Millions Spent For German Plots: An Official Account of German Intrigues During the Period of Our Neutrality, Daily Racing Form, 1918-09-03

article


view raw text

MILLIONS SPENT FOR GERMAN PLOTS An 0Hcial Account of German Intrigues During th Period of Our Neutrality That the German government rspent between 15 000000 and 20000000 on plots and intrigues in this country in the years 1915 and 1915 through a single channel the office of Dr Heihrich F Albert the commercial attache of the German embassy is revealed for the first time in the latest publication of the Committee ou Public Information released today todayThe The title of the pamphlet is German Plots and Intrigues in the United States During the Period of Our Neutrality Its authors are Professor E E Sperry of the University of Syracuse and Professor Willis M West of the University of Minnesota Tlue sources from which their information is drawn are the official files of the Department of Justice and the records of the trials conducted by the de ¬ partment agents particularly in New York Chi ¬ cago Detroit and San Francisco The story told by these official records as they are painstakingly explained and interpreted is an amazing one It dots the is and crosses the ts to all our conceptions of official German un scrupulousness effrontery and lying it deals with labor leaders corrupted and strikes caused in mu ¬ nitions plants by German influence with the Ger ¬ man financing of the movement for an embargo on munitions shipments with the destruction of inno ¬ cent merchant vessels by bombs planted in their cargoes by German agents in American harbors with plots for the promotion of sabotage in the United States and in Canada including the blowing up of the Welland Canal and the Canadian Pacific Railway with the corruption of American opinion through the agency of German paid professors newspapers and lecturers with the forging of pass ¬ ports to send German reservists abroad With the supply from American ports of German raiders at sea with German plots organized here in order to cause revolt in India and in Ireland with the pro ¬ curation of perjury and the shameless lying of the German government Perhaps history contains no instance of effrontery greater than the issuance to the American press December 1915 of the follow ¬ ing official lie lieThe The German government has naturally never knowingly accepted the support of any person group of persons society or organization seeking to pro illegal acts by counsel of violence by contraven ¬ tion of law or by any means whatever that could olfend tlie American people in the pride of their own authority authorityEvery Every line of this pamphlet proves the falsity of this official German statement Among the Germans actively connected with plots and intrigues in this country while enjoying its hospitality were Ambassadors Bernstorff and Dumba attaches Papen BoyEd and Albert Franz Bopp German consul at San Francisco and Kurt von Reiswitz consul at Chicago Dr Buenz and Paul Koenig of the HamburgAmerican steamship line and Fay Gorst Scheele Klelst and a dozen others OFFICIALS AS GERMAN TOOLS TOOLSThe The numerous American tools include ExCon ¬ gressman Frank Buchanan who was active in the movement for strikes and the munitions embargo Lamar the Wolf of Wall Street Dr William Bayard Hale to whom Count Bernstorff referred as one who could give information concerning the embargo movement Max Breitung of Chicago and Albert Koltschmidt of Detroit who were connected with attempts to promote explosions the notorious Jeremiah OLeary Irish agitator arid editor of a seditious publication called Bull George Sylvester Vlereck whose paper the Fatherland was fi ¬ nanced by the German embassy and a host of others othersOf Of the bomb industry with its 300 to 400 bombs manufactured and fires in thirtythree shins sail ¬ ing from New York we get this glimpse in the testimony of a witness in the case against Captain von Kleist in the New York courts We sat down and we spoke for about three hours I asked him the different things that he did and said if he wanted an interview with Mr von Igel my boss he would have to tell everything So he told me von Papen gave Dr Scheele the partner of von Kleist in this factory a check for 10000 to start the bomb factory He told me that he Mr von Kleist and Dr Scheele and a man by the name of Becker on the Friederich der Grosse were making the bombs arid that Captain Wolpert Cap tain Bode and Captain Steinberg had charge of putting these bombs on the ships they put these bombs in cases and shipped them as merchandise on tripI these steamers and they would go away on the trip aiid the bombs would go off after the ship was out four or five days causing a fire and causing the cargo to go up in flames He also told me that they have made quite a number of these bombs that thirty of them were given to a party by the name of OLeary and that he took them down to New Orleans where he had charge of putting them on ships down there this fellow OLeary Of equal if not greater interest is the following intercepted radiogram sent from Berlin in January 1916 to Ambassador Bernstorff BernstorffJanuary January 2G For Military Attache You can obtain particulars as to persons suitable for carrying on sabotage in the United States and Canada from the following persons 1 Joseph McGarrity Phila delphia Penn 2 John P Keating Michigan Avenue Chicago 3 Jeremiah OLeary 16 Park Row New York One anil two are absolutely re liable and discreet No 3 is reliable but not al ways discreet These persons were indicated by Sir Roger Casement In the United States sabotage can be carried out on every kind of factory for forsupplying supplying munitions of war Railway embankments and bridges must not be touched Embassy must in no circumstances be compromised Similar pre cautions must be taken in regard to Irish proGer man propaganda propagandaSigned Signed Representative of General Staff Copies of this pamphlet witli its interesting dis closures may be obtained free by writing to the Committee on Public Infojmation 8 Jackson Place Washington D C


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1910s/drf1918090301/drf1918090301_5_6
Local Identifier: drf1918090301_5_6
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800