The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1918-06-06
The
New Power in
the Ukraine
n
By GIDEON HOB
OF The VigE0HfeS


out by many facts coming to light. 1t
is only what one might expect, judging
by our knowledge of German methods
as revealed in the last few years
methods which, as we now realize,
have been religiously followed by gen.
erations of Germans in their set pur-
pose of pillaging the world.
Among the most powerful and in
cessantly active organizations for car
rying out these schemes of the rObber
TeutOns have been the German steam
ship companies with their agencies all
over the world. Their malign intrigues
have been INSCRIPTIONS, tireless and
backed by unlimited means placed at
their disposal by Berlin. That all Eu-
ropean nations have known of these
plots, or at least have suffered from
them, is now beyond question. That
we in America have been the foolish
dupes of these cunning thieves, many
people are still too simple to credit.
A fOrceful presentation of the case
against the German steamship COM
panies, and the whole German system
of espionage, propaganda and deliber-
ate intrigue is made by Theodore
Kahn of Lemberg. Mr.. Kahn shows
that the German steamship OrganiZa-
tiOn has been from its very beginning
a part of the German military machine.
"It has shaped ITSELF" he says, ''in
the different countries and cOnspired
slowly and for some decades In silence
and secrecy, employing for its purpose
in every country the most monumental
intriguers of a particularly heinOus
type. The Offices of the German steam
ship companies were centerS of the
German espionage system. The agents
of the German lines were
drilled and directed from q military
establishment controlled by an irre-
spOnsible government.
'"Their meshes of imperial propa-
ganda and subsidies spread to all cOun-
tries. Many of the dupes of their ac-
tivities regarded the news set af1Oat
by them as gospel truth. The agencies
of these companies were an important
part of the German spy system, whose
activities were classified under various
heads; military, naval, diplomatic,
commercial and agents prOVacateurs.
In the offices of Balm and Heinecken
nearly every plot for German expan-
sion has been hatched.
= MANY of the different patriotic ma
tiOnal religious and commercial sOcie-
ties, naval leagues, leagues of Truth,
bowling clubs, singing societies, etc.
throughout Galicia, Bukowina and Eu-
rOpean Russia, have been secret of
fees. of the German Steamship COM
panies where propaganda was carried
on under the protection Of national
law with the intention to influence law
makers and rulers.
"An important factor in the league
of these societies were the many Aus
trian army officers who have been sta
toned in the border towns of Galicia
and the BukOwina. The greater part
of Austrian army officers are burdened
with heavy debts. Many of the gar
risons situated on the borders of Aus
tria and Russia have been "Strafgar-
nisOnen" punishment garrisons)
where officers whose pay has been con-
hscated have been sent. Therefore 1t
is not surprising that they have been
easily Influenced by the sound of gold
They have secretly acted as agents for
the German steamship companies.
These army officers as well as officials
Of the Austrian government, pro-
feSsOrs, school teachers, etc, worked
and intrigued together wherever they
could"
The activities of these devotees and
servants Of kaiserism have been many
and varied, but always with the one
end in view.
1T was the task of these votaries to
prepare calmly and methOdically the
population for any plan hatched in the
war ministry, to influence and Slacken
any vigilance directed against German
interests, to safeguard German monopO-
lies in foreign countries, to sign 'Au-
thOritative Opinions when needed.
Their activities included-tO start and
maintain the necessary crusade when
ever required by their paymasters, to
arouse enthusiasm for war in one coun-
try, to preach peace and good faith in
another, to- weave new intrigues, to
place Interpolation in foreign parlia-
ments, to see to publication of memo
randums, to address applications aad
petitions to the authorities, to invent
slanderous and malicious tales, to cir
culate and hold discussions in public,
to foster strikes, to inflame through
publications and newspapers the public
mind. And through this system they
bambOOzled the public in a direction
desired, placing a perpetual screen be-
fore the people and reality"
1t is interesting to note in connection
with Germany's wall for freedom of
the seas, that since German confedera-
ton no foreign vessels have been ad-
mitted to German ports except under
vexatiOus restrictions, and that Ger
man steamship companies have always
LuC VI lines
continental Europe, so far as they
could. Third-class passengers, for In
stance, were not allowed to pass
through Germany if they wished to sail
by nOn-German lines.
One of the favOrite plans of German
izing European countries is simply to
make life unbearable for nOn-German
races under German rule, to force them
to emigrate, and then to plant German
cOlonists in their abandoned provinces.
Besides the 28,OOOOOO Ukrainians in
Russia there are some 100000
Ukrainians living under Austrian rule,
where they are known as Ruthenians.
with the belp of the Austrian gov
eminent, German settlers have pene-
trated to the different Slav provinces,
and 050O 600 German peasants reside in