February 7, 19 18 
Land & Water 
13 
liair and in a dreamy way drew, on the packing box, the out- 
line of two hearts entwined. The susceptible von Papen, 
in the spirit of the moment seized the pencil and with his own 
hand drew an arrow piercing them. And so it was that 
when the British secret service agents inspected the cargo of 
the Oscar II. when it touched Falmouth, they took particular 
pains to look for the box marked with two red hearts and an 
arrow^and found it. U Itimatelv the Providence Journal 
published such full and intimate details of the sentimental 
von Papon's career in America that he was invited to leave 
the country. 
The Welland Plot 
Episode number three, and the last to be told here — Mr. 
Rathom, in his articles, will tell others more important — illus- 
trates not only one of the many methods used to gather evi- 
dences but also the cheering fact that some German-Americans 
are just Americans, and of the most loj'al kind at that. Mr. 
Rathom discovered that the offices of a great German steam- 
ship company in New York were in reality a branch of the 
German Government and a hotbed of German intrigue, and 
Count Johann Heinrich von BernstorfF 
German Am'jasiadorjn the United States 
he determined to get access to their records. One of his 
reporters was little more than a boy, the son of German 
parents. They were good Americans, though, and the boy 
himself was a patriot. Under instructions he went back from 
Providence to his birthplace at Lima, Ohio, and there he wrote 
a letter to the general manager of the steamship line in New 
York. He had a brother, so he wn^te, who was a telegraph 
operator in Providence and acquainted with one of the tele- 
graph operators in the Providence Journal. Through this 
channel he learned that the Providence Journal planned to 
instal one of its men in the office of this German steamship 
company in the guise of a janitor so that he might, in the 
course of his duties, become familiar with the location of their 
secret files and take from them such of their contents as were 
of interest to the Journal. About a month later a man did 
apply to the officers of the company in New York for a job as 
janitor. The Prussian officials were ready for hitn. They had 
detailed thd chief of their secret service to apply " the third 
degree." This he did, and under the machine gun fire of his 
questions the applicant stammered, hesitated, trembled, and 
finally confessed. For two days thereafter the officers of 
the steamship company were jubilant and they wrote an ela- 
borate report of the triumph over the hated Providence 
Journal to the Embassy in Washington, a copy of which is 
now in Mr. Rathom 's possession. 
Some weeks later came another letter from the young man 
with a German name at Lima, Ohio. He wrote rather plain- 
tively that he had not heard from the steamship company 
and so felt, of course, that the information he had sent had 
been valueless. Ncvcrtherlcss, so he wrote, he had done his 
best. He was coming on to New York to seek his fortune, 
and, while finding his way about, might he not hnve a clerical 
position that would support him for a few months ? He wa? 
assured that he could have the job — by telegraph. " The 
young man from Lima " went through the filesin the offices 
in New York at his leisure and supplied the Providence 
Journal with the material which fastened on the officers of 
this hne and its secret servic^ agents the guilt of the plot to 
blow up the Welland Canal, gave to the Journal an immense 
mass of valuable information concerning the methods of 
securing fraudulent passports for German and Austrian re- 
servists, and also secured for his newspaper proLfi of the 
criminal activities of Captain Hans Tauscher, the agent of 
the Krupps in America and the husband of Madame Gadski. 
Card Index of Seven Thousand Traitors 
So much for some of the means by which German Govern- 
ment's treachery has been unearthed during the last three 
years. But let no one deceive himself with the vain hope that 
the job is done. To-day, in the offices of the Providence 
Journal, is a card inde.x of the names of seven thousand 
people, hundreds of them American citizens, dozens of them 
honoured leaders in professional and public life, who are known 
still to be working the Kaiser's will in every important city 
in the United States. These traitors are, many of them, 
unsuspected by neighbours and friends who respect and trust 
them. The Government has been informed of their activities. 
The Journal is still following thoir movements, and every day 
checkmates some of them. Thus, privately, the Journal, is 
doing a great patriotic service. Publicly, it is attempting to 
arouse the loyal citizens of the country to the common danger 
and to show thorn, from its experience, how to combat this 
most deadly and insidious peril. For Example, it publishes, 
every day, at the head of^its editorial columns, the following 
warning to Americans : 
Every German or Austrian in the United States, unless 
known by years of association to be absolutely loyal, should be 
treated as a potential spy. Keep your eyes and ears open. 
Whenever any suspicious act or disloyal word cornes to your 
notice communicate at once with the Bureau of Investigation 
of the Department of Justice. 
We are at war with the most merciless and inhuman nation 
in the world. Hundreds of thousands of its people in this 
country want to see America humiliated and beaten to her 
knees, and they are doing, and will do, everything in their 
power to bring this about. 
Take nothing for granted. Energy and alertness in this 
direction may save the life of son, or husband, or brother. 
Its example has persuaded twenty or more papers, in ail 
parts of the country, to print this notice — including some of 
the most important papers printed in Italian and other 
languages. 
Now for a word about Mr. Rathom himself.. He was 
born in Melbourne, Australia, of English parentage, and 
was educated there and at Harrow. At eighteen he 
began his newspaper career as a correspondent of 
Australian papers, reporting the military operations in the 
Soudan long before the days of Kitchener and Omdurman. 
A few months of this was followed by a journey to New 
Guinea, where he joined the Bunbury Expedition exploring 
that then little known and inhospitable island. His wanderings 
next took him to Hong Kong, where he had been brought 
up as a child and where he had learned to speak Chinese. 
Two years in China were spent in trips through the in- 
terior and up the Yang Tse River, to the head of navigation. 
After work on various newspapers he joined the Chicago 
Herald. Then came the Spanish War, and Mr. Rathom 
was sent to the front, where he was first w undcd and 
afterwards contracted yellow fever. 
Soon after the Spanish War, came the war in South Africa, 
and again the Chicago Herald sent Mr. Rathom as its 
correspondent. He went with some of the Australian 
troops, and was wounded twice within ten seconds, once 
in the leg and then in the hip. This caused him to miss 
seeing the capture of Cronje, but a few weeks later he was back 
on the job and spent in all eight months reporting the war. 
Twelve years ago Mr. Rathom went to Providence to be- 
come the managing director of the Journal. After seven years 
of service in that capacity Mr. Rathom became editor and 
general manager of the paper. What he has made it, since the 
war began, is now international history. Not only has his 
work in exposing German plots been of invaluable aid to the 
United States Government and to all the Allies, but his power- 
ful editorials upon international policies have been quoted 
the world over. In the United States he has become a national 
figure, and his influence among men of light and leading has 
become one of the forces of that country's history. 
Next week we shall publish Mr.Rathom's own account 
of the arch-plottersin the German Embassy and in par- 
ticular the carefully laid plans for sinking the Lusitania 
Ik 
