Lincoln County times. (Jerome, Idaho) 1911-1919, 1917-09-27
SPIES AND TRAITORS
WORK IN HARMONY
GOVERNMENT BARES MORE
PLOTS AGAINST UNITED STATES
BEFORE THE WAR;
Money Furnished by Germany's Am
bassador for the Purpose of De.
stroying Life and Property, It
Is Charged.

Washington.-Furthe disclosures of
far-reaching German propaganda, in
trigues and plots in this country prior
to the diplomatic break with Ger
many were made on Saturday by the
committee on public information.
In a bulletin styled official expose"
the committee quotes numerous let
ters and extracts from letters seized
10y the department of justice in April
1916. in Il raid upon the New York
office of Wolfe Won Igel. Won Igel,
in carrying on his manifold pro-Ger-
man and anti-American activities. the
documents show. was in constant
touch with the German embassy and
with Count Won Bernstorff. Germas
ambassador to the United States.
In the form of letters. kilograms,
rotations. checks, receipts. registers,
cash books. cipher codes. lists of spies
and other memoranda and records"
the committee says. Were found indi
cations--in some instances of the
vaguest nature. in others of the most
damning conclusiveness-that the Ger
man imperial government. through its
representatives, in then friendly ma
ZION. was concerned with
'Violations of the laws of the Unit
ed States.
OBSTRUCTION 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 spy system under
he guise of Il commercial investiga-
lion bureau.
'Subsidizing of Il bureau for the pur-
pose of stirring up labor troubles in
munitions plants.
The bomb industry and other relat-
ed activities"
Case of Holland.
The committee. of which Secretaries
Lansing, Baker and Daniels are mem
bers. and George Creel, chairman, has
this to say concerning Holland:
ut has long been an open secret
that Holland is merely a way station
for shipments of contraband into Ger
many. Here is official confirmation
from the Won Igel records which would
seem to Indicate a suspicious and con-
fidential relation between the Holland
commission and the German diplomat
ic officials accredited to this country,
or possibly a belief by the Germans
that they could not successfully get
the munitions TO their own country.
The message in code. with interlinear
translation, is entered as "A 2493' and
headed German embassy, Washington,
d. c., April 6, 1916 1t runs as fol-
lows:
Telegram from Berlin by secret
roundabout way for Carl Heysen: Con
sent sale Holland three hundred thou
sand chests (cartridges) and two hun
dred tons powder. Please get in touch
with Holland commissioner. Sender,
war minister, foreign office, in repre-
sentation.
(Signed) "'HATZFELDT.'
Prince Hatzfeldt was an official of
the German embassy.
The Hamburg American line bureau
OF investigation, the committee states,
an innocent pretending agency, was
at the outset the secret service of the
Hamburg Steamship COM
pany. Under Paul Koenig, its mana
ger. it became an adjunct OF the Ger.
man diplOrnatic secret service.