60 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
December, 1917 
Fighting the War at Home 
An article in the November 17th 
number of the Saturday Evening 
Post by A. Curtis Roth, former 
vice consul at Planen, Saxony, is 
well worth reading. Especially is 
it commended to pacifists and all 
other pussy footed weaklings 
who go padding about doing con- 
sciously or unconsciously the will 
of the German spy system de- 
scribed by Mr. Roth. 
How soon will we realize that 
the war is being fought here as 
well as in France ! Here in Wis- 
consin, in Madison, in Milwaukee, 
in Oshkosh, and in every corner 
of the land. 
Mr. Roth says in part : — 
“Scientific spying is a Prussian 
product. It knows no ethics, 
owns no friendships and enjoys 
no code of honor. It delights "to 
operate through degenerates, in- 
ternational highbinders and licen- 
tious women. It shirks before no 
meanness or blackguardism to at- 
tain its ends. It is the most un- 
lovely fruit of the appalling lat- 
ter-day German logic of expedi- 
ency. Corruption and furtive de- 
struction are the blind arms of 
the German Army, often more 
dangerous than the visible army 
in the field. The Russian armies 
fell before the stealth of the Ger- 
man spy rather than before the 
charge of the Pomeranian grena- 
dier. 
Mr. Roth is able to give first 
hand information, as he came fre- 
quently in contact with high offi- 
cials of the German spy system 
from 1912 to the time he left 
Germany. His long acquaintance 
with one of the chiefs of the sys- 
tem afforded him an opportunity 
to glimpse the inside workings of 
this highly “kultured” organiza- 
tion. Lest we get the idea that 
the work is all done by German 
citizens, listen to this: 
“Most of the courier work of 
the German spy machine is done 
by neutrals. Some of the most 
dangerous foreign missions are 
carried out by traitorous citizens 
of enemy countries, and my se- 
cret-service friend informed me 
cynically that there was no 
trouble in finding plenty such of 
highest capacity, but that the only 
trouble lay in the choosing. He 
told me that Russians, Frenchmen 
and Englishmen of high standing 
were serving in the German intel- 
ligence forces.” 
“You would be surprised,” he 
said to me one night, “to learn 
the names of some of your own 
countrymen acting as agents of 
our Foreign Office. I have done 
some verv effective work through 
one of them in your country, a 
man of keen intellect and undis- 
puted position.” 
We are good natured, lenient, 
and gullible. We hear lies about 
Red Cross work and either remain 
silent or pass them on. We hear 
disloyalty or sedition preached 
and we are too cowardly to resent 
it, either from the fear that it may 
hurt our business or because we 
don’t want to quarrel with a 
neighbor. We hear peace talk 
and even when we know that 
there can be no peace we repeat it. 
“To the German leaders peace 
and labor movements in enemy 
lands mean German victory and 
domination. More especially is 
the present peace propaganda 
spreading abroad in tbe world a 
two-edged weapon in the hands 
of the Vaterland’s autocrats. It 
is a weapon more subtle, more in- 
sinuating, and far more difficult 
to combat than is the German 
Army in the field. He who talks 
peace to-day finds many sincerely 
responsive hearts, which, under 
the spell of their spiritual enthu- 
siasm, can lightly be turned to 
uses the purpose of which they do 
not know or stop to analyze. The 
German agent or spy, talking 
peace is the sublimation of Ger- 
man cunning, and more dangerous 
to the liberties of the world than 
any poison gas yet flooded across 
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the sad and brutalized fields of 
Northern France ! 
“The German agents are mak- 
ing a peace drive to-day to make 
the victories of the German armies 
good. They are striking at the 
sources of the enemy power ar- 
rayed against them. If this in- 
trigue proves successful Germany 
will have won the war; it will 
have then justified its honorless, 
conscienceless but adroit intelli- 
gence machine. The Germans to- 
day bringing gifts are more dan- 
gerous than they are crouched be- 
hind their gas tanks and giant 
mortars !” 
