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Show BERNSTORFF PROPAGANDA I America No Place in Which to Try to Keep a Secret. WASHINGTON, Dec. 9. The Bern-storff Bern-storff communication to Berlin, announcing an-nouncing the re-organization of his propaganda after the sinking of the Lusitania, as decoded by the department depart-ment of justice, was read before the senate committee Saturday as lollows: "As you will have learned from mv previous report, we have, since th'e Lusitania case, endeavored to wind up all the so-called German propaganda and especially lo get rid of all dubious individuals. I can now say with a good conscience that we are no longer compromised. Some of the old affairs still hang on, but wo are more or less settled, although they will cause some future expenditures. K "At the beginning of the war, many things would have been undertaken, if we could have seen that the war I would be so long, because nothing can for long be kept secret in America. "Since the Lusitania case we have strictly confined ourselves to such propaganda as can not hurt us, if it becomes known. The sole exception is perhaps the peace propaganda, . which has "cost us th6 largest amount but which also has been the most successful. suc-cessful. "Latterly I have been using the embargo association and some entirely entire-ly rellavle private intermediaries. I "I have also made use of theiGer-1 theiGer-1 man University league, founded since the war. This has done its best to take the place of the German association associa-tion (word not decipherable) which I has been of no use during the war on account of its management. ThQ league has published under by col: laboratlon an excellent collection' of reports on the war which will be of rreat servire in our pause. "The support which I have already given the league is entered in tho first quarter's account from 1916. item No.. 208. On the occasion of latter install-' ments to them I will refer to this re'-' 1 port. "I expect that this may be sanctioned." sanc-tioned." German-American Alliance. The communication was read by A. Bruce Bielaski, chief of the bureau of investigation of the department of justice. jus-tice. Tho name of the association whose name could not be decoded, he told the committee, might have been the German-American National alliance. alli-ance. Two other communications from Bernstorff to Berlin, in which he slated slat-ed ho desired an authorization to use funds to influence congress and which were made public by the state department depart-ment some months ago, also wero read to the committee. Referring to J. F. J. Archibald, Biol-aski Biol-aski said he started to Germany and ' Austria as a representative of the ' Wheeler Syndicate, bearing letters from Count von Bernstorff and Captain Cap-tain von Papen. saying he was an "un-1 "un-1 scrupulously independent journalist," land that he was going to Gorraany and Austria to "gather fresh impressions." Archlbldas" connection with the Wheeler Syndicate ceased, however, according to the witness, when his articles ar-ticles became so pro-German that the papers associated with the syndicate refused to print there). A message from John Wheeler, head of the syndicate, telling him his services ser-vices were dispensed with, dated October Oc-tober 27. 1914, was read. This message mes-sage said the contract with Archibald ; provided that he should write unbiased unbi-ased news from the battle front, I whereas he remained in Austria and' wrote news biased in favor of the I Central powers. Another writer alleged to have been on the payroll of the German embassy was William Warram, associate asso-ciate editor of Freedom, a foroign language lan-guage publication at Cleveland, Ohio, who, Bielaski said, wrote a motion picture scenario called "Blood is Thicker than Water," containing a scene showing Austrian "workers in the United States refusing to make munitions for the Allies and tho subsequent sub-sequent burning of the plant. A detailed account of the organization organiza-tion and activities of the American embargo conference, which was formed form-ed In 1915, to stop shipment of war supplies from this country to the Allies Al-lies by so arousing feeling among the voters as to compel legislative action being taken, was given by Bielaski. In a report of tho conference, written writ-ten by G. M. Jacobs of Chicago, acting act-ing chairman, 'and made to William Bayard Hale as a member of the executive ex-ecutive committee. It was stated that former Senator Works, of. California, Senator Smith of Georgia and Senator Hitchcock of Nebraska, chairman of the foreign affairs committee, supported support-ed the principles of the conference. Later Bielaski read a communication communica-tion signed by Senator Hitchcock, stating he would do all in his power, both as a senator and as editor of the Omaha World-Herald, to bring about an embargo on arms. : nn |