The German Frontier Custom Authorities are requested to kindly give to the bearer of this letter, Mr James J. F. Archibald, from New York, who is going to Germany with photographic apparatus, etc., in order to collect material for lectures in the United States in the interests of Germany, all possible facilities compatible with regulations in the dispatching of his luggage.
Imperial Ambassador
Bernstorff.
The familiar story of what happened next is that Archibald carried some secret documents for Bernstorff and Dumba in a hollow cane. This could scarcely be, for the documents he carried were so numerous and some of them so bulky that the cane would need to have been a giant’s walking stick. In any event, the documents themselves are of more interest than their vehicle. They were taken from Archibald by the British authorities at Falmouth. The series can be best introduced by a letter from Ambassador Dumba to his chief, Baron Burian, Minister for Foreign Affairs in Vienna, which reads:
My Lord:
Yesterday evening Consul General von Nuber received the inclosed aide mémoire from the chief editor of the locally known paper, Szabodsog, after a previous conference with him and in pursuance of his proposals to arrange for strikes in the Bethlehem Schwab steel and munitions war factory, and also in the Middle West.
Dr. Archibald, who is well known to your lordship, leaves to-day at 12 o’clock on board the Rotterdam, for Berlin and Vienna. I take this rare and safe opportunity to warmly recommend the proposal to your lordship’s favourable consideration.
It is my impression that we can disorganize and hold up for months, if not entirely prevent, the manufacture of munitions in Bethlehem and the Middle West, which, in the opinion of the German military attaché, is of great importance and amply outweighs the expenditure of money involved.
But even if strikes do not come off, it is probable that we should extort, under the pressure of the crisis, more favourable conditions of labour for our poor, down-trodden fellow countrymen. In Bethlehem these white slaves are now working for twelve hours a day and seven days a week. All weak persons succumb and become consumptives.
So far as German workmen are found among the skilled hands, a means of leaving will be provided for them.
Besides this a private German registry office has been established, which provided employment for persons who have voluntarily given up their places, and is already working well. They will also join, and the widest support is assured me.