178 
July 4th, 1917 
wise 
dominating. If our great Nation 
shrinks now from asserting and main- 
taining our honor and our rights, will 
we not, when Germany shall have 
swept her enemies from land and sea 
(in the event that she he successful) , 
shrink from engaging this colossus 
should she then still continue to har us 
from the present sea zone of death or 
when, perchance, it shall he her pleas- 
ure to har us from all the seas and 
oceans of the world? 
A Distinction. 
So there is a very broad distinction 
between the things that England has 
done against us and those which Ger- 
many has done against us. The differ- 
ence is as great as that between hu- 
man life and money, as great as that 
between property rights and human . 
rights, and all the sophistry, all the 
refinement of arguments, all the spe- 
cious pleading can not change the fact, 
and fact it is that Germany has 'de- 
stroyed lives, has committed murder 
upon our citizens and piracy upon the 
high seas. The wrongs that we have 
suffered at Great Britain's hands can 
and will be compensated, for in money. 
German Intrigues in America. 
Mr. President, the conduct of Ger- 
many toward this Government during 
the past two years,, aye, for many 
years prior to the beginning of the 
war, was not the conduct of a friend. 
I had it stated to me on pretty fair 
authority that about 25 years ago Ger- 
many changed her attitude toward her 
immigrants. Formerly she looked up- 
on them as backsliders, as people that 
were not worthy of the consideration 
of the German Government, but since 
that time many persons leaving Ger- 
many have still kept in touch with the 
old country. It has been claimed that 
thus a sphere of German influence has 
been formed in the United States. I 
do not know whether this is true' or 
not. There are some things that seem 
to bear out the charge, or at least lend 
color to it; but one thing is sure, and 
that is since the war in Europe began 
a German ambassador, German agen- 
cies, and German money have carried 
on a campaign of intrigue and conspir- 
acy calculated to divide the people of 
this country into racial groups, calcu- 
lated to array one group of citizens 
against another, one church against 
another, race against race, and conspir- 
acies have been formed to commit acts 
of violence against property and the 
law and order of this country, calcu- 
lated, through the medium of numer- 
ous societies, leagues, alliances, con- 
ferences, newspapers, churches, and 
other organizations, by means of prop- 
aganda and agitation, to prejudice our 
people against their own Government 
0 N S I N HORTICUL 
SPECIAL EDITION 
and to implant in them mistrust, 
hatred, and contempt for the Presi- 
dent, his advisers, and Congress — in 
short, of the United States Govern- 
ment. Newspapers have been estab- 
lished, others have been subsidized. 
The Germany Embassy here at Wash- 
ington behind its cloak of privilege, 
encouraged, if indeed it did not actu- 
ally inspire and direct, this movement 
which was aimed at the very integrity 
and i| vereignty of this country. An 
ambassador should carry on the busi- 
ness of his Government through the 
medium of our State Department; but 
Germany’s ambassador talked through 
the newspapers and over the heads of 
our authorities and tried to influence 
public opinion against this Govern- 
ment through American newspapers, 
and held conferences- with Members of 
Congress and with sympathetic citizens 
of the country, with heads of societies 
apd alliances. This ambassador pre- 
sumed to advise, through the medium 
of advertisements, in the newspapers 
what American citizens should or 
should not do. This ambassador re- 
vealed secrets of the State Department 
to newspaper men under pledge of 
secrecy not to divulge the source of 
their information. This embassador 
disbursed money to newspapers carry- 
ing on German propaganda — newspa- 
pers which villiflecl and foully slan- 
dered the heads of our Government. 
Other agents of the German Govern- 
ment — Von Papen, Von Igel, and the 
like — were detected and apprehended 
while attempting, pursuant to a con 
spiracy, to destroy property, public and 
private, and to commit other acts of 
violence against the law and order and- 
decency in this country. Newspapers, 
some printed in the German language 
and some in the English language, in 
one way or another were persuaded to 
take up a campaign of infamy against 
the President and this Government 
that is without precedent in the his- 
tory of this country. 
According to these newspapers in 
every matter of controversy which we 
had with Germany America has been 
in the wrong. As a fitting corollary to 
this Germany has invariably been in 
the right. When our crisis was on 
with Germany last May and it was a 
question as to whether we were to back 
down or whether Germany was to back 
down, they flooded us with a quarter 
of a million telegrams in which, to- 
gether with these newspapers and sym- 
pathizers generally, they unhesita- 
tingly, boldly, and brazenly asked their 
country to back down. They thought 
the idea absurd that Germany should 
back down because, forsooth, she had 
told us that she would not back down. 
They unhesitatingly counseled their 
Government to abandon a right in or- 
der that a foreign country might enjoy 
a wrong. 
T U R E 
On the eve of the late adjournment, 
when the President, in a last desperate 
effort to stave off war, asked for au- 
thority to arm ships, this chorus loudly 
protested on the ground that Congress 
alone had the power and that it should 
not delegate such powers to the Presi- 
dent. Now, when it seems that action 
by Congress is inevitable and appar- 
ently not in accordance with their de- 
sires, a deafening chorus again wells 
up, charging that Congress is about to 
declare war contrary to the sentiment 
of the American people. The only in- 
stance where a kind or friendly word 
has been heard in favor of the Presi- 
dent and the Government in this en- 
tire affair was when the President was 
endeavoring - to cooperate with Ger- 
many to bring about a peace without 
victory. Here, of course, when it ap- 
peared that the President was endeav- 
oring to do something that appeared to 
be in Germany’s interest it was 
promptly approved. 
Not only this but the President 
has been cartooned, lampooned, 
vilified, and denounced at every 
turn, and Germany and her chan- 
cellor, and her undersecretary, 
Zimmerman, have been lauded, 
have been praised, have been 
glorified, and have been approved 
at every turn. Nothing yras too 
infamous to say about the Presi- 
dent. Nothing too good to say 
about the Kaiser and his Govern- 
ment. These same men, newspa- 
pers, societies, and organizations 
have brazenly proclaimed them- 
selves as the exponents of true 
Americanism. They say they 
love their country; that those 
for whom they speak would die 
for their country. But they ar- 
gue that does not mean that you 
should necessarily support the 
Government. Then they charge 
that this Government is not a true 
representative of America ; that 
the President is a traitor and a 
tool of England; that he is be- 
traying this Government into the 
hands of Great Britain and that 
he is a hypocrite and a puppet 
that responds obediently when 
King George pulls the string. 
(Continued on p. 179) 
