New-York tribune., 1919-01-18


in the Spanish war--told the commit
tee therelwas nothing for him to apollo
gize for in these letters. He admitted
he wrote a lot of rot'' and "used a
lot OF foolish express ions" He said
he was trying to win Niereck's conf
dence, and may have made statements
that were not true. In one case, where
the letter spoke of "secret orders" he
said it must have been "slip of the
typewriter" and that he had no facts
80 base the assertion on.
He said he had used a nom de plume
to arouse curiosity as to the author
ship OF his articles, but it was shown
appeared in print, and the "Wingate"
signature was kept till the last He
also said he had occasional suspicious
as TO the attitude of the Germans, but
he made no Investigation of the real
character OF the men, and continued
in their employ till about the time
diplomatic relations were broken.
lie had never heard of Viereck's con-
ncction with the propaganda he said,
and when it was called to his attention
that Niereck had been exposed by some
of the Albert papers, published in 1915,
prior to Dickinson's employment by
have accepted assurances of Viereck' s
innocence from Frederick f. Schrader,
with whom he made the deal.
Gave Out Peace Note Leak"
He had "turned up' these letters to
the government himself, he said, and
asserts this had resulted from his Civ
which was investigating the leak into
Wall Street of the Presidents peace
note, letter to Viereck in which he
had predicted the note. Mr.. Heney had
never taken action on this letter, he
said, and the letter was not among
those made public to-day. The Major
said that he was responsible for the
"leak" and that he had communicated
similar information to John F. Harris,
of Is Wall Street He believed this in
formation to Mr.. Hcney had resulted
in the seizure of the rest Of the let
ters
The Major went at some length into
his political activities in connection
with the Germans. He wished to de-
fend Bryan, he said, but did not wish
to have the defense appear to come
from a man close to the Commoner
Helped Democrats Meet Germans
Moreover, he pointed out that as a
able to render services to the Demo-
cratic party:
'He had arranged conference be-
tween Viereck and Postmaster Gen
eral Burleson at Democratic National
Heaquarters.
"He had persuaded Viereck to with
draw an attack on Senator Reed, of
Missouri, which he believed might
have lost the state for Wilson.
'fle had arranged the conference
between Senator Stone and leading
Germans at Terrace Hall, New York,
which caused such furore when it
leaked out Niereck was one of the
men at the conference.
"He had negotiated with Vance
Mccormick for the publication stimuli
taneously in The Fathcrland' and
The Irish World of an article of
great Importance, dealing with the
so-called Irish Catholic vote. Mr..
Mccormick had favored the plan till
he found that Mr. Bryan was to write
the article.
The matter in the letters falls into
two classes, sometimes overlapping be-
cause political information was OF value
to the Germans. There was, first, the
information which would particularly
aid the propagandists in one way or
ment on the inside history of the 1916
campaign.
Urged Quoting of Tumulty
Taking the former category first, the
letters show that:
The major planned to get docu-
ments from Mexico which would force
Secretary Lansing, Of whose un-
friendliness to the Germans he com
planned, either to change that atti-
tude or resign.
He suggested plan for forcing
out of Office Joseph Tumulty, secre
tary to the President, by making
capital of a story, attributed to Mrs
Bryan, that Bryan had left the Cab
met because Tumulty told German
American that Bryan was respon-
sble for the "anti-German" attitude
of the Administration.
He advised the Germans that the
United States was secretly preparing
for war on Germany under cover Of
the Mexican campaign.
He continually reported that the
Administration was pro- English and
strongly anti-German.
He wrote: "There is a work Of
studendous value for the hyphenates
to do at thi slime, but | hesitate to
suggest what that work is"
He wrote that considerable num-
Der Of naval officers were favorable
to the "Teutonic element" but that
the navy had secret orders to work
against the Central Powers.
He advised the Germans to hold
America responsible if the sub
marine Deutschland should be sunk
or captured on her homeward trip,
mad predicted that this would happen.
He tried to get the Sayville wire
lss censorship modified.
H warned the Germans that the