Der Deutsche correspondent. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1841-1918, 1917-03-16
PLOTS AND RIIMORS or PLOTS


lombia, Central and South America!
German plots" in Haiti and Cuba!
German plots" in Japan, China and
Indial German plots" within our
very midst
Such is the story presented to us
daily by our American" press, says
B. Herman Ridder
a great increase in the number
and enormity of these plots" has
beer discovered within the last few
days. We are entitled to know who
is responsible for their dissemina-
ton, and the object which they have
in view The defense Of our national
interests does not demand any such
eXcerbation Of public sentiment as is
apparently intended by those who
seek TO arouse US to sense Of un-
preparedness by the wilful and mall
icious invention of conditions which
they know do not exist.
The last few months have treated
us TO a series of alarms and a cam
paign for local defense quite without
parallel In the long history OF the
country / would be the last man
in New York to deprecate legitimate
preparation against hostile attack by
very natural smile when Mr. Woods
assumes to send his policemen to
protect regular army post from
"alien attack.
On Tuesday night some three
hundred of New York's finest"
night-sticks were hurriedly called
INTO action to protect the sleeping
bayonets" Of Fort Hamilton, Brook
lyn. They were not invited AS q
matter of fact, Uncle Sans boys are
usually capable Of taking care of the
property and lives entrusted to their
protection SO far as has been de-
veloped there was no plot, and the
whole maneuvre was simply a mat
ter of police training. The press has
seized upon the incident, however, as
one upon which to hang the rumor Of
German uprising" One more op-
portunity to raise the cry of plot,
and add a brand to the racial con
migration already started by it in
this city At a moment when the
Mayors Committee is seeking to
secure the signature OF Americans
TO a declaration of loyalty addressed
to the President, such efforts to stir
up racial antagonism in our midst
can be interpreted only as soundly
and simply disloyal.
The pro-British press in this coun-
try is bent upon driving us into the
war. We do not want it. Go about
the streets, or on the subway trains,
or elsewhere overhear the imam in
the street" talk, and you will find
very little sentiment for war, and
very little sympathy with those who
are attempting to stir us to it. A
small group of interested Americans
are determined that America shall
so to war, and by overt and covert
acts and expressions, innuendoes and
suggestions are doing their best to
effect their purpose.
A certain regret will be felt that
Secretary Of State Lansing has de-
cided not to publish a white paper"
en- the so-called German plots" in
this country Such a publication
might have caused to vanish many
Of our present uncertainties. We
might then have had the truth, and
not have been left in tho vast dark
ness of our present suspicious. The
Government owes it to the people it
represents to give them the facts,
and to correct the press which dis
torts its suggestions.
a falsehood told often enough be-
comes truth to the ordinary mind.
The American people have been fed
on tales of German plots" amongst
them or against them, until they are
ready alomst to believe that there is
something in these stories. There
isn't. Certain crack-brained Ger
mans may have committed deeds in
this country out of distorted sense
of loyalty to their own country,
which have given the Government
occasion for action The same might
happen in any country under similar
conditions. To extend the stigma
which attaches to such acts to large
and law-abiding section Of the Amer
ican people is not less than an act OF
treason to the nation; but that Is
precisely what our press is attempt
ing to do by selling upon every op-
portunity to get in its dirty work
before the truth is known. 1t is at
tempting to draw us into war with
Germany by raising the false cry Of
German plots" when there arc no
German plots, and thereby creating a
feeling in this country inimical to
Germany.
Whoever is responsible for these
atrocious stories and hopes thereby
to increase racial bitterness in this
city, state and country, is doing his
city and country no good. When our
Government requires the calmest
counsel Of the people as a whole such
malignant efforts are out Of place
and disastrous to the common well
fare What we have most to fear at
this time is not supposititious Cor
man plots, but the plot that is be-
hind the advertisement Of German
plots" that are not plots at all.
The Globe informs us in lurid
headlines that Captain Boy-Ed has
returned to America and is engaged
in fomenting "plots" This canard
had it's origin in Philadelphia. Cor
respondents Just returning from Ber-
lin, when appealed to, have given
testimony, however, to the fact that
they had seen Captain Boy-Ed in
Berlin on the day before their de-
parture; and a London dispatch to
The N. Y. Times Of the 9th instant
has it that Captain Boy-Ed was