New-York tribune., 1918-12-18
Unfermyer Defends Loyalty;
Explains Newspaper IDEALS"

nnce of legal proceedings ard of pub-
licity., If it shall hereafte; transpire
that that in the purchase of the con-
troll Of the paper, or in its operation,
any offence has been committed
against the criminal law (the evil
dcnce of which | have been unable
to find and do not believe to eXisD,
it goes without saying that neither
you nor ! nor any other decent cltl-
zen concerned above all things for
the safety and welfare of his coun-
try, would be willing to bo parties
to the compounding of a crime
against our government.
49, DR.. Rumcly insists as n condi-
tion of surrendering his stock that it
is rightfuliy his and that his claims
thereon must be reserved to him. 1t
is, however, now agreed. and not
without difficulty, to limit such claims
to the amount realized on the sale
and not in the event to hold you
personally lab for what ne may
hereafter contend to be the value of
the stock thus surrendered.
"A. Immediate action is now impcr-
ative if anything is to be done in the
way of saving the paper"
Bought s3,OO0O0O Bonds
Mr.. Untormyer, in his prepared state
ment, referred to his own work for the
Allied cause, and especially for
America, since this country entered
the war and repeated at greater length
his previous denials Of pro- Germanism.
The statement told Of Mr.. Inter
myers refusals to acc ut commissions
from the German agents or tc write
articles Tor them, or even to take their
side in an Interpretation of official
documents relating to the cause of the
war, when asked to do so by "1'he New
York Times" He told of the amount
Of speaking and writing he had dcne
to sustain Americas part in the war, Of
his support of the Red Cross and
similar organizations and Of his pur-
chase of S3,000,000 of Liberty bonds.
AS to his relations with the Germans,
| he snid:
"lt so happens, however, that at no
time did | ever, directly or Indirectly,
receive or handle single dollar from
any one connected with either govern
ment or embassy. or from any German,
Austrian or American charged with vio-
latlon of our neutrality.
Il remember on one occasion. | think
in 1916, writing letter for Albert's
counsel to a man with whom he was
having a controversy, but nothing fur
thcr came Of it, and | made no charge,
rendered no bill and did not ask or
accept retainer.
II never came under any relation to
them except in the same way as many
of our most distinguished and patriotic
citizens and high public officials
throughout the country met them, in
whose homes many of them were then
welcome and honOred guests"
Coming to the specific matters re-
terred to in previous testimony before
the committee, Mr.. Untermyer said:
Tells of "Warheit" Deal
"Now with respect to the specific mat
ters referred to in the testmony:
sSI AS to my interest in the news
paper, The Warheit': The facts
are few and simple. Miller held 1870
OF the 2SO shares or a company that
was engaged in publishing a Yiddish
paper IN New York City His stock
was pledged for loan and the pledgee
was insisting on his money. Mi ler
was then in no way connected with
the paper or its policies and had not
been tor some time. The men who
were and are still in control were
friends and clients of my friend. Judge
Aaron ). Levy: of New York City.
"It seems that Miller had arranped
without my l<not edge, to sell judge
Levy his stock for $4,000 which wou d
pay ms loan and leave nm $4,000. and
tHat Judge Levy and his friends who
contro led TIE paper had SIS O0O but
needed another $35 900 with which to
MAKE the purchase. | never met Mil
Ter IN that transaction or had ANYTHING
to do with him. Judge Levy asked me
to end him this $4,000, which | was
glad TO do, so as to give hlm an op-
potluhlpy TO earn something through
tie interest he would acquire in the
Z. TO p&or
obligation for the money, but he and
ms partners insisted on giving me their
stock as collateral
"'lhe interest on the loan has been
paid promptly, $4,000 having been
pald or on account Of the principal
and $4,000 is still due me. which
understand will shortly be liou;dated
The idea of this transaction HAVING
anything to do with the Germans or
with propaganda is ludicrous. There
was no change whatever in the man
agement or control of the paper as the
result OF my loan to Judge Levy I
nave never seen copy Of the paper
and could not read it if saw il. az II
IS printed in Yiddish | know nothing
about its business, it's circulation. do
not know where its Office is located
nor who are its officers. | made the
loan simply to oblige a friend, and THAI
IS all there ever was to it, Mr.. Bic
laskl condescendingly says that if this
was my own money the transaction was
entirely legitimate. Would it not have
been fsirer If he had investigated that
question or even asked me about it be-
tore ventlating it as though there
were something about it that required
explanation?
Several months prior to that trans
action Judge Levy brought Miller to
my Office. That was my introduction
to him and was the only time I ever
met him on business. The statement
IN Mlller's letter that mo one can con-
'rol my pen or collar my person had
reference to his alleged political in
dependence. He said he was publish
ing paper called The LEADER which
was bankrupt, and that he had ar
ranged to discontinue publication the
next day unless / would help him. He
offered me as security for that loan As
per cent of The Leader stock and to
put the voting control in trust and
also offered his equity in the 'Warheit'
STOCK, which was then pledged as fur
ther collateral. | consented to let
Miller have the money to ohlige Levy,
VINO seemed set upon furthering Mil
ler's wishes, but | earnestly advised
the latter against taking the loan. on
the ground that his venture was in
my opinion, impossible of success. that
he would sink the money in it in p
short time and would thus lose his
w arhelH stock. On my earnest ad