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Show ALLIANCE . .. Activities of Executed French Traitor in U. S. Are Revealed at the Senate Investigation. Depositions Tell of Spy and Count Bernstorff Visiting Hearst's New York City Apartment. WASHINGTON", Doe. j (,K Propaganda Propa-ganda machinery set up by the German government in iScrlin juid throughout tlie world to spread Germanic ideas aud the methods of financing this ia the United States, were described today to tlie senate in vest i "at i no com nt) tiro, bv Alfred L. Becker, deputy attorney general gen-eral of New York. The witness also told of his investigation investi-gation for tlie French government of tho success of olo Pasha, executed as a French traitor, in getting $1,G83,000 of German money in this country for purchase of the Paris Journal, but added that since apparently the Faris Journal did not change its attitude of loyalty toward France, the transaction was a ' 'pure swindle ' of tho German government. Bolo 's activities were also described as an attempt to form a news alliance between the Journal and Hearst's news-papers. news-papers. UERLIN MAINTAINED ELABORATE SYSTEM. -Mr, Becker read documents gathered partly by the British secret service, showing that the German foreign office of-fice ami other government departments at Berlin maintained elaborate systems both before and after the Kuropean war began, to influence thought all over the world, working mainly through .the press. Branches of German banks and i-oinmprcial houses co-operated in a vast cohesive organization to promote friendly friend-ly relations toward Germany. Journalists, Journal-ists, college professors, bankers, business busi-ness men and commercial cousular attaches at-taches many of them being citizens of rlie country in which they worked were employed, 'Mr. Becker said. Usually Usu-ally the propaganda was insidious, with an attempt to conceal its real nature or purpose. TRIED TO PURCHASE OTTOMAN NEWS AGENCY. ' As early as 1009, said Mr. Becker, (leorgc von HI;al, a former German reserve re-serve officer and later auditor of accounts ac-counts ol' New York City, was told on a visit t (i Berlin by a representative of the foreign offices press bureau, that he would be valuable in case of a future war to keep in touch with tlie press in tlie United States. There was no evidence, evi-dence, however, that he acted in this capacity after the l'nited Slates en-y en-y t ered t he war, the witness said. The Gorman government in May, It'll, three months before tlie war poiied, tried in vain to buy the Ottoman Otto-man Telegraphic News agency, with I headquarters in Bagdad, to spread German Ger-man propaganda. The publication of a Gorman edition of Current Literature, a maga.ine, of which George Sylvester Yiereek in the United .States and his father. I .on is Yiereek, in Berlin, were promoters, was mentioned by the witness, wit-ness, together with the Germanic museum mu-seum at Harvard, and the movements to exchange professors wit h American nniversitic, ;is German propaganda moves. TO INFLUENCE SOUTH j AMERICAN PEOPLE. ! ne example of enemy propaganda.; said Mr. I'.eeker. consisted of The svste- : ma: ic effort late in MM 7 to spread throughout tho world Cue idea thar Gor- , UK'iiv was nil the verge of interna; re- , oll, ami that t ho l-niser would mmim be ! overthrown. The fact that She distend-; nation of these reports was encouraged! by tho chief Gorman government censor, ! was convincing evidence thai t he of- j forts were propaganda. intended to; paraiw.o tlie prosecution of the war, in i f Mr. Becker's opinion. lie said these ; J reports had been sent out W Germany! V hv George T. Ode) I. correspond on I of j ihe New York Kxening Mail, after del l'nited States entered the war. and ivro j circulated widely bv (lie Mo'lrro new I 'Continued on Pace Twelve.) I 4 10 PISH SOUGHT ! TO FOil ALLIANCE! i (Continued from Page One.) paper '. M'li'-y tc. i'-orib'jd as a iiubsu!;- j aiv oi' tip Mail. I Sena tor Krci, who i.- not a member or t lie committee, interni ptc I to a-k w lie t her similar articles had not nccn published by other newspapers then, and even down to the present, and whether developments had not borne them out. Mr. flecker sub! this was true, t . 1 1 insisted that the reports were inspired ly the German foreign nrliee late in 1117. Mr. Becker said the Trans-Ocean New s agency maintained a wi re less service- intended to influence mainly South American peoples, while the Gcr-nuin Gcr-nuin South American institute and the German News .service for Portugal and Spain, subsidized by the German yov-ernrnont, yov-ernrnont, had simiiar functions. Mr. Becker told the committee that enemy propaganda in the United .States was disclosed incidentally during his investigation of the activities of Jiolo Pa -ha in promoting tho financing of the Paris Journal, and in what was described de-scribed as mi attempt, to form a new alliance between the Journal and William Wil-liam ii, Hearst 'h newspapers. The witness told of an unsuccessful effort by Bolo in conferences with F. G. Grime of the Bethlehem Steel corporation, cor-poration, to yet the company to purchase pur-chase the Journal, but added that he believed this move was. " entirely camouflage, cam-ouflage, intended to cover tip the real purpose of his visit to the United Former Gorman Anihnssadnr von Bern s tor rT n.sciitrd so readily to Bolo proposal that the German yuvonimeut advanced iho money to purchase Jhe Journal, the witness said, and tha Knw Y ork invest iyators proceeded on the theory that Mr. Hearst miht have arranged ar-ranged the purchase before Bolo came to the t ni ted States. On this point, however, Mr. Becker paid: ' ' J do not say today that T consider this theory in any way established.1' The witness said there was no evidence evi-dence of a news connection between the Journal and tho Hearst newspapers. Early Days of War. In the earlv days of the European war, Mr. Becker testified, offering documents docu-ments in substantiation, the propaganda propa-ganda movement in the United States was financed in this way: 1 ' The German government deposits 23,000,000 marks of war notes August 12, 1914, with M. M. Warburg & Co.. bankers, at Hamburg, as collateral for loan of $400,000 which Kuhn, Loeb & Co., New York bankers, on September S, 1914, made to Dr. Bernard Dernourg, German propagandist in the United States. Deriiburg later placed the entire account ac-count at the disposal of Dr. Heinnnch F. Albert, said to have been paymaster of the enemy propagandists. Later Chandler & Co., New York bankers, sold $L0,000,000 of German war securities for the German representatives, representa-tives, for which $9,908,000 was realized, real-ized, said Mr. Becker, and this sum. together to-gether with other amounts derived from subsequent sale of German bonds, provided pro-vided funds with which the German representatives juggled, checking-them in and out of various banks to provide basis for advances and to promote trade relations. These funds were distributed bv Count von Bernstorff and Albert, according to the witness. Among Banks Named. Among the banks named by the witness wit-ness as having sold German war securities securi-ties were Zimmermann & Forshay, Trans-Atlantic Trust company, Mnller, Schall & Co. and Knauth, Naehod &. Kuhne, New York. Referring to the plot by Captain Hans Tauscher, a German reserve officer, to foment rebellion in India, Mr. Becker read an affidavit bv Abraham Stein of A. H. Stein & Co.. New York, saying that an unnamed German came to him before the United States entered the war and asked if the company- had trade connections in the Dutch East Indies, where the German wanted to send a quantity of rifles and ammunition. Mr. Stein refused to have anything to do with the proposition. He said the German Ger-man had been introduced to him by Adolph Pevenstedt, a member of G. Anisiek & Co., bankers. The committee received a telegram today from Samuel Uuterniyer of New York, saving that a letter written by Dr. II. F Albert in 1916 to Captain von Papen, outlining Albert's opposition to the resumption by Germany of unrestricted unre-stricted submarine warfare, was an expression ex-pression of the views of the influential members of the German embassy at that time. For that reason, Mr. Un-teTrmycr Un-teTrmycr said, he was solicitous in inducing in-ducing the German command not to begin be-gin a new U-boat campaign. j Mr. Rccker rend depositions by several ' chauffeurs and bellmen and a doorman ' at the Hearst apartment in New York, telling of visits there by Count von Bernstorff Bern-storff and Bolo Pasha in 1916. He told the committee that the purpose of the Investigation by the New York state officials of-ficials was to ascertain whether there was some one else connecting Bolo and Bernstorff prior to Bolo's corninir to the I United States. He believed there was such an in termed iary, because Bernstorff he believed, would lie unwilling to pav large sums of money to a man he hail known so little. "The theory was evolved that Hearst was the man?" asked Senator Woleott. "Yes, but I do not believe that that has teen established," Mr. Becker replied. re-plied. "I do not believe that the affidavits you have given the committee establish a connection between Mr. Hearst and Bolo prior to his coming to the United States." Senator YVolcott said. "I think we ought to l":ar the evidence evi-dence and express our opinions afterward." after-ward." remarked Senator Nelson. "1 prefer to express my opinion now," Senator Woleott replied. Samuel Untermyer of New York, who testified Tuesday, denying that lie" had been pro-German, today sent a letter to the committee, protesting against alleged al-leged inaccurate accounts of his test I-mony I-mony appearing in the New York papers. pa-pers. WASHINGTON. Dec. !!. German ! propaganda aimed at the United States. 1 and conducted by a Professor Brim-k-' maim at The Hague, still is at work, the state department w.-s informed today ;ti : a d.spatch from the Netherlands capital. . Officials here assumed that the infor- ! mation was sent from The Hague to ex- plain the spreading of reports that the ' United States and the allies are not in i agreement over certain issues to be dea't ; with at the peace conference. ; The report to the department said Pro- : j fessor Brinckmann is being liberally sup- j i plied with money and that a vicious : anti-American document is being circu- ! lated by the Brinckmann bureau. The J j money to pay the expenses of the propa- ' ; ganda office is being expended through 1 German official channels, according to j the department's statement. j |
