THE WILY HUN

Evening Star, Issue 16091, 17 April 1916, Page 2

THE WILY HUN

HIS PROPAGANDA IN THE UNITED STATES. WHERE THE PROmSeRMAN ELEMENT PREDOMINATES. It will be remembered that shortly after his return from the United States, at the close of the year, the editor of this journal gave an address on his impressions as a traveller before the Expansion League, and later contributed to these columns an elaboration of his "feme, in which, under the caption of ' The Sco Americas,' he sought to show that on the Pacific Coast and in certain States of the Middle West there was a wealthy and unscrupulous section that was unmistakably and pronouncedly pro-German in its sympathies, and was working actively in the fields of politics .and finance to injure the Allies' cause._ Though the writer backed up his assertions by strong corroborative proof in the shape of public utterances of.public men, university professors, Press writers, etc., his contention was challenged in'respect to the existence of serious plottings against the Allies. But the machinations of Dr Dumba, the equivocations of Count Bernstarff over the submarine policy of his country, the treasonable transactions of the discredited Von Papen and Boy-cd, to say nothing of the exposure of the four conspiracies hatched at San Francisco, New York, Seattle, and a score of places throughout the Union, together with the numerous wreckages (with loss of innocent lives) of munition factories, and the attempted destruction of railway communications over which war material for the Allies was being conveyed, must have convinced impartial minds that cur indictment was not framed sufficiently strong to* meet the actualities of the situation. The English mail to hand this week has brought to light an independent and thoroughly trustworthy witness in the person of~Mr Harry Bnttain, best known to readers of the 'Evening Star' as the creator and energetic organiser of the Imperial Press Conference that assembled in London in the summer of 1909. Mr Br.ittain paid a flying visit to San Francisco during the Panama Exposition, but our editor had the misfortune, through having to fulfil an engagement in the country that week, to lose tho opportunitv of renewing a most pleasurable acquaintanceship Mr Brittain journeyed north, revisited Canada, thence travelled to Russia, where important business interests detained him for quite a while. On liis return to England in Fehniai'y last he related his impressions of th<» ! United States, making a striking (more I caustic than anything we have ever written) deliverance as to the increased need for counteracting the propaganda and baleful activities of hyphenated Americans. We would invite our readers to rood mark, and inwardly digest Mr Britain's emphatic conclusions. "In the early part of last vear certain work took me across the Atlantic necessitating a visit to some 38 of the State* of n nn£ ni M n * in i' olvin ? a tour of about J-I.LWU miles. It would require verv considerable _ space to deal adequately" with the arnazingactivities of the Huns throughout the United States, and I can theretore do no more than endeavor to outline briefly a few of the methods which *re employed in the attempt to drive 'Knltur_ home. In setting out these methods t is, perhaps, convenient to deal with this great land of a hundred million people in three large sections-the East, Middle West .and West (the South I will not deal 11 H L dlc l not visit 5t on this occasion and therefore cannot speak from personal observation). ' —Feeling in the East.— \rr. T i ake J\i! S 5 wh . ole from M aine to Maryland the East is not only preponderatrngly pro-Ally, but the energetic proGerman campaign has almost entirely missed fire. Most .of the great dai v papers, as well as the weekly and monthly magazines, are so strongly on our side, and the general opinion is so pronounced that many Americans, as well as British citizens, who have not been through the to" bSif # e f la £ 18 m ° nths find '<> hard not & th^A he sam 6 conditions do not hold good throughout the Union. t£lh ,"' , conrse . oven more the case with a very large number of Eastern Americans who have never been West,' and who somewhat naturally look upon the great-cities of New York and Boston as entirely representative of the sentiments or their _ enormous country. This same mistake is almost invariably made by our ?W T° P ? } 6l \ T ho are a P fc t0 draw knowledge of American opinion from attracts mainly taken from the New York Press, and reproduced by papers on this —ln the Middle West.— "In the great Middle West the situation is unfortunately by no means so satisfactory as it is in the Eastern States, and here we find, of course, not only a very large portion of the population, but also of the strenuous Teuton element. Now, before the event of the war, many a man in this vast region had a somewhat narrow horizon. ■ He was wondrously busy 'making good,' and had no time to take mnch interest in happenings outside the United States: in fact he was often indifferent to events takinz pJace on his own Eastern or Western seaboard, and small blame to him, when one remembers that there are almost as many miles between-the Middle Westerner and the Coast as there are between Southampton and the Sahara. "Here there was an opening for the missionaries of the ' 411 Highest, with a chance of steering the opinion of many in this huge section in the desired direction, and this the Teuton ims been trying to do since the early days of the war by means of a campaign as vigorous as it often is capable, and which has certainly increased in intensity durin» the past few months. —The Pacifist Cult.— . "Under the cloak of 'peace movements' innumerable macs meetings have been held accompanied by the distribution of shoals ot literature, mainly for the purpose of working up t'ha sentiments of the masses against permitting the manufacture and sale of munitions of war and other articles listed as contraband to Great Britain and her Allies. In order to further influence American opinion in their cause, organisations sucli as- the 'Teutonic Sons of America have be3n springing up in all directions for the purpose of consolidating the German and irreconcilable Irish vote* in connection with the forthcoming Presidential campaign, as well as in future national, State, and city campaigns throughout the country. —The Press Campaign.— " A well-organised and subsidised Press campaign has long been in hand. Contracts have been made in advance for space supposedly foe advertising purposes, which space has bean, filled by articles contributed by promi'ient pro-German3, together with reading matter which would not otherwise have been accepted for publication. The German advertiser (and many of the big department stores are in this category) has brought all kinds of pressure to bear on papers-at all anti-German, and terrorism is by no means unknown. E.g., the editor of the . (one of the few _ out-and-out pro-British papers in Illinois) told me that he had received numerous threats that if the paper did not change its policy the plant and building would be blown up, The quiet, persistent work of the cinematograph has been used to its fullest extent by the propagandists for a full year and a-half, and the allpervading power of the 'movies' in the U.S.A. is limitless. _ The mighty German army ,s Been in all its imposing strength. It is nhown fraternising with the civilian elemunt, being kind and almost nurse-lik-3 with little children, to the accompanying lilt of appropriate music, culminating, of course, in the waving of flags and 'Die Wacht am Rhein.' —ln _ the Far West.— "The situation is most interesting, and in many ways peculiar, with an atmosphere almost like that of another land—the great mountain rang© cutting off these States of the Pacific slope from the rest of the country almost as effectively as if they formed a separate island. The people of the coast have many of the characteristics of the original pioneer. They are believers in quick thinking and straight talking, hopeful, optimistic, hospitable, immense ■ believers in their own capacity,

original, and- entirely unconventional. Speaking roughly, the great majority of the educated classes are heart and soul with the Allies; but there is a' welldrilled, well-trained, and restive minority which makes its presence felt in innumerable ways. Scattered up and down the coast are many colonies of Germans, hostile Irish, and Jews, the latter both numerous and prosperous, and very largely of German origin and sympathy. (It is, I think, correct to state, as a general ride, that by the time the German settles on the coast he is a man of means, and is thereby able to associate on equal terms with other leading citizens in the larger affairs of the country.) In some of the big cities on the western slope there are excellent papars, which take a very fair-minded view of the war. —Bitter Feeling in California " But I regret to say that the same is by no means the case in California, where the solidity of the German element seems to have been used almost as a club to keep most of the daily papers anti-British, or at least neutral, with a slight bias on the German side. This has naturally resulted in very considerable ignorance as to British policy, which is hardly ever alluded to except for purposes of abuse. The existing German and Austrian societies are, of course, well organised, and no doubt through them much information is bein@ obtained for official purposes by the special agents of the Central Powers. Private civilians and ex-naval and military officers have all been at the beck and call of the German Consulates, which, in most cases, even before the war, were fullv staffed. Thoir ramifications are everywhere, and one constantly comes across instances of the wondrously small meshes of tho nets they use. —A Plea for Firm Action.— " In going round this great and hospitable land, where I have always enjoyed such a warm and kindly welcome, 1 met hundreds of American citizens who were working night and day for tho victory they hope tor as sinceroly as wo do. Do not let us attempt to discourage them by portentously announcing that in their struggle with the Teuton schemers they are lighting an,- exploded myth, and that as jar as German propaganda is concerned ' the whole thing is pitifully weak and inefficient.' The enemy may be a fiend, but he is not. always, a fool, and for Heaven's sake don't let us make a hobby of underrating him. There are to-day thousand*, of American citizens in tho great Middle West and West to whom the British case has never been presented, and who have no conception of such matters as the fair and su'i.;.i: ileal wnicii cuo u. •\.::.-. endeavoring to accord to American ships and mercnandise. \\ e cannot De partes to anything on the lines of the poisonous German propaganda, and an Englishman would never dream of. suggesting it; but one or two effective methods have been proposed (and by our American friends) which would assuredly make for a clearer knowledge and appreciation. If only.' the right kind of understanding can be achieved between Britain and America | there will be a brighter outlook for the future history of the world." —Overrun by German Spies.— " The German spy system is complete itself, and it is only when something particularly atrocious occurs that) public attention is forcibly focussecl on this everpresent danger; but all the time this great machine is slowly forging ahead and inventing other forms of {'rightfulness for future application. The above are merely a selection of the devious methods of German propaganda, and could be largely added to by many an American who has carefully studied the situation, and whoso study has led him through the many sections of the Great Republic since August, 1914. Let us, therefore, realise that tho American people are engaged in a strenuous struggle, and upon their own soil, with some of the Kaiser's hordes; and although tlie fight is not with the machine gun and bayonot, it is none the less difficult, becauso_ the aggressor, .whenever he can avoid it, declines to come out in the open."