Breaches of Neutrality by the Belligetu ents.—At the beginning of the war, the British and French made little effort to influence public sentiment in the 'United States, and carefully reirained from raising international questions by using the United Statcs Coast as a.base ; but when complaint was made that provisions were being sent from the port of New York to Allied crtusers at sea, the practice was at once stopped. lOn the other hand the Germans and Austrians from the very beginning united in systematic attempts to create public sentiment in their favor, and thence proceeded to engage in acts hostile, not on/y to their public enemies, but to the people and government of the United States. Before the war broke out a group of °spell binders° was sent over under the comnaand of Dr. Heinrich Albert, a German official. He en gaged in secret propaganda, many of the details of which were later chscovered and spent about $35,000,000 in hiring agitators, furnishing mate rial for the press, buying newspapers, and so far as he could, organizing the German-Ameri cans.
Albert and his agents were in constant com munication with the diplomatic and consular officials of the Central Powers; but they were careful not to give any evidence of connection with.the official propaganda for breaking up the mtuntions trade and setting. on foot military and semi-military enterprises. They worked through a German lJniversity League, a Krieger Verein, a German-American Alliance, and other socie Ales. In some States they attempted to set up a German-American party and to defeat candt dates not favorable to the Germans, and they did their best to marshal the German voters and aliens in the 'United States in a movement for urging Congress to put an embargo on the export of munitions.
An official cohort for propaganda and rnore active measures was nranaged primarily by Count von Bernstorff and Dr. Dumba, the Aus trian ambassador and included also Captain von Papen and Captain Boy-Ed, military attaches. Many consuls-general and other consularofficers were in constant touch with this organization. 'The first effort was to buy up the munitions factories or their products, and thus make thetn useless to the Allies. Next they attempted to send secret expeditions or aid to German cruis ers at sea. They also made a systematic effort to get German and Austrian workmen out of the munitions factories and egged on some of them to destroy those factories. They planned several expeditions to destroy means of com munication in Canada. They furnished aid and comfiart to East Indians who were pleating on American soil against the British govern *neat in India. They subsidized secret factories of bombs intended to destroy ships leaving American ports. They ordered the sabotage of the German vessels in port, just as the United States entered the war.
The United States government made every effort to penetrate and break up these criminal conspiracies, and secured convktions in a con siderable number of cases, especially the follow ing: Captain Fritzen, a German reservist, for an attempt to lcdow up the Welland Canal; Carl A. Luederitz German Consul at Baltimore, for aid in securing a fraudulemt passport; CaPtain 'Geist a naturalized American citizen, and Carl Schmidt, chief engineer of the German ship Friedrich der Gros.se, making bombs on board that ship for the pumose of destroying vessels. Major von der Goltz, a German spy, gave evi dence of another attempt to blow up the Wel land Canal. Werner Horn. who claimed to be a German officer, received money from von Papen which enabled him to blow up a bridge connecting Maine with New Brunswick on the Canadian Pacific road. Paul Koenig, an official of the Hamburg-American line was convicted of swearing to false affidavits that he had seen cannon on board the Lusitania. Wolf von Igel was an active agent in corrupting the journalists and buying up agitators ; his papers were seized, and the German Embassy claimed them as offi cial documents but declined to identify any of the papers. Franz von Rintelen, who had been active in founding an anti-munition. organization called Labor's National Peace Council, was con victed of illegal attempts to prevent the shipping of munitions.
The United States government demanded and secured the recall of Captain von Papen and Captain Boy-Ed because of illegal acts for which they could not be tried on account of their diplomatic immunity. Dumba, the Aus trian Ambassador, was dismissed (8 Sept 1915) for conniving to get a false passport for one of his spies, and also for attempting to organize a strike to break up the munition manufacture. In addition to these offenses, which were proved in open court, the German agents, official and unofficial, were engaged in a tissue of plots whkh were subsequently revealed through docu ments of Albert, von Papen and others which were unearthed by the Department of Justice.
The Crisis of 1917.— The various phases\ of American neutrality here discussed were in terwoven with each other. The war zone, sub marine warfare, extension of contraband, block ade, continuous voyages, and control of neutral vessels in British waters were all different phases of the determination of the two groups of belligerents to destroy each other's commerce without reference to the previous restrictions of international law. In that process the commer cial rights of all neutrals were certain to be re stricted, and both parties were willing to push captures and condenuiations to the farthest point that neutral governments would permit.