The Press. FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 1915. German Intrigue.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15219, 5 March 1915, Page 6

The Press. FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 1915. German Intrigue.

In view of the highly-critical position of affairs at the present moment, very special* interest attaches to "Fabricius/s" remarkable article in the Janu-

ary , '.'Fortnightly' Review" on Gerpolicy towards the United States. That policy, as is made sufficiently clear in a brief summary of German-American relations duriug the last twenty years, -has been characteristically Mathiavelluin; In terms of mathematics, it may bo tersely described as the resultant of two forces, in homelier language as running with .the hare and hunting with the 'hounds. Always keeping in view the possibility, or, a« she, must have known, the certainty, of .a. great war with England,' Germany has been eager to conciliate American goodwill, with an eyo to.American support when the "Day" arrived. Hut the jaundiced eyes of German statesmen- have detected in the Stales-:"an .economic, and political peril threatening their own prosperity, and forming, we may presume, a barrier against their benevolent project of ultimately imposing on the whole world tho priceless boon of Teutonic kultur. This has led to ceaseless stealthy efforts on their part to weaken the States in various ways, more especially by cm-, broiling-them with England. In fact, the cheerful optimism of Gorman;, and her unwarranted confidence that her diplomats would he ablo to induce all possible opponents to await in a meek and orderly spirit their turn for being dealt with, seems to have led her to believe thafc she might secure British help to eanash America, or American help" to smash .the British F»rapire. according as the .favourable opportunity for either attractive enterprise should present itself first.

It was a difficult game to play, and one that not infrequently seems to hare led Germany into perilous places, for' the ways of the double-minded nation are. fortunately, no more secure than those of the double-minded man. But. difficult or not, it was played Uoldly, and with no inconsiderable measure of success, as the indecisive foreign policy of the States in the present world-crisis makes sufficiently apparent. And it appears to have been played largely through the instrumentality of American newspapers..' No .Government in the world is more alive to the advantages of *'a good Press" than are the powers that be in Potsdam. It is notorious how, ever since tho days of the. Iron Chancellor, the German Tress has been keyed up to the official pitch. But it i≤ less widely recognised what effective measures have been taken to influence the Preiss,

in foreign countries, and morn particularly in America. Yet. that this has been done, and how this has been done, was told in detail a few years ago by the cx-Prees agent to the German Embassy at Washington. " erices at a German Embassy: Ten

" yeare of German-American Diplon- " acy. T, was published in Leipzig by Mr Emil Witte, in the year 1907. It fell comparatively flat at the time, and appears to have been judiciously suppressed by the authorities, more alive than the public to jte s-mister significance. But ''Fabricius" is the fortunate

possessor of a surviving copy. Seven closely-printed, small-type pages of his article consist of excerpts from this candid and damaging document, and they constitute a rprwd of successful intrigue that can only be called astounding. Germany has been well served in America, by diplomatists less bungiinj; than Count Bernstorff. and unless ilr Witte is another German reincarnation / of the Baron Munchausen, which there appears to be no ground for believing, the American public for many years received, through many of their own newspapers, political and economic teaching, not merely approved but actually dictated by the German Embassy. Names, dates, and extracts are given in the article. German professors at famous American universities seem to have acted as agents of the Fatherland. Of Hugo Munsterbcrg. one of the most widely-known members of the Harvard staff, it is recorded by Herr "Witte on the authority of Professor Schbufeld, of Columbia University: '"He received 5000 dollars from Harvard and as much from Berlin, — for services rendered or to be rendered, it may be presumed. And in this illuminative connexion an article from his very able pen in ' ; The North American Review , ' for February, 1912, painting 'The Germany of Today" in colours difficult to reconcile with the facts of tho moment, is well worth tho pains of reading.

But even more remarkable than the tunino; of the Press, and the dubious activities of Teutonic professor*?, is the story of what Herr Witte calls "the

" wooing of the formerly despised German renegade in the U.S.A. by the Ger- " man Empire, and its official reprc- " sontatives in America," during the last fourteen or fifteen years. There is. it appears, a very active association, launched at Philadelphia on Octaber 6th, 1901. and bearing the polyjyllabic name of Deutsch-Ainerikanisch Nationalbund der Vereinigten Staaten yon Ameiika. This body agitated energetically for American intervention on behalf of the Boers in the South African war. presenting to Congress a petition described, in language reminiscent of Lelund's ''Matilda Jane," as <; weight-

" ing more than 400 pounds, ;ind more " then five miles long" Other similar organisations exist, and it seems to have been ii playful practice of tho Kaiser to send to his faithful Germans across the sea, irrespective of the nationality they happened.at the. moment to profess, flags, decorations, and othor amiable tokens of his Imperial goodwill. To tho Military Society of Chicago, for example, he tsent through his' Ambassador, Dr. yon Holleben, a set of colours '"'as a token of that unity "which should prevail-among all Ger- " man soldiers, to Act also abroad in "accordance with the sentiments of " German loyalty and the German sense " of duty and to take for their maxim ".the words of that great German, Bis- " mn.rck, 'We Germans foar God. but "'nothing else in the world.' " Jn view of such facts as these, and evidently "Fabrieius" accepts fhem as facts, there seem« some ground for the prophecy attributed to Dr. yon Holleben that war between the United States and Germany would bear the character of a civil war, and the irresolute attitude of President Wilson»may perhaps be deserving of sympathy rather than of censure.