THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



553 



known ! The "Yellow Peril" speech of 

 the Kaiser, the wholly unjustified sus- 

 picions of imperialistic designs on the 

 part of the United States whispered art- 

 fully among nations of South America, 

 the financial schemes and revolutions pro- 

 moted secretly by Germans in the Carib- 

 bean countries, the encouragement of 

 continued turmoil and anti-American 

 feeling among warring factions in Mex- 

 ico, and the propaganda of distrust and 

 hostility carried on in this country and in 

 Japan are among the things "made in 

 Germany" directly affecting the interna- 

 tional relations of the United States. 



It is only within a comparatively re- 

 cent time that we were fully convinced 

 •of their origin and gave them their true 

 labels. Yet, because, we were so innocent 

 and trusting, the unpleasant truth comes 

 -as a greater shock and excites a deeper 

 resentment. 



In addition to these practices, which 

 had been in operation long before the 

 great war and were preliminary to that 

 supreme event in the Prussian plan, I 

 might refer to the plots which, after the 

 war began and while this country was 

 still neutral, were directed, approved, or 

 financed by Count Bernstorff , Von Papen, 

 Boy-Ed, Luxburg, Von Eckhardt, and 

 other official representatives and secret 

 agents of the Berlin Government. But 

 the activities of these men have been ex- 

 posed and their disgraceful record is com- 

 mon knowledge, arousing a just indigna- 

 tion throughout this country. 



WATCH LONG KEPT ON GERMAN 

 CONSPIRATORS 



I think that I might say, however, that 

 for a long time before it was considered 

 wise to make the facts public the Amer- 

 ican Government, possessing evidence of 

 their improper conduct, kept constant 

 watch over these conspirators, who de- 

 pended upon the innocent credulity of 

 "those idiotic Yankees," as Captain Von 

 Papen sneeringly called us. 



These complacent plotters little sus- 

 pected how much was known of the ac- 

 tivities of the German embassy in Wash- 

 ington, the military agency in New York, 

 the consulates in various cities, and the 

 numerous spies in German employ by 

 those whom they thought they were de- 



luding. These agents credited the mis- 

 carriage of many of their schemes to 

 chance, which had they known the true 

 cause would have given them some very 

 indigestible food for thought. 



In view of this spirit of hypocrisy and 

 bad faith, manifesting an entire lack of 

 conscience, we ought not to be astonished 

 that the Berlin foreign office never per- 

 mitted a promise or a treaty engagement 

 to stand in the way of a course of action 

 which the German Government deemed 

 expedient. I need not cite as proof of 

 this fact the flagrant violations of the 

 treaty neutralizing Belgium and the re- 

 cent treaty of Brest-Litovsk. This dis- 

 creditable characteristic of the German 

 foreign policy was accepted by German 

 diplomats as a matter of course and as a 

 natural, if not a praiseworthy, method of 

 dealing with other governments. 



AN AMAZING INSTANCE) OF BAD FAITH 



Frederick the Great, with cynical frank- 

 ness, once said : "If there is anything to 

 be gained by it, we will be honest. If 

 deception is necessary, let us be cheats." 

 That is, in brief, the immoral principle 

 which has controlled the foreign relations 

 of Prussia for over a hundred and fifty 

 years. 



It is a fact not generally known that 

 zvithin six weeks after the Imperial Gov- 

 ernment had, in the case of the "Sussex" 

 given to this government its solemn 

 promise that it would cease ruthless 

 slaughter on the high seas, Count Bern- 

 storff, appreciating the zvorthlessness of 

 the promise, asked the Berlin foreign 

 office to advise him in ample time before 

 the campaign of submarine murder was 

 renewed in order that he might notify 

 the German merchant ships in American 

 ports to destroy their machinery, because 

 he anticipated that the renezval of that 

 method of warfare woidd in all proba- 

 bility bring the United States into the 

 war. 



How well the ambassador knew the 

 character of his government, and how 

 perfectly frank he was. He asked for 

 the information without apology or indi- 

 rection. 'The very bluntness of his mes- 

 sage shows that he was sure that his su- 

 periors would not take offense at the as- 

 sumption that their word was valueless 



