was not willing to do it. But the Foreign Office +and the War Ministry and other officials shifted authority so often +that it was impossible to get changes made. The Ambassador decided to +have his reports published in a drastic effort to gain relief for the +prisoners. The State Department granted the necessary authority and +his descriptions of Ruhleben were published in the United States and +England, arousing such a world-wide storm of indignation that the +German Government changed the prison conditions and made Ruhleben fit +for men for the first time since the beginning of the war. +</P> + +<P> +This activity of the Ambassador aroused a great deal of bitterness and +the Government decided to try to have him recalled. The press +censorship instigated various newspapers to attack the Ambassador so +that Germany might be justified in asking for his recall, but the +attack failed for the simple reason that there was no evidence against +the Ambassador except that he had been too vigorous in insisting upon +livable prison camp conditions. +</P> + +<HR WIDTH="60%" ALIGN="center"> + +<P> +I have pointed out in previous chapters some of the things which +President Wilson's notes accomplished in Germany during the war. +Suppose the Kaiser were to grant certain reforms, would this destroy +the possibilities of a free Germany, a democratic nation--a German +Republic! +</P> + +<P> +The German people were given an opportunity to debate and think about +international issues while we maintained relations with Berlin, but as +I pointed out, the Kaiser and his associates are masters of German +psychology and during the next few months they may temporarily undo +what we accomplished during two years. Americans must remember that at +the present time all the leading men of Germany are preaching to the +people the gospel of submarine success, and the anti-American campaign +there is being conducted unhindered and unchallenged. The United +States and the Allies have pledged their national honour and existence +to defeat and discredit the Imperial German Government and nothing but +unfaltering determination, no matter what the Kaiser does, will bring +success. Unless he is defeated, the Kaiser will not follow the Czar's +example. +</P> + +<P> +In May of this year the German Government believed it was winning the +war. Berlin believed it would decisively defeat our Allies before +Fall. But even if the people of Germany again compel their Government +to propose peace and the Kaiser announces that he is in favour of such +drastic reforms as making his Ministry responsible to the Reichstag, +this (though it might please the German people) cannot, must not, +satisfy us. Only a firm refusal of the Allies will accomplish what we +have set out to do--overthrow the present rulers and dictators of +Germany. This must include not only the Kaiser but Field Marshal von +Hindenburg and the generals in control of the army, the Chancellor von +Bethmann-Hollweg, who did not keep his promises to the United States +and the naval leaders who have been intriguing and fighting for war +with America for over two years. Only a decisive defeat of Germany +will make Germany a republic, and the task is stupendous enough to +challenge the best combined efforts of the United States and all the +Allies. +</P> + +<P> +Prophecy is a dangerous pastime but it would not be fair to conclude +this book without pointing out some of the possibilities which can +develop from the policy which President Wilson pursued in dealing with +Germany before diplomatic relations were broken. +</P> + +<P> +The chief effect of Mr. Wilson's policy is not going to be felt during +this war, but in the future. At the beginning of his administration he +emphasised the fact that in a democracy public opinion was a bigger +factor than armies and navies. If all Europe emerges from this war as +democratic as seems possible now one can see that Mr. Wilson has +already laid the foundation for future international relations between +free people and republican forms of governments. This war has defeated +itself. It is doubtful whether there ever will be another world war +because the opinion of all civilised people is mobilised against war. +After one has seen what war is like, one is against not only war itself +but the things which bring about war. This great war was made possible +because Europe has been expecting and preparing for it ever since 1870 +and because the governments of Europe did not take either the people or +their neighbours into their confidence. President Wilson tried to show +while he was president that the people should be fully informed +regarding all steps taken by the Government. In England where the +press has had such a tussle to keep from being curbed by an autocratic +censorship the world has learned new lessons in publicity. The old +policy of keeping from the public unpleasant information has been +thrown overboard in Great Britain because it was found that it harmed +the very foundations of democracy. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-288"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-288.jpg" ALT="A POST-CARD FROM GENERAL VON KLUCK" BORDER="2" WIDTH="416" HEIGHT="626"> +<H5> +[Illustration: A POST-CARD FROM GENERAL VON KLUCK.] +</H5> +</CENTER> + +<P> +International relations in the future will, to a great extent, be +moulded along the lines of Mr. Wilson's policies during this war. +Diplomacy will be based upon a full discussion of all international +issues. The object of diplomacy will be to reach an understanding to +<I>prevent</I> wars, not to <I>avoid</I> them at the eleventh hour. Just as +enlightened society tries to <I>prevent</I> murder so will civilised nations +in the future try to prevent wars. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wilson expressed his faith in this new development in international +affairs by saying that "the opinion of the world is the mistress of the +world." +</P> + +<P> +The important concern to-day is: How can this world opinion be moulded +into a world power? +</P> + +<P> +Opinion cannot be codified like law because it is often the vanguard of +legislation. Public opinion is the reaction of a thousand and one +incidents upon the public consciousness. In the world to-day the most +important influence in the development of opinion is the daily press. +By a judicious interpretation of affairs the President of the United +States frequently may direct public opinion in certain channels while +his representatives to foreign governments, especially when there is +opportunity, as there is to-day, may help spread our ideas abroad. +</P> + +<P> +World political leaders, if one may judge from events so far, foresee a +new era in international affairs. Instead of a nation's foreign +policies being secret, instead of unpublished alliances and iron-bound +treaties, there may be the proclaiming of a nation's international +intentions, exactly as a political party in the United States pledges +its intentions in a political campaign. Parties in Europe may demand a +statement of the foreign intentions of their governments. If there was +this candidness between the governments and their citizens there would +he more frankness between the nations and their neighbours. Public +opinion would then be the decisive force. International steps of all +nations would then be decided upon only after the public was thoroughly +acquainted with their every phase. A fully informed nation would be +considered safer and more peace-secure than a nation whose opinion was +based upon coloured official reports, "Ems" telegrams of 1870 and 1914 +variety, and eleventh-hour appeals to passion, fear and God. +</P> + +<P> +The opinion of the world may then be a stronger international force +than large individual armies and navies. The opinion of the world may +be such a force that every nation will respect and fear it. The +opinion of the world may be the mistress of the world and publicity +will be the new driving force in diplomacy to give opinion world power. +</P> + +<P> +Germany's defeat will be the greatest event in history because it will +establish world democracy upon a firm foundation and because Germany +itself will emerge democratic. The Chancellor has frequently stated +that the Germany which would come out of this war would be nothing like +the Germany which went into the war and the Kaiser has already promised +a "people's kingdom of Hohenzollern." The Kaiser's government will be +reformed because world opinion insists upon it. If the German people +do not yet see this, they will be outlawed until they are free. They +will see it eventually, and when that day comes, peace will dawn in +Europe. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +APPENDIX +</H2> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Cornell University,<BR> + Ithaca, N. Y. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DEAR SIR: +</P> + +<P> +Returning to Ithaca, I find your letter with its question relating to +the temporary arrest of a vessel carrying munitions of war to Spain +shortly after the beginning of our war with that country. The simple +facts are as follows: Receiving a message by wire from our American +Consul at Hamburg early during the war, to the effect that a Spanish +vessel supposed to carry munitions for Spain was just leaving Germany, +I asked the Foreign Office that the vessel be searched before leaving, +my purpose being not only to get such incidental information as +possible regarding the contraband concerned, but particulars as to the +nature of the vessel, whether it was so fitted that it could be used +with advantage by our adversaries against our merchant navy, as had +happened during our Civil War, when Great Britain let out of her ports +vessels fitted to prey upon our merchant ships. +</P> + +<P> +The German Government was very courteous to us in the matter and it was +found that the Spanish ship concerned was not so fitted up and that the +contraband was of a very ordinary sort, such as could be obtained from +various nations. The result was that the vessel, after a brief visit, +proceeded on her way, and our agents at Hamburg informed me later that +during the entire war vessels freely carried ammunition from German +ports both to Spain and to the United States, and that neither of the +belligerents made any remonstrance. Of course, I was aware that under +the usages of nations I had, strictly speaking, no right to demand +seizure of the contraband concerned, but it seemed my duty at least to +secure the above information regarding it and the ship which carried it. +</P> + +<P> +I remain, dear sir, +</P> + +<P> + Very respectfully yours, +</P> + +<P> + (<I>Signed</I>) ANDREW D. 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