I THE NEXT REPUI^IP? CARL W AilifeM AN u. Ttathbororlf u. 'ilctbbororl; u. TioSjb.^rotlc u. '.'iui';ba:otk u. Jic.t-borcrlr u. 'J;cri;b;:rertc u. ?;c.d;.'i:i(>rl JlciI4nar!i« ' SIflpnar';. ^ - •■ ■ - ijji Roniflrcift) '"♦' ■ZJcrliii Gi:ti4D0iii25.'Dririii!).l<)Kibis2r.3an.t9l7 11. '.tatijbatortc u. Tiot;;^::^!: Jlcil.-fjBurkc ■ Z^cil*iT.i;'.r ibi »lcil : 'f)|*t':>l SiiracbrorEarrc fir ^ITilitocpccfoiuMi 7i(t!t ubcrtr.ial'.ii" 10081 m Ti)c:iin I Varzyissctiein 45244 f 1/^ PfunD Reis i Ict TORI ITIaglpirat Eertln bcfUmmtcn ffSfiOIem. pufg bis zum 31. Dez. 1^6 r [i!l) t>urcSi uro:u^-^ffm^^ Tlnjjfen cifici BasjMlj jJUlf. ftw M) 0-a «i3lf i>.'r fkrirjlunj aus. On T' daOfla ijvoil nJL'fn Pj. llflliflii .^ HdjJ fcbj ^mJ "■^ &''') ^ ^i^ *^'«i swsSi >id 513'm' >^ W-bii* ??^,.: Class. Book.. I}^i^ ^ a- jitiiitiiit CoEyiiglit}^^. 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ISI« ©rofi ai. lin ClUt ^U4, »ftin I •III Orv^BnUn CiUi Juidj tl.»«|.ltU •r«« ficrlta CiUt ^U4 (9rB() Bcrlia Clttc '3104 «. X<|. IBIS (Bro% Berlin ciui ■aiiut) s.x>).i*i* (iirui) Berlin Cif«r WU4 4.ae| . I»l« ©rail )f}«riiii Cttn ^Kb «.xn.»«'> ©roftStrlln S. Xr). >*■• 0rot QcrUn II I ^ 5 1 = 6 BERLIN NicM OlMrtragbarl 9. I'A Liter M>iM I. Jaaur bis 7. Jaaatf 1917 ll I'A Liter""" Ueifc- 49382 "' ■6 « P nr- - -, eo i4 Tciitldjcs T\t\ii) 40 &ramni dcback 49387 " ^ yDrzy5SSCti8ii]0959.4 boi btnoDmHIaglfiratS.siltn befilmmttnfianblera. e»«g bis zum 31. Dez. 1916 3)Iofli(lra^^^er(in. ^/2pfunir%Wifefirup »um Prct(e d^td Pfennig filr Jnbobtr btr 3uia^effarli fOr e>(^a)(rarb(il(r. VII "nfiddtitc bia^lca. 34091 fHnttif^ea^niH :BtmlSkiti Mir ^h Pfuni> (3peifefiru|> fGr ts 'Pfennig. 6 W Vorzogssclcio 37999 )j^{ lum B3IU3 Don PI 1 1 3 1 ooej;^a(crgru!}c bjl benoomHIaglflrABJlIn btnimnmnmnblam. eiltlg bis zk6 31. Dez. 1916 W*T pd) ^u^cr) u^/ut^c^Tyl^3 nngsfsn 9lnin nusoHts ctrfrfjafTi. («nt piJ) t«r oTljrjr tar Barh-afuna «us. Dl« Uitinraguna bufis nuscpo.'ct o^rr ^sr barauf &«^oj«o«n [Par. ,.1 un;ui.'ma. GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? CARL W, ACKERMAN The title ''Germany, The Next Republic?" is chosen because the author believes this must be the goal, the battlecry, of the United States and her Allies. As long as the Kaiser, his generals and the present leaders are in control of Ger- many 's destinies the world will encounter the same terrorism that it has had to bear during the war. Permanent peace will follow the establishment of a Republic. But the German people will not over- throw the present government until the leaders are defeated and discredited. Today the Reichstag Constitutional committee, headed by Herr Scheide- mann, is preparing reforms in the organic law but so far all proposals are mere makeshifts. The world cannot afford to consider peace with Ger- many until the people rule. The sooner the United States and her Allies tell this to the German people officially the sooner we shall have peace. In cos cress, July 4, i//s >^ 00 (iw- d./C .'/. v. i-:_j ^.-'. *S^^^ ^' V^-jS^ J^fc. /- mJf M£A "Z2L.^. ..^MJ^ iU ' ' '' ' ./ ... .1,'. A .. J.'^^y ?,^./rv,y"-_ j^* ; ^z ,<*- •tjLftJa « *j^LiJli^^ ^'ji^-*^ M./b^ ./^ A Jijf*^-^'-^^'^* C^^jL^ei ta^-^ AjjMA^.Aa^-'i^ /m^j.^..^ ^. «-i^-^..muV ^ "^ -*-*^ J/...^.. ..f.^.^^ An^MA. TMri/,*! . aaX^ ^-i,*-»M»/*-t- r^i£«j:^. »-u/ J^M^ /Aaa-^^^ .^aJL^ /^A-tAA^ i/n^AUJiA/', tfUASUAA AAA rK^^ AAA^AUA.- ijfu^n^ Sitiiui, Tiin of Hate had stirred the German peo- ple and the Zeppelin raids were beginning to sow the seeds of determination in the hearts of the British. It was too late to talk about why the war was not prevented. So each set of belliger- ents had to rely upon the official documents at the beginning of the war to show what was done to avoid it. These White Books were written to win public opinion. But why were the people suddenly taken into the confidence of their governments! Why had the governments of England, France, Ger- many and Russia not been so frank before 1914? MOBILIZATION OF PUBLIC OPINION 23 Why had they all been interested in making the people speculate as to what would come, and how it would come about? Why were all the nations encouraging suspicion? Why did they always question the motives, as well as the acts, of each other? Is it possible that the world progressed faster than the governments and that the gov- ernments suddenly realised that public opinion was the biggest factor in the world! Each one knew that a war could not be waged without pub- lic support and each one knew that the sym- pathy of the outside world depended more upon public opinion than upon business or military re- lations. H How America Was Shocked by the War Previous to July, 1914, the American people had thought very little about a European war. While the war parties and financiers of Europe had been preparing a long time for the conflict, people over here had been thinking about peace. Americans discussed more of the possibilities of international peace and arbitration than war. Europeans lived through nothing except an ex- pectancy of war. Even the people knew who the enemies might be. The German government, as the announcement of the Post and Telegraph Di- rector shows, knew nine of its possible enemies before war had been declared. So it was but nat- 24 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? iiral, when tlie first reports reached the United States saying that the greatest powers of Europe were engaged in a death struggle, that people were shocked and horrified. And it was but nat- ural for thousands of them to besiege President Wilson with requests for him to offer his services as a mediator. The war came, too, during the holiday season in Europe. Over 90,000 Americans were in the war zones. The State Department was flooded with telegrams. Senators and Congressmen were urged to use their influence to get money to stranded Americans to help them home. The 235 U. S. diplomatic and consular representatives were asked to locate Americans and see to their comfort and safety. Not until Americans real- ised how closely they were related to Europe could they picture themselves as having a direct in- terest in the war. Then the stock market began to tumble. The New York Stock Exchange was closed. South America asked New York for credit and supplies, and neutral Europe, as well as China in the Far East, looked to the United States to keep the war within bounds. Uncle Sam be- came the Atlas of the world and nearly every bel- ligerent requested this government to take over its diplomatic and consular interests in enemy countries. Diplomacy, commerce, finance and shipping suddenly became dependent upon this country. Not only the belligerents but the neu- trals sought the leadership of a nation which MOBILIZATION OF PUBLIC OPINION 25 could look after all the interests, except those of purely military and naval operations. The eyes of the world centred upon Washington. Presi- dent Wilson, as the official head of the govern- ment, was signalled out as the one man to help them in their suffering and to listen to their ap- peals. The belligerent governments addressed their protests and their notes to Wilson. Belgium sent a special commission to gain the President's ear. The peace friends throughout the world, even those in the belligerent countries, looked to Wilson for guidance and help. In August, 1914, Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, the President's wife, was dangerously ill. I was at the White House every day to report the devel- opments there for the Uliited Press. On the eve- ning of the 5th of August Secretary Tmnulty called the correspondents and told them that the President, who was deeply distressed by the war, and who was suffering personally because of his wife's illness, had written at his wife's bedside the following message : '^As official head of one of the powers signa- tory to The Hague Convention, I feel it to be my privilege and my duty, under Article III of that Convention, to say to you in the spirit of most earnest friendship that I should welcome an op- portunity to act in the interests of European peace, either now or at any other time that might be thought more suitable, as an occasion to serve 26 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? you and all concerned in a way that would afford me lasting cause for gratitude and happiness. * * ( Signed ) Woodko w Wilson. ' ' The President's Secretary cabled this to the Emperors of Germany and Austria-Hungary ; the King of England, the Czar of Russia and the President of France. The President's brief note touched the chord of sympathy of the whole world; but it was too late then to stop the war. European statesmen had been preparing for a conflict. With the public support which each na- tion had, each government wanted to fight until there was a victory. One of the first things which seemed to appeal to President Wilson was the fact that not only public opinion of Europe, but of America, sought a spokesman. Unlike Roosevelt, who led public opinion, unlike Taft, who disregarded it, Wilson took the attitude that the greatest force in the world was public opinion. He believed public opinion was greater than the presidency. He felt that he was the man the American people had chosen to interpret and express their opinion. Wilson's policy was to permit public opinion to rule America. Those of us who spent two years in Germany could see this very clearly. The President announced the plank for his in- ternational policy when he spoke at the annual meeting of the American Bar Association, at Washington, shortly after the war began. T trfnttmnf if m t/r^. ,„^/,, ,« •-W Mteut etM/>^./ Mr '*»t*Arrjjtrf¥tM^/tltnrmmrt' Hail <11> - nssraphU -V ryM...yM^/,^M... /„,.^ ,/r//ly,, ■ /,„■„.„., Vr-"*'^-'""'" »»i»iHwtu»ok /O/////^/ ■ /A///'. J /v/ . ////r/Y/, /f ,r// /ri/Ar/// /Ar if ////:)///// //m// //■■//// ■ y/>i^H~-y~„ FIRST PAGE OF THE AUTHORS PASSPORT MOBILIZATION OF PUBLIC OPINION 27 (( The opinion of the world is the mistress of the world/' he said, ^^and the processes of interna- tional law are the slow processes by which opinion works its will. What impresses me is the con- stant thought that that is the tribunal at the bar of which we all sit. I would call your attention, incidentally, to the circumstance that it does not observe the ordinary rules of evidence ; which has sometimes suggested to me that the ordinary rules of evidence had shown some signs of growing an- tique. Everything, rumour included, is heard in this court, and the standard of judgment is not so much the character of the testimony as the character of the witness. The motives are dis- closed, the purposes are conjectured and that opinion is finally accepted which seems to be, not the best founded in law, perhaps, but the best founded in integrity of character and of morals. That is the process which is slowly working its will upon the world; and what we should be watchful of is not so much jealous interests as sound principles of action. The disinterested course is not alone the biggest course to pursue; but it is in the long run the most profitable course to pursue. If you can establish your character you can establish your credit. *^ Understand me, gentlemen, I am not ventur- ing in this presence to impeach the law. For the present, by the force of circumstances, I am in part the embodiment of the law and it would be very awkward to disavow myself. But I do wish 28 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? to make this intimation, that in this time of world change, in this time when we are going to find out just how, in what particulars, and to what extent the real facts of human life and the real moral judgments of mankind prevail, it is worth while looking inside our municipal law and seeing whether the judgments of the law are made square with the moral judgments of mankind. For I be- lieve that we are custodians of the spirit of right- eousness, of the spirit of equal handed justice, of the spirit of hope which believes in the perfecti- bility of the law with the perfectibility of human life itself. *^ Public life, like private life, would be very dull and dry if it were not for this belief in the essential beauty of the human spirit and the be- lief that the human spirit should be translated into action and into ordinance. Not entire. You cannot go any faster than you can advance the average moral judgment of the mass, but you can go at least as fast as that, and you can see to it that you do not lag behind the average moral judgments of the mass. I have in my life dealt with all sorts and conditions of men, and I have found that the flame of moral judgment burns just as bright in the man of humble life and lim- ited experience as in the scholar and man of af- fairs. And I would like his voice always to be heard, not as a witness, not as speaking in his own case, but as if he were the voice of men in general, in our courts of justice, as well as the MOBILIZATION OF PUBLIC OPINION 29 voice of the lawyers, remembering what the law has been. My hope is that, being stirred to the depths by the extraordinary circumstances of the time in which we live, we may recover from those steps something of a renewal of that vision of the law with which men may be supposed to have started out in the old days of the oracles, who commune with the intimations of divinity." Before this war, very few nations paid any at- tention to public opinion. France was probably the beginner. Some twenty years before 1914, France began to extend her civilisation to Eussia, Italy, the Balkans and Syria. In Roumania, to- day, one hears almost as much French as Eou- manian spoken. Ninety per cent of the lawyers in Bucharest were educated in Paris. Most of the doctors in Eoumania studied in France. France spread her influence by education. The very fact that the belligerents tried to mob- ilise public opinion in the United States in their favour shows that 1914 was a milestone in interna- tional affairs. This was the first time any foreign power ever attempted to fight for the good wiU — the public opinion — of this nation. The govern- ments themselves realised the value of public opinion in their own boundaries, but when the war began they realised that it was a power in- side the realms of their neighbours, too. Wlien differences of opinion developed between the United States and the belligerents the first thing President Wilson did was to publish all the 30 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? documents and papers in the possession of the American government relating to the controversy. The publicity which the President gave the dip- lomatic correspondence between this government and Great Britain over the search and seizure of vessels emphasised in Washington this ten- dency in our foreign relations. At the beginning of England ^s seizure of American merchantmen carrying cargoes to neutral European countries, the State Department lodged individual protests, but no heed was paid to them by the London offi- cials. Then the United States made public the negotiations seeking to accomplish by publicity what a previous exchange of diplomatic notes failed to do. Discussing this action of the President in an editorial on *^ Diplomacy in the Dark/^ the New York World said; ''President Wilson's protest to the British Government is a clear, temperate, courteous as- sertion of the trade rights of neutral countries in time of war. It represents not only the estab- lished policy of the United States but the estab- lished policy of Great Britain. It voices the opin- ion of practically all the American people, and there are few Englishmen, even in time of war, who will take issue with the principles upheld by the President. Yet a serious misunderstanding was risked because it is the habit of diplomacy to operate in the dark. MOBILIZATION OF PUBLIC Oi'INION 31 ** Fortunately, President Wilson by making the note public prevented the original misunderstand- ing from spreading. But the lesson ought not to stop there. Our State Department, as Mr. Wickersham recently pointed out in a letter to the World, has never had a settled policy of pub- licity in regard to our diplomatic affairs. No Blue Books or White Books are ever issued. What information the country obtains must be pried out of the Department. This has been our diplomatic policy for more than a century, and it is a policy that if continued will some day end disastrously. ' ' Speaking in Atlanta in 1912, President Wilson stated that this government would never gain an- other foot of territory by conquest. Tliis dispelled whatever apprehension there was that the United States might seek to annex Mexico. Later, in ask- ing Congress to repeal the Panama Tolls Act of 1912, the President said the good will of Europe was a more valuable asset than commercial ad- vantages gained by discriminatory legislation. Thus at the outset of President Wilson's first administration, foreign powers were given to un- derstand that Mr. Wilson believed in the power of public opinion ; that he favoured publicity as a means of accomplishing what could not be done by confidential negotiations; that he did not be- lieve in annexation and that he was ready at any time to help end the war. 32 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? in Before the Blockade President Wilson's policy during tlie first six months of the war was one of impartiality and neutrality. The first diplomatic representative in Washington to question the sincerity of the executive was Dr. Const antine Dumba, the exiled Austro-Hungarian Ambassador, who was sent to the United States because he was not a noble, and, therefore, better able to understand and in- terpret American ways! He asked me one day whether I thought Wilson was neutral. He said he had been told the President was pro-English. He believed, he said, that everything the Presi- dent had done so far showed he sympathised with the Entente. While we were talking I re- called what the President 's stenographer, Charles L. Swem, said one day when we were going to New York with the President. ''I am present at every conference the Presi- dent holds, ' ' he stated. * ^ I take all his dictation. I think he is the most neutral man in America. I have never heard him express an opinion one way or the other, and if he had I would surely know of it." I told Dr. Dumba this story, which interested him, and he made no comments. As I was at the White House nearly every day I had an opportunity to learn what the President MOBILIZATION OF PUBLIC OPINION 33 would say to callers and friends, although I was seldom privileged to use the information. Even now I do not recall a single statement which ever gave me the impression that the President sided with one group of belligerents. The President's sincerity and firm desire for neutrality was emphasised in his appeal to *^My Countrymen.'' ^^The people of the United States," he said, *^are drawn from many nations, and chiefly from the nations now at war. It is natural and inevi- table that there should be the utmost variety of sympathy and desire among them with regard ta the issues and circumstances of the conflict. Some will wish one nation, oth,ers another, to succeed in the momentous struggle. It will be easy to ex- cite passion and difficult to allay it. Those re- sponsible for exciting it will assume a heavy re- sponsibility, responsibility for no less a thing than that the people of the United States, whose love of their country and whose loyalty to the gov- ernment should unite them as Americans all, bound in honour and affection to think first of her and her interests, may be divided in camps of hostile opinion, hot against each other, involved in the war itself in impulse and opinion, if not in action. '^My thought is of America. I am speaking, I feel sure, the earnest wish and purpose of every thoughtful American that this great country of ours, which is of course the first in our M GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? thoughts and in our hearts, should show herself in this time of peculiar trial a nation fit beyond others to exhibit the fine poise of undisturbed judgment, the dignity of self-control, the efficiency of dispassionate action ; a nation that neither sits in judgment upon others nor is disturbed in her own counsels and which keeps herself fit and free to do what is honest and disinterested and truly serviceable for the peace of the world. ' ' Many Americans believed even early in the war that the United States should have protested against the invasion of Belgium. Others thought the government should prohibit the shipments of war supplies to the belligerents. America was divided by the great issues in Europe, but the great majority of Americans believed with the President, that the best service Uncle Sam could render would be to help bring about peace. Until February, 1915, when the von Tirpitz sub- marine blockade of England was proclaimed, only American interests, not American lives, had been drawn into the war. But when the German Ad- miralty announced that neutral as well as bellig- erent ships in British waters would be sunk with- out warning, there was a new and unexpected ob- stacle to neutrality. The high seas were as much American as British. The oceans were no na- tion's property and they could not justly be used as battlegrounds for ruthless warfare by either belligerent. Germany, therefore, was the first to challenge MOBILIZATION OF PUBLIC OPINION 35 American neutrality. Germany was the first to threaten American lives. Germany, which was the first to show contempt for Wilson, forced the President, as well as the people, to alter policies and adapt American neutrality to a new and grave danger. CHAPTER II '^PIBATES SINK ANOTHEK NEUTRAL SHIP" ON February 4th, 1915, the Reiclisanzeiger, the official newspaper of Germany, pub- lished an announcement declaring that from the 18th of February ^^all the waters sur- rounding Great Britain and Ireland as well as the entire English channel are hereby declared to be a war area. All ships of the enemy mercantile marine found in these waters will be destroyed and it will not always be possible to avoid danger to the crews and passengers thereon. ^^ Neutral shipping is also in danger in the war area, as owing to the secret order issued by the British Admiralty January 31st, 1915, regarding the misuse of neutral flags, and the chances of na- val warfare, it can happen that attacks directed against enemy ships may damage neutral vessels. ^^The shipping route around the north of The Shetlands in the east of the North Sea and over a distance of thirty miles along the coast of The Netherlands will not be dangerous.^* Although the announcement was signed by Ad- miral von Pohl, Chief of the Admiralty Staff, the real author of the blockade was Grand Admiral 36 "PIRATES SINK NEUTRAL SHIP" 37 von Tirpitz. In explanation of the announcement the Teutonic- Allied, neutral and hostile powers were sent a memorandum which contained the fol- lowing paragraph : *^The German Government announces its inten- tion in good time so that hostile as tvell as neutral ships can take necessary precautions accordingly. Germany expects that the neutral powers will show the same consideration for Germany's vital interests as for those of England, and will aid in keeping their citizens and property from this area. This is the more to be expected, as it must be to the interests of the neutral powers to see this destructive war end as soon as possible." On February 12th the American Ambassador, James W. Gerard, handed Secretary of State von Jagow a note in which the United States said : * * This Government views these possibilities with such grave concern that it feels it to be its privi- lege, and indeed its duty in the circumstances, to request the Imperial German Government to consider before action is taken the critical situa- tion in respect of the relations between this coun- try and Germany which might arise were the Ger- man naval officers, in carrying out the policy fore- shadowed in the Admiralty's proclamation, to destroy any merchant vessel of the United States or cause the death of American citizens. 68 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? **It is of course unnecessary to remind the Ger- man Government that the sole right of a bel- ligerent in dealing with neutral vessels on the high seas is limited to visit and search, unless a blockade is proclaimed and effectively maintained, which the Government of the United States does not understand to be proposed in this case. To declare and exercise the right to attack and de- stroy any vessel entering a prescribed area of the high seas without first accurately determining its belligerent nationality and the contraband character of its cargo, would be an act so unpre- cedented in naval warfare that this Government is reluctant to believe that the Imperial German Government in this case contemplates it as pos- sible/' I sailed from New York February 13th, 1915, on the first American passenger liner to run the von Tirpitz blockade. On February 20th we passed Queenstown and entered the Irish Sea at night. Although it was moonlight and we could see for miles about us, every light on the ship, ex- cept the green and red port and starboard lan- terns, was extinguished. As we sailed across the Irish Sea, silently and cautiously as a muskrat swims on a moonlight night, we received a wire- less message that a submarine, operating oif the mouth of the Mersey River, had sunk an English freighter. The captain was asked by the British Admiralty to stop the engines and await orders. "PIRATES SINK NEUTRAL SHIP" 39 Within an hour a patrol boat approached and es- corted us until the pilot came aboard early the next morning. No one aboard ship slept. Few expected to reach Liverpool alive, but the next afternoon we were safe in one of the numerous snug wharv^es of that great port. A few days later I arrived in London. As I walked through Fleet street newsboys were hur- rying from the press rooms carrying orange-col- oured placards with the words in big black type : ^* Pirates Sink Another Neutral Ship.'' Until the middle of March I remained in Lon- don, where the wildest rumours were afloat about the dangers off the coast of England, and where every one was excited and expectant over the re- ports that Germany was starving. I was urged by friends and physicians not to go to Germany because it was universally believed in Great Brit- ain that the war would be over in a very short time. On the 15th of March I crossed from Til- bury to Rotterdam. At Tilbury I saw pontoon bridges across the Thames, patrol boats and sub- marine chasers rushing back and forth watching for U-boats, which might attempt to come up the river. I boarded the Batavia IV late at night and left Gravesend at daylight the next morning for Holland. Every one was on deck looking for sub- marines and mines. The channel that day was as smooth as a small lake, but the terrible expecta- tion that submarines might sight the Dutch ship 40 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? made every passenger feel that tlie submarine war was as real as it was horrible. On the 17th of March, arriving at the little German border town of Bentheim, I met for the first time the people who were already branded as *'Huns and Barbarians'' by the British and French. Officers and people, however, were not what they had been pictured to be. Neither was Germany starving. The officials and inspectors were courteous and patient and permitted me to take into Germany not only British newspapers, but placards which pictured the Germans as pi- rates. Two days later, while walking down TJn- ter den Linden, poor old women, who were al- ready taking the places of newsboys, sold Ger- man extras with streaming headlines: ^^ British Ships Sunk. Submarine War Successful." In front of the LoJcal Anzeiger building stood a large crowd reading the bulletins about the progress of the von Tirpitz blockade. For luncheon that day I had the choice of as many foods as I had had in London. The only thing missing was white bread, for Germany, at the beginning of the war, permitted only Kriegs- brot (war bread) to be baked. All Berlin streets were crowded and busy. Militaiy automobiles, auto-trucks, big moving vans, private automobiles, taxi-cabs and carriages hurried hither and thither. Soldiers and officers, seemingly by the thousands, were parading up and down. Stores were busy. Berlin appeared 'TIRATES SINK NEUTRAL SHIP" 41 to be as normal as any other capital. Even the confidence of Germany in victory impressed me so that in one of my first despatches I said : ^'Germany to-day is more confident than ever that all efforts of her enemies to crush her must prove in vain. With a threefold offensive, in Flanders, in Galicia and in northwest Russia, be- ing successfully prosecuted, there was a spirit of enthusiasm displayed here in both mihtary and civilian circles that exceeded even the stirring days immediately following the outbreak of the w^ar. ^^ Flags are flying everywhere to-day; the Im- perial standards of Germany and Austria pre- dominate, although there is a goodly showing of the Turkish Crescent. Bands are playing as regi- ment after regiment passes through the city to en- train for the front. Through Wilhelmstrasse the soldiers moved, their hats and guns decorated with fragrant flowers and with mothers, sisters and sweethearts clinging to and encouraging them.'' A few weeks before I arrived the Germans were excited over the shipment of arms and am- munitions from the United States to the Allies, but by the time I was in Berlin the situation seemed to have changed. On April 4th I tele- graphed the following despatch which appeared in the Evening Sun, New York: 4S GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? *^Tlie spirit of animosity towards Americans which swept Germany a few weeks ago seems to have disappeared. The 1,400 Americans in Ber- lin and those in the smaller cities of Germany have little cause to complain of discourteous treatment. Americans just arriving in Berlin in particular conunent upon the friendliness of their reception. The Germans have been especially courteous, they declare, on learning of their nationality. Feel- ing against the United States for permitting arms to be shipped to the Allies still exists, but I have not found this feeling extensive among the Ger- mans. Two American doctors studying in Ger- man clinics declare that the wounded soldiers al- ways talk about ^^Amerikanische keugeP' (Amer- ican bullets), but it is my observation that the persons most outspoken against the sale of am- munition to the Allies by American manufactur- ers are the American residents of Berlin." Two weeks later the situation had changed con- siderably. On the 24th I telegraphed: ^^ Despite the bitter criticism of the United States by Ger- man newspapers for refusing to end the traffic in munitions, it is semi-officially explained that this does not represent the real views of the German Government. The censor has been instructed to permit the newspapers to express themselves frankly on this subject and on Secretaiy Bryan's reply to the von Bernstortf note, but it has been emphasised that their views reflect popular opin- "PIRATES SINK NEUTRAL SHIP" 43 ion and the editorial side of the matter and not the Government. *^The Lohal Anzeiger, following up its attack of yesterday, to-day says : ** *The answer of the United States is no sur- prise to Germany and naturally it fails to con- vince Germany that a flourishing trade in muni- tions of war is in accord with strict neutrality. The German argument was based upon the prac- tice of international law, but the American re- ply was based upon the commercial advantages enjoyed by the ammunition shippers.' " April 24th was von Tirpitz day. It was the anniversary of the entrance of the Grand Ad- miral in the German Navy fifty years before, and the eighteenth anniversary of his debut in the cabinet, a record for a German Minister of Ma- rine. There was tremendous rejoicing through- out the country, and the Admiral, who spent his Prussian birthday at the Navy Department, was overwhelmed with congratulations. Headed by the Kaiser, telegrams came from every official in Germany. The press paid high tribute to his blockade, declaring that it was due to him alone that England was so terror-stricken by subma- rines. I was not in Germany very long until I was impressed by the remarkable control the Gov- ernment had on public opinion by censorship of the press. People believe, mthout exception, everything they read in the newspapers. And I 44 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? soon discovered that the censor was so accus- tomed to dealing with German editors that he ap- plied the same standards to the foreign corre- spondents. A reporter conld telegraph not what he observed and heard, but what the censors de- sired American readers to hear and know about Germany. I was in St. Quentin, France (which the Ger- mans on their 1917 withdrawal set on fire) at the headquarters of General von Below, when news came May 8th that the Lusitania was torpedoed. I read the bulletins as they arrived. I heard the comments of the Germans who were waging war in an enemy country. I listened as they spoke of the loss of American and other women and chil- dren. I was amazed when I heard them say that a woman had no more right on the Lusitania than she would have on an ammunition wagon on the Somme. The day before I was in the first line trenches on the German front which crossed the road running from Peronne to Albert. At that time this battlefield, which a year and a half later was destined to be the scene of the greatest slaughter in history, was as quiet and beautiful as this picturesque country of northern France was in peace times. Only a few trenches and barbed wire entanglements marred the scene. On May 9th I left St. Quentin for Brussels. Here I was permitted by the General Government to send a despatch reflecting the views of the German army in France about the sinking of the — v3J — S.t. Cloiird. (sRntt^ta!!, .1. Ouni. Xe(egcap§if(4e iDlelbuag. 2Sien, 3* Sunt tl(mtlici& mitb netlautbart: ®eit ^eute 3 tt^t 30 OUinuten in unferem ©efift* S)cr ©tcllbcrtrctcr bc§ 6^cf§ be? fiJcncratftabcS t>0n ^ocfer, ^elbmarfc^allcutnaut. KtLc 8onber<^udga6en bed Serliner Sofal^SInjelgeri toerben noc^ mic oot in bclicbigct 9in^a1il W^ unentqcltHdt "Wt in unferen fSmtlic^en ©eft^aftdfteDen an jebcrmonn ausgcgebcn. •i>*M»*i*i>-»««*«iil*»ik».MkfW.»aa»4i|»4- iMMiriMlkViMMhvMMMtkaaak f<^,,^„ . ff A BERLIN EXTRA "PIRATES SINK NEUTRAL SHIP" 45 Lusitania. I wrote what I thought was a fair article. I told how the bulletin was posted in front of the Hotel de Ville; how the officers and soldiers marching to and away from the front stopped, read, smiled and congratulated each other because the Navy was at last helping the Army * ^ win the war. ' ' There were no expressions of regret over the loss of life. These officers and soldiers had seen so many dead, soldiers and civilians, men and women, in Belgium and France that neither death nor murder shocked them. The telegram was approved by the military censor and forwarded to Berlin. I stayed in Bel- gium two days longer, went to Louvain and Liege and reached Berlin May 12th. The next day I learned at the Foreign Office that my despatch was stopped because it conflicted with the opin- ions which the German Government was sending officially by wireless to Washington and to the American newspapers. I felt that this was un- fair, but I was subject to the censorship and had no appeal. I did not forget this incident because it showed a striking difference of opinion between the army, which was fighting for Germany, and the Foreign Office, which was explaining and excusing what the Army and Navy did. The Army always jus- tified the events in Belgium, but the Foreign Of- fice did not. And this was the first incident which made me feel that even in Germany, which was 46 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? supposed to be united, there were differences of opinion. In September, 1915, while the German army was moving against Russia like a surging sea, I was invited to go to the front near Vilna. Dur- ing the intervening months I had observed and recorded as much as possible the growing indig- nation in Germany because the United States per- mitted the shipment of arms and ammunition to the Allies. In June I had had an interview with Secretary of State von Jagow, in w^hich he pro- tested against the attitude of the United States Government and said that America was not act- ing as neutral as Germany did during the Span- ish-American war. He cited page 168 of Andrew D. White's book in which Ambassador White said he persuaded Germany not to permit a German ship laden with ammunition and consigned for Spain to sail. I thought that if Germany had adopted such an attitude toward America, that in justice to Germany Washington should adopt the same position. After von Jagow gave me the facts in possession of the Foreign Office and after he had loaned me Mr. White's book, I looked up the data. I found to my astonishment that Mr. White reported to the State Department that a ship of ammunition sailed from Hamburg, and that he had not protested, although the Naval Attache had requested him to do so. The state- ments of von Jagow and Mr. White 's in his auto- biography did not agree with the facts. Germany "PIRATES SINK NEUTRAL SHIP" 47 did send ammunition to Spain, but Wilhelmstrasse was using Mr. Whitens book as proof that the Krupp interests did not supply our enemy in 1898. The latter part of September I entered Kovno, the important Russian fortress, eight days after the army captured it. I was escorted, to- gether with other foreign correspondents, from one fort to another and showTi what the 42 cm. guns had destroyed. I saw 400 machine guns which were captured and 1,300 pieces of heavy artillery. The night before, at a dinner party, the officers had argued against the United States because of the shipment of supplies to Russia. They said that if the United States had not aided Russia, that country would not have been able to resist the invaders. I did not know the facts, but I accepted their statements. When I was shown the machine guns, I examined them and discov- ered that every one of the 400 was made at Essen or Magdeburg, Germany. Of the 1,300 pieces of artiller}^ every cannon was made in Germany ex- cept a few English ship guns. Kovno was forti- fied by German artillery, not American. A few days later I entered Vilna; this time I was moving with the advance column. At dinner that night with General von Weber, the com- mander of the city, the subject of American arms and ammunition was again brought up. The Gen- eral said they had captured from the Russians an American machine gun. He added that they were brininno- it in from Smor^^on to show the 48 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? AjQericans. When it reached us the stamp, writ- ten in English, showed that it was manufactured by Vickers Limited, England. Being unable to read English, the officer who reported the capture thought the gun was made in the United States. In Eoumania last December I followed General von Falkenhayn's armies to the forts of Bucha- rest. On Thanksgiving Day I crossed by auto- mobile the Schurduck Pass. The Roumanians had defended, or attempted to defend, this road by mounting armoured guns on the crest of one of the mountain ranges in the Transylvanian Alps. I examined a whole position here and found all turrets were made in Germany. I did not doubt that the shipment of arms and ammunition to the Allies had been a great aid to them. (I was told in Paris, later, on my way to the United States that if it had not been for the American ammunition factories France would liave been defeated long ago.) But when Ger- many argued that the United States was not neu- tral in permitting these shipments to leave Amer- ican ports, Germany was forgetting what her own ^rms and munition factories had done for Ger- many's enemies. When the Krupp works sold Russia the defences for Kovno, the German Gov- ernment knew these weapons would be used against Germany some day, because no nation ex- cept Germany could attack Russia by way of that city. When Krupps sold war supplies to Rou- mania, the German Government knew that if Ron- "PIRATES SINK NEUTRAL SHIP" 49 mania joined the Allies these supplies would be used against German soldiers. But the Govern- ment was careful not to report these facts in Ger- man newspapers. And, although Secretary of State von Jagow acknowledged to Ambassador Gerard that there was nothing in international law to justify a change in Washington's position, von Jagow 's statements were not permitted to be published in Germany. To understand Germany's resentment over Mr. Wilson's interference with the submarine war- fare, three things must be taken into considera- tion. 1. The Allies' charge that all Germans are **Huns and Barbarians."^ 2. The battle of the Marne and the shipment of arms and ammunition from the United States. 3. The intrigue and widening breach between the Army and Navy and the Foreign Office. One weapon the Allies used against Germany, which was more eifective than all others, was the press. When the English and French indicted the Germans as *' Barbarians and Huns," as ^'pi- rates," and ^^uncivilised" Europeans, it cut the Germans to the quick ; it affected men and women so terribly that Germans feared these attacks more than they did the combined military might of their enemies. This is readily understood when 50 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? one realises tliat before the war the thing the Germans prided themselves on was their com- merce and their civilisation, — their Kultur. Be- fore the war, the world was told by every German what the nation had done for the poor; what strides the scientists had made in research work and what progress the business men had made in extending their commerce at the expense of com- petitors. While some government officials foresaw the disaster which wonld come to Germany if this na- tional vanity was paraded before the whole world, their advice and counsel were ignored. Consul General Kiliani, the Chief German official in Aus- tralia before the war, told me he had reported repeatedly to the Foreign Office that German busi- ness men were injuring their own opportunities by bragging so much of what they had done, and what they would do. He said if it continued the whole world would be leagued against Germany; that public opinion would be so strong against German goods that they would lose their markets. Germany made the whole world fear her com- mercial might by this foolish bragging. So when the war broke out and Germans were attacked for being uncivilised in Belgium, for breaking treaties and for disregarding the opin- ion of the world, it was but natural that German vanity should resent it. Germans feared noth- ing but God and public opinion. They had such exalted faith in their army they believed they "PIRATES SINK NEUTRAL SHIP" 51 could gain by Might what they had lost in pres- tige throughout the world. This is one of the rea- sons the German people arose like one man when war w^as declared. They wished and were ready to show the world that they were the greatest people ever created. n The German explanation of why they lost the battle of the Marne is interesting, not alone be- cause of the explanation of the defeat, but because it shows why the shipment of arms and ammuni- tion from the United States was such a poisonous pill to the army. Shortly after my arrival in Berlin Dr. Alfred Zimmermann, then Under Sec- retary of State, said the greatest scandal in Ger- many after the war would be the investigation of the reasons for the shortage of ammunition in September, 1914. He did not deny that Germany was prepared for a great war. He must have known at the time what the Director of the Post and Telegraph knew on the 2nd of August, 1914, when he w^rote Announcement No. 3. The Ger- man Army must have known the same thing and if it had prepared for war, as every German ad- mits it had, then preparations were made to fight nine nations. But there was one thing which Germany failed to take into consideration, Zim- mermann said, and that was the shipment of sup- plies from the United States. Then, he added, there were two reasons why the battle of the 52 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? Marne was lost : one, because there was not suf- ficient ammunition ; and, two, because the reserves were needed to stop the Russian invasion of East Prussia. I asked him whether Germany did not have enormous stores of ammunition on hand when the war began. He said there was sufficient ammunition for a short campaign, but that the Ministry of "War had not mobilised sufficient am- munition factories to keep up the supplies. He said this was the reason for the downfall of Gen- eral von Herringen, who was Minister of War at the beginning of hostilities. After General von Kluck was wounded and re- turned to his villa in Wilmersdorf, a suburb of Berlin, I took a walk with him in his garden and discussed the Marne. He confirmed what Zim- mermann stated about the shortage of ammuni- tion and added that he had to give up his re- serves to General von Hindenburg, who had been ordered by the Kaiser to drive the Russians from East Prussia. Ill At the very beginning of the war, although no intimations were permitted to reach the outside world, there was a bitter controversy between the Foreign Office, as headed by the Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg ; the Navy Department, head- ed by Grand Admiral von Tirpitz, and General von Moltke, Chief of the General Staff. The Chancellor delayed mobilisation of the German "PIRATES SINK NEUTRAL SHIP" 53 Army three daj^s. For this he never has and never will be forgiven by the military authorities. During those stirring days of July and August, when General von Moltke, von Tirpitz, von Fal- kenhayn, Krupps and the Rhine Valley Industrial leaders were clamouring for war and for an in- vasion of Belgium, the Kaiser was being urged by the Chancellor and the Foreign Office to heed the proposals of Sir Edward Grey for a Peace Con- ference. But the Kaiser, who was more of a sol- dier than a statesman, sided with his military friends. The war was on, not only between Ger- many and the Entente, but between the Foreign Office and the Army and Navy. This internal fight which began in July, 1914, became Ger- many's bitterest struggle ^and from time to time the odds went from one side to another. The Army accused the diplomats of blundering in starting the war. The Foreign Office replied that it was the lust for power and victory which poi- soned the military leaders which caused the war. Belgium was invaded against the counsel of the Foreign Office. But when the Chancellor was confronted with the actual invasion and the viola- tion of the treaty, he was compelled by force of circumstance, by his position and responsibility to the Kaiser to make his famous speech in the Reichstag in which he declared: ^^ Emergency knows no law.'' But when the allied fleet swept German ships from the high seas and isolated a nation which 54 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? had considered its international commerce one of its greatest assets, considerable animosity devel- oped between the Army and Navy. The Army ac- cused the Navy of stagnation, von Tirpitz, who had based his whole naval policy npon a great navy, especially npon battleship and cruiser units, was confronted by his military friends with the charge that he was not prepared. As early as 1908 von Tirpitz had opposed the construction of submarines. Speaking in the Reichstag when na- val appropriations were debated, he said Germany should rely upon a battleship fleet and not upon submarines. But when he saw his great inactive Navy in German waters, he switched to the sub- marine idea of a blockade of England. In Febru- ary, 1915, he announced his submarine blockade of England with the consent of the Kaiser, but without the approval of the Foreign Office. By this time the cry, *'Gott strafe England," had become the most popular battle shout in Ger- many. The von Tirpitz blockade announcement made this battlecry real. It made him the na- tional hero. The German press, which at that time was under three different censors, turned its entire support over night to the von Tirpitz plan. The Navy Department, which even then was not only anti-British but anti-American, wanted to sink every ship on the high seas. When the United States lodged its protests on February 12th the German Navy wanted to ignore it. The Foreign Office was inclined to listen to President "PIRATES SINK NEUTRAL SHIP" 55 Wilson's arguments. Even the people, while they were enthusiastic for a submarine war, did not want to estrange America if they could prevent it. The von Tirpitz press bureau, which knew that public opposition to its plan could be overcome by raising the cry that America was not neutral in aiding the Allies with supplies, launched an anti-American campaign. It came to a climax one night when. Ambassador Gerard was attend- ing a theatre party. As he entered the box he was recognised by a group of Germans who shouted insulting remarks because he spoke English. Then some one else remarked that America was not neutral by shipping arms and ammunition. The Foreign Office apologised the next day but the Navy did not. And, instead of listening to the advice of Secretary of State von Jagow, the Navy sent columns of inspired articles to the news- papers attacking President Wilson and telling the German people that the United States had joined the Entente in spirit if not in action. CHAPTER in THE GULF BETWEEN KIEL AND BEELIN" AT the beginning of the war, even the Socialist Party in the Eeichstag voted the Govern- ment credits. The press and the people ■unanimously supported the Government because there was a very terrorising fear that Russia was about to invade Germany and that England and France were leagued together to crush the Father- land. Until the question of the submarine warfare came up, the division of opinion which had already developed between the Army and Navy clique and the Foreign Office was not general among the peo- ple. Although the army had not taken Paris, a great part of Belgium and eight provinces of Northern France were occupied and the Russians had been driven from East Prussia. The German people believed they were successful. The army was satisfied with what it had done and had great plans for the future. Food and economic condi- tions had changed very little as compared to the changes which were to take place before 1917. Supplies were flowing into Gennany from all neutral European countries. Even England and Russia were selling goods to Germany indi- 56 GULF BETWEEN KIEL AND BERLIN 57 rectly through neutral countries. Considerable English merchandise, as well as American prod- ucts, came in by way of Holland because English business men were making money by the transac- tion and because the English Government had not yet discovered leaks in the blockade. Two-thirds of the butter supply in Berlin was coming from Russia. Denmark was sending copper. Norway was sending fish and valuable oils. Sweden was sending horses and cattle. Italy was sending fruit. Spanish sardines and olives were reaching German merchants. There was no reason to be dissatisfied with the way the war was going. And, besides, the German people hated their enemies so that the leaders could count upon continued support for almost an indefinite period. The cry of ^'Hun and Barbarian '^ was answered with the battle cry ''Gott strafe England.'^ The latter part of April on my first trip to the front I dined at Great Headquarters (Grosse Haupt Quartier) in Charleville, France, with Major Nicolai, Chief of the Intelligence Depart- ment of the General Staff. The next day, in com- pany with other correspondents, we were guests of General von Moehl and his staff at Peronne. From Peronne we went to the Somme front to St. Quentin, to Namur and Brussels. The sol- diers were enthusiastic and happy. There was plenty of food and considerable optimism. But the confidence in victoiy was never so great as it was immediately after the sinking of the Licsi- 58 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? tania. That marked the crisis in the future trend of the war. Up to this time the people had heard very little about the fight between the Navy and the Foreign Office. But gradually rumours spread. While there was previously no outlet for public opinion, the Lusitania issue was debated more extensively and with more vigour than the White Books which were published to explain the causes of the war. With the universal feeling of self confidence, it was but natural that the people should side with the Navy in demanding an unrestricted submarine warfare. When Admiral von Bachmann gave the order to First Naval Lieutenant Otto Steinbrink to sink the Lusitania, he knew the Navy was ready to defy the United States or any other country which might object. He knew, too, that von Tir- pitz was very close to the Kaiser and could count upon the Kaiser's support in whatever he did. The Navy believed the torpedoing of the Lusi- tania would so frighten and terrorise the world that neutral shipping would become timid and enemy peoples would be impressed by Germany's might on the seas. Ambassador von Bernstorif had been ordered by the Foreign Office to put notices in the American papers warning Amer- icans off these ships. The Chancellor and Secre- tary von Jagow knew there was no way to stop the Admiralty, and they wanted to avoid, if pos- sible, the loss of American lives. The storm of indignation which encircled the GULF BETWEEN KIEL AND BERLIN 59 globe when reports were printed that over a thou- sand people lost their lives on the Lusitania, found a s^TQpathetic echo in the Berlin Foreign Office. ^^ Another navy blunder/' the officials said — confidentially. Foreign Office officials tried to conceal their distress because the officials knew the only thing they could do now was to make preparation for an apology and try to excuse in the best possible way what the navy had done. On the 17th of May like a thunderbolt from a clear sky came President Wilson's first Lusitania note. ^^ Recalling the humane and enlightened atti- tude hitherto assumed by the Imperial German Government in matters of international life, par- ticularly with regard to the freedom of the seas ; having learned to recognise German views and German influence in the field of international ob- ligations as always engaged upon the side of jus- tice and humanity;'' the note read, **and having Understood the instructions of the Imperial Ger- man Government to its naval commanders to be upon the same plane of human action as those* prescribed by the naval codes of other nations, the government of the United States is loath to believe — it cannot now bring itself to believe — that these acts so absolutely contrary to the rules and practices and spirit of modern warfare could have the countenance or sanction of that great government. . . . Manifestly submarines cannot be used against merchantmen as the last few 60 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? weeks have shown without an inevitable violation of many sacred principles of justice and human- ity. American citizens act within their indisput- able rights in taking their ships and in travelling wherever their legitimate business calls them upon the high seas, and exercise those rights in what should be a well justified confidence that their lives will not be endangered by acts done in clear violation of universally acknowledged international obligations and certainly in the con- fidence that their own government will sustain them in the exercise of their rights. ' ' And then the note which Mr. Gerard handed von Jagow concluded with these words : *^It (The United States) confidently expects therefore that the Imperial German Government will disavow the acts of which the United States complains, that they will make reparation as far as reparation is possible for injuries which are without measure, and that they will take immedi- ate steps to prevent the recurrence of anything so obviously subversive of the principles of war- fare, for which the Imperial German Government in the past so wisely and so firmly contended. The Government and people of the United States look to the Imperial German Government for just, prompt and enlightened action in this vital mat- ter. . . . Expressions of regret and offers of reparation in the case of neutral ships sunk by GULF BETWEEN KIEL AND BERLIN 61 mistake, while they may satisfy international ob- ligations if no loss of life results, cannot justify or excuse a practice, the natural necessary effect of which is to subject neutral nations or neutral persons to new and immeasurable risks. The Im- perial German Government will not expect the Government of the United States to omit any word, or any act, necessary to the performance of its sacred duty of maintaining the rights of the United States and its citizens, and of safeguard- ing their free exercise and enjoyment/' Never in history had a neutral nation indicted another as the United States did Germany in its first Lusitania note without immediately going to war. Because the Foreign Office feared the reac- tion it might have upon the people, the news- papers were not permitted to publish the text until the press bureaus of the Navy and the For- eign Office had mobilised the editorial writers and planned a publicity campaign to follow the note 's publication. But the Navy and Foreign Office could not agree on what should be done. The Navy wanted to ignore Wilson. Naval officers laughed at President Wilson's impertinence and when the Foreign Office sent to the Admiralty for all data in possession of the Navy Department regarding the sinking of the Lusitania the Navy refused to acknowledge the request. During this time I was in constant touch with the Foreign Office and the American Embassy. 62 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? Frequently I went to the Navy Department but was always told they had nothing to say. When it appeared, however, that there might be a break in diplomatic relations over the Liisitania the Kaiser called the Chancellor to Great Headquar- ters for a conference. Meanwhile Germany de- layed her reply to the American note because the Navy and Foreign Office were still at loggerheads. On the 31st of May von Jagow permitted me to quote him in an interview saying : ** America can hardly expect us to give up any means at our disposal to fight our enemy. It is a principle with us to defend ourselves in every possible way. I am sure that Americans will be reasonable enough to believe that our two coun- tries cannot discuss the Lusitania matter until both have the same basis of facts/' The American people were demanding an an- swer from Germany and because the two branches of the Government could not agree on what should be said von Jagow had to do something to gain time. Germany, therefore, submitted in her reply of the 28th of May certain facts about the Lv^i- tania for the consideration of the American Gov- ernment saying that Germany reserved final statements of its position with regard *^to the de- mands made in connection with the sinking of the Lusitania until a reply was received from the American Government. ' ' AJPter the note was des- patched the chasm between the Navy and Foreign GULF BETWEEN KIEL AND BERLIN 63 Office was wider than ever. Ambassador Gerard, who went to the Foreign Office daily, to try to convince the officials that they were antagonising the whole world by their attitude on the Lusitania question, returned to the Embassy one day after a conference with Zimmermann and began to pre- pare a scrap book of cartoons and clippings from American newspapers. Two secretaries were put to work pasting the comments, interviews, edi- torials and cartoons reflecting American opinion in the scrap book. Although the German Foreign Office had a big press department its efforts were devoted more to furnishing the outside world with German views than with collecting outside opinions for the information of the German Gov- ernment. Believing that -this information would be of immeasurable benefit to the German diplo- mats in sounding the depths of public sentiment in America, Gerard delivered the book to von Jagow personally. In the meantime numerous conferences were held at Great Headquarters. Financiers, business men and diplomats who wanted to keep peace with America sided with the Foreign Office. Every anti-American influence in the Central Powers joined forces with the Navy. The Lusitania note was printed and the public discussion which re- sulted was greater than that wliich followed the first declarations of war in August, 1914. The people, who before had accepted everything their Government said, began to think for themselves. 64 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? One heard almost as much criticism as praise of the Lusitania incident. For the first time the quarrel, which had been nourished between the Foreign Office and the Admiralty, became nation- wide and forces throughout Germany lined up with one side or the other. But the Navy Depart- ment was the cleverer of the two. The press bureau sent out inspired stories that the subma- rines were causing England a loss of a million dollars a week. They said that every week the Admiralty was launching two U-boats. It was stated that reliable reports to Admiral von Tir- pitz proved the high toll taken by the submarines in two weeks had struck terror to the hearts of English ship-owners. The newspapers printed under great headlines: **Toll of Our Tireless U-Boats,'' the names and tonnage of ships lost. The press bureau pointed to the rise in food prices in Great Britain and France. The public was made to feel a personal pride in submarine exploits. And at the same time the Navy editorial writers brought up the old issue of American arms and ammunition to further embitter the people. Thus the fiirst note which President Wilson wrote in the Lusitania case not only brought the quarrel between the Navy and Foreign Office to a climax but it gave the German people the first opportunity they had had seriously to discuss questions of policy and right. In the Rhine Valley, where the ammunition in- GULF BETWEEN KIEL AND BERLIN 65 terests dominated every phase of life, the Navy found its staunchest supporters. In educational circles, in shipping centres, such as Hamburg and Bremen, in the financial districts of Frankfort and Berlin, the Foreign Office received its sup- port. Press and Reichstag were divided. Sup- porting the Foreign Office were the Lokal An- zeigevj the Berliner Tagehlatt, the Cologne Ga- zette, the Frankforter Zeitnng, the Hamburger Fremdemhlatt, and the Vorwdrts. The Navy had the support of Count Reventlow, Naval Critic of the Deutsche Tageszeitung, the TdgliscJie Rundschaii, the VossiscJie Zeitung, the Morgen Post, the B. Z, Am Mittag, the Munchener Neueste Nachrichten, the Rheinische Westfdlische Zeitung, and the leading Catholic organ, the Koel- nische Volks-Zeitung. Government officials were also divided. Chan- cellor von Bethmann-Hollweg led the party which demanded an agreement with the United States. He was supported by von Jagow, Zimmermann, Dr. Karl Helfferich, Secretary of the Treasury; Dr. Solf, the Colonial Minister; Dr. Siegfried Heckscher, Vice Chairman of the Reichstag Com- mittee on Foreign Relations ; and Philip Sclieide- mann, leader of the majority of the Socialists in the Reichstag. The opposition was led by Grand Admiral von Tirpitz. He was supported by General von Falk- enhayn, Field Marshal von Mackensen and all army generals ; Admirals von Pohl and von Bach- 66 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? mann; Major Bassermann, leader of the National Liberal Party in the Reichstag; Dr. Gustav Stres- semann, member of the Reichstag and Director of the North German Lloyd Steamship Company; and von Heydebrand, the so-called ''Uncrowned King of Prussia/' because of his control of the Prussian Diet. With these forces against each other the in- ternal 'Q-gh.t continued more bitter than ever. President Wilson kept insisting upon definite promises from Germany but the Admiralty still had the upper hand. There was nothing for the Foreign Office to do except to make the best pos- sible excuses and depend upon Wilson's patience to give them time to get into the saddle. The Navy Department, however, was so confident that it had the Kaiser's support in everything it did, that one of the submarines was instructed to sink the Arabic. President Wilson's note in the Arabic case again brought the submarine dispute within Ger- many to a head. Conferences were again held at Great Headquarters. The Chancellor, von Ja- gow, Helfferich, von Tirpitz and other leaders were summoned by the Kaiser. On the 28th of August I succeeded in sending by courier to The Hague the following despatch: *'With the support of the Kaiser, the German Chancellor, Dr. von Betlunann-Hollweg, is ex- pected to win the fight he is now making for a GULF BETWEEN KIEL AND BERLIN 67 modification of Germany's submarine warfare that will forever settle the difi&culties with America over the sinking of the Lusitania and the Arabic. Both the Chancellor and von Jagow are most anxious to end at once and for all time the con- troversies with Washington desiring America's friendship. (Published in the Chicago Tribune, August 29th, 1915.) **The Marine Department, headed by von Tir- pitz, creator of the submarine policy, will oppose any disavowal of the action of German's subma- rines. But the Kaiser is expected to approve the steps the Chancellor and Foreign Secretary con- template taking, swinging the balance in favour of von Bethmann-Hollweg's contention that ships in the future must be warned before they are tor- pedoed." One day I went to the Foreign Office and told one of the officials I believed that if the American people knew what a difficult time the Foreign Of- fice was having in trying to win out over the Ad- miralty that public opinion in the United States might be mobilised to help the Foreign Office against the Admiralty. I took with me a brief despatch which I asked him to pass. He censored it with the understanding that I would never dis- close his name in case the despatch was read in Germany. A few days later the Manchester, England, 68 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? Guardimi arrived containing my article, headed as follows : HOLLWEG'S CHANGE OF TUNE Respect for Scraps of Paper LAW AT SEA Insists on Warning by Submarines TIRPITZ PARTY BEATEN Kaiser Expected to Approve New Policy ^*New York, Sunday. '^Cables from Mr. Carl W. Ackerman, Berlin correspondent of the United Press published here, indicate that the real crisis following the Arabic is in Germany, not America. He writes: ^^The Berlin Foreign Office is unalterably op- posed to submarine activity, such as evidenced by the Arabic affair, and it was on the initiative of this Government department that immediate steps were taken with Mr. Gerard the American Ambassador. The nature of these negotiations is still unknown to the German public. ^*It is stated on the highest authority that Herr von Jagow, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and Chancellor von Bethmann-HoUweg are unanimous GULF BETWEEN KIEL AND BERLIN 69 in their anxiety to settle American difficulties once and for all, retaining the friendship of the United States in any event. ^^The Kaiser is expected to approve the course suggested by the Imperial Chancellor, despite open opposition to any disavowal of submarine activities which constantly emanates from the German Admiralty. ^^The Chancellor is extremely desirous of plac- ing Germany on record as an observer of inter- national law as regards sea warfare, and in this case will win his demand that submarines in the future shall thoroughly warn enemy ships before firing their torpedoes or shells. ^^ There is considerable discussion in ofiScial circles as to whether the Chancellor's steps cre- ate a precedent, but it is agreed that it will prob- ably close all complications with America, includ- ing the Lusitania case, which remained unsettled following President Wilson's last note to Ger- many. '^Thus if the United States approves the pres- ent attitude of the Chancellor this step will aid in clearing the entire situation and will materially strengthen the policy of von Bethmann-Hollweg and von Jagow, which is a deep desire for peace with America.'' After this despatch was printed I was called to the home of Frau von Schroeder, the Ameri- can-born wife of one of the Intelligence Office of 70 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? the General Staff. Captain Vanselow, Chief of the Admiralty Intelligence Department, was there and had brought with him the Manchester Guar- dian, He asked me where I got the information and who had passed the despatch. He said the Navy was np in arms and had issued orders to the General Telegraph Ofi&ce that, inasmuch as Germany was under martial law, no telegrams were to be passed containing the words subma- rines, navy, admiralty or marine or any officers of the Navy without having them referred to the Admiralty for a second censoring. This order practically nullified the censorship powers of the Foreign Office. I saw that the Navy Department was again in the saddle and that the efforts of the Chancellor to maintain peace might not be suc- cessful after all. But the conferences at Great Headquarters lasted longer than any one ex- pected. The first news we received of what had taken place was that Secretary von Jagow had informed the Kaiser he would resign before he would do anything which might cause trouble with the United States. Germany was split wide open by the submarine issue. For a while it looked as if the only pos- sible adjustment would be either for von Tirpitz to go and his policies with him, or for von Jagow and the Chancellor to go with the corresponding danger of a rupture with America. But von Tir- pitz would not resign. He left Great Headquar- ters for Berlin and intimated to his friends that GULF BETWEEN KIEL AND BERLIN 71 lie was going to run the Navy to suit himself. But the Chancellor who had the support of the big shipping interests and the financiers, saw a possible means of checkmating von Tirpitz by forcing Admiral von Pohl to resign as Chief of the Admiralty Staff. They finally persuaded the Kaiser to accept his resignation and appoint Ad- miral von Holtzendorff as' his successor. Von Holtzendorff 's brother was a director of the Ham- burg-American Line and an intimate friend of A. Ballin, the General Director of the company. The Chancellor believed that by having a friend of his as Chief of the Admiralty Staff, no orders would be issued to submarine commanders con- trary to the wishes of the Chancellor, because ac- cording to the rules of the German Navy Depart- ment the Chief of the Admiralty Staff must ap- prove all naval plans and sign all orders to fleet commanders. Throughout this time the one thing which frightened the Foreign Office was the fear that President Wilson might break off diplomatic re- lations before the Foreign Office had an oppor- tunity to settle the differences with the United States. For this reason Ambassador Gerard was kept advised by Wilhelmstrasse of the internal developments in Germany and asked to report them fully but confidentially to Wilson. So, dur- ing this crisis when Americans were demanding a break with Germany because of Germany's con- tinued defiance of President Wilson's notes, the 72 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? American Government knew that if the Foreign Office was given more time it had a good chance of succeeding in cleaning honse. A rupture at that time would have destroyed all the efforts of the Foreign Office to keep the German military machine within bounds. It would have over- thrown von Jagow and von Bethmann-Hollweg and put in von Tirpitz as Chancellor and von Hey- debrand, the reactionary leader of the Prussian Diet, as Secretary of State. At that time, all the democratic forces of Germany were lined up with the Foreign Office. The people who blushed for Belgium, the financiers who were losing money, the shipping interests whose tonnage was locked in belligerent or neutral harbours, the Socialists and people who were anxious and praying for peace, were looking to the Foreign Office and to "Washington to avoid a break. CHAPTER IV THE HATE CAMPAIGN AGAINST AMERICA WHILE Germany was professing her friendship for the United States in every note written following the sinking of the Lusitania, the government was secretly preparing the nation for a break in diplomatic relations, or for war, in the event of a rupture. German offi- cials realised that unless the people were made to suspect Mr. Wilson and his motives, unless they were made to resent the shipment of arms and ammunition to the Allies, there would be a division in public opinion and the government would not be able to count upon the united sup- port of the people. Because the government does the thinking for the people it has to tell them what to think before they have reached the point of debating an issue themselves. A war with America or a break in diplomatic relations in 1915 would not have been an easy matter to ex- plain, if the people had not been encouraged to hate Wilson. So while Germany maintained a propaganda bureau in America to interpret Ger- many and to maintain good relations, she started in Germany an extensive propaganda against 73 74 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? Wilson, the American press, tlie United States Ambassador and Americans in general. This step was not necessary in the army be- cause among army officers the bitterness and hatred of the United States were deeper and more extensive than the hatred of any other belligerent. It was hardly ever possible for the American cor- respondents to go to the front without being in- sulted. Even the American military attaches, when they went to the front, had to submit to the insults of army officers. After the sinking of the Arabic the six military observers attached to the American Embassy were invited by the General Staff to go to Russia to study the military opera- tions of Field Marshal von Mackensen. They were escorted by Baron von Maltzahn, former attache of the German Embassy in Paris. At Lodz, one of the largest cities in Poland, they were taken to headquarters. Von Maltzahn, who knew Mackensen personally, called at the Field MarshaPs offices, reported that he had escorted six American army officers under orders of the General Staif, whom he desired to present to the Commander-in-Chief. Von Mackensen replied that he did not care to meet the Americans and told von Maltzahn that the best thing he could do would be to escort the observers back to Berlin. As soon as the military attaches reached Ber- lin and reported this to Washington they were recalled. But this was not the only time von Mackensen, BLOOD-TRAFFICKERS Cowards, who kill three thousand miles away, See the long linos of shrouded forms increase ! Yours is this work, disguise it as you may ; But for your greed the world were now at peace. Month after month your countless chimneys roar, — Slaughter your object, and your motive gain ; Look at your money, — it is wet with gore ! Nothing can cleanse it from the loathsome stain. You. who prolong this hideous hell on earth. Making a by-word of your native land, stripped of your wealth, how paltry is your worth ! See how men shrink from contact with your hand ! There is pollution in your blood-smeared gold, There is corruption in your pact with Death, There is dishonor in the lie, oft-told. Of your "Humanity" ! 'Tis empty breath. What shall it profit you to heap on high, Makers of orphans ! a few millions more, "When you must face them — those you caused to die, And God demands of you to pay your score? He is not mocked ; His vengeance doth not sleep ; His cup of wrath He lets yoa slowly fill ; What you have sown, that also shall you reap ; God's law is adamant, — ''Thou shalt not kill" ! Think not to plead : — "I did not act alone," "Custom allows it," and "My dead were few" ; Each hath his quota ; yonder are your own ! See how their fleshless fingers point at you, at you ! You, to whose vaults this wholesale murder yields Mere needless increments of ghoulish gain. Count up your corpses on these blood-soaked fields ! Hear . . . till your death . . . your victims' moans of pain ! Then, when at night you, sleepless, fear to pray. Watch the thick, crimson stream draw near your bed, And shriek with horror, till the dawn of day Shall find you raving at your heaps of dead ! JOHN L. STODDARD. The League of Truth Head Offices for Germany : Berlin W 40 Potsdamer Str. July 4th, 1916. Printed by Barthe & Co., Berlin W. 76 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? or other army officers, showed their contempt for the United States. After the fall of Warsaw a group of American correspondents were asked to go to the headquarters of General von Besseler, afterward named Governor General of Poland. The general received them in the gardens of the Polish castle which he had seized as his head- quarters; shook hands with the Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Swiss and South American newspaper men, and then, before turning on his heels to go back to his Polish palace, turned to the Ameri- cans and said: ^*As for you gentlemen, the best thing you can do is to tell your country to stop shipping arms and ammunition." During General Brusiloff's o:ffensive I was in- vited together with other correspondents to go to the "Wohlynian battlefields to see how the Ger- mans had reorganised the Austrian front. In a little town near the Stochod River we were in- vited to dinner by Colonel von Luck. I sat op- posite the colonel, who was in charge of the re- organisation here. Throughout the meal he made so many insulting remarks that the officer who was our escort had to change the trend of the con- versation. Before he did so the colonel said : ^^Tell me, do they insult you in Berlin like thisr' I replied that I seldom encountered such an- tagonism in Berlin; that it was chiefly the army which was anti- American. HATE CAMPAIGN AGAINST AMERICA 77 ^^Well, that's the difference between the diplo- mats and the army. If the army was running the government we would probably have had war with America a long time ago/' he concluded, smiling sarcastically. Shortly after the sinking of the Ltisitania the naval propaganda bureau had bronze medals cast and placed on sale at souvenir shops throughout Germany. Ambassador Gerard received one day, in exchanging some money, a fifty mark bill, with the words stamped in purple ink across the face : *^God punish England and America.'' For some weeks this rubber stamp was used very effec- tively. The Navy Department realised, too, that an- other way to attack America and especially Amer- icans in Berlin, was to arouse the suspicion that every one who spoke English was an enemy. The result was that most Americans had to be ex- ceedingly careful not to talk aloud in public places. The American correspondents were even warned at the General Staff not to speak English at the front. Some of the correspondents who did not speak German were not taken to the battle areas because the Foreign Office desired to avoid insults. The year and a half between the sinking of the Lusitania and the severance of diplomatic rela- tions was a period of terror for most Americans in Germany. Only those who were so sympa- thetic with Gei-many that they were anti-Ameri- 78 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? can found it pleasant to live there. One day one of the American girls employed in the confiden- tial file room of the American Embassy was slapped in the face until she cried, by a German in civilian clothes, because she was speaking Eng- lish in the subway. At another time the wife of a prominent American business man was spit upon and chased out of a public bus because she was speaking English. Then a group of women chased her down the street. Another American woman was stabbed by a soldier when she was walking on Friedrichstrasse with a friend be- cause she was speaking English. When the State Department instructed Ambassador Gerard to bring the matter to the attention of the Foreign OfSce and to demand an apology Wilhelmstrasse referred the matter to the General Staff for in- vestigation. The soldier was arrested and se- cretly examined. After many weeks had elapsed the Foreign Office explained that the man who had stabbed the woman was really not a soldier but a red cross worker. It was explained that he had been wounded and was not responsible for what he did. The testimony of the woman, how- ever, and of other witnesses, showed that the man at the time he attacked the American was dressed in a soldier's uniform, which is grey, and which could not be mistaken for the black uniform of a red cross worker. It was often said in Berlin, '^Germany hates England, fights France, fears Russia but loathes HATE CAMPAIGN AGAINST AMERICA 79 America." No one, not even American officials, questioned it. The hate campaign was bearing fruit. In January, 1916, there appeared in Berlin a publication called Light and Truth. It was a twelve-page circular in English and German at- tacking President Wilson and the United States. Copies were sent by mail to all Americans and to hundreds of thousands of Germans. It was ed- ited and distributed by ^^Tlie League of TrutK" It was the most sensational document printed in Germany since the beginning of the war against a power with which Germany was supposed to be at peace. Page 6 contained two illustrations un- der the legend : WILSON AND HIS PRESS IS NOT AMERICA Underneath was this paragraph: ^^An American Demonstration — On the 27th of January, the birthday of the German Emperor, an immense laurel wreath decorated with the German and American flags was placed by Amer- icans at the foot of the monument to Frederick the Great (in Berlin). The American flag was enshrouded in black crape. Frederick the Great was the first to recognise the independence of the young Republic, after it had won its freedom from the yoke of England, at the price of its very hearths blood through years of struggle. His successor, Wilhelm II, receives the gratitude of 80 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? America in the form of hypocritical phrases and war supplies to his mortal enemy.'* One photograph Avas of the wreath itself. The other showed a group of thirty-six people, mostly boys, standing in front of the statue after the wreath had been placed. When ALmbassador Gerard learned about the '^demonstration'' he went to the statue and from there immediately to the Foreign Office, where he saw Secretary of State von Jagow. Gerard de- manded instantaneous removal of the wreath. Von Jagow promised an 'investigation." Ger- ard meanwhile began a personal investigation of the League of Truths which had purchased and placed the insult there. Days, weeks, even months passed. Yon Jagow still refused to have the wreath removed. Finally Gerard went to the Foreign Office and told von Jagow that unless it was taken away that day he would get it himself and send it by courier to Washington. That evening Gerard walked to the statue. The wreath had disappeared. Week by week the league continued its propa- ganda. Gerard continued his investigation. July 4, 1916, another circular was scattered broadcast. On page 1 was a large black cross. Pages 2 and 3, the inside, contained a reprint of the ''Declaration of Independence," with the im- print across the face of a bloody hand. Enclosed in a heavy black border on page 4 were nine it 'Der Q3indeftrid) jy LIGHT THE LEAGUE OF TRUTH Head Officer for OcrmariN BERLIN W 48. Polsdamcr SI. Tclrphonr Kuilutsl5IW AND TRUTH '^rieltbund dcr 2Dabrl)cit6freuiide 3cntral|lcllc fur Pcutfcbland : S e r I i n 2D Polsdamec Str. 48 :?«cnfpr«(iicr KuttiJcfl 51M rdtjcumin-nnjdiriitTOtihihdiobunJ-'Sdlici flusgabe Nr. 2 Mitteilungen April 1916 d e s Wahrheitsbundes Read, then help! miiiii | iiiiiiii Cefen, bann t)elf(n! miiiii THE LEAGUE OE TRUTH. A S o c i e I Y for DeslroYing inlernaliona! Falsehood. Without any blare of trumpets, but in that quiet and seclusion whidi gives birth to all signifi- cant enterprises, a league was formed a year ago in Germany Its motto is "For Light and Truth" The League now steps forth into the light ol day in order to continue its aclivilies in a more official manner The "League of Truth" whose Head Offices for Germany are located at 46. Potsdamer-Slrabe, Berlin W , is able to glance back over a series of splendid results, of which more will be heard later on. In order thai still wider circles may interest themselves in the ideas and aclivities of this private educational service maintained on true © e r QD a b r I) e 1 1 6 b u n d . €inc Q.")erciniciunc) 5ur llerniditung intcrnationolcr 'J«il(d)heit Obnc Quffjcbena, roic grofec Singe co trfordtrn, murde oor fiber cincm Jabr tin 'Sund gcgrOridct, dtr mm untcr dcr Parole „5ur Cict)t und ■JUabrbcit" in dit 6ffcntlid)Fcit trm, urn ofhjicll fcinc nufndrungetdcigfcit fortiiufcQcn. 5)cr „OTcli:bund dcr OTabrhcitsfrcundc", 3tntralt fur J>cutfcbland : licrlin 'Jll. , Polodamcr Strafe 4S tonn bcrcito ouf cine Tveibc oon Crfolqcn, ubcr die (pater nod) ju redcn fcin roird, )urii(fbli(fen. •Jim nun itieite Kreife fur die 3dee und TatigFtit dicieo prioatcn, ubernationalcn Qufflarungsdicnitca aiasty. But von Tirpitz had made a good many personal en- emies especially among financiers and business men. So the Kaiser, instead of ousting the Chan- cellor, asked von Tirpitz to resign and appointed 106 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? Admiral von Capelle, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy and a friend of the Chancellor, as von Tirpitz' successor. Admiral von Mueller, Chief of the Naval Cabinet, who was always at Great Headquarters as the Kaiser's personal adviser on naval affairs, was opposed to von Tirpitz and ex- posed him at the Great Headquarters conferences by saying that von Tirpitz had falsified the Navy's figures as to the number of submarines available for a blockade of E^igland. Von Ca- pelle supported von Mueller and when the friends of von Tirpitz in the Reichstag demanded an ex- planation for the ousting of their idol, both the Chancellor and von Capelle explained that Ger- many could not continue submarine warfare which von Tirpitz had started, because of the lack of the necessary submarines. This was the first big victory of the Foreign Office. The democratic forces in Germany which had been fighting von Tirpitz for over a year were jubilant. Every one in Germany who re- alised that not until the hold of the military party upon the Kaiser and the Government was dis- lodged, would the Government be able to make peace now breathed sighs of relief and began to make plans for the adjustment of all differences with the United States and for a peace without annexation. Von Tirpitz had had the support of all the forces in Germany which looked forward to the annexation of Belgium and the richest por- tions of Northern France. Von Tirpitz was sup- VON TIRPITZ AND VON FALKENHAYN 107 ported by the men who wanted the eastern border of Germany extended far into Poland and Lithuania. Even Americans were delighted. Washington for the first time began to see that eleven months of patience was bearing fruit. But this period of exaltation was not destined to last very long. While the Chancellor had cleaned house in the Navy Department at Berlin he had overlooked Kiel. There w^ere admirals and officers in charge there who were making preparations for the Navy. They were the men who talked to the sub- marine coramanders before they started out on their lawless sea voyages. On March 24th the whole world was shocked by another U-boat crime. ' The Sussex, a French channel steamer, plying between Folkstone and Dieppe, was torpedoed without warning and Americans w^ere among the passengers killed and wounded. When the news reached Berlin, not only the Chancellor and the Foreign Office were shocked and horrified, but the American Embassy began to doubt whether the Chancellor really meant what he said when he informed Gerard confidentially that now that von Tirpitz was gone there would be no new danger from the subma- rines. Even the new Admiralty administration was loathe to believe that a German submarine was responsible. By April 5th it was apparent to every one in Berlin that there would be another submarine 108 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? crisis with the United States and that the reac- tionary forces in Germany would attempt again to overthrow the Chancellor. Dr. von Bethmann- Hollweg, who had been doing everything possible to get some one to propose peace, decided to ad- dress the Reichstag again on Germany's peace aims. It was announced in the newspapers only a few days beforehand. The demand for tickets of admission was so great that early in the morning on the day scheduled for the address such dense crowds surrounded the Reichstag building that the police had to make passages so the military automobiles could reach the building to bring the officials there. The Chamber itself was crowded to the rafters. On the floor of the House practically every mem- ber was in his seat. On the rostrum were several hundred army and naval officers, all members of the cabinet, prominent business men and finan- ciers. Every one awaited the entrance of the Chancellor with great expectations. The National Liberals, who had been clamouring for the annex- ation of Belgium, the conservatives, who wanted a stronger war policy against England, the Social- ists, who wanted real guarantees for the German people for the future and a peace without annexa- tion, sat quietly in their seats anxiously awaiting the Chancellor's remarks which were expected to satisfy all wants. The Chancellor entered the chamber from the rear of the rostrum and proceeded to his desk in VON TIRPITZ AND VON FALKENHAYN 109 the front platform row, facing the House and galleries. After a few preliminary remarks by President Kaempf, the Chancellor arose. To the Chancellor's left, near the rear of the hall among his Socialist colleagues, sat a nervous, deter- mined and defiant radical. He was dressed in the uniform of a common soldier. Although he had been at the front several months and in the firing line, he had not received the iron cross of the second class which practically every soldier w^ho had seen service had been decorated with. His clothes were soiled, trousers stuffed into the top of heavy military boots. His thick, curly hair was rumpled. At this session of the Eeichstag the Chancellor was to have his first encounter with Dr. Karl Liebknecht, the Socialist radical, who in his soldier 's uniform was ready to challenge any- thing the Chancellor said. The Chancellor began his address, as he began all others, by referring to the strong military position of the German army. He led up, gradu- ally, to the subject of peace. When the Chan- cellor said: ^'We could have gotten what we wanted by peaceful work. Our enemies chose war.'' Liebknecht interjected in his sharp, shrill voice, ^^You chose the war!" There was great excitement and hissing; the President called for order. Members shouted : ^ ' Throw him out ! ' ' But Liebknecht sat there more determined than ever. The Chancellor continued for a few minutes 110 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? until lie reached the discussion of the establish- ment of a Flemish nation in Belgium, when Lieb- knecht again interrupted, but the Chancellor con- tinued: * ^ Grentlemen, we want neighbours who will not again unite against us in order to strangle us, but such that we can work with them and they with us to our mutual advantage/' A storm of applause greeted this remark. Lieb- knecht was again on his feet and shouted, ^ ^ Then you will fall upon them ! ' ' *^The Europe which will arise from this, thei most gigantic of all crises, will in many respects not resemble the old one,'' continued von Beth- mann-Hollweg. *^The blood which has been shed will never come back; the wealth which has been wasted will come back but only slowly. In any case, it must become, for all living in it, a Europe of peaceful labour. The peace which shall end this war must be a lasting one and not containing the germ of a fresh war, but establishing a final and peaceful order of things in European affairs." Before the applause had gotten a good start the fiery private in the Socialists' rank was again on his feet, this time shouting, *^ Liberate the Ger- man people first!" Throughout the Chancellor's speech there was not one reference to the Sussex. The Chancellor was anxious if he could to turn the world 's atten- tion from the Sussex to the larger question of peace, but the world was not so inclined. VON TIRPITZ AND VON FALKENHAYN 111 On the IStli of April I asked Admiral von Holtzendorff, Chief of the Admiralty Staff, for his opinion about the Sussex. Two days later he approved the interview, in which I quoted him as saying : **We did not sink the Sussex. 1 am as con- vinced of that as of anything which has happened in this war. If you read the definite instructions, the exact orders each submarine commander has you would understand that the torpedoing of the Sussex was impossible. Many of our submarines have returned from rounding up British vessels. They sighted scores of passenger ships going be- tween England and America but not one of these was touched. **We have definitely agreed to warn the crews and passengers of passenger liners. We have lived up to that promise in every way. We are not out to torpedo without warning neutral ships bound for England. Our submarines have re- spected every one of them so far, and they have met scores in the North Sea, the Channel and the Atlantic.'' On the same day that Ambassador Gerard handed von Jagow Secretary Lansing's note, Under Secretary of State Zimmermann approved the von Holtzendorff interview. Zimmermann could not make himself believe that a German submarine was responsible and the Government 112 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? had decided to disavow all responsibility. But such convincing reports began to arrive from the United States and from neutral European coun- tries which proved beyond a doubt that a German submarine was responsible, that the Government had to again bring up the submarine issue at Great Headquarters. When the von Holtzendorff inter- view was published in the United States it caused a sensation because if Germany maintained the attitude which the Chief of the Admiralty Staff had taken with the approval of the Foreign Office, a break in diplomatic relations could not be avoided. Secretary Lansing telegraphed Ambas- sador Gerard to inquire at the Foreign Office whether the statements of von Holtzendorff repre- sented the opinions of the German Government. Gerard called me to the Embassy but before I arrived Dr. Heckscher, of the Eeichstag Foreign Relations Committee, came. Gerard called me in in Heckscher 's presence to ask if I knew that the von Holtzendorff interview would bring about a break in diplomatic relations unless it was im- mediately disavowed. He told Dr. Heckscher to inform Zimmermann that if the Chief of the Ad- miralty Staff was going to direct Germany's for- eign policies he would ask his government to ac- credit him to the naval authorities and not to the Foreign Office. Heckscher would not believe my statement that Zimmermann had approved the interview and assured Gerard that within a very short time the Foreign Office would disavow von VON TIRPITZ AND VON FALKENHAYN 113 Holtzendorif 's statements. When he arrived at the Foreign Office, however, Zimmermann not only refused to disavow the Admiral's statement but informed Heckscher that he had the same opinions. President Wilson was at the end of his patience. Probably he began to doubt whether he could rely upon the reports of Ambassador Gerard that there was a chance of the democratic forces in Germany coming out ahead of the military caste. Wilson showed his attitude plainly in the Sussex note when he said: **The Government of the United States has been very patient. At every stage of this distress- ing experience of tragedy after tragedy it has sought to be governed by the most thoughtful considerations of the extraordinary circum- stances of an unprecedented war and to be guided by sentiments of very genuine friendship for the people and the Government of Germany. It has accepted the successive explanations and assur- ances of the Imperial Government as of course given in entire sincerity and good faith, and has hoped even against hope that it would prove to be possible for the Imperial Government so to order and control the acts of its naval command- ers as to square its policy with the recognised principles of humanity as embodied in the law of nations. It has made every allowance for un- precedented conditions and has been willing to 114 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? wait until the facts became unmistakable and were susceptible of only one interpretation. It now owes it to a just regard for its own rights to say to the Imperial Government that that time has come. It has become painfully evident to it that the position which it took at the very outset is inevitable, namely that the use of ''submarines for the destruction of enemy commerce is of ne- cessity, because of the very character of the ves- sels employed and the very methods of attack which their employment of course involves, ut- terly incompatible with the principles of human- ity, the long established and incontrovertible rights of neutrals and the sacred immunities of non-combatants. *^If it is still the purpose of the Imperial Gov- ernment to prosecute relentless and indiscrimi- nate warfare against vessels of commerce by the use of submarines without regard to what the Government of the United States must consider the sacred and indisputable rules of international law and the universally recognised dictates of humanity, the Government of the United States is at last forced to the conclusion that there is but one course it can pursue. Unless the Imperial Government should now immediately declare and effect an abandonment of its present methods of submarine warfare against passenger and freight carrying vessels, the Government of the United States can have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with the German Government altogether. VON TIRPITZ AND VON FALKENHAYN 115 This action the Government of the United States contemplates with the greatest reluctance but feels constrained to take in behalf of humanity and the rights of neutral nations. ' ' After von Jagow read the note the Foreign Office Telegraph Bureau sent it to Great Head- quarters, which at this time was still located in Charleville, France, for the information of the Kaiser and General von Falkenhayn. It was evi- dent to every one in Berlin that again, not only the submarine issue was to be debated at Great Headquarters, but that the Kaiser was to be forced again to decide between the Chancellor and his democratic supporters and von Falkenhajm and the military party. Before the Conference convened General Headquarters sent inquiries to five government departments, the Foreign Office, the Navy, the Ministry of War, the Treasury, said Interior. The Ministers at the head of these de- partments were asked to state whether in their opinion the controversy with America should be adjusted, or whether the submarine warfare should be continued. Dr. Karl Helfferich, the Vice Chancellor and Minister of Interior, Secre- tary of State von Jagow, and Count von Roedern, Minister of Finance, replied to adjust the diffi- culty. The Army and Navy said in effect: *'If you can adjust it without stopping the submarine warfare and without breaking with the United States do so.'* 116 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? The latter part of April the Kaiser summoned all of his ministers and his leading generals to the French chateau which he used as his head- quarters in Charleville. This city is one of the most picturesque cities in the occupied districts of northern France. It is located on the banks of the Meuse and contains many historic, old ruins. At one end of the town is a large stone castle, surrounded by a moat. This was made the head- quarters of the General Sta:ff after the Germans invaded this section of France. Near the railroad station there was a public park. Facing it was a French chateau, a beautiful, comfortable home. This was the Kaiser's residence. All streets leading in this direction were barricaded and guarded by sentries. No one could pass without a special writ- ten permit from the Chief of the General Staff. Von Falkenhayn had his home nearby in another of the beautiful chateaux there. The chief of every department of the General Staff lived in princely fashion in houses which in peace time were homes for distingnished Frenchmen. There were left in Charleville scarcely a hundred French citizens, because obviously French people, who were ene- mies of Germany, could not be permitted to go back and forth in the city which was the centre of German militarism. When the ministers arrived at the Kaiser's headquarters, His Majesty asked each one to make a complete report on the submarine war as it affected his department. Dr. Helfferich was VON TIRPITZ AND VON FALKENHAYN 117 asked to go into the question of German finance and the relation of America to it. Dr. Solf, the Colonial Minister, who had been a very good friend of Ambassador Gerard, discussed the ques- tion of the submarine warfare from the stand- point of its relation to Germany's position as a world power. Admiral von Capelle placed before the Kaiser the figures of the number of ships sunk, their tonnage, the number of submarines operat- ing, the number under construction and the num- ber lost. General von Falkenhayn reported on the military situation and discussed the hypo- thetical question as to what effect American inter- vention w^ould have upon the European war theatres. While the conferences were going on. Dr. Heckscher and Under Secretary Zimmermann, who at that time were anxious to avoid a break with the United States, sounded Ambassador Gerard as to whether he would be willing to go to Great Headquarters to confer with the Kaiser. The Foreign Office at the same time suggested the matter to the General Staff and within a few hours Mr. Gerard was invited to go to Charleville. Be- fore the ambassador arrived the Kaiser called all of his ministers together for a joint session and asked them to make a brief summary of their arguments. This was. not a peace meeting. Not only opponents of submarine warfare but its ad- vocates mobilised all their forces in a final attempt to win the Kaiser's approval. His Majesty, at 118 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? this time, was inclined towards peace with Amer- ica and was very much impressed by the argu- ments which the Chancellor and Dr. Helfferich presented. But, at this meeting, while Helfferich was talking and pointing to the moral effect which the ruthless torpedoing of ships was having upon neutral countries, von Falkenhayn interrupted with the succinct statement: *^ Neutrals? Damn the neutrals! Win the war ! Our task is to win. If we win we will have the neutrals with us; if we lose we lose.'' *^ Falkenhayn, when you are versed in foreign affairs I'll ask you to speak," interrupted the Kaiser. *^ Proceed, Dr. Helfferich." Gentleman that he is, von Falkenhayn accepted the Imperial rebuke, but not long afterward his resignation was submitted. As a result of these conferences and the argu- ments advanced by Ambassador Gerard, Secre- tary von Jagow on May 4th handed the Ambas- sador the German note in reply to President Wil- son's Sussex ultimatum. In this communication Germany said: ^^Fully conscious of its strength, the German Government has twice in the course of the past few months expressed itself before all the world as prepared to conclude a peace safeguarding the vital interests of Germany. In doing so, it gave expression to the fact that it was not its fault if peace was further withheld from the peoples of VON TIRPITZ AND VON FALKENHAYN 119 Europe. With a correspondingly greater claim of justification, the German Government may pro- claim its unwillingness before mankind and his- tory to undertake the responsibility, after twenty- one months of war, to allow the controversy that has arisen over the submarine question to take a turn which might seriously affect the maintenance of peace between these two nations. ^^The German Government guided by this idea notifies the Government of the United States that instructions have been issued to German naval commanders that the precepts of the general international fiindamental principles he observed as regards stopping, searching and destruction of merchant vessels within the ivar zone and that such vessels shall not Be sunk without warning and ivithout saving human life unless the ship attempts to escape or offers resistance: yy At the beginning of the war it was a group of military leaders consisting of General von Moltke, General von Falkenhayn, General von Mackensen, General von Herringen, Grand Admiral von Tir- pitz, and a few of the Prussian military clique, which prevailed upon the Kaiser to go to war after the assassination of the heir to the Austrian throne and his wife. The Allies proclaimed in their publications, in the press and in Parliaments that they were fighting to destroy and overthrow the military party in Germany which could make war without public consent. Millions of Allied 120 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? soldiers were mobilised and fighting in almost a complete ring surrounding Germany, Austria Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey. They had been fighting since August, 1914, for twenty-one months, and still their fighting had not shattered or weakened the hold which the military party had upon the people and the Kaiser. Von Tirpitz and von Falkenhayn, who, shortly after the war began, became the ringleaders of Germany's or- ganised Might, had fallen not before the armed foes on the hattlefielcl hut before a/ri unarmed nation with a president whose only weapon was public opinion. First, von Tirpitz fell because he was ready to defy the United States. Then came the downfall of von Falkenhayn, because he was prepared to damn the United States and all neu- trals. Surely a nation and a government after thirteen months of patience and hope had a right to believe that after all public opinion was a weapon which was sometimes more effective than any other. Mr. Wilson and the State Department were justified in feeling that their policy toward Germany was after all successful not alone be- cause it had solved the vexing submarine issue, but because it had aided the forces of democracy in Germany. Because, with the downfall of von Falkenhayn and von Tirpitz, there was only one recognised authority in Germany. That was the Chancellor and the Foreign Office, supported al- most unanimously by the Socialists and by the VON TIRPITZ AND VON FALKENHAYN 121 Liberal forces which were at work to reform the German Government. But this was in May, 1916, scarcely eight months before the Kaiser changed his mind and again decided to support the people who were clamouring for a ruthless, murderous, defiant war against the whole world, if the world was **foolish'^ enough to join in. CHAPTER VI THE PERIOD OF NEW ORIENTATION DE. KAEL LIEBKNECHT, after he liad clialleiiged the Chancellor ou the 4th of April, became the object of attack by the military authorities. The Chancellor, although he is the real Minister of Foreign Affairs, is, also, a Major General in the Army and for a private like Liebknecht to talk to a Major General as he did in the Eeichstag was contrary to all rules and precedents in the Prussian Army. The army was ready to send Liebknecht to the firing squad and it was only a short time until they had an oppor- tunity to arrest him. Liebknecht started riots in some of the ammunition factories and one night at Potsdamer Platz, dressed in civilian clothes, he shouted, *^Down with the Government,'' and started to address the passers-by. He was seized immediately by government detectives, who were always following him, and taken to the police sta- tion. His home was searched and when the trial began the papers, found there, were placed before the military tribunal as evidence that he was plot- ting against the Government. The trial was secret, and police blockaded all streets a quarter 122 THE PERIOD OF NEW ORIENTATION 123 of a mile away from the court where he was tried. Throughout the proceedings which lasted a week the newspapers were permitted to print only the information distributed by the Wolff Telegraph Bureau. But public sjinpathy for Liebknecht was so great that mounted police were kept in every part of the city day and night to break up crowds which might assemble. Behind closed doors, without an opportunity to consult his friends, with only an attorney appointed by the Government to defend him, Liebknecht was sen- tenced to two years ' hard labour. His only crime was that he had dared to speak in the Reichstag the opinions of some of the more radical socialists. Liebknecht 's imprisonment was a lesson to other Socialist agitators. The day after his sen- tencing was announced there were strikes in nearly every ammunition factory in and around Berlin. Even at Spandau, next to Essen the larg- est ammunition manufacturing city in Germany, several thousand workmen left their benches as a protest, but the German people have such terrible fear of the police and of their own military or- ganisation that they strike only a day and return the next to forget about previous events. If there were no other instances in Germany to indicate that there was the nucleus for a democ- racy this would seem to be one. One might say, too, that if such leaders as Liebknecht could be assisted, the movement for more freedom might have more success. 124 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? It was very difficult for tlie German public to accept the German reply to President Wilson's Sussex note. The people were bitter against the United States. They hated Wilson. They feared him. And the idea of the German Government bending its knee to a man they hated was enough cause for loud protests. This feeling among the people found plenty of outlets. The submarine advocates, who always had their ears to the ground, saw that they could take advantage of this public feeling at the expense of the Chancellor and the Foreign Office. Prince von Buelow, the former Chancellor, who had been spending most of his time in Switzerland after his failure to keep Italy out of the war, had written a book entitled ^* Deutsche Politik," which was intended to be an indictment of von Bethmann-Hollweg's international policies. Von Buelow returned to Berlin at the psychological moment and began to mobilise the forces against the Chancellor. After the Sussex dispute was ended the Social- ist organ Vorwaerts^ supported by Philip Scheide- mann, leader of the majority of the Socialists, de- manded that the Government take some steps toward peace. But the General Staff was so busy preparing for the expected Allied offensive that it had no time to think about peace or about internal questions. When von Falkenhayn re- signed and von Hindenburg arrived at Great Headquarters to succeed him the two generals met for the first time in many months. (There was THE PERIOD OF NEW ORIENTATION 125 bitter feeling between the two.) Von Falkenhayn, as he turned the office over to his successor, said: * ' Has Your Excellency the courage to take over this position now?" *^I have always had the courage, Your Excel- lency,'' replied von Hindenburg, *^but not the soldiers.'' In the Reichstag there has been only one real democratic party. That is the Socialist. The National Liberal Party, which has posed as a reform organisation, is in reality nothing more than the party controlled by the ammunition and war industries. When these interests heard that submarine warfare was to be so restricted as to be practically negligible, thej^ began to sow seeds of discontent among the ammunition makers. These interests began to plan for the time when the submarine warfare would again be discussed. Their first scheme was to try to overthrow the Chancellor. If they were not successful then they intended to take advantage of the democratic movement which was spreading in Germany to compel the Government to consent to the creation of a Reichstag Committee on Foreign Affairs to consult with the Foreign Office when all questions of international policy, including submarine war- fare, was up for discussion. Their first policy was tried early in July. Seizing that clause in the German note which said that Germany would hold herself free to change her promises in the Sussex case if the United States was not successful 126 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? against England, the Navy began to threaten the United States with renewed submarine warfare unless President Wilson acted against Great Britain. Reporting some of these events on June 12th, the Evening Ledger of Philadelphia printed the following despatch which I sent: '^Beelin, July 12. — The overthrow of Chancel- lor von Bethmann-Hollweg, champion of a con- ciliatory policy toward the United States, and the unloosing of German submarines within three months, was predicted by von Tirpitz supporters here to-day unless President "Wilson acts against the British blockade. ^ ' Members of the Conservative party and those favouring annexation of territory conquered by Germany joined in the forecast. They said the opinion of America will be disregarded. ^'A private source, close to the Foreign Office, made this statement regarding the attempt to unseat Bethmann-Hollweg at a time when the war is approaching a crisis: ^* * Unless America does something against England within the next three months there will be a bitter fight against the Chancellor. One can- not tell whether he will be able to hold Ms own against such opposition. The future of German- American relations depends upon America.^ *^ Despite this political drive against the man who stood out against a break with the United THE PERIOD OF NEW ORIENTATION 127 States in the Lusitania crisis, Americans here be- lieve Betlmiann-IIollweg will again emerge trium- phant. They feel certain that if the Chancellor appealed to the public for a decision he would be supported. '^The figlit to oust the Chancellor has now grown to such proportions that it overshadows in interest the Allied offensive. The attacks on the Chancellor have gradually grown bolder since the appearance of Prince Buelow's book ^Deutsche Politik,' because this book is believed to be the opening of Buelow's campaign to oust the Chan- cellor and step back into the position he occupied until succeeded by Bethmann-Hollweg in 1909. ^ ' The movement has grown more forceful since the Germa^n answer to President Wilson's ulti- matum was sent. The Conservatives accepted the German note as containing a conditional clause, and they have been waiting to see what steps the United States would take against England. ^^ Within the past few days I have discussed the situation with leaders of several parties in the Eeichstag. A National Liberal member of the Reichstag, who was formerly a supporter of von Tirpitz, and the von Tirpitz submarine policies, said he thought Buelow's success showed that opposition to America was not dead. ^^ ^Who is going to be your next President — Wilson or Hughes!' he asked, and then, without waiting for an answer, continued: ** ^If it is Hughes he can be no worse than 128 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? Wilson. The worst tie can do is to declare war on Germany and certainly that would be prefer- able to the present American neutrality. ** *If this should happen every one in our navy would shout and throw up his hat, for it would mean unlimited sea war against England. Our present navy is held in a net of notes. ^' ^What do you think the United States could do! You could not raise an army to help the Allies. You could confiscate our ships in Ameri- can ports, but if you tried to use them to carry supplies and munitions to the Allies we would sink them. ' ' ^ Carrying on an unlimited submarine war, we could sink 600,000 tons of shipping monthly, de- stroy the entire merchant fleets of the leading powers, paralyse England and win the war. Then we would start all over, build merchantmen faster than any nation, and regain our position as a lead- ing commercial power.' ^^ Friends of the Chancellor still hope that President Wilson will take a strong stand against England, thereby greatly strengthening Beth- mann-HoUweg's position. At present the cam- paign against the Chancellor is closely connected with internal policies of the Conservatives and the big land owners. The latter are fighting Beth- mann-Hollweg because he promised the people, on behalf of the Kaiser, the enactment of franchise reforms after the war.'' THE PERIOD OF NEW ORIENTATION 129 Commenting on this despatch, the New York World said: *'Not long ago it was the fashion among the opponents of the Administration to jeer loudly at the impotent writing of notes. And even among the supporters of the Administration there grew an uneasy feeling that we had had notes ad nausecmi. ^'Yet these plodding and undramatic notes arouse in German}^ a feeling very different from one of ridicule. The resentful respect for our notes is there admirably summed up by a mem- ber of the Reichstag who to the correspondent of the United Press exclaimed bitterly: ^Our present navy is held in "a net of notes.' ^'Nets may not be so spectacular as knuckle- dusters, but they are slightly more civilised and generally more efficient.*' The National Liberal Reichstag member who was quoted was Dr. Gustav Stressemann. Stresse- mann is one of the worst reactionaries in Ger- many but he likes to pose as a progressive. He was one of the first men to suggest that the Reich- stag form a committee on foreign relations to consult with and have equal power of decision with the Foreign Office. For a great many months the Socialist depu- ties of the Prussian Diet have been demanding election reforms. Their demands were so insist- 130 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? ent that over a year ago the Chancellor, when he read the Kaiser's address from the throne room in the residence palace in Berlin to the deputies, promised election reforms in Prussia — after the war. But during last summer the Socialists began to demand immediate election reforms. To fur- ther embarrass the Chancellor and the Govern- ment, the National Liberals made the same de- mands, knowing all the time that if the Govern- ment ever attempted it, they could swing the Reichstag majority against the proposal by tech- nicalities. Throughout the summer months the Govern- ment could not hush up the incessant discussion of war aims. More than one newspaper was sup- pressed for demanding peace or for demanding a statement of the Government's position in regard to Belgium and Northern France. The peace movement within Germany grew by leaps and bounds. The Socialists demanded immediate ac- tion by the Government. The Conservatives, the National Liberals and the Catholic party wanted peace but only the kind of a peace which Germany could force upon the Entente. The Chancellor and other German leaders tried again throughout the summer and fall to get the outside world inter- ested in peace but at this time the English and French attacks on the Somme were engaging the attention and the resources of the whole world. Before these conflicting movements within Ger- many can be understood one must know some- THE PERIOD OF NEW ORIENTATION 131 thing of the organisation of Germany in war time. When the military leaders of Germany saw that the possibility of capturing Paris or of de- stroying London was small and that a German victory, which would fasten Teutonic peace terms on the rest of the world, was almost impossible, they turned their eyes to Austria-Hungary, Bul- garia, the Balkans and Turkey. Friederich Naumann, member of the Progressive Party of the Reichstag, wrote a book on ^ ' Central Europe, ' ' describing a great nation stretching from the North Sea to Bagdad, including Germany, all of Austria- Hungary, parts of Serbia and Roumania and Turkey, with Berlin as the Capital. It was toward this goal which the Kaiser turned the forces of Germany at his command. If Germany could not rule the world, if Germany could not conquer the nine nations which the Director of the Post and Telegraph had lined up on the 2nd of August, 1914, then Germany could at least conquer the Dual Monarchy, the Balkans and Turkey, and even under these circumstances come out of the war a greater nation than she entered it. But to accomplish this purpose one thing had to be assured. That was the control of the armies and navies and the foreign policies of these governments. The old Kaiser Franz Josef was a man who guarded everything he had as jealously as a baby guards his toys. At one time when it was suggested to the aged monarch that Germany 132 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? and Austria-Hungary could establish a great kingdom of Poland as a buffer nation, if he would only give up Galicia as one of the states of this kingdom, he replied in his childish fashion: ^'What, those Prussians want to take another pearl out of my crown?" In June the Austro-Hungarian General Staff conducted an offensive against Italy in the Tren- tino with more success than the Germans had anticipated. But the Austrians had not calcu- lated upon Eussia. In July General Brusiloff attacked the Austrian forces in the neighbourhood of Lusk, succeeded in persuading or bribing a Bohemian army corps to desert and started through the Austrian positions like a flood over sloping land. Brusiloif not only took several hun- dred thousand prisoners. He not only broke clear through the Austrian lines but he thor- oughly demoralised and destroyed the Austrian army as a unit in the world war. Von Hinden- burg, who had been made Chief of the German General Staff, was compelled to send thousands of troops to the Wohlynian battlefields to stop the Eussian invasion. But von Hindenburg did not look with any degree of satisfaction upon the possibility of such a thing happening again 'and informed the Kaiser that he would continue as Chief of the General Staff only upon condition that he be made chief of all armies allied to Ger- many. At a Conference at Great Headquarters at Pless, in Silicia, where offices were moved from THE PERIOD OF NEW ORIENTATION 133 France as soon as the Field Marshal took charge, Hindenburg was made the leader of all the armed forces in Central Europe. Thus by one stroke, really by the aid of Russia, Germany succeeded in conquering Austria-Hungary and in taking away from her command all of the forces, naval and military, which she had. At the same time the Bulgarian and Turkish armies were placed at the disposal of von Hindenburg. So far so good for the Prussians. But there w^ere still some independent forces left wdthin the Central Powers. Hungary was not content to do the bidding of Prussia. Hungarians were not ready to live under orders from Berlin. Even as late as a few months ago when the Ger- man Minister of the Interior called a conference in Berlin to mobilise all the food within the Cen- tral Powers, the Hungarians refused to join a scheme which would rob them of food they had jealously guarded and saved since the beginning of the war. In the Dual Monarchy there are many freedom loving people who are longing for a deliverer. Hungary at one time feared Russia but only be- cause of the Czar. The real and most powerful democratic force among the Teutonic allies is lo- cated there in Budapest. I know of no city out- side of the United States where the people have such love of freedom and where public opinion plays such a big role. Budapest, even in war times, is one of the most delightful cities in 134 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? Europe and Hungary, even as late as last Decem- ber, was not contaminated by Prussian ideas. I saw Russian prisoners of war walking through the streets and mingling with the Hungarian soldiers and people. American Consul General Coffin informed me that there were seven thou- sand Allied subjects in Budapest who were undis- turbed. English and French are much more pop- ular than Germans. One day on my first visit in Budapest I asked a policeman in front of the Hotel Ritz in German, '^ Where is the Reichstag?" He shook his head and went on about his business regulating the traffic at the street corner. Then I asked him half in English and half in French where the Parliament was. With a broad smile he said: ^^Ah, Monsieur, voila, this street your right, vis a vis." Not a word of German would he speak. After the Allied offensive began on the Somme the old friends of von Tirpitz, assisted by Prince von Buelow, started an offensive against the Chancellor, with renewed vigour. This time they were determined to oust him at all costs. They sent emissaries to the Rhine Valley, which is dominated by the Krupp ammunition factories. These emissaries began by attacking the Chan- cellor's attitude towards the United States. They pointed out that Germany could not possibly win the war unless she defeated England, and it was easy for any German to see that the only way England could be attacked was from the seas ; that THE PERIOD OF NEW ORIENTATION 135 as long as England had her fleet or her merchant ships she could continue the war and continue to supply the Allies. It was pointed out to tire am- munition makers, also, that they were already fighting the United States ; that the United States was sending such enormous supplies to the En- tente, that unless the submarines were used to stop these supplies Germany would most certainly be defeated on land. And, it was explained that a defeat on land meant not only the defeat of the German army but the defeat of the ammunition interests. From April to December, 1916, was also the period of pamphleteering. Every one who could write a pamphlet, or could publish one, did so. The censorship had prohibited so many people and so many organisations from expressing their views publicly that they chose this method of cir- culating their ideas privately. The pamphlets could be printed secretly and distributed through the mails so as to avoid both the censors and the Government. So every one in Germany began to receive documents and pamphlets about all the ails and complaints within Germany. About the only people who did not do this were the Social- ists. The *^Alt-Deutsch Verband,'' which was an organisation of the gTeat industrial leaders of Germany, had been bitterly attacked by the Berlin Tagehlatt but when the directors wanted to pub- lish their reply the censors prohibited it. So, the Alt-Deutsch Verband issued a pamphlet and sent 136 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? it broadcast throughout Germany. In the mean- time the Chancellor and the Government realised that unless something was done to combat these secret forces which were undermining the Govern- ment's influence, that there would be an eruption in Germany which might produce serious results. Throughout this time the Socialist party was having troubles of its own. Liebknecht was in prison but there was a little group of radicals who had not forgotten it. They wanted the Socialist party as a whole to do something to free Lieb- knecht. The party had been split before the ad- vance of last summer so efforts were made to unite the two factions. At a well attended con- ference in the Keichstag building they agi'eed to forget old differences and join forces in support of the Government until winter, when it was hoped peace could be made. The Socialist party at various times during the war has had a difficult time in agreeing on govern- ment measures. While the Socialists voted unani- mously for war credits at the beginning, a year afterward many of them had changed their minds and had begun to wonder whether, after all, they had not made a mistake. This was the issue which brought about the first split in the Socialists' ranks. When it came time in 1916 to vote further credits to the Government the Socialists held a caucus. After three da^^s of bitter wrangling the ranks split. One group headed by Scheidemann decided to support the Government and another THE PERIOD OF NEW ORIENTATION 137 group with Herr Wolfgang Heine as tlie leader, decided to vote against tlie war loans. Scheidemann, who is the most capable and most powerful Socialist in Germany, carried with him the majority of the delegates and was supported by the greater part of public opinion. Heine, however, had the support of men like Dr. Haase and Eduard Bernstein who had considerable in- fluence with the public but who were not organ- isers or men capable of aggressive action, like Scheidemann. As far as affecting the Govern- ment's plans were concerned the Socialist split did not amount to much. In Germany there is such a widespread fear of the Government and the police that even the most radical Socialists hesi- tate to oppose the Government. In war time Ger- many is under complete control of the military authorities and even the Reichstag, which is sup- posed to be a legislative body, is in reaUty during war times only a closed corporation which does the bidding of the Government. The attitude of the Reichstag on any question is not determined at the party caucuses nor during sessions. Im- portant decisions are always arrived at at Great Headquarters between the Chancellor and the military leaders. Then the Chancellor returns to Berlin, summons the party leaders to his palace, explains what the Government desires and, with- out asking the leaders for their support, tells them that is what V07i Hindenbiirg expects. They know there is no choice left to them. Scheidemamj 138 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? always attends these conferences as the Socialist representative because the Chancellor has never recognised the so-called Socialist Labour Party which is made up of Socialist radicals who want peace and who have reached the point when they can no longer support the Government. One night at the invitation of an editor of one of Berlin's leading newspapers, who is a Socialist radical, I attended a secret session of the Socialist Labour Party. At this meeting there were pres- ent three members of the Reichstag, the President of one of Germany's leading business organisa- tions, two newspaper editors, one labour agitator who had been travelling to industrial centres to mobilise the forces which were opposed to a con- tinuation of the war, and a rather well known Socialist writer who had been inspiring some anti- Government pamphlets which were printed in Switzerland and sent by mail to Germany. One of the business men present had had an audience of the Kaiser and he reported what the monarch told him about the possibilities of peace. The re- port was rather encouraging to the Socialists be- cause the Kaiser said he would make peace as soon as there was an opportunity. But these Socialists did not have much faith in the Kaiser's promises and jokingly asked the business man if the Kaiser did not decorate him as a result of the audience ! The real object of this meeting was to discuss means of acquainting the German people with the THE PERIOD OF NEW ORIENTATION 139 American organisation entitled the League to Enforce Peace. An American business man, who was a charter member of the American organisa- tion, was there to explain the purposes of the League. The meeting decided upon the publica- tion in as many German newspapers as possible of explanatory articles. The newspaper editor present promised to prepare them and urged their publication in various journals. The first article appeared in Die Welt Am Montag, one of the weekly newspapers of Berlin. It was copied by a number of progressive newspapers throughout the Empire but when the attention of the military and naval authorities was called to this propaganda an order was issued prohibiting any newspaper from making any reference to the League to En- force Peace. The anti- American editorial writers were inspired to write brief notices to the effect that the League was in reality to be a League against Germany supported by England and the United States. Throughout the summer and fall there appeared in various newspapers, including the influential Frankfurter Zeitung, inspired articles about the possibilities of annexing the industrial centres and important harbours of Belgium. In Munich and Leipsic a book by Dr. Schumacher, of Bonn Uni- versity, was published, entitled, ^^iVntwerp, Its World Position and Importance for Germany's Economic Life.'' Another writer named Ulrich Rauscher wrote a number of newspaper and 140 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? magazine articles for the purpose of showing that Germany would need Antwerp after this war in order to successfully compete with Holland, Eng- land and France in world commerce. He figured that the diif erence between the cost of transporta- tion from the Rhine Valley industrial cities to Antwerp and the cost of transportation from the Rhine Valley to Hamburg and Bremen would be great enough as to enable German products to be sold in America for less money than products of Germany's enemies. These articles brought up the old question of the ^'freedom of the seas.'' Obviously, if the Allies were to control the seas after the war, as they had during the war, Germany could make no plans for the re-establishment of her world commerce unless there were some assurances that her merchant fleet would be as free on the high seas as that of any other nation. During the war Germany had talked a gTeat deal about the free- dom of the seas. When the Lusitania was tor- pedoed von Jagow said in an interview that Ger- many was fighting for the free seas and that by attacking England's control, Germany was act- ing in the interests of the whole world. But Ger- many was really not sincere in what she said about having the seas free. What Germany really desired was not freedom of the seas in peace time because the seas had been free before the war. What Germany wanted was free seas in war time, — freedom for her own merchant ships to go from OBuCKCtEJ KtftUHN •taaaiiiii, BCiiu* rmm nioT «tc.Kiisciiei» -9^ THIS IS THE PHOTOGRAPH OF VON HINDENBURC WHICH EVERY GERMAN HAS IX HIS HOME THE PERIOD OF NEW ORIENTATION 141 Germany to any part of the world and return with everything" except absolute contraband. Germany's object was to keep from building a navy great enough to protect her merchant fleet in order that she might devote all her energies to army organisation. But the freedom of the seas was a popular phrase. Furthermore it explained to the German people why their submarine war- fare was not inhuman because it was really fight- ing for the freedom of all nations on the high seas! While these public discussions were going on, the fight on the Chancellor began to grow. It was evident that when the Reichstag met again in September that there would be bitter and per- haps a decisive fight on von Bethmann-Hollweg. The division in Germany became so pronounced that people forgot for a time the old party lines and the newspapers and party leaders spoke of the ^'Bethmann parties" and the **von Tirpitz party.'' Whether the submarine should be used ruthlessly against all shipping was the issue which divided public sentiment. The same democratic forces which had been supporting the Chancellor in other fights again lined up with the Foreign Office. The reactionaries supported Major Bas- sermann, who really led the fight against the Chancellor. During this period the Chancellor and the Foreign Office saw that the longer the war lasted the stronger the von Tirpitz party would become because the people were growing more des- 142 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? perate and were enthused by the propaganda cry of the Navy, ^^DoAvn with England.'^ The Chan- cellor and the Foreign Office tried once more to get the world to talk about peace. After the presi- dential nominations in America the press began to discuss the possibilities of American peace inter- vention. Every one believed that the campaigTi and elections in America would have an important effect on the prospects of peace. Theodore Wolff, editor of the Berlin TagehlaU, who was the Chan- cellor's chief supporter in newspaper circles, be- gan the publication of a series of articles to ex- plain that in the event of the election of Charles E. Hughes, Germany would be able to count upon more assistance from America and upon peace. At the time the Allies were pounding away at the Somme and every effort was being made to bring about some kind of peace discussions when these battles were over. On September 20th a convention of Socialists was held in Berlin for the purpose of uniting the Socialist party in support of the Chancellor. The whole country was watching the Socialist discus- sions because every one felt that the Socialist party represented the real opinion of the people. After several days of discussion all factional dif- ferences were patched up and the Socialists were ready to present a solid front when the fight came in the Reichstag on September 28th. On the 27th, Berlin hotels began to buzz with excitement over the possibilities of overthrowing the Chancellor. THE PERIOD OF NEW ORIENTATION 143 The jBght was led by the National Liberals and Centre Party groups. It was proposed by Dr. Coerting, an industrial leader from Hannover, to move a vote of lack of confidence in the Chan- cellor. Coerting was supported by the big ammu- nition interests and by the von Tirpitz crowd. Before the Reichstag convened the Chancellor went to Great Headquarters for a final conference with the Kaiser and Field Marshal von Hinden- burg. Before he left it looked as if the Chancellor would be overthrown. But when he returned he summoned the Reichstag leaders who were sup- porting him and several editors of Liberal news- papers. The Chancellor told them that von Hin- denburg would support him. The next day edi- torials appeared in a nu'mber of newspapers, say- ing that von Hindenburg and the Chancellor were united in their ideas. This was the most success- ful strategic move the Chancellor had made, for the public had such great confidence in von Hin- denburg that when it was learned that he was opposed to von Tirpitz the backbone of opposition to the Chancellor was broken. On the 28th as von Bethmann-Hollweg appeared in the Reichstag, in- stead of facing a hostile and belligerent assembly, he faced members who were ready to support him in anything he did. The Chancellor, however, realised that he could take some of the thunder out of the opposition by making a strong state- ment against England. ^^Down with England,'' the popular cry, was the keynote of the Chan- 144 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? cellor's remarks. In this one speech he succeeded in uniting for a time at least public sentiment and the political parties in support of the Govern- ment. A few days afterward I saw Major Basser- mann at his office in the Reichstag and asked him whether the campaign for an unlimited submarine warfare would be resumed after the action of the Reichstag in expressing confidence in the Chan- cellor. He said: ^'That must be decided by the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Marine and the General Staff. England is our chief enemy and we must recog- nise this and defeat her." With his hands in his pocket, his face looking do^vn, he paced his office and began a bitter de- nunciation of the neutrality of the United States. I asked him whether he favoured the submarine warfare even if it brought about a break with the United States. ^^We wish to live in peace and friendship with America," he began, ^^but undoubtedly there is bitter feeling here because American supplies and ammunition enable our enemies to continue the war. If America should succeed in forcing Eng- land to obey international law, restore freedom of the seas and proceed with American energy against England's brutalisation of neutrals, it would have a decisive influence on the political situation between the two countries. If America THE PERIOD OF NEW ORIENTATION 145 does not do this then we must do it with our sub- marines. ' ' In October I was invited by the Foreign Office to go with a group of correspondents to Essen, Cologne and the Rhine Valley Industrial centres. In Essen I met Baron von Bodenhausen and other directors of Krupps. In Dusseldorf at the In- dustrie Klub I dined with the steel magnates of Germany and at Homburg-on-the-Rhine I saw August Thyssen, one of the richest men in Ger- many and the man who owtis one-tenth of Ger- many's coal and iron fields. The most impressive thing about this journey was what these men said about the necessity for unlimited warfare. Every man I met was opposed to the Chancellor. They hated him because he delayed mobilisation at the beginning of the war. They stated that they had urged the invasion of Belgium because if Belgium had not been invaded immediately France could have seized the Rhine Valley and made it impos- sible for Germany to manufacture war munitions and thereby to fight a war. They said they were in favour of an unlimited, ruthless submarine warfare against England and all ships going to the British Isles. Their opinions were best rep- resented in an inspired editorial appearing in the Rheinische Westfdlische Zeitung, in which it was stated : *^The war must be fought to a finish. Either Germany or England must win and the interests 146 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? here on the Rhine are ready to fight until Ger- many wins." '^Do yoii think Germany wants war with America?" I asked Thyssen. ^ ^ Never ! ' ' was his emphatic response. ^ ' First, because ive have enemies enough, and, secondly, because in peace times, our relations with America are always most friendly. We want them to con- tinue so after the war." Thyssen 's remarks could be taken on their face value were it not for the fact that the week before we arrived in these cities General Ludendorf, von Hindenburg's chief assistant and co-worker, was there to get the industrial leaders to manufacture more ammunition. Von Falkenhayn had made many enemies in this section because he cut down the ammunition manufacturing until these men were losing money. So the first thing von Hin- denburg did was to double all orders for ammuni- tion and war supplies and to send Ludendorf to the industrial centres to make peace with the men who were opposed to the Government. Thus from May to November German politics went through a period of transformation. No one knew exactly what would happen, — there were so many conflicting opinions. Political parties, in- dustrial leaders and the press were so divided it was evident that something would have to be done or the German political organisation would strike a rock and go to pieces. The Socialists were still THE PERIOD OF NEW ORIENTATION 147 demanding election reforms during the war. The National Liberals were intriguing for a Reichstag Committee to have equal authority with the For- eign Office in dealing with all matters of interna- tional affairs. The landowners, who were losing money because the Government was confiscating so much food, were not only criticising von Beth- mann-Hollweg but holding back as much food as they could for higher prices. The industrial lead- ers, who had been losing money because von Falkenhayn had decreased ammunition orders, were only partially satisfied by von Hindenburg's step because they realised that unless the war was intensified the Government would not need such supplies indefinitely. They saw, too, that the atti- tude Qf President Wilson had so injured what little standing they still had in the neutral world that unless Germany won the war in a decisive way, their world connections would disappear for- ever and they would be forced to begin all over after the war. Faced by this predicament, they demanded a ruthless submarine warfare against all shipping in order that not only England but every other power should suffer, because the more ships and property of the enemies destroyed the more their chances with the rest of the world would be equalised when the war was over. Food conditions were becoming worse, the people were becoming more dissatisfied; losses on the battle- fields were touching nearly every family. Depres- 148 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? sion was growing. Every one felt that something had to be done and done immediately. The press referred to these months of turmoil as a period of ''new orientation.'^ It was a time of readjustment which did not reach a climax until December twelfth when the Chancellor pro- posed peace conferences to the Allies. WHAT YOU CANNOT EAT OR DRINK Foodstuffs Which Abb Completely Exhausted in Germany 1. Rice. 12. Nuts. 2. Coffee. 13. Candy (a very limited num- 3. Tea. ber of persons can buy 4. Cocoa. one-quarter of a pound 5. Chocolate. about once a week). 6. Olive oil. 14. Malted milk. 7. Cream. 15. Beer made of either malt or 8. Fruit flavorings. hops. 9. Canned soups or soup cubes. 16. Caviar. 10. Syrups. 17. Ice cream. 11. Dried vegetables, beans, peas, 18. Macaroni. etc. WHAT YOU MAY EAT Food Obtainable ONLY by Cards 1. Bread, 1,900 grams per week per person. 2. Meat, 250 grams (% pound) per week per head. 3. Eggs, 1 per person every two weeks. 4. Butter, 90 grams per week per person. 5. Milk, 1 quart daily only for children under ten and invalids. 6. Potatoes, formerly 9 pounds per week ; lately in many parts of Germany no potatoes were available. 7. Sugar, formerly 2 pounds per month, now 4 pounds, but this will not continue long. 8. Marmalade, or jam, % of a pound every month. 9. Noodles, % a pound per person a month. 10. Sardines, or canned fish, small box per month. 11. Saccharine (a coal tar product substitute for sugar), about 25 small tablets a month. 12. Oatmeal, % of a pound per month for adults or 1 pound per month for children under twelve years. WHAT YOU CAN EAT Foods Which Every One with Money Can Buy 1. Geese, costing 8 to 10 marks per pound ($1.60 to $2 per pound). 2. Wild game, rabbits, ducks, deer, etc. 3. Smuggled meat, such as. ham and bacon, for $2.50 per pound. 4. Vegetables, carrots, spinach, onions, cabbage, beets. 5. Apples, lemons, oranges. 6. Bottled oil made from seeds and roots for cooking purposes, cost- ing $5 per pound. 7. Vinegar. 8. Fresh fish. 9. Fish sausage. 10. Pickles. 11. Duck, chicken and geese heads, feet and wings. 12. Black crows. THE FOOD SITUATION AT A GLANCE CHAPTEE VII THE BUBBLING ECOISTOMIC VOLCANO WHEiSr I entered Germany in 1915 there was plenty of food everywhere and prices were normal. But a year later the situa- tion had changed so that the number of food cards — Grermany's economic barometer — had increased eight times. March and April of 1916 were the worst months in the year and a great many people had difficulty in getting enough food to eat. There was growing dissatisfaction with the way the Gov- ernment was handling the food problem but the people 's hope was centred upon the next harvest. In April and May the submarine issue and the American crisis turned public attention from food to politics. From July to October the Somme battles kept the people's minds centred upon mili- tary operations. While the scarcity of food be- came greater the Government, through inspired articles in the press, informed the people that the harvest was so big that there would be no more food difficulties. Germany began to pay serious attention to the food situation, when early in the year, Adolph von 150 THE BUBBLING ECONOMIC VOLCANO 151 Batocki, the president of East Prussia and a big land owner, was made food dictator. At the same time there were organised various government food departments. There was an Imperial Bu- reau for collecting fats; another to take charge of the meat supply; another to control the milk and another in charge of the vegetables and fruit. Germany became practically a socialistic state and in this way the Government kept abreast of the growth of Socialism among the people. The most important step the Government took was to organise the Zentral Einkaufgesellschaft, popu- larly known as the ^^Z. E. G.^' The first object of this organisation was to purchase food in neu- tral comitries. Previously German merchants had been going to Holland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries to buy supplies. These merchants had been bidding against each other in order to get products for their concerns. In this way food was made much more expensive than it would have been had one purchaser gone outside of Germany. So the Government pro- hibited all firms from buying food abroad. Trav- elling agents of the *^Z. E. G." went to these coun- tries and bought all of the supplies available at a jBjxed price. Then these resold to German dealers at cost. Such drastic measures were necessitated by the public demand that every one share alike. The Government found it extremely difficult to control the food. Farmers and rich landowners insisted 152 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? upon slaughtering their own pigs for their own use. They insisted upon eating the eggs their chickens laid, or, upon sending them through the mail to friends at high prices, thereby evading the egg card regulations. But the Government stepped in and farmers were prohibited from killing their own cattle and from sending foods to friends and special customers. Farmers had to sell everything to the ^'Z. E. G.'' That was an- other result of State Socialism. The optimistic statements of Herr von Batocki about the food outlook led the people to believe that by fall conditions would be greatly improved but instead of becoming more plentiful food sup- plies became more and more organised until all food was upon an absolute ration basis. '^Although the crops were good this year, there will be so much organisation that food will spoil,'' said practically every German. Batocki 's method of confiscating food did cause a great deal to spoil and the public blamed him any time any- thing disappeared from the market. One day a carload of plums was shipped from Werder, the big fruit district near Berlin, to the capital. The **Z. E. G." confiscated it but did not sell the goods immediately to the merchants and the plums spoiled. Before this was found out, a crowd of women surrounded the train one day, which was standing on a side track, broke into a car and found most of the plums in such rotten condition they could not be used. So they painted on the THE BUBBLING ECONOMIC VOLCANO 153 sides of the ear : ' ' This is the kind of plum jam the ^Z. E. G.' makes. ^' There was a growing scarcity of all other sup- plies, too. The armies demanded every possible labouring man and woman so even the canning factories had to close and food which formerly was canned had to be eaten while fresh or it spoiled. Even the private German family, which was accustomed to canning food, had to forego this practice because of a lack of tin cans, jars and rubber bands. The food depots are by far the most successful undertaking of the Government. In Cologne and Berlin alone close to 500,000 poor are being fed daily by municipal kitchens. Last October I went through the Cologne food department with the director. The city has rented a number of large vacant factoiy buildings and made them into kitchens. Municipal buyers go through the coun- try to buy meat and vegetables. This is shipped to Cologne, and in these kitchens it is prepared by women workers, under the direction of volunteers. A stew is cooked each day and sold for 42 pfen- nigs (about eight cents) a quart. The people must give up their potato, fat and meat cards to obtain it. In Berlin and all other large cities, the same system is used. In one kitchen in Berlin, at the main market hall, 80,000 quarts a day are pre- pared. In Cologne this food is distributed through the city streets by municipal wagons, and the people 154 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? get it almost boiling hot, ready to eat. Were it not for tliese food depots there would be many thousands of people who would starve because they could not buy and cook such nourishing food for the price the city asks. These food kitchens have been in use now almost a year, and, while the poor are obtaining food here, they are becoming very tired of the supply, because they must eat stews every day. They can have nothing fried or roasted. In addition to these kitchens the Government has opened throughout Germany ^'mittlestand kueche," a restaurant for the middle classes. Here government employees, with small wages, the poor who do not keep house and others with little means can obtain a meal for 10 cents, con- sisting of a stew and a dessert. But it is very difficult for people to live on this food. Most every one who is compelled by circumstances to eat here is losing weight and feels under-nour- ished all the time. A few months ago, after one of my secretaries had been called to the army, I employed another. He had been earning only $7 a week and had to support his wife. On this money they ate at the middle class cafes. In six months he had lost twenty pounds. Because the food is so scarce and because it lacks real nourishment people eat all the time. It used to be said before the war that the Ger- mans were the biggest eaters in Europe — that THE BUBBLING ECONOMIC VOLCANO 155 they ate seven meals a day. The blockade has not made them less eaters, for they eat every few hours all day long now, but because the food lacks fats and sugars, they need more food. Eestaurants are doing big business because after one has eaten a ''meaP' at any leading Ber- lin hotel at 1 o'clock in the afternoon one is hun- gry by 3 o'clock and ready for another ^'meal." Last winter the Socialists of Munich, who saw that the rich were having plenty of food and that the poor were existing as best they could in food kitchens, wrote Chancellor von Bethmann-Holl- weg and demanded the immediate confiscation of all food in Germany, even that in private resi- dences. The Socialists ' demandVas, as are most others, thrown into the waste basket because men like the Chancellor, President Batocki, of the Food De- partment, wealthy bankers, statesmen and army generals have country estates where they have stored food for an indefinite period. They know that no matter how hard the blockade pinches the people it won't starve them. When the Chancellor invites people to his pal- ace he has real coffee, white bread, plenty of po- tatoes, cake and meat. Being a government offi- cial he can get what he wants from the food de- partment. So can other officials. Therefore, they were willing to disregard the demand of the Ba- varian Socialists. But the Socialists, although they don't get pub- 156 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? licity when they start something, don't give up until they accomplish what they set out to do. First, they enlisted the Berlin Socialists, and the report went around to people that the rich were going to Copenhagen and bringing back food while the poor starved. So the Government had to prohibit all food from coming into Germany by way of Denmark unless it was imported by the Government. That was the first success of the Bavarian So- cialists. Now they have had another. Batocki is reported as having announced that all food sup- plies will be confiscated. The Socialists are re- sponsible. Excepting the very wealthy and those who have stored quantities of food for the ^' siege,'' every German is undernourished. A great many people are starving. The head physician of the Kaiserin Augusta Victoria Hospital, in Berlin, stated that 80,000 children died in Berlin in 1916 from lack of food. The LoUal-Anzeiger printed the item and the Foreign Office censor prohibited me from sending it to New York. But starvation under the blockade is a slow process, and it has not yet reached the army. When I was on the Somme battlefields last No- vember and in Rumania in December the soldiers were not only well fed, but they had luxuries which their families at home did not have. Two years ago there was so much food at home the women sent food boxes to the front. To-day the soldiers THE BUBBLING ECONOMIC VOLCANO 157 not only send but carry quantities of food from the front to tlieir liomes. The army has more than the people. It is almost impossible to say whether Ger- many, as a nation, can be starved into submission. Everything depends upon the next harvest, the length of the war and future military operations. The German Government, I think, can make the people hold out until the coming harvest, unless there is a big military defeat. In their present undernourished condition the public could not face a defeat. If the war ends this year Germany will not be so star^^ed that she will accept any peace terms. But if the war continues another year or two Germany will have to give up. I entered Germany at the beginning of the Allied blockade when one could purchase any kind and any quantity of food in Germany. Two years later, when I left, there were at least eighteen foodstuffs which could not be purchased any- where, and there were twelve kinds of food which could be obtained only by government cards. That is what the Allied blockade did to the food supplies. It made Germany look like a grocery store after a closing out sale. Suppose in the United States you wanted the simplest breakfast — coffee and bread and butter. Suppose you wanted a light luncheon of eggs or a sandwich, tea and fruit. Suppose for dinner you wanted a plain menu of soup, meat, vegetables and dessert. At any grocery or lunch counter you 158 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? could get not only these plain foods, but anything else you wanted. Not so in Germany! For breakfast you can- not have pure coffee, and you can have only a very small quantity of butter with your butter card. Hotels serve a coffee substitute, but most people prefer nothing. For luncheon you may have an egg, but only one day during two weeks. Hotels still serve a weak, highly colored tea and apples or oranges. For dinner you may have soup without any meat or fat in it. Soups are just a mixture of water and vegetables. Two days a week you can get a small piece of meat with a meat card. Other days you can eat boiled fish. People who keep house, of course, have more food, because as a rule they have been storing supplies. Take the Christian Scientists as an instance. Members of this Church have organ- ised a semi-official club. Members buy all the extra food possible. Then they divide and store away what they want for the ^^ siege" — the time when food will be scarcer than it is to-day. Two women practitioners in Berlin, w^ho live together, bought thirty pounds of butter from an American who had brought it in from Copen- hagen. They canned it and planned to make this butter last one year. Until a few weeks ago peo- ple with money could go to Switzerland, Holland and Denmark and bring back food with them, either with or without permission. Some wealthy THE BUBBLING ECONOMIC VOLCANO 159 citizens who import machinery and other things from outside neutral countries have their agents smuggle food at the same time. While the Dutch, Danish and Swiss govern- ments try to stop smuggling, there is always some going through. The rich have the money to bribe border officers and inspectors. When I was in Dtisseldorf, last October, I met the owner of a number of canal boats, who shipped coal and iron products from the Ehine Valley to Denmark. He told me his canal barges brought back food from Copenhagen every trip and that the border au- thorities were not very careful in making an in- vestigation of his boats. In Dtisseldorf, too, as well as in Cologne, busi- ness men spoke about the food they got from Belgium. They did not get great quantities, of course, but the leakage was enough to enable them to live better than those who had to depend upon the food in Germany. When the food supplies began to decrease the Government instituted the card system of distri- bution. Bread cards had been very successful, so the authorities figured that meat, butter, potato and other cards would be equally so. But their calculations were wrong. When potato cards were issued each person was given nine pounds a week. But the potato har- vest was a big failure. The supply was so much less than the estimates that seed potatoes had to be used to keep the people satisfied. Even then 160 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? the supply was short, and the quantity to be sold on potato cards was cut to three pounds a week. Then transportation difficulties arose, and pota- toes spoiled before they reached Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Dresden, Leipsic and other large cities. The same thing happened when the Government confiscated the fruit crop last year. One day I was asked on the telephone whether I wanted to buy an 11-pound ham. I asked to have it sent to my office immediately. When it came the price was $2.50 a pound. I sent the meat back and told the man I would not pay such a price. ' ^ That 's all right, ' ' he replied. ^ ' Dr. Stein and a dozen other people will pay me that price. I sent it to you because I wanted to help you out. ' ^ Dr. Ludwig Stein, one of the editors of the Vossiche Zeitung, paid the price and ordered all he could get for the same money. When I left Berlin the Government had issued an order prohibiting the sale of all canned vege- tables and fruit. It was explained that this food would be sold when the present supplies of other foods were exhausted. There were in Berlin many thousand cans, but no one can say how long such food will last. When Americans ask, **How long can Germany hold outr' I reply, *^As long as the German Gov- ernment can satisfy the vanity and stimulate the nerves of the people, and as long as the people permit the Government to do the nation ^s think- ing. ' ' THE BUBBLING ECONOMIC VOLCANO 161 How long a time that will be no one can say. It was formerly believed that whenever a nation reached the limit wliich Germany has reached it would crumple up. But Germany fails to crumple. Instead of breaking up, she fights harder and more desperately. Why can she do this! The answer is simple: Because the German people believe in their Government and the Government knows that as long as it can convince the people that it is winning the war the people will ^ght. Germany is to-day in the position of a man on the verge of a nervous breakdown; in the posi- tion of a man who is under-nourished, who is de- pressed, who is weighed down by colossal bur- dens, who is brooding over the loss of friends and relatives, but of a man who feels that his future health and happiness depend upon his ability to hold out until the crisis passes. If a physician were called in to prescribe for such a patient his first act would in all probability be to stimulate this man's hope, to make him believe that if he would only *'hold ouf he would pass the crisis successfully. But no physician could say that his patient could stand it for one week, a month or a year more. The doctor would have to gamble upon that man's nerves. He would have to stimulate him daily, perhaps hourly. So it is with the German nation. The country is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Men and women, business men and generals, long ago 162 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? lost their patience. They are under-nourished. They are depressed, distressed, suffering and anxious for peace. It is as true of the Hamburg- American Line directors as it is true of the officers at the front. There have been more cases of nervous break- downs among the people during the last year than at any time in Germany's history. There have been so many suicides that the newspapers are forbidden to publish them. There have been so many losses on the battlefields that every family has been affected not once, but two, three and four times. Dance halls have been closed. Cafes and hotels must stop serving meals by 11 o'clock. Theatres are presenting the most sullen plays. Rumours spread like prairie fires. One day Hin- denburg is dead. Two days later he is alive again. But the Kaiser has studied this war psychology. He and his ministers know that one thing keeps the German people fighting — their hope of ulti- mate victory; their belief that they have won already. The Kaiser knows, too, that if the pub- lic mind is stimulated from day to day by new victories, by reports of many prisoners, of new territory gained, of enemy ships torpedoed, or by promises of reforms after the war, the public will continue fighting. So the Kaiser gambles from day to day with his people's nerves. For two years he has done this, and for two years he has been supported by a 12,000,000-man-power army and a larger army THE BUBBLING ECONOMIC VOLCANO 163 of workers and women at home. The Kaiser be- lieves he can gamble for a long time yet with his people. Just as it is impossible for a physician to say how long his patient can be stimulated without breaking down, so is it impossible for an observer in Germany to say how long it will be before the break-up comes in Germany. Many times during the war Germany has been on the verge of a collapse. President Wilson's ultimatum after the sinking of the Sussex in the English Channel brought about one crisis. Von Falkenhayn's defeat at Verdun caused another. The Somme battle brought on a third. General Brusiloff's offensive against the Austrians upset conditions throughout the Central Powers. Ru- mania's declaration of war made another crisis. But Germany passed all of these successfully. The ability of the German Government to con- vince the people that Wilson was unneutral and wanted war caused them to accept Germany's note in the Sussex case. The defeat at Verdun was explained as a tactical success. The Somme bat- tles, with their terrible losses, failed to bring a break-up because the Allies stopped attacking at the critical moment. Von Hindenburg as chief of the General Staff of Central Europe remedied the mistakes of the Austrians during Brusiloff's attacks by reorgan- ising the Dual Monarchy's army. The crisis which Rumania's entrance on the Allies' side 164 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? brought in Germany and Hungary was forgotten after von Mackensen took Bucharest. In each of these instances it will be noticed that the crisis was successfully passed by *^ stimula- tion.'' The German mind was made to believe what the Kaiser willed. But what about the future 1 Is there a bottom- less well of stimulation in Germany! Before these questions can be answered others must be asked: Why don't the German people think for themselves*? Will they ever think for themselves? An incident which occurred in Berlin last De- cember illustrates the fact that the people are beginning to think. After the Allies replied to President Wilson's peace note the Kaiser issued an appeal to the German people. One morning it was printed on the first pages of all newspapers in boldface type. When I arrived at my office the janitor handed me the morning papers and, point- ing to the Kaiser's letter, said: ^^I see the Kaiser has written US another letter. You know he never wrote to US in peace time." There are evidences, too, that others are be- ginning to think. The Eussian revolution is go- ing to cause many Socialists to discuss the future of Germany. They have discussed it before, but always behind closed doors and with lowered voices. I attended one night a secret meeting of three Socialist leaders of the Eeichstag, an editor of a Berlin paper and several business men. THE BUBBLING ECONOMIC VOLCANO 165 What they said of the Kaiser that night would, if it were published, send every man to the military firing squad. But these men didn't dare speak that way in public at that time. Perhaps the Eussian revolt will give them more courage. But the Government is not asleep to these changes. The Kaiser believes he can continue juggling public opinion, but he knows that from now on it will be more difficult. But he will not stop. He will always hold forth the vision of vic- tory as the reward for German faithfulness. To- day, for instance, in the United States we hear very little about the German submarine warfare. It is the policy of the Allies not to publish all losses immediately; first because the enemy must not be given any important information if pos- sible, and, secondly, because losses have a bad effect upon any people. But the German people do not read what we do. Their newspapers are printing daily the ship losses of the Entente. Submarines are returning and making i*eports. These reports are published and in a way to give the people the impression that the submarine war is a success. We get the opposite impression here, but we are not in a position better to judge than the Germans, be- cause we don't hear everything. The important question, however, is : What are the German people being told about submarine warfare 1 Judging from past events, the Kaiser and his 166 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? Na,vy are undoubtedly magnifying every sinking for the purpose of stimulating the people into be- lieving that the victory they seek is getting nearer. The Government knows that the public favours ruthless torpedoing of all ships bound for the enemy, so the Government is safe in concluding that the public can be stimulated for some months more by reports of submarine victory. Military operations in the West are probably not arousing the discussion in Berlin that the plans against Russia are. The Government will see to it that the press points regularly to the possibilities of a separate peace with Russia, or to the possibility of a Hindenburg advance against England and France. The people have childlike faith in von Hinden- burg. If Paul von Hindenburg says a retreat is a victory the people will take his judgment. But all German leaders know that the time is coming when they will have to show the German people a vic- tory or take the consequences themselves. Hence it would not be surprising if, after pres- ent military operations are concluded, either by an offensive against Russia or by an attack on the Western line, the Chancellor again made peace proposals. The Socialists will force the Chancel- lor to do it sooner or later. They are the real power behind the throne, although they have not enough spunk to try to oust the Kaiser and tell the people to do their own thinking. A big Allied military victory would, of course, THE BUBBLING ECONOMIC VOLCANO 167 change everything. Defeat of the German army would mean defeat of von Hindenburg, the Ger- man god. It would put an end to the Kaiser's juggling with his people's nerves. But few peo- ple in Germany expect an Entente victory this year, and they believe that if the Allies don't win this year they never will win. Germany is stronger militarily now than she has been and Germany will be able for many months to keep many Entente armies occupied. Before the year is passed the Entente may need American troops as badly as France needed Eng- lish assistance last year. General von Falken- hayn, former chief of the German General Staff, told me about the same thing last December, in Rumania. *^In war," he remarked, ^^ nothing is certain ex- cept that everything is uncertain, but one thing I know is certain : We will win the war. ' ' America's entrance ^ however, will have the de- cisive effect. The Allies, especially the French, appreciate this. As a high French official re- marked one day when Ambassador Gerard's party was in Paris: ^' There have been two great moments in the war for France. The first was when England de- clared war to support us. The second was the breaking of diplomatic relations between the United States and Germany." The Germans don't believe this. As General von Stein, Prussian Minister of War, said, Ger- 168 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? many doesn't fear the United States. He said that, of course, for its effect upon the German people. The people must be made to believe this or they will not be able to hate America in true German fashion. America's participation, however, will upset Hindenburg's war plans. American intervention can put a stop to the Kaiser's juggling with his people's minds by helping the Allies defeat Ger- many. Only a big military defeat will shake the confidence of the Germans in the Kaiser, Hinden- burg and their organised might. The people are beginning to think now, but they will do a great deal more thinking if they are beaten. So the answer to the question: ^^How long can Germany hold out ? " is really answered by saying that Germany can keep on until she is decisively defeated militarily. CHAPTER VIII THE PEACE DRIVE OF DECEMBER 12tH DISTURBED by internal political dissension and tormented by lack of food the German ship of state was sailing troubled waters by November, 1916. Chancellor von Bethmann- Hollweg's speech to the Reichstag on September 28th satisfied no one. After he had spoken the only thing people could recall were his words : '^The mighty tasks which await ns in all the domains of public, social, economic, and political life need all the strength of the people for their fulfilment. It is a necessity of state which ^vill triumph over all obstacles to utilise to the utmost those forces which have been forged in the fire and which clamour for work and creation. A free path for all ivlio are capable — that must he our ivatch- word. If we carry it out freely, mthout prejudice, then our empire goes to a healthy future.'' The press interpreted this as meaning that the Chancellor might some day change his mind about the advisability of a ruthless submarine warfare. Early in November when it appeared that the Al- 169 170 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? lies would not succeed in breaking through at the Somme peace forces were again mobilised. But when various neutral countries sounded Germany as to possible terms they discovered that Germany was the self-appointed 'S^ictor'' and would con- sider only a peace which recognised Germany as the dominant power in Europe. The confidence of the army in the victory was so great that the following article was printed in all the German newspapers : ^' FAITH IN VICTOEY'^ * ^ Great Headquarters sends us the following : ^^ Since the beginning of the war, when enemies arose on all sides and millions of troops proceeded from all directions — since then more than two long years have brought no more eventful days than those of the present. The unity of the front — our enemies have prepared it for a long time past with great care and proclaimed it in loud tones. Again and again our unexpected attacks have disturbed this boldly thought out plan in its development, destroying its force, but now at last something has been accomplished that realises at least part of the intentions of our enemies and all their strength is being concentrated for a simultaneous attack. The victory which was withheld from them on all the theatres of war is to be accomplished by an elaborate attack against the defensive walls of our best blood. The masses of iron supplied them by half the world are poured on our gallant troops PEACE DRIVE OF DECEMBER 12TH 171 day and night with the object of weakening their will and then the mass attacks of white, yellow, brown and black come on. ''The world never experienced anything so mon- strous and never have armies kept up a resistance such as ours. ' ' Our enemies combine the hunger and lie cam- paign with that of arms, both aimed at the head and heart of our home. The hunger campaign they will lose as the troublesome work of just an equal administration and distribution of the necessities of life is almost complete. And a promising harvest has ripened on our broad fields. From the first day of the war, we alone of all the belligerent nations published the army reports of all of our enemies in full, as our confidence in the constancy of those at home is unlimited. But our enemies have taken advantage of this confidence and several times a day they send out war re- ports to the world; the English since the begin- ning of their offensive send a despatch every two hours. Each of these publications is two or three times as long as our daily report and all written in a style which has nothing in common with mil- itary brevity and simplicity. Tliis is no longer the language of the soldier. They are mere fan- tastic hymns of victory and their parade of names and of conquered villages and woods and stormed positions, and the number of captured guns, and tens of thousands of prisoners is a mockery of the truth. 17S GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? ^'Wliy is all this done? Is it only intended to restore the wearying confidence of their own armies and people and the tottering faith of their allies 1 Is it only intended to blind the eagerly ob- serving eye of the nentralsf No, this flood of tele- grams is intended to pass through the channels which we ourselves have opened to our enemy, and to dash against the heart of the German people, undermining and washing away our steadfastness. *^But this despicable game will not succeed. In the same manner as our gallant troops in the field defy superior numbers, so the German people at home will defy the enemies' legions of lies, and remember that the German army reports cannot tell them and the world at large everything at present, but they never publish a word the truth of which could not be minutely sifted. With proud confidence in the concise, but absolutely reliable publications of our own army administration, Germany will accept these legions of enemy re- ports at their own value, as wicked concoctions, attempting to rob them of calm and confidence which the soldier must feel supporting him, if he joyfully risks his all for the protection of those at home. Thus our enemies' legions of lies will break against the wall of our iron faith. Our warriors defy the iron and fire — those at home will also defy the floods of printed paper and re- main unrufiled. The nation and army alike are one in their will and faith in victory." dRiindyen. 4. 'Mai 1915 Pceis 30:pf3, 20. Oo^cgang Stc. 5 Si/v\PL[cissi/v\us Hbonncmfnl t»lrt(elinhtli4 3 Tnt 60 Tfo atU XKfcn focWbol '^grunbef oon JM«H'^n3cn un.btD).Q.t)Tjcine 2£mecifa unb bee ^atitan abfnnnnml rtcrltliabclldi 3 TOr 60 Df^ ,2DI« foU ■tin (jcicbinxngrl flirgn togoaa. Ji«n PtiiflD»«. »no eit i^ai imao Oranatto In 6ii Xaf4ca fliifcii?!' THE POPE TO PRESIDENT WILSON — "hOW CAN MY ANGEL FLY, MR. PRESIDENT, WHEN YOU ALWAYS PUT SHELLS IN HER POCKETS?" PEACE DRIVE OF DECEMBER 12TH 173 This is a tjrpical example of the kind of inspired stories which are printed in the German newspa- pers from time to time to keep up the confidence of the people. This was particularly needed last fall because the people were depressed and melan- choly over the losses at the Somme, and because there was so much criticism and dissatisfaction over the Chancellor's attitude towards the sub- marine warfare and peace. People, too, were suf- fering agonies in their homes because of the in- ferior quality of the food, — the lack of necessary fats and sugar which normal people need for regu- lar nourishment. The Socialists, who are in closer touch with the people than any others, increased their demands for peace while the National Lib- erals and the Conservatives, who wanted a war of exhaustion against Great Britain, increased their agitation for the submarine warfare. The Chan- cellor was between two tormentors. Either he had to attempt to make peace to satisfy the Socialists and the people, or he had to give in to the de- mands for submarine warfare as outlined by the National Liberals. One day Scheidemann went to the Chancellor's palace, after he had visited all the big centres of Germany, and said to von Beth- mann-Hollweg : ^ ^ Unless you try to make peace at once the peo- ple will revolt and I shall lead the revolution ! ' ' At the same time the industrial leaders of the Rhine Valley and the Army and Navy were serv- 174 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? ing notice on the Government tliat there could not possibly be a German victory unless every weapon in Germany ^s possession, which included of course the submarine, was used against Germany's so- called chief foe — England. Confronted by graver troubles within Germany than those from the outside, the Chancellor went to Great Headquarters to report to the Kaiser and to discuss with von Hindenburg and Luden- dorf what should be done to unite the German nation. While the Army had been successful in Rouma- nia and had given the people renewed confidence, this was not great enough to carry the people through another hard winter. While Germany had made promises to the United States in May that no ships would be sunk without warning, the submarines were not adher- ing very closely to the written instructions. The whole world was aroused over Germany's re- peated disregard of the rules and practice of sea warfare. President Wilson through Ajnbassador Gerard had sent nine inquiries to the Foreign Office asking for a report from Germany on the sinking of various ships not only contrary to in- ternational law but contrary to Germany's pledges. In an attempt to ward off many of the neutral indictments of Germany's sea warfare the official North German Gazette published an expla- nation containing the following : PEACE DRIVE OF DECEMBER 12TH 175 *^The activity of our submarines in the Atlan- tic Ocean and White Sea has led the press of the entire world to producing articles as to the waging of cruiser warfare by means of submarines. In both cases it can be accurately stated that there is no question of submarine warfare here, but of cruiser warfare waged with the support of sub- marines and the details reported hitherto as to the activities of our submarines do not admit of any other explanation, in spite of the endeavours of the British press to twist and misrepresent facts. It is also strictly correct to state that the cruiser warfare which is being waged by means of subma- rines is in strict compliance with the German prize regulations which correspond to the International Kules laid down and agreed to in the Declara- tion of London which are not being any more complied with by England. The accusations and charges brought forward by the British press and propaganda campaign in connection with ships sunk, can be shown as futile, as our position is both militarily and from the standpoint of inter- national law irreproachable. We do not sink neu- tral ships per se, as was recently declared in a proclamation, but the ammunition transports and other contraband wares conducive to the prolonga- tion of the war, and the rights of defensive meas- ures as regards this cannot be denied Germany^ any more than any other country. ** Based on this idea, it is clearly obvious that the real loss of the destruction of tonnage must be 176 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? attributed to the supplies sent to England and not to the attitude displayed by Germany which has but recourse to purely defensive measures. If the attitude displayed by England towards neu- trals during the course of this war be considered, the manner in which it forced compulsory sup- plies of contraband goods, etc., it can be further recognised that England is responsible for the losses in ships, as it is owing to England's attitude that the cause is to be found. . . . *^ Although England has hit and crippled legiti- mate trade to such an extent, Germany does not wish to act in the same manner, but simply to stop the shipments of contraband goods calculated to lengthen the war. England evidently is being hard hit by our defensive submarine measures and is therefore doing all in her power to incite pub- lic opinion against the German methods of war- fare and confuse opinion in neutral countries. . . . ' ^ Therefore it must again be recalled that it is : ' ^ England, which has crippled neutral trade ! *^ England, which has rendered the freedom of the seas impossible! ^'England, which has extended the risk of con- traband wares in excess of international agree- ments, and now raises a cry when the same weap- ons are used against herself. '^England, which has compelled the neutrals to supply these shipments of contraband goods cal- culated to lengthen the war ! '*As the neutrals quietly acquiesced when there PEACE DRIVE OF DECEMBER 12TH 177 was a question of abandoning trade with the Cen- tral Powers they have remedies in hand for the losses of ships which affect them so deeply. They need only consider the fact that the German sub- marines on the high seas are able to prevent war services to the enemy in the shipments of con- traband goods, in a manner that is both militarily and from the standpoint of international law, irre- proachable. If they agree to desist from the ship- ment of contraband goods and cease yielding to British pressure then they will not have to com- plain of losses in ships and can retain the same for peaceful aims. ' ' This was aimed especially at America. Naval critics did not permit the opportunity to pass to call to the attention of the Government that Ger- many's promises in the Sussex case were only con- ditional and that, therefore, they could be broken at any time. The Chancellor was in a most difficult situation ; so w^as von Hindenburg and the Kaiser. On December 10th it was announced that the Eeichstag would be called to a special session on the twelfth and that the Chancellor would discuss the international situation as it was affected by the Roumanian campaign. The meeting of December 12th was the best at- tended and most impressive one of the Eeichstag since August 4th, 1914. Before the Chancellor left his palace he called the representatives of the neutral nations and handed them Germany's peace 178 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? proposal. The same day Germany sent to every part of the globe throngh her wireless stations, Germany's note to the Allies and the Chancellor's address. The world was astonished and surprised at the German move but no one knew whether it was to be taken seriously. Great Britain instructed her embassies and legations in neutral countries to attempt to find out whether the Chancellor really desired to make peace or whether his state- ments were to be interpreted as something to quiet internal troubles. During the days of discussion which followed I was in close touch with the Foreign Office, the American Embassy and the General Staff. The first intimation I received that Germany did not expect the peace plan to succeed was on December 14th at a meeting of the neutral correspondents with Lieut. Col. von Haeften. When von Hinden- burg became Chief of the General Staff he reor- ganised the press department in Berlin and sent von Haeften from his personal staff to Berlin to direct the press propaganda. As a student of pub- lic opinion abroad von Haeften was a genius and was extremely frank and honest with the corre- spondents. ^^We have proposed peace to our enemies," he said to the correspondents, ^^ because we feel that we have been victorious and because we believe that no matter how long the war continues the Allies will not be able to defeat us. It will be in- PEACE DRIVE OF DECEMBER 12TH 179 teresting to see what effect our proposal has upon Russia. Reports which we have received, coming from unquestionable sources, state that internal conditions in Russia are desperate; that food is scarce; that the transportation system is so de- moralised and that it will be at least eight months before Russia can do anything in a military way. Russia wants peace and needs peace and we shall see now whether she has enough influence upon England to compel England to make peace. We are prepared to go on with the war if the Allies refuse our proposals. If we do we shall not give an inch without making the Allies pay such a dear cost that they will not be able to continue. ' ^ The Foreign Office was not optimistic over the possibilities of success r officials realised that the new Lloyd-George Cabinet meant a stronger war policy by Great Britain, but they thought the peace proposals might shake the British confidence in the new government and cause the overthrow of Lloyd-George and the return of Asquith and Vis- count Edward Grey. From all appearances in Berlin it was evident to every neutral diplomat with whom I talked that while Germany was proclaiming to the whole world her desire for peace she had in mind only the most drastic peace terms as far as Belgium, certain sections of northern France, Poland and the Balkans were concerned. Neutrals observed that Germany was so exalted over the Roumanian victory and the possibilities of that campaign solv- 180 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? ing the food problem that she was not only ready to defy the Allies but the neutral world unless the world was ready to bow to a German victory. There were some people in Germany who realised that the sooner she made peace the better peace terms she could get but the Government was not of this opinion. The Allies, as was expected, defi- antly refused the Prussian olive branch which had been extended like everything else from Germany with a string tied to it. For the purposes of the Kaiser and his Government the Allies ' reply was exactly what they wanted. The German Government was in this position: If the Allies accepted Germany's proposal it would enable the Government to unite all factions in Germany by making a peace which would sat- isfy the political parties as well as the people. If the Allies refused, the German Government cal- culated that the refusal would be so bitter that it would unite the German people political organisa- tions and enable the Government to continue the war in any way it saw fit. Nothing which had happened during the year so solidified the German nation as the Allies ' replies to Berlin and to President Wilson. It proved to the German people that their Government was waging a defensive war because the Allies de- manded annexation, compensation and guarantees, all of which meant a change in the map of Europe from what it was at the beginning of the war. The interests which had been demanding a submarine PEACE DRIVE OF DECEMBER 12TH 181 warfare saw their opportunity had come. They knew that as a result of the Allies' notes the public would sanction an unrestricted sea warfare against the whole world if that was necessary. From December 12th until after Christmas, dis- cussions of peace filled the German newspapers. By January 1st all possibilities of peace had dis- appeared. The Government and the public real- ised that the war would go on and that prepara- tions would have to be made at once for the biggest campaign in the history of the world in 1917. Throughout the peace discussions one thing was evident to all Americans. Opposition to Aoneri- can intervention in any peace discussion was so great that the United States would not be able to take any leading part without being faced by the animosity of a great section of Germany. When it was stated in the press that Joseph C. Grew, the American Charge d 'Affaires, had received the German note and transmitted it to his Govern- ment, public indignation was so great that the Government had to inform all of the German news- papers to explain that Germany had not asked the United States to make peace ; that Germany had in fact not asked any neutrals to fnake peace but had only handed these neutrals the German note in order to get it officially before the Allies. At this time the defiant attitude of the whole nation was well expressed in an editorial in the Morgen Post saying: ^'If Germany's hand is refused her fist will soon be felt with increased force." 182 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? n The Conferences at Pless As early as September, 1916, Ambassador Gerard reported to the State Department that the forces demanding an unrestricted submarine cam- paign were gaining such strength in Germany that the Government wonld not be able to maintain its position very long. Gerard saw that not only the political difficulties but the scarcity of food and the anti- American campaign of hate were making such headway that unless peace were made there would be nothing to prevent a rupture with the United States. The latter part of December when Gerard returned from the United States after conferences with President Wilson he began to study the submarine situation. He saw that only the most desperate resistance on the part of the Chancellor would be able to stem the tide of hate and keep America out of the war. On January 7th the American Chamber of Commerce and Trade in Berlin gave a dinner to Ambassador Gerard and invited the Chancellor, Dr. Helfferich, Dr. Solf, Minister of Foreign Af- fairs Zimmermann, prominent German bankers and business men, leading editors and all others who a few months before during the Sussex crisis had combined in maintaining friendly relations. At this banquet Gerard made the statement, ^ ' As long as such men as Generals von Hindenburg and On the Kaiser's birthday services were held in all Protestant churches in Germany. The clergy was mo- bilised to encourage the people. On January 29th I sent the following despatch after attending the impressive services in the Berlin Cathedral : ** Where one year ago Dr. Dryander, the quiet white- haired man who is court preacher, pleaded for an hour for peace in the services marking the Kaiser's birthday, this year his sermon was a fiery defence of Germany's cause and a militant plea for Germany to steel herself for the decisive battle every one believes is coming. "In this changed spirit he reflected the sentiment of the German people. His sermon of Saturday has evoked the deepest approval everywhere. " 'We know,' he said, 'that before us is the decisive battle which can be fought through only with the great- est sacrifices. But in all cases of the past God has helped us, and God will fight for us to-day, through our leaders and our soldiers. We neither 'walled nor wanted this war — neither the Kaiser nor the people. We hoped for peace as the Kaiser extended his peace proposal, but with unheard of frivolity and insults our enemies slapped the back of the Kaiser's extended hand of peace. " 'To such enemies there is only one voice — that of the cannon. We continue the war with a clear con- science and with trust in God that he will bring us vic- tory. God cannot — he will not — permit the German peo- ple to go down.' " ^ * GOD WILL NOT PERMIT THE GERMAN PEOPLE TO GO DOWN ' * 184 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? Ludendorf, as long as Admirals von Capelle, von HoltzendorfP and von Mueller headed the Navy Department, and the Chancellor von Bethmann- Hollweg directed the political affairs there would be no trouble with the United States.'' Gerard was severely criticised abroad not only for this statement but for a further remark ^ ^ That the re- lations between Germany and the United States had never been better than they were to-day." Gerard saw before he had been in Berlin a week that Germany was desperate, that conditions were getting worse and that with no possibilities of peace Germany would probably renew the von Tirpitz submarine warfare. He chose desperate means himself at this banquet to appeal to the democratic forces in Germany to side with the Chancellor when the question of a ruthless sub- marine warfare again came up. The German Government, however, had planned its moves months in advance. Just as every great offensive on the battlefields is planned, even to the finest details, six months be- fore operations begin, so are the big moves on the political chessboard of Europe. There are very few men in public life in Ger- many who have the courage of their convictions to resign if their policies are overruled. Yon Jagow, who was Secretary of State from the be- ginning of the war until December, 1916, was one of these ^^few." Because von Jagow had to sign all of the foolish, explanatory and excusing notes PEACE DRIVE OF DECEMBER 12TH 185 which the German Government sent to the United States he was considered abroad as being weak and incapable. But when he realised early in No- vember that the Government was determined to renew the submarine warfare unless peace was made von Jagow was the only man in German public life who would not remain an official of the Government and bring about a break with Amer- ica. Zimmermann, however, was a different type of official. Zimmermann, like the Chancellor, is ambitious, bigoted, cold-blooded and an intriguer of the first calibre. As long as he was Under Secretary of State he fought von Jagow and tried repeatedly to oust him. So it was not surprising to Americans when they heard that Zimmermann had succeeded von Jagow. The Gerard banquet, however, came too late. The die was cast. But the world was not to learn of it for some weeks. On the 27th of January, the Kaiser's birthday, the Chancellor, Field Marshal von Hindenburg, First Quartermaster General Ludendorf, Admi- rals von Capelle, von Holtzendorff and von Muel- ler and Secretary of State Zimmermann were in- vited to Great Headquarters to attend the Kai- ser's birthday dinner. Ever since von Hindenburg has been Chief of the General Staff the Grand Chief Headquarters of the German Army have been located at Pless, on the estate of the Prince of Pless in Silicia. Previously, the Kaiser had had his headquarters 186 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? here, because it was said and popularly believed that His Majesty was in love with the beautiful Princess of Pless, an Englishwoman by birth. "When von Hindenburg took his headquarters to the big castle there, the Princess was exiled and sent to Parkenkirchen, one of the winter resorts of Bavaria. On previous birthdays of the Emperor and when questions of great moment were debated the civilian ministers of the Kaiser were always in- vited. But on the Kaiser's birthday in 1917 only the military leaders were asked. Dr. Helfferich, Minister of Colonies Solf, German bankers and business men as well as German shippers were not consulted. Germany was becoming so des- perate that she was willing to defy not only her enemies and neutral countries but her own finan- ciers and business men. Previously, when the submarine issue was debated the Kaiser wanted to know what effect such a warfare would have upon German economic and industrial life. But this time he did not care. He wanted to know the naval and military arguments. In August, 1914, when the Chancellor and a very small group of people were appealing to His Majesty not to go to war, the Kaiser sided with General von Moltke and Admiral von Tirpitz. During the various submarine crises with the United States it appeared that the Kaiser was changing — that he was willing and ready to side with the forces of democracy in his own country. PEACE DRIVE OF DECEMBER 12TH 187 President Wilson and Ambassador Gerard thought that after the downfall of von Tirpitz and von Falkenhayn the Kaiser would join hands with the reform forces. But in 1917 when the final de- cision came the Kaiser cast his lot with his gen- erals against the United States and against de- mocracy in Germany. The Chancellor, who had impressed neutral observers as being a real leader of democracy in Germany, sided with the Kaiser. Thus by one stroke the democratic movement which was under way in Germany received a rude slap. The man the people had looked upon as a friend became an enemy. The Break in Diplomatic Relations On January 30th the German Government an- nounced its blockade of all Allied coasts and stated that all shipping within these waters, except on special lanes, would be sunk without notice. Ger- many challenged the whole world to stay off of the ocean. President Wilson broke diplomatic re- lations immediately and ordered Ambassador Ge- rard to return home. Gerard called at the For- eign Office for his passports and said that he de- sired to leave at once. Zimmermann informed him that as soon as the arrangements for a train could be made he could leave. Zimmermann asked the Ambassador to submit a list of persons he desired 188 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? to accompany him. The Ambassador's list was submitted the next day. The Foreign Office sent it to the General Staff, but nearly a week passed before Gerard was told he conld depart and then he was instructed that the American consuls could not accompany him, but would have to take a spe- cial train leaving Munich a week or two later. American correspondents, who expressed a desire to accompany the Ambassador, were refused per- mission. In the meantime reports arrived that the United States had confiscated the German ships and Count Montgelas, Chief of the Ameri- can division of the Foreign Office, informed Ge- rard the American correspondents would be held as hostages if America did this. Gerard replied that he would not leave until the correspondents and all other Americans were permitted to leave over any route they selected. Practically all of the correspondents had handed in their passports to the Foreign Office, but not until four hours be- fore the special train departed for Switzerland were the passports returned. When Gerard asked the Foreign Office whether his passports were good to the United States the Foreign Office was silent and neither would the General Staif guar- antee the correspondents a safe conduct through the German submarine zone. So the only thing the Anabassador could do was to select a route via Switzerland, France and Spain, to Cuba and the United States. PEACE DRIVE OF DECEMBER 12TH 189 The train wliicli left Berlin on the night of February 10th carried the happiest group of Americans which had been in Europe since the war began. Practically no one slept. When the Swiss border was reached the Stars and Stripes were hung from the car windows and Americans breathed again in a free land. They felt like prisoners escaping from a penitentiary. Most of them had been under surveillance or suspicion for months. Nearly every one had had personal ex- periences which proved to them that the German people were like the Government — there was no respect for public sentiment or moral obligation. Some of the women had upon previous occasions, when they crossed the German frontier, submit- ted to the most inhuman indignities, but they re- mained in Germany because their husbands were connected in some way with United States gov- ernment or semi-public service work. They were delighted to escape the land where everything is ^^verboten'^ except hatred and militarism. The second day after Gerard's arrival in Berne, Amer- ican Minister Stoval gave a reception to the Am- bassador and invited the Allied diplomats. From tliat evening on until he sailed from Coruna, Spain, the Ambassador felt that he was among friends. When the Americans accompanying the Ambassador asked the French authorities in Switzerland for permission to enter France the French replied: 190 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? ''Of course you can go througli France. You are exiles and France welcomes you.'' After tlie Americans arrived in Paris they said they were not considered exiles but guests. CHAPTER IX THE BERNHAEDI OF THE SEAS AFTER tlie break in diplomatic relations the slogan of German Militarism became: ''Win or lose, we must end the war.^' To many observers it seemed to be insanity cou- pled with desperation which caused the Kaiser to defy the United States. There was no doubt that Germany was desperate,^ economically, morally and militarily. While war had led German armies far into enemy territory, it had destroyed German influence throughout the world; it had lost Germany's colonies and Pacific possessions and it had turned the opinion of the world against Germany. But during the time Germany was try- ing to impress the United States with its sincerity after the Sussex incident the German Navy was building submarines. It was not building these ships to be used in cruiser warfare. It was build- ing them for the future, when submarine war would be launched on a big scale, perhaps on a bigger scale than it had ever before been con- ducted. After the new blockade of the Allied Coast was proclaimed, effective Feb. 1, 1917, some explana- 191 192 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? tion had to be made to convince the public that the submarine war would be successful and would bring the victory which the people had been prom- ised. The public was never informed directly what the arguments were which convinced the Kaiser that he could win the war by using sub- marines. But on the 9th of February there ap- peared a small book written by Rear Admiral Hollweg entitled: '^Unser Recht auf den Uboot- krieg.'' (Our Right in Submarine Warfare.) The manuscript of this book was concluded on the 15th of January, which shows that the data which it contained and the information and arguments presented were those which the Admiralty placed before the Kaiser on his birthday. The points which Rear Admiral Hollweg makes in his book are: 1. America's unfriendly neutrality justifies a disregard of the United States ; 2. The loss of merchant ships is bringing about a crisis in the military and economic conditions of the Allies; 3. England, as the heart of the Entente, must be harmed before peace can be made; 4. Submarines can and must end the war. This book is for the German people a naval text book as General von Bernhardi's book, *^ Ger- many and the Next War,'' was a military text book. Bernhardi's task was to school Germany into the belief in the unbeatableness of the Ger- man army. Hollweg 's book is to teach the Ger- THE BERNHARDI OF THE SEAS 193 man people what their submarines will accom- plish and to steal the people for the plans her military leaders will propose and carry through on this basis. The keynote of Hollweg's arguments is taken from the words of the German song: **Der Gott der Eisen w^achsen Liesz," w^ritten by Ernst Mo- ritz Arndt. Hollweg quotes this sentence on page 23: * ^ Lieber ein Ende mit Schrecken, als ein Schrecken ohne Ende." (*' Rather an end with Terror than Terror with- out End.'^) In the chapter on ^'The Submarine War and Victory" the writer presents the following table: Status of merchant ships in 1914 : England (Exclusive of colo- nies) 19,256,766 France 2,319,438 Eussia 1,053,818 Italy 1,668,296 Belgium 352,124 Japan 1,708,386 (Figures for Dec. 1916 estimated) The World Tonnage at beginning of war was. . . 49,089,553 Added 1914-16 by new construction 2,000,000 51,089,553 Sunk or Captured Percentage 2,977,820 15.5 376,360 16.2 146,168 13.8 314,290 18.8 32,971 9.3 37,391 0.22 194 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? Of this not useable are; Tonnage Germany . . . 5,459,296 Austria . . . 1,055,719 Turkey . . . 133,158 In Germany and Tur- key held enemy shipping 200,000 Ships in U. S. A 2,352,764 Locked in Baltic and Black Sea 700,000 Destroyed enemy ton- nage 3,885,000 Total 13,785,937 Destroyed neutral ton- nage (estimated) . . 900,000 14,685,937 Eequisitioned by en- emy countries for war purposes, trans- ports, etc. England 9,000,000 France 1,400,000 Italy 1,100,000 Eussia 400,000 Belgium 250,000 12,150,000 26,835,937 Eemaining for world freight transmission still useable at the beginning of 1917 24,253,615 tons To the Entente argument that Germany has not considered the speedy construction of merchant ships during war time the author replies by citing THE BERNHARDI OF THE SEAS 195 Lloyd's List of December 29, 1916, which gave the following tonnage as having been completed in British wharves: 1913 1,977,000 tons 1914 1,722,000 " 1915 649,000 '* 1916 582,000 ** *' These figures demonstrate that England, which is the leader of the world as a freight car- rier is being harmed the most/' Admiral Holl- weg cites these figures to show that ship construc- tion has decreased in England and that England cannot make good ship losses by new construc- tion. On page 17 Rear Admiral Hollweg says : . ** We are conducting to-day a war against enemy merchant vessels different from the methods of former wars only in part by ordinary warships. The chief method is by submarines based upon the fundamentals of international law as dictated by German prize court regulations. The German prize regulations were at the beginning of the war based upon the fundamental principles of the London Declaration and respected the modern endeavours of all civilised states to decrease the terrors of war. These regulations of sea laws were written to decrease the effects of the un- avoidable consequences of sea warfare upon non- combatants and neutrals. As far as there have 196 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? been cliaiiges in the regulations of the London Declaration during the war, especially as far as changes in the contraband list have been extended, we Germans have religiously followed the prin- ciple set by the English of, ^ an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' " On page 19 he states : ** Americans would under no circumstances, not even to-day, if they were faced by a superior sea power in war, refuse to follow this method of warfare by the ruthless use of pirate ships. May our submarine campaign be an example for them ! The clever cruiser journey of U-53 off the Atlan- tic Coast gave them clearly to understand what this method was. Legally they cannot complain of this warfare. The other neutrals cannot com- plain either against such sea warfare because they have ever since the Middle Ages recognised the English method of sea warfare." In the chapter entitled ^'The Opponent,'' on page 27 the author says: ** Before there is a discussion of our legal right to the submarine warfare a brief review of the general policies of our opponents during the war will be given. This account shall serve the pur- pose of fortifying the living feeling within us of our natural right and of our duty to use all weap- ons ruthlessly. > Kriegs-Chronik der Meggendorfer-Biatter ® 9cr ncut 'SSettcrmantel THE XEW WEATHER CAPE THE BERNHARDI OF THE SEAS 197 ^^If we did not know before the publication of the Entente Note [The Allies' peace reply to Germany] what w^e were np against, now we know. The mask fell. Now we have confirmation of the intentions to rob and conquer us which caused the individual entente nations to league to- gether and conduct the war. The neutrals will now see the situation more clearly. For us it is war, literally to be or not to be a German nation. Never did such an appeal [The Entente Note] find such a fruitful echo in German hearts. . . . • ••••• *'I begin with England, our worst enemy." On page 31 Admiral Hollweg speaks of the fact that at the beginning of -the war many Germans, especially those in banking and business circles, felt that Germany was so indispensable to Eng- land in peace time that England would not con- duct a w^ar to *' knock out'' Germany. But Holl- weg says the situation has now changed. On pages 122 to 126 he justifies the ruthless submarine warfare in the following way : ^^It is known that England and her allies de- clared at the beginning of the war that they would adhere to the Declaration of London. It is just as well known that England and the Allies changed this declaration through the Orders in Council and other lawless statements of authority until the declaration was unrecognisable and 198 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? worthless — especially the spirit and purpose of the agreement were flatly pushed aside until prac- tically nothing more remains of the marine laws as codified in 1909. The following collection of flagrant breaches of international law will show who first broke marine laws during the war. **Ten gross violations of marine law in war time by England. ^'1. Violation of Article IV of the Maritime Declaration of April 16th, 1855. Blockading of neutral harbours in violation of international law. ' * 2. Violation of Article II of the same declara- tions by the confiscation of enemy property aboard neutral ships. See Order in Council, March 11th, 1915. *^3. Declaration of the North Sea as a war zone. British Admiralty Declaration, November 3, 1914. **4. England regarded food as contraband since the beginning of the war. The starvation war. England confiscated neutral food en route to neutral states whenever there was a possibility that it would reach the enemy. This violated the recognised fundamental principles of the freedom of the seas. **5. Attempt to prevent all communications be- tween Germany and neutral countries through the violation of international law and the seizing of mail. THE BERNHARDI OF THE SEAS 199 **6. Imprisonment of German reservists aboard neutral ships. ''1, a. Violation of Article I of The Hague Con- vention by the confiscation of the German hospital ship Ophelia, b. Murdering of submarine crew upon command of British auxiliary cruiser Bara- long. c. Violation of Article XXIX, No. 1, of London Declaration by preventing American Red Cross from sending supplies to the German Red Cross. **8. a. Destruction of German cruisers Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse in Spanish territorial waters by English cruiser Highflyer, b. Destruction of German cruiser Dresden in Chinese waters by British cruiser Glasgow, c. Attack of British warships on German ship Paklas in Norwegian waters. *^9. England armed her merchant ships for at- tack. ^^10. Use of neutral flags and signs by British merchantmen in violation of Articles II and III of the Paris Declaration.^^ On page 134, after discussing the question of whether the English blockade has been effective and arguing that England by seizing neutral ships with food on the supposition that the food was going to Germany, he says : **We may conclude from these facts that we Germans can now consider ourselves freed from goo GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? the nncomfortable conditions of the London Dec- laration and may conduct the war as our own in- terests prescribe. We have already partially done this in as much as we followed the English example of extending the lists of war contraband. This has been inconvenient for the neutrals af- fected and they have protested against it. We may, however, consider that they will henceforth respect our proposals just as they have in the past accepted English interests. England de- manded from them that they assist her because England was fighting for the future of neutrals and of justice. We will take this principle also as basis for what we do and even await thereby that we will compel England to grant us the kind of peace which can lay new foundations for sea warfare and that for the future the military acts of belligerents against neutrals will not be car- ried to the extremes they have been for centuries because of England's superior sea power. This new era of civilised warfare we bring under the term ^freedom of the seas.' '' Hollweg's next justification of the unlimited submarine warfare is that Secretary of State Lansing in a note to Count von Bernstorff at first said merchant ships could not be armed and then changed his mind. On page 160 Hollweg says : * ^ And now in dis- cussing the question of the legal position of the submarine as a warship I cite here the statements THE BERNHARDI OF THE SEAS 201 of the German authority on international law, Professor Dr. Niemeyer, who said: ^ There can be absolutely no question but that the submarine is permitted. It is a means of war similar to every other one. The frightfulness of the weapon was never a ground of condemnation. This is a war in which everything is permitted, which is not forbidden.^ '' On page 175 in the chapter entitled ''The Sub- marine War and Victory'' the author says: ''Every great deed carries with it a certain amount of risk. After the refusal of our peace proposal we have only the choice of victory with the use of all of our strength and power, or, the submission to the destructive conditions of our opponents. >> He adds that his statements shall prove to the reader that Germany can continue the hard re- lentless battle with the greatest possibility and confidence of a final victory which will break the destructive tendencies of the Entente and guar- antee a peace which Germany needs for her fu- ture existence. On page 193 he declares: "All food prices in England have increased on the average 80 7^ in price, they are for example considerably higher in England than in Germany. A world wide crop failure in Canada and Argentine made the im- portation of food for England more difficult. 202 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? ^^ England earns in this war as opposed to other wars, nothing. Part of her industrial workers are under arms, the others are working in making war munitions for her own use, not, however, for the export of valuable wares." Admiral HoUweg has a clever theory that the German fleet has played a prominent role in the war, although most of the time it has been hug- ging the coasts of the Fatherland. He declares that the fleet has had a ^ distance effect" upon the Allies^ control of the high seas. On page 197 he says: '*"What I mean in extreme by *fernwirkung' [distance effect] I will show here by an example. The English and French attack on Constantino- ple failed. It can at least be doubted whether at that time when the connection between Germany and Turkey was not established a strong Eng- lish naval unit would have brought the attack suc- cess. The necessity of not withdrawing the Eng- lish battleships from the North Sea prevented England from using a more powerful unit at Con- stantinople. To this extent the German battle fleet was not without influence in the victory for the defender of Constantinople. That is * distance effect.' " On page 187 Hollweg declares: ** England not only does not make money to-day by war but she is losing. The universal military service which TO/SCS/AUE 19 F£6 15 AP MAY J\)Nt JULY A\)U SER 1 OCT. NQM PEC 19 JAN (6 «/)R ARR. /AAV ji/rye July A0& SEPI OCT. Vov. Ofc Soo.ooo 47S,ooo ^5o,ooo "^ZS.cco / ^00,000 / 37s, 000 / 25c,coo / 32S',oOo 3oo,ooc XlS.ooo / 7.60,000 / \ / Z2S,ooo / \ J / ZOO, 000 A / I / 1 13,000 r ^ ' N L. \ / 1 So, 000 / V \ i f IXS.ooo / / \ \ / ' V N / 100,000 f r ^, ) J 75,000 r V' ^ V 5o,ot>o y f XS.ooo y __ __ _ _ ^^^ __ CHART SHOWING TONNAGE OF SHIPS SUNK BY GERMAN SUBMARINES FROM REAR ADMIRAL HOLWEG'S BOOK SUNK BY SUBMARINE BY RAIDERS THE BERNHARDI OF THE SEAS 203 she was forced to introduce in order to hold the other Allies by the tongue draws from her indus- try and thereby her commerce, 3,500,000 workmen. Coal exportation has decreased. During the eleven months from January to November, 1916, 4,500,000 tons less coal was exported than in 1915. In order to produce enough coal for England her- self the nation was compelled by the munitions obligation law to put miners to work.'* On page 223 the author declares : *^That is, therefore, the great and important role which the submarines in this war are play- ing. They are serving also to pave the way in the future for the ^freedpm of the seas.' " He adds that the submarines will cut the thread which holds the English Damocles' sword over weak sea powers and that for eternity the ^ * grue- some hands" of English despotism will be driven from the seas. Germany's submarine warfare which was intro- duced in February, 1915, began by sinking less than 50,000 tons of ships per month. By Novem- ber, 1915, the amount of tonnage destroyed per month was close to 200,000 tons. By January, 1916, the tonnage of ships destroyed by subma- rines had fallen to under 100,000 tons. In April, 1916, as Grand Admiral von Tirpitz' followers made one more effort to make the submarine war- fare successful, nearly 275,000 tons were being de- 204 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? stroyed a month. But after the sinking of the Sussex and the growing possibilities of war with the United States the submarine warfare was again held back and in July less than 125,000 tons of shipping were destroyed. At this time, however, the submarine campaign itself underwent a change. Previously most of the ships destroyed were sunk o:ff the coast of England, France or in the Mediterranean. Dur- ing the year and a half of the submarine cam- paign the Allies ' method of catching and destroy- ing submarines became so effective it was too cost- ly to maintain submarine warfare in belligerent waters. The German Navy had tried all kinds of schemes but none was very successful. After the sinking of the Ancona the Admiralty planned for two submarines to work together, but this was not as successful as it might have been. Dur- ing May, June and July the submarine warfare was practically given up as the losses of ships during those months will show. There was a steep decline from a quarter of a million tons in April to less than 140,000 tons in May, about 125,- 000 tons in June and not much more than 100,000 tons in July. During these three months the Navy was being bitterly criticised for its inactivity. But as the events six months later will show the German navy simply used these months to prepare for a much stronger submarine campaign which was to begin in August. By this time it was decided, THE BERNHARDI OF THE SEAS S05 however, not to lisk a submarine campaign off the Allied coasts but to operate in the Atlantic, off the coasts of Spain and Norway. This method of submarine warfare proved very successful and by November, 1916, Germany was sinking over 425,000 tons of ships per month. During this swell in the success of the subma- rine campaign the U-53 was despatched across the Atlantic to operate off the United States coasts. U-53 was sent here for two purposes : First, it was to demonstrate to the American people that, in event of war, submarines could work terror off the Atlantic coast. Second, it was to show the naval authorities whether their plans for an at- tack on Autnerican shipping would be practical. U-53 failed to terrorise 'the United States, but it proved to the Admiralty that excursions to Amer- ican waters were feasible. On February 1, when the Kaiser defied the United States by threatening all neutral shipping in European waters, Germany had four hundred undersea boats completed or in course of con- struction. This included big U-boats, like the U-53, with a cruising radius of five thousand miles, and the smaller craft, with fifteen-day ra- dius, for use against England, as well as supply ships and mine layers. But not all these were ready for use against the Allies and the United States at that time. About one hundred were waiting for trained crews or were being com- pleted in German shipyards. 206 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? It was often said in Berlin that tlie greatest loss when a submarine failed to return was the crew. It required more time to train the men than to build the submarine. According to Ger- many's new method of construction, a submarine can be built in fifteen days. Parts are stamped out in the factories and assembled at the wharves. But it takes from sixty to ninety days to educate the men and get them accustomed to the seasick motion of the U-boats. Besides, it requires ex- perienced officers to train the new men. To meet this demand Germany began months ago to train men who could man the newest sub- marines. So a school was established — a School of Submarine Murder — and for many months the man who torpedoed the Lusitania was made chief of the staff of educators. It was a new task for German kultur. For the German people the lessons of the Lusi- tania have been exactly opposite those normal people would learn. The horror of non-combat- ants going down on a passenger liner, sunk with- out warning, was nothing to be compared to the heroism of aiming the torpedo and running away. Sixty-eight million Germans think their subma- rine officers and crews are the greatest of the great. When the Berlin Foreign Office announced, after the sinking of the Sussex^ that the nithless torpedoing of ships would be stopped the German statesmen meant this method would be discontin- THE BERNHARDI OF THE SEAS 207 ued until there were sufficient submarines to defy the United States. At once the German navy, which has always been anti-American, began building submarines night and day. Every one in the Government knew the time would come when Germany would have to break its Sussex pledge. The German navy 'early realised the need for trained men, so it recalled, temporarily, for edu- cational work the man who sank the Lusitania. ^^But, who sank the Lusitania?'^ you ask. '^The torpedo which sank the Lusitania and killed over one hundred Americans and hundreds of other noncombatants was fired by Oberleutnant zur See (First Naval Lieutenant) Otto Stein- brink, commander of one of the largest German submarines.'' ^^Was he punished!'' you ask. ** Kaiser Wilhelm decorated him with the high- est military order, the Pour le Merite!" ^' Where is Steinbrink now?" *^0n December 8, 1916, the German Admiralty announced that he had just returned from a spe- cial trip, having torpedoed and mined twenty-two ships on one voyage." **What had he been doing?" **For several months last summer he trained officers and crews in this branch of warfare, which gained him international notoriety." It is said that Steinbrink has trained more na- val men than any other submarine commander. If this be true, is there any wonder that Germany 208 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? should be prepared to conduct a ruthless subma- rine warfare throughout the world? Is it sur- prising that American ships should be sunk, American citizens murdered and the United States Government defied when the German navy has been employing the man who murdered the pas- sengers of the Lusitania as the chief instructor of submarine murderers! The Krupp interests have played a leading role in the war, not only by manufacturing billions of shells and cannon, and by financing propaganda in the United States, but by building submarines. At the Krupp wharves at Kiel some of the best undersea craft are launched. Other shipyards at Bremen, Hamburg and Danzig have been mobi- lised for this work, too. Just a few weeks before diplomatic relations were broken a group of American doctors, who were investigating prison camp conditions, went to Danzig. Here they learned that the twelve wharves there were build- ing between 45 and 50 submarines annually. These were the smaller type for use in the Eng- lish Channel. At Hamburg the Hamburg- Ameri- can Line wharves were mobilised for submarine construction also. At the time diplomatic rela- tions were severed observers in Germany esti- mated that 250 submarines were being launched" annually and that preparations were being made greatly to increase this number. Submarine warfare is a very exact and difficult science. Besides the skilled captain, competent THE BERNHARDI OF THE SEAS 209 first officers, wireless operators and artillerymen, engineers are needed. Each man, too, must be a *^seadog.'' Some of the smaller submarines toss like tubs when they reach the ocean and only toughened seamen can stand the ^^wear and tear." Hence the weeks and months which are necessary to put the men in order before they leave home for their first excursion in sea murder. But Germany has learned a great deal during two years of hit-and-miss submarine campaigns. When von Tirpitz began, in 1915, he ordered his men to work off the coasts of England. Then so many submarines were lost it became a danger- ous and expensive military operation. The Al- lies began to use great steel nets, both as traps and as protection to warships. The German navy learned this within a very short time, and the military engineers were ordered to perfect a tor- pedo which would go through a steel net. The first invention was a torpedo with knives on the nose. When the nose hit the net there was a minor explosion. The knives were sent through the net, permitting the torpedo to continue on its way. Then the Allies doubled the nets, and two sets of knives were attached to the German tor- pedoes. But gradually the Allies employed nets as traps. These were anchored or dragged by fishing boats. Some submarines have gotten in- side, been juggled around, but have escaped. More, perhaps, have been lost this way. Then, when merchant ships began to carry ar- 210 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? mament, the periscopes were shot away, so the navy invented a so-called ''finger-periscope/' a thin rod pipe with a mirror at one end. This rod could be shoved out from the top of the sub- marine and used for observation purposes in case the big periscope was destroyed. From time to time there were other inventions. As the subma- rine fleet grew the means of communicating with each other while submerged at sea were perfected. Copper plates were fastened fore and aft on the outside of submarines, and it was made possible for wireless messages to be sent through the wa- ter at a distance of fifty miles. A submarine cannot aim at a ship without some object as a sight. So one submarine often acted as a ^^ sight'' for the submarine firing the torpedo. Submarines, which at first were unarmed, were later fitted with armour plate and cannon were mounted on deck. The biggest submarines now carry 6-inch guns. Like all methods of ruthless warfare the sub- marine campaign can be and will be for a time successful. Germany's submarine warfare to- day is much more successful than the average per- son realises. By December, 1916, for instance, the submarines were sinking a half million tons of ships a month. In January, 1917, over 600,000 tons were destroyed. On February nearly 800,000 tons were lost. The destruction of ships means a corresponding destruction of cargoes, of many liundreds of thousands of tons. When Germany THE BERNHARDI OF THE SEAS 211 decided the latter part of January to begin a ruthless campaign German authorities calculated they could sink an average of 600,000 tons per month and that in nine months nearly 6,000,000 tons of shipping could be sent to the bottom of the ocean, — then the Allies would be robbed of the millions of tons of goods which these ships could carry. In any military campaign one of the biggest problems is the transportation of troops and sup- plies. Germany during this war has had to de- pend upon her railroads; the Allies have de- pended upon ships. Germany looked at her own military situation and saw that if the Allies could destroy as many railroad cars as Germany ex- pected to sink ships, Germany would be broken up and unable to continue the war. Germany be- lieved ships were to the Allies what railroad car- riages are to Germany. The General Staff looked at the situation from other angles. During the winter there was a tre- mendous coal shortage in France and Italy. There had been coal riots in Paris and Rome. The Italian Government was so in need of coal that it had to confiscate even private supplies. The Grand Hotel in Rome, for instance, had to give up 300 tons which it had in its coal bins. In 1915 France had been importing 2,000,000 tons of coal a month across the Channel from England. Be- cause of the ordinary loss of tonnage the French coal imports dropped 400,000 tons per month. 212 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? Germany calculated that if she could decrease England's coal exports 400,000 tons a month by an ordinary submarine campaign that she could double it by a ruthless campaign. Germany was looking forward to the Allied of- fensive which was expected this Spring. Ger- many knew that the Allies would need troops and ammunition. She knew that to manufacture am- munition and war supplies coal was needed. Ger- many calculated that if the coal importations to France could be cut down a million tons a month France would not be able to manufacture the nec- essary ammunition for an offensive lasting sev- eral months. Germany knew that England and France were importing thousands of tons of war supplies and food from the United States. Judging from the German newspapers which I read at this time every one in Germany had the impression that the food situation in England and France was almost as bad as in Germany. Even Ambassador Gerard had somewhat the same impression. When he left Germany for Switzerland on his way to Spain, he took two cases of eggs which he had purchased in Denmark. One night at a reception in Berne, one of the American women in the Ge- rard party asked the French Ambassador whether France really had enough food! If the Ameri- cans coming from Germany had the impression that the Allies were sorely in need of supplies one THE BERNHARDI OF THE SEAS 213 can see how general the impression must have been throughout Germany. When I was in Paris I was surprised to see so much food and to see such a variety. Paris ap- peared to be as normal in this respect as Copen- hagen or Rotterdam. But I was told by Ameri- can women who were keeping house there that it was becoming more and more difficult to get food. After Congress declared war it became evident for the first time that the Allies really did need war supplies and food from the United States more than they "needed anything else. London and Paris officials publicly stated that this was the kind of aid the Allies really needed. It be- came evident, too, that the Allies not only needed the food but that they needed ships to carry sup- plies across the Atlantic. One of the first things President Wilson did was to approve plans for the construction of a fleet of 3,000 wooden ships practically to bridge the Atlantic. During the first three months of 1917 subma- rine warfare was a success in that it so decreased the ship tonnage and the importations- of the Al- lies that they needed American co-operation and assistance. So the United States really enters the war at the critical and decisive stage. Germany believes she can continue to sink ships faster than they can be built, but Germany did not cal- culate upon a fleet of wooden bottom vessels be- ing built in the United States to make up for the losses. Germany did not expect the United States 214 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? to enter the war with all the vigour and energy of the American people. Germany calculated upon internal troubles, upon opposition to the war and upon the pacifists to have America make as many mistakes as England did during the first two years of the war. But the United States has learned and profited by careful observation in Europe. Just as England's declaration of war on Germany in support of Belgium and France was a surprise to Germany; just as the shipment of war supplies by American firms to the Allies astonished Germany, so will the construction of 3,000 wooden vessels upset the calculations of the German General Staff. While American financial assistance will be a great help to the Allies that will not affect the German calculations because when the Kaiser and his Generals decided on the 27th of January to damn all neutrals, German financiers were not consulted. Neither did the German General Staff count upon the Russian Revolution going against them. Germany had expected a revolution there, but Germany bet upon the Czar and the Czar's Ger- man wife. As Lieutenant Colonel von Haeften, Chief Military Censor in Berlin, told the corre- spondents, Germany calculated upon the internal troubles in Russia aiding her. But the Allies and the people won the Russian Revolution. Ger- many's hopes that the Czar might again return to power or that the people might overthrow their THE BERNHARDI OF THE SEAS 215 present democratic leaders will come to naught now that America has declared war and thrown her tremendous and unlimited moral influence be- hind the Allies and with the Russian people. Rear Admiral Hollweg's calculations that 24,253,615 tons of shipping remained for the world freight transmission at the beginning of 1917, did not take into consideration confiscation by the United States of nearly 2,500,000 tons of German and Austrian shipping in American ports. He did not expect the United States to build 3,000 new ships in 1917. He did not expect the United States to purchase the ships under construction in American wharves for neutral European countries. The German submarine campaign, like all other German ^^ successes,'' will be temporary. Every time the General Staff has counted upon ^ ^ ultimate victory'' it has failed to take into consideration the determination of the enemy. Germany be- lieved that the world could be ^'knocked out" by big blows. Germany thought when she destroyed and invaded Belgium and northern France that these two countries would not be able to ^^come back. ' ' Germany thought when she took Warsaw and a great part of western Russia that Russia would not be able to continue the war. Germany figured that after the invasion of Roumania and Servia that these two countries would not need to be considered seriously in the future. Germany 216 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? believed that her submarine campaign would be successful before the United States could come to the aid of the Allies. German hope of ^'ultimate victory'^ has been postponed ever since Septem- ber, 1914, when von Kluck failed to take Paris. And Germany's hopes for an ^^ ultimate victory" this sunamer before the United States can get into the war will be postponed so long that Germany will make peace not on her own terms but upon the terms which the United States of Democracy of the Whole World will dictate. One day in Paris I met Admiral LeCaze, the Minister of Marine, in his office in the Admiralty. He discussed the submarine warfare from every angle. He said the Germans, when they figured upon so many tons of shipping and of supplies de- stroyed by submarines, failed to take into consid- eration the fact that over 100 ships were arriving daily at French ports and that over 5,000,000 tons of goods were being brought into France monthly. When I explained to him what it appeared to me would be the object of the German ruthless campaign he said : ^'Germany cannot win the war by her subma- rine campaign or by any other weapon. That side will win which holds out one week, one day or one hour longer than the other." And this Admiral, who, dressed in civilian clothes, looked more Kke a New York financier THE BERNHARDI OF THE SEAS 217 than a naval officer, leaned forward in his chair, looked straight at me and concluded the interview by saying: *^The Allies will win/' CHAPTER X THE OUTLAWED NATION DURING the Somme battles several of the American correspondents in Berlin were invited to go to the front near Peronne and were asked to luncheon by the Bavarian Gen- eral von Kirchhoff, who was in command against the French. When the correspondents reached his headquarters in a little war-worn French vil- lage they were informed that the Kaiser had just summoned the general to decorate him with the high German military order, the Pour le Merite. Luncheon was postponed until the general re- turned. The correspondents watched him motor to the chateau where they were and were sur- prised to see tears in his eyes as he stepped out of the automobile and received the cordial greet- ings and congratulations of his staff, von Kirch- hoff, in a brief impromptu speech, paid a high tribute to the German troops which were holding the French and said the decoration was not his but his troops ^ And in a broken voice he re- marked that these soldiers were sacrificing their lives for the Fatherland, but were called ^^Huns and Barbarians'' for doing it. There was an- 218 THE OUTLAWED NATION 219 other long pause and the general broke down, cried and had to leave his staff and guests. These indictments of the Allies were more ter- rible to him than the war itself. General von Kirchholf in this respect is typical of Germany. Most Germans, practically every German I knew, could not understand why the Al- lies did not respect their enemies as the Germans said they respected the Allies. A few weeks later, in November, when I was on the Somme with another group of correspond- ents, I was asked by nearly every officer I met why it was that Germany was so hated throughout the world. It was a question I could not easily answer without, perhaps, hurting the feelings of the men who wanted to know, or insulting them, which as a guest I did not desire to do. A few days later on the train from Cambrai to Berlin I was asked by a group of officers to ex- plain why the people in the United States, espe- cially, were so bitter. To get the discussion un- der way the Captain from the General Staff who had acted as our escort presented his indictment of American neutrality and asked me to reply. This feeling, this desire to know why Germany was regarded as an outlawed nation, was not pres- ent in Germany early in 1915 when I arrived. In February, 1915, people were confident. They were satisfied with the progress of the war. They knew the Allies hated them and they returned the hate and did not care. But between February, 1915, 220 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? and November, 1916, a great change took place. On my first trip to the front in April, 1915, I heard of no officers or men shedding tears because the Allies hated them. When I sailed from New York two years ago it seemed to me that sentiment in the United States was about equally divided; that most people fa- voured neutrality, even a majority of those who supported the Entente. The feeling of sympathy which so many thousands of Americans had for Germany I could, at that time, readily under- stand, because I myself was sympathetic. I felt that Germany had not had a fighting chance with public opinion in the United States. I could not believe that all the charges against Germany applied to the German people. Al- though it was difficult to understand what Ger- many had done in Belgium, although it was evi- dent and admitted by the Chancellor that Ger- many violated the neutrality of that country, I could not believe that a nation, which before the war had such a high standing in science and com- merce, could have plotted or desired such a tre- mendous war as swept Europe in 1914. When I arrived in Berlin on March 17, 1915, and met German officials and people for the first time, I was impressed by their sincerity, their hon- esty and their belief that the Government did not cause the war and was fighting to defend the na- tion. At the theatre I saw performances of Shakespeare, which were among the best I had S>ie tt& et^ett Sdtflagen toateu vox bent Stfc^dnen oet* fitiffctt. — @x»c6ctt ctft^lettcn: MPent Blun Bmetilia«9^i33en ©ijt Jtciiet Srifiou^atteS jlc5t ©ttexl^elE ficgcit baS ^atxb SSd&crrity ju Sel&c, baS et ouS eiscttct anft^auutts firlltt6» ric& !ettnett un5 — oerlad^cn ficlcrnt l&at ein Slid auf tie untcnftc^ettSen ^aptteMtc6crfd^riftcn ficniiflt, urn »ti cr- fennctt, 5a6 njit c§ niieScxum mit ciitcm SBctfe au fatn 5a&cn, "6a§ o5itefiIeiif)en un5 o^ne Seif^iel tft, mie c3 autl^ bic anbctcn SSerfe gttet&eE§ fin5. ^ijci^ gC^« 9W* 5» Sn^altsangafie: 1. aiS S5ott»i>tt: ^tcfrt&cttt 1 14. aJlan5attatt=5lcBcr ^QtaV, Set „5i>ie= iraf" un5 ber „lan§ ie= luiifjnlicftc ©uropaer". 4. Qm i^amflf mit amert!a= ttif(i&em Sfijlcidmct 5. gamUie ,;Sd)anb" (®cnt). 6. S;cr SRcinfaa be§ JRftuI^ 7. 3)et fiejo^mtc ^araoieS^' p^an. 8. S3icr ^doianc, cin SJlann u. cine Rclbcne ?^nflfrou. SBelt uni) nixft einer. (S)ic 16. „2t&er mein S>oIIar tann alleSi" (Sin 26eEen=Sc- fcntttttiS in fiinf Siunbcn.) 17. S)cr ^teffibent Ia(^ Tt* feitt S;otett'Iieb (&anfl au§ etnem aufflerifdjtcn ©ricf* facf). 18. 2tn bctt 5ci6ctt ©urine* icaffcrn bet ,>9llefm" fallen fie uttb fin^en ^iap9ie ©etiiictten b. 8a?fcr3. 23. 25ie 2Uien=©nfleI unb anbcte ^anMJiirfte bc§ $crTflt>tt9. I>en murbe- 24. S>ie beutfdje „©ro6tat*. 13 S)eg «8re[ribenictt rsiiflc feine§ I aintcrija (2>ie latc([Oxi-- SanbcS am cificncn Seibc fdjen afmperatioc einet ^etunter. ' \cn14. 3»nd«. 1917 SBiljons gricbcnspfcifc ,Um S'lomeUmiHen, gtoitt JoBptlinB. »i« tanit 8u»c flicgt iq in bU Saft, stnn ftltr gccaa^t »US.* SCHWAB TO MR. WILSON — '*FOR HEAVEN's SAKE, GREAT LITTLE LEADER, THE WHOLE PLACE WILL BLOW UP IF YOU SMOKE HERe!" THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 249 to be determined upon in the old nnliappy days wlien peoples were nowhere consulted by their rulers and wars were provoked and waged in the interest of dynasties or of little groups of ambi- tious men who were accustomed to use their fel- lowmen as pawns and tools. ^^ Self -governed nations do not fill their neigh- bour states with spies or set the course of in- trigue to bring about some critical posture of atfairs which will give them an opportunity to strike and make conquest. Such designs can be successfully worked only under cover and where no one has the right to ask questions. ^ ^ Cunningly contrived plans of deception or ag- gression, carried, it may be, from generation to generation, can be worked out and kept from the light only within the privacy of courts or behind the carefully guarded confidences of a narrow and privileged class. They are happily impossible where public opinion commands and insists upon full information concerning all the nation's af- fairs. **A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by a partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic government could be trusted to keep faith within it or observe its covenants. **It must be a league of honour, a partnership of opinion. Intrigue would eat its vitals away; the plottings of inner circles who could plan what 250 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? they would and render account to no one would be a corruption seated at its very heart. *'Only free peoples can hold their purpose and their honour steady to a common end and prefer the interests of mankind to any narrow interest of their own. *^Does not every American feel that assurance has been added to our hope for the future peace of the world by the wonderful and heartening things that have been happening within the last few weeks in Russia? ** Russia was known by those who knew it best to have been always in fact democratic at heart, in all the vital habits of her thought, in all the intimate relationships of her people that spoke for their natural instinct, their habitual attitude toward life. *' Autocracy that crowned the summit of her po- litical structure, long as it had stood and terrible as was the reality of its power, was not in fact Russian in origin, in character or purpose, and now it has been shaken, and the great, generous Russian people have been added in all their na- tive majesty and might to the forces that are fighting for freedom in the world, for justice and for peace. Here is a fit partner for a league of honour. * * One of the things that have served to convince us that the Prussian autocracy was not and could never be our friend is that from the very outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 251 communities and even our offices of government with spies, and set criminal intrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity of council, oui* peace within and without, our industries and our commerce. *^ Indeed, it is now evident that its spies were here even before the war began ; and it is unhap- pily not a matter of conjecture, but a fact proved in our courts of justice, that the intrigues, which have more than once come perilously near to dis- turbing the peace and dislocating the industries of the country, have been carried on at the insti- gation, with the support, and even under the per- sonal direction, of official agents of the imperial Government accredited to the Government of the United States. **Even in checking these things and trying to extirpate them we have sought to put the most generous interpretation possible upon them, be- cause we knew that their source lay, not in any hostile feeling or purpose of the German people toward us (who were, no doubt, as ignorant of them as we ourselves were), but only in the selfish designs of a government that did what it pleased and told its people nothing. But they have played their part in serving to convince us at last that that Government entertains no real friendship for us, and means to act against our peace and se- curity at its convenience. *^That it means to stir up enemies against us at our very doors the intercepted note to the Ger- 252 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? man Minister at Mexico City is eloquent evidence. '*We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we know that in such a govern- ment, following such methods, we can never have a friend, and that in the presence of its organised power, always lying in wait to accomplish we know not what purpose, there can be no assured security for the democratic governments of the world. *^We are now about to accept gage of battle with this natural foe to liberty and shall, if neces- sary^ spend the whole force of the nation to check and nullify its pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that we see the facts with no veil of false pretence about them, to fight thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its peoples, the German peoples included, for the rights of nations great and small, and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of life and of obedience. **The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the trusted foun- dations of political liberty. **We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indem- nities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been as secure as the faith and the freedom of the na- tion can make them. THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 253 **Just because we fight without rancour and without selfish objects, seeking nothing for our- selves but what we shall wish to share with all free peoples, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations as belligerents without passion and ourselves observe with proud punctilio the prin- ciples of right and of fair play we profess to be fighting for. *^I have said nothing of the governments allied with the imperial Government of Germany, be- cause they have not made war upon us or chal- lenged us to defend our right and our honour. The Austro-Hungarian Government has, indeed, avowed its unqualified indorsement and accept- ance of the reckless and lawless submarine war- fare adopted now without disguise by the imperial Government, and it has therefore not been pos- sible for this Government to receive Count Tar- nowski, the ambassador recently accredited to this Government by the imperial and royal Govern- ment of Austria-Hungary, but that Government has not actually engaged in warfare against citi- zens of the United States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present at least, of postponing a discussion of our relations with the authorities at Vienna. We enter this war only where we are clearly forced into it because there are no other means of defending our rights. *^It will be all the easier for us to conduct our- selves as belligerents in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus, not in 254 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? enmity toward a people or with the desire to bring any injury or disadvantage upon them, but only in armed opposition to an irresponsible govern- ment which has thrown aside all considerations of humanity and of right and is running amuck. *^We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the German people, and shall desire nothing so much as the early re-establishment of intimate relations of mutual advantage between us — how- ever hard it may be for them, for the time being, to believe that this is spoken from our hearts. "We have borne with their present Government through all these bitter months because of that friendship — exercising a patience and forbear- ance which would otherwise have been impossible. *^We shall, happily, still have an opportunity to prove that friendship in our daily attitude and ac- tions toward the millions of men and women of German birth and native sympathy who live amongst us and share our life, and we shall be proud to prove it toward all who are in fact loyal to their neighbours and to the Government in the hour of test. They are, most of them, as true and loyal Americans as if they had never known any other fealty or allegiance. They will be prompt to stand with us in rebuking and restraining the few who may be of a different mind and purpose. **If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with with a firm hand of stern repression; but if it lifts its head at all, it will lift it only here and THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 255 there, and without countenance, except from a lawless and malignant few. **It is a distressing and oppressive duty, gen- tlemen of the Congress, which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great peace- ful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilisation itself seeming to be in the balance. *^But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts — for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and hberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peo- ples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free. *^To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and every- thing that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God help- ing her, she can do no other. ' ' After this speech was printed in Germany, first in excerpts and then as a whole in a few papers, there were three distinct reactions : 256 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? 1. The Government press and the circles con- trolled by the Army published violent articles against President Wilson and the United States. 2. The democratic press led by the Vorwaerts took advantage of Wilson's statements to again demand election reforms. 3. Public feeling generally was so aroused that the official North German Gazette said at the end of a long editorial that the Kaiser favoured a ** people's kingdom of Hohenzollern. " The ammunition interests were among the first to express their satisfaction with America as an enemy. The Rheinische Westfaelische Zeitung, their official graphophone, said: ^^The real policy of America is now fully dis- closed by the outbreak of the war. Now a flood of lies and insults, clothed in pious phraseology, will descend on us. This is a surprise only to those who have been reluctant to admit that America was our enemy from the beginning. The voice of America does not sound differently from that of any other enemy. They are all tarred with the same brush — those humanitarians and demo- crats who hurl the world into war and refuse peace." The Lokal Anseiger, which is practically edited by the Foreign Office, said President Wilson's at- tempt to ** inveigle the German people into a re- THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 257 volt against the dynasty beats anything for sheer hypocrisy in the records of the world. *'We must assume that President Wilson delib- erately tells an untruth. Not the German Gov- ernment but the German race, hates this Anglo- Saxon fanatic, who has stirred into flame the con- suming hatred in America while prating friend- ship and sympathy for the German people.'^ The Lokal Anzeiger was right when it said the German people hated America. The Lohal An- zeiger was one of the means the Government used to make the German people hate the United States. The North German Gazette ^ which prints only editorials dictated, or authorised by, the Secre- tary of State, said: **A certain phrase in President Wilson's speech must be especially pointed out. The President represents himself as the bearer of true freedom to our people who are engaged in a severe strug- gle for their existence and liberty. What slave soul does he believe exists in the German people when it thinks that it will allow its freedom to be meted out to them from without? The freedom which our enemies have in store for us we know sufficiently. **The German people, become clearsighted in war, and see in President Wilson's word nothing but an attempt to loosen the bonds between the people and princes of Germany so that we may 258 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? become an easier prey for our enemies. We our- selves know that an important task remains to us to consolidate onr external power and our free^ dom at home." But the mask fell from the face of Germany which she shows the outside world, when the Kaiser issued his Easter proclamation promising election reforms after the war. Why did the Kaiser issue this proclamation again at this time I As early as January, 1916, he said the same thing to the German people in his address from the throne to the Prussian Diet. Why did the Kaiser feel that it was necessary to again call the atten- tion of the people to the fact that he would be a democrat when the war was over? The Kaiser and the German army are clever in dealing with the German people. If the Kaiser makes a mis- take or does something that his army does not approve it can always be remedied before the mis- take becomes public. Last Fall a young German soldier who had been in the United States as a moving picture operator was called to the General Staff to take moving pictures at the front for propaganda pur- poses. One week he was ordered to Belgium, to follow and photograph His Majesty. At Ostend, the famous Belgian summer resort, the Kaiser was walking along the beach one day with Ad- miral von Schroeder, who is in command of the German defences there. The movie operator fol- lowed him. The soldier had been following the THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 259 Kaiser several days so His Majesty recognised him, ordered him to put up his camera and pre- pare to make a special film. When the camera was ready His Majesty danced a jig, waved his sceptre and then his helmet, smiled and shouted greetings to the camera man — then went on along the beach. When the photographer reached Berlin and showed the film to the censors of the General Staff they were shocked by the section of the Kaiser at Ostend. They ordered it cnt out of the film be- canse they did not think it advisable to show the German people how much their Emperor was en- joying the war! The Kaiser throughout his reign has posed as a peace man although he has been first a soldier and then an executive. So when the Big War broke out the Kaiser had a chance to make real what had been play for him for forty years. Is it surprising then that he should urge the people to go on with the war and promise them to re- form the government when the fighting was over? The Kaiser's proclamation itself shows that the Kaiser is not through fighting. ** Never before have the German people proved to be so firm as in this war. The knowledge that the Fatherland is fighting in bitter self defence has exercised a wonderful reconciling power, and, despite all sacrifices on the battlefield and severe mo GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? privations at iiome, their determination has re- mained imperturbable to stake their last for the victorious issue/' Could any one except a soldier who was pleased with the progress of the war have written such words 1 *^The national and social spirit have under- stood each other and become united, and have given us steadfast strength. Both of them realise what was built up in long years of peace and amid many internal struggles. This was certainly worth fighting for/^ the Emperor's order con- tinued. ** Brightly before my eyes stand the achievements of the entire nation in battle and distress. The events of this struggle for the ex- istence of the empire introduce with high solem- nity a new time. ^^It falls to you as the responsible Chancellor of the German Empire and First Minister of my Government in Prussia to assist in obtaining the fulfilment of the demands of this hour by right means and at the right time, and in this spirit shape our political life in order to make room for the free and joyful co-operation of all the mem- bers of our people. ^^The principles which you have developed in this respect have, as you know, my approval. **I feel conscious of remaining thereby on the road which my grandfather, the founder of the ^rie^fitnummer 120. Wochenbeilage zum Berliner Tageblatt 45. Jahrgang Nr. 46 17. November 1916 ^er neue a«e prdftdent. „G^ '^^^/^^^>^^^%s^-J^^*V^^^^Ji^^^^ '^^^ A POST-CARD FROM GENERAL VON KLUCK PRESIDENT WILSON 289 **the opinion of the world is the mistress of the world. *' The important concern to-day is : How can this world opinion be moulded into a world power? Opinion cannot be codified like law because it is often the vanguard of legislation. Public opin- ion is the reaction of a thousand and one inci- dents upon the public consciousness. In the world to-day the most important influence in the devel- opment of opinion is the daily press. By a ju- dicious interpretation of affairs the President of the United States frequently may direct public opinion in certain channels while his representa- tives to foreign governments, especially when there is opportunity, as there is to-day, may help spread our ideas abroad. World political leaders, if one may judge from events so far, foresee a new era in international affairs. Instead of a nation's foreign policies being secret, instead of unpublished alliances and iron-bound treaties, there may be the proclaiming of a nation's international intentions, exactly as a political party in the United States pledges its intentions in a political campaign. Parties in Europe may demand a statement of the foreign intentions of their governments. If there was this candidness between the governments and their citizens there would be more frankness be- tween the nations and their neighbours. Public opinion would then be the decisive force. Inter- national steps of all nations would then be de- 290 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? cided upon only after the public was thoroughly acquainted with their every phase. A fully in- formed nation would be considered safer and more peace-secure than a nation whose opinion was based upon coloured official reports, *^Ems" telegrams of 1870 and 1914 variety, and eleventh- hour appeals to passion, fear and God. The opinion of the world may then be a stronger international force than large individual armies and navies. The opinion of the world may be such a force that every nation will respect and fear it. The opinion of the world may be the mistress of the world and publicity will be the new driving force in diplomacy to give opinion world power. Germany's defeat will be the greatest event in history because it will establish world democracy upon a firm foundation and because Germany it- self will emerge democratic. The Chancellor has frequently stated that the Germany which would come out of this war would be nothing like the Germany which went into the war and the Kaiser has already promised a ^* people's kingdom of Hohenzollern. " The Kaiser's government will be reformed because world opinion insists upon it. If the German people do not yet see this, they will be outlawed until they are free. They will see it eventually, and when that day comes, peace will dawn in Europe. APPENDIX Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. Deae Sir: Eeturning to Ithaca, I find your letter with its question relating to the temporary arrest of a vessel carrying munitions of war to Spain shortly after the beginning of our war with that country. The simple facts are as follows: Receiving a message by wire from our American Consul at Hamburg early during the war, to the effect that a Spanish vessel supposed to carry munitions for Spain was just leaving Germany, I asked the Foreign Office that the vessel be searched before leaving, my purpose being not only to get such incidental information as possible regarding the contraband concerned, but particulars as to the nature of the vessel, whether it was so fitted that it could be used with advantage by our adver- saries against our merchant navy, as had hap- pened during our Civil War, when Great Britain let out of her ports vessels fitted to prey upon our merchant ships. The German Government was very courteous to us in the matter and it was found that the Spanish ship concerned was not so fitted up and that the 291 292 GERMANY, THE NEXT REPUBLIC? contraband was of a very ordinary sort, such as could be obtained from various nations. The re- sult was that the vessel, after a brief visit, pro- ceeded on her way, and our agents at Hamburg informed me later that during the entire war ves- sels freely carried ammunition from German ports both to Spain and to the United States, and that neither of the belligerents made any remon- strance. Of course, I was aware that under the usages of nations I had, strictly speaking, no right to demand seizure of the contraband concerned, but it seemed my duty at least to secure the above information regarding it and the ship which car- ried it. I remain, dear sir, Very respectfully yours, (Signed) ANDREW D. WHITE. 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