If we remember the thin, green pamphlet published by the Cesko-Americka Narodni Rada (Bohemian-American National Council), a pamphlet which was to be a kind of directory of Bohemian-American settlements and economic factors, and to serve as a basis for more lively contacts between the largest body of Bohemians abroad and the old country, and if we compare this modest pamphlet with the huge mass of informatory material which the Germans have available in this respect, we come to the realization that we have yet a great deal to do if we are to see any kind of results of our efforts. The investigation of the Kaiser's representative, Count Dernburg, was the first event to show how wonderfully our Germans are organized, and how dangerous 2this organization can be when used and ruled by the ruthless, selfish German spirit.

The German campaign in America was prepared a long time ago, and was put into operation even before the Kaiser's principal representative, Count Dernburg, arrived. What this gentlemen was really perpetrating here, and why Washington finally requested his removal, has not been known, but it may be pieced together from reports of other governments. Our own government has no secret police, that is, the type of secret police that would be investigating the political activities of our own citizens and of foreigners living amongst us. Let us recall that our government had to have its attention called, by the British Government, to the various malodorous and criminal practices of the Germans, with passports, etc. This was so also in the case of Dernburg.

Originally, Germany did not expect that Great Britain would enter the war. Germany thought Great Britain would not dare to make such a move for fear of internal disorders, and in such case Germany would have had a free hand and could have counted upon American help. The German Embassy had a plan ready according to which all of the resources of America would have been put at Germany's disposal and Germany could have pursued her warlike purposes with full energy, not diverting any of her strength to economic matters, supplies, etc. In that case it would have been easy for Germany to crush the Allies. The stocksof grain in our West, of cotton in the South, metal products of Pennsylvania and other states, were to serve Germany not only in Europe but in all her colonies. German steamship lines, the Hamburg-American Line, and the Norddeutscher Lloyd of Bremen, with their largest and fastest vessels, were only waiting for orders to put them under the German navy's control and have them serve as transport ships and also as auxiliary cruisers.

The Organization of Germans in America

Our government now possesses documents showing to what a large extent the Germans in America are organized. By the help of "Turnvereins" (Gymnastic Associations), singing societies, and "Kriegerbunds" (Veterans' Associations), the German Embassy has been keeping an exact directory of all German nationals, their businesses, their financial status, and how much each is in a position to contribute, and every German was to be taxed--in the proper sense of the word--in case of necessity. All German banks form a kind of syndicate, which is in a position to finance any enterprise upon short notice. It was not an idle boast when Dernburg stated that he is in a position to get one hundred million dollars out of Chicago within twenty-four hours! America is, in the first place, the country of the dollar. Everybody is judged primarily according to his financial means, and Germany has been and still is in a position to raise an enormous capital. Too bad her plan did not succeed!

How generous the Germans were is shown by this statement made by the New York Herald: "In Westinghouse Electric Works in New York, the German machinists were taxed ten per cent of their wages. An American reporter asked one of them why he did not stay in Germany, seeing how patriotic he was. 'Well,' he replied, 'I had to leave the country because of the danger of political persecution, but it is my country just the same.'"

Another proof of the shrewdness of German plans is the action of Germans in Canada. There are now 350,000 German subjects under police supervision in detention camps in Canada. Many of them have been penalized by the confiscation of their property because of their patriotic activities in behalf of Germany. But as it happened, most of them had already transferred their capital to the United States before August 2, 1914, and had sold their real-estate holdings to Americans!

The Germans in the West were to operate through China and Manchuria, and 6through Tsingtau in Siberia [sic]. An attache of the German Legation in Peking, who was conducting some operations in that connection, was slain while on an expedition which he undertook in the interest of that action. What would have happened to American neutrality had Japan not stopped the operation of German plans is known only to the Japanese and British secret service.

The Organization of the German Press

There are some 29,000 periodicals, including dailies, weeklies, and monthlies, published in the United States. About 2,000 of them die every year, and 2,000 new ones are born. There are 1,200 German periodicals here, and less than one hundred French ones. Some 6,000 American periodicals are directly controlled by German capital, and in 7,000 of them the Germans hold a large portion of the capital stock. It is not surprising, therefore, that our efforts to break through in the American press have been so little successful! Dernburg took hold of the German press the minute he arrived.

An extensive campaign of exerting personal pressure upon publishers and upon editors was carried on. Dernburg was assisted by two military attaches of the German Legation in Washington, Boy Ed and von Pappen; by Professors Muensterberg and von March of Harvard, Burges of Columbia, Kuntz of Liverpool (sic); by Editors Mayer of New York, Horace L. Brand of Chicago; by Georg Viereck, publisher of the Vaterland; by the president of the German National Council, Dr. Hexamer; by Congressman Richard Bartholdi of St. Louis, and a multitude of lesser lights. The newspapers were being supplied with articles on military matters, reports, editorials, and photographs. The collapse of this splendidly started campaign is due to German brutalities in Belgium.

Secret Organizations

In addition to this public campaign Dernburg started secret activities. About a part of these there is no reliable information available; information 8concerning another part has been, so far, kept secret because of diplomatic considerations. Only occasionally does news come to public attention that the German consul in Seattle has had spies and traitors in shipyards on his pay roll, or that there is a scandal with counterfeit passports, or that Canadian property has been maliciously damaged or destroyed, or that this or that attack has been made upon our northern neighbor.

One phase of the great German conspiracy was the installation of wireless telegraphy. Its center is an enormous sending station at Sayville, Long Island (close to a Bohemian village). Immediately after the German cable had been cut, the station was enormously enlarged. At this time, sending towers of three hundred and fifty meters (about three hundred eighty-five yards) made up a station, which by means of enormous dynamos, is in direct contact with Haven in Baden. This station has received from our federal government a permit to operate. Because the waves sent by this station 9are much more powerful than waves sent by French and British men-of-war in the Atlantic, and because these stronger waves interfered with the communications sent between such men-of-war, it has happened frequently that well-informed German pirate vessels could operate for a long time without being molested, and finally escaped their pursuers. In addition to this lawful station the Germans were operating a number of illegal stations on the coast of the State of Maine.

From what has become known about the activities of Germans in America, it is clear that they have been working according to an exact plan prepared by very able men. This plan and its execution paid no attention to American interests. None of them was averse to committing any crime, using any means, when something had to be done that would be of benefit to the "Vaterland". The whole was based on the unselfishness of the German people in this country, who gladly provided all necessary means. During the first months of the 10war the American German organization was spending from three to four million dollars a month. Our nation will have to show a comparable unselfishness if we are to get ahead with our national program.