Evening star., 1914-09-29
Ernest Bruncken Declares
Plan to Develop Anti-Ger-
man Sentiment Exists.
CONSPIRACY TO INFLUENCE
NEWSPAPERS OF COUNTRY
Addresses Mass Meeting Of German
Americans at Concordia Church.
Others Also Speak.

That the newspapers of this country
have been victims of a carefully laid
European plot to develop antiGerman
sentiment In the United States was the
declaration OF Ernest Bruncken of
the Library of Congress in an address
last night before a mass meeting of
German Americans at Concordia
Church, goth and c. streets northwest
The meeting was held to bring out
facts concerning Germanys position in
the war which have been withheld
from Americans because of the activ-
ity Of the kaiser's enemies abroad in
sending out untruthful reports, it was
stated. Reference by several of the
speakers to the success Of the German
arms aroused the audience to high
pitch Of enthusiasm.
introduced by the Rev. Paul A. Men
eel, pastor of the church, Mr. Bruncken
began by charging certain Americans
with a desire to destroy the neutral
position taken by the United States
toward the European conflict
who are these Americans that have
planned so unpatriotic and reasonable
an enterprise?" he asked. I'm the
nature of things it is not easy to NIX
the guilt on particular individuals. for
from the house tops. We can only
observe the miserable tools through
whom the real culprits hope to ac-
complish their purpose We can see.
especially, how the press perverts the
enormous power it can WELD in order
to further the hidden ends of subtler
minds and more sinister interests.
Workers Victims of Conspiracy.
Far be it from me to charge every
American newspaper taking the side of
the Russians and British with being
party to conspiracy to injure both
the immediate and future interests of
our common country. Still less would
1 think of raising SO terrible an ac-
cusation z-gainst the individual men
who work on these papers. The
majority of them are themselves vic
TINS of the conspiracy I have spoken
of. They have peen unable to resist
beng carried off their mental balance
by the food of Misrepresentation, in
vention. falsehood and vituperatfon
that has suddenly broken over this
country. Only in this manner can the
present paroxysm of violent and un-
reasoning hatred of everything German
be explained
did not, indeed come suddenly. but it
had been long prepared, just as the
war had been prepared for many years
py the clique OF spectators and dema-
gogues who are in power for the time
being In Great Britain, France and Rus
sta- For years those who watch such
things had noticed how the cable dis
patches published in American news
papeSs were filled with covert attacks
upon Germany. Rarely were such at
tacks openly made, SO that they couId |
De met by argument or the statement |
or the real facts. Instead, there was |
2 constant recurrence of insinuations, |
of skillfully devised phrases and terms
OF speech calculated to create an un-i
conscious prejudice against Germany IN
the minds of American readers who
% we're not In a position to correct i'm
pressions so gained by frst-hand
knowledge. Hardly a paragraph could |
De written without the use Of the word
mintarism. until the average Amert- |
German people had no thought except
10 conquer the world by military force
the nation which alone of ali the ,
ereat nations of the world kept the
In the face of repeated and outrs eson:
foes. anu ehVious
The kaiser, the political head of |
without the insinuation that he was az
autocrat; Just as if Germany were not |
= constitutional country in which the
pSfu pSMrs OF the emperor fall consider
aniy snort of the constitutional powers
OF our own President If the kaiser
we're not dubbed an -autocrat' he was
sure to be called The War Lord The
first individual who coined that phrase
probably knew we'll enough that his
translation of the German word for
chief would have dis
In his first term. But no matter tha
silly word served its purpose.
Emperor Pictured as Buccaneer
Thousands of Americans. unfamiliar
with the German language and hear
ing the word reiterated a thousand
times, came to picture to themselves
the emperor as a potentate, armed to
the teeth like story-book buccaneer
v,a. nns'an.ly looking around to see what
might devour next.
IN this manner the soil was well
prepared and the seed sown from
ience has sprunk up which now Of
tends the eyes of all Americans ca
paoie ad OF resisting the weak tendency
ene's own. the direction that the oninl
ION OF the great shouting mob is
Mr. Brucken denied that Germany is
2 military nation as is England or
France, and presented statistics to
show that the latter countries spend
larger sums annually for the equip
ment and maintenance of their armies.
He referred to the taking of Alsace-
Lorraine by, the French and its recap-
ture by the Germans in 1870. and de-
clared that these provinces are Ger
man to the core" and properly be-
longed to Germany.
Neutrality Efforts Commended.
Others who spoke were Prof. Herr
man Schoenfeldt of George Washing
ton University, who discussed pam
Slavism. and traced the racial develop
naent Of the Russians and its anti-Ger-
manic tendencies, and Prof A. W.
Spanhoofd. master Instructor of Ger
man IN Washington high schools, who
deplored the war in Europe ana De.