The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1918-11-12
MAGAZINE FEATURES
TURK AND TEUTON
Ambassador Morgenthau's Story of Great War Plots
BY HENRY MORGENTHAU.

kIduu uuktt AaN ne now revealed tue
cause OF his sudden disappearance. The
kaiser. he told me, had summoned him
TO Berlin for an imperial conference.
This meeting took place at PotsdAnl
on July 9Th. The kaiser presided and
nearly all the important ambassadors
attended. Wangenhetm himself was
summoned to give assurance about Tur-
key and eniishtsn his associates gen
orally on the situation in CONSTANT
nople, which was then regarded as al
most the pivotal point in the impend-
ing war. In telling me who attended
this conference Wangenheim used no
names, though he specifically said that
among them were-the facts are 50
important that | quote his exact words
IN the German which he used-"dte
Haupter des GeneralstRbs und der Ma
rine"-lThe heads Of the general staff
and OF the navy, by which | have as
sumed that he meant Won Moltke and
road directors, and the captains OF Ger
man industry, all of whom were as
necessary to German war preparations
as the army itself also attended.
Wangenheim now told me that the
kaiser solemnly put the question to
e "a B.! man in t9rn Are you ready for
financiers. They said that they must
have two weeks to sell their foreign
securities and to make loans. At that
time few people had looked upon the
SaraleVo tragedy as something that
would inevitably lead to war. This con
ference, Wangenheim told me, took all
precautions that NJ such suspicion
should be aroused. It decided to give
tho bankers time to readjust their
finances for the coming war, and then
the several members went quietly back
to their work or started on vacations.
The kaiser went to Norway on his
NFagkN AFaV, naNAuan 80 TIA1lurAr lac fnR
a rest, and Wangenheim returned TO
Constantinople.
In telling me about this conference
W~angenheim, Of course. admitted tina
Germany had preCipitated the war, |
think that he was rather proud Of the
whole performance, proud that Germany
had gone about the matter In so meth
odical and faT-seeing a way, and es-
pecially proud that he himself had been
invited to participate In so momentous
a gathering. I have often wondered
why he revealed to me so momentous
n secret, and I think that perhaps the
real reason was his excessive vanity
his desire to show me how close he
stood to the inner counsels of his m
peror and the part hat he had played
In bringing on this conflict. Whatever
the motive, this indisCretion certainly
had the effect Of showing me who were
really the guilty parties in this mon
NlIplN tIlIllts llt htN III DAuNt e
and yellow books which flooded Europe
during the few months following the
outbreak, and the hundreds OF docu-
ments which were Issued by German
propaganda attempting to establish
Germany's innocence, have never made
the slightest impression on me. For my
conclusions as TO the responsibility are
not based on suspicious or belief or the
study Of circumstantial data, | do not
have to reason or argue about the mat
ter. know. The conspiracy that has
caused this greatest of human TRACE
dies was Matched by the kaiser and his
imperial crew at this Potsdam confer.
participants, flushed with his triumph
at the apparent snccess-o OF the plot, told
mo the details with his own mouth.
Whenever ] hear people arguing about
the responsibility for this war or read
the clumsy and lying excuses put forth
by Germany, | simply recall the hurly
figure Of WanRenheim as he appeared
that August afternoon, putting away at
a huge black cigar, and giving me his
account Of this historic meeting, Why
waste any time discussing the matter
after that9
The imperial conference took place
July bth, and the Siberian ultimatum
was sent on July %, That is Just about
two weeks interval which the finan-
cierH had demanded to complete their
plans. All the great stock exchanges
of the world show that the German
bankers profitAbly used this Interval
Their records disclose that stocks we're
being sold In large quantities and that
prices declined rapidly, AT that time
the markets were somewhat puzzled at
this movement but W|angenhetm's exr
pla nation clears up any doubts that
may still remain. Germany was chang
ing her securities into cash for war
purposes. II anyone wishes toe verify
Wangenheim. | would suggest that he
examine the quotations Of the New
York stock market for these two his
toric weeks. lie will find that there
were astonishing slumps in prices, es-
pecially on the stocks that had an In
ternationAl market. Between July )
and July %, Union Pacific dropped
from 166ia to 127la Baltimore & Ohio
from slis TO ST., United States Steel
from 81 to boia, Canadian Pacific from
1874 to 1867, and Northern Pacific from
HIN to los. At that time the high
protcctionlsts were blaming the Sim
mons Underwood tariff act as respon-
sible for this fall In values, While other
critics Of the administration attributed
II to the federal reserve ~Rct-whtch had
not yet been put into effect, How lit
tie Wall street brokers and the tinan-
ella experts realized that the imperial
conference, which had been held In
Potsdam and presided over by the kali
ser. was the real force that was then
depressing the market.
ITO Be continuedl