New-York tribune., 1918-12-14
Berlin Dictated
Articles by Fox
Teuton Spies
Were Working Here Be.
fore War, Says Secret
Service Man
New York Tribune
Wdshin0to1. Burenu


WASHINGTON, Dec. 13.-The great
and varied extent og German propa-
ganda in this country, the Importance
of William Randolph Hearst's connec-
ton with this propaganda--person
through his papers and through his
cmployes-and Hearst's personal re-
sponsibility for considerable part of
this, were exposed before the Overman
Senate committee to-day by Captain
George 3. Lester, representing the
military intelligence division of the
General Staff of the United States
army. The session was the most SEN
sational yet held, eclipsing even those
OF last week when Bruce Bielaski,
chief of the Department of Justice, tes-
tilted.
49, William Bayard Hale, joint employe
of Hearst and the Kaiser, his CORE
spondence from Germany shows, was
anti-American as we'll as pro- German,
Captain Lester declared, and when he
was challenged on this by Senator Nell
son, the captain said, he could prove
it con both counts
Edward Lyell Fox, Captain Lester
testified, perpetrated absolute fakes in
the Hearst papers under German or
ders. Various other Hearst employees,
he declared, were involved in trying to
buy "The Baltimore Sun" in German
lntrcsts, in running various German
propagandist agencies and in main
tanning proGerman propagandist
library at 1919 Broadway, New York
City as go-betweens from the Hearst
papers to the Kaiser-paid prcpa-
gandist German news services and in
other ways.
Two incidents bearing on Hearsts
relations with the Germans were men
toned One was that Berlin was in
the habit of referring to him and ad :
dressing him as "Wilhelm" Hearst, and
the other that he had agreed to give
whatever profit he could take on the
American rights Of the book written
by Captain Paul Koenig, of the U-boat
Deutschland, for the benefit of the
orphans of Germany's U-boat sailors.
Senator Wolcott asked if the U-boat
victims were to get anything out of
this and was assured that they were
not.
Has More to Reveal
Captain Lester, who has been as
sisting in the work Of the committee
for some weeks, appeared to give the
information regarding the German
propaganda collected by the military
| intelligence service. He had several
bulky files. He had not finished his
testimony when the hearing was ad-
journed tonight, and will be on the
stand tomorrow. A part of the evi-
dence he is expected to give then will
include the wireless correspondence be
tween Hale and Hearst, on which was
based the statement that Hale was
anti-American and that Hearst knew it
The testimony regarding Hearst
his employees and their activity, occu-
pied the bulk Of the days hearing, hut
there were many other startling dis
closures. Here are a few that stand
out:
That there were from 100000 to 30O,-
600 men and women in the "silent
army" of German spies in this coun-
try, registered at the German consul
ates and other agencies, and working
without pay--this in addition to the
paid workers.
That Germany had selected the men
to direct the German propaganda in
this couAtry weeks before the wal
started. This evidence came from ono
of these men, and was, in brief, that
the process of selection started in the
middle CT June, 1914, though the Arch
duke whose assassination was the Of
fetal cause of the war was not killed
till June %; that by July 10 15O propa
gandists were undergoing intensive
training in Berlin, and that by August
thirty-one had been dispatched to
this country.
That the pro-German propaganda had
been active in this country, supported