FOOTNOTE:

A letter to von Papen from Dr. Albert, then in San Francisco, undated but obviously written in December, 1915, contained these farewell sentiments:

"Dear Herr von Papen,"Well, then! How I wish I were in New York and could discuss the situation with you and B. E.... So we shall not see each other for the present. Shall we at all before you leave? It would be my most anxious wish; but my hope is small. From this time, I suppose, matters will move more quickly than in Dumba's case. I wonder whether our Government will respond in a suitable manner! In my opinion it need no longer take public opinion so much into consideration, in spite of it being artificially and intentionally agitated by the press and the legal proceedings, so that a somewhat 'stiffer'attitude would be desirable, naturally quiet and dignified!... Please remember me to your chief personally. I assume that he still remembers me from the time of the 'experimental establishment for aircraft,' and give my best wishes to Mr. Scheuch, and tell him that the struggle on the American front is sometimes very hard.... When I think of your and Boy-Ed's departure, and that I alone remain behind in New York, I could—well, better not!"

"Dear Herr von Papen,

"Well, then! How I wish I were in New York and could discuss the situation with you and B. E.... So we shall not see each other for the present. Shall we at all before you leave? It would be my most anxious wish; but my hope is small. From this time, I suppose, matters will move more quickly than in Dumba's case. I wonder whether our Government will respond in a suitable manner! In my opinion it need no longer take public opinion so much into consideration, in spite of it being artificially and intentionally agitated by the press and the legal proceedings, so that a somewhat 'stiffer'attitude would be desirable, naturally quiet and dignified!... Please remember me to your chief personally. I assume that he still remembers me from the time of the 'experimental establishment for aircraft,' and give my best wishes to Mr. Scheuch, and tell him that the struggle on the American front is sometimes very hard.... When I think of your and Boy-Ed's departure, and that I alone remain behind in New York, I could—well, better not!"

Perhaps Dr. Albert would have accompanied the attachés had not the submarine situation been so acute. For while the Government had in its possession sufficient provocation for his dismissal, and that of Count von Bernstorff as well, the Government's desire at that time was peace, and stubbornly, patiently, it clung to its ideal in a dogged attempt to preserve its neutrality. Dr. Albert had run the British blockade with his supplies for Germany, and had roared protest when Great Britain seized cargoes of meat intended for Germany, although she paid the packers for them in full. He had floated a German loan through Chandler & Company, a New York house of which Rudolph Hecht, one of his agents, was a member; he had sold $500,000,000 worth of German securities; to sum up his financial activities, he had played every trick he knew, and his last year in America was unfruitful of result, for hewas watched. He returned to Germany personally enriched, for time and again, prompted by stock tips from his German friends on stocks or "September lard," and by diplomatic information which he knew would influence the stock market, he made handsome winnings for von Bernstorff and himself.

FOOTNOTE:[4]The captain added: "The sinking of theAdriatic" (by which he meant theArabic, which had been sunk without warning on August 19, with a loss of sixteen lives, two of them American), "may be the last straw for the sake of our cause. I hope the matter will blow over." On October 5 the German Government, consistent with its assurance of September 1 that no more ships would be sunk without warning, disavowed the sinking of theArabic, and offered to pay indemnities. So the matter "blew over."

[4]The captain added: "The sinking of theAdriatic" (by which he meant theArabic, which had been sunk without warning on August 19, with a loss of sixteen lives, two of them American), "may be the last straw for the sake of our cause. I hope the matter will blow over." On October 5 the German Government, consistent with its assurance of September 1 that no more ships would be sunk without warning, disavowed the sinking of theArabic, and offered to pay indemnities. So the matter "blew over."

Dr. Bertling—TheStaats-Zeitung—George Sylvester Viereck andThe Fatherland—Efforts to buy a press association—Bernhardi's articles—Marcus Braun andFair Play—Plans for a German news syndicate—Sander, Wunnenberg, Bacon and motion pictures—The German-American Alliance—Its purposes—Political activities—Colquitt of Texas—The "Wisconsin Plan"—Lobbying—Misappropriation of German Red Cross funds—Friends of Peace—The American Truth Society.

Some one has said that America will emerge from this war a gigantic national entity, a colossus wrought of the fused metal of her scores of mixed nationalities. That is naturally desirable, and historically probable. If such is the result, Germany will have lost for all time one of her most powerful allies—the German population in the United States. Nearly one-tenth of the population of the United States in 1914 was of either German birth or parentage. Ethnic lines are not erased in a generation except by some great emergency, such as war affords. Germany is doomed to a deserved disappointment in the loss of herAmerican stock—deserved because she tried so hard to Germanize America.

She wasted no time in injecting her verbal propagandists into the struggle on the American front. On August 20, 1914, Dr. Karl Oskar Bertling, assistant director of the Amerika Institut in Berlin, landed in New York, and went at once to report to von Bernstorff. The Amerika Institut had of recent years made considerable progress in familiarizing Germany with American affairs; its chief director, Dr. Walther Drechsler, had been master of German in Middlesex, a prominent boys' school in Massachusetts; he returned to Berlin in 1913 and was attached, upon the outbreak of war, to the press office. All who were associated with it knew something of America. It is characteristic of the convertibility of German institutions to war that another executive of this organization, employed in peace times to cement the friendship between the two nations, should be sent on the day war was declared to America to establish a German press bureau.

Dr. Bertling went about delivering pro-German speeches, and prepared articles for the press on international questions. These he submitted to Bernstorff himself for approval—one such story was to be published in a Sunday magazinesupplement to a long "string" of American newspapers. Although every editor was on the lookout for any "war stuff" which was written with any apparent background of European politics, he found small market for his wares among the New York newspapers, and some of his speaking dates were cancelled. He proposed to publish, with one of his stories, a set of German military maps of Belgium, but to this von Papen wrote him on November 21: "I entirely agree with you in your opinion in regard to the maps—it is a two-edged sword," and he added: "One observes how very ill-informed the average American is." Bertling's lack of accomplishment drew censure, however, from several sources: the head of the German-American Chamber of Commerce in Berlin chided him for not having carried out his "special mission to supply a cable service to South America and China," and the late Professor Hugo Muensterberg of Harvard waxed righteously indignant over the fact that Bertling opened and read a letter entrusted by the psychologist to him for safe delivery to Dr. Dernburg. Bertling applied to the Embassy for special employment, and on March 19, 1915, the ambassador's private secretary wrote him:

"His Excellency is entirely agreeable to giving you the desired employment, but he considers thepresent conditions too uncertain, as his departure for Germany in the near future is not impossible."

Excellent testimony to the subtle iniquity of his task lies in the names of the men whose pro-Ally utterances he was striving to counteract. In a letter written December 20, 1914, to Bertling by C. W. Ernst, a Bostonian of German birth and American naturalization, appears this passage:

"Is it prudent to defend the German cause against such men as C. W. Eliot and other Americans who consider themselves artistocratic and important?... Who, apparently, was of more importance than Roosevelt, to whom now even the dogs pay no attention?... The feeling of men like Eliot, C. F. Adams, etc., is well understood. German they know not. They understand neither Luther nor Kant, nor the history of Germany.... Tactically it is a mistake to be easy going with England, or in discussion with her American toadies. By curtness, defiance, irony one can get much further...."

His friend in the German-American Chamber of Commerce wrote again to Berlin in a vein which showed how closely Germany herself was watching publicity in America. "Viereck has sent me a letter," he said, "andHarper'sprinted some matter by way of Italy.... The Foreign Office and the War Department urgently wantmore reports sent here. If cables through neutral countries are not feasible, could not Americans travelling be called upon? More steam, please.... The exchange professors should get busy.... One is quite surprised here that with the exception of Burgess and possibly Sloan, nobody seems to be doing anything.... Nasmith's article, 'The Case for Germany,' in theOutlookis very good—inspired by me. The same of Mead's inEverybody's."

And again: "We will dog Uncle Sam's footsteps with painful accuracy—his sloppy, obstinate, pro-English neutrality we utterly repudiate. When God wishes to punish a country he gives it a W. J. B. as Secretary of State."

(When Bryan resigned, German rumors were circulated from time to time that Secretary Lansing, who succeeded him, had had a falling out with President Wilson, and was himself on the point of resigning. What Herr Walther thought of "W. J. B."'s successor is a matter of conjecture.)

The documents found in Dr. Bertling's possession, and the method of securing them, brought forth a sharp editorial from Bernard Ridder of theNew Yorker Staats-Zeitung, then one of the stanch members of the foreign language press engaged in defending Germany. Dr. Bertling remained unmolested in the United States untilApril, 1918, when he was arrested as an enemy alien in Lexington, Mass., and interned. Dr. Bernhardt Dernburg, to quote the words of a German associate, "had some propaganda and wrote some articles for the newspapers" ... and was "certainly in connection with the German Government," gave Adolph Pavenstedt $15,000 in early October, 1914. To this Pavenstedt added $5,000, and on October 12 paid the sum of $20,000 to theStaats-Zeitung, to tide the newspaper over a rough financial period. "I expected," said Pavenstedt," that if the business were bankrupt it would be lost to the Ridders, who have always followed a very good course for the German interests here."

Photographs of checks

Photographs of checks signed by Adolf Pavenstedt

Soon after the war began George Sylvester Viereck brought out his publication,The Fatherland, a moderately clever attempt to appeal to intelligent readers in Germany's behalf. On July 1, 1915, the publication having stumbled along a rocky financial path—for no publication distributed gratis can make money—Dr. Albert wrote Viereck:

"Your account for the $1,500—bonus, after deducting the $250 received, for the month of June, 1915, has been received. I hope in the course of the next week to be able to make payment. In the meantime, I request the proposalof a suitable person who can ascertain accurately and prove the financial condition of your paper. From the moment when we guarantee you a regular advance, I must

"1. Have a new statement of the condition of your paper.

"2. Practise a control over the financial management.

"In addition to this we must have an understanding regarding the course in politics which you will pursue, which we have not asked heretofore. Perhaps you will be kind enough to talk the matter over on the basis of this letter, with Mr. Fuehr." Fuehr's office was across the hall from Viereck.

Viereck had assembled about him among others a staff of contributors which included Dr. Dernburg, Frank Koester, Rudolph Kronau, J. Bernard Rethey, a writer who affects thenom de plumeof "Oliver Ames," Edmund von Mach (whose brother is an official of some prominence in Germany), and Ram Chandra (the editor of a revolutionary Hindu newspaper published in California). Viereck, in his paper, forecasted the sinking of theLusitaniaand later gloated over it as well as over the murder of Edith Cavell. His father is the Berlin correspondent of his paper. They are both "naturalized" citizensof the United States. One of his contributors, as late as 1918, wrote for Viereck a peculiarly suspicious essay on his conversion to Americanism, setting forth in exhaustive detail the pro-German convictions which he had previously held, and the justification for them, and winding up with a pallid renunciation of them, the document as a whole intended ostensibly to stimulate patriotism, while in reality it would have rekindled the dying German apology. The pernicious Viereck, whose mental stature may be judged by the fact that he treasured a violet from the grave of Oscar Wilde, sought to interest the Embassy in his merits as a publisher of German books, and was supported, as pro-German volumes were issued from the Jackson Press which he controlled. He suggested, too, to Dr. Albert names of American publishing houses as excellent media for bringing out propaganda books on account of their obvious innocence of German sympathies.

A more patent attempt to influence the public originated in the German Embassy itself. Dr. Albert, through intermediaries, schemed to obtain for $900,000 control of a press association. The sale was not made. One of Dr. Albert's agents, M. B. Claussen, formerly publicity agent for the Hamburg-American Line, established inthe Hotel Astor, New York, the "German Information Bureau" for disseminating "impartial news about the war" and "keeping the American mind from becoming prejudiced," and he issued many a red-white-and-black statement to the newspapers.

The German interests also had designs on buying an important New York evening newspaper, theMail. One of von Papen's assistants, George von Skal, a former reporter (and the predecessor as commissioner of accounts of John Purroy Mitchel, New York's "fighting mayor"), entered the negotiations in a letter written by Paul T. Davis to Dr. Albert at the embassy. This letter, dated, June 21, 1915, set forth that—

"In November, 1914, my father, George H. Davis, conceived the idea that Germany ought to be represented in New York by one of the papers printed in English. He spoke to a number of German-Americans about the scheme and finally through Mr. George von Skal got in touch with Ambassador Count von Bernstorff. Mr. Percival Kuhne acted as the head of the movement until it was found that he could not devote the necessary time to the matter in hand and at father's suggestion Mr. Ludwig Nissen was substituted.... We decided upon theMailas the only paper that was not too expensive.... Weopened negotiations with the proprietors of theMailand proceeded until Ambassador Count von Bernstorff notified both Mr. Kuhne and Mr. Nissen that at that time nothing further should be done in the matter...."

TheMailwas sold, however, to Dr. Rumely.

Dr. Albert collected for General Franz Bernhardi the proceeds of the publication in American newspapers of the latter's famous "Germany and the Next War." Bernhardi wrote von Papen on April 9, 1915:

"I have now written two further series of articles for America. The Foreign Office wanted to have the first of these, entitled 'Germany and England,' distributed in the American press; the other, entitled 'Pan-Germanism,' was to appear in the ChicagoTribune. They will certainly have some sort of effect, this is evident from the inexpressible rage with which the British and French press have attacked thoseSunarticles."

George Sylvester Viereck

George Sylvester Viereck, founder and Editor ofThe Father-landa pro-German propaganda weekly known laterasViereck's Weekly

Bernstorff and Papen, under orders from Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, in May, 1915, had under consideration the payment of from $1,000 to $1,200 for the expenses of a trip to Germany for Edward Lyell Fox, a newspaper writer, who "at the time of his last sojourn in Germany" (in 1914) "was of great benefit to us by reason of his good despatches."

Von Bernstorff himself wrote on March 15, 1915, to Marcus Braun, a Hungarian, and editor of a review calledFair Play:

"My dear Mr. Braun:"In answer to your favor of the 12th instant, I beg to say that I have read the monthly reviewFair Playfor the last 3 years, and I can state that this publication is living up to its name, and that it has always taken the American point of view. During the last 7 monthsFair Playhas, in its editorial policy, treated all belligerents justly and thereby rendered great services to the millions of foreign born citizens in this country, especially to those of German and Austro-Hungarian origin.Fair Playhas fought for the rights of the latter and for truth, always maintaining an American attitude and showing true American spirit."You are at liberty to show this letter to anybody who is interested in the matter, but I beg you not to publish it, as to (do) this would be contrary to the instructions of my government, who does not wish me to publicly advertise any review or newspaper."Very sincerely yours,"J. Bernstorff."

"My dear Mr. Braun:

"In answer to your favor of the 12th instant, I beg to say that I have read the monthly reviewFair Playfor the last 3 years, and I can state that this publication is living up to its name, and that it has always taken the American point of view. During the last 7 monthsFair Playhas, in its editorial policy, treated all belligerents justly and thereby rendered great services to the millions of foreign born citizens in this country, especially to those of German and Austro-Hungarian origin.Fair Playhas fought for the rights of the latter and for truth, always maintaining an American attitude and showing true American spirit.

"You are at liberty to show this letter to anybody who is interested in the matter, but I beg you not to publish it, as to (do) this would be contrary to the instructions of my government, who does not wish me to publicly advertise any review or newspaper.

"Very sincerely yours,"J. Bernstorff."

On May 28, 1915, J. Bernstorff signed another gratifying document for the same Braun—a check for $5,000 payable to the Fair Play Printing & Publishing Company. Such was the reward of "true American spirit."

When Germany embarked upon an enterpriseshe usually followed charts prepared by trained surveyors. Her attempts at newspaper and magazine propaganda in the first ten months of war had been hastily conceived and not altogether successful. One of the most comprehensive reports which has come to light is a recommendation, dated July, 1915, in which the investigator discusses the feasibility of a strong German news-syndicate in America.

It was to be operated by two bureaus, one in Berlin as headquarters for all news and pictures from Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and the Balkans, one in New York for distribution of the matter to the American press. Correspondents from America were to be given the privileges of both Eastern and Western fronts, from 3,000 to 4,000 words a day were to be sent by wireless from Nauen to Sayville, secret codes were to be arranged so that the cable news might be smuggled past the enemy in the guise of commercial messages. The bureau in New York was to gather American news for Germany, and the service was eventually to extend over the whole world.

Fac-simile of a letter

Fac-simile of a letter from Count von Bernstorffto the editor of "Fair Play"

"In fact," said the report, "it will be particularly desirable to inaugurate the Chinese service at once, so that the American public is informed about that which really happens in order to createan effective counter-weight against the Japanese propaganda in the American press."

The New York bureau was estimated to cost $6,640 per month, the bureau in Berlin about half that sum; two years' effort would have cost about $200,000. The writer proposed to establish a lecture service as auxiliary, the total expenses of which, covering the Chautauquas of one summer, he estimated at $75,000. The investigator concluded:

"Hoping that my proposals will lead to a successful result, I will take the liberty of advising in the interest of the German cause—aside from the fact whether my proposals will be carried out or not—that the following should be avoided on the part of Germany in the future:

"1. The Belgian neutrality question as well as the question of the Belgian atrocities should not be mentioned any more in the future.

"2. It should not be tried any more in America to put the blame for the world war and its consequences alone on England, as a considerable English element still exists in America, and the American people hold to the view that all parties, as usual, are partly guilty for the war.

"3. The pride and imagination of the Americans with regard to their culture should not continually be offended by the assertion that Germanculture is the only real culture and surpasses everything else.

"4. The publication of purely scientific pamphlets should be avoided in the future as far as the American people are concerned, as their dry reading annoys the American and is incomprehensible to him.

"5. Finally it is of the utmost importance that the authorities as well as the German people cease continually to discuss publicly the delivery of American arms and ammunition, as well as to let every American feel their displeasure about it."

The Foreign Office never saw fit to act upon the investigator's proposals, for less than a month after he had written his report, it appeared, verbatim, in the columns of a New York newspaper. Axiom: The most effective means of fighting enemy propaganda is by propaganda for which the enemy unwittingly supplies the material.

Copy of a check

Copy of a check from Count von Bernstorff to the Fair Play Printingand Publishing Company

Motion pictures appealed to the Germans as a practical and graphic means of spreading through America visual proof of their kindness to prisoners, their prodigious success with new engines of war, and their brutal reception at the hands of the nations they were forced in self-defence to invade. So Dr. Albert financed the American Correspondent Film Company, two of whosestockholders were Claussen and Dr. Karl A. Fuehr, a translator in Viereck's office. As late as August, 1916, Karl Wunnenberg and Albert A. Sander, of the "Central Powers Film Company," which was also subsidized to circulate German-made moving pictures, engaged George Vaux Bacon, a free-lance theatrical press agent, to go to England at a salary of $100 a week, obtain valuable information, and transmit it in writing in invisible ink to Holland, where it would be forwarded to Germany. The two principals were later indicted on a charge of having set afoot a military enterprise against Great Britain, and were sentenced to two years in prison; Bacon, the cat's-paw, received a year's sentence. (Sander, a German, had been involved in secret-agent work on a previous occasion when he assaulted Richard Stegler for not disavowing an affidavit explaining his acquisition of a false passport.) The secret ink they gave Bacon was invisible under all conditions unless a certain chemical preparation, which could be compounded only with distilled water, was applied to it.

At the start of the war there began in Congress a vehement debate over the question of imposing a legislative embargo on the shipment of arms and ammunition to the Allies. In these debates participated men who undoubtedly weresincere in the convictions they expressed. Nevertheless, in the late winter and early spring of 1915, a hireling of the Germans began to seek secret conferences with congressmen in a Washington hotel and to outline to them plans for compelling an embargo on munitions. His activities bring us to the affairs of the National German-American Alliance, Germany's most powerful and least tangible factor of general propaganda in the United States.

The organization had a large membership among Germans in America; it has been estimated that there were three million members, who constituted a great majority of the adult German-American population. It received a Federal charter in 1907. The Alliance, to quote Professor John William Scholl, of the University of Michigan, (in the New YorkTimesof March 2, 1918), "strives to awaken a sense of unity among the people of German origin in America; to 'centralize' their powers for the 'energetic defense of such justified wishes and interests' as are not contrary to the rights and duties of good citizens; to defend its class against 'nativistic encroachments'; to 'foster and assure good, friendly relations of America to the old German fatherland.' Such are its declared objects.

"All petty quibbling aside, this programme canmean nothing else than the maintenance of a Germanized body of citizens among us, conscious of their separateness, resistant to all forces of absorption. It is mere camouflage to state in a later paragraph that this body does not intend to found a 'State within the State,' but merely sees in this centralization the 'best means of attaining and maintaining the aims' set forth above.

"All existing societies of Germans are called upon as 'organized representatives of Deutschtum' to make it a point of honor to form a national alliance, to foster formation of new societies in all States of the Union, so that the whole mass of Germans in America can be used as a unit for political action. This league pledges itself 'with all legal means at hand unswervingly and at all times to enter the lists for the maintenance and propagation of its principles for their vigorous defense wherever and whenever in danger.'"

Professor Scholl, himself a teacher of German, continues: "A little attention to the context of the sentences quoted shows that these Germans demand the privilege of coming to America, getting citizenship on the easiest terms possible, while maintaining intact their alien speech, alien customs, and alien loyalties. That is 'assimilation,' the granting of equal political rights and commercial opportunities, without exacting anyalteration in modes of life or 'Sittlichkeit.' 'Absorption' means Americanization, a fusing with the whole mass of American life, an adoption of the language and ideals of the country, a spiritual rebirth into Anglo-Saxon civilization, and this has great terrors for the members of a German alliance.

"A glance back over the whole scheme will show how cleverly it was made to unite the average recent comeoverer with his beer-drinking proclivities, with the professor of German, who had visions of increased interest in his specialty, and the professor of history, who hoped for larger journal space and ampler funds, and the readily flattered wealthy German of some attainments, into a close league of interests, which could be used at the proper time for almost any nefarious purpose which a few men might dictate.

"Add to this the emphatic moral and financial support of the German-language press as one of the most powerful agencies of the organization, and we have the stage set for just what happened a little over three years ago."

The Alliance, long before the war, had been active in extending German influence. Among other affairs, it had arranged the visit of Prince Henry of Prussia. Its president, Dr. C. J. Hexamer, whose headquarters were inPhiladelphia, had received special recognition from the Kaiser for his efforts—efforts which may be briefly set forth in a speech addressed to Germans in Milwaukee by Hexamer himself:

"You have been long-suffering under the preachment that you must be assimilated, but we shall never descend to an inferior culture. We are giving to these people the benefits of German culture."

The outbreak of war made the Alliance an exceedingly important, if unwieldy, instrument for shaping public opinion. It promoted and sponsored a so-called National Embargo Conference in Chicago in 1915, working hand-in-glove with Labor's National Peace Council in an attempt to persuade Congress to pass a law forbidding the export of munitions. At every congressional election, particularly in such cities as Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and St. Louis, the hand of Prussia was stirring about. When O. B. Colquitt, a former governor of Texas, decided to run for the Senate in late 1915, he corresponded with the editors of theStaats-Zeitungand a New York member of the Alliance for support from the German press and the German vote in his state.

The next year saw the approach of a presidential campaign, and the Alliance established acampaign headquarters in New York to dictate which candidates for United States offices should receive the solid German-American vote. Such candidates had to record themselves as opposed to the policies of the Administration. An effort was made to further the nomination of Champ Clark as the Democratic candidate, succeeding Wilson. A German professor, Leo Stern, superintendent of schools in Milwaukee, after a conference with Hexamer there, wrote to the New York headquarters approving the "Wisconsin plan" (Hexamer's) for swaying the Republican national convention. This plan set forth that "it is necessary that a portion of the delegations to the ... convention—a quarter to a third—shall consist of approved, distinguished German-Americans." The Alliance was bitterly opposed to Wilson, it hated the lashing tongue and the keen nose of Theodore Roosevelt, it distrusted Elihu Root, and deriving much of its income from the liquor business, it feared prohibition.

Politically the Alliance was constantly active. It supported in early 1916, through its friendly congressmen, the McLemore and Gore resolutions, the latter of which, according to Hexamer, deserved passage because it would—

"1. Refuse passports to Americans travelling on ships, of the belligerents.

"2. Place an embargo on contraband of war.

"3. Prohibit Federal Reserve Banks from subscribing to foreign loans." The Alliance's lobbyist called on Senators Stone, Gore, O'Gorman, Hitchcock (all of whom he reported as "opposed to Lansing"), Senator Smith of Arizona, Senators Kern, Martine, Lewis ("our friend"), Smith of Georgia, Works, Jones, Chamberlain, McCumber, Cummins, Borah and Clapp. Borah, he said, had "a fool idea about Americans going everywhere." In the House of Representatives he canvassed the Democratic and Republican leaders, Kitchin and Mann, and a group "all of whom want the freedom of the seas," which included Dillon of South Dakota, Bennett of New York, Smith of Buffalo, Kinchloe of New York, Shackleford of Missouri, and Staley and Decker of Kentucky. "I saw Padgett, chairman of the house naval affairs committee," he continued, "he will fall in line after a while.... I am working with Stephens of the House and Gore of the Senate to put their bills in one bill as a joint resolution. I have told them that my league would aid them in getting members of the House and the Senate, as well as helping them with propaganda (this was their suggestion)."

The resolutions failed.

All these activities cost money. The GermanEmbassy through Dr. Albert furnished the headquarters of the Alliance with sufficient funds for its many purposes. Count von Bernstorff is alleged to have handled a large fund for bribery of American legislators, but the fact has never been established, beyond his request in January, 1917, for $50,000, for such purposes. It is a fact, however, that the National German-American Alliance collected a sum of $886,670 during the years 1914-1917 for the German Red Cross; this was turned over to von Bernstorff for transmission to Germany, and officers of the Alliance have admitted that of this sum about $700,000 was probably employed in propaganda by Dr. Dernburg and Dr. Meyer-Gerhardt, who posed as the head of the German Red Cross in America. Contributions to the German and Austrian relief funds came in as late as October, 1917, although no part of them were forwarded to Europe after the entrance of America into the war.

This last event occasioned further activity on the part of the Alliance; during the period which followed the break in diplomatic relaxations, and while Congress was debating the question of war, members of Congress were deluged with an extraordinary flood of telegrams from German-Americans cautioning them against taking such a step. These telegrams were prepared by theAlliance and the "American Neutrality League" and circulated among their members and sympathizers, to be sent to Washington. The Alliance then issued to its branches throughout the states a resolution of loyalty to be adopted in case war was declared. This resolution, after making a hearty declaration of loyalty to the United States, went on to belie its promise with such pacifist utterances as this:

"Our duty before the war was to keep out of it. Our duty now is to get out of it."

So earnest were the efforts of the Alliance to keep out of war that some ten months after its declaration of loyalty was promulgated, Congress decided to investigate the organization, with a view to revoking its charter. The investigation wrote into the archives certain characteristics of the Alliance which had long been obvious to the truly American public; its deep-rooted Teutonism, its persistent zeal, and its dangerous scope of activity. The courageous legislators who initiated and pursued the investigation, in the face of constant opposition of the most tortuous variety, had their reward, for on April 11, 1918, the executive committee of the National Alliance met in Philadelphia and dissolved the organization, turned the $30,000 in its coffers over to the American Red Cross, and uttered a swan song of loyalty to theUnited States. The body of the octopus was dead. One by one, first in Brooklyn, then in San Francisco, then elsewhere, its tentacles sloughed away.

A word for the pacifists. One pacifist constitutes a quorum in any society. There were in America at the outbreak of war one hundred million people who disliked war. As the injustices of Germany multiplied, the patriotic war-haters became militarists, and there sprang up little groups of malcontents who resented, usually by German consent, any tendency on the part of the Government to avenge the insult to its independence. Social and industrial fanatics of all descriptions flocked to the standard of "Peace at Any Price," and for want of a dissenting audience soon convinced themselves that they had something to say.

Many of the peace movements which were set going during the first three years of the war were sincere, many were not. A mass meeting held at Madison Square Garden in 1915 at which Bryan was the chief speaker, was inspired by Germany. In the insincere class falls also the "Friends of Peace," organized in 1915. Its letterhead bore the invitation: "Attend the National Peace Convention, Chicago, Sept. 5 and 6," and incidentally betrayed the origin of the society. Theletterhead stated that the society represented the American Truth Society (an offshoot of the National German-American Alliance), The American Women of German Descent, the American Fair Play Society, the German-American Alliance of Greater New York, the German Catholic Federation of New York, the United Irish-American Societies and the United Austrian and Hungarian-American Societies. Among the "honorable vice-chairmen" were listed Edmund von Mach, John Devoy, Justices Goff and Cohalan (a trinity of Britonophobes), Colquitt of Texas, Ex-Congressman Buchanan (of Labor's National Peace Council fame), Jeremiah O'Leary (a Sinn Feiner, mentioned in official cables from Zimmermann to Bernstorff as a good intermediary for sabotage), Judge John T. Hylan, Richard Bartholdt (a congressman active in the German political lobby), and divers officers of the Alliance.

The American Truth Society, Inc., the parent of the Friends of Peace, was founded in 1912 by Jeremiah O'Leary, a Tammany lawyer later indicted for violation of the Espionage Act, who disappeared when his case came up for trial in May, 1918; Alphonse Koelble, who conducted the German-American Alliance's New York political clearing house; Gustav Dopslaff, aGerman-American banker, and others interested in the German cause. In 1915 the Society, whose executives were well and favorably known to German embassy, began issuing and circulating noisy pamphlets, with such captions as "Fair Play for Germany," and "A German-American War." O'Leary and his friends also conducted a mail questionnaire of Congress in an effort to catalogue the convictions of each member on the blockade and embargo questions. Their most insidious campaign was an effort to frighten the smaller banks of the country from participating in Allied loans, by threats of a German "blacklist" after the war, to organize a "gold protest" to embarrass American banking operations, and in general to harass the Administration in its international relations.

Letter-paper of The Friends of Peace

Letter-paper of "The Friends of Peace"

So with their newspapers, rumor-mongers, lecturers, peace societies, alliances, bunds, vereins, lobbyists, war relief workers, motion picture operators and syndicates, the Germans wrought hard to avert war. For two years they nearly succeeded. America was under the narcotic influence of generally comfortable neutrality, and a comfortable nation likes to wag its head and say "there are two sides to every question." But whatever these German agents might have accomplished in the public mind—and certainly theywere sowing their seed in fertile ground—was nullified by acts of violence, ruthlessness at sea, and impudence in diplomacy. The left hand found out what the right hand was about.

The Society for Advancement in India—"Gaekwar Scholarships"—Har Dyal andGadhr—India in 1914—Papen's report—German and Hindu agents sent to the Orient—Gupta in Japan—The raid on von Igel's office—Chakravarty replaces Gupta—TheAnnie LarsenandMaverickfilibuster—Von Igel's memoranda—Har Dyal in Berlin—A request for anarchist agents—Ram Chandra—Plots against the East and West Indies—Correspondence between Bernstorff and Berlin, 1916—Designs on China, Japan and Africa—Chakravarty arrested—The conspirators indicted.

As far back as 1907 a plot was hatched in the United States to promote sedition and unrest in British India. The chief agitators had the effrontery in the following year to make their headquarters in rooms in the New York Bar Association, and to issue from that address numerous circulars asking for money. The late John L. Cadwallader, of the distinguished law firm of Cadwallader, Wickersham and Taft, was then president of the Bar Association, and when he learned of the Hindu activities under the roof ofthe association he swiftly evicted the ringleaders. Their organization, chartered in November, 1907, was called The Society for the Advancement of India. One of its officers was a New York man to whom the British have since refused permission to visit India. Its members included several college professors.

The presence of several educators in the list may be accounted for by the fact that the society existed apparently for the purpose of supplying American college training to selected Hindu youths. Many of them were sent to the United States at the expense of the Gaekwar of Baroda, one of the richest and most influential of the Indian princes; the Gaekwar's own son was a student in Harvard College in the years 1908-1912. Considerable sums of money were solicited from worthy folk who believed that they were furthering the cause of enlightenment in India; others who sincerely believed that British rule was tyrannical gave frankly to the society to help an Indian nationalist movement for home rule; others contributed freely for the promotion of any and every anti-British propaganda in India. The source of the latter funds may be suggested by the understanding which long existed between the Society for the Advancement of India and the Clan-na-Gael, an understandingwitnessed by the frequent quotation in the disaffected press of India of articles from theGaelic-American. Another successful solicitor was a contemptible Swami, Vivekahanda, who discussed soul matters to New York's gullible-rich to his great profit until the police gathered him in for a very earthly and material offense. But the students were the best material for revolt, whether it was to be social or military, and we shall see presently how they were made use of.

The Gaekwar of Baroda came to America in the first decade of the new century and expressed freely at that time his dislike for the British. At the time of the Muzaffarpur bomb outrage, in which the wife and daughter of an English official were killed, the police found in the outskirts of Calcutta a Hindu who had been educated at an American college at the Gaekwar's expense and who was at that time conducting a school of instruction in the use of explosives and small arms; he even had considerable quantities of American arms and ammunition stored in his house. The youths who held "Gaekwar scholarships" in America were under the general oversight of a professor attached to the American Museum of Natural History, and the accumulation of evidence of the activities of the students finally caused his removal.

The Society established branches in Chicago, Denver, Seattle, and even in St. John, New Brunswick, and it thrived on the Pacific Coast. Within the purlieus of the University of California, there lived in 1913 one Har Dyal, a graduate of St. John's college at Oxford. Har Dyal in that year founded a publication calledGadhr, which being translated means "mutiny," its main edition published in Urdu, other editions published in other vernaculars, and appealing not only to Hindus, but to Sikhs and Moslems. The publication and the chief exponents of its thought formed the nucleus of a considerable system of anti-British activity.

Whatever was anti-British found a warm reception in Berlin. England, in August and September, 1914, was wrestling heroically with the problem of supplying men to the Continent before the German drive should reach the Channel. Her regulars went, and the training of that gallant "first hundred thousand" followed. She combed her colonies for troops, and having an appreciable force of well-trained native soldiers under arms in India, she brought them to France, and the chronicles of the war are already full of stories of the splendid fighting they did, and the annoyance they caused to the grey troops of Germany. From the German standpoint it wasgood strategy to incite discontent in India, both as tending to remove the Hindu and Sikh regiments from the fighting zone, and as distracting England's attention from the main issue by making her look to the preservation of one of her richest treasure lands; there was the further possibility, after the expected elimination of Russia, of German conquest of India, and a German trade route from the Baltic to the Bay of Bengal, through the Himalayan passes. Germany seized upon the opportunity. The Amir of Afghanistan had trained his army under Turkish officers, themselves instructed by Germany through the forces of Enver Pasha. The Afghans were told that the Kaiser was Mohammedan, and by the faith prepared to smite down the wicked unbeliever, England. The Amir himself spoiled Germany's designs among his people, however, for upon the outbreak of the war he pledged his neutrality to the British Government, and he kept his word.

A report found on the war correspondent Archibald and written by Captain von Papen to the Foreign Office in the summer of 1915, outlines the German version of the situation in India:

"That a grave unrest reigns at the present time throughout India is shown by the various following reports:

"Since October, 1914, there have been various local mutinies of Mohammedan native troops, one practically succeeding the other. From the last reports, it appears that the Hindu troops are going to join the mutineers.

"The Afghan army is ready to attack India. The army holds the position on one side of the Utak (?) River. The British army is reported to hold the other side of the said river. The three bridges connecting both sides have been blown up by the British.

"In the garrison located on the Kathiawar Peninsula Indian mutineers stormed the arsenal. Railroads and wireless station have been destroyed. The Sikh troops have been removed from Beluchistan; only English, Mohammedans and Hindu troops remain there.

"The Twenty-third Cavalry Regiment at Lahore revolted, the police station and Town House were stormed. The Indian troops in Somaliland in Labakoran are trying to effect a junction with the Senussi. All Burma is ready to revolt.

"In Calcutta unrest (is reported) with street fighting. In Lahore a bank was robbed; every week at least two Englishmen killed; in the northwestern district many Englishmen killed;munitions and other material taken, railroads destroyed; a relief train was repulsed.

"Everywhere great unrest. In Benares a bank has been stormed.

"Revolts in Chitral very serious, barracks and Government buildings destroyed. The Hurti Mardin Brigade, under Gen. Sir E. Wood, has been ordered there. Deputy Commissioner of Lahore wounded through a bomb in the Anakali Bazaar.

"Mohammedan squadron of the cavalry regiment in Nowschera deserted over Chang, southwest Peshawar. Soldiers threw bombs against the family of the Maharajah of Mysore. One child and two servants killed, his wife mortally wounded.

"In Ceylon a state of war has been declared."

In February, 1915, Jodh Singh, a former student of engineering in the United States, was in Rio de Janeiro. He was directed by a fellow Hindu to call upon the German Consul, and the latter gave him $300 and instructions to proceed to the German consul in Genoa, Italy, for orders. Thence he was forwarded to Berlin, where he attended the meetings of the newly formed Indian Revolutionary Society and absorbed many ideas for procedure in America. Supplied with more German money he came to New York and wasjoined by Heramba Lal Gupta, a Hindu who had been a student at Columbia, and Albert H. Wehde, an art collector. The three went to Chicago, and Singh called at once upon Gustav Jacobsen, the real estate dealer who will be recalled in the Kaltschmidt bomb plots in Detroit. Jacobsen assembled a group of German sympathizers which included Baron Kurt von Reiswitz, the consul, George Paul Boehm (mentioned in instructions to von Papen to attack the Canadian Pacific Railway) and one Sterneck. At the conference Jodh Singh, Boehm, Sterneck and Gupta were detailed to go to the far East: Singh to Siam, to recruit Hindus for revolutionary service; Gupta to China and Japan to secure arms; Boehm to the Himalayas, to attack the exploring party of Dr. Frederick A. Cook, the notorious, to impersonate Dr. Cook, and thus travel about the hills spreading sedition. Wehde, with $20,000 of von Reiswitz's money, Boehm and Sterneck sailed for Manila, and apparently escaped thence to Java, to meet two officers from theEmden, for the three are at this writing fugitives from justice; Jodh Singh was arrested in Bangkok and turned over to the British authorities.

In the diary of Captain Grasshof of the German cruiserGeier, interned in Honolulu, appearsthe following entry, establishing Wehde's call in Hawaii, and the complicity of the Consulate there in his plans:

"At the Consulate I met Mr. A. Wehde from Chicago, who is on way to Orient on business.

"One of the Hindoos sent over by Knorr (naval attaché of German Embassy at Tokio) left for Shanghai on the 6th. In Hongkong there are 500 Hindoos, 200 officers and volunteers, besides one torpedo boat and two Japanese cruisers.

"K-17 (A. V. Kircheisen) was almost captured in Kobe. The first officer of theChinawarned him and he immediately got on board again as soon as possible. K-17 informed me that the Japs have sold back to the Russians all the old guns taken from the latter during the Russo-Japanese war."

Reiswitz in June added $20,000 more to the fund for revolution in India. Gupta, to whom von Papen had paid $16,000 in New York, went on to Japan with Dhirendra Sarkar, a fellow conspirator.

The presence of the two plotters in Japan became known to the authorities and soon thereafter to the public. They were shadowed everywhere, and a complete record was kept of their activities; the newspapers discussed them, and it was common property that they gave a banqueton the night of November 9, 1915, to ten other Hindus, to toast a plot for revolution in India. On November 28 they were ordered by the chief of police to leave Japan before December 2, which was tantamount to a delivery into the hands of the British, as the only two steamers available were leaving for Shanghai and Hong Kong, both ports well supplied with British officers. On the afternoon of December 1 the two plotters escaped in an automobile to the residence of a prominent pro-Chinese politician (a friend of Sun Yat Sen) and were concealed there, between false walls, until May, 1916, when they stowed away on a ship bound for Honolulu. Sarkar returned to India, Gupta to America. When the round-up came, in 1917, Jacobsen, Wehde and Boehm were each convicted of violation of section 13 of the Federal Penal Code, and sentenced to serve five years in prison and pay $13,000 fines; Gupta's sentence was three years, his fine $200.

The scene shifts for a moment from the Orient to the Occident, and the twenty-fifth floor of the building at 60 Wall Street, New York, on the morning of April 19, 1916. There von Papen had had his office; there when he was sent home in December, 1915, he had left in charge a sharp-eyed youth named Wolf von Igel as his successor. Von Igel, at eleven o'clock, was surveying theresult of several hours' work in sorting and arranging neat stacks of official papers for shipment to the German Embassy at Washington, for he had got word that trouble was brewing, and that the documents would be safer there. An attendant entered. "A man wants to see you, Herr von Igel," he announced. "He won't tell his business, except that he says it is important."

Von Igel was gruffly directing the attendant to make the stranger specify his mission when the door burst open, and in dashed Joseph A. Baker, of the Department of Justice, and Federal Agents Storck, Underhill and Grgurevich.

"I have a warrant for your arrest!" shouted Baker. Von Igel jumped for the doors of the safe, which stood open. Baker sprang simultaneously for von Igel, and the two went to the floor in battle. The German was overpowered, and the attendant cowed by a flash of revolvers.

"This means war!" yelled von Igel. "This is part of the German Embassy and you've no right here."

"You're under arrest," said Baker.

"You shoot and there'll be war," said von Igel, and made another frantic attempt to close the safe doors. A second skirmish ended in von Igel'sremoval to a cell, while the agents took charge of the documents. The collection was a rare catch. It contained evidence which supplied the missing links in numerous chains of suspected German guilt, and the matter was at once placed in the safe keeping of the Government.

One letter was dated Berlin, February 4, 1916, and addressed to the German Embassy in Washington. It reads:

"In future all Indian affairs are to be exclusively handled by the committee to be formed by Dr. Chakravarty. Dhirendra Sarkar, and Heramba Lal Gupta, which latter person has meantime been expelled from Japan," ...

(Gupta was at that moment between the walls of the Japanese politician's house.)

... "thus cease to be independent representatives of the Indian Independence Committee existing here."(Signed)Zimmermann."

... "thus cease to be independent representatives of the Indian Independence Committee existing here.

"(Signed)Zimmermann."

The Embassy on March 21, 1916, wrote von Igel as follows:

"The Imperial German Consul at Manila writes me:"'Unfortunately the captured Hindus include Gupta, who last was active at Tokio. The following have also been captured: John Mohammed Aptoler, Rulerhammete, Sharmasler, No-Mar, C. Bandysi, Rassanala.Apparently the English are thoroughly informed of all individual movements and the whereabouts at various times of the Hindu revolutionists.'"Please inform Chakravarty."

"The Imperial German Consul at Manila writes me:

"'Unfortunately the captured Hindus include Gupta, who last was active at Tokio. The following have also been captured: John Mohammed Aptoler, Rulerhammete, Sharmasler, No-Mar, C. Bandysi, Rassanala.Apparently the English are thoroughly informed of all individual movements and the whereabouts at various times of the Hindu revolutionists.'

"Please inform Chakravarty."

The name "Chakravarty" occurring in these two memoranda makes it necessary here to turn back the calendar to 1915, in order to outline another conspicuous Hindu-German activity. Not only were the East Indian students and sympathetic educators in America prolific in their verbal advocacy of revolt in India, but with German assistance they attempted at least one clearly defined bit of filibustering, which if it had been successful would have supplied the would-be mutineers in the Land of Hind with the arms they so longed to employ against the British.

The reader will recall the mention of a large quantity of weapons and cartridges which Captain Hans Tauscher had stored in a building in 200 West Houston Street, New York, and which he said he had purchased for "speculation." The speculation was apparently the project of Indian mutiny, which in the eyes of the Indian Nationalist party was to equal in grandeur the infamous mutiny of 1857. For those arms were shipped to San Diego, California, secretly loaded aboard the steamerAnnie Larsen, and moved to sea. The plan provided for their transshipmentoff the island of Socorro to the hold of the steamshipMaverick, which was to carry them to India. The two ships failed to effect a rendezvous, and after some wandering theAnnie Larsenput in at Hoquiam, Washington, where the cargo was at once seized by the authorities. TheMavericksailed to San Diego, Hilo, Johnson Island, and finally to Batavia.

Count von Bernstorff had sufficient courage, on July 2, to inform the Secretary of State "confidentially that the arms and ammunition ... had been purchased by my government months ago through the Krupp agency in New York for shipment to German East Africa." On July 22, he wrote again, asking that the arms be returned as the property of the German Government, and offering to give the Department of Justice "such further information on the subject as I may have" if they cared to push an examination of the cargo. On October 5 he threw all responsibility for the movements of theMaverickupon Captain Fred Jebsen, her skipper—by this time a fugitive from justice—and stating "the German Government did not make the shipment, and knows nothing of the details of how they were shipped"—which was a rather shabby way of discrediting his subordinates.

It developed later that the arms were purchased—sixteen carloads of them—by Henry Muck, Tauscher's manager, for $300,000, made payable by von Papen through G. Amsinck & Co. to Tauscher. A part of the shipment was sent to San Diego; the balance was to have gone to India via Java and China, but never left on account of the protests of the British Consul. Instead, a number of machine guns and 1,500,000 rounds of ammunition were sold to a San Francisco broker who was acting as agent for Adolphi Stahl, financial agent in the United States for the Republic of Guatemala. When Zimmermann cabled to von Bernstorff on April 30, 1916 (through Count von Luxburg in Buenos Aires), "Please wire whether von Igel's report on March 27, Journal A, No. 257, has been seized, and warn Chakravarty," he had grave concern over the betrayal of German influences in the Hindu conspiracies. This was fully justified when a correspondence notebook of von Igel's disclosed, among other entries, the following transactions:

August 12, 1915—Captain Herman Othmer inclosed documents about theAnnie Larsenand von Igel forwarded charter to Consul at San Francisco.

September 2—The embassy forwarded papers from San Francisco about theAnnie Larsenand von Igel returned them.

September 7—The embassy sent a telegram from San Francisco about theMaverick.

September 9—The consulate, San Francisco, sent a letter for information and von Igel replied with a telegram aboutMaverickrepairs.

September 9, 1915—The Embassy sent a letter from the consulate at San Francisco about shipment and von Igel replied to embassy that the proposals were impracticable.

October 1—The embassy sent a cipher message to Berlin about theMaverick.

October 9—The Consulate, San Francisco, sent a letter about theMavericknegotiations.

October 20, 1915—Von Igel received a report about a shipment of arms from Manila.

January 27, 1916—The embassy forwarded copies of telegrams to San Francisco in the matter of theMaverick.

August 28—The Consulate, Manila, sent a cipher letter about the transport of arms.

November 8, 1915—AAA 100 sent a report from or concerning Ispahan arms.

The peaceful Har Dyal, Oxford graduate, lecturer at Leland Stanford, denizen of the University of California, and editor ofGadhr, had laid down the following rules for the guidance of members of the group of revolutionaries which he headed: each candidate for membership mustundergo a six months' probationary period before his admission; any member who exposed the secrets of the organization should suffer death; members wishing to marry could do so without any ceremony, as they were above the law. Under such amiable rules of conduct he accumulated a number of followers of the faith, and more swarmed to the tinkle of German money. In August, 1914, the "first expeditionary force" of revolutionists set sail for India in theKorea. A few months later, Har Dyal left for Berlin, where he organized the Indian Revolutionary Society, leaving Ram Chandra as his successor to editGadhrin Berkeley.

The avowed object of this society was to establish a Republican government in India with the help of Germany. They held regular meetings attended by German officials and civilians who knew India, among them former teachers in India. At these meetings the Germans were advised as to the line of conduct to be adopted. The deliberations were of a secret nature. Har Dyal and Chattopadhay had considerable influence with the German Government and were the only two Indians privileged to take part in the deliberations of the German Foreign Office.

Besides these societies there were in Berlintwo other associations known as the Persian and Turkish societies. The object of the first named was to free Persia from European influences in general, and create ill feeling against the British in particular, and to assist the natives to form a republic. The object of the Turkish society was practically the same. They established an Oriental translating bureau which translated German news and other literature selected by the Indian Revolutionary Society into various Oriental languages and distributed the translations among the Hindu prisoners of war.

Har Dyal continued in close touch with American affairs. On October 20 and 26, 1915, he wrote to Alexander Berkman, a notorious anarchist imprisoned in 1918 for violation of the draft law, urging Berkman to send to Germany through Holland comrades who would be valuable in Indian propaganda, and asking for letters of introduction "from Emma or yourself" (Emma Goldman) to important anarchists in Europe; these communications are unimportant except as they betray the Prussian policy of making an ally of anarchy, although anarchy as a social factor is the force from which Germany has most to fear. "Perhaps you can find them," wrote Dyal, "in New York or at Paterson. They should bereal fighters, I. W. W.'s or anarchists. Our Indian party will make all the necessary arrangements."

Ram Chandra went on with the work until he was stopped by the Foreign Office. He printed anti-Britannic pamphlets quoting Bryan for circulation in India; he printed and delivered to Lieutenant von Brincken at the German Consulate in San Francisco some 5,000 leaflets, which were to be shipped to Germany and dropped by the Boche aviators over the Hindu lines in France: the handbills read, "Do not fight with the Germans. They are our friends. Lay down your arms and run to the Germans." Chandra and his crew supplied theMaverickwith quantities of literature, but most of it was burned when the Hindu agents aboard feared that there were British warships near Socorro Island. In the same group were G. B. Lal and Taraknath Das, two former students at the University of California, the latter a protégé of a German professor there himself engaged in propaganda work.

Throughout the fall of 1915 the Hindus in America awaited word of Gupta's success in Japan. They heard nothing but news of his disappearance. Accordingly in December, Dr. Chakravarty, a frail little Hindu of lightchocolate complexion, sailed from Hoboken for Germany, traveling as a Persian merchant, on a false passport. He made a good impression on the Foreign Office, as may be judged by the following letter, dated January 21, 1916, addressed to L. Sachse, Rotterdam:

"Dr. Chakravarty will return to the United States and form a working committee of only five members, one of whom should be himself and another, Ram Chandra. In addition to sending more Indians home the new American committee will undertake the following:"1—An agent will be sent to the West India islands, where there are nearly 100,000 Indians, and will organize the sending home of as many as possible."They have not yet been approached by us and there are no such difficulties in the way of their going to India as are encountered by our countrymen from the United States."2—An agent will be sent to British Guiana with the same object."3—A very reliable man will be sent to Java and Sumatra."4—It is proposed to have pamphlets printed and circulated in and from America. The literature will be printed secretly and propaganda will be carried on with great vigor."5—An effort will be made to carry out the plan of the secret Oriental mission to Japan. Dr. Chakravarty is in a position to get letters of introduction to important persons in Japan, as well as a safe-conduct for himself and other members of mission."

"1—An agent will be sent to the West India islands, where there are nearly 100,000 Indians, and will organize the sending home of as many as possible.

"They have not yet been approached by us and there are no such difficulties in the way of their going to India as are encountered by our countrymen from the United States.

"2—An agent will be sent to British Guiana with the same object.

"3—A very reliable man will be sent to Java and Sumatra.

"4—It is proposed to have pamphlets printed and circulated in and from America. The literature will be printed secretly and propaganda will be carried on with great vigor.

"5—An effort will be made to carry out the plan of the secret Oriental mission to Japan. Dr. Chakravarty is in a position to get letters of introduction to important persons in Japan, as well as a safe-conduct for himself and other members of mission."

After conferring with Dyal, Zimmermann, and Under-secretary Wesendonk of the Foreign Office, he was given money and sent back to the United States, arriving in February, 1916. He at once sent H. A. Chen to China to purchase arms and ship them to India. He then reported to Wolf von Igel, who paid him $40,000 for the purchase of a house in 120th Street and one in 17th Street. There he held forth for more than a year, working in conjunction with von Igel, and the latter with the Embassy in Washington. His activities may be indicated, and the complicity of the German Government again established, in the following communications:

From von Igel to von Bernstorff

"New York, April 7, 1916—A report has been received here that Dr. Chakravarty was taken Monday, the 3d of April, to the Providence Hospital with concussion of the brain in consequence of an automobile accident. His convalescence is making good progress. A certain Ernest J. Euphrat has been here and he came from the Foreign Office and had orders with respect to the India propaganda. He could not identify himself, but made a very good impression. He told us Herr von Wesendonk told him to say that Ram Chandra's activity in San Francisco was not satisfactory. This person should for the time being suspend his propaganda activities.""In re No. 303: Euphrat was sent by me to India in October of last year, and is so far as known here reliable.He was, indeed, recommended at the time by Marcus Braun. Please intimate to him cautiously that he should not speak too much about his orders he received in Berlin. San Francisco is being informed.""For Prince Hatzfeld."

"In re No. 303: Euphrat was sent by me to India in October of last year, and is so far as known here reliable.He was, indeed, recommended at the time by Marcus Braun. Please intimate to him cautiously that he should not speak too much about his orders he received in Berlin. San Francisco is being informed."

"For Prince Hatzfeld."

From New York to von Bernstorff

"New York, April 15, 1916—Mr. E. J. Euphrat has asked that the inclosed documents be forwarded to his excellency in a safe way. He asks for a reply as quickly as possible, because if he does not receive the desired allowance he will have to change the plans for his journey."(Signed)K. N. St."

"(Signed)K. N. St."

To H. Eisenhuth, Copenhagen, from New York, and unsigned

"May 2, 1916. We have also organized a Pan-Asiatic League, so that some of our members can travel without arousing any suspicion. Also everything has been arranged for the 'mission to Japan.' Please let me know when your men can come, so that we can approach the party more definitely. I had talks with one of the directors of theYamato Shimbunof Tokio andChinvai Dempoof Kyoto. It would not be necessary to buy off these papers, as they understand it is to mutual interest. But they ask for certain considerations to help their financial status. They are also decided to attack Anglo-Japanese treaty as antagonistic to national interest. To carry on work it will be necessary to place at the disposal of the committee here $25,000."

Cablegram from Zimmermann, Berlin, to van Bernstorff, via von Luxburg, Buenos Aires

"To Bernstorff, May 19, 1916: Berlin telegraphs No. 28 of May 19. Answer to telegram 23. Your excellency is empowered to give the Indians $20,000. No. 29 of May 19 in continuation of telegram No. 16. Please, in making direct payments to Tarak Nath Das, avoid receipts. Das will receipt own payment through a third party as Edward Schuster."(Signed)Zimmermann."

"(Signed)Zimmermann."

Zimmermann to Peking, transmitted by Luxburg, to Bernstorff for Peking legation

"The confidential agent of the Nationalists here, the Indian, Tarak Nath Das, an American Citizen, is leaving for Peking by the Siberian Railway. Please give him up to 10,000 marks. Das will arrange the rest."Zimmermann.""Ambassador at Washington: Please advise Chakravarty."Luxburg."

"Zimmermann."

"Ambassador at Washington: Please advise Chakravarty.

"Luxburg."

From Bernstorff, mailed at Mt. Vernon, N. Y., to Z. N. G. Olifiers, a German agent in Amsterdam

"June 16, 1916—Referring to my letter A275 of June 8, Chakravarty reports: Organization has been almost completed, and many of our old members are active and free. Only they are afraid if arms are not available soon there may be premature uprising in Madras and the Punjab as well as in Bengal. The work in Japan is going unusually well, more than our expectations."

From Berlin to Chakravarty

"July 13, 1916—In organizing work in the United States and outside, remember our primary object is to produce revolutions at home during this war. Trinidad, British Guiana and East Africa, including Zanzibar, should be particularly tapped for men."We wired your name to Francis E. M. Hussain, Bachelor of Arts, Barr. at Law, Port of Spain, Trinidad. Through messenger communicate full programme desired in Trinidad to him, and mention the name 'Binniechatto.' He can be trusted. If, after some secret work, you think revolution can be organized in island itself, then we may try to smuggle arms, and our men will seize Government and set up independent Hindustani Republic. Do not let such plan be carried out if our prospects for work at home are likely to be ruined."

"We wired your name to Francis E. M. Hussain, Bachelor of Arts, Barr. at Law, Port of Spain, Trinidad. Through messenger communicate full programme desired in Trinidad to him, and mention the name 'Binniechatto.' He can be trusted. If, after some secret work, you think revolution can be organized in island itself, then we may try to smuggle arms, and our men will seize Government and set up independent Hindustani Republic. Do not let such plan be carried out if our prospects for work at home are likely to be ruined."

A report from Chakravarty, written July 26, 1916

"I am going to Vancouver next week to see Bhai Balwant Singh and Nano Singh Sihra, who have asked me to go there to arrange definite plan of action for group of workers there, and then to San Francisco to induce Ram Chandra to plan our committee here, and to include him and his nominees in the said committee, so that our work does not suffer in the East by placing enemies on their guard and right track by his thoughtless, enthusiastic writings.... Gupta is back in New York and has seen me, but has not submitted any report. We need $15,000 more for the next six months to carry out the new plan and to continue the previous work undertaken."

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