The Green Forest tribune., 1917-09-28
GERMAN PLOT ID
 SWAY CONGRESS
 AsTOUNDS NATION
Revelations by Secretary of State Lansing Bring Storm
 0f DenunciatiOn.
BERNSTORFF WAS PAYMASTER
Ambassadors Request for s5oooo Re- garded as Indicating That Money Had Been Used Before for
 Same Purpose

Same Purpose.
 hington.-Members of congress. government officials and members of inc diplomatic corps have not vet re- covered from their amazement at the astounding revelations made by See retary of State Lansing of the plans or Count von Bernstorff. former Ger man ambassador to the United States. 13 expend $50000 in an effort to influ- ence congress and prevent this coun- try from going to war with Germany.
 The revelation of this plot. follow Ing the disclosures of other cases of German dupicity in it's diplomatic re- iations with the United States and other countries, had the effect of sweeping away such antiwar propa- Eanda as may still have been alive in the national capital and giving more convincing evidence of the hostile acts which forced the United States into the war
 How Plot Was Revealed.
 Here is the statement of Secretary Lansing:
 "The secretary of state issues the following statement from Ambassador Bernstorf to the Berlin foreign office, dated January %. 1917:
 I request authority to pay out up to S50,000 (fifty thousand dollars), in order, as on former occasions, to influ- ence congress through the organiZa- tion you know of which can perhaps prevent war.
 am beginning in the meantime to act accordingly
 Tn the above circumstances, pub lie official German declaration in fla vor of Ireland is highly desirable in order to gain the support of Irish in- fiuence here.''
 Capital Stunned by Revelations.
 The publication of this letter ap- parently revealing the fact that Bern storff had previously influenced congress through the organization you know of" actually stunned the cap itol
 On the floor of the house, congress- men were denounced as suspicious" :" It was openly stated by some that they believed their colleagues had received German money.
 According to Representative Tom Hefiin. Alabama. he believes he could name 13 or IA men in the two houses of congress who have acted suspi- ciously.
 Fess of Ohio and Howard of Geor- gia both declared the German propa- ganda worked directly, with money changing hands and reaching govern ment officials.
 Additional startling revelations of the free use of money by the Ger man government to sustain the Ger man propaganda in the United States will follow Lansing's eXpt ;e.
 These revelations. 1t was indicated will corroborate. the indictment of the German embassy as the disburs- ing bureau for propaganda. Certain lriSfi-American agitatorS in the cOun- try who have allied themselves with hostile German-AmericanS may expect to be the next objects of the govern meEt's attack.
 Convicts Count Bernstorff.
 The shower of indictments of Ger man clandestine pre-war activities in this country is relied upon by the state department to set at rest all doubt remaining in any quarters that the German government officially through Count von Bernstorff con Spired flagrantly. as asserted in Presi- dent Wilson's war proclamation. to di- vide the American people on the is sues of the war. It is believed by the state department that public opinion after digesting the contents of the series of exposes. may be depended upon to deal effectively with those who became the catSpaws of the Ger man embassy.
 The message was decoded by Scot land Yards experts after vain at tempts by Americans.
 Expulsion might have been Von Bernstorff's fate as remotely as 1915 if the state department had then known as much about the secrets of the Ger man code as 1t knows today.
 Other Shots to Follow.
 One by one the exhibits in the evi- dence in the case, it was said at the state department, will be given to the public,
 That Americans in high public posi- tionS lent themselves to the German embassy's plan to split congress on the question of war, further decoded messages in the possession of the gov ernment are expected to demonstrate concusively.
 More than one of these we!l-known persons has been under public sus- picion. but proof of their complicity with the German government has not come forth. It is known that evi- dence of the most damaging and con vincing character has finally been obtained by the agents of the govern ment
 Vice President Marshall made a clear-cut statement Of his views to.