The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-12-05
KONTA CONFESSES ACTIVITY. EFFORT
 ID BUY PAPERS
Investigation of Brewers Activities and German Propaganda Continued
 by Senate Committee

Washington, December 4. Alexander Konta of New York, named by Alien Property Gus todian Palmer as an agent in negotiations through which the German government sought to
 buy newspapers in this country
 before the United States en-
 tered the war, admitted to a Senate committee today that ne
 had communicated with Dr.
 Bernard Dernberg, German
 propagandist, on the subject of the purchase of New York newspaper. The committee Is
 Investigating brewers activi- tiesland German propaganda. I K ta said he wrote to Dr. DernberS
 on t's subject and that he was iil-
 splree by a desire to help the kaisess
 representative carry out his plans to
 get publicity for Germany; to get |
 prohibition and to earn commission.
 q desired to aid pr. Dernberg to get the paper in order that he would
 have an opportunity to lay before the American people,
 German propaganda" interrupted { Senator Nelson of Minnesota 1i5( wanted the paper, not for himself, buH for tie German government, and lE was German agent Isn't that trueH'
 DENIED DISLOYALTY R "He must have been." replied Kqntl. The witness stoutly denied he ever had been disloyal to America, also said he had written in 1915 to Dr. Heiu- erich Albert. then an attache of the German embassy here, ana well known as propagandist regarding an offer of 5000 to be made to any person who could prove that misstatementi were made in the German general staff's daily official war announce ments. Konta said his offer never wa1
 made.
 i Other testimony before the commit | tee today was that Count Von Beri- storff, the former German ambassa- | dor, had visited the offices of the l American Association of Foreign Lan- guage newspapers in New York m March, 1915, and that immediately ait erward an advertising campaign to prevent the manufacture of mini- tions in this country for the allies wat l started.
 ] Louis N. Hammerling, president of this association, which had s200000 for the iadvertisng campaign. testified yesterday
 that he did not know von Bernstorff It also was in evidence today that Ham 1 merling had directed that Captains Boy- l Ed and Won Papen, naval and military 1 attaches at the German embassy, be called on the telephone for him.
 ORDERED TO KEEP QUIET | The witness offering this testimony was Arthur Gabryel former vice presi- | dent of the association Gabryel said it was the general belief among Poles that Hammerling was in the pay of the Aus trian government and that when he in- formed Hammeriing of this fact the lat
 ter called him in and told him to keep l his mouth shut, saying that what people don't know won't hurt them
 l After that Gabryel said, he received S5O0 I or si000 extra in his pay envelope. Such extra payments, he testified, were not l unusual
 Tn his testimony before the commit- tee. Konta told of meeting Hans Tausch- CT. charged with participation in the at tempt to blow up the Weiland canal, and l of his association with Tauscher and his I wife, Madam Gadski grand opera sing CT, both of whom. he said. were 1oo per cent pro-German
 | kEAUS SlAI EM EINl
 | Konta read a prepared statement to | the committee in which he denied being disloyal and described his organization of the American Hungarian Loyalty lleague, under the auspices of the com mittee On public information, References Ito Dernberg. Albert and other German agents were brought out by Maj. F. Lowry Humes. in charge of the invest.- gation for the committee.
 Konta said he had been pro-German lup to the time of the sinking of the Lusitania, but his views underwent an other change. he said. when Russia start
 ed it's advance in Transylvania. He was anxious tc see ar independent Hungary he declared. and the advance Of Aussia I toward Budapest caused his belief in the ultimate success of an independent Hun l gary to weaken.
 Iii his prepared statement Kcnta de. l scribcd different ,nvesti igatiesns of his afairs by the government agencies, m cludsng the district sttorney's office n New York, and the military intelligence l department. in all If which. he saie. he | was Informed by those whc initsates the linvestigatien that they had Teen unable Ito cptair any asta ralative q any dis hv him 9tst