The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1918-06-01
Germans Circulate "Whispering
Propaganda" Including At
tackS on President.
IS DIRECTED FROM SPAIN
Mexico and South America Flooded
With Book Which Likens United
States to Vampire-Lies About
Rainbow Division.

fact has been established by agents of
the government, and energetic meth
DDS to combat this sinister peril are
now being carried out. Not only is
the propaganda, which is operated
from headquarters in Spain, working
day and night to cause trouble in this
country, but it is also working just as
hard to discredit the government of
the United States in Mexico and Cen
trail and South America, where there
has recently appeared for free distri-
button a book entitled eel Vampire del
Co~ntinente,' the vampire of the CONT
nent referred to being this country.
An official of the federal govern
ment, one of whose duties brings him
into contact with German propagan-
da in all parts of the world, said the
Germans were spending hundreds of
millions of dollars to spread discon-
tent, particularly among the unedu-
Gated people in all the countries of the
allies, their activities including among
other schemes a concerted and vicious
attack, wherever possible, on Presi-
dent Wilson, Premier Lloyd George
and other high officials of the allied
governments.
Worked for Years on Scheme.
"We know that for years before the
outbreak of war in 1914 the German
government worked to perfect its
propaganda arm. In Germany they
called into the service of the state for
this purpose the great psychologists of
the country, the big newspaper men,
the university professors, trade ex-
perts, and ever novelists and drama
lists. Agents were sent into every
people, until the government files in
Berlin contained complete data re-
gardfng the peculiarities and suscepti-
bilities of all people with whom Ger
many had reason to anticipate a
clash.
Sup to a few months ago the prOpa-
ganda concentrated against England in
an effort to isolate that nation. Every
neutral country in the world was flood
ed with false information regarding
England and her purposes in the war.
"Now the attack is switching from
England to the United States. Every
possible effort to poison the minds of
the people in certain parts of the u
try is being resorted to-, the effort be-
ing especially vicious in those parts of
the country where the percentage of
illiteracy is greatest, and among the
negroes. The special story which is
being whispered over the country
and we are the victims of what is
known as the whispering propaganda
is that this is a war of the wealthy
classes, and that the president plunged
the country into the struggle to save
the ~millionaires' as well as to safe
guard Americas huge loans and cred
it's to the allied countries.
"We have ever established the fact
that the propaganda has penetrated
into the mountain Businesses of the
Carolinas and Georgia, where the
mountaineers have been led to believe
hat another Civil wal is imminent.
Lies About Rainbow Division.
"The disaster story has also been
worked to a finish in all parts of the
country. The Rainbow division has
been picked out as the victim of this
phase of the propaganda, because it
represents all sections of the country,
and a disaster which overwhelmed that
command would have it's effect in all
parts of the nation, and not in some
particular section.
"This is the source of all those mys-
FERROUS rumors to the effect that this
or that regiment in the Rainbow di-
vision has been annihilated.
South America at this moment is
swamped with a pamphlet entitled 'El
Vampire del Continente,' which is per-
haps the most vicious attack on a ma
ton ever published, and the nation in
this instance is the United States.
"Some months ago there was sent to
South America for circulation a little
officially prepared document entitled
why America Went to War; Instead
y2pf making friends for us the book lost
them, and an investigation was or
dered. This investigation led to the
discovery that the Germans had got
hold of the genuine documents, after
which they proceeded to- substitute an
edition of their own. The spurious
edition was the same as the Ameri-
can, with the exception that the Ger
mans inserted a preface.
1.-THE preface was cleyerly written,
and to the,ordinary person. read. as IT
1t had been. prepared by our govern
ment. But the statements in the pref
ace did not bear out the facts in the
rest of the book and SO instead Of be-
fieving what we said thousands of peo-
>pie who read the book came to the
conclusion that we were lying. Proper
steps are now being taken to counter
act this work of the enemy propa-
ganda.
"In the South American countries
the Germans have bought up ume
Gus newspapers, which they employ ia