The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1917-09-28
GERMAN PLOTS
AGAINST j. s.
Barred BY RAID
Kaiser's Spy Net Covered the
Entire Country.
BERNSTORFF WAS THE CHIEF
Teutonic Secret Service, Under Com
merciaI Guise, Paid for Placing
Explosives on Ships-German
Money Paid for Revolt
in Ireland.

The following exposure of Ger
many's espionage and desperate activ-
1ty in America is possibly the most
startling made since the first declara-
ton of war in August, 1914. 1t is
based on official documents held by
the United States government which
have not hitherto been made available
to the press.
by the Committee on Public Infor-
mation.]
Washington, Sept. 24.-Within a
few days a German newspaper pub
lished in this country employed as the
headline to an article dealing with q
rumOr of German-American disaffec-
ton in this country the derisive legend,
'Iieb Washington, magst ruhig
sein.'
This is, Of course, a parody on the
refrain of ode Wacht am Rhein," the
German national hymn:
Lieb Vaterland, magst ruhig sein."
Loved fatherland, be restful Cor
undisturbed).
In the parody it carries a sneer COM
prehenSible only to one who under
stands the German mode of speech and
thought.
Type of German Propaganda.
OF itself the instance is slight. But
it typifies q certain important phase
Of the German propaganda which
subtly but persistently seeks to pre-
sent GeTmany's course in America in
the most favorable light, even to the
extent of defending the improper ac-
tivitfes of the TeutOnic diplomatic rep
resentatives before their passports
were given them.
Because of this continuing propa-
ganda certain documents in the pos
session of the department of justice
now assume peculiar Importance, in
that they prove undeniably the init
mate relations between the accredited
representatives of the kaiser in the
United States and plotters against the
laws and the security of this country,
whose enterprise did not fall short of
projected wholesale destruction of life
and property.
In the fall of 1914, when the Ger
man plots against Canada were foment-
ing in this country, there was estab-
liShed at 60 Wall street an "advertiS-
ing" office presided over by a big,
suave man Of Teutonic aspect named
Wolf Won Igel.
There were two peculiar features
about this office. One was that it was
frequcnted during two years of singu-
larry quiet and unbusinesslike exist
ence chiefly by Germans who had
nothing whatsoever to do with adver-
Using. The other was a large safe,
bearing the insignia of the German i'm
perial government.
Won IgeI Defies U. S. Agents.
To this office there came one morn
ing in April, 1916, while Won Igel was
preparing q mass of papers which he
had taken from the safe for transfer
to the German embassy in Washington,
four United States secret service
agents from the department of Justice,
who made their way past the guard
dams always on duty, put Won Igel
Under arrest and undertook to seize
the papers.
The German was large, powerful
and brave. With the aid-of one asso-
ciate he stubbOrnly fought the officers,
Striving to rescue the papers, to close
the safe, to get to the telephone and
communicate with his superiors. Re-
volvers were drawn by the secret SER
vice men. They produced no effect
upon the intrepid Won Igile.
'eThis is German territory" he shout
ed. "Shoot me and you will bring on
war;
There was no shooting. But after
a protracted struggle the defenders
were overpowered and the papers
seized.
Find Proof Plot Was Laid.
When the papers were examined by
the department of justice the reason
for Won Igers determined fight be-
came apparent. Here in the form of
letters, kilograms, cashbooks, checks,
receipts, ledgers, cashbooks, cipher
codes, lists Of spies, and other memo
randa and records, were found indica-
f10nS-lu SO1AS ALSlohSC0 VI NdSUGSI ma
ture. In others of the most damning
conclusiveness-th the German i'm
perial government, through its repre-
sentatives in a then friendly nation.
was concerned with
Violation of laws of the United
States.
Destruction of lives and property in
merchant vessels on the high seas.
Irish revolutionary plots against
Great Britain.
Fomenting ill-feeling against the
United States in Mexico.
Subornation of American writer's
and lecturers.
Financing of propaganda.
Maintenance Of a spy system under
the guise of a commercial investiga-
ton bureau.
C..he4d;1ipo nf q hIIrnar1 for tbo ra,,r