The Washington herald., 1917-04-01

commerce raiders. The British at this
time had two or three small cruisers
within a short distance of New York
harbor, and the Germans recognized that
they could not escape without loss. but
1t was planned that the twenty-one lin
ers should come out together, scatter up
and down inside the 3-mile limit and
dAp to sea simultaneously in different
directions, so that the hostile warships
must pick individual victims and try-to
run them down while the bulk of the
quarry escaped.
1t may be years before the full details
of this daring scheme are revealed, and
have no information as to the German
plan for an invasion of the Cape colony
with this force of Germans. Only Ger
mans liable to military service were to
be taken along; German-Americans who
had naturaliZed were to be refused In
order to avoid later complications with
the United States. The plot was matured
during November, when plans were made
through the German embassy for the
secret munitioning and coahng Of the
ships. Possibly German ships in other
harbOrs were also involved. The whole
scheme collapsed early in December, and
the waiting reservists were gradually
disbanded
Victory Fatal to Plot.
Admiral Sturdee's Falkland island VIC
tory on December s was probably fatal
to the plot. When by a wireless trick
Won Spec was induced to put in at Port
Stanley while he was hurrying from the
Pacific to take his part in the dash across
TO Africa. the fate OF the enterprise was
sealed. for the German fleet was sunk
and a group of helpless liners crossing to
Africa without powerful warships to
protect them would have been at the
mercy of the scattered cruisers which
Britain maintained in those waters 1t Is
also possible. though on this point have
no information. that the excellent Brit
ish and American secret service organI-
cations may have fathomed the plot at
such an early stage that measures were
taken to make its execution impossible.
German plots are generally so ponderous
and complicated and take so much time
to develop that something goes wrong
with the machinery before success Is at
tained.
Stories about plans to invade foreign
countries are always subject to suspicion,
for such plans rarely leak out, but Mai.
Darnley Stuart-Stephens, a former MEM
Der of the British secret service who
claims to have important feats of espion-
age to his credit in Germany publishes
in the current English Review a letter
from highly placed German secret
agent in the United States, written in
1913. which is at least interesting. The
unnamed German, after indulging in
some ironical comments about America,
reminiscent of Won Papen's celebrated
these idiotic Yankees" declares that
Germany with 10000 men could master
the United States. He indicates that the
expedition would land in two sections,
one capturing Boston. the other disem-
barking at the head of the Chesa pei AXE.
and that the two armies would fight their
way to a junction, when the industrial
heart of the country would have been
conquered.
Maj. StUart-Stephens points out that
there Is at present lying idle in German
harbors enough tonnage to carry a Ger
man army of tbs size across the At
lantic. Vt seems unlikely that German
would reveal such a scheme If 1t were
seriously contempla ted. to a member of a
rival intelligence service, and I quote It
only to point out that so long as the
British navy controls at any rate the
surface of the seas an attack Of this ma
tuTe would not be permitted whatever
the result Of an engagement between the
German and American fleets. 1t may be
that considerations of self-interest and
not sentiment would cause England to
prevent Germany from recouping her
self from this war at Americas expense,
but the fact does remain that the British
navy has stood and does stand between
any danger from Germany, and this
ought not to be forgotten when the
somewhat high-handed methods taken by
England in dealing with neutral COM
merce are denounced
Plotting in Russia,
The bribery and corruption department
of the German foreign office has devoted
only a small fraction of its efforts during
this war to the United States, although
not one-tenth of what has been going on
inI Mexico. America and Japan has yet
been revealed, according to men here who
are in touch with these matters. Prob
ably the chief efforts of the Wilhelm
strasse have been concentrated on Russia.
with remarkable results among them the
! Incarceration of the war minister Of 1915,
Gen. Soukhomlinofr, in the fortress of st.
Peter and st. Paul on a charge of high
treason. and the charge openly made on
the floor of the Duma by Prof. Miliukoff
/ that the 1916 premier. NJ. Stuermer, was
in German pay. And in Italy, France,
and even in England enemy agents are
active, but the censorship prevents me
from retailing many amazing Incidents
showing the ubiquity and audacity of
Teutonic agents in countries of the En-
tente.
1t is necessary to conf1ne this story to
activities in neutral countries At the
present time. according to my informa-
ton. German propaganda is being carried
on with feverish energy in fourteen neu-
tral and all the belligerent countries. In
Turkey and Bulgaria. and to some extent
in Greece, German methods Of the kind
with which Americans have now become
familiar succeeded. In Italy, Rumania,
and apparently in America. they have
failed. But success or failure does not
mean that activities cease. If Turkey has
come on the German side, backsheesh
must continue to be distributed to pre-
vent her from backsliding; If Italy took
the wrong turning. there is hope that BY
assiduous attentions she may be "re-
deemed
The distribution Of money IL by no
means the only method of German propa-
ganda, nor is it the worst, though it may
be the most persuasive. II costs Ger.
many about S2O.oOO.O0o a day to fight this
way, and she spent. according to an in
complete and conservative estimate, $373,.
100000 in propaganda, legitimate and
ilegitimate, during the first year and a
half of war. This sum would carry on
the war for nearly three weeks, and rep
resents about the cost of the Panama
Canal.
Varied Tactics Used.
The tactics used by Germany in each
country vary from assassination to