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 +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Note: | | | | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | | been preserved. | | | | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------+

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 +--------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | The Book and the Author | | | | John L. Spivak comes closer to the popular conception of the | | ace journalist than any other living writer. Combining the | | instinct of a detective with the resourcefulness of a | | reporter, and gifted with a hard-hitting, breezy style, he | | has time and again "scooped the world, " "gotten the | | story"--despite powerful opposition and personal danger that | | might well have daunted less hardy souls. | | | | But there is an important difference that sets Spivak apart | | from most other gentlemen of the press. For several years he | | has devoted his bright and sharp pen solely to uncovering | | evidence of fascist activities in the United | | States--evidence that is credited with having set off | | several official investigations exposing un-American, | | foreign-dominated propaganda. | | | | SECRET ARMIES climaxes Spivak's exposures. His sensational | | inside story of Hitler's far-flung, under-cover poison | | campaign in the Americas would seem scarcely credible, were | | it not so thoroughly documented with original letters and | | records, citing chapter and verse, naming names, dates and | | places. His unanswerable, uncontradicted facts should go far | | toward jolting many of us out of our false sense of | | security. | | | +--------------------------------------------------------------+

_Books by John L. Spivak_

 THE DEVIL'S BRIGADE

 GEORGIA NIGGER

 AMERICA FACES THE BARRICADES

 EUROPE UNDER THE TERROR

SECRET ARMIES

_The New Technique of Nazi Warfare_

[Illustration]

JOHN L. SPIVAK

MODERN AGE BOOKS, INC. 432 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK

COPYRIGHT 1939 BY JOHN L. SPIVAKPUBLISHED BY MODERN AGE BOOKS, INC. 432 Fourth AvenueNew York City

 _All rights in this book are reserved, and it may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the holder of these rights. For information address the publishers. _

_First Printing, February 1939__Second Printing, March 1939_

_Printed in the United States of America_

_CONTENTS_

CHAPTER PAGE

 Preface 7

 I Czechoslovakia--Before the Carving 9

 II England's Cliveden Set 17

 III France's Secret Fascist Army 31

 IV Dynamite Under Mexico 43

 V Surrounding the Panama Canal 56

 VI Secret Agents Arrive in America 73

 VII Nazi Spies and American "Patriots" 84

VIII Henry Ford and Secret Nazi Activities 102

 IX Nazi Agents in American Universities 118

 X Underground Armies in America 130

 XI The Dies Committee Suppresses Evidence 137

 XII Conclusion 155

_ILLUSTRATIONS_

 PAGE

Application in the Secret Order of '76 by Sidney Brooks 77

Letter from Harry A. Jung 82

Anti-Semitic handbill 85

Letter from Peter V. Armstrong 89

Letter to Peter V. Armstrong 90

Account card of Reverend Gerald B. Winrod 104

Sample of "Capitol News & Feature Service" 106

Letter from _Wessington Springs Independent_ 107

Letter from General Rodriguez 111

Letter from General Rodriguez 113

Letter from Henry Allen 115

Anti-Semitic sticker and German titlepage of book by Henry Ford 117

Letter from Olov E. Tietzow 125

Judgment showing conviction of E. F. Sullivan 138-139

Letter from Carl G. Orgell 151

Letter from G. Moshack 153

Letter from E. A. Vennekohl 154

_Preface_

The material in this small volume just barely scratches the surface ofa problem which is becoming increasingly grave: the activities of Naziagents in the United States, Mexico, and Central America. During thepast five years I have observed some of them, watching the original, crudely organized and directed propaganda machine develop, grow andleave an influence far wider than most people seem to realize. What atfirst appeared to be merely a distasteful attempt by Nazi Governmentofficials at direct interference in the affairs of the American peopleand their Government, has now assumed the more sinister aspect of alsoseeking American naval and military secrets. 

Further studies in Central America, Mexico and the Panama Canal Zonedisclosed an espionage network directed by the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axisand operating against the peace and security of the United States. Ascrutiny of the Nazi Fifth Column[1] in a few European countries, especially in Czechoslovakia just before that Republic was turned overto Germany's mercy by the Munich "peace" and in France where Nazi andItalian agents built an amazing secret underground army, has made thefascist activities in the Western Hemisphere somewhat clearer to me. 

I have included one chapter detailing events which cannot, so far as Ihave been able to discover, be traced directly to Nazi espionage; butit shows the influence of Nazi ideology upon England's now notorious"Cliveden set, " which maneuvered the betrayal of Austria, sacrificedCzechoslovakia and is working in devious ways to strengthen Hitler inEurope. The "Cliveden set" has already had so profound an effect uponthe growth and influence of fascism throughout the world, that Ithought it advisable to include it. 

The sources for most of the material, by its very nature, naturallycannot be revealed. Those conversations which I quote directly camefrom people who were present when they occurred or, as in the case ofthe Cagoulards in France, from official records. In the chapter onCzechoslovakia I quote a conversation between a Nazi spy and hischief. The details came to me from a source which in the past I hadfound accurate. Subsequently, the spy was arrested by Czech secretpolice, and his confession substantiated the conversation as I havegiven it. 

Much of the material in this volume has been published in variousperiodicals from time to time, but so many Americans feel that concernover Nazi penetration in this country is exaggerated, that I hope eventhis brief and incomplete picture will serve to impress the reader, asit has impressed me, with the gravity of the situation. 

 J. L. S. 

FOOTNOTES:

[1] When the Spanish Insurgents were investing Madrid early in November, 1936, newspaper correspondents asked Insurgent General Emilio Mola whichof his four columns would take the city. Mola replied enigmatically:"The Fifth Column. " He referred to the fascist sympathizers withinMadrid--those attempting to abet the defeat of the Spanish Government bymeans of spying, sabotage and terrorism. The term "Fifth Column" istoday widely used to describe the various fascist and Nazi organizationsoperating within the borders of non-fascist nations. 

I

_Czechoslovakia--Before The Carving_

It is pretty generally admitted now that the Munich "peace" gaveGermany industrial and military areas essential to furtheraggressions. Instead of helping to put a troubled Europe on the roadto lasting peace, Munich strengthened the totalitarian powers, especially Germany, and a strengthened Germany inevitably meansincreased activities of the Nazis' Fifth Column which is, in allquarters of the globe, actively preparing the ground for Hitler'sgreater plans. 

If we can divine the future by the past, the Fifth Column, thatshadowy group of secret agents now entrenched in every importantcountry throughout the world, is an omen of what is to come. BeforeGermany marched into Austria, that unhappy country witnessed a largeinflux of Fifth Column members. In Czechoslovakia, especially in thosemonths before the Republic's heart was handed to Hitler on a platter, there was a tremendous increase in the numbers and activities ofagents sent into the Central European country. 

During my stay there in the brief period immediately preceding the"peace, " I learned a little about the operations of the Gestapo'ssecret agents in Czechoslovakia. Their numbers are vast and those fewof whom I learned, are infinitesimal to the actual numbers at workthen and now, not only in Czechoslovakia but in other countries. WhatI learned of those few, however, shows how the Gestapo, the Nazisecret service, operates in its ruthless drive. 

For years Hitler had laid plans to fight, if he had to, forCzechoslovakia, whose natural mountain barriers and man-made defensiveline of steel and concrete stood in the way of his announced drive tothe Ukrainian wheat fields. In preparation for the day when he mighthave to fight for its control, he sent into the Republic a host ofspies, provocateurs, propagandists and saboteurs to establishthemselves, make contacts, carry on propaganda and build a machinewhich would be invaluable in time of war. 

In a few instances I learned the details of the Nazis' inexorabledetermination and their inhuman indifference to the lives of eventheir own agents. 

Arno Oertel, _alias_ Harald Half, was a thin, white-faced spy trainedin two Gestapo schools for Fifth Column work. Oertel was given aGerman passport by Richter, the Gestapo district chief atBischofswerda on what was then the Czechoslovak-German frontier. 

"You will proceed to Prague, " Richter instructed him, "and loseyourself in the city. As soon as it is safe, go to Langenau nearBoehmisch-Leipa and report to Frau Anna Suchy. [2] She will give youfurther instructions. "

Oertel nodded. It was his first important espionage job--assigned tohim after the twenty-five-year-old secret agent had finished hisintensive course in the special Gestapo training school in Zossen(Brandenburg), one of the many schools established by the Nazi secretservice to train agents for various activities. 

After his graduation Oertel had been given minor practical trainingin politically disruptive work in anti-fascist organizations acrossthe Czech border where he had posed as a German emigré. There he hadshown such aptitude that his Gestapo chief at sector headquarters inDresden, Herr Geissler, sent him to Czechoslovakia on a specialmission. 

Oertel hesitated. "Naturally I'll take all possible precautionsbut--accidents may happen. "

Richter nodded. "If you are caught and arrested, demand to see theGerman Consul immediately, " he said. "If you are in a bad predicament, we'll request your extradition on a criminal charge--burglary witharms, attempted murder--some non-political crime. We've got a treatywith Czechoslovakia to extradite Germans accused of criminal actsbut--" The Gestapo chief opened the top drawer of his desk and took asmall capsule from a box. "If you find yourself in an utterly hopelesssituation, swallow this. "

He handed the pellet to the nervous young man. 

"Cyanide, " Richter said. "Tie it up in a knot in your handkerchief. Itwill not be taken from you if you are arrested. There is always anopportunity while being searched to take it. "

Oertel tied the pellet in a corner of his handkerchief and placed itin his breast pocket. 

"You are to make two reports, " Richter continued. "One for Frau Suchy, the other for the contact in Prague. She'll get you in touch withhim. "

Anna Suchy, when Oertel reported to her, gave him specific orders: "OnAugust 16 [1937], at five o'clock in the afternoon, you will sit on abench near the fountain in Karlsplatz in Prague. A man dressed in agray suit, gray hat, with a blue handkerchief showing from the breastpocket of his coat, will ask you for a light for his cigarette. Givehim the light and accept a cigarette from the gentleman. He will giveyou detailed instructions on what to do and how to meet the Praguecontact to whom in turn you will report. "

At the appointed hour Oertel sat on a bench staring at the fountain, watching men and women strolling and chatting cheerfully on the way tomeet friends for late afternoon coffee. Occasionally he looked at theafternoon papers lying on the bench beside him. He felt that he wasbeing watched but he saw no one in a gray suit with a bluehandkerchief. He wiped his forehead with his handkerchief, partlybecause of the heat, partly because of nervousness. As he held thehandkerchief he could feel the tightly bound capsule. 

Precisely at five he noticed a man in a gray suit with a gray hat anda blue handkerchief in the breast pocket of his coat, strolling towardhim. As the man approached he took out a package of cigarettes, selected one and searched his pockets for a light. Stopping beforeOertel, he doffed his hat and smilingly asked for a light. Oertelproduced his lighter and the other in turn offered him a cigarette. Hesat down on the bench. 

"Report once a week, " he said abruptly, puffing at his cigarette andstaring at two children playing in the sunshine which floodedKarlsplatz. He stretched his feet like a man relaxing after a hardday's work. "Deliver reports to Frau Suchy personally. One week shewill come to Prague, the next you go to her. Deliver a copy of yourreport to the English missionary, Vicar Robert Smith, who lives at 31Karlsplatz. "

Smith, to whom the unidentified man in the gray suit told Oertel toreport, was a minister of the Church of Scotland in Prague, a Britishsubject with influential connections not only with English-speakingpeople but with Czech government officials. [3] Besides his ministerialwork, the Reverend Smith led an amateur orchestra group giving freeconcerts for German emigrés. On his clerical recommendation, he gotGerman "emigré" women into England as house servants for Britishgovernment officials and army officers. 

The far-flung Gestapo network in Czechoslovakia concentrated much ofits activities along the former German-Czech border. In Prague, eventoday when Germany has achieved what she said was all she wanted inEurope, the network reaches into all branches of the Government, themilitary forces and emigré anti-fascist groups. The country, before itwas cut to pieces and even now, is honeycombed with Gestapo agentssent from Germany with false passports or smuggled across the border. 

Often the Gestapo uses Czech citizens whose relatives are in Germanyand upon whom pressure is put. The work of these agents consists notonly of ferreting out military information regarding Czech defensemeasures and establishing contacts with Czech citizens for permanentespionage, but of the equally important assignment of disruptinganti-fascist groups--of creating opposition within organizationshaving large memberships in order to split and disintegrate them. Agents also make reports on public opinion and attitudes, and recordcarefully the names and addresses of those engaged in anti-fascistwork. A similar procedure was followed in Austria before that countrywas invaded, and it enabled the Nazis to make wholesale arrestsimmediately upon entering the country. 

Prague, with a German population of sixty thousand is still theheadquarters for the astonishing espionage and propaganda machinewhich the Gestapo built throughout the country. Before Czechoslovakiawas cut up, most of the espionage reports crossed the frontier intoGermany through Tetschen-Bodenbach. The propaganda and espionagecenter of the Henlein group was in the headquarters of the _SudetenDeutsche Partei_ at 4 Hybernska St. A secondary headquarters, in the_Deutscher Hilfsverein_ at 7 Nekazanka St. , was directed by EmilWallner, who was ostensibly representing the Leipzig Fair but wasactually the chief of the Gestapo machine in Prague. His assistant, Hermann Dorn, living in Hanspaulka-Dejvice, masqueraded as therepresentative of the _Muenchner Illustrierte Zeitung_. 

Some aspects of the Nazi espionage and propaganda machine inCzechoslovakia hold especial interest for American immigrationauthorities since into the United States, too, comes a steady flow ofthe shadowy members of the Nazis' Fifth Column. It is well to knowthat the letters and numbers at the top of passports inform Germandiplomatic representatives the world over that the bearer usually is aGestapo agent. Whenever American immigration authorities find Germanpassports with letters and numbers at the top, they may be reasonablysure that the bearer is an agent. These numbers are placed onpassports by Gestapo headquarters in Berlin or Dresden. The agent'sphotograph and a sample of his (or her) handwriting is sent via thediplomatic pouch to the Nazi Embassy, Legation, Consulate or GermanBund in the country or city to which the agent is assigned. When theagent reports in a foreign city, the resident Gestapo chief, in orderto identify him, checks the passport's top number with the picture andthe handwriting received by diplomatic pouch. 

Rudolf Walter Voigt, _alias_ Walter Clas, _alias_ Heinz Leonhard, _alias_ Herbert Frank--names which he used throughout Europe in hisespionage work will serve as an illustration. Voigt was sent to Pragueon a delicate mission. His job was to discover how Czechs got to Spainto fight in the International Brigade, a mystery in Berlin since suchCzechs had to cross Italy, Germany or other fascist countries whichcooperate with the Gestapo. 

Voigt was given passport No. 1, 128, 236 made out in the name of WalterClas, and bearing at the top of the passport the letters and numbers1A1444. He was instructed, by Leader Wilhelm May of Dresden, to reportto the Henlein Party headquarters upon his arrival in Prague. Clas, _alias_ Voigt, arrived October 23, 1937, reported at the Sudeten Partyheadquarters and saw a man whom I was unable to identify. He wasinstructed to report again four days later, since information aboutthe agent had not yet arrived. 

Voigt was trained in the Gestapo espionage schools in Potsdam andCalmuth-Remagen. He operates directly under Wilhelm May whoseheadquarters are in Dresden. May is in charge of Gestapo work overSector No. 2. Preceding the granting to Hitler of the Sudeten areas inCzechoslovakia, the entire Czech border espionage and terroristactivity was divided into sectors. At this writing the same sectordivisions still exist, operating now across the new frontiers. SectorNo. 1 embraces Silesia with headquarters at Breslau; No. 2, Saxony, with headquarters at Dresden; and No. 3, Bavaria, with headquarters atMunich. After the annexation of Austria, Sector No. 4 was added, commanded by Gestapo Chief Scheffler whose headquarters are in Berlinwith a branch in Vienna. Sector No. 4 also directs _Standarte II_which stands ready to provide incidents to justify German invasion"because the situation has got out of control of the localauthorities. "

Another way in which immigration authorities, especially in countriessurrounding Germany, can detect Gestapo agents is by the position ofstamps on the German passport. Stamps are placed, in accordance withGerman law, directly under the spot provided for them on the passporton the front page, upper right hand corner. Whenever the stamps are onthe cover facing the passport title page, it is a sign to Gestaporepresentatives and Consulates that the bearer is an agent who crossedthe border hurriedly without time to get the regular numbers andletters from Gestapo headquarters. The agent is given this means oftemporary identification by the border Gestapo chief. 

Also, whenever immigration authorities find a German passport issuedto the bearer for less than five years and then extended to theregulation five-year period, they may be certain that the bearer is anew Gestapo agent who is being tested by controlled movements in aforeign country. For his first Gestapo mission in Holland, forinstance, Voigt was given a passport August 15, 1936, good for onlyfourteen days. His chief was not sure whether or not Voigt had agreedto become an agent just to get a passport and money to escape thecountry; so his passport period was limited. 

When the fourteen-day period expired, Voigt would have to report tothe Nazi Consulate for a renewal. In this particular instance, thepassport was marked "Non-renewable Except by Special Permission of theChief of Dresden Police. " When Voigt performed his Holland missionsuccessfully, he was given the usual five-year passport. 

Any German whose passport shows a given limited time, which has beensubsequently extended, gives proof that he has been tested and foundsatisfactory by the Gestapo. 

FOOTNOTES:

[2] Frau Suchy was one of the most active members of Konrad Henlein's_Deutscher Volksbund_, a propaganda and espionage organizationmasquerading as a "cultural" body in the Sudeten area. She is today aleading official in the new German Sudetenland. 

[3] The Rev. Smith returned to England when he learned that theCzechoslovakian secret police were watching him. At the present writinghe had not returned to his church in Prague. 

II

_England's Cliveden Set_

The work of foreign agents does not necessarily involve the securingof military and naval secrets. Information of all kinds is importantto an aggressor planning an invasion or estimating a potential enemy'sstrength and morale; and often a diplomatic secret is worth far morethan the choicest blueprint of a carefully guarded military device. 

There are persons whom money, social position, political promises orglory cannot interest in following a policy of benefit to a foreignpower. In such instances, however, protection of class interestssometimes drives them to acts which can scarcely be distinguished fromthose of paid foreign agents. This is especially true of those whosefinancial interests are on an international scale and who consequentlythink internationally. 

Such class interests were involved in the betrayal of Austria to theNazis only a few months before aggressor nations were invited to cutthemselves a slice of Czechoslovakia; and it will probably never beknown just how much the Nazis' Fifth Column, working in dinner jacketsand evening gowns, influenced the powerful personages involved tochart a course which sacrificed a nation and a people and whichforetold the Munich "peace" pact. 

The story begins when Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of England, accepted an invitation to spend the week-end of March 26-27, 1938, atCliveden, Lord and Lady Astor's country estate at Taplow, Buckinghamshire, in the beautiful Thames Valley. When the PrimeMinister and his wife arrived at the huge Georgian house rising out ofa fairyland of gardens and forests with the placid river for abackground, the other guests who had already arrived and their hostswere under the horseshoe stone staircase to receive them. 

The small but carefully selected group of guests had been invited "toplay charades" over the week-end--a game in which the participantsform opposing sides and act a certain part while the opponents try toguess what they are portraying. Every man invited held a strategicposition in the British government, and it was during this "charadesparty" week-end that they secretly charted a course of British policywhich will affect not only the fate of the British Empire but thecourse of world events and the lives of countless millions of peoplefor years to come. 

This course, which indirectly menaces the peace and security of theUnited States, deliberately launched England on a series of maneuverswhich made Hitler stronger and will inevitably lead Great Britain onthe road to fascism. The British Parliament and the British people donot know of these decisions, some of which the Chamberlain governmenthas already carried out. 

And without a knowledge of what happened during the talks in thosehistoric two days and what preceded them, the world can only puzzleover an almost incomprehensible British foreign policy. 

Present at this week-end gathering, besides the Astors and the PrimeMinister and his wife, were the following:

Sir Thomas Inskip, Minister for Defense. 

Sir Alexander Cadogan, who replaced Sir Robert Vansittart as adviserto the British Cabinet and who acts in a supervisory capacity overthe extraordinarily powerful British Intelligence Service. 

Geoffrey Dawson, editor of the London _Times_. 

Lord Lothian, Governor of the National Bank of Scotland, a determinedadvocate of refusing arms to the Spanish democratic government whileHitler and Mussolini supplied Franco with them. 

Tom Jones, adviser to former Premier Baldwin. 

The Right Honorable E. A. Fitzroy, Speaker of the House of Commons. 

The Baroness Mary Ravensdale, sister-in-law of Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British fascist movement. 

To understand the amazing game played by the Cliveden house guests, inwhich nations and peoples have already been shuffled about as pawns, one must remember that powerful German industrialists and financierslike the Krupps and the Thyssens supported Hitler primarily in orderto crush the German trade-union and political movements which were inthe late 1920's threatening their wealth and power. 

The Astors are part of the same family in the United States. LadyNancy Astor, born in Virginia, married into one of the richestfamilies in England. Her interests and the interests of ViscountAstor, her husband, stretch into banking, railroads, life insuranceand journalism. Half a dozen members of the family are in Parliament:Lady Astor, her husband, their son, in the House of Commons; and tworelatives in the House of Lords. The Astor family controls two of themost powerful and influential newspapers in the world, the London_Times_ and the London _Observer_. In the past these papers, whoseinfluence cannot be exaggerated, have been strong enough to make andbreak Prime Ministers. 

Cliveden House, ruled by the intensely energetic and ambitiousAmerican-born woman, had already left its mark upon current historyfollowing other week-end parties. Lady Astor and her coterie had beenplaying a more or less minor role in the affairs of the largest empirein the world, but decisions recently reached at her week-end partieshave already changed the map of Europe, after almost incredibleintrigues, betrayals and double-crossings, carried through with theruthlessness of a conquering Caesar and the boundless ambitions of aNapoleon. 

The week-ends at Cliveden House which culminated in the historic oneof March 26-27, began in the fall of 1937. Lady Astor had been havingteas with Lady Ravensdale and had entertained von Ribbentrop, NaziAmbassador to Great Britain, at her town house. Gradually theAstor-controlled London _Times_ assumed a pro-Nazi bias on its veryinfluential editorial page. When the _Times_ wants to launch acampaign, its custom is to run a series of letters in its famouscorrespondence columns and then an editorial advocating the policydecided upon. During October, 1937, the _Times_ sprouted lettersregarding Hitler's claims for the return of the colonies taken fromGermany after the war. 

Rather than have Germany attack her, England preferred to see Hitlerturn his eyes to the fertile Ukrainian wheat fields of the SovietUnion. It meant war, but that war seemed inevitable. If Russia won, England and her economic royalists would be faced with "the menace ofcommunism. " But if Germany won, she would expand eastward and, exhausted by the war, would be in no condition to make demands uponEngland. The part Great Britain's economic royalists had to play, then, was to strengthen Germany in her preparations for the coming warwith Russia and at the same time prepare herself to fight if hercalculations went wrong. 

Cabinet ministers Lord Hailsham (sugar and insurance interests), LordSwinton (railroads, power, with subsidiaries in Germany, Italy, etc. ), Sir Samuel Hoare (real estate, insurance, etc. ), were felt out andthought it was a good idea. Chamberlain himself had a hefty interest(around twelve thousand shares) in Imperial Chemical Industries, affiliated with _I. G. Farbenindustrie_, the German dye trust which isvery actively supplying Hitler with war materials. The difficulty wasAnthony Eden, British Foreign Minister, who was opposed to fascistaggressions because he feared they would eventually threaten theBritish Empire. Eden would certainly not approve of strengtheningfascist countries and encouraging them to still greater aggressions. 

At one of the carefully selected little parties the Astors invitedEden. In the small drawing room banked with flowers the idea wasbroached about sending an emissary to talk the matter over withHitler--some genial, inoffensive person like Lord Halifax (huge landinterests) for instance. Eden understood why the _Times_ had suddenlyraised the issue of the lost German colonies to an extent greater eventhan Hitler himself, and Eden emphatically expressed his disapproval. Such a step, he insisted, would encourage both Germany and Italy tofurther aggressions which would ultimately wreck the British Empire. 

Nevertheless, the cabinet ministers who had been consulted broughtpressure upon Chamberlain and while the Foreign Secretary was inBrussels on a state matter, the Prime Minister announced that Halifaxwould visit the Führer. Eden was furious and after a stormy sessiontendered his resignation. At that period, however, Eden's resignationmight have thrown England into a turmoil--so Chamberlain mollifiedhim. Public sympathy was with Eden and before he was eased out, thecountry had to be prepared for it. 

In the quiet and subdued atmosphere of the diplomats' drawing rooms inLondon they tell, with many a chuckle, how Lord Halifax, his bowlerfirmly on his head, was sent to Berlin and Berchtesgaden inmid-November, 1937, with instructions not to get into any arguments. Lord Halifax, in the mellow judgment of his close friends, is one ofthe most amiable and charming of the British peers, earnest, wellmeaning and--not particularly bright. 

In Berlin Halifax met Goering, attired for the occasion in a new andbewilderingly gaudy uniform. In the course of their conversationGoering, resting his hands on his enormous paunch, said:

"The world cannot stand still. World conditions cannot be frozen justas they are forever. The world is subject to change. "

"Of course not, " Lord Halifax agreed amiably. "It's absurd to thinkthat anything can be frozen and no changes made. "

"Germany cannot stand still, " Goering continued. "Germany must expand. She must have Austria, Czechoslovakia and other countries--she musthave oil--"

Now this was a point for argument but the Messenger Extraordinary hadbeen instructed not to get into any arguments; so he nodded and in hisbest pacifying tone murmured, "Naturally. No one expects Germany tostand still if she must expand. "

After Austria was invaded and Halifax was asked by his close friendswhat he had cooked up over there, he told the above story, expressingthe fear that his conversation was probably misunderstood by Goering, the latter taking his amiability to mean that Great Britain approvedGermany's plans to swallow Austria. The French Intelligence Service, however, has a different version, most of it collected duringFebruary, 1938, which, in the light of subsequent events, seems farmore accurate. 

Lord Halifax, these secret-service reports state, pledged England to ahands-off policy on Hitler's ambitions in Central Europe if Germanywould not raise the question of the return of the colonies for sixyears. Within that period England estimated that Hitler would haveexpanded, strengthened his war machine and fought the Soviet Union toa victorious conclusion. 

Late in January 1938, Lord and Lady Astor invited some guests for aweek-end at Cliveden. The Prime Minister of England came and so didLord Halifax, Lord Lothian, Tom Jones and J. L. Garvin, editor of theAstor-controlled London _Observer_. When Chamberlain returned toLondon, he asked Eden to open negotiations with Italy to secure apromise to stop killing British sailors and sinking British merchantvessels in the Mediterranean. During this time the British ForeignOffice was issuing statements that Mussolini was "cooperating" in thehunt for the "unidentified" pirates. 

British opinion, roused by the sinking of English ships, might hamperdeals with the fascist leaders if such attacks were not ended. Inreturn for the cessation of the piratical attacks, Chamberlain wasready to offer recognition of Abyssinia and even loans to Italy todevelop her captured territory. It was paying tribute to a piratechieftain, but Chamberlain was ready to do it to quiet opposition athome to the sinking of British vessels and to give him time in whichto develop his policy. 

Eden, who had fought for sanctions against the aggressor whenAbyssinia was invaded, obeyed orders but insisted that Italy mustfirst get her soldiers out of Spain. He did not want Mussolini to geta stranglehold upon Gibraltar, one of the strategic life lines of theBritish Empire. Mussolini refused and told the British Ambassador inRome that he and Great Britain would never to able to get togetherbecause Eden insisted on the withdrawal of Italian troops from Spain, and that it might help if a different Foreign Secretary wereappointed. Hitler, working closely with Mussolini in the Rome-Berlinaxis, also began to press for a different Foreign Secretary but wentMussolini one better. Von Ribbentrop informed Chamberlain that DerFührer was displeased with the English press attacks upon him, Nazisand Nazi aggressions. Der Führer wanted that stopped. 

The Foreign Office of the once proud and still biggest empire in theworld promptly sent notes to the newspapers in Fleet Streetrequesting that stories about Nazis and Hitler be toned down "to aidthe government, " and most of the once proud and independent Britishnewspapers established a "voluntary censorship" at what amounted to anorder from Hitler relayed through England's Foreign Office. Theexplanation the newspapers gave to their staffs was that the worldsituation was too critical to refuse the government's request and, besides that refusal would probably mean losing routine Foreign Officeand other government department news sources. The more than averageBritish citizen doesn't know even today how his government and"independent" press took orders from Hitler. 

In the latter part of January, 1938, the French Intelligence Service, still not knowing of the secret deal Halifax had made, learned thatHitler intended to invade Austria late in February and thatsimultaneously both Italy and Germany, instead of withdrawing troopsas they had said they would, planned to intensify their offensive inSpain. When the French Intelligence learned of it, M. Delbos, thenFrench Foreign Minister, and Eden were in Geneva attending a meetingof the Council of the League. Delbos excitedly informed Eden who, never dreaming that Great Britain had not only agreed to sacrificeAustria and betray France but was also double-crossing her own ForeignMinister, telephoned Chamberlain from Geneva. 

The Prime Minister listened attentively, thanked him dryly, hung up, and promptly telephoned Sir Eric Phipps, British Ambassador to France. Sir Eric was instructed to get hold of M. Chautemps, the FrenchPremier at the time, and ask that Chautemps instruct Delbos to stopfrightening the British Foreign Secretary. But all during February theFrench Intelligence kept getting more information about the plannedinvasion of Austria and the proposed intensified offensive in Spain, and relayed it to England with insistent suggestions for jointprecautions. Eden in turn relayed it to Chamberlain who always thankedhim. 

The date set for the invasion was approaching but Eden was still inoffice and Hitler began to fear that perhaps "perfidious Albion" withall her overtures of friendship might really be double-crossingGermany. If England could send a special emissary to offer to sell outAustria and double-cross her ally France, she might be quite capableof tricking Germany. Simultaneously the Gestapo stumbled uponinformation that the British Intelligence had reached into the topranks of the German Army and was working with high officers. Hitler, not knowing how far the British Intelligence had penetrated, shook uphis cabinet, made Ribbentrop Secretary for Foreign Affairs, andprepared for war in the event that England was leading him into atrap. 

There are records in the British Foreign Office which show thatHitler, before invading Austria, tested England to be sure he wasn'tbeing led into a trap. Von Ribbentrop informed Eden and Chamberlainthat Hitler intended to summon Schuschnigg, the Austrian Chancellor, and demand that Austria rearrange her cabinet, take in Dr. Seyss-Inquart and release imprisoned Nazis. Hitler knew thatSchuschnigg would immediately rush to England and France for aid. Ifthey turned Austria down it was safe to proceed with the invasion. 

The British Foreign Office records show that Schuschnigg did rush toEngland and France for support, that France was ready to give it, butthat England refused, thereby forcing France to keep out of it. 

While these frantic maneuvers were going on, the Astor-controlled_Times_ and _Observer_, the Nazi and the Italian press simultaneouslystarted a campaign against Eden. The date set for the sacrifice ofAustria was approaching and Eden had to go or it might fail. Thepublic, however, was with Eden; so another kind of attack waslaunched. Stories began to appear about the Foreign Secretary'shealth. There were sighs, long faces, sad regrets, but Eden stuck tohis post in the hope that he could do something. On February 19, Hitler, tired of waiting, bluntly demanded that he be removed, andwith the newspaper campaign in full swing, Chamberlain "in response topublic opinion" removed him the very next day. 

The amiable Lord Halifax was appointed Foreign Secretary. Pro-fascistslike A. L. Lennon-Boyd, stanch supporter of Franco and admirer ofHitler and Mussolini, were given ministerial posts. 

The Austrian invasion was delayed for three weeks because of thedifficulty in getting Eden out. When the news flashed to a startledworld that Nazi troops were thundering into a country whoseindependence Hitler had promised to respect, M. Corbin, the stillunsuspecting French Ambassador, rushed to the Foreign Office toarrange for swift joint action. This was at four o'clock in theafternoon of March 11, 1938. Instead of receiving him immediately, Lord Halifax kept him waiting until nine o'clock in the evening. Bythat time Austria was Nazi territory. There was nothing to do butprotest; so Lord Halifax, with a straight face, joined France in a"strong protest. " It was not until a week after Austria had beenabsorbed that the French Intelligence Service learned the details ofthe Halifax deal and finally understood why England had side-steppedthe pleas for joint action and why the French Ambassador had been keptcooling his heels until the occupation of Austria was completed. 

From Austria Hitler got more men for his army, large deposits ofmagnesite, timber forests and enormous water-power resources forelectricity. From Czechoslovakia, if he could get it, Hitler wouldhave the Skoda armament works, one of the biggest in the world, factories in the Sudeten area, be next door to Hungarian wheat andRumanian oil, dominate the Balkans, destroy potential Russian air andtroop bases in Central Europe, and place Nazi troops within a fewmiles of the Soviet border and the Ukrainian wheat fields he has eyedso long. 

Five days after Austria was invaded, on March 16, at 3:30 in theafternoon, Lord Halifax personally summoned the CzechoslovakianMinister. At four o'clock the Minister came out of the conference witha dazed and bewildered air. Lord Halifax had made some "suggestions. "Revealing complete ignorance of what had happened and was happening inCzechoslovakian politics, Halifax was nevertheless laying down thelaw. 

It was obvious that the British Foreign Secretary was getting ordersfrom someone else, for Halifax suggested that the Central EuropeanRepublic try to conciliate Germany (which it had been doing formonths) and that a German be taken into the cabinet (there werealready three in it). On March 22 there was another meeting at whichthe Minister learned that Halifax wanted the Czech Government to takea Nazi into the cabinet--as Austria took Dr. Seyss-Inquart at Hitler'sorders. 

This pressure from England for Czechoslovakian Nazis to be given morepower in the government was virtually telling the beleaguered littledemocracy to fashion a strong rope and hang itself. Subsequent eventsshowed that Chamberlain personally supplied the rope. 

Then came the historic week-end of March 26-27, 1938. 

The walls of the small drawing room at Cliveden House are lined withshelves filled with books. The laughing and chatting guests hadgathered there after a delightful dinner. For the Prime Minister ofEngland to go through all sorts of contortions in a game of charadesmight prove a trifle undignified; so the hostess suggested that theyplay "musical chairs. "

Everyone thought it was a splendid idea and men servants in theirimpressive blue liveries arranged the chairs in the required order, carefully spacing the distances between them. One of the laughing andbejeweled women took her place at the piano. In "musical chairs" thereis one person more than the number of chairs. When the music startsthe players march around the chairs. The moment the music stopseveryone dives for the nearest chair leaving the extra person standingand subject to the hilarious jibes of the other players and thoserooting from the bleachers. It's one of the ways statesmen relax. 

The music started and the dour Prime Minister of the greatest empirein the world, the Minister in charge of the Empire's defense measures, the editor of England's most powerful newspaper, the Right HonorableSpeaker of the House of Commons, the sister-in-law of England'sleading fascist and several others started marching while the pianotinkled its challenging tune. The Prime Minister, perhaps because heis essentially conservative, marched cautiously and stepped quicklybetween the spaces while Lady Astor eyed him shrewdly and the otherssuppressed giggles. The Prime Minister tried to maintain at least thedignity of his banking background but managed "to look only a littleporky" as one expressed it afterward. Suddenly the music stopped. Everyone lunged for the nearest chair. The Prime Minister managed toget one and plopped into it heavily. 

After half an hour or so some of the strategic rulers of Great Britaingot a little winded and quit. A conversation started on foreignaffairs and most of the wives retired to another room. When thediscussion was ended the little Cliveden house party had come to sixmajor decisions which will change the face of the world ifsuccessfully carried through. 

Those decisions (maneuvers to put some of them into effect havealready begun) are:

1. To inform France that England will go to her aid if she isattacked, unless the attack results from a treaty obligation withanother power. 

2. To introduce peace time conscription in England. 

3. To appoint three ministers to coordinate industrial defense(conscription in peace time); supervise military conscription; and, coordinate the "political education of the people" (propaganda). 

4. To reach an agreement with Italy to preserve the legitimateinterest of both countries in the Mediterranean. 

5. To discuss mutual problems with Germany. 

6. To express the hope to Germany that her methods of self-assertionbe such as will not hinder mutual discussions by arousing Britishpublic opinion against her. 

The two most important decisions in this plan are the one for theconscription of labor in peace time and the effort to force France tobreak the Franco-Soviet pact by choosing between England and Russia. 

Consider conscription first and the motives behind it:

When any country whose workers are strongly organized starts veeringtowards fascism, it must either win over the trade-unions in one wayor another or destroy them, for rebellious labor can prevent fascismby means of the general strike. British labor is known to hate fascismsince it has learned that fascism destroys, among other things, thevalue of the trade-unions and all that they have gained after manyyears of struggle. Any veering by England toward fascism and fascistalliances spells trouble with the trade-unions; hence, the decision"to coordinate the political education of the people. " This move isparticularly necessary since some trade-union leaders, especially inthe important armament industry, have already stated publicly thatunless the workers were given assurances that the arms labor wasmanufacturing would be used in defense of democracy and not to destroyit, they would not cooperate. 

Hence "the education of the people" and the conscription of labor inpeace time which would ultimately lead to government control over theunions. With some variations it is the same procedure followed byHitler in getting control of the once extremely powerful Germantrade-unions. 

A few days after this historic week-end, the _Times_ came out for"national organization" and the wisdom of "national registration. "National registration, as the history of fascist countries has shown, is the first step in the conscription of labor. With this opening gunhaving been fired, it is a safe prophecy that if the Chamberlaingovernment remains in office British labor will witness one of themost determined attacks ever made upon it in its history. Allindications point to the ground being laid and it may result insplitting the trade-union movement, for some of the leaders arewilling to go with the government while others have already indicatedthat they will refuse unless they know that it's for democracy and notfor fascism. 

The second important decision is to exert pressure upon France tobreak her pact with the Soviet Union--something Hitler has beenunsuccessfully trying to accomplish for a long time. At the moment itappears that Great Britain will succeed just as she has alreadysucceeded in breaking the Czechoslovakian-Soviet pact--another ruptureHitler was determined upon. 

England has a reputation for shrewd diplomacy. In the past she hasused nations and peoples, played one against the other, betrayed, sacrificed, double-crossed in the march of her empire. Since theCliveden week-end, however, with its resultant intrigues, England has, to all appearances, finally double-crossed herself. 

Those who guide her destiny and the destinies of her millions ofsubjects have apparently come to the conclusion that democracy, asEngland has known it, cannot survive and that it is a choice betweenfascism and communism. Under communism, the ruling class to which theCliveden week-end guests belong, stand to lose their wealth and power. It is the fatuous hope of the economic royalists that under fascismthey will still sit on top of the roost, and so the Clivedenweek-enders move toward fascism. 

Hitler's Fifth Column finds strange allies. 

III

_France's Secret Fascist Army_

Neither Hitler nor Mussolini could have foreseen the development of aCliveden set or England's willingness to weaken her own position asthe dominant European power by sacrificing Austria and a good portionof Czechoslovakia. The totalitarian powers proceeded on the assumptionthat when the struggle for control of central Europe, the Balkans andthe Mediterranean came they would have to fight. 

The Rome-Berlin axis reasoned logically that if, when the expected warbroke out, France could be disrupted by a widespread internalrebellion, not only would she be weakened on the battlefield butfascism might even be victorious in the Republic. In preparation forthis, the axis sent into France secret agents plentifully suppliedwith money and arms, and almost succeeded in one of the most amazingplots in history. 

The opening scene of events which led directly to the discovery of howfar the foreign secret agents had progressed took place in theRestaurant Drouant on the Place Gaillon which is frequented by leadersof Paris' financial, industrial and cultural life. 

Precisely at noon, on September 10, 1937, Jacqueline Blondet, aneighteen-year-old stenographer with marcelled hair, sparkling eyes, and heavily rouged lips, passed through the rotating doors of thefamous restaurant and turned right as she had been instructed. Shehad never been in so luxurious a place before--dining rooms done ingray or brown marble with furniture to match. Two steps lead from thegray to the brown room and Mlle. Blondet, not noticing them in herexcitement, slipped and would have fallen had not the old wine stewardwho looks like Charles Dickens, caught and steadied her. 

The two men with whom she was lunching were at a table at the farcorner of the deserted room. The one who had invited her, FrançoisMetenier, a well-known French engineer and industrialist, powerfullybuilt, with sharp eyes, dark hair, and a suave self-assured manner, rose at her approach, smiling at her embarrassment. The other man, considerably younger, was M. Locuty, a stocky, bushy haired man withsquare jaws and heavy tortoise-shell eyeglasses. He was an engineer atthe huge Michelin Tire Works at Clermont-Ferrand where Metenier was animportant official. The industrialist introduced the girl merely as"my friend" without mentioning her name. 

With the exception of two couples having a late breakfast in the graymarble room, which they could see from their table, the three werealone. 

"Shall we have a bottle of Bordeaux?" asked Metenier. "I ordered lunchby 'phone but I thought I would await your presence on the wine. "

"Oh, anything you order, " said Locuty with an effort at casualness. 

"Yes, you order the wine, " said the stenographer. 

"_Garçon_, a bottle of St. Julien, Château Léoville-Poyferre 1870. "

The ghost of Charles Dickens, who had been hovering nearby, bowed andsmiled with appreciation of the guest's knowledge of a rare fine wineand personally rushed off to the cellars for the Bordeaux. 

When the early lunch was over and the brandy had been set beforethem, Metenier studied his glass thoughtfully and glanced at the twoportly men who had entered the brown dining room and sat some tablesaway. From the snatches of conversation the three gathered that onewas a literary critic and the other a publisher. They were discussinga thrilling detective story just published which the critic insistedwas too fantastic. 

Metenier said to Locuty:

"You will have to make two bombs. I will take you to a very importantman in our organization, a power in France. He will personally giveyou the material and show you how to make them. Then I will take youto the places where you will leave them. I do not want them to seeme. "

In low tones, they discussed the bombing of two places. Metenier, apillar of the church, highly respected in his community and well-knownthroughout France, cautioned them as they left. 

Why the vivacious blond stenographer was permitted to sit in on thisconversation, Locuty did not know, unless it was to tempt him, for, asshe bade him good-by, she squeezed his hand significantly and said shewanted to see him again. 

Metenier drove Locuty to an office building where he introduced him toa man he called "Leon"--actually Alfred Macon, concierge of a buildingwhich Metenier and others used as headquarters for their activities. Within a few moments the door of an adjacent room opened and JeanAdolphe Moreau de la Meuse, aristocrat and leading Frenchindustrialist, came in. He had a monocle in his right eye which hekept adjusting nervously. His face was deeply marked and lined withheavy bluish pouches under the eyes. With a swift glance he sized upLocuty as Metenier rose. 

"This is the gentleman whom I mentioned, " he said. 

"He understands his mission?" De la Meuse asked. 

"Yes, " said Locuty. "You will teach me how to make them?"

De la Meuse nodded. "It will be a time bomb which must be set for teno'clock tomorrow night. There will be nobody in the building at thattime, so no one will be hurt. "

An hour later Locuty, who had made both bombs and set the timingdevices, wrapped them into two neat packages. Metenier took him to theGeneral Confederation of French Employers' Building in the Rue dePresbourg. In accordance with instructions he left one of the packageswith the concierge, after which Metenier took him to the Ironmasters'Association headquarters on the Rue Boissiere, where Locuty left thesecond package. 

On the evening of September 11, the General Confederation of FrenchEmployers was scheduled to hold a meeting in their building. Thismeeting was postponed; and, as De la Meuse had assured the Michelinengineer, the concierges and their wives, contrary to custom, were notin their buildings that evening. 

At ten o'clock, both bombs exploded. The plans had gone off asarranged except for an accident, the investigation of which madepublic the whole amazing conspiracy. Two French gendarmes standingnear one of the buildings were killed. 

Immediately after the bombs exploded, the Employers' Confederation andthe Ironmasters' Association issued statements charging the Communistsand the Popular Front with being responsible for the outrages andaccusing them of planning a reign of terror to seize control ofFrance. The accusations left a profound effect upon the French peopledespite the Communists' assertions that they never countenanceterrorism. The _Sûreté Nationale_, the French Scotland Yard, opened anintensive investigation which was spurred on by the deaths of theunfortunate gendarmes. It was not long before the French people heardof the almost incredibly fantastic plot to destroy the Popular Frontand establish fascism in France--a plot directed by leading Frenchindustrialists and high army officers cooperating with secret agentsof the German and Italian Governments. 

The ramifications of the plot are so packed with dynamite in thenational and international arena that the French government, underpressure from England as well as from some of its own industrialists, government officials and army officers, has clamped the lid down onfurther disclosures lest continued publicity seriously affect thedelicate balance of international relations. 

It was obvious from what the police uncovered that it had takenseveral years to organize the gigantic conspiracy. Within the teemingcity of Paris itself, steel and concrete fortresses had been secretlybuilt. Other cities throughout France were similarly ringed instrategic places. Every one of these secret fortresses was stockedwith arms and munitions, and throughout the country, once theconfessions began, the police found thousands upon thousands of riflesand pistols, millions of cartridges, hundreds of machine guns andsub-machine guns. The fortresses themselves were fitted with secretradio and telephone stations for communication among themselves. Codebooks and evidence of arms-running from Germany and Italy were found. A vast espionage network and a series of murders were traced to thissecret organization whose official name is the "Secret Committee forRevolutionary Action. " At their meetings they wore hoods to concealtheir identity from one another, like the Black Legion in the UnitedStates, and the press promptly named them the "Cagoulards" ("HoodedOnes"). 

Just how many members the Cagoulards actually have is unknown exceptto its Supreme Council and probably to the German and ItalianIntelligence Divisions. Lists of names totaling eighteen thousand menwere turned up by the _Sûreté Nationale_, and the hundreds of steeland concrete fortresses and the arms found in them point to amembership of at least 100, 000. The way the fortresses were built andtheir strategic locations (blowing down the walls of the buildingswhere the fortresses were hidden would have given them command ofstreets, squares and government buildings) indicate supervision byhigh military officials. 

When contractors buy enormous quantities of cement for dugouts, whenbutchers' and bakers' lorries rattle over ancient cobblestones withenormous loads of arms smuggled across German and Italian borders, when thousands of people are drilled and trained in pistol, rifle andmachine-gun practice, it is impossible that the competent FrenchIntelligence Service and the _Sûreté Nationale_ should not get wind ofit. 

As far back as September, 1936, the _Sûreté Nationale_ knew that someleading French industrialists with the cooperation of the German andItalian Governments were building a military fascist organizationwithin France. Nevertheless it quietly permitted fortresses to bebuilt and stocked with munitions. The General Staff of the FrenchArmy, from reports of Intelligence men in Germany and Italy, knew thatthose countries were smuggling arms into France, but they permitted itto go on. The General Staff knew that some eight hundred concretefortresses were being built under the supervision of M. Anceaux, abuilding contractor of Dieppe, and that skilled members of the SecretCommittee for Revolutionary Action had been recruited for the buildingand sworn to secrecy under penalty of death. They knew that thesefortresses were equipped with sending and receiving radios, knew thatsome were within the shadow of military centers, knew that theCagoulards had a far-flung espionage system. But the French GeneralStaff made no effort to stop it. 

The Popular Front Government was in power at the time, and heads ofthe Supreme War Council apparently preferred a fascist France to ademocratic one. In fact, officers and reserve officers of the FrenchArmy cooperated with secret agents of their traditional enemy, Germany, to build up this formidable secret army. 

The investigating authorities, stunned by their discoveries and thehigh officials and individuals to whom their investigations led, either did not dare go further with it, or, if they did, suppressedthe information. Some of it, however, came out. 

At the top of the Cagoulards is a Supreme War Council or General Staffwhose members have not been disclosed. Working with them are severalother organizations, all with innocent names, as for example the"Society of Studies for French Regeneration. " The Cagoulards'activities are divided into broad general lines, each directed by anindividual in complete command and embracing:

Buying war materials within France and smuggling war materials intothe country from Germany, Italy and Insurgent Spain, along with thesimultaneous weaving of an espionage network under Nazi and fascistdirection and leadership. 

Building concrete fortresses at strategic centers and storing smuggledarms in them. 

Military training of secretly organized troops. 

Getting the money to carry on these extensive activities. 

Extreme care was, and still is, taken to conceal the identities of theordinary members and especially the leaders. For instance, one of theleaders known to his subordinates as "Fontaine" is in reality GeorgesCachier, director of a large company in Paris and chief of theCagoulards' "Third Bureau, " which is in charge of military movements. Cachier is an Officer of the French Legion of Honor and a reserveLieutenant-Colonel in the French Army. 

The Cagoulards are still very active. Members are being recruited withleaders pointing out to the fearful ones that there is nothing toworry about--almost all of those arrested in the early days of theinvestigation are free, out on bail or kept in a "gentleman'sconfinement" where they can do virtually as they please. "Our power isgreat, " new members are told. 

As is customary in secret terrorist societies, the members are swornto silence with death as the penalty for indiscretion. The penaltywhen it is employed is usually administered in American gangsterfashion. Each member is allotted to a "cell, " the basic unit of themilitary organization, and assigned to a secretly fortified post fortraining. One of these posts discovered by the _Sûreté Nationale_ wasin an old boarding house run by two ancient spinsters with equallyancient guests who spent their time in rockers, knitting and readingand not dreaming that underneath the porch on which they sat sotranquilly was a fortress with enough explosives to blow the wholestreet to smithereens. Into this particular fortification, the cellmembers would steal one by one after the old maids had retired, entering by a concealed door three feet thick and electricallyoperated. 

There are two different kinds of cells in the Cagoulards, "heavy" and"light" ones. They differ in the number of men and the quantity ofarmaments assigned to them. The "light" cell has eight men equippedwith army rifles, automatics, hand grenades, and one sub-machine gun;the "heavy" one has twelve men similarly armed but with a machine guninstead of a sub-machine gun. Three cells form a unit, three units abattalion, three battalions a regiment, two regiments a brigade andtwo brigades a division of two thousand men. The battalions (onehundred and fifty men) are subdivided into squads of fifty to sixtymen with ten to twelve cars at their disposal for quick movementthroughout the city. These automobile squads are given intensivetraining. 

Members are not required to pay dues, for enough money comes in fromindustrialists and the German and Italian Governments to eliminate theneed of collecting money from members for operating expenses. Everyeffort is made to function without written communications. Nomembership cards are issued. Notices of meetings, drill and riflepractice are issued verbally, and so far as the mass membership isconcerned, nothing in writing is placed in their hands. 

A twenty-page handbook with instructions on street fighting was issuedto group commanders and, lest a copy fall into wrong hands and betraythe organization, it was boldly entitled: _Secret Rules of theCommunist Party_. The instructions are specific and are based upon theinsurrectionary tactics issued to the Nazi Storm Troopers. They fallinto six sections: General Remarks; Group Fighting; Section Fighting;Choice of Terrain; Commissariat; and Policing Groups. 

One or two excerpts from these instructions for street fightingfollow:

"The particular force for street fighting is infantry, provided withautomatic weapons and hand grenades. Members of the detachments shouldbe instructed that automatic weapons must always be used inpreference. Essential arms are: sub-machine guns, rifles includinghunting rifles, hand grenades, revolvers, petards. " (Petards are smallbombs used for blowing in doors. )

With regard to "mopping up" in houses, the instructions state:

"If the door is barricaded, it must be opened with tools orexplosives. If it is a heavy door, break it in by driving a lorry atit. Clean up basements and cellars by throwing bombs down through theair holes or other openings after your men have got into the house. Only after these have exploded should the cellar doors be forced. Then, when ascending the stairs, keep close to the walls while one ofyour men keeps firing straight up the shaft. Mop up as you go downfloor by floor. If necessary, pierce holes in the ceilings and mop upby throwing down hand grenades. "

The chief of the Cagoulards' espionage system is Dr. Jean MarieMartin, a bushy-haired stocky man with dark, somber eyes. Dr. Martinusually travels with several false passports and with the utmostsecrecy. At the moment he is in Genoa where he went to meetCommendatore Boccalaro, Mussolini's personal representative in chargeof smuggling arms into foreign countries. 

The preparations by the Rome-Berlin axis point to plans for a fight toa finish between fascist and non-fascist countries. A feeble ordisrupted democracy will obviously strengthen the fascist powers inany coming struggle with anti-fascist powers. Germany and Italy, facedon their own borders with a democratic France allied with the SovietUnion in a military defense pact, would face a powerful enemy in theevent of war. But if France were torn by a bloody civil war, she wouldbe virtually unable even to defend her borders. Consequently, it isessential for Germany and Italy to weaken and if possible destroyFrance's democracy. 

France and Germany have been traditional enemies in their struggle forland containing raw materials needed by their industries to compete inthe world markets. But the growth of the French labor movement and thepower of the Popular Front which threatened the control and theprofits of French industrialists and financiers, made them find morein common with fascist and Nazi industrialists than with Frenchworkers who menaced their economic and political control. The resultwas that leading French industrialists were willing to cooperate withNazi and fascist agents to destroy the Popular Front and establishfascism in France. About half of the 200, 000, 000 francs, which it isestimated the fortresses and arms cost, was contributed by Frenchindustrialists. The other half came from the German and ItalianGovernments. 

Germany and Italy sent swarms of secret agents into France tosupervise the building of the underground military machine and tocarry on intensive espionage with the assistance of the French Armyand Government officials who were members of the Hooded Ones. Theespionage service was organized by Baron de Potters, an oldinternational spy who travels with two or more passports under thenames of Farmer and Meihert. De Potters gets his funds from the Nazis'strongly guarded "Bureau III B, " established in Berne, Switzerland at21 Gewerbestrasse. "Bureau III B" is the official name of this branchof the Gestapo. At the head of it is Boris Toedli whose activitiesinclude not only espionage but underground diplomatic intrigue andpropaganda. He works directly under Drs. Rosenberg and Goebbels. Toedli supplies not only the Baron but other espionage directors withmoney and there is plenty of it at his disposal for quick emergencyuses. The money is deposited in the _Société des Banques Suisses_, account No. 60941. 

The head of the Italian espionage system directing the work in Franceand cooperating closely with the Nazis is Commendatore Boccalaro, headof the Italian Government's Arsenal in Genoa. One of his specialtiesis the smuggling of arms into foreign countries. 

Boccalaro's history shows that the not so fine Italian hand isinterfering in the internal affairs of foreign governments. As farback as 1928, he secretly supplied carloads of arms from the GenoaArsenal to Hungary, and in 1936 he supplied Yugoslavian terroristswith war materials in efforts to get those countries under Mussolini'ssphere of influence. Boccalaro, too, seems to have had reasons tosuppress information in at least one case where the death penalty wasinflicted upon a member of the Cagoulards. 

Among the Hooded Ones who have been found with bullets or knives inthem was an arms runner named Adolphe-Augustin Juif, who tried tocharge the secret organization a little more than he should forsmuggling guns and munitions into France. When the organizationthreatened him, he advised it not to resort to threats because he knewa little too much. 

On February 8, 1937, his bullet-riddled body was found in San Remo, Italy. When Juif's wife, not hearing from him, sought informationabout his whereabouts, she wrote to Boccalaro, since she knew he wasworking with the Genoa director. The Italian papers had announced thefinding of his body; nevertheless, on March 3, Boccalaro wrote to themurdered man's widow:

"Your husband, my dear friend, is carrying on a special and delicatemission (perhaps in Spain or Germany) and has special reasons of adelicate nature not to inform even his own family where he is at thepresent moment. "

Among the men whom Juif met before he was murdered was EugèneDeloncle, director of the Maritime and River Transport MortgageCompany and one of the most important industrialists in France. Deloncle, a high official in the Cagoulards, used the name of"Grosset" in his conspiratorial activities. The other man whom themurdered Juif met is General Edouard Arthur Du-seigneur, former AirForce chief and Military Adviser to the French Air Ministry. TheGeneral is one of the military heads of the Cagoulards and frequentlymet with Baron de Potters. 

The _Sûreté Nationale_, the French Intelligence Service, and theexamining magistrate have documentary evidence that Germany and Italywere and are deliberately conspiring to throw France, as they didSpain, into a civil war. Publication of these documents would havefar-reaching effects, internally and externally. Great Britain, however, planning to establish a four-cornered pact between England, France, Germany and Italy, brought pressure to bear upon France tosuppress further disclosures about the Cagoulards. To England'spressure was added that of leading French industrialists, financiers, government and army officials. Gradually, news about the Cagoulards isdying out. The real heads of the Hooded Ones either have not beennamed or, if arrested in the early days of the investigation, havebeen released on bail. And recruiting for the underground army isstill going on. 

IV

_Dynamite Under Mexico_

Most people in the UNITED STATES feel secure from European or Asiaticaggression since wide oceans apparently separate us from theconquering ambitions of a Führer or a Son of the Sun. However, despiteour desire to be left in peace, the Rome-Berlin axis, which Japanjoined, has cast longing eyes upon the Western Hemisphere. The MonroeDoctrine is of value only so long as aggressor nations feel we are toostrong for them to violate it; recent history has shown what pieces ofpaper are worth. 

In the process of trying to get a foothold in the Americas, the Nazishave sent agents into all of the countries, but because most of theCentral and South American republics are still resentful of past actsby the "Colossus of the North, " they offer the most fertile fields. 

The two spots on the Western Hemisphere most vital to the UnitedStates are the Panama Canal Zone and Mexico--the Zone because it isour trade and naval life line between the oceans and Mexico becausepotential enemies could find in it perfect military and naval bases. 

Let us see what the totalitarian powers are doing in Mexico:

On June 30, 1937, the S. S. "Panuco" of the New York and Cuba MailSteamship Co. Steamed into Tampico, Mexico, from New York with amysterious cargo consigned to one Armeria Estrada. As soon as shedocked, the cargo was quickly transferred to the Atchison, Topeka andSanta Fe Railroad freight car No. 45169, which was awaiting it. Agentleman known around the freight yards as A. M. Cabezut, arranged forthe car to leave immediately for the state of San Luis Potosí in theheart of Mexico. 

There was no record on the bill of lading to show that the shipper wasthe Winchester Repeating Arms Company of New Haven, Conn. , and thatthe cargo, ordered on January 23 and February 23, 1937, by an Italiannamed Benito Estrada, was a large quantity of rifles, pistols and onehundred and forty cases of cartridges for various caliber guns. 

When the car arrived in San Luis Potosí, it was met by an elderly, mustached German named Baron Ernst von Merck, who took the shipment toGeneral Saturnino Cedillo, former governor of the state[4] and awell-known advocate of fascism. One week later the elderly German meta carload shipment of "farm implements. " When it was unloaded in SanLuis Potosí, the farm implements turned out to be dynamite. 

Von Merck, who has been Cedillo's right-hand man, was during the WorldWar a German spy stationed in Brussels. A member of Cedillo's staff[5]he traveled constantly between San Luis Potosí, where the arms werecached, and the Nazi Legation in Mexico City. 

On December 21, 1937, Baron von Merck flew to Guatemala--the same daythat a cargo of arms from Germany was to be landed off the wild junglecoast of Campeche in Southern Mexico. 

Guatemala, just south of Mexico, is the most thoroughly organizedfascist country in Central or South America. Its chief industries, coffee and bananas, are virtually controlled by Germans, whoseenormous plantations overlap into the state of Chiapas, Mexico. ButPresident Jorge Ubico, who is not much of an Aryan, prefersMussolini's brand of fascism because the Nazi theory of Nordicsupremacy does not strike a sympathetic chord in the President'sheart. As a result, the Italian Minister to Guatemala is Ubico'sadviser on almost all matters of state. 

Guiseppe Sotanis, a mysterious Italian officer who sits in the GranHotel in San José, Costa Rica, collecting stamps and studying hisimmaculate fingernails, arranges for shipments of Italian arms intoGuatemala. A few months ago Sotanis, the Italian minister toGuatemala, and Ubico met in Guatemala City. Shortly thereafter theItalian arms manufacturing company, Bredda, sent Ubico two hundredeighty portable machine guns, sixty anti-aircraft machine guns andseventy small caliber cannon. 

But President Ubico is not hopelessly addicted to one brand offascism. Nazi ships make no attempt to conceal their landing of armsand munitions at Puerto Barrios. From there they are transported bycar, river and horse into the dense chicle forests in the mountainregions, then across the Guatemalan border into Chiapas and Campeche. 

During March, 1938, mysterious activities took place in the heart ofthe chicle forests in Campeche. The region is a dense jungle inhabitedby primitive Indian tribes. There is little reason for anyone to buildan airport in this territory, much of which has not even beenexplored. But if the Mexican Government will instruct its air squadronto go to Campeche and fly forty miles north of the Rio Hondo and alittle west of Quintana Roo border, they will find a completed airportin the heart of the chicle jungle; and if they will fly a little duewest of the small villages of La Tuxpena and Esperanza in Campeche, they will find two more secret airports. 

The Mexican Government knows that arms are being smuggled in throughits own ports, across the Guatemalan border, and across the wide, sparsely inhabited two-thousand-mile stretch of American border. BothAmerican and Mexican border patrols have been increased, but it isalmost impossible to watch the entire region between SouthernCalifornia and Brownsville. Few contraband runners are caught, apparently because neither the American nor Mexican Governments seemto know the routes followed or who the leading smugglers are. 

On February 12, 1938, José Rebey and his brother Pablo, who live inthe Altar district of Sonora and know every foot of the desert, droveto Tucson, Arizona, where they met two unidentified Americans. OnFebruary 16, 1938, José Rebey and Francisco Cuen, old and closefriends of Gov. Roman Yocupicio, drove a Buick to the sandy, desertedwastes near Sonoyta, just south of the American border where one ofthe two unidentified Americans delivered a carload of cases securelycovered with sheet metal. As soon as the cases were transferred intoRebey's car, he turned back on Sonora's flat, dusty roads, passingCaborca, La Cienega, and turning on the sun-dried rutted road to Ures, which lies parched and dry in the semi-tropical sun. 

Ures is the central cache for arms smuggled into Sonora by Yocupicio, and the Rebey brothers and Cuen are among the chief contrabandrunners. The load they carried that day consisted of Thompson guns andcartridges, and the route followed is the one they generally use. Asecondary route used by one of Cuen's chief aids, a police delegatefrom the El Tiro mine, lies over the roads to Ures by way of Altar. 

If in time of war it becomes necessary for guard or patrol work todeflect any troops from the army, or ships from the navy, it is ofadvantage to the enemy. If a coming war found the United States linedup with the democratic as against the fascist powers and seriousuprisings broke out in Mexico, it would require several U. S. Regimentsto patrol the border and a number of U. S. Ships to watch the thousandsof miles of coast line to prevent arms running to American countriessympathetic to the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo axis. 

The three fascist powers that have cast longing eyes upon Central andSouth America have apparently divided their activities in theAmericas, with Japan concentrating on the coast lines and the PanamaCanal, Germany on the large Central and South American countries andItaly upon the small ones. 

In Mexico, Nazi agents work directly with Mexican fascist groups, andhave undertaken to carry the brunt of spreading anti-democraticpropaganda to turn popular sentiment against the "Colossus of theNorth, " and to develop a receptive attitude toward the totalitarianform of government. 

Italy concentrates on espionage, with particular attention to Mexicanaid to Loyalist Spain. It was the Italian espionage network in Mexicowhich learned the course of the ill-fated "Mar Cantabrico" which leftNew York and Vera Cruz with a cargo of arms for the Loyalists and wasintercepted and sunk by an Insurgent cruiser. 

Though Germany, even more than Italy, is utilizing her propagandamachine in the Americas' markets, the Japanese are not troubling aboutthat just yet. Their commercial missions seem to be much lessinterested in establishing business connections than in takingphotographs. The chief commercial activity all three countries areintensely interested in is getting concessions from Mexico for iron, manganese and oil--materials essential for war. President LázaroCárdenas, however, has stated his dislike of fascism on severaloccasions. Since Germany, Japan and Italy must obtain these productswherever they can get them, it would be to their advantage if agovernment more friendly to fascism were in power. But, should thatprove impossible, the existence of a strong, fascist movement wouldhave, in time of war, tremendous potentialities for sabotage. 

Hence, Mexico is today being battered by pro-fascist propagandabroadcasts from Germany on special short-wave beams, and Nazi andfascist agents surreptitiously meet with discontented generals toweave a network throughout the country. 

The radio propaganda is devoted chiefly to selling the wonders oftotalitarian government, and to the dissemination of subtle, indirectcomments calculated to turn popular feeling against the United States. In addition to regular broadcasts, material printed in Spanish and inGerman by the _Fichte Bund_ with headquarters in Hamburg, Germany, issmuggled into Mexico in commercial shipments. A Nazi bund to directthis propaganda was organized secretly because of the government'sunfriendly attitude toward fascism. The bund operates as the _DeutscheVolksgemeinschaft_ and its propaganda center functions under the nameof the "United German Charities. " This organization, on the top floorof the building at 80 Uruguay Street, Mexico City, is actually the"Brown House, " in direct contact with Nazi propaganda headquarters inHamburg. 

Some of the propaganda distributed in Mexico is smuggled off Naziships docking in Los Angeles, and is transported across the Americanborder by agents working under Hermann Schwinn, director of Naziactivities for the West Coast of the United States. The propagandasent by Schwinn across the American border is chiefly for distributionaround Guaymas, where a special effort is being made to win thesympathy of the people. Meanwhile Yocupicio caches arms in Ures andthe bland Japanese continue charting the harbors and coast lines. 

The Nazis began to build fascism in Mexico right after Hitler got intopower. In 1933 Schwinn called a meeting in Mexicali of several Naziagents operating out of Los Angeles, including General Rodriguez, andseveral members of a veterans organization. It was at this meetingthat the Mexican Gold shirts were organized. Under the direction ofRodriguez and his right-hand men (Antonio F. Escobar was one of them), the fascist organization drilled and paraded, but little officialattention was paid to them. Five years ago few people realized theintensity and possibilities of Nazi propaganda and organization. Theonly ones in Mexico who watched the growth of the fascist militarybody were the trade-unionists and the Communists. They remembered whathappened in Italy and Germany when the Black Shirts and the BrownShirts were permitted to grow strong. 

On November 20, 1935, Rodriguez and his organization staged a militarydemonstration in Mexico City, and marched upon the President's palace. Trade-unionists, liberals and Communists barred their way. When thepitched battle was over, five Gold Shirts were dead, some sixtypersons wounded, and Rodriguez himself had been stabbed by a womanworker, on her lips the furious cry, "Down with fascism!"

When the Gold Shirt leader was discharged from the hospital, he foundthat his organization had been made illegal, and he himself exiled. Rodriguez went to El Paso, Texas, and immediately, working throughEscobar, set about establishing the "Confederation of the MiddleClass" to take over now the illegal Gold Shirt work and consolidatethe various Mexican fascist groups. Its headquarters was establishedat 40 Passo de la Reforma. 

Rodriguez kept in touch with Schwinn through Henry Allen, a nativeAmerican of San Diego, who acts as liaison man. It was Allen, onorders from Schwinn, who last year secretly met in Guaymas Ramon F. Iturbe, a member of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies. Iturbe is inconstant touch with the fascist groups in Mexico City. 

The Gold Shirts smuggled arms into Mexico along the border betweenLaredo and Brownsville, and cached them in Monterrey. On January 31, 1938, Gold Shirts attempted to attack Matamoros, near Brownsville. AMexican policeman was killed and another wounded in the fighting. Twodays later Gold Shirts surrounded Reynosa, some distance west ofMatamoros, but met peasants armed with rifles, pistols and knives. Thefascists withdrew and Rodriguez vanished, only to appear in San Diego, California, on February 19, 1938 for a secret meeting with PlutarcoElias Calles, the former President of Mexico. After a three-hourconference Rodriguez went to Los Angeles, met Schwinn, and proceededto Mission, Texas, where he established new headquarters. 

A few days after these conferences, he sent two men into Mexico underforged passports to discuss closer cooperation among the fascistleaders. The men sent into Mexico were an American named MarioBaldwin, one of Rodriguez's chief assistants, and a Mexican namedSanchez Yanez. They established headquarters at 31 José JoaquinHerrera, apartment 1-T, and met for their secret conferences in Jesusde Avila's tailor shop at 22 Isabel la Catolico. 

In the latter part of June, 1935, an amiable bar fly arrived in MexicoCity from Berlin as civilian attaché to the German Legation. Acivilian attaché is the lowest grade in the diplomatic ranks and thesalary is just about enough to keep him going. Nevertheless, Dr. Heinrich Northe, at that time not quite thirty, and not especiallywell-to-do, established a somewhat luxurious place at 64 Tokyo St. Andbought a private airplane for "pleasure jaunts" about Mexico. Northeis seldom at the Nazi Legation. He is more apt to be found in Sonora, where Yocupicio is storing arms and where the Japanese fishing fleetis active, or in Acapulco, whose harbor fascinates the Japanese. Heused to make frequent visits to Cedillo just before the Generalstarted his rebellion. On March 4, 1938, Northe took off "for avacation" in the Panama Canal Zone. He stopped off in Guatemala on theway down. 

The persistently vacationing commercial attaché, before coming toMexico, was part of the Gestapo network in Moscow and Bulgaria. Immediately after the Nazis got control of Germany, Northe went intothe German "diplomatic service, " and was one of the first secretagents sent to the German Embassy in Moscow. The Russian secretservice apparently watched him a little too closely, for he wasshifted to Sofia, Bulgaria, where he bought a private plane and flewwherever he wished. In 1935, when the signers of the "anti-Communistpact" decided to concentrate upon Mexico, Northe was transferred toMexico City. 

One of Northe's chief aids is a German adventurer who was a spy duringthe World War. When the War ended, Hans Heinrich von Holleuffer, of 36Danubio St. , Mexico City, worked hard at earning a dishonest penny inRepublican Germany. When the law got after him, he skipped to Mexico, where, without even pausing for breath, he went to work on his fellowcountrymen in the New World. Berlin asked for his arrest andextradition and von Holleuffer fled to Guatemala. That was in 1926. Hecame back to Mexico in 1931 under the name of Hans Helbing. 

When Hitler got into power von Holleuffer's brother-in-law became ahigh official in the Gestapo. Since there was no danger of the Nazisextraditing him on charges of fraud and forgery, Hans Helbing becameHans Heinrich von Holleuffer again and, without any visible means ofsupport, established a swanky residence at the above address, got anexpensive automobile, a chauffeur, and some very good-looking maids. Since he has not defrauded anyone lately, the German colony in Mexicostill wonders how he does it. 

He does it by being in charge of arms smuggling from Germany toMexican fascists. During the latter part of December, 1937, hedirected the unloading of one of the heaviest cargoes of arms yetshipped into Mexico. Northe had informed von Holleuffer that a Germanvessel whose name even Northe had not yet been given, would be readyto land a cargo of guns, munitions and mountain artillery somewherealong the wild and deserted coast of Campeche where there are miles ofshore with not even an Indian around. Von Holleuffer was instructed toarrange for unloading the cargo and having it removed into theinterior. 

On December 19, 1937, von Holleuffer arranged a meeting in Mexico Citywith Julio Rosenberg of 13 San Juan de Letran and Curt Kaiser at 34Bolivar, the latter's home. He offered them fifty thousand pesos totake the contraband off the boat and transport it through the chiclejungles to the destination he would give them. 

Shortly after the Japanese-Nazi pact was signed, the JapaneseGovernment arranged with the somewhat naive Mexican Government forJapanese fishing experts to conduct "scientific explorations" alongMexico's Pacific Coast in return for teaching Mexicans how to catchfish scientifically. The agreement provided that two Japanese, J. Yamashito and Y. Matsui, be employed by the Mexican Government for theexploratory work. 

Matsui arrived in Mexico in 1936 and immediately became interested inthe fish situation at Acapulco, which from a naval standpoint has thebest harbor on the entire long stretch of Mexico's Pacific coast line. In February, 1938, he decided that it was important to the west-coastshrimp-fishing studies for him to do some exploratory work along thenortheast part of the Mexican coast, near the American border, andthere he went. 

Immediately after the agreement was signed, three magnificent fishingboats, the "Minatu Maru, " the "Minowa Maru" and the "Saro Maru, " whichhad been hovering out on the Pacific while the negotiations were goingon, appeared in Guaymas. Their captains reported to the Nippon SuisanKaisha, a fishing company with headquarters in Guaymas. Eighty percent of this company's stock is owned by the Japanese Government. 

Each ship is equipped with large fish bins which can easily be turnedinto munition carriers, each has powerful short-wave sending andreceiving sets; and each has extraordinarily long cruising powersranging from three to six thousand miles. These boats do not do muchfishing. They confine themselves to "exploring, " which includes thetaking of soundings of harbors, especially Magdalena Bay. Apparentlythe explorers want to know how deep the fish can swim and whetherthere are any rocks or ledges in their way. 

That Germany, Japan and Italy are not working toward peaceful ends inMexico is slowly dawning upon the Mexican Government. Influentialgovernment and trade-union leaders have repeatedly shown their dislikeof Nazism and fascism and have urged propaganda against them. 

On the morning of October 5, 1937, Freiherr Riedt von Collenberg, Naziminister to Mexico, telephoned the Japanese and Italian ministers tosuggest a joint meeting to discuss steps to counteract the attacks onfascism and their countries. The Japanese minister, Sacchiro Koshda, suave and skilled in such matters, thought it would not be wise tomeet in any of the legations. The Italian minister suggested theoffices of the Italian Union on San Cosne Avenue. 

At half past one in the afternoon of October 7, the ministers arrived, each in a taxi instead of the legation car which carries a conspicuousdiplomatic license plate. At this secret meeting which lasted untilafter four, they concluded that it would be unwise for them personallyto take any steps to counteract the anti-fascist activities--that itwould be wiser to work indirectly through fascist organizations likethe Confederation of the Middle Class and its associated bodies. A fewdays earlier each minister had received a letter from severalorganizations allied with the Confederation of the Middle Class. Itwas an offer to help the Berlin-Tokyo-Rome combination. A freetranslation of the passage which the ministers discussed (from theletter received by the Japanese minister which I now have) follows:

"We, exactly like the representatives of the three powers, love ourFatherland and are disposed to any sacrifice to prevent theintervention of these elements [Jews and Communists] in our politics, in which, unfortunately, they have begun to have great influence. Andwe will employ, and are employing, all legal methods of struggle tomake an end of them. "

The phrase "legal methods" is frequently employed by those who suggestillegal activity. The German Minister knew that the _UnionNacionalista Mexicana_, one of the signers of the letter, was run byEscobar, and that Carmen Calero, 12 Place de la Concepcion, MexicoCity, an elderly woman physician active in many fascist organizations, was a member of the _Partido Anti-reelectionista Accion_, another ofthe signers. 

One month later the various fascist groups got enough money to launchan intensive pro-fascist drive under the usual guise of fightingCommunism. José Luis Noriega, Secretary of the Nationalist Youth ofMexico, which also signed the letters to the ministers, left for theUnited States to organize an anti-Cardenas drive. At the same time, Carmen Calero left on a mysterious mission to Puebla on November 12, 1937, with a letter from Escobar to J. Trinidad Mata, publisher of thelocal paper _Avance_. She carried still another letter addressed totheir "distinguished comrades, " without mentioning names, and signedby both Escobar and Ovidio Pedrero Valenzuela, President of the_Accion Civica Nacionalista_. The "distinguished comrades" to whom shepresented the letter were the Nazi honorary consul in Puebla, CarlPetersen, Avenida 2, Oriente 15, and a Japanese agent named L. Yuzinratsa with whom the consul has been in repeated conferences. 

Six weeks after the secret meeting of the Japanese, German and Italianministers, and one week after she went to Puebla, Dr. Carmen Calerogot twenty-two kilos of dynamite and stored it in a house at 39 Juande la Mateos, in Mexico City. She, her sister, Colonel Valenzuela, andfour others, met at her home and laid plans to assassinate PresidentCárdenas by blowing up his train when he left on a proposed trip toSonora. 

On November 18, 1937, the secret police made a series of simultaneousraids upon Dr. Calero's and Valenzuela's homes and the house where thedynamite was cached. They arrested everyone in the houses. But oncethe arrests had been made, the Mexican Government found itself in aquandary. To bring the prisoners to trial would involve foreigngovernments and create an international scandal; so Cárdenaspersonally ordered the secret police to release them. 

The arrests, however, scared the wits out of the ministers, and theirhorror was not lessened when they discovered that the letters from thefascist organizations had vanished from their files. They wouldn'teven answer the telephone when one of the released fascist leaderscalled. It was then that the Mexican fascists decided to send aspecial messenger to Francisco Franco in Spain (November 30, 1937)with the request that Franco intercede to get money from Hitler tohelp overthrow Cárdenas, since the Nazi minister was too scared tocooperate. The special messenger was Fernando Ostos Mora. He never gotthere. 

FOOTNOTES:

[4] In May, 1938, Cedillo launched an abortive rebellion and is nowbeing hunted by the Mexican government. 

[5] After Cedillo's defeat von Merck fled to New York and went toGermany. 

V

_Surrounding the Panama Canal_

There is a little shirt shop in Colon, Panama, on Calle 10a betweenAvenida Herrera and Avenida Amador Guerrero, whose red and blackpainted shingle announces that Lola Osawa is the proprietor. 

Across the street from her shirt shop, where the red light districtbegins, is a bar frequented by natives, soldiers and sailors. Touristsseldom go there, for it is a bit off the beaten track. In front of thebar is a West Indian boy with a tripod and camera with a telescopiclens. He never photographs natives, and wandering tourists pass himby, but he is there every day from eight in the morning until dark. His job is to photograph everyone who shows an undue interest in thelittle shirt shop and particularly anyone who enters or leaves it. Usually he snaps your picture from across the street, but if he missesyou he darts across and waits to take another shot when you come out. 

I saw him take my picture when I entered the store. It was almost highnoon and Lola was not yet up. The business upon which she and herhusband are supposed to depend for a living was in the hands of twogiggling young Panamanian girls who sat idly at two ancient Singersewing machines. 

"You got shirts?" I asked. 

Without troubling to rise and wait on me, they pointed to a glass casestretched across the room and barring quick entrance to the shopproper. I examined the assortment in the case, counting a total oftwenty-eight shirts. 

"I don't especially like these, " I said. "Got any others?"

"No more, " one of them giggled. 

"Where's Lola?"

"Upstairs, " the other said, motioning with her thumb to the ceiling. 

"Looks like you're doing a rushing business, eh?" They looked puzzledand I explained: "Busy, eh?"

"Busy? No. No busy. "

There is little work for them and neither Lola nor they care a whoopwhether or not you buy any of the shop's stock of twenty-eight shirts. Lola herself pays little attention to the business from which sheobviously cannot earn enough to pay the rent, let alone keep herselfand her husband, pay two girls and a lookout. 

The little shirt shop is a cubbyhole about nine feet square, itswooden walls painted a pale, washed-out blue. A deck which cuts thestore's height in half, forms a little balcony which is covered by agreen and yellow print curtain stretched across it. To the right, casually covered by another print curtain, is a red painted ladder bywhich the deck is reached. On the deck, at the extreme left, where itis not perceptible from the street or the shop, is another tiny ladderwhich reaches to the ceiling. 

If you stand on the ladder and press against the ceiling directly overit, a well-oiled trap door will open soundlessly and lead you intoLola's bedroom above the shop. In front of the window with the bluecurtain is a worn bed, the hard mattress neatly covered with acounterpane. At the head of the mattress is a mended tear. It is inthis mattress that Lola hides photographs of extraordinary militaryand naval importance. I saw four of them. 

The charming little seamstress is one of the most capable of theJapanese espionage agents operating in the Canal Zone area. Lola Osawais not her right name. She is Chiyo Morasawa, who arrived at Balboafrom Yokahama on the Japanese steamship "Anyo Maru" on May 24, 1929, and promptly disappeared for almost a year. When she appeared again, she was Lola Osawa, seamstress. She has been an active Japanese agentfor almost ten years, specializing in getting photographs of militaryimportance. Her husband, who entered Panama without a Panamanian visaon his passport, is a reserve officer in the Japanese Navy. He liveswith Lola in the room above the shop, never does any work though hepasses as a merchant, and is always wandering around with a camera. Occasionally he vanishes to Japan. His last trip was in 1935. At thattime he stayed there over a year. 

To defend the ten-mile-wide and forty-six-mile-long strip of land, lakes and canal which the Republic of Panama leased to the UnitedStates "in perpetuity, " the army, navy and air corps have woven anetwork of secret fortifications, laid mines and placed anti-aircraftguns. Foreign spies and international adventurers play a sleeplessgame to learn these military and naval secrets. The Isthmus is acenter of intrigue, plotting, conniving, conspiracy and espionage, with the intelligence departments of foreign governments bidding highfor information. For the capture or disablement of the Canal by anenemy would mean that American ships would have to go around the Hornto get from one coast to another--a delay which in time of war mightprove to be the difference between victory and defeat. 

Because of the efficiency and speed of modern communication andtransportation, any region within five hundred to a thousand miles ofa military objective is considered in the "sensitive zone, " especiallyif it is of great strategic importance. Hence, espionage activitiesembrace Central and South American Republics which may have to beused by an enemy as a base of operations. Costa Rica, north of theCanal, and Colombia, south of it, are beehives of secret Japanese, Nazi and Italian activities. Special efforts are made to buy or leaseland "for colonization, " but the land chosen is such that it can beturned into an air base almost overnight. 

For decades Japanese in the Canal Zone area have been photographingeverything in sight, not only around the Canal, but for hundreds ofmiles north and south of it; and the Japanese fishing fleet has takensoundings of the waters and harbors along the coast. Since theconclusion of the Japanese-Nazi "anti-Communist pact, " Nazi agentshave been sent to German colonies in Central and South America toorganize them, carry on propaganda and cooperate secretly withJapanese agents. Italy, which had been only mildly interested inCentral America, has become extremely active in cultivating thefriendship of Central American Republics since she joined theTokyo-Berlin tie-up. Let me illustrate:

The recognized vulnerability of the Canal has caused the United Statesto plan another through Nicaragua. The friendship of the NicaraguanGovernment and people, therefore, is of great importance to us fromboth a commercial and a military standpoint. It is likewise ofimportance to others. 

Italy undertook to gain Nicaragua's friendship when she joined theJapanese-Nazi line-up. First, she offered scholarships, with allexpenses paid, for Nicaraguan students to study fascism in Italy. Then, on December 14, 1937, about one month after a secret Nazi agentarrived in Central America with orders to step on the propaganda andorganizational activity, the Italian S. S. "Leme" sailed out of Napleswith a cargo of guns, armored cars, mountain artillery, machine gunsand a considerable amount of munitions. 

On January 11, 1938, the Secretary of the Italian Legation in SanJosé, Costa Rica, flew to Managua, Nicaragua, to witness the deliveryof arms which arrived in Managua on January 12, 1938. Diplomaticrepresentatives do not usually witness purely business transactions, but this was a shipment worth $300, 000 which the Italian Governmentknew Nicaragua could not pay. But, as one of the results, Italy todayhas a firm foothold in the country through which the United Stateshopes to build another Canal. The international espionage undergroundworld, which knew that the shipment of arms was coming, has it thatJapan, Germany and Italy split the cost of the arms among themselvesto gain the friendship of the Nicaraguan Government. 

A flood of Nazi propaganda sent on short-wave beams is directed atCentral and South America from Germany. In Spanish, German, Portugueseand English, regular programs are sent across at government expense. Government subsidized news agencies flood the newspapers with "newsdispatches" which they sell at a nominal price or give away. Theprograms and the "news dispatches" explain and glorify thetotalitarian form of government, and since many of the sister"republics" are dictatorships, they are ideologically sympathetic andreceptive. 

The Nazis are strong in Colombia, south of the Canal, with a Bundtraining regularly in military maneuvers at Cali. Since theJapanese-Nazi pact, the Japanese have established a colony of severalhundred at Corinto in the Cauca Valley, thirty miles from Cali. 

The Japanese colony was settled on land carefully chosen--long, level, flat acres which overnight can be turned into an air base for a fleetlanded from an airplane carrier or assembled on the spot. And it isnear Cali that Alejandro Tujun, a Japanese in constant touch with theJapanese Foreign Office, is at this writing dickering for the purchaseof 400, 000 acres of level land for "colonization. " On such an acreageenough military men could be colonized to give the United States afirst-class headache in time of war. It is two hours flying time fromCali to the Canal. 

The entrances on either side of the Panama Canal are secretly mined. The location of these mines is one of the most carefully guardedsecrets of the American navy and one of the most sought after byinternational spies. 

The Japanese, who have been fishing along the West Coast andPanamanian waters for years, are the only fishermen who find itnecessary to use sounding lines to catch fish. Sounding lines are usedto measure the depths of the waters and to locate submerged ledges andcovered rocks in this once mountainous area. Any fleet which plans toapproach the Canal or use harbors even within several hundred milesnorth or south of the Canal must have this information to know justwhere to go and how near to shore they can approach before sending outlanding parties. 

The use of sounding lines by Japanese fishermen and the mysteriousgoing and comings of their boats became so pronounced that thePanamanian Government could not ignore them. It issued a decreeprohibiting all aliens from fishing in Panamanian waters. 

In April, 1937, the "Taiyo Maru, " flying the American flag but mannedby Japanese, hauled up her anchor in the dead of night and with alllights out chugged from the unrestricted waters into the area wherethe mines are generally believed to be laid. The "Taiyo" operated outof San Diego, California, and once established a world's record ofbeing one hundred and eleven days at sea without catching a singlefish. The captain, piloting the boat from previous general knowledgeof the waters rather than by chart, unfortunately ran aground. Thefishing vessel was stranded on a submerged ledge and couldn't get off. 

In the morning the authorities found her, took off her captain andcrew--all of whom had cameras--and asked why the boat was inrestricted waters. 

"I didn't know where I was, " said the captain. "We were fishing forbait. "

"But bait is caught in the daytime by all other fishermen, " theofficials pointed out. 

"We thought we might catch some at night, " the captain explained. 

Since 1934, when rumors of the Japanese-Nazi pact began to circulatethroughout the world, the Japanese have made several attempts to get afoothold right at the entrance to the Canal on the Pacific side. Theyhave moved heaven and earth for permission to establish arefrigeration plant on Taboga Island, some twelve miles out on thePacific Ocean and facing the Canal. Taboga Island would make a perfectbase from which to study the waters and fortifications along the coastand the islands between the Canal and Taboga. 

When this and other efforts failed and there was talk of banning alienfishing in Panamanian waters, Yoshitaro Amano, who runs a store inPanama and has far flung interests all along the Pacific coasts ofCentral and South America, organized the Amano Fisheries, Ltd. InJuly, 1937, he built in Japan the "Amano Maru, " as luxurious a fishingboat as ever sailed the seas. With a purring diesel engine, it has thelongest cruising range of any fishing vessel afloat, a powerfulsending and receiving radio with a permanent operator on board, and anextremely secret Japanese invention enabling it to detect and locatemines. 

Like all other Japanese in the Canal Zone area, Amano, rated amillionaire in Chile, goes in for a little photography. In September, 1937, word spread along the international espionage grapevine thatNicaragua, through which the United States was planning another Canal, had some sort of peculiar fortifications in the military zone atManagua. 

Shortly thereafter the Japanese millionaire appeared at Managua withhis expensive camera and headed straight for the military zone. Thirtyminutes after he arrived (8:00 A. M. Of October 7, 1937), he was in aNicaraguan jail charged with suspected espionage and with takingpictures in prohibited areas. 

I mention this incident because the luxurious boat was registeredunder the Panamanian flag and immediately began a series of actions sopeculiar that the Republic of Panama canceled the Panamanian registry. The "Amano" promptly left for Puntarenas, Costa Rica, north of theCanal, which has a harbor big enough to take care of almost all thefleets in the world. Many of the Japanese ships went there, soundinglines and all, when alien fishing was prohibited in Panamanian waters. Today the "Amano Maru" is a mystery ship haunting Puntarenas and thewaters between Costa Rica and Panama and occasionally vanishing out tosea with her wireless crackling constantly. 

Some seventy fishing vessels operating out of San Diego, California, fly the American flag. San Diego is of great importance to a potentialenemy because it is a naval as well as an air base. Of these seventyvessels flying the American flag, ten are either partially or entirelymanned by Japanese. 

Let me illustrate how boats fly the American flag:

On March 9, 1937, the S. S. "Columbus" was registered as an Americanfishing vessel under certificate of registry No. 235, 912, issued atLos Angeles. The vessel is owned by the Columbus Fishing Company ofLos Angeles. The captain, R. I. Suenaga, is a twenty-six-year-oldJapanese, born in Hawaii and a full-fledged American citizen. Thenavigator and one sailor are also Japanese, born in Hawaii butAmerican citizens. The crew of ten consists entirely of Japanese bornin Japan. 

The ten boats which fly the American flag but are manned by Japanesecrews are: "Alert, " "Asama, " "Columbus, " "Flying Cloud, " "Magellan, ""Oipango, " "San Lucas, " "Santa Margarita, " "Taiyo, " "Wesgate. "

Each boat carries a short-wave radio and has a cruising range of fromthree to five thousand miles, which is extraordinary for just littlefishing boats. They operate on the high seas and where they go, onlythe master and crew and those who send them know. The only time anyonegets a record of them is when they come in to refuel or repair. 

In the event of war half a dozen of these fishing vessels, stretchedacross the Pacific at intervals of five hundred or a thousand miles, would make an excellent system of communication for messages whichcould be relayed from one to another and in a few moments reach theirdestination. 

In Colón on the Atlantic side and in Panama on the Pacific, East andWest literally meet at the crossroads of the world. The windingstreets are crowded with the brown and black people who comprisethree-fourths of Panama's population. On these teeming, hot, tropicalstreets are some three hundred Japanese storekeepers, fishermen, commission merchants and barbers-few of whom do much business, but allof whom sit patiently in their doorways, reading the newspapers orstaring at the passer-by. 

I counted forty-seven Japanese barbers in Panama and eight in Colón. In Panama they cluster on Avenida Central and Calle Carlos A. Mendoza. On both these streets rents are high and, with the exception ofSaturdays when the natives come for haircuts, the amount of businessthe barbers do does not warrant the three to five men in each shop. Yet, though they earn scarcely enough to meet their rent, there is nota lowly barber among them who does not have a Leica or Contax camerawith which, until the sinking of the "Panay, " they wandered around, photographing the Canal, the islands around the Canal, the coast line, and the topography of the region. 

They live in Panama with a sort of permanence, but nine out of ten donot have families--even those advanced in years. Periodically some ofthem take trips to Japan, though, if you watch their businesscarefully, you know they could not possibly have earned enough to payfor their passage. And those in the outlying districts don't evenpretend to have a business. They just sit and wait, without anyvisible means of support. It is not until you study their locations, as in the Province of Chorrera, that you find they are in spots ofstrategic military or naval importance. 

Since there were so many barbers in Panama, the need for an occasionalgathering without attracting too much attention became apparent. Andso the little barber, A. Sonada, who shaves and cuts hair at 45 CarlosA. Mendoza Street, organized a "labor union, " the Barbers'Association. The Association will not accept barbers of othernationalities but will allow Japanese fishermen to attend meetings. They meet on the second floor of the building at 58 Carlos A. MendozaStreet, where many of the fishermen live. At their meetings one guardstands outside the room and another downstairs at the entrance to thebuilding. 

On hot Sunday afternoons when the Barbers' Association gathers, thediplomatic representatives of other nations are usually taking asiesta or are down at the beach, but Tetsuo Umimoto, the JapaneseConsul, climbs the stairs in the stuffy atmosphere and sits in on thedeliberations of the barbers and visiting fishermen. It is the onlybarbers' union I ever heard of whose deliberations were consideredimportant enough for a diplomatic representative to attend. This laborunion has another extraordinary custom. It has a special fund to putcompetitors up in business. Whenever a Japanese arrives in Panama, theBarbers' Association opens a shop for him, buys the chairs-provideshim with everything necessary to compete with them for the scarcetrade in the shaving and shearing industry!

At these meetings the barber Sonada, who is only a hired hand, sitsbeside the Japanese Consul at the head of the room. Umimoto remainsstanding until Sonada is seated. When another barber, T. Takano, whoruns a little hole-in-the-wall shop and lives at 10 Avenida B, showsup, both Sonada and the Consul rise, bow very low and remain standinguntil he motions them to be seated. Maybe it's just an old Japanesecustom, but the Consul does not extend the same courtesy to the otherbarbers. 

In attendance at these guarded meetings of the barbers' union andvisiting fishermen, is Katarino Kubayama, a gentle-faced, soft-spoken, middle-aged businessman with no visible business. He is fifty-fiveyears old now and lives at Calle Colón, Casa No. 11. 

Way back in 1917 Kubayama was a barefoot Japanese fisherman like theothers now on the west coast. One morning two Japanese battleshipsappeared and anchored in the harbor. From the reed-and vegetationcovered jungle shore, a sun-dried, brown _panga_ was rowed out by thebarefooted fisherman using the short quick strokes of the native. Hisbrown, soiled dungarees were rolled up to his calves; his shirt, openat the throat, was torn and his head was covered by a ragged strawhat. 

The silvery notes of a bugle sounded. The crew of the flagship linedup at attention. The officers, including the Commander, also waitedstiffly at attention while the fisherman tied his _panga_ to theship's ladder. As Kubayama clambered on board, the officers saluted. With a great show of formality they escorted him to the Commander'squarters, the junior officer following behind at a respectfuldistance. Two hours later Kubayama was escorted to the ladder again, the trumpet sounded its salute, and the ragged fisherman rowedaway--all conducted with a courtesy extended only to a high rankingofficer of the Japanese navy. 

Today Kubayama works closely with the Japanese Consul. Together theycall upon the captains of Japanese ships whenever they come to Panama, and are closeted with them for hours at a time. Kubayama says he istrying to sell supplies to the captains. 

Japanese in the Canal Zone area change their names periodically orcome with several passports all prepared. There is, for instance, Shoichi Yokoi, who commutes between Japan and Panama without anycommercial reasons. On June 7, 1934, the Japanese Foreign Office inTokyo issued passport No. 255, 875 to him under the name of MasakazuYokoy with permission to Visit all Central and South Americancountries. Though he had permission for all, he applied only for aPanamanian visa (September 28, 1934), after which he settled down fora while among the fishermen and barbers. On July 11, 1936, the ForeignOffice in Tokyo handed Yokoy another passport under the name ofShoichi Yokoi, together with visas which filled the whole passport andoverflowed onto several extra pages. Shoichi or Masakazu is nowtraveling with both passports and a suitcase full of film for hiscamera. 

Several years ago a Japanese named T. Tahara came to Panama as thetraveling representative of a newly organized company, the OfficialJapanese Association of Importers and Exporters for Latin America, andestablished headquarters in the offices of the Boyd Bros. Shippingagency in Panama. 

Nelson Rounsevell, publisher of the _Panama American_, who has foughtJapanese colonization in Canal areas, printed a story that this bigbusinessman got very little mail, made no efforts to establishbusiness contacts and, in talking with the few businessmen he metsocially, showed a complete lack of knowledge about business. Taharawas talked about and orders promptly came through for him to return toJapan. 

This was in 1936. Half a year later, a suave Japanese named TakahiroWakabayashi appeared in Panama as the representative of theFederation of Japanese Importers and Exporters, the same organizationunder a slightly changed name. Wakabayashi checked into the cool andspacious Hotel Tivoli, run by the United States Government on CanalZone territory and, protected by the guardian wings of the somewhatsleepy American Eagle, washed up and made a beeline for the Boyd Bros. Office, where he was closeted with the general manager for over anhour. 

Wakabayashi's business interests ranged from taking pictures of theCanal in specially chartered planes, to negotiating for manganesedeposits and attempting to establish an "experimental station to growcotton in Costa Rica. "

The big manganese-and-cotton-photographer man fluttered all overCentral and South America, always with his camera. One week he was inSan José, Costa Rica; the next he made a hurried special flight toBogotá, Colombia (November 12, 1937); then back to Panama and CostaRica. He finally got permission from Costa Rica to establish hisexperimental station. 

In obtaining that concession he was aided by Giuseppe Sotanis, anItalian gentleman wearing the fascist insignia in the lapel of hiscoat, whom he met at the Gran Hotel in San José. Sotanis, a formerItalian artillery officer, is a nattily dressed, slender man in hisearly forties who apparently does nothing in San José except study hisimmaculate finger nails, drink Scotch-and-sodas, collect stamps andvanish every few months only to reappear again, still studying hisimmaculate finger nails. It was Sotanis who arranged for Nicaragua toget the shipment of arms and munitions which I mentioned earlier. 

This uncommunicative Italian stamp collector paved the way forWakabayashi to meet Raul Gurdian, the Costa Rican Minister of Finance, and Ramon Madrigal, Vice-president of the government-owned NationalBank and a prominent Costa Rican merchant. Shortly after Costa Ricagave Wakabayashi permission to experiment with his cotton growing, both the Minister of Finance and the Vice-president of the governmentbank took trips to Japan. 

The ink was scarcely dry on the agreement to permit the Japanese toexperiment in cotton growing before a Japanese steamer appeared inPuntarenas with twenty-one young and alert Japanese and a bag ofcotton seed. They were "laborers, " Wakabayashi explained. The"laborers" were put up in first-class hotels and took life easy whileWakabayashi and one of the laborers started hunting a suitable spot onwhich to plant their bag of seed. All sorts of land was offered tothem, but Wakabayashi wanted no land anywhere near a hill or amountain. He finally found what he wanted half-way between Puntarenasand San José--long, level, flat acres. He wanted this land at anyprice, finally paying for it an annual rental equal to the value ofthe acres. 

The twenty-one "laborers" who had been brought from Chimbota, Peru, where there is a colony of twenty thousand Japanese, planted an acrewith cotton seed and sat them down to rest, imperturbable, silent, waiting. The plowed land is now as smooth and level as the acres atCorinto in Colombia, south of the Canal. 

The harbor at Puntarenas, as I mentioned earlier, would make asplendid base of operations for an enemy fleet. Not far from shore arethe flat, level acres of the "experimental station" and the twenty-oneJapanese who could quickly turn these smooth acres into an air base. It is north of the Panama Canal and within two hours flying time ofit, as Corinto is south of the Canal and within two hours flying time. 

The Boyd Bros. Steamship agency, to which Tahara and Wakabayashi wentimmediately upon arrival, is an American concern. The manager, withwhom each was closeted, is Hans Hermann Heildelk of Avenida Peru, No. 64, Panama City, and, though efforts have been made to keep it secret, part owner of the agency. Heildelk is also the son-in-law of Ernst F. Neumann, the Nazi Consul to Panama. 

On November 15, 1937, Heildelk returned from Japan by way of Germany. Five days later, on November 20, 1937, his father-in-law, who, besidesbeing Nazi Consul, owns in partnership with Fritz Kohpcke, one of thelargest hardware stores in Panama, told his clerks that he and hispartner would work a little late that night. Neither partner went outto eat and the corrugated sliding door of the store, at Norte No. 54in the heart of the Panamanian commercial district, was left openabout three feet from the ground so that passers-by could not seeinside unless they stooped deliberately. 

At eight o'clock a car drew up at the corner of the darkened street infront of Neumann & Kohpcke, Ltd. Two unidentified men, Heildelk andWalter Scharpp, former Nazi Consul at Colón who had also just returnedfrom Germany, stepped out, and stooping under the partly open door, entered the store. Once inside Scharpp quietly assumed command. To allpractical purposes they were on German territory, for the Naziconsulate office was in the store. 

Scharpp announced that the group had been very carefully chosenbecause of their known loyalty to Nazi Germany and because of theirdesire to promote friendship for Germany in Latin American countriesand to cooperate with the Japanese, who had their own organizationfunctioning efficiently in Central and South America. 

"Some of these countries are already friendly, " said Scharpp, "and wecan work undisturbed provided we do not interfere in the Panama CanalZone. It is North American territory, and you will have trouble fromtheir officials and intelligence officers as well as politicalpressure from the States. You understand?"

"Panama is friendly to North America, " said Kohpcke. 

"Precisely. At the present time it is not wise to do much more thanbroadcast, but at a propitious time we shall be able to explainNational Socialism to the Panamanians. "

He looked at Kohpcke, whose left eyelid droops more than his right, giving him the appearance of being perpetually sleepy. Kohpcke lookedat Neumann. 

"Tonight we want to organize a Bund in Panama. In a few days I amgoing to Costa Rica to organize another and then leave forValparaiso. "

The others nodded. They had been informed that Scharpp was to havecomplete charge of Nazi activities from Valparaiso to Panama. Thatnight they established _Der Deutsch-Ausländische Nazi GenossenschaftsBund_, with the understanding that it function secretly. The list ofmembers was to be controlled by Neumann. 

Scharpp explained that secrecy was advisable to avoid antagonizing thePanamanian Government, "which is friendly to Italy and we cancooperate with the Italian Legation here. "

"The Japanese are more important that the Italians, " Kohpcke pointedout. 

"The Japanese will work with us, " Heildelk assured him. 

"But we can't be seen with them--"

"Fritz [Kohpcke] will call a meeting in Jacobs' house, " said Scharpp. 

"Jacobs!" exclaimed one of the unidentified men. "You don't mean theAustrian Consul!"

Scharpp nodded slowly. "He is generally believed to be anti-Nazi. Hispartner spent twelve years in Japan and speaks Japanese perfectly. TheJapanese Consul knows and trusts both. We cannot find a better place. "

On the night of December 13, 1937, forty carefully selected Germanswho, during the intervening month had become members of the Bund inPanama, arrived singly and in small groups at the home of AugustJacobs-Kantstein, Panamanian merchant and Austrian Honorary Consul. 

Five Japanese, headed by Tetsuo Umimoto, also came. One, K. Ishibashi, formerly captain of the "Hokkai Maru" and a reserve officer in theJapanese Navy; K. Ohihara, a Japanese agent staying with the JapaneseConsul but having no visible reason to be in Panama; two captains ofJapanese fishing boats and A. Sonada, the barber who organized thelabor union and in whose presence the Consul does not sit until thebarber is seated. 

Throughout the meeting, presided over by the elderly but tall andsoldierly Austrian Consul, the Japanese said little. It was primarilythe first get-together for Nazi-Japanese cooperation in the Canal Zonearea. 

"Mr. Umimoto has not said much, " remarked Jacobs. 

"There is so little to say when there are so many present, " said thelittle Consul apologetically. 

The others understood. The Japanese were too shrewd to discussdetailed plans with so many present. 

A few days later Umimoto called upon Heildelk and was closeted withhim for three hours. Shortly after that Sonada made a hurried trip toJapan. 

VI

_Secret Agents Arrive in America_

Germany's interest in the Panama Canal became acute only after Japanjoined the Rome-Berlin axis "to exchange information aboutCommunism"--an exchange which appears to be more concerned withmilitary secrets than with Communism. 

The activities of Japanese and Nazi agents in Latin American countriesand especially around the Canal, the organizing of a fascist rebellionin Mexico to the south of us and intensive propaganda carried on inCanada to the north, are but part of the broad invasion of the WesternHemisphere by the Fifth Column--an invasion which began almostimmediately after Hitler got into power. Since the United States isthe most important country in the Americas, it was and is subject tospecial concentration by secret Nazi agents. 

The first threads spun spread out in many directions, with propagandaas the base from which to broaden espionage activities. One of theearliest of the secret agents sent to this country was an American, Colonel Edwin Emerson, soldier of fortune, mediocre author and fairlycompetent war correspondent. Emerson lived at 215 East 15th Street, New York City and had an office in Room 1923 at 17 Battery Place, theaddress of the German Consulate General. Room 1923 was rented by arepresentative of the German Consul General. The rent paid was nominaland in at least one instance, to avoid its being traced, it was paidin cash by Hitler's diplomatic representative. Prior to the renting ofthis room, Emerson had desk space with the German Consulate Generalfor six weeks. 

The May 15, 1933, issue of the _Amerika Deutsche Post_, a Nazipropaganda organ published in New York, carried an advertisementstating that the editor of this paper made his headquarters inEmerson's room. This was the first indication that Emerson had arrivedin this country to handle Nazi propaganda. 

For many years Emerson had wandered about the globe coveringassignments for newspapers and magazines and always bragging about hisAmericanism and his "patriotism. " One of his great boasts was that hewas with Roosevelt's Rough Riders during the Spanish-American war;what he never told was that Roosevelt brought him back from Cuba inirons. 

From his room paid for by the German Consul General, Emerson launchedthe "Friends of Germany. "[6] This organization was the chiefdisseminator of pro-Hitler and anti-democratic propaganda in theUnited States, but the Colonel directed the propaganda somewhatstupidly. The "Friends of Germany" held meetings with "storm troops"in full uniform; bitter attacks were made against Jews and Catholicsat large mass meetings. Visiting officers and sailors, from Germanships docked in New York, appeared at these meetings to preach fascismand Nazism, until a wave of resentment swept the country. One of thekeynotes of these talks was sounded by Edward F. Sullivan of Boston ata meeting held at Turnhalle, Lexington Avenue and 85th Street, on June5th, 1934, when he repeatedly referred to Jews as "dirty, stinkingkikes" and announced that he proposed to organize a strong Nazi groupin Boston. 

Propaganda Minister Goebbels in Berlin became annoyed at the publicreaction, and the entire Nazi foreign propaganda service wasreorganized. Emerson was ordered back to Germany for explicitinstructions on how to carry on propaganda without antagonizing theentire country. 

In October, 1933, Royal Scott Gulden (who has no connection with themustard business, but is a distant relative of the head of it), whohad been cooperating with Emerson, tried to organize an espionagesystem to watch Communists. In this effort Gulden enlisted the aid ofFred R. Marvin, a professional patriot. At three o'clock on theafternoon of March 10, 1934, a very secret meeting was called byGulden at 139 East 57th Street. Present were Gulden, J. Schmidt andWilliam Dudley Pelley, head of the Silver Shirts. 

The meeting decided to adopt anti-semitic propaganda--to play onlatent anti-semitism--as part of the first campaign to attractfollowers. The country was in a serious economic crisis withconsiderable unrest throughout the land. Both Hitler and Mussolini gotinto power in periods of great unrest by promising peace and securityto the bewildered people. Men of means were terrified by fears of"revolution" and this group, directed by Emerson, began to preach thatthe revolution might come any minute and that the Jews wereresponsible for Moscow, the Third International, the Mississippi floodand anything else that troubled the people. When the meeting ended the"Order of '76"[7] had been born and Royal Scott Gulden appointedSecretary to direct espionage and propaganda. 

From the very beginning Emerson tried to get people into places whichwould provide access to important information. On February 22, 1934, amerger of the Republican Senatorial and Congressional CampaignCommittees to conduct the Party's Congressional campaign independentof the Republican National Committee was announced in a jointstatement by Senator Daniel O. Hastings of Delaware andRepresentative Chester C. Bolton of Ohio, chairmen, respectively, ofthe two committees. 

Several weeks before this announcement, the two committees hademployed Sidney Brooks, for years head of the research bureau of theInternational Telephone and Telegraph Company. Brooks, because of hisposition, was close in the confidences of Republican Senators andCongressmen. He heard state secrets and had his fingers on thepolitical pulse of the country. 

Shortly after he took charge of the joint committee for the Senatorsand Congressmen, Brooks made a hurried visit to New York. On March 4, 1934, he drove to the Hotel Edison and went directly to Room 830 wherea man registered as "William D. Goodales--Los Angeles, " was awaitinghim. Mr. "Goodales" was William Dudley Pelley, head of the SilverShirts, who had come to New York to confer with Brooks and Gulden. After this conference the two went to Gulden's office where they had aconfidential talk that lasted over an hour during which an agreementwas made to merge the Order of '76 with the Silver Shirts so as tocarry on their propaganda more effectively. 

Brooks himself, on his mysterious visits to New York, went to 17Battery Place, which houses the German Consulate General. At thataddress he visited one John E. Kelly. In a letter to Kelly dated asfar back as December 27, 1933, he wrote: "I will be in New York Fridayto Monday and can be reached in the usual manner--Gramercy 5-9193(care Emerson). "

Sidney Brooks also was a member of the secret Order of '76. Beforeanyone could join he had to give, in his own handwriting and sealedwith his own fingerprints, certain details of his life. Brooks'application for membership in this espionage group organized with thehelp of a Nazi sent to this country, revealed that he was the son ofthe Nazi agent, Colonel Edwin Emerson, and that he was using hismother's maiden name so that connection could not be traced tooeasily. 

 [Illustration: Application by Sidney Brooks for membership in the secret Order of '76, showing him to be a son of the Nazi agent, Colonel Edwin Emerson. ]

One of the other early propagandists who is still active as a"patriot" was Edward H. Hunter, Executive Secretary of the IndustrialDefense Association, Inc. , 7 Water Street, Boston. Early in 1934, while the negotiations for the merging of the espionage order and theSilver Shirts were going on, this rooter for American liberty heardGermany was spending money in this country and on March 3, he wrote tothe "Friends of Germany":

"Under separate cover we are sending you twenty-five copies of our_Swan Song of Hate_ as requested and you may have as many as you wish. 

"Several times I have conferred with Dr. Tippelskirch and at one timesuggested that if he could secure the financial backing from Germany, I could start a real campaign along lines that would be veryeffective. 

"All that is necessary to return America to Americans is to organizethe many thousands of persons who are victims of Judaism and I amready to do that at any time. "

Dr. Tippelskirch, with whom Hunter discussed getting money fromGermany for anti-semitic work, was the German Consul in Boston. 

The activities of the early agents ranged from propaganda to smugglingand espionage, though at the beginning the espionage was on a minorscale. It took several years of organizing pro-German groups in thiscountry before they could pick the most reliable for the moredangerous spy work. Much of the propaganda was sent in openly throughthe mails, but some of it was of so vicious and anti-democraticcharacter that the Propaganda Ministry in Germany decided it was wiserto smuggle it in from Nazi ships. 

One of the chief smugglers was Guenther Orgell, [8] at that time headof the "Friends of Germany, " through whom the propaganda wasdistributed to various branches of the organization throughout thecountry. In those days Orgell lived at 606 West 115th Street, New YorkCity, [9] and was ostensibly employed as an electrical engineer by theRaymond Roth Co. , 25 West 45th Street. Let me illustrate how heworked:

At twenty minutes to ten on the evening of March 16, 1934, the NorthGerman Lloyd "Europa" was preparing to sail at midnight. The gailyilluminated boat was filled with men and women, many in evening dress, seeing friends off to Europe. German stewards, all of them members ofthe ship's Nazi _Gruppe_, stood about smiling, bowing, but watchingevery passenger and visitor carefully. 

People wandered all over the boat. Many visited the library on themain promenade deck, which has a German post office. There was a greatdeal of laughter and chatter. Orgell, dressed in an ordinary businesssuit and carrying a folded newspaper in his hands, wandered in. Catching the post office steward's eye, he casually took four lettersfrom his coat pocket and handed them to the steward who as casuallyslipped them into his pocket. There were no stamps on the letters, which, incidentally, constituted a federal offense. 

Still so casual in manner that the average observer would not evenhave noticed the transfer of the letters, Orgell wandered over to adesk in the library and rapidly wrote another letter--so important, apparently, that he dared not carry it with him for fear of a mishap. The letter was sealed and handed to the steward. 

The library had a great many visitors. No one seemed to be paying anyattention to this visitor or passenger talking to the steward. With aquick glance around him, Orgell took in everyone in the library andseemed satisfied. He caught the steward's eye again and nodded. Thesteward opened a closet in the library, the second one left of themain aisle on the port side toward the stern of the boat. A thinpackage was taken from its hiding place and quickly slipped to Orgellwho covered it with his newspaper and promptly left the ship. 

This was the manner in which Nazi secret instructions and spy reportswere sent and received--a procedure that kept up until the arrest ofthe Nazi spies who were tried late in 1938. 

When Orgell needed trusted men to deliver messages to and from theboats as well as to smuggle off material, he usually called upon theAmerican branch of the _Stahlhelm_, or Steel Helmets, which used todrill secretly in anticipation of _Der Tag_ in this country. Only whenhe felt that he was not being watched, or only in the event of themost important messages, did he go aboard the ships personally. Orgell's liaison man in the smuggling activities was FrankMutschinski, a painting contractor who used to live at 116 GarlandCourt, Garritsen Beach, N. Y. 

Mutschinski came to the United States from Germany on the S. S. "GeorgeWashington, " June 16, 1920. He was commander of one of the Americanbranches of the _Stahlhelm_ which had offices at 174 East 85th Street, New York. While he was in command, he received his orders direct fromFranz Seldte, subsequently Minister of Labor under Hitler. Seldte atthat time was in Magdeburg, Germany. Branches of the _Stahlhelm_ wereestablished by him and Orgell in Rochester, Chicago, Philadelphia, Newark, Detroit, Los Angeles and Toronto (the first step in the FifthColumn's invasion of Canada). 

To help Orgell in his smuggling activities, Mutschinski supplied himwith a chief assistant, Carl Brunkhorst. It was Brunkhorst's job todeliver the secret letters. Nazi uniforms for American Storm Trooperswere smuggled into this country off German ships by Paul Bante wholived at 186 East 93rd Street, New York City. Bante, at the time hewas engaged in the smuggling activities, was a member of the 244thCoast Guard as well as the New York National Guard. 

In the early days of organizing the Nazi web over the United States, the German agents received cooperation from racketeering "patriots"who saw possibilities of scaring the wits out of the American peopleby announcing that the "revolution" was just around the corner. Thecountry was in an economic crisis, the American people were bewilderedand didn't know which way to turn, there was considerable unrest inthe land, and the Nazi agents and their American counterpartsvisualized in Hitler's cry that "Communism and the Jews" wereresponsible, grand pickings from the scared suckers. 

Since Communism, especially in those restless days in the depths ofthe depression, was the bugaboo of the rich, it was inevitable thatsome unscrupulous but shrewd observers of the American scene wouldtake advantage of this fear and capitalize on it. One of the chiefracketeers, a man who subsequently worked very closely with secretNazi agents in this country, was Harry A. Jung, Honorary GeneralManager of the American Vigilant Intelligence Federation, Post OfficeBox 144, Chicago. This organization was originally founded to spy onCommunists and Socialists. For a while Jung collected from terrifiedemployers by promising to inform them about the threat ofrevolution--what time it would occur and who would lead it. In returnhe collected plenty. 

In time employers got fed up when the rowboat loaded withbomb-throwing Bolsheviks failed to arrive from Moscow. Pickings becameslim. Jung was badly in need of a new terror-inspiring "issue" withwhich to collect from the suckers. He found it at the time Emerson wassent here from Germany. Gulden, Pelley and their associates werelaunching an anti-semitic campaign as the first step to attract peopleto the "Friends of Germany. " Jung likewise discovered the "menace ofthe Jew" and peddled it for all it was worth. 

 [Illustration: Showing the type of literature peddled by patrioteer Harry A. Jung. ]

There was an air of secrecy about the whole outfit. Even the locationof the office in the Chicago Tribune Tower was kept from themembership; all they were given was the post office box number. Assoon as he collected enough material from the _Daily Worker_ and otherCommunist publications, he sent agents to call on the gulliblebusinessmen with horrendous stories of the Muscovites now on the highseas on their way to capture the American Government. The salesmencollected and in turn got forty per cent of the pickings. 

When Jung heard that William Dudley Pelley was making money on theJew-and-Catholic scare and that others like Edward H. Hunter of theIndustrial Defense Association were talking with the German ConsulGeneral about getting money from Germany for propaganda, he got busypeddling "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, " long discredited asforgeries. Armed with these, Jung's high pressure salesmen scoured thecountry, collecting shekels from Christian businessmen and gettingtheir forty per cent commissions. 

It was not long before Jung, Pelley and others were working in fullswing with secret Nazi agents sent into this country for propagandaand espionage purposes. 

FOOTNOTES:

[6] Subsequently changed to "Friends of the New Germany" and then to thecurrent "German-American Bund. "

[7] Still functioning on a minor scale. The Fifth Column has since theseearly beginnings established much more efficient groups. 

[8] Following passage of the new 1938 law requiring all foreign agentsto register, Orgell registered with the State Department as a Germanagent. 

[9] He now lives at Great Kills, Staten Island, N. Y. 

VII

_Nazi Spies and American "Patriots"_

Once the spadework was done by the early Nazi agents sent into theUnited States, the web rapidly embraced native fascists, racketeering"patriots" and deluded Americans who swallowed their propaganda. WhenJapan joined the Rome-Berlin axis, espionage directed against Americannaval and military forces became one of the major interests of theforeign agents, especially on the West Coast. 

Some five years ago, after the McCormick Congressional Committeeinvestigation into Nazi activities turned up a number ofpropagandists, there was a lull in their activity until thenation-wide denunciations died out. In the meantime Goebbels againordered the reorganization of the entire propaganda machine in thiscountry. 

It was during this period that the approaching Presidential electionspresented an immediate task for the Nazis to work on. The RooseveltAdministration was considered by the Nazis both here and in Germany asnone too friendly to Hitler, and before the election got well underway the Nazis here, upon instructions from their local leaders who actonly upon instructions from the German Propaganda Bureau, becameactive in the anti-Roosevelt campaign. Both Nazi agents and"patriotic" American groups working with Nazi agents (without muchmoney after the Congressional Committee's exposés) suddenly foundthemselves possessed of more than enough capital with which tooperate. Some of the money came from the Nazis and some fromanti-Roosevelt forces. 

One of the most vicious of the anti-Roosevelt propaganda mediums wasestablished by Nazi agents in a carefully hidden printing plant. 

 [Illustration: Anti-Semitic anti-Roosevelt handbill issued by the American White Guard in California. ]

No one who got off on the sixth floor at 325 W. Ohio St. , Chicago, andentered the John Baumgarth's Specialty Company, would have suspectedanything out of the ordinary about the place. It looked just likehundreds of other business firms where pale girls and anemic-lookingmen made calendars. 

People came up on the ancient elevator, attended to their affairs atthe desks in front of the door, and left. Very few of them ever wentbehind the enormous piles of cardboard and paper which almostobstructed the passage to the right of the desks. But if you turnedinto this passage and then turned to the left, you came upon a woodenpartition. Unless you were watching for it you would think it a wall. 

There was no indication of what was behind the partition. There wasonly a shiny Yale lock in a door carefully hidden from the eyes ofcasual visitors. If you knew nothing about it and tried to open thedoor, you would find it locked. If you knocked or banged on it, therewould be no answering sign from the other side, and the young manoperating the cutting machine alongside the partition would merelystare at you blankly. 

But if you knocked three times quickly, paused for a split second andthen knocked once more, the door would be opened immediately. Withoutthe proper signal all the knocking in the world would not help, forthis was the entrance to the carefully guarded publication rooms ofthe _American Gentile_ and the headquarters for Nazi anti-democraticactivities in the Middle West. But even more guarded than the locationof the printing plant were the goings and comings of the paper'seditor, Captain Victor DeKayville and his financial backer, CharlesO'Brien. 

This brings me to two of the leading Nazi agents in the United States, one of whom originally started the newspaper. Certainly none of theAmerican suckers who gave them money to spread pro-Nazi propagandaknew that both were masquerading under false names and that one ofthem is an ex-convict. 

Those social leaders in Chicago and San Francisco, whose doors werealways open to the handsome, dashing Prince Peter Kushubue with hissad eyes and his talk of how the Bolsheviki had confiscated his vastestates and family jewels in Old Russia, may be interested to learnthat his Highness, the Prince, is really--well, let me give a briefsketch of his activities before he became a Nazi agent:

In 1922, a Russian emigré, born in Petrograd and christened PeterAfanassieff or Aphanassieff, came to the United States seeking hisfortune, preferably in the form of a wealthy heiress. As an ordinaryrun-of-the-mill Afanassieff, he was just an unemployed White Russianlooking for a job and it didn't take him long to discover that in thisdemocratic country heiresses and their doting papas go nuts overtitles. So overnight Peter Afanassieff blossomed out into Prince PeterKushubue; and as a Prince whose wealth had been confiscated by theBolsheviki, the doors of San Francisco society opened to him. 

Afanassieff just barely missed marrying a wealthy heiress on the WestCoast, and in his despondence he tried his hand at a little forgery. But he picked the wrong outfit to practice penmanship on. He forged aUnited States Treasury check and when the federal men got after him hefled to Chicago. He was picked up and on November 29, 1929, he foundhimself before a U. S. Commissioner who ordered his return to SanFrancisco. On December 19 of the same year he pleaded guilty beforeFederal Judge F. J. Kerrigan and was given a year and a half. At thetrial he admitted to being just an ordinary Afanassieff and served hissentence under that name. 

When he came out he alternated between being Prince Kushubue and anordinary Afanassieff and then, because the 1930 crash had kicked thebottom out of the market for foreign titles, he picked himself a goodsolid American name: Armstrong. He said it was his mother's maidenname. For convenience we'll call him Armstrong from now on. 

When he arrived in Chicago in 1933, he met some White Russians whowere working with Harry A. Jung on an altogether new translation ofthe "Protocols. " Jung planned to publish and distribute the forgeriesin order to scare the wits out of his Christian suckers, but changedhis mind when he discovered he could buy them cheaper and resell at ahigher price. Jung, in turn, introduced Armstrong to Nazi agents. 

Jung and the ex-convict hit it up. Before long Armstrong became Jung'ssecret agent No. 31 (Jung is No. 1 and always signs his letters toagents with that number. His agents, too, sign only their numbers. They are not supposed even to write the number but every once in awhile an agent slips up and scribbles a postscript in his ownhandwriting. A reproduction of one of No. 31's reports to the No. 1Guy appears on the opposite page. )

It was not long after Jung introduced Armstrong to Nazi agents thatthe White Russian decided that he could work the racket himself. Hebegan to meet secretly with Nazi agents without telling Jung about it. Their favorite meeting place was at Von Thenen's Tavern, 2357 RoscoeSt. , Chicago. Present at these meetings, usually called by FritzGissibl, head of the "Friends of the New Germany, "[10] were Armstrong, Captain Victor DeKayville, J. K. Leibl (who organized an undergroundNazi clique in South Bend, Ind. ), Oscar Pfaus, Nick Mueller, ToniMueller, Jose Martini, Franz Schaeffer and Gregor Buss. When Gissiblcouldn't attend, his right-hand man Leibl acted for him. 

In March, 1936, Armstrong and the others decided to establish a"National Alliance" to aid in Nazi work. They decided to use theutmost secrecy lest what they were doing and who were behind it, leakout. They met only in private homes and so careful were they that thehost of one meeting would not be told where the next meeting was to beheld. Only a picked handful of the most trusted Nazi agents wereinvited. 

The first meeting was held at Bockhold's home, 1235 Wave-land Ave. , Chicago; the second at the home of Mrs. Emma Schmid, 4710 WinthropAve. , Chicago. To the second meeting they invited C. O. Anderson of 601Diversey Parkway, Chicago. He was listed by the Nazis and the WhiteRussians as a good sucker because he had contributed money to Jung. 

 [Illustration: Letter written by secret agent No. 31 (Peter Afanassieff, _alias_ Prince Kushubue, _alias_ Peter V. Armstrong) to No. 1 (Harry A. Jung). ]

 [Illustration: Letter showing contact between Peter V. Armstrong (the White Russian ex-convict Peter Afanassieff) and German publishers of anti-Semitic literature. ]

The White Russians and the Nazi agents then decided to start apublishing business as the first step to attract followers. Theyissued a paper called the _Gentile Front_. They were extremelycareful to keep the editorial and publication addresses secret. Allmail was sent only to Post Office Box No. 526 in the old Chicago PostOffice. The company was named the Patriotic Publishing Co. And withthe utmost secrecy editorial offices were established at 5 S. Wabashin Chicago and the paper printed in the basement at 4233 N. Kildarewhere the Merrimac Press functioned. 

Subsequently, to throw anyone who might be watching them off thetrail, they changed the name of the publishing company to the RightCause Publishing Co. And issued an avalanche of Nazi propaganda. Itwas through this secretly organized and secretly functioningpropaganda center that Harry A. Jung, ultra-"patriot, " distributedprinted attacks on Roosevelt just before the Presidential election. 

The _American Gentile_, backed by Nazi money, published the mostinsane rantings imaginable. But when one is inclined to dismiss themas insanity, one remembers that it was the same sort of stuff Hitlerused in winning millions of bewildered Germans to his banner. Thepre-election issue (October, 1936) of the _Gentile_ will serve as anillustration of what they published and distributed through the UnitedStates mails:

Former Congressman Louis T. McFadden[11] died on October 1 from astroke. He was sixty years old. The _American Gentile_, however, implied that he had been murdered by Jews; Senator Bronson Cutting(killed in an airplane crash) also was murdered by Jews. Huey Long wasmurdered by Jews. Walter A. Liggett, the newspaper editor, wasmurdered by Jews, and it was an international ring of Jewish bankerswho hired Booth to murder Abraham Lincoln. 

Of course it was crazy, but the coal digger in Kentucky or thebedeviled farmer in the Middle West who couldn't pay his taxes or theunemployed worker in an industrial center who couldn't find a job didnot know history any too well nor understand the workings of theeconomic system; and when they were told by newspapers brought to themby the United States Government mails that their economic difficultieswere due to a Jewish-Communist plot, that Roosevelt was a Jew and wascontrolled by Jews and Communists, some of them were prone to believeit. With this irresponsible propaganda anti-semitism grew. Men andwomen were attracted to the Nazi web without dreaming of the forcesdisseminating the propaganda of the motives behind them. 

The most capable of those drawn into the Nazi propaganda machine werechosen for more serious work. Some were used for propaganda; otherswere given definite espionage assignments. The espionage andpropaganda divisions of the Nazi machine in this country are separatebodies. They overlap only in serving as a recruiting ground. 

The smuggling of anti-democratic propaganda off Nazi ships enteringAmerican ports was exposed by the McCormick Congressional Committee, but it stopped only for a brief period. The Nazi ships which bring inpropaganda also bring secret instructions to agents here and take backtheir reports. To eliminate tell-tale evidence, Dr. George Gyssling, Nazi Consul in Los Angeles, has paid out cash to leaders of the Germanpropaganda machine on the West Coast. Affidavits to this effect are inmy possession. 

The headquarters for the West Coast propaganda machine which dabbles alittle in espionage, is the _Deutsches Haus_, 634 W. 15th Street, LosAngeles. The building is supposed to be merely a meeting place forGerman-Americans and sympathizers of the Hitler regime. Actually itsfunctions are far more sinister. 

The _Deutsches Haus_, before it was turned into a center of Naziactivity, had been a typical Los Angeles home. When the Nazis took itover, they ripped out several of the front rooms and turned it into abarn-like affair with a skylight overhead and a raised platform fromwhich speakers sing the praises of Hitler and fascism. In the rearpart of the hall is a combined bar and restaurant where theGerman-Americans drink their beer and whiskies and plot the smugglingof propaganda from Nazi ships and the carrying on of espionage againstAmerican military and naval forces. 

I use the word "plot" for precisely what it means. From this house, naturalized American citizens and native Americans direct espionageand propaganda activities paid for by a foreign government anddesigned against the peace and security of the United States. 

The leader of this group, Hermann Schwinn, was appointed by Ministerof Propaganda Goebbels in Germany and is the recipient of personalletters of praise from Adolf Hitler for his work. Schwinn is anaturalized citizen, [12] a comparatively young man in his earlythirties, ruddy-faced and with a thin, quivering mustache on his upperlip. This little Führer's office is just off the meeting hall andadjoins the small bookstore where the purchaser can get pamphlets, books, and newspapers attacking democracy. 

When I called upon Schwinn at the Nazi headquarters and introducedmyself, he smiled amiably and granted my request for an interview. TheGerman-American Bund, he explained immediately (the reorganizedFriends of the New Germany), is now a patriotic organization, consisting only of American citizens. 

The German-American Bund, Schwinn continued as we seated ourselves inhis office, was now a "patriotic organization striving to create amongAmericans a better understanding of Nazi Germany, to combat anti-Nazipropaganda and the boycott against Germany, and to fight Communism. "He took about ten minutes to explain their peaceful objectives andtheir great love for the United States. 

"Everything is America for the Americans and to fight all alientheories and interests?" I asked, summing up his explanation. 

"That's right, " he beamed. 

"Does any propaganda come from Germany to help save America for theAmericans?"

"No, sir!" he said. "We have nothing to do with Germany; we areAmericans first. Mr. Dickstein[13] says that there is propagandacoming, but he was never able to prove any of his statements. "

"Then how does propaganda like _World Service_ from Erfurt, Germany, get into this country?"

"Oh, I get it, " he said casually. "Anyone can subscribe to it for adollar and a half a year. We get two or three copies around here--bysubscription, of course. "

"There must be a lot of subscribers in the United States for I've seena great many copies. I thought that perhaps it comes in batches fromGermany for distribution here so members of the Nazi groups in theUnited States could use it to help save America for the Americans. "

"No, " he smiled. "It's all a subscription matter. "

"I see. Do you know Captain George Trauernicht?"

Schwinn shot a startled glance at me and nodded slowly. "Yes, " hesaid, "he's Captain of the Hapag Line ship 'Oakland. '"

"Do you ever visit him?"

"Yes; he was here last week. "

"Doesn't he bring batches of _World Service_ and other propaganda foryou every time he comes into port?"

"No, " Schwinn said sharply. "The visits I pay him are purely social. Just to drink a glass of good German beer. "

"Do you usually pay social visits carrying a brief case?"

"Now, wait a minute, " he protested. "Don't write down the answer untilI think. "

I stopped typing on his office machine which he had permitted me touse to take verbatim notes of the interview and waited while hethought. After a lengthy silence I added:

"You had a brief case on Thursday when you visited him. "

He continued thinking for a little longer and then said that hethought he had had a brief case on that trip. 

"But why do you ask me that?" he demanded. "There was nothing in thatbrief case. "

"Sure there was. The brief case always contains reports you send backto Germany and instructions from Germany are brought to you by CaptainTrauernicht as well as other captains of German ships docking here andin San Diego. "

"I have never taken off propaganda nor given nor received reports, "Schwinn insisted. "Somebody told you something and you've got it allwrong. "

"Suppose I mention a few instances. At four o'clock on Mondayafternoon, March 9, 1936, your beer-drinking friend, CaptainTrauernicht, waited for you at the gangplank of his boat--for your'social' visit. What he wanted was the package of sealed reports fromNazi agents throughout the United States which you were bringing inyour brief case. In due time you arrived and gave him the reports. Then you started on a drinking spree--"

"I don't know what you're talking about, " Schwinn interrupted. 

"Maybe I can refresh your memory. That was the evening the Captaintook a lady from Beverly Hills, to the first mate's cabin--remember?You know, the lady who lives on North Crescent Drive--shall I mentionher name?"

Schwinn's face turned an apoplectic red and he became quiet. 

"On Monday, February 10, 1936, " I continued. "Reinhold Kusche, leaderof the O. D. Unit in your organization and a 'patriotic' naturalizedAmerican citizen, was on board the steamer 'Elbe' docked in LosAngeles harbor. He telephoned to one of your Nazi agents, AlbertVoigt, that the Captain was sailing at five o'clock for Antwerp andwas furious because the agents' reports had not yet been delivered tohim. Kusche told Voigt to bring the reports in a hurry--which Voigtpromptly did. 

"On Tuesday evening, May 12, 1936, the Captain of the Nazi ship'Schwaben', which had just arrived from Antwerp, Belgium, came to youroffice and handed you a sealed package of orders and propaganda. Helaid it on your desk in this room. The package contained copies of_World Service_--which is obtainable, you remember, only bysubscription at a dollar and a half a year. "

"It is not true--" Schwinn interrupted excitedly. 

"I have a copy from the batch he brought to you. But let's continue. On Monday, June 8, 1936, you yourself went to the Nazi ship 'Weser'and gave the captain secret reports to take back to Germany and leftwith secret orders he had brought over--orders sealed in brown, manilapaper[14]--and a large package of _Fichte-Bund_ propaganda. I have acopy from that batch, too. "

Schwinn stared at me and then smiled. "You can't prove anything, " hesaid with assurance. 

"I have affidavits about all these items and more--affidavits from menon board the Nazi ships. "

"It's impossible!" he exclaimed. "No German on the ship would dare tosign an affidavit!"

"But I have them, " I repeated. 

"You intend to publish them?" he asked, a cunning look appearing inhis eyes. 

His eagerness to discover who had given me affidavits was funny and Ilaughed. "I'll publish the information contained in them, " Iexplained. "The names of the signers will be given only to an Americangovernmental or judicial body which may look into your 'patriotic'activities. But let's get on. Do you know the Nazi Consul in LosAngeles--Dr. George Gyssling?"

He sat silently for a moment as if hesitating whether to speak. 

"Don't be afraid to talk, " I said. "The Consul isn't. You know, ofcourse, that he does not like you?"

A deep red flush suffused his face. "It's mutual!" he said. "I know hetalks--"

Throughout the interview Schwinn tried almost pathetically, despitehis obvious dislike of Gyssling, to cover up the Consul's interferencein American affairs. When I told Schwinn I had affidavits showing thatRafael Demmler, President of the Steuben Society of Los Angeles, gottwo hundred dollars in April, 1936, from the Nazi Consul to helpmaintain the _Deutsches Haus_ as a center of Nazi propaganda, he shookhis head bewilderedly; and when I pointed out that he himself got onehundred and forty-five dollars in cash from the Nazi Consul onTuesday, April 28, 1936, to cover expenses incurred by Schwinn in theeffort to bring the German-American groups together for the betterdissemination of Nazi propaganda, his face turned alternately whiteand red and finally he exploded:

"Did Gyssling tell you that?"

"I'm not saying who told it to me. But let's get on with some of yourother 'patriotic' activities. On Thursday, June 18, 1936, you visitedCaptain Trauernicht in company with Count von Bülow--"

For the first time since the interview began Schwinn sat upright inhis chair as if I had struck him. All the other subjects had left himslightly disturbed but still with an obvious sense that he was not onparticularly dangerous ground. But at the mention of Von Bülow's namea look of actual fear spread over his face. 

"On that day, " I continued, "you and the Count went directly to theCaptain's cabin where you handed over your reports--"

"What are you getting at?" Schwinn demanded sharply. 

"I'm getting at the Count. What do you know about him?"

"Nothing. I know nothing about him. I've met him, that's all. "

"Have you ever visited his home at Point Loma, [15] San Diego?"

Schwinn stared at me without answering. 

"Have you ever been there?" I repeated. 

"Yes, " he said slowly. 

"Did you ever observe how, through his study windows, you could seealmost everything going on at the American naval base--"

"I have nothing to say, " Schwinn interrupted excitedly. 

Among the men sent here directly by Rudolf Hess, Hitler's right-handman, is a former German-American businessman named Meyerhofer. ThisNazi came here with special instructions from Hess, a personal friendof his, to reorganize the Nazi machine in the United States. Hearrived early in 1935 posing as a businessman. After consultationswith Nazi leaders in New York, including the Nazi Consul General, hewent to Detroit to confer with Fritz Kuhn, [16] national head of theGerman-American Bund. From Detroit he went to Chicago where he heldmore conferences with Nazi agents and then went directly to LosAngeles for conferences with Schwinn, Von Bülow and other secretagents operating in the United States. Meyerhofer's mission was notonly to reorganize the propaganda machine but to try to place it on aself-supporting basis so that in the event of war when funds fromGermany would be cut off, an efficient Nazi machine could continuefunctioning. 

It was with this knowledge in mind that I asked Schwinn what he knewabout Meyerhofer. At the mention of his name the Nazi leader for theWest Coast again showed a flash of fear. He hesitated a little longerthan usual and then said in a low voice, "He is a member of ourorganization. He came from Germany about thirty or forty years ago. "Suddenly he added, "He's an American citizen. "

"I know he's an American citizen. But are you sure he didn't come fromGermany--on his latest trip--in January of last year?"

Schwinn smiled a little wryly. "He might have, " he said in the samelow tone. 

"He's a personal friend of Rudolf Hess--"

"Listen!" Schwinn exclaimed. "You're on the wrong track!"

"Maybe; but what's his business here?"

"He's a businessman!"

"What's his business?"

Schwinn shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, " he said and then withgrowing excitement, "I tell you you're on the wrong track!"

"Then what are you so excited about?"

"Because you're on the wrong track--"

"Okay. I'm on the wrong track and you know nothing about Nazi spies. Do you know of the visits paid by the Japanese Consul in Los Angelesto Nazi ships when they come into port and of his conferences withNazi captains--"

"The Japanese! We have nothing to do with the Japanese. We are apatriotic group--"

"Yes, I know. What do you know about Schneeberger?"

Schwinn answered with an "M-m-m-m. " His jaw bones showed against theruddy flesh of his cheeks. He stared up at the ceiling. "He was aTyrolian peasant boy, " he said without looking at me. "A boytraveling around the world; you know, just chiseling his way around--"

"Just a bum, eh?"

"That's it, " he agreed quickly. "Just a bum. "

"What would your connections be with bums? Do you usually associatewith Tyrolian bums who are chiseling their way around the world?"

"Oh, he just came here like so many other people. He wanted money; soI gave him a little help and he went to San Francisco and Oakland. Hevanished. I haven't any idea where he might be now. Maybe he's inChicago now. "

"He couldn't possibly be in Japan now, could he?"

"He spoke of going to Japan, " Schwinn admitted. 

"You saw him off on a Japanese training ship which the JapaneseGovernment sent here from the Canal Zone, didn't you?"

"I don't know, " he said defiantly. "I know nothing about him. "

"The treaty between Japan and Germany providing for exchange ofinformation about Communists was signed November 25, 1936. But inSeptember, 1936, Schneeberger told you he was leaving on a Japanesetraining ship for Japan. No training ship was expected on the WestCoast at that time by the United States port authorities, and yet aJapanese training ship appeared--ordered here from the Canal Zone. Itwas on this ship that Schneeberger left. Apparently, then, the Nazisand the Japanese had already been working together--and you werecooperating because you took Schneeberger around. You took him toCount von Bülow's home at Point Loma, overlooking the American navalbase. You know that Schneeberger was not broke because he was spendingmoney freely--"

"He was broke, " Schwinn interrupted weakly. 

"If he was so broke, how do you account for his carrying around anexpensive camera and always having plenty of film with which tophotograph American naval and military spots?"

"I don't know. Maybe he carried the camera around to hock in case hewent broke. "

The absurdity of the excuse was so patent that I laughed. Schwinnsmiled a little. 

"All right. What do you know about a man named Maeder?"

Again that long, drawn-out "M-m-m-m. " A long pause and Schwinn said, "Maeder is an American citizen, I believe. "

"Yes; you are, too. But what's his business in this country?"

"I don't know, " Schwinn said helplessly. "I really don't know. "

"You know nothing about his activities or observations of Americannaval and military bases? Do you usually take in members withoutknowing anything about them?"

"Sometimes we do and sometimes we do not--"

"But orders were sent from Germany to make this an Americanorganization--"

Schwinn nodded without admitting it verbally. 

"And since you throw out all Germans who are not American citizens, you check with the Consul General in New York as to whether they arefit--"

"We have nothing to do with the Consul General--"

"What happened to Willi Sachse who used to be a member here?"

"He is supposed to have gone back to Germany. "

"Have you heard from him from Germany?"

"No; I haven't heard since he left. "

"You received a letter recently from him from San Francisco where heis watching foreign vessels--"

"Oh, " said Schwinn, raising his hands in a helpless gesture, "I knowyou have spies in my organization. "

We talked a little longer--of visits he made to Nazi agents in theMiddle West and in New York, of secret conferences with propagandistsand spies. But he refused to do any more than shrug his shoulders atall new questions. 

"I have said too much already, " he said. 

FOOTNOTES:

[10] Gissibl left for Stuttgart, Germany, and leadership was taken overby his brother, Peter. 

[11] Before McFadden died, I published evidence that while he was amember of Congress he worked with Nazi agents in this country. 

[12] As this book went to press, the U. S. Government had just begunaction to revoke Schwinn's citizenship, claiming that he had obtained itby making false statements. 

[13] Congressman Samuel Dickstein. The McCormick Congressional Committeewas frequently referred to as the "Dickstein Committee" becauseDickstein had introduced the resolution for the investigation. 

[14] During the trial of the four Nazi spies in New York the Federalprosecutor brought out that they also carried orders sealed in brown, manila paper. 

[15] Von Bülow has since sold his home and moved into the El CortezHotel in San Diego. 

[16] At that time working for Henry Ford. 

VIII

_Henry Ford and Secret Nazi Activities_

One of the Chief Nazi propagandists in the United States recently ranin the United States Senate primaries in Kansas and was almostnominated. He is Gerald B. Winrod, who poses as a Protestant ministerbut has no affiliations with any reputable church. 

Winrod, even before he tried to get into the Senate, was one of themost brazen of the Nazis' Fifth Column operating in this country. Hehas held secret consultations with officials in the German Embassy inWashington and carries on his propaganda under Fritz Kuhn's direction. 

Shortly after Winrod returned from a mysterious trip to Germany andheld an equally mysterious long consultation at the Nazi Embassy inthis country (1935), he organized the _Capitol News and FeatureService_, with offices at 209 Kellogg Building, Washington. The "newsservice" supplied smaller papers throughout the land with "impartialcomments" on the national scene. The _Service_ was edited by DanGilbert, a San Diego newspaperman, and the material was sent free ofcharge (as is the material sent to the Latin American countries fromGermany and Italy). It was of course, deliberately calculated tospread pro-Hitler sentiment and propaganda. 

Few who read Winrod's publications realize the extent of hisactivities. On March 1, 1937, Senator Joseph T. Robinson addressed theUnited States Senate on what appeared to him to be "unfair propaganda"carried on by Winrod against President Roosevelt's proposedreorganization of the judiciary system. The Senator stated that hecould not understand why the issues should be deliberately falsifiedby a gentleman of the cloth--that it reminded him of the old Ku KluxKlan tactics. 

The Senator did not know that Winrod's propaganda against Rooseveltwas only part of a propaganda campaign cunningly and brazenlyorganized by Nazis in this country in an effort to defeat a man who, they felt, was not friendly to them. In this campaign, Nazi agentsworked openly and secretly with a few unscrupulous members of theRepublican Party in an effort to defeat Roosevelt. 

Several years ago Winrod was a poverty-stricken man living at 145 N. Green Street, Wichita, Kansas. He called himself a minister but allchurch bodies have repudiated him. Without a church, he did a littleevangelistic preaching and lived off collections made from hisaudience. It was a precarious livelihood and often the "Reverend" didnot have enough money to buy even ordinary necessities. 

Records in several Wichita department stores tell the story of theevangelist's poverty before an angel came to visit him. All thestorekeepers with whom Winrod dealt requested that their names bewithheld, but signified their willingness to present their records toany governmental body which might be interested in the sudden wealthhe acquired after he became an intense Hitler propagandist. In thedays of his poverty Winrod, the records show, could afford to buy onlythe cheapest furniture, the cheapest clothes, and pay for them on theinstallment plan in weekly payments ranging from fifty cents to two orthree dollars a week. 

I am reproducing with this chapter several of the installment cards. The reader will notice that as late as 1934 Winrod was paying at therate of one dollar a week. It was in this period that Nazi agents inthe United States were carrying on their intensive campaign, and itwas also in this period that Winrod began to harangue his audiencesabout the "menace of the Jews and the Catholics. "

 [Illustration: Account cards for the Reverend Gerald B. Winrod in a Wichita department store, showing his straitened financial circumstances during the early thirties. ]

Then one day, the Reverend Gerald B. Winrod suddenly found himselfpossessed of enough money to go to Germany. When he came back inFebruary, 1935, he had new suit cases, new clothes and a fat checkbook. The records in the Wichita department stores where he had beengetting credit for clothes and furniture show that after his returnfrom Germany he paid all his debts in lump sums--by check. Then hebecame a publisher. 

In his newspaper, _The Revealer_, he published a report on his trip toEurope, but did not mention where he got the money for the jaunt. Thereport (February 15, 1935) told of his discovery that the Germanpeople loved Hitler and that only "Jewish influence in high circles ofcertain governments is making it impossible for Germany to carry onnormal trade and financial relations with other countries. "

In this period of his new-found prosperity he established contactswith Nazi agents and pro-fascists like Harry A. Jung of the AmericanVigilant Intelligence Federation, Colonel Edwin Emerson, James Trueand a host of other patrioteers. 

Before the Presidential election he made another trip to Germany. Whenhe returned, he enlarged his distribution apparatus and was apparentlyimportant enough for high Nazi officials visiting the United States tomeet with him. One of these was Hans von Reitenkranz, who came quietlyto the United States as Hitler's personal representative to arrangefor oil purchases--oil which Germany needed badly for her factoriesand especially for her growing war machine. 

Von Reitenkranz is a friend of Professor Kurt Sepmeier of theUniversity of Wichita. He introduced Winrod to the Professor. Theybecame friendly. When I was in Wichita making inquiries about theReverend Winrod, I constantly came across the Professor's trail. Bothhe and Winrod had been meeting regularly but with an effort atsecrecy. 

In January, 1937, after several meetings with Professor Sepmeier, Winrod went to Washington. I also went to Washington and found thatthe Reverend was calling at the German Embassy. On one of his visitshe remained inside for an hour and eighteen minutes. Whom he saw orwhat he discussed I do not know; but immediately after this longvisit, the _News and Feature Service_ was organized with money enoughto send its items out free of charge to the papers that would acceptthem. 

Gilbert, who headed the _Service_, was for many years the personalrepresentative of William Dudley Pelley, leader of the Silver Shirts. The Nazis had been trying to get the Silver Shirts to cooperate withthem in a fascist "united front" and the appointment of Gilbert wasthe first indication that a friendly cooperation had been established. 

 [Illustration: Sample of the "Capital News and Feature Service, " in the establishment and distribution of which the Reverend Gerald B. Winrod had a hand. ]

Winrod had been in constant communication with Pelley, and Pelley hadconferred several times with Schwinn. The Nazis were eager to get anative American body into the organization so they would have anAmerican "front. "

Gilbert opened offices in Washington and, fearful lest theirlocation become known, rented Post Office Box No. 771, Ben FranklinStation, for use as a mailing address. After the first issue had beensent out, Winrod and his agents canvassed prominent industrialists fordonations to support the "news service" on the grounds that it wasfurthering religious activities and fighting Communism. The moneycollected was actually used to carry on anti-democratic propaganda. Anumber of industrialists contributed. I have a list of them, but sincethere is no conclusive evidence that they knew the money was beingspent by Nazi agents, I shall not publish the names. I mention itmerely as an illustration of how wealthy men are victimized byracketeers with pleas of "patriotism" and "public service. " Harry A. Jung did the same thing by getting money from rich Jews "to fightCommunism" and from rich gentiles "to fight the menace of the Jew. "

 [Illustration: Letter from a small-town newspaper showing the kind of confusion caused by the "Capitol News and Feature Service. "]

With the first issue of the _Capitol News and Feature Service_, thefollowing announcement was mailed to the editors of rural weeklies:

"Good Morning, Mr. Editor! _Capitol News and Feature Service_ herewithdelivers three priceless articles, fresh from the Nation's capitol. Use them without cost. You will hear from us each week. Watch forthese interesting articles. "

An examination of the "priceless articles" showed that they weredesigned primarily to attack American democracy. 

Since his return from Germany and his conferences at the Nazi Embassy, Winrod has made frequent trips into Mexico where he has met withMexican fascists--especially with leaders of the Mexican Gold Shirtswhich were organized by Hermann Schwinn. Again we discover the tie-upbetween fascist organizations in the United States and those to thesouth of us. 

When the Nazis reorganized their propaganda machine several years agoand established smuggling headquarters on the West Coast, propagandataken off Nazi ships docking in San Diego and Los Angeles includedmaterial printed in Spanish for the special use of General NicholásRodriguez, head of the Gold Shirts. 

The Spanish as well as the English material was taken to the_Deutsches Haus_ in Los Angeles and turned over to Schwinn, whoforwarded the batches to Rodriguez. The contact man between Schwinnand the head of the fascist movement in Mexico is a native Americannamed Henry Douglas Allen of San Diego. Allen, under the pretext ofbeing a mining engineer and interested in prospecting in Mexico, wentrepeatedly into the neighboring country with the smuggled propagandaand delivered it to Rodriguez' agents. 

Since native Americans, especially if they say they wish to prospect, can travel across the international boundary into Mexico as often asthey please without arousing suspicion, Allen was chosen as theliaison man between Nazi agents in the United States and Rodriguez. AsI said earlier, the Nazis tried from the beginning to get an American"front" and to draw as many Americans into it as possible--obviouslystrategic preparation for future work more serious than merepropaganda. Hence Allen was instructed to become active in the SilverShirt movement. He organized Down Town Post No. 47-10 and establishedSilver Shirt recruiting headquarters in Room 693 at 730 South GrandAve. , Los Angeles. 

In August, 1936, when a lot of Nazi and anti-Roosevelt money was beingshelled out in efforts to defeat Roosevelt, Allen became extremelyactive. While Pelley was out of town, he was instructed to work withKenneth Alexander, Pelley's right-hand man. Alexander was formerly astill-photographer at United Artists Studios. The two opened officesin the Broadway Arcade Building and on October 1, 1935, moved to theLankersheim Building at Third Street near Spring, Los Angeles. 

Rodriguez, after he was given assurances of Nazi aid, worked not onlywith Nazi agents in this country but also with Julio Brunet, managerof the Ford factory in Mexico City. 

The earliest documentary record I have of their tie-up is a letterRodriguez wrote to Ford's manager on September 27, 1934, on Gold Shirtstationery. The letter merely asks Brunet to give jobs to two "worthyyoung men" and is written in a manner that shows Rodriguez and Brunetare rather close. 

By February 7, 1935, Rodriguez and the Ford executive in Mexico hadbecome sufficiently intimate for the fascist leader to express hisappreciation of Brunet's placing Gold Shirts in the plant. His letteraddressed to the manager of the Ford Company follows:

 We have been informed by our delegate, Senora N. M. Colunga, that she was very well treated by you and that in addition you informed her that our request for work for some of our comrades who needed it has also been heard. Not doubting but that this will be fulfilled, A. R. M. [the Gold Shirts] sends you the most expressive thanks for having seen in you the recognition of one of the greatest obligations of humanity to Mexicanism. 

On November 19, 1935, shortly before the Gold Shirts felt they werepowerful enough to attempt the overthrow of the Mexican Government andthe establishment of a fascist dictatorship, Rodriguez wrote to themanager of the Ford plant, asking for the two ambulances which hadbeen promised the fascists by the Ford manager. Rodriguez hadorganized his attempted Putsch carefully, with a women's ambulancecorps to care for the wounded in the expected fighting. The letter, again translated almost literally, follows:

 Sr. Manager of the Ford Company Nov. 19, 1935. City Highly Esteemed Señor:

 This will be delivered to you personally by Sr. General Juan Alvarez C. , who comes with the object of ascertaining if that company would be able to supply two ambulances which they had already offered, for the transportation of the Women's Sanitary Brigade on the 20th day of this month at 8 A. M. 

 Thanking you in advance for the references, I am happy to repeat that I am at your command. Affectionately and attentively, S. S. 

 NICHOLÁS RODRIGUEZ C. Supreme Commander. 

 [Illustration: Letter from General Nicholás Rodriguez, Mexican fascist leader, to the Ford manager in Mexico City, soliciting employment for two protégés. ]

In the street fighting that followed the attempted fascist Putsch anumber were killed and wounded. It was after this fight that Rodriguezwas exiled. 

I am reproducing some of these letters from carbon copies, initialedby Rodriguez, which were in his files. Why he initials carbon copiesI don't know, but I have a stack of his correspondence with Naziagents and almost all of his carbons are initialed. 

On October 4, 1936, Allen wrote to the exiled fascist leader. Ostensibly the letter invited him to address the Silver Shirts. Actually it was for a special conference about "matters of vitalimportance to us both. " This letter was written when Schwinn washolding conferences with Pelley to merge forces in a fascist unitedfront, and when Schneeberger was preparing to leave for Japan on atraining ship ordered up from the Canal Zone by the Japanese to takehim on board. The letter follows:

 Dear General Rodriguez:

 Upon receipt of this letter will you kindly communicate with me and advise me whether it would be possible for you to come to Los Angeles in the near future to make an address to our organization here. We shall be glad to defray all expenses which will include airplane both ways if you desire it. We shall also offer you bodyguard for your protection if you deem it necessary. Your fight is our fight and it is our desire to have you come to Los Angeles especially to confer with us relative to matters of vital importance to us both. I would suggest that if you can arrange to come, you telegraph me (charges collect) upon receipt of this letter so that I may make arrangements without delay. 

 Fraternally yours, HENRY ALLEN. 

When I went to Mexico to look into Nazi activities, I gave a copy ofthis letter to the Minister of the Interior. At that time Allen wasagain in Mexico under the pretense of looking into his mininginterests, but a check showed that he had actually gone there toconfer secretly with a Mexican army man, General Iturbe. At my requestthe Mexican Government looked into Allen's movements and learned thathe had entered Guaymas, center of Japanese activities, with KennethAlexander, Pelley's chief aid. 

The connection between Ford's Mexican manager and General Rodriguezmight be considered an unfortunate incident for which Ford could notbe held responsible. This would be a reasonable assumption if theNazi-Rodriguez-Ford tie-up in Mexico were an isolated case. The facts, however, show it is not. 

 [Illustration: Letter from General Rodriguez to the Ford manager in Mexico City. The translation is given on page 110. ]

The national leader of the Nazi propaganda machine in this country hasbeen on the Ford pay roll. Kuhn was supposed to work for Ford as achemist, but while on Ford's pay roll he traveled around the UnitedStates conferring with other secret Nazi agents and actively directingNazi work in this country. 

Ford has a highly developed and exceedingly efficient espionage systemof his own which, among other things, watches what his employeesdo--even to their home life. Kuhn's activities were known to HarryBennett, head of the Ford secret service or "Personnel Department, " asit is called, and Bennett reports to Ford. Furthermore, Kuhn's Naziconnections had been publicized in both the American and the Nazipress and were no secret. Jews and Christians alike protested to Fordabout his employee's anti-democratic work while on the motor magnate'spay roll, but Kuhn was left undisturbed to travel around organizingNazi groups. In 1938 Ford was given the highest medal of honor whichHitler can give to a foreigner. No statement was ever made as to justwhat Henry Ford had done for the Nazi Führer to merit the honor. 

Simultaneously with Kuhn's intensified work, Ford's confidentialsecretary, William J. Cameron, became active again. Cameron was editorof Ford's _Dearborn Independent_ when that newspaper published the"Protocols of the Elders of Zion" after they had been proved to beforgeries. When a nation-wide protest arose from Jews and Christianswho were shocked at seeing one of the richest and most powerful men inthe country use his wealth to disseminate race hatred, and when theprotest grew into a boycott of his cars, Ford apologized anddiscontinued the newspaper. But instead of easing his editor out orgiving him some other job, he made him his confidential secretary. 

 [Illustration: Letter from Henry Allen to General Rodriguez, showing the tie-up between American and Mexican fascist organizations. ]

When Kuhn went to work for Ford, the national headquarters of the Nazipropaganda machine was moved to Detroit, and the anti-democraticactivities increased in intensity. Employing Nazi anti-semitism as thebait to attract dissatisfied and bewildered elements in thepopulation, a new organization made its appearance: The Anglo-SaxonFederation, headed by Ford's private secretary. Headquarters wereestablished in the McCormick Building in Chicago, Room 834, at 332 S. Michigan Ave. And in the Fox Building in Detroit. 

In July, 1936, Cameron, obviously because Ford was violentlyanti-Roosevelt, stepped out as head of the organization and became itsDirector of Publications. When Winrod was raising money from Americanindustrialists to support the _Capitol News and Feature Service_, Cameron was among the contributors. 

The Anglo-Saxon Federation began to distribute the "Protocols" again. I bought a copy in the Detroit offices of the organization, stampedwith the name of the organization. The introduction quotes Ford asapproving of them. It states:

 Mr. Henry Ford, in an interview published in the _New York World_. February 17, 1921, put the case for Nilus[17] tersely and convincingly thus:

 "The only statement I care to make about the 'Protocols' is that they fit in with what is going on. They are sixteen years old, and they have fitted the world situation up to this time. They fit it now. "

When Ford was on the witness stand in a libel suit some fifteen yearsago and admitted his ignorance of matters with which even grammarschool children are familiar, the country laughed. His ignorance, however, is his own affair, but when he takes no step to curb hispersonal representative from working with secret foreign agents toundermine a friendly government, it becomes a matter, it appears tome, of importance to the people of this country and the Government ofthe United States. 

 [Illustration: LEFT: American-made anti-Semitic sticker of a type appearing with increasing frequency in recent times. RIGHT: Title-page of the German edition of "The International Jew, " by Henry Ford, of which 100, 000 copies have been distributed. ]

FOOTNOTES:

[17] The man who forged the "Protocols" originally and who subsequentlyconfessed to having done so. 

IX

_Nazi Agents in American Universities_

The universities are too important a training ground for Nazi agentsto ignore. A few professors in some of our universities have joinedthe growing list of anti-democratic propagandists. Some of them areGerman subjects and do not disguise their pro-Nazi bias; others carryon their propaganda as a "scholarly analysis" of the Hitlerregime--with a fervor, however, that smacks of the paid propagandist. 

German exchange students, too, studying at some of our universities, are active in various efforts to draw native Americans within thesphere of Nazi influence. Some of these students came here ostensiblyto study for degrees, but devote most of their time to spreading Naziideology and meeting with secret Nazi agents and military spies. Suchwas Prince von Lippe of the University of Southern California. 

Von Lippe is not an American citizen as so many of the agents are. With no visible means of support, he received expenses from a totalstranger--oddly enough, Count von Bülow whose home overlooked thenaval base in San Diego and who was constantly in conferences withNazi agents. It was to Count von Bülow, you recall, that HermannSchwinn brought Schneeberger as soon as he arrived on his way toJapan, and von Bülow took him around while Schneeberger photographedareas in the military and naval zone. A number of very secretconferences were held while Schneeberger was on the West Coast, in thehome of Dr. K. Burchardi, a Los Angeles physician who visits Naziships with Schwinn and von Bülow (on one occasion Schneebergersummoned Burchardi to come with him to a Nazi ship which had justdocked in Los Angeles--and the physician dropped his work and went). 

German exchange students, when they enter this country, are underinstructions to report to the German-American Bund. On July 4, 1936, three exchange students--a young lady and two young men--entered LosAngeles while on a motor tour of the country. They were students atGeorgia Tech. In Los Angeles they went directly to the _DeutschesHaus_ and presented a letter of introduction to Hermann Schwinn whoassigned them quarters at the home of Max Edgan, one of Schwinn'slieutenants. The students then made a detailed report to Schwinn onthe political work they were carrying out at Georgia Tech. 

But the professors are the chief hope of Nazi agents attempting tospread the idea of totalitarian government and a bit of race hatred asthe bait to attract some elements in the population. Some of theprofessors and some of their activities follow briefly:

Professor Frederick E. Auhagen, formerly of the German Department, Seth Low Junior College, Columbia University. 

Dr. Auhagen came to this country in 1923 and worked as a miningengineer in Pennsylvania. From 1925 to 1927 he was with the ForeignDepartment of the Equitable Trust Co. ; then became connected withColumbia University in 1927. He is not an American citizen andconstantly refers to Germany as "my native country. "

This professor is one of the leading academic apologists for HerrHitler in the United States. Besides carrying on his pro-Nazipropaganda in the classroom, he does a great deal of lecturing, sometimes appearing before the Foreign Policy Association. On oneoccasion, in an address before the Men's Club of the Baptist Church atRockville, Long Island, he stated that Seth Low Junior College wasopened "in order to keep Hebrew faces off the campus at ColumbiaUniversity. "

Auhagen never tried to hide his sympathies with Nazism. Preceding adebate on February 1, 1936, before the City Club of Cleveland, he gavepress interviews as a Nazi, and in the debate upheld Hitler as thesavior of Germany and world civilization. With a fervor far removedfrom professorial calm, he explained that American newspaperdispatches about the treatment of Jews and Catholics in Germany wereexaggerated. 

"As to criticism of Germany's treatment of Catholics, " he said againin Denver, Colorado on July 26, 1935, "that is not true!"

Professor Frederick K. Krueger, of Wittenberg college, with whomAuhagen is rather closely identified in arranging and giving talksabout Nazis and totalitarian government, at every opportunity issuespress interviews along the same line. In them he explains that theanti-Nazi sentiment in the United States press does not represent theeditors, but is dictated by Jews who "control the press, the motionpictures and other organs of public opinion. "

Because of the high scientific standing of Professor VladimirKarapetoff of the Cornell engineering faculty, he is listened to withmore attention and respect than are the more blatant propagandists forthe adoption of fascist tactics and principles. Shortly after Hitlertook power, the Professor started to do his share on the campus. Atfirst he did it subtly, but when this made little headway he began totalk of the "growing domination of Jews in American life, politicallyas well as economically" and emphasized that the large number of Jewsin the Law School and on the campus generally was becoming a problem. 

"It's the smooth-faced Jew whom we must fear, " he kept repeating, "andnot the long-bearded Jewish rabbi. "

Not content with expressing personal opinions, he took to organizinggroups, addressing them on the subject of the Jew; and on one occasionhe called a special meeting of the Officer's Club with the provisothat Jews be excluded. 

Paul F. Douglas, [18] teacher of German, Economics and PoliticalScience at Green Mountain College, wrote a book, _God Among theGermans_, which purports to be an introduction to the mind and methodof Nazism. 

I have information coming from a reputable source that Dr. Douglas waspaid by the Nazi Government to write the book. This source isunwilling to let his name be used, but is ready to testify and lay hisinformation before any governmental body which will investigate thedevious methods of Nazi agents in this country. 

There are at various universities throughout the country otherprofessors and instructors quite active in spreading pro-Hitlerpropaganda. Some of them meet with Nazi agents closely allied to theespionage machine. I offer only these few as illustrations of Naziefforts to get footholds in the American universities. 

Along with efforts to carry on their work in the universities, Naziagents tried to get a foothold in the political life of the country byfinding a few Republicans who were willing to use anti-democraticpropaganda in their efforts to defeat Roosevelt during thePresidential campaign. At no time in American history did secretagents of a foreign power so brazenly attempt to interfere in theinternal affairs of the American people. Nor at any time in Americanhistory did agents of a foreign government find such willingcooperation from unscrupulous American politicians. 

Among those who worked with Hitler agents was Newton Jenkins, directorof the Coughlin-Lemke Third Party. [19] The Detroit Priest and theCongressman were fully aware, preceding and during the campaign, thatJenkins supported Hitler and was a Jew-baiter of the first order. Theywere aware of this while they were appealing for Jewish votes. TheRadio Priest and the Congressman kept in constant touch with theircampaign manager and knew what sort of government Jenkins wanted. 

Jenkins' association with Nazis dates to the days preceding thelaunching of the Presidential campaign. At that time he participatedin a secret conference held in Chicago with the object of uniting thescattered fascist forces in the United States to form a powerfulfascist united front. Among those who attended were Walter Kappe, Fritz Gissibl and Zahn--three active Hitler agents assigned to theMid-West area; William Dudley Pelley, leader of the Silver Shirts;Harry A. Jung, the ultra-"patriot"; George W. Christians ofChattanooga, Tenn. , head of the American fascists; and several others. The conference ended with an agreement to support a Third-Partymovement directed by Jenkins. 

Throughout the campaign Jenkins stressed an exaggerated nationalism, advocated "party patrols" similar to Hitler's storm troops and adoptedthe Nazi Jew-baiting tactics. His first public appearance with theNazis was on October 30, 1935, at a meeting held in Lincoln TurnerHall, 1005 Diversey Building, Chicago. Uniformed storm troopers withthe swastika on their arm bands patrolled the room. In the course ofhis talk he said:

 The trouble with this country now is due to the money powers and Jewish politicians who control our Government. The Federal Treasury is being controlled by a Jew, Morgenthau, and a Jew, Eugene Meyer. The State, County and our own Municipal Government is being controlled by Jewish politicians. Our own Mayor signs what the Jews want him to sign. Nearly in every department of our country and local government you will find a Jew at the head of it. Not only under a Democratic administration but also under a Republican administration we will find the same conditions. . . . The American people must free itself from the money plunderers who have thrown this country into the World War and also a possibility of dragging them into the present war for private gain and shake off their shoulders the Jewish politicians. The Third Party promises to do both. 

This is precisely the sort of stuff paid Nazi agents in the propagandadivision are ordered to disseminate, and this is the man FatherCoughlin and Congressman Lemke picked to direct their campaign. 

It was a Nazi agent, Ernst Goerner of Milwaukee, who spread the story, aided by anti-Roosevelt forces, that Frances Perkins, Secretary ofLabor, was a Jewess. The story received such wide publicity that shehad to issue a public statement giving her birth and marriage records. 

Goerner is one of the important Nazi agents in the Mid-West. He's abit eccentric and the Nazis sometimes have difficulty keeping him inline, but when Schwinn made a trip East shortly before the electioncampaign, he stopped off specially to see Goerner who thereupon sent aflood of propaganda throughout the country about Secretary Perkins'ancestry as well as charges that Roosevelt and almost all Governmentofficials were Jews. 

It was after Schwinn's trip to the East that other disseminators ofanti-democratic propaganda, like Robert Edward Edmondson and JamesTrue, came to life in a big way. One of the penniless men who suddenlyblossomed into the money after Schwinn's trip East was Olov E. Tietzow, who used Post Office Box No. 491 in Chicago lest the factthat he lived at 715 Aldine Ave. Be discovered. 

Up until a few months before the campaign Tietzow was an unemployedelectrical engineer who had difficulty paying the three-dollar weeklyrent for his hall bed-room at the Aldine Ave. Address. After Schwinn'svisit and meeting with him, Tietzow began to commute by air betweenChicago and Buffalo where he opened a branch office. 

Tietzow was tested out a little at first. He was put to work in theoffices of the Friends of the New Germany on Western Ave. And RoscoeSt. , Chicago. In his spare time he worked out of 1454 Foster Ave. , Chicago. A quotation or two from some of his letters will give anindication of his activities. On February 21, 1936, he wrote toWilliam Stern, Fargo, N. D. , a member of the Republican NationalCommittee. He said in part:

 Information about the so-called fascist movement here in the U. S. A. Will be furnished by me if you so desire, together with other data you might be interested in. An opportunity to discuss our national problems and to lay before patriotic persons of means and influence and before national organizations my plans for a nationwide movement would be welcome. . . . 

This letter to a high Republican Party official was written afterTietzow had outlined the contents to Toni Mueller, Nazi agent inChicago reporting directly to Fritz Kuhn. 

Since most of the patrioteers were opposed to the New Deal and sincesome of them were already working with Nazi agents in this country, itwas not long before they were going full blast in their "Save America"racket. The people of the United States, though they don't talk muchabout it, are thoroughly patriotic in the fullest sense of the word. To accuse anyone of not being a patriot is almost worse than telling aman that he is a son of not quite a lady. The racketeers in patriotismlong ago discovered that people would contribute to a "patrioticcause" if only to escape the reputation of being unpatriotic; and theracketeers have made a nice living out of it. For some of thepatrioteers it has become a thriving business, with everybodyinvolved--except the suckers--getting his cut. Some of the big"patriotic" organizations are really influential, and the small onesare hopefully struggling along in the expectation of bigger and betterand more patriotic days when the pickings will be more thanattractive. 

 [Illustration: Letter by Olov E. Tietzow, showing typical methods of American fascists. ]

Every time I start looking into organizations with high-sounding andimpressive names, I am profoundly impressed with the accuracy ofBarnum's noted observation. Raise the cry of "patriotism" andperfectly good Americans forget to try to find out just what the"patriotic" activities are, and shell out without a murmur. Industrialists particularly like the "Americanism" of the patrioticgroups because almost all of them incorporate an anti-labor policy. The propaganda, of course, is rarely conducted as an open fightagainst labor, but is put across as a fight to save America from theCommunists. 

Some of the racketeering patriotic organizations with a more or lessdevout following include the National Republican Publishing Company, Washington, D. C. , the American Vigilant Intelligence Federation, Chicago, Ill. , the Paul Reveres, Chicago, Ill. , the Industrial DefenseAssociation, Boston, Mass. , the American Nationalists, Inc. , New York, N. Y. And the American Nationalist Party, Los Angeles, Calif. There area number of others, but these are some of the most blatant. 

The National Republican Company, 511 11th Street, N. W. , Washington, D. C. , is one of the most influential. It publishes the _NationalRepublic_, a journal accepted by men high in public office and byleading industrialists as earnestly trying to inculcate "Americanism"into Americans. 

The _National Republic_ has an amazing list of endorsers--governors, mayors, senators, congressmen and nationally-known industrialists. Themagazine is virtually the entire organization and is dedicated "todefending American ideals and institutions. " It is headed by Walter S. Steele, who was tied up with Harry A. Jung of the American VigilantIntelligence Federation before he went into business for himself. While Steele was working with the ace of racketeers in patriotism, the president-editor of the _National Republic_ also eked out a fewpennies by distributing the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion. " Today, however, he confines himself chiefly to fighting Communism, spreadingrace hatred only when it is paid for in advertisements. Booksdistributed by Nazi propagandists in furthering their anti-democraticcampaign--such books as _T. N. T. _ by Colonel Edwin Hadley and _TheConflict of the Ages_ find space in the _National Republic's_ pages. Colonel Hadley headed the Paul Reveres which tried to organize fascistgroups on American university campuses, and _The Conflict of the Ages_devotes a full chapter to the Nazi "proofs" of the authenticity of the"Protocols. "

I mention these to show the type of stuff Steele is willing todisseminate--if he is paid for it. And by permitting the use of theirnames, the sponsors, consciously or unconsciously, aid him in hisanti-American activities. 

The detailed aims of the _National Republic_ are to provide a "weeklyservice to twenty-three hundred editors, to defend Americaninstitutions against subversive radicalism; a national informationservice on subversive organizations and activities; an Americanizationbureau serving schools, colleges and patriotic groups; conducted forthe public good from Washington, D. C. , by nationally known leaders. "

The procedure of conducting the organization "for the public good"includes high-pressuring the shekels from the suckers. Steele, aformer newspaperman, learned from his association with that otherarch-patriot, Jung. So when Steele established his own racket, hefound one of his early aids in former Senator Robinson of Indiana. Robinson was closely tied up with the Ku Klux Klan. Through Robinsonand through other politicians reached with the cry "Save America, " hegot a long list of prominent sponsors and gradually increased it untilnow it reads like a _Who's Who_ of reactionary industrialists andinnocent politicians. With letters of introduction from SenatorRobinson, Steele's high pressure gang set out to collect in the nameof patriotism. 

The procedure was simple. Salesmen presented their letters ofintroduction to the mayor of a city. The mayor was impressed with thehigh "patriotic" motives and especially with the imposing list ofnames sponsoring the efforts. The mayor introduced the high-pressurefellows to other people--and the milking began. 

Let me illustrate a little more specifically:

On March 4, 1936, Steele sent two of his ablest dollar-pullers, Messrs. Fahr and Hamilton, into the Oklahoma oil fields where theindustrialists would like to see a minimum of 200 per cent Americanisminstilled in the public mind. Messrs. Fahr and Hamilton had letters ofintroduction to Mayor T. A. Penny of Tulsa, Okla. When the salesmenapproached the Mayor, they had not only the long and imposing list ofnames on the letterhead but additional letters of introduction fromex-Governor Curley of Mass. , ex-Senator Robinson of Indiana andCongressman Martin Dies of Texas. The drummers wanted the Mayor tointroduce them to the Chairman of the Tulsa Board of Education whocould help them get funds in Tulsa and elsewhere. The funds were to beused to place the "patriotic" magazine in the public school system inorder "to preserve this country against subversive activities, particularly Communism. "

It was a neat circulation-getting stunt, performed without Fahr andHamilton telling what percentage of the take they got. 

The Mayor gave the letters of introduction. With these letters and theexcellent contacts thus established, they started down the sucker listfrom W. G. Skelly, head of the Skelly Oil Co. , Tulsa to Waite Phillipsof the Phillips Petroleum Co. 

Like his former colleague Harry A. Jung, Steele works on the bigindustrialists by whispering confidentially that he has sources ofinformation about which he can't talk much but which make it possiblefor him to keep the industrialists informed about "subversiveradicals. " For a reasonable price and perhaps a contribution to aworthy cause, Steele would supply the industrialist with "confidentialinformation for members only" which would keep him up to date aboutthe radicals threatening America. The "confidential information" mustnot be shown to anybody else. Extreme caution is necessary lest theradicals find out about the "information service. " With all thishocum, secrecy and whispering, the industrialist becomes a member atso much per not realizing that the information thus peddled can be gotfor three cents a day--five cents on Sundays--by buying the _DailyWorker_. It's just one of the little patriotic rackets the boys havecooked up. 

Working closely with Steele is James A. True of the James TrueAssociates, another precious racketeer who stepped from patrioteeringinto efforts to organize in conjunction with Nazi agents a secretarmed force in the United States. With True in this effort toestablish a Cagoulard organization in this country, were some of themost active Nazi agents and patrioteers. 

FOOTNOTES:

[18] Not to be confused with Prof. Paul H. Douglas of the University ofChicago, a highly reputable scholar and a stanch defender of democracy. 

[19] Father Coughlin was finally reprimanded by the Vatican for hisunpriestly attacks upon the President. 

X

_Underground Armies in America_

Early in 1938 native Americans, working with Nazi agents, completedplans to organize a secret army along the general lines of theCagoulards in France. The decision was made after the liaison manbetween Nazi agents here and plotters for the secret army met withFritz Kuhn and Signor Giuseppe Cosmelli, Counselor to the ItalianEmbassy in Washington. 

The liaison man is Henry D. Allen, who moved from San Diego to 2860Nina St. , Pasadena, Calif. Allen, the reader may recollect, helpedSchwinn organize the Mexican Gold Shirts which unsuccessfullyattempted to seize the Mexican Government. Allen is still active in aplot to overthrow the Cárdenas Government, working at the moment withGen. Ramon F. Iturbe, a member of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies, with Gen. Yocupicio who is smuggling arms as part of a plan to rebel, and with Pablo L. Delgado who took over the fascist Gold Shirt workunder a different name after Rodriguez was exiled when his attempt tomarch on the Government failed. 

To understand the feverish activities of foreign agents and nativeAmericans working with foreign agents, one must remember that when theWorld War broke out in 1914, Germany was caught with only smallespionage and sabotage organizations in the United States. It cost theGerman War Office large sums of money to build them under difficultand dangerous conditions. The Nazis do not intend to be caught thesame way in the event a war finds the United States on the enemy sideor, if neutral, supplying arms and materials to the enemy. 

The first step to prevent such a development is to build an enormouspropaganda machine and to draw into it as many native Americans aspossible. Because of the future potentialities of natives as spies and_saboteurs_, the Nazi leaders take extraordinary precautions tosafeguard their identities. Should the United States become involvedin a war with fascist powers, especially Germany, the German membersof the Bund can be watched and, if necessary, interned; but nativeAmericans not known as Bund members can move about freely, hence thecare to prevent their identities from becoming known. Schwinn, forinstance, keeps a regular list of the German-American Bund members atthe _Deutsches Haus_ in Los Angeles. The native American members, however, are not listed. The names are kept in code and only Schwinnknows the code numbers. 

Military considerations thus lead the Nazi General Staff to maintainthis propaganda in the United States, despite the knowledge Nazileaders in Germany have that its activities and distasteful propagandahere are seriously hampering German-American commercial relations. 

The propaganda machine is already functioning as the German-American_Volksbund_. The second step, as was demonstrated in France with theCagoulards and in Spain with Franco's Fifth Column, is to organizesecret armies capable of starting sporadic outbreaks tantamount tocivil war--a procedure which would naturally deflect the country'senergies in war time. 

This second step was taken after careful study, and Henry D. Allen waschosen as the liaison man between those maneuvering the plot. 

The private letters exchanged between Allen and his fellowconspirators are now in my possession. Some of the letters exchangedwere signed with the writers' real names and some with code names. Allen's code name, for instance, is "Rosenthal. "

On April 13, 1938, he wrote to a "G. D. " (of whom more shortly) asfollows:

 Have just sent Delgado into Sonora incognito. This move has resulted from a four-party conference held in Yuma a few days ago. This party was composed of Urbalejo, chief of the Yaqui nation, Joe Mattus, his trusted lieutenant, Delgado and myself. Yocupicio has completely come over to our side, which you can perceive from the outcome of the little tryout in Aqua Prieta a few weeks ago. Delgado has arrived safely at Bocatete, and will get the boys in that part of the country pretty active. . . . Inasmuch as I am his legal and properly accredited representative in the United States, you may rest assured that there will be no doubt as to the objectives of this movement south of the Rio Grande. 

 I have received three letters from General Iturbe in which he tells me that they are taking the Spanish copies of the Protocols which K. Sent me, and making 5, 000 copies of same. In each letter he begs me to set a time and date for meeting him at Guadalajara for the purpose of effecting the necessary plans for active campaigning with Delgado. I will arrange all of this as soon as you consider it expedient. . . . 

 ROSENTHAL. 

Two days later (April 15, 1938) he wrote from Fresno, Calif. Under hisown name to F. W. Clark, 919-½ S. Yakima Ave. , Tacoma, Wash. The letterreads in part:

 Relative to the Gold Shirts of Mexico, please be advised that we found it necessary to reorganize this group in August, 1937. The activist elements have proceeded and are now carrying on under the name of the Mexican Nationalist Movement of which Pablo L. Delgado is the nominal head. I am the legal and personal representative of Delgado in the movement in the United States. 

So much for his current activities to establish fascism to the southof us. 

Most Americans who fall for Nazi propaganda do not suspect that theyare being played for suckers by shrewd manipulators pulling thestrings in Berlin, and probably not one of the many reputable andsincerely patriotic Americans who fell for Allen's "patriotic"appeals suspects his activities against the country he so zealouslywants to "save. "

Some shrewd observer once remarked that "patriotism is the last refugeof a scoundrel. " Whenever I come across an "ultra-patriot" with foamdripping from his mouth while he beats his chest with loud cries abouthis own honesty and the crookedness of those running the country, Isuspect a phony. As a rule, I look for the criminal record of a manwho's yelling "Chase out the crooks" and "Let's have honestgovernment, " and all too often I find one. Henry D. Allen, _alias_H. O. Moffet, _alias_ Howard Leighton Allen, _alias_ Rosenthal, etc. , ex-inmate of San Quentin and Folsom prisons, is no exception; hiscriminal record extends over a period of twenty-nine years. 

Let me give the record before I start quoting from his letters, chiefly for the benefit of those sincere and loyal Americans whothought his Swastika-inspired activities represented honestconvictions. 

May 17, 1910: Arrested in Los Angeles charged with uttering fictitiouschecks. In simple language this means just a little bit of forgery. Los Angeles Police Department file, No. 7613. 

June 10, 1910: Sentenced to three years imprisonment; sentencesuspended upon tearful assurances of good behavior. 

May 12, 1912: Picked up in Philadelphia charged with being a fugitive;brought back to Los Angeles. 

July 1, 1912: Committed to San Quentin. Guest No. 25835. 

April 21, 1915: Committed to Folsom from Santa Barbara on a forgerycharge. Guest No. 9542. 

Feb. 1, 1919: Arrested in Los Angeles County charged with suspicion ofa felony. Los Angeles County No. 14554. 

June 31, 1924: Arrested in San Francisco, charged with utteringfictitious checks. No. 35570. 

Oct. 5, 1925: Los Angeles Police Department issued notice that Allenwas wanted for uttering fictitious checks. Bulletin No. 233. 

Allen is apparently a prolific writer--of bad checks and of longreports about his activities to his superiors. 

Two of Allen's close friends are also native Americans: C. F. Ingallsof 2702 Bush St. , San Francisco and George Deatherage (the G. D. Mentioned earlier). Deatherage now lives and operates out of St. Albans, W. Va. He organized the American Nationalist Confederationwhich used to have its headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif. Both thesegentlemen also work with Schwinn. 

On January 7, 1938, Deatherage received from San Francisco a lettersigned "C. F. I. "--in a plain envelope without a return address. Theletter is very long and detailed. I quote in part:

 We must get busy organizing grid-lattice-work or skeleton for a military staff throughout the nation, and in this we need representatives of fascist groups, and we need Americans with whom these others may be incorporated. . . . All must believe in being ruthless in an emergency. . . . 

 The political and the military organizations must not be unified. They have different aims. With one hand we offer the public a potential program. Whether they accept it or not and whether they wish to return to the ideals embodied in a representative form of a constitutional federal republic or not, is of secondary importance. Of first importance is the need of the emergency military organization to function simultaneously should our enemies revolt if we should win politically or should we revolt if our enemies win politically. 

On January 19, 1938, Deatherage received a letter signed with the codename "Laura and Clayton. " "Laura" is Hermann Schwinn. This letter, too, is long and goes into details on how best to organize the secretmilitary group and have it ready for instant action. The letter statesat one point:

 After we do all this, now then we shall have the national military framework all steamed up and oiled and coupled to the multiplicity of working parts ready to appear on all fronts. . . . 

After "C. F. I. " and "Laura and Clayton" had decided on the details ofthe secret military body in which they needed the aid of "Nazi andfascist" forces, they needed money and arms. 

Early in January, Allen received from "Mrs. Fry and C. Chapman" fourhundred and fifty dollars for a trip to Washington, D. C. "Mrs. Fry andC. Chapman" live in Santa Monica, but use Glendale, Calif, for a postoffice address. This money was spent between January 13 and February10, 1938, according to the expense account Allen turned in to theFry-Chapman combination. 

Three days after Allen got the money (January 16, 1938), he receivedfrom Schwinn a letter of introduction to Fritz Kuhn, addressed to the_Amerikadeutscher Volksbund_, 178 E. 85th Street, New York City. Theletter was written in German. Following is the translation:

 My Bund Leader:

 The bearer of this letter is my old friend and comrade-in-arms, Henry Allen, who is coming East on an important matter. 

 Mr. Allen knows the situation in Los Angeles and California very well and can give you important information. We can give Allen absolute confidence. 

 Hail and Victory, HERMANN SCHWINN. 

The "important matter" on which Allen was going East and which hewanted to discuss with the national Nazi leader in this country, wasto contact the Italian Embassy, the Hungarian Legation, James True ofthe James True Associates (distributors of "Industrial ControlReports" from its headquarters in Washington, D. C. ), George Deatheragein St. Albans, W. Va. , and several others. 

Allen reported regularly to Chapman, signing his letters with the codename "Rosenthal. " I quote in part from one letter written fromWashington on January 24, 1938:

 Upon calling at the Rumanian Embassy I found the Ambassador with all his attachés are of the Carol-Tartarescu regime, and they are sailing on Wednesday, January 26. The new Ambassador will arrive with his staff on Saturday, I am told. The letter which you gave me I mailed to Budapest myself, not daring to entrust it to the present staff at the Embassy. At the Italian Embassy I found the Ambassador away, but I had a very delightful and satisfactory conference with Signor G. Cosmelli, who is the Italian counselor. . . . 

Shortly after the conference at the Italian Embassy, True and Allenconferred. Subsequently, True wrote to Allen and added a postscript inlong hand: "But be very careful about controlling the information anddestroy this letter. "

Allen did not destroy it immediately. The letter, dated February 23, 1938, reads in part:

 The bunch of money promised off and on for three years may come through within the next week or two. We have had so many disappointments that I hardly dare hope but there seems a fair chance of results. If it comes through we will have you back here in a hurry. You, George, and I will get together and prepare for real action. 

 If your friends want some pea shooters, I have connections now for any quantity and at the right price. They are United States standard surplus. Let me know as soon as you can. 

To these events must be added the peculiar and unexplained actions ofthe Dies Congressional Committee appointed to "investigate subversiveactivities. " The Committee employed a Nazi propagandist as one of itschief investigators and refused to question three suspected Nazi spiesworking in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Congressman Martin Dies of Texas, chairman of the Committee, gave two of the _National Republic's_high-pressure men letters of introduction when they started out on alittle milking party in the name of patriotism. He received thecooperation of Harry A. Jung, and he refused to examine the files ofJames A. True when the above letter was brought to his Committee'sattention. 

But these actions merit more detailed consideration. 

XI

_The Dies Committee Suppresses Evidence_

Three Suspected Nazi Spies were quietly taken out of the Brooklyn NavyYard to the Dies Congressional Committee headquarters in New York inRoom 1604, United States Court House Building. The three men were eachquestioned for about five minutes by Congressman J. Parnell Thomas[20]of New Jersey and Joe Starnes of Alabama. The men were asked if theyhad heard of any un-American goings-on in the Navy Yard. Each of thethree subpoenaed men said he had not, and the Congressmen sent themback to work in the Navy Yard after warning them not to say a word toanyone about having been called before the Committee. 

When I learned of the Congressional Committee's refusal to question menthey had subpoenaed, I wondered at the unusual procedure--especiallysince it promptly put Nazi propagandists (such as Edwin P. Banta, aspeaker for the German-American Bund) on the stand as authorities on"un-American" activities in the United States. A little inquiry turnedup some interesting facts. 

One of the Committee's chief investigators, Edward Francis Sullivan ofBoston, had worked closely with Nazi agents as far back as 1934. Sullivan's whole record was extremely unsavory. He had been a laborspy, had been active in promoting anti-democratic sentiments incooperation with secret agents of the German Government and inaddition was a convicted thief. (Shortly after Slap-Happy Eddie, as hewas known around Boston because of his convictions on drunkenness, lined up with the Nazis, he got six months for a little stealing. )Before going on with the Congressional Committee's strange attitudetoward suspected spies and known propagandists in constantcommunication with Germany, it might be well to review a meeting whichthe Congressional Committee's investigator addressed in the Nazistronghold in Yorkville. 

 [Illustration: Reproduction of a document showing that Edward Francis Sullivan, at one time chief investigator for the Dies Committee, was convicted of larceny and sentenced to prison. ]

On the night of Tuesday, June 5, 1934, at eight o'clock, some 2, 500Nazis and their friends attended a mass meeting of the Friends of theNew Germany at Turnhall, Lexington Ave. And 85th Street, New YorkCity. Sixty Nazi Storm Troopers--attired in uniforms with blackbreeches and Sam Brown belts, smuggled off Nazi ships--were the guardof honor. Storm Troop officers had white and red arm bands with theswastika superimposed on them. Every twenty minutes the Troopers, clicking their heels in the best Nazi fashion, changed guard in frontof the speakers' stand. The Hitler Youth organization was present. Menand women Nazis sold the official Nazi publication, _Jung Sturm_, andeverybody awaited the coming of one of the chief speakers of theevening who was to bring them a message from the Boston Nazis. 

W. L. McLaughlin, then editor of the _Deutsche Zeitung_, spoke inEnglish. He was followed by H. Hempel, an officer of the Nazisteamship "Stuttgart, " who vigorously exhorted his audience to fightfor Hitlerism and was rewarded by shouts of "Heil Hitler!" McLaughlinthen introduced Edward Francis Sullivan of Boston as a "fightingIrishman. " The gentleman whom the Congressional Committee chose as oneof its investigators into subversive activities, gave the crowd theHitler salute and launched into an attack upon the "dirty, lousy, stinking Jews. " In the course of his talk he announced proudly that hehad organized the group of Nazis in Boston who had attacked andbeaten liberals and Communists at a meeting protesting the docking ofthe Nazi cruiser "Karlsruhe, " in an American port. 

The audience cheered. Sullivan, again giving the Nazi salute, shouted:"Throw the goddam lousy Jews--all of them--into the Atlantic Ocean. We'll get rid of the stinking kikes! Heil Hitler!"

The three suspected Nazi spies were subpoenaed on August 23, 1938. They were:

Walter Dieckhoff, Badge No. 38117, living at 2654 E. 19th Street, Sheepshead Bay. 

Hugo Woulters, Badge No. 38166, living at 221 East 16th Street, Brooklyn. 

Alfred Boldt, Badge No. 38069, living at 64-29 70th Street, MiddleVillage, L. I. 

Boldt had worked in the Navy Yard since 1931. Dieckhoff and Woulterswent to work there within one day of each other in June, 1936. 

The three men were kept in the Committee's room from one o'clock onthe day they were subpoenaed until five in the afternoon. When itbecame apparent that the Congressmen would not show up until the nextday, the men were dismissed and told to come back the followingmorning. 

Not a word was said to them as to why they had been subpoenaed. Nevertheless Dieckhoff, who was with the German Air Corps during theWorld War, instead of going to his home in Sheepshead Bay, drove tothe home of Albert Nordenholz at 1572 Castleton Ave. , Port Richmond, S. I. , where he kept two trunks. Nordenholz, a German-Americannaturalized citizen for many years, is highly respected by the peoplein his neighborhood. When Dieckhoff first came to the United States, the Nordenholzes accepted him with open arms. He was the son of an oldfriend back in Bremerhafen, Germany. Dieckhoff asked permission tokeep two trunks in the Nordenholz garret; he stored them there whenhe went to work in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. 

During the two years he worked in the Yard, he would drop around everytwo weeks or so and go up to the garret to his trunks. Just what hedid on those visits, Nordenholz does not know. 

On the night Dieckhoff was subpoenaed he suddenly appeared to claimthe trunks. He told Nordenholz that he planned to return to Germany. Just what the trunks contained and what he did with them I do notknow. They have vanished. 

I called upon Dieckhoff in the two-story house in Sheepshead Bay wherehe lived. He had no intimate friends, didn't smoke, drink or runaround. The life of the German war veteran seemed to be confined toworking in the Navy Yard, returning home unobtrusively to work onships' models and making his occasional visits to Nordenholz's garret. 

So far as I could learn, Dieckhoff became a marine engineer, workingfor the North German Lloyd after the World War. In 1923 he entered theUnited States illegally and remained for two years. Eventually hereturned to Germany, but came back to the United States, this timelegally, applied for citizenship papers and became a naturalizedcitizen five years later. 

Before he went to work on American war vessels, he worked in variousparts of the country--in automobile shops, in the General Electric Co. In Schenectady and as an engineer on Sheepshead Bay boats. Even afterHitler came into power, he worked on Sheepshead Bay boats. After theBerlin-Tokyo axis was formed (1935), Germany became particularlyinterested in American naval affairs, for the axis, among otherthings, exchanged military secrets. Shortly before the agreement wasmade, Dieckhoff suddenly went to work for the Staten IslandShipbuilding Co. , Staten Island, which was building four United Statesdestroyers, numbers 364, 365, 384 and 385. He worked on thesedestroyers during the day. Until late at night he pursued his hobby ofbuilding ships' models, which he never made an attempt to sell. 

Dieckhoff weighed his words carefully during our talk. 

"Why did you apply for a transfer from Staten Island to the BrooklynNavy Yard?" I asked. 

"I don't know, " he said. "I guess there was more money in it. "

"How much were you getting when you were working on the destroyers?"

"It was some time ago, " he said slowly. "I do not remember very good. "

"How much are you getting now at the Navy Yard?"

"Forty dollars and twenty-nine cents a week. "

"You went to Germany last year for a couple of months and before thatyou went to Germany for six months. Were you able to save enough forthese trips on your wages?"

"I do not spend very much, " he said. "I live here all alone. "

"How much do you save a week?"

"Oh, I don't know. Ten dollars a week. "

"That would make five hundred dollars a year--if you worked steadily, which you didn't. You traveled third class. A round trip would beabout two hundred dollars. That would leave you three hundred to spendprovided you did not buy clothes, etc. , for these trips. How did youmanage to live in Germany for six months on three hundred dollars? Didyou work there?"

He hesitated and said, "No, I did not work there. I traveled around. Iwas not in one place. "

"How did you do it on three hundred dollars for six months?"

"My brother gave me money. "

"What's your brother's business?"

"Oh, just general business in Bremerhafen. He's got a big businessthere. "

"Perhaps I can get a report from the American Consul--"

"Oh, " he interrupted. "His business isn't that big. "

"Have you a bank account?"

He hesitated again and then said, "No, I do not make enough money fora bank account. "

"Where do you keep your money for trips to Germany? In cash?"

"Yes, in cash. "

"Where? Here? In this room?"

"No. Not in this room. I have it locked up. "

"Where?"

"Oh, different places, " he said vaguely. 

"Where are those places?"

"I have my money with a friend. "

"Who?"

"Nordenholz, Albert Nordenholz. "

"You work in Brooklyn, live in Sheepshead Bay and save ten dollars aweek in Port Richmond with a friend? Isn't that a long distance to goto save money?"

He shrugged his shoulders without answering. 

"What's Nordenholz's business?"

"I think he's retired. I think he used to be a butcher. "

"You don't know very much about a man's business and you travel allthis distance to give him money to save for you when there are banksall around? Why do you do that?"

"Oh, I don't know. It seems to me that it is better that way. "

Later when I asked Nordenholz, he denied that Dieckhoff had ever givenhim any money to hold. 

Dieckhoff had worked on turbines, gear reductions and othercomplicated mechanical parts on the cruiser "Brooklyn. " The moment Iasked him if he handled blueprints he answered in the affirmative, butquickly added that the blueprints were returned every night and lockedup by the officers. A capable machinist could, he admitted, aftercareful study remember the blueprints well enough to make a duplicatecopy. 

"When you went to Germany after working on the destroyers did anyoneever question you about them over there?"

"No, " he said quickly. "Nobody. "

"My information is that you did talk about structural matters. "

He looked startled. "Well, " he said, "my brother knew I worked in theBrooklyn Navy Yard. We talked about it, naturally. "

"My information is that you talked about it with other people, too. "

He stared out of the window with a worried air. Finally he said, "Well, my brother has a friend and I talked with him about it. "

"A minute ago you said you had not talked about it with anyone. "

"I had forgotten. "

"This is the brother who gave you money to travel around in Germany?"

He didn't answer. 

"I didn't hear you, " I said. 

"Yes, " Dieckhoff said finally, "he gave me the money. "

I called upon the second of the three suspected spies subpoenaed bythe Dies Committee. Alfred Boldt had done very responsible work on theU. S. Cruiser "Honolulu. " Though he had not been in Germany for tenyears, he suddenly got enough money last year to go there and to sendhis son to school at a Nazi academy. Boldt, too, has no bank account. He needed a minimum of seven hundred dollars for his wife and himselfto cross third class, but the Dies Committee was not interested inwhere the money for the trip had come from. 

Boldt left for Germany on August 4, 1936, and returned September 12. On the evening I dropped in to see him, he was tensely nervous. He hadheard that someone had been around to talk with Dieckhoff. 

"I understand your only son, Helmuth, is going to school in Langin, Germany?" I asked. 

"Yes, " he said, "I sent him there two years ago. "

"No schools in the United States for a fifteen-year-old boy?"

"I wanted him to learn German. "

"What do you pay for his schooling over there?"

He hesitated. His wife, who was sitting with us and occasionallyadvising him in German, suddenly interrupted in German, "Don't tellhim. That's German business. "

I assume they did not know that I understood, for Boldt passed off hercomment as if he had not heard it and said casually, "Oh, twenty-fivedollars a month. "

"You earn forty dollars a week at the Navy Yard, pay for your son'sschooling in Germany, clothes, etc. , and you and your wife took morethan a month's trip to Germany last year. How do you do it on forty aweek?"

His wife giggled a little in the adjoining room. Boldt shrugged hisshoulder without answering. 

"The cheapest the two of you could do it, third class, would be aboutseven hundred dollars. Where do you have your bank account?"

"No. No bank account, " his wife interrupted sharply. 

"All the money is kept here, right here in this house, " he laughed. 

"You saved all that money in cash?"

"Yes; in cash, right here. "

"No banks?"

"We like it better like that--in cash. "

Boldt, like Dieckhoff, had been a marine engineer on the North GermanLloyd. He went to work in the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1931. When thecruiser "Honolulu" made its trial run in the spring of 1938, Boldt wason board. 

Like Dieckhoff and Boldt, Harry Woulters, _alias_ Hugo Woulters, thethird of the three subpoenaed men, is a naturalized citizen of Germanextraction. He went to work in the Navy Yard within one day ofDieckhoff. Before that, both had worked on the same four Americandestroyers at the Staten Island Shipbuilding Company. 

The house where Woulters lives has a great many Jews in it, judgingfrom the names on the letterboxes, and since Hugo sounded too German, he listed his first name as "Harry. "

"You and Dieckhoff worked on the same destroyers on Staten Island andyou say you never met him there?" I asked. 

"No, I never met him until the second day after I went to work in theNavy Yard. "

"How many people work on a destroyer--a thousand?"

"Oh, no. Not that many. "

"About one hundred?"

"About that, " he said uncertainly. 

"And you worked with Dieckhoff for six months on the same warships andnever met him?"

"Yes, " he insisted. 

"How come that if you never met him both of you applied for jobs atthe Brooklyn Navy Yard at about the same time?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. It's funny. Sounds funny, anyway. "

"When you worked on the cruiser 'Honolulu' you handled blueprints?"

"Yes, of course, but they were never left in my possession overnight, "he added quickly. I couldn't help but think that Dieckhoff, too, hadbeen very quick in protesting that the blueprints had never been leftin his possession overnight. They seemed worried about that eventhough I had not said anything about it. 

"Were they _ever_ left in your possession overnight?"

"No. They guarded the blueprints--"

"My information is that they were left in your possession. "

"Wells, sometimes--blueprints--you know, when you work from blueprintssometimes, yes, sometimes blueprints were left in my possessionovernight. I was working on reduction gears on the cruiser 'Brooklyn'and I kept the blueprints overnight. "

"How often?"

"I can't remember how often. Sometimes the blueprints were keptovernight in my tool box. "

"You also worked on turbines and other complicated and confidentialstructural problems on the warship?"

"Yes. "

"And you kept those blueprints overnight, too?"

"Sometimes--not often. Sometimes I left them in my tool boxovernight. "

Woulters, during the latter period of construction on the "Brooklyn"and the "Honolulu" had got two jobs which most workers do not like. Hehad the four to midnight and the midnight to eight A. M. Watches. Normally Woulters likes to stay at home with his wife. 

"While you had these watch duties you had pretty much the run of theship?"

He hesitated and weighed his words carefully before answering. Finallyhe nodded and added hastily, "But no one can get on board. "

"I didn't ask that. Did you have the run of the ship while everybodyelse was asleep when you were on watch?"

"Yes, " he said in a low voice. 

"How did you happen to work in the Brooklyn Navy Yard?"

"Oh, I don't know. I like to work for the Government. "

"Have you a bank account?"

"Yes. "

"What bank?"

"Oh, I don't know, it's some place on Church Avenue. "

"You have about 2, 400 dollars in the bank, a nice apartment, and youand your wife went on a trip to Germany last year. Did you save allthat money in so short a time on wages of forty dollars a week?"

He shrugged his shoulders. 

"Your bank account does not show withdrawals sufficient to cover thetrip to Germany--"

"Say, " he interrupted excitedly as soon as he saw where the questionwas leading, "when I was called before the Dies Committee, theCongressman there shook hands with me and asked me if I knew anythingabout un-American activities in the Navy Yard. I told him I didn't andhe told me to go back to work and not to say anything about havingbeen called before them. Now I do not understand why you ask me allthese questions. The Congressman told me not to talk and I am sayingnothing more. Nothing. "

The Dies Congressional Committee was not interested in these three menwhom they had subpoenaed and then, oddly enough, refused to question. Besides this very strange procedure by a Committee empowered by theCongress to investigate subversive activities, the Dies Committeewithheld for months documentary evidence of Nazi activities in thiscountry directed from Germany. The Committee obtained letters toGuenther Orgell and Peter Gissibl, but quietly placed them in theirfiles without telling anyone about the existence of these documents. They did not subpoena or question the men involved. 

The letters the Committee treated so cavalierly are from E. A. Vennekohl in charge of the foreign division of the _Volksbund für dasDeutschtum im Ausland_ with headquarters in Berlin, letters from theforeign division headquarters in Stuttgart, and from Orgell toGissibl. 

Gissibl was in constant touch with Nazi propaganda headquarters inGermany, receiving instructions and reporting not only on generalactivities, but especially upon the opening by the Nazis here ofschools for children in which Nazi propaganda would be disseminated. 

The letters, freely translated, follow. The first is dated October 29, 1937, and was sent by Orgell from his home at Great Kills, S. I. :

 Dear Mr. Gissibl:

 Many thanks for your prompt reply. My complaint that one cannot get an answer from Chicago refers to the time prior to May, 1937. 

 I assume from your writing that it is not opportune any more to deliver further books to the _Arbeitsgemeinschaft_, etc. 

 The material which Mr. Balderman received came from the V. D. A. [21] It has been sent to our Central Book distributing place (Mirbt). If he wishes he can get more any time; that is, if you recommend it. 

 The thirty books for your Theodore Koerner School, which arrived this summer (via the German Consulate General in Chicago), also came from the V. D. A. If you need more first readers or study books, please write directly to me. Your request then goes immediately--without the official way via the Consulate and Foreign Office--to our Central Book distributing place. Please say how many you need and what else beside the first readers and primers[22] you need. I will take care that it will be promptly attended to. Fritz Kuhn, of course, has to be informed of your request and has to give his okay. . . . 

 With German greetings, CARL G. ORGELL. 

Five days earlier Orgell had written to Gissibl: "You may perhapsremember that I am in charge of the work for the _Volkbund für dasDeutschtum im Ausland_[23] for the U. S. A. "

 [Illustration: A letter the Dies Committee shelved--Carl G. Orgell identifying himself to Peter Gissibl as a representative of the People's Bund for Germans Living Abroad. ]

On March 18, 1938, Gissibl, who had been taking instructions fromOrgell, received the following letter from Stuttgart:

 Dear Peter:

 From your office manager. Comrade Möller, I received a letter dated February 15. He informed me among other things that an exchange of youth is out of the question for this year. I regret this very much. I would like to see, in the interests of our common efforts, if we would have had youth all ready this year, especially also from your district. Perhaps it is still possible with your support. The time, of course, which is still at our disposal, is very limited. This I can see clearly. 

 I will write to you again in greater detail soon. In the meantime you can perhaps send me more detailed information about the development of your school during the past weeks; I recommend again the fulfillment of your justified wishes wholeheartedly. Let us hope that the result might be achieved very soon towards which we in common strive. 

 Hearty greetings from house to house. 

 In loyal comradeship, Yours, G. MOSHACK. 

On May 20, 1938, E. A. Vennekohl, of the People's Bund for GermansLiving Abroad, wrote to Gissibl as follows:

 Dear Comrade Gissibl:

 We wrote you yesterday that the 3, 000 badges for the singing festival would be sent to you via Orgell; for various reasons we have now divided the badges in ten single packages of which two each went to the following addresses: Friedrich Schlenz, Karl Moeller, Karl Kraenzle, Orgell and two to you. 

 Please inform your co-workers respectively and take care that in case duties have to be paid they should be laid out; please see to it that Orgell refunds the money to you later; this was the simplest and the only way by which the badges could be sent in order to arrive on time. 

 With the German people's greetings, E. A. VENNEKOHL. 

These documents in the hands of the Dies Committee show definitetie-ups between German propaganda divisions and agents in the UnitedStates (some of them came through the Nazi diplomatic corps), yetthese documents were put aside. The letters from True, Allen, andothers quoted in the previous chapter were also placed before theCongressional Committee. It refused to call the men involved. 

 [Illustration: Another letter connecting Gissibl with a German propaganda agency. This letter, translated in the text, was hardly noticed by the Dies Committee. ]

 [Illustration: Further evidence of Gissibl's tie-up with the People's Bund for Germans Living Abroad. This letter, a translation of which appears in the text, was also long withheld by the Dies Committee. ]

FOOTNOTES:

[20] Formerly known as J. Parnell Feeney. He changed his name because hethought he could get along better in the business world with a name likeThomas than with a name as potently Irish as Feeney. 

[21] Nazi propaganda center for foreign countries with headquarters inGermany. 

[22] The notorious Nazi Primer teaching children songs of hate againstJews and Catholics. 

[23] People's Bund for Germans Living Abroad. 

_Conclusion_

The activities of the few agents and propagandists described in theforegoing chapters do not, as I said in the preface, even scratch thesurface of what seem to be widespread efforts to interfere in theinternal affairs of the American people and their Government; but afew basic conclusions can reasonably be drawn from what little isknown of the Fifth Column's operations. 

Berlin-directed agents in foreign countries sometimes combinepropaganda and espionage, frequently using the propagandaorganizations as the bases for espionage. In the United States, so faras I have been able to ascertain, agents of the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axisare just beginning to cooperate. In the Central and South Americancountries, however, the axis has apparently agreed to a division oflabor, each of the fascist powers assuming a specific field ofactivity. 

Germany, Italy and Japan have already shown the extent to which theywill go in their drive for raw materials vital to their industries andwar machines. In Spain, the German and Italian Fifth Column organizedand fomented a bloody civil war in order to establish a wide fascistarea to the south of France, for Germany and Italy, of course, consider France a potential enemy in the next war. In France itself, German and Italian agents, aided by their Governments, built anamazing network of steel and concrete fortifications manned by atleast 100, 000 heavily armed men--all this before France awoke to thetreason within her own borders. 

The strategy pursued by the Fifth Column in different countries fallsinto like patterns. In Austria, before it was swallowed, Nazi agentsfirst established propaganda organizations as the bases from which towork. When, after the abortive attempt to seize the AustrianGovernment, the Nazis were made illegal, they went underground butcontinued to get aid from Germany. Eventually Berlin ordered_Standarte II_ organized as a specific body prepared to provokedisturbances. When the Austrian police quelled them, the provocationsenabled Germany to protest that German citizens were being attackedand mistreated. The activities of _Standarte II_, directed by theGestapo, continued with increasing intensity until the unfortunatecountry was absorbed. 

In Czechoslovakia the same strategy was followed: first theestablishment of propaganda centers to which Nazis and Nazisympathizers could gravitate--under the cloak of bodies seeking toimprove relations between the Sudeten Germans and the CzechGovernment; then the utilization of propaganda headquarters andbranches as centers for espionage. Shortly before the Munich Pact, _Standarte II_ again came into being, creating disorders which, whenCzech police tried to suppress them, enabled Germany to raise the crythat Czech subjects of German blood were being cruelly mistreated. 

Invariably the aggressor nation raises a moral issue to cover upproposed acts of aggression. Italy wanted to "civilize the Ethiopians"by dropping bombs on defenseless women and children. Germany and Italyopenly sent aid to Franco "to keep Spain from being Bolshevized. " Andso on. The broad "moral issue" on the international field to cover upaggressions by the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axis is "Communism. " The axis, announced as having been formed "to exchange information aboutCommunism, " is really a military alliance now generally recognized. With the same issue, the axis is now boring into the WesternHemisphere. Actually the reasons seem to be military and notmissionary. 

Germany, especially, has sent and is sending agents not only to carryon espionage but to organize groups for political pressure upon theAmerican republics. I very much doubt, from all I have been able tolearn, if the motive is primarily to win the Americas over to the joysof totalitarian government or to the theory of Aryan supremacy. Themoney and the effort seem to be expended for more practical reasons. The Bunds can exert not only political pressure, but can developnatives with fascist leanings into the spies and _saboteurs_ so badlyneeded in war time; for this reason it is worth the enormous effortand money it is costing the aggressor nations. 

When the long expected war breaks, neither Europe nor the Far Eastwill be in a condition to supply war materials and foodstuffs to thewarring countries. The chief sources of raw materials will be theWestern Hemisphere. A strong foothold in the Americas means atremendous advantage in the coming struggle, since materials are asimportant to an army as is man power. And, should the fascist powersbe unable to get these raw materials for themselves, secret agents canat least sabotage shipments to enemy countries--as did German agentsin the United States during the first years of the World War, while wewere still neutral. 

Mexico, because of its enormous oil supplies, plays an important partin fascist military strategy. Consequently, we find intensive effortsby the axis, and especially Germany, to overthrow the CárdenasGovernment because it is avowedly anti-fascist. A fascist government, helped into power by the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axis, could be dependedupon to supply much needed oil in war time. 

The United States, as one of the world's greatest sources of rawmaterials and foodstuffs, is an even more important factor. Germanyhas not forgotten that its armies had the Allies on their knees whenAmerican supplies and American man power turned their imminent victoryinto defeat; should America be on the side of the democracies asagainst the fascist powers, sabotaging shipments of supplies and menwill be as important as crushing an enemy line. 

The tactics utilized in the Western Hemisphere by the Fifth Column aresimilar to those used in Europe. Propaganda machines, masquerading asorganizations designed to promote better relationships between afascist and an American nation, are set up. Fascist movements areorganized, usually from across national boundaries. In Mexico, Naziagents operating out of the United States organized the Gold Shirts;subsequently, as in Austria, a Putsch was attempted (in 1935 and againin 1938). The storing of arms in Sonora by General Yocupicio, who isworking with Nazi agents, promises another rebellion when the timeseems ripe. 

In Central America, the axis is presenting small republics with giftsof arms in efforts to win their friendship. Agents sent from Germanyare establishing Nazi centers and the home Government is supplyingthem with propaganda. In Panama the situation is somewhat more sharp. There Japan has always had an intense interest in the Canal. In theaxis, Germany has become a co-worker since she has large colonies inBrazil and Colombia, next door to the Panama Canal. These colonies arenow being organized at a feverish pace while the countries themselvesare deluged with propaganda over special short-wave beams. In Brazil, a Nazi-directed abortive Putsch took place in 1938. 

These activities point to an objective which certainly is notcalculated to be in the interest of the United States and our MonroeDoctrine. From all indications the efforts appear directed towardringing the United States with fascist countries, or at leastcountries with fascist bodies capable of giving the United States aheadache should she ever be involved in a war with one or all of theaxis powers. 

In the United States itself we find that the strategy is the same asthat followed in Austria, Czechoslovakia and in countries of theWestern World. The German-American Bund functions "to promote betterrelations between the United States and Germany, " but the effortsconsist of persistent anti-American and anti-democratic propagandaand, within the past year or two, of serving as a base for militaryand naval spies. 

With Germany directing the strategy, her agents in all countries raisethe issue of the "menace of the Jew and the Catholic, " with especialemphasis upon the Jew; the Catholics are still too strong for theNazis to come to grips with at this time. 

The Federal Government, of course, has ample legal machinery forprosecuting spies, but espionage is only part of the broad Nazicampaign against this democratic Government. So far as the WesternWorld is concerned, the Federal Government has already taken steps totry to counteract the short-wave broadcasts by German and Italiangovernment-controlled stations. Counter broadcasts are being employedas a defensive measure, and though of value, will probably notcompletely counteract fascist "news" agencies supplying propaganda inthe guise of news, free of charge, to the Central and South Americannewspapers as well as printed propaganda sent from Germany anddistributed by the bunds. Outside of military action, economicpressure seems to be the only language the fascist governmentsunderstand, and a little of that pressure by the American Governmentwould probably make them understand our resentment at their invasionfar more than broadcasts and general talk about a family of nations inthe Western Hemisphere. 

Our laws and courts provide a machinery which can be used to preventany infringement upon the democratically constituted rights of thepeople. It is of vital importance, however, that preparations forfascist lawlessness be vigilantly uprooted. The Italian and Germanpeople made just this fatal mistake of tolerating the activities ofMussolini's and Hitler's gangs until they grew strong enough to seizepower and crush every sign of democracy. 

There is no reason why a great people, attacked by a perniciousideology, cannot counteract such propaganda with greater and moreintelligent propaganda to educate our people to the advantages ofdemocracy--to what fascism really means to everyone, including the bigindustrialists and financiers, some of whom have been flirting withfascism. The Government, however, can and should be instructed by therepresentatives of the people, to take proper steps to stop theinfiltration of Nazi agents and propagandists into this country. 

There are various other and perhaps more practical and useful stepswhich can be taken, but those can be worked out once the people awaketo the danger of permitting fascist propaganda to go on, and sentimentbecomes strong enough to put an end to foreign-directed activitieshere. 

--THE END--

 _This book has been produced wholly under union conditions. The paper was made, the type set, the plates electrotyped, and the printing and binding done in union shops affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. All employees of Modern Age Books, Inc. , are members of the Book and Magazine Guild, Local No. 18 of the United Office and Professional Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations. _

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