The Washington times., 1917-02-21
WRITES FOR PAPER
He SELDOM SEES
DR.. BartheIme Has Received
Cologne Gazette Only Once
In Year.
SLOW TO TALK OF SELF
Is Sole German Representative
of German Press Remaining
In United States.

There is in our town a newspaper
correspondent who has seen but one
copy of his paper in more than a
year, who intrusts his stories to the
they will reach their destination, and
who today finds himself the sole rep
resentatiVe in this country of the
press of an entire nation.
He Is DR.. George Barthelme, Wash
ington >correspondent-or United
States correspondeht-of the Cologne
Gazette, OF Germany.
Dr. Barthelme has been somewhat
in the international spotlight because
of two reports-one that the State
Department significantly offered him
safe conduct" back home, should he
desire to leave with the party of for
mer Ambassador Won Bernstorff; the
other that the departing diplomat
designated him as a confidential rep
resentative in this country. Denial
of the first report DIR. Barthelme
leaves to officials OF the State De-
partment; he himself denies that he
Is the personal representative of
Count Won Bernstorff.
The State Department has denied
that DR.. Barthelme was offered safe
conduct" with the intimation that it
would be agreeable should he return
to the Fatherland because OF alleged
responsibility for German feeling
that the break with the United States
was not as serious as it seemed.
Fills. Delicate Position.
This story, however, concerns DR..
Barthelme the newspaper man. He
occupies an unusual, and, naturally, q
somewhat embarrassing position.
So far as the correspondent of the
Cologne Gazette knows, he is the only
German in this country whose sole
function it is to represent a German
newspaper. There may be Germans
here, he says, who occasionally con-
tribute articles to German publica-
tions; but DR.. Barthelme, in the midst
of these war times and in the capital
of a country which has broken dip
lomatic relations with his own, is
supposed to keep a foreign news
paper acquainted with world events.
It is not a task to be lightly re-
garded-and much of the, reward Of
labor is lost because DR.. Barthelme>
does not know whether his "copy"
reaches the other side.
Unable to See own Paper.
"With one exception" said DR.. Bar
thelme, 81 have not seen a copy of
the Cologne Gazette since December,
1915. A friend brought me one last
summer. 1t had one of my stories
in 1t. The paper was smaller than
usual and 1 assume that the size of
all the German papers is greatly re-
duced.
II am writing pretty much in the
dark. 1 intrust my copy to your Uncle
Sam. What becomes of it 1 cannot
know. 1t is rather a strange feeling
this one of aiming at a target 1
never see"
DR. Barthelme was reluctant to
talk about himself. In Germany, he
explained, they do not go in for "per-
sonality interviews" The Germans,
he elaborated, do not care for per-
sonal descriptions OF person
whether he has blue or brown eyes,
one leg or two, o rtends toward stout
ness or slimness. They want views,
not descriptions.
However, it will not be amiss here
to say a word about DR.. Barthelme, as
he appears to friends and co-workers
OF "German Professor Type.
DR.. Barthelme is of what Americans
probably would call the German pro-
fessor" type. One is inclined to pic
ture him playing a violin, or pouring
chemicals into a retort upon a Iabora-
tory bench. rather than at a type
writer rather awkwardly picking out
his words. He is not skilled typist
he admits. Or. again, one might i'm
agine him behind a big stein in some
rathskeller, singing German folklore
songs with group as toasts to the
Fatherland are offered.
DR.. Barthelme wears glasses, behind
which peer two deep blue eyes that
twinkle at an American joke or grow
grave when one mentions the terrific
struggle in which his countrymen-I
even members OF his family-are en-
gagged. His hair and his mustache are
slightly reddish and curly; little au-
burn ringlets cover his head, and
somehow his hair seems always as
though it were about to stand on
end" He is florid-faced and his ac-
cent is such that six words reveal
that he came from Germany
When untroubled by wars demands
and responsibilities, DR.. BartheIme is
inclined TO be genial, companionabIe.
He is intensely German, intensely
loyal to the mother country, and, be-
cause of this trait. his associates of
opposite affiliations generally are
considerate enough not to discuss the
world war when he is about.
Unused to Personality stuff
So much in brief description of DR..
Barthleme, who said he didn't want
to talk about himself, and who hasn't
been trained in personality sketches,
How old am /? i am ten years