# Mexico's dilemma/Chapter 5

CHAPTER V
The last spy offensive
ON one of the main streets of Tampico stands a solid one-story cement building which, according to a large sign ribboned across the top like a banner, is the Agencia Comercial y Maritima. The members of the firm, judging from an announcement in equally prominent letters, are Heynen, Eversbusch y Cia. A smaller placard near one of the entrances states that this is the Consulate of the Imperial German Government; and under the glass cover of the bulletin board, also on the outside of the building, are notices to German citizens regarding service in the Imperial Army.
I shall not describe the structure further, except to remark that it stands on the sunny side of the street and that it is the chief German banking institution in this section of Mexico. The description is not important, except to fix in the reader's mind the cement-like reality of the narrative the events of the war have woven about the place, for this imposing edifice is one of the chief way stations on the spider's web of the German Secret Service in the republic south of the Rio Grande.
​Before the United States Congress declared war against the Berlin Imperialists, Señor and Herr Carl Heynen was one of the active German agents in the United States and Mexico. So important was he considered by the United States Government, whose detectives found him in the United States when war was declared, that he was placed in an internment camp, where he lives to-day in peace and quiet. Herr Eversbusch, the other member of the concern, being the German Consul at Tampico, always remained in that city, to direct the financial transactions of the institution and protect Germany's interests.
Before America was a belligerent the Agenda Comercial y Maritima communicated in code with banks and individuals in the United States. When a censorship was established these messages were stopped; but the pause was only temporary. The State Department announced one day that those concerns having business of a confidential nature in the United States and Mexico might, by filing a copy of the code with the United States censors, continued to communicate as in the pre-war days.
At the time this pronouncement was made the American Consul, Mr. Claude I. Dawson, was in Washington, and a young vice consul was acting in his stead. One day a representative of Herr Eversbusch appeared at the Consulate with a code of this bank and the statement that, inasmuch as the bank did business with American concerns in Houston, Texas, and in New York City, it was ​entitled to the use of its code. The secret document was filed with the American authorities and for an indefinite period—the authorities are not quite certain how long—this German bank and the German Consul in Tampico sent and received secret messages to and from the United States. The practice was not interrupted until Consul Dawson returned to his post.
Of course it required considerable faith on the part of Herr Eversbusch in the inability of the United States to discover such an obvious scheme at deception; but in this faith in Uncle Sam's advertised laxity the German official was disappointed. He was found out and this line of communication was cut, as have been most of the lines between German agents throughout the world and the Berlin Government.
​United States is concerned, than the checking of the last German spy offensive in Mexico, which had for its object a military clash between that republic and the United States?
The last spy offensive marked the climax to German operations on the American continent, just as the discovery of German-paid intrigue to force peace in Europe has shattered the Imperial plans for an Imperial peace.
Undoubtedly Germany still has her trusted agents and their bribed assistants in Washington, London, Paris, Rome, Petrograd and other cities; but most of them are like a swarm of wingless bees miles away from the hive. The Allies and the United States have had to fortify themselves against spying as against military attack, and their defences to-day are almost flawless. They have succeeded in discovering if not in destroying the channels through which information was sent to and from Berlin. Sometimes, seemingly by mere chance, a link has been broken, as in the case of the wireless operator on an interned Teutonic liner who escaped to Mexico before Congress declared war. When I was in Mexico City, and even before I left the United States, I heard reports about secret German wireless stations; but I was unable to establish the location of any German tower that was not deaf and dumb, and that had any other sign language as a substitute.
After diplomatic relations between Washington and Berlin were severed the chief wireless officer ​on one of the Hamburg liners formerly tied to a Hoboken wharf dismantled and took apart the plant on his ship, packed the essential parts in trunks and suitcases, and boarded a train for Mexico. Before April fourth he was safely across the international border, bag, baggage and all.
This wireless operator had been ordered to Mexico to construct one of the links in the proposed chain of communication between this hemisphere and the Kaiser's agents in Spain and Germany. But he was only one of many suspected Germans who escaped from New York before this country was formally at war with the autocratic enemy. There were many others, who were to spread the nets of German intrigue in Cuba, Mexico and Central America, and who left at the same time. By June these men were scattered in all the leading cities of the South, there to begin their operations upon orders from abroad.
It is perhaps not necessary to state that before this wireless operator packed his instrument he invoiced and carefully examined it to make sure he had all the parts needed. Those that were missing he bought through an agent; so when he left Hoboken he was certain that every part needed to make the wireless plant a success, with the exception of the tower and the electric power, was securely registered in his baggage.
When he arrived in Mexico City he reported to his All Highest officials, and within a short time was ordered to rebuild the plant he had taken ​from the interned liner. With true Teutonic plodding thoroughness he assembled the parts, only to discover that one of the pieces he was certain he had packed, because it would be impossible to get a substitute in Mexico, was missing. He searched his baggage, re-examined the parts, consulted his lists, and to his astonishment and amazement learned that one of the most important features of his instrument was missing. A closer inspection of his baggage showed that it had been opened.
Some one—perhaps it is not necessary to say who, but some one who evidently knew his scheme—had entered his baggage and removed such an essential part of the machine that it could not be used in Mexico unless the part was imported from the United States. And by this time the United States was at war with Germany. This man tried through many agents to get this part from the North; but at the time I left Mexico City, in September, 1917, he was still seeking the missing link.
Some one was just a little bit more clever than he; and that some one must have been an enemy.
Perhaps it was some one in the United States Department of Justice, perhaps some one in the British; or it might have been some one in the New York detective service. It really does not matter who did the work; but it has meant a great deal to the United States to have it impossible for this German subject to erect his wireless station in Mexico. ​German efforts in Mexico were divided into three classes: the press propaganda; the business intrigue; and the political endeavours. The press work was placed in the hands of Herr von Lubeck, a wealthy German merchant, who collected three hundred thousand dollars from Germans in Mexico City as an initial campaign fund.
About the middle of 1916 it was discovered that these various organisations were not only making detailed reports to Berlin, but that they were receiving instructions from headquarters there. This correspondence, which was written as confidential, was intercepted; and one document, which I obtained, discloses in a general way the activities of the German agents.
In order to make possible an efficient secret service it was necessary for Germany to spread a net over Mexico, as she did over the United States; but in casting this net in the well-known German secret manner, it struck snags, and the holes torn were so great that the German service in Mexico has lost its effectiveness. All the German agents in Mexico are known to the Allies. Every movement is traced, though sometimes it is exceedingly difficult to do so; and, though there are Germans travelling throughout Mexico all the time, their plans are nipped before they are well under way. Mexico, which was to be the Spy's Paradise, has become the German Spy's Hades.
Travelling on Mexican trains, I met a large number of Germans. On some railroad lines there were ​more Germans than Americans. When I boarded the train at Monterey for Tampico there were four Germans aboard and two Americans. The remainder were Mexicans. Travellers in the interior declared that German agents were travelling in various parts of the country—on business; but through the loyal co-operation of American business men and British commercial agents these men are so effectively tracked that, even before they can do anything to cause trouble, their plans are exposed or placed before the Mexican Government.
At one time Germany tried to place German officers in the Mexican Army. At one time there were forty active German officers in that army. While I was in Mexico they were discharged. The Mexicans discovered that they could not be trusted in their posts, because, though they were employed to drill the Mexican Army, it was learned that their ulterior motives and their constant propaganda against the United States were inimical to the best interests of the Mexican Government and people.
There is a great difference between American and German activities in Mexico. Time was when the Mexicans feared the Americans; when the Mexican Government suspected American motives and American plans in Mexico. And though that time is not past, most Mexicans are beginning to realise that, with the exception of a few big financial and business interests in the United States, ​no one, from the Government to the majority of the American people, desires or would sanction American military intervention in that country. But the German plans are, almost without exception, made with military ends in view.
Early in 1915 there was organised in Mexico City a Union of German Citizens. On April sixteenth, 1916, the following report was sent from this Union to the Deutscher Wirtschaftsverband for Central and South America, with home offices at Potsdamerstrasse, 28, Berlin. The significant statement was made at that time, less than one year before the United States broke off relations with Berlin: "It is not practicable for us to aid Germany by force of arms." A bold confession, indeed, that they had been thinking of military co-operation; but because of the small number of Germans in Mexico it was not practicable to do anything which might aid Germany against the United States!
"This is to advise of the organisation of this society as far back as June sixteenth last year"—1915—the report began. "As your association is occupied in Latin-American countries, our society will pursue the same course here. It is not practicable for us to aid Germany by force of arms; so our main intention will be to aid all possible in an economic manner.
"The society was founded June sixteenth, having 164 members; and the first committee was chosen October twelfth, at which time the ​propaganda was circulated in the capital and throughout the interior. At the same time 245 Germans of the Empire joined in the capital and 113 from the interior, making a total of 522.
"As you can readily see from reading our statutes, we will accept none as members save native-born Germans, and their nationality must be proved beyond doubt. That proscription also permitted the Imperial authorities to recognise the nationality of sixty Germans. Moreover, a great number of Germans who, for various reasons, "by not observing the ancient regulations, lost their nationality,' have regained their standing as Germans, and have been rehabilitated under the new liberal laws of the association. It is to be hoped that excellent results will emanate from this source.
"Up to the present a great number of publications on the war have been circulated in the cities and throughout the country, dealing with the German viewpoint, by the Ausschuss für Verteilung von Aufklärungs-Material, who have been working for three months; and a great number of Mexicans have been convinced that we are in the right in the methods of conducting the war and in our spirit of German culture.
"Also, the following technical works and serials have been distributed: The Great War in Description; The Actual War; The Discourse of the Chancellor, September 12, 1915; and The War and the Right, by Dr. Ed. Llorens. ​"The stories contained in the Herald, of Hamburg, received here in December, met with great approval.
"The circulation of the propaganda will be assured by means of twenty-nine local committees, and other members throughout the country; and we are hopeful of the greatest results.
"Free courses in German have been instituted in the German schools by Mexican instructors without special effort on the part of our association, though a part of the general plan of the committee, and have been received with great approval by the public, and add to our propaganda. By this means the public will be given to understand Germany and to receive the true communications of our General Staff on the happenings of the war. The public will be disposed to accept our announcements.
"It is desired to begin the immediate construction of a German hospital, which will be a great impulse to our colony and will demonstrate to our following the power of German science, German ability, and the German spirit of organisation. If the Empire approves and gives aid it will be a great point for our propaganda. A committee of physicians has this matter under study from the scientific point of view.
"The colony of Germans of the Empire here is relatively small and the economical setbacks of the country for the past five years have greatly ​hindered our spirit of enterprise against the economic strength of our enemies.
"Address correspondence for the president to Herr Ad. Christliebsen, Apartado 58, Mexico, or to the secretary, Hugo von den Steinen, Apartado 1221, Mexico City."
When this communication was discovered en route to Berlin another avenue of German intrigue was opened up; and, in view of the disclosures in the letter from former Minister of Foreign Affairs Alfred Zimmermann to the German Minister in Mexico City, it is easy to see what use the Imperial Government could have made of the twenty-nine branches of the Verband Deutscher Reichsangehöriger in case Germany's efforts had succeeded in influencing Mexico to invade the United States. Also, in view of the Zimmermann letter, one can understand the statement of this society in April, 1916, that "it is not practicable for us to aid Germany by force of arms." The society, at that time, was just being organised, and was, therefore, not powerful enough to carry on military operations. Evidently Doctor Zimmermann thought the German citizens in Mexico could violate Mexican neutrality as easily as the German Army scrapped the treaty with Belgium.
One can draw a remarkable contrast between this method of organising foreigners in Mexico with that of the American business men who, during my stay in the capital, planned an American Chamber of Commerce. The complete prospectus, ​published and signed by the leading American business men and bankers, I have given in the appendix of this book. The prospectus declared:
"It is proposed to establish a purely commercial and non-political organisation, which will foment the friendly trade relations between Mexico and the United States."
Among the benefits to be derived from such an organisation were cited these:
"Increase of the market in Mexico for American goods of all kinds.
"Increase of export of Mexican products to the United States and encouragement of production in Mexico by enlisting capital and creating new markets or improving present ones through better methods.
"The establishment of a much-needed bureau of business information about Mexico, its resources, opportunities and impediments, for the benefit of Americans in the United States who wish such information but at present cannot get it from reliable sources."
Instead of being a secret report, as in the case of the German Bericht to Berlin, the American report was published and widely circulated. No mention is made of military operations, intervention, and so on, and the object of the chamber will be as beneficial to Mexico as to the United States. That is the Great Divide between American enterprise in Mexico and German intrigue. The object of the one is to develop honest business; the ​Teutonic object is to spread propaganda and convince Mexicans that the German methods of conducting the war are right.
It might have been stated at the beginning of the war, because of the cleverness of the German spies and the spotless organisation, that everything they did was in the dark—at least, so far as the enemy was concerned. Those were the days when inconspicuous Belgian billboards, advertisements in French and British newspapers, direct telegrams and letters from Russian traitors, and official documents from Italy were messages and reports from intelligence officers. To-day one might as correctly assert that the sun never sets on German intrigue, for practically every great scheme by which Germany has sought to embroil neutrals, destroy ships of friendly states, stir up discontent within belligerent nations, and make peace, has been discovered by the United States or the Allies before these plans, plots and military dreams came true.
One day I was sitting in the lobby of my hotel in Tampico, chatting with an American editor, when two young men entered, greeting my companion.
"Mr. Blume and Mr. Nieno," he said, introducing them.
We sat round the table and discussed the war, when my companion remarked that I had been in Germany and had written some articles about that ​country; then, turning to one of the guests, he said to me:
"Herr Blume, here, is the head of the German Secret Service." Then he smiled.
"So," remarked Blume in good English, "you have been writing those lies about Germany! I have read The Saturday Evening Post for many years; but when the war broke out I stopped reading everything about Germany. None of your magazines will publish the truth. The other night I read every article in the Post, except one about Germany. I did not want to read that one; but I couldn't sleep because it was so hot that night, and I read that article about one-thirty in the morning. It made me so angry I didn't sleep all night!
"Well," I replied, "you ought to read everything that is written about Germany, and maybe you couldn't sleep for a week! But what are you going to do when Germany becomes a democratic nation?"
"Germany is democratic," he answered; and then the conversation followed other, less belligerent, channels.
​Democracy's secret service. In fact, what work is being done in Mexico to-day for the United States and the Allies is not the work of paid confidential investigators so much as the voluntary aid of American and Allied business men and travellers. There are Allied eyes to-day on nearly every German operation; and more than one order to Imperial agents in Mexico has failed of execution because of these sleepless eyes.
It is not difficult to learn about the German moves in that country. The United States Government knows every possible means of communication between Mexico and the outside world. It knows of the possibilities through Salvador, Spain, Argentina and Japan. It knows the messengers and agents who travel between Cuba, South and Central America, and Mexico; and most of the time the United States or one of the Allies knows what is being sent. The system of watching the German agents in this Latin Republic is so water-tight that most of the danger is past.
One can meet many Americans who believe that our system in Mexico is weak because it is so easy for people to travel back and forth without passports. I heard directly of several instances where Americans went to different parts of that country without official permission; and I returned to the United States without having to give up my passport, which is required now by State Department regulations. Some opium smuggling still ​goes on, some information still goes back and forth, and some Germans succeed, through Mexican and other neutral agents, in purchasing war materials in the United States; but the big moves are almost always nipped in the bud.
Not even the Austrian Consul in Monterey, the chief industrial and railroad centre in Northern Mexico, is able to get his carloads of sulphuric acid out of the United States, even though he has the largest wholesale and retail drug store in that part of the country. Whether his object is to divert this acid from war purposes, or whether it is for use in Mexico, it matters not. He was balked even when he organised, through Mexican workers, a wax-match factory, and ordered still more sulphuric acid. His business and that of his satellites may be the business of the Imperial German Government; and Uncle Sam is not taking chances.
The last spy offensive was another German failure, as both Mexico and the Germans are beginning to realise. Mexico and the United States in the mid-summer of 1917 were on friendlier relations than at any time during the war.
Since I wrote the first of the series of articles which has led to the composition of this book there have been certain events of more than ordinary significance that change, in some respects, the statements I made in those articles. Between the time of the writing and the publication of the article entitled "Rising or Setting Sun in Mexico," President Wilson recognised the de jure ​Government. President Carranza addressed an autograph letter to President Wilson, notifying him officially of his selection as President of Mexico at the last election; and on August thirty-first, 1917, Mr. Wilson, without consulting his Cabinet, extended our official recognition to the present Mexican Government.
In Tampico the labour difficulties have increased; and General Carranza has sent two hundred soldiers to the city to maintain order, while a number of Mexicans have written to the United States Consulate asking that American marines be landed to protect the city at night. In these letters the Mexicans declared that it was unsafe to go on the street after dark in some neighbourhoods, and they requested American intervention.
Food and money continue to become scarcer throughout Mexico, despite the official announcements. In October, 1917, the Federal Government notified the governor of the state of Nuevo Leon that hereafter the Central Federal Treasury would be unable to give to the state that portion of the federal taxes which had previously been sent there. The governor was notified that he would have to raise money for the state government as best he could.
In the warehouses of Monterey there were in August, 1917, over forty thousand hides ready for exportation; but they could not be shipped because the Mexican Government demanded that the duty be paid in gold, and it was impossible for ​the exporter to get the required amount. He notified American officials that he had sixty thousand hides in other warehouses, available to the Allies whenever the required amount of gold was permitted to leave the United States.
Business in the Monterey consular district has continued to increase, even beyond the figures quoted in the first article I wrote on Mexico: "Mexico—Enemy or Ally?" In July, 1917, the exportations amounted to $1,950,000; in August, $2,500,000; and during the first fifteen days of September, $1,500,000. This indicates a further revival in business in this part of Mexico.
As to whether Mexico shall be an enemy or an ally of the United States, the question is still undecided; but it seems at this time that the bonds between the two nations are being fused tighter at every rise of the sun.
But Mexico is and may remain for some time as she was described to me by a foreigner in Tampico.
"Mexico," he declared, "is the screen of a great national moving picture. The operator and his machine are in the skies. Four reels of the revolution have been unwound. Nobody knows the fifth, except the Great Author of Human Destinies; and the last act is just about to begin."