A TWO-FACED PROPAGANDIST
Dr. Albert issued a statement which purports to be a complete reply to the charges in regard to a secret German propaganda in the United States. He said that the purchase of ammunition plants in this country was justifiable, argued for an embargo on arms and ammunition, charged Great Britain with piracy on the high seas, denied that the German Government financed press agents, and asserted that the German Government had not started any under-cover newspaper campaign in this country. He said it was inevitable that all sorts of wild and irresponsible offers, proposals and suggestions should be addressed from every conceivable quarter to one holding the official position in which he was placed as an accredited agent of one of the great nations engaged in this unfortunate world-wide war. He referred to the strike letters as junk, and said that he should not be held responsible for every crank that wrote him a letter.
That statement was for the American public. Dr. Albert’s real sentiments are shown vividly in a letter which he wrote to Captain von Papen from San Francisco after the announcement of the President’s decision to send the military attaché out of the country. Here is part of it:
“Well, then! How I wish I were in New York and could discuss the situation with you and B. E.! Many thanks for the telegram. The ‘Patron’ also telegraphed that I was to continue the journey. So we shall not see each other for the present. Shall we at all before you leave? It would be my most anxious wish; but my hope is small. For this time, I suppose, matters will move more quickly than in Dumba’s case. I wonder whether our Government will respond in a suitable manner! In my opinion, it need no longer take public opinion so much into consideration, in spite of its being artificially and intentionally agitated by the Press and the legal proceedings, so that a somewhat ‘stiffer’ attitude would be desirable, naturally quiet and dignified!
“If you should leave New York before my return, we must try to come to some agreement about pending questions by writing. Please instruct Mr. Amanuensis Igel as precisely as possible. You will receive then in Germany the long-intended report of the expenses paid through my account on your behalf. I would be very thankful to you if you would then support the question of a monetary advance which you know of, although I know that I was mistaken in my opinion, that I acted as your representative and according to your wishes.”
When all the work of Dr. Albert is summed up and taken into consideration with his propaganda in association with Captain von Papen and Captain Boy-Ed, the impression remains that he, a guest of the United States, was immersed in plans that were aimed at the honour and integrity of this republic.
CHAPTER X
AMBASSADOR DUMBA, GERMANY’S CO-CONSPIRATOR
“If I wanted to flatter the American people, I would make a statement before my departure, but I say nothing.”
This was the sentiment of Dr. Constantin Theodor Dumba, veteran diplomat and Austro-Hungarian Ambassador at Washington, just after he had received his passports from Secretary of State Lansing. He was dismissed from this country in September, 1915, because of his pro-Teutonic activities, which were adjudged by the State Department to amount to interference with the internal affairs of the nation.
The diplomat, regarded at the time as the ablest in Washington, did not relish the notoriety of being the ninth diplomat to be expelled from America; and, when questioned by reporters on the eve of his departure, he revealed the acrid feeling regarding Americans which his wonted suavity and self-control hitherto had enabled him to conceal. The next day, however, he did unbend to the extent of saying something about “wonderful United States”—and then sailed away.
Dumba, master of intrigue and remorseless in the attempted execution of any scheme that he regarded as beneficial to the welfare of his country, had been the supervising authority of the Austro-Hungarian espionage system in America, which was linked almost chain for chain with the German machinery. The joint activity of the German and the Austrian organizations was aimed at the same end as those described in connection with the duties of the German agents and their executives. He had as his active assistants, Baron Erich Zwiedinek von Sudenhorst, counsellor to the Austrian Embassy, and after the dismissal of Dumba, Chargé d’Affaires; Dr. Alexander Nuber von Pereked, Consul-General in New York, and several other Austrian consuls throughout the country. He is said to have been the originating genius of many of the ideas which the German agents tried to put into effect.
The charges against him are based on a series of exposures concerning the secret propaganda in which Dr. Dumba participated and concerning which evidence was gathered by the Secret Service and the Department of Justice. They rest on secret diplomatic messages which Dr. Dumba wrote and entrusted to Captain James F. J. Archibald, an American, travelling in August, 1915, on the steamship Rotterdam for Holland, whence he expected to confer with the Foreign Offices of both Germany and Austro-Hungary. Those documents were captured by the British and turned over to the American authorities. They expose much the same sort of illicit activity as set forth in German documents.