sador Gerard to bring the matter to the
attention of the Foreign Office and to demand an apology Wilhelmstrasse
referred the matter to the General Staff for investigation. The
soldier was arrested and secretly examined. After many weeks had
elapsed the Foreign Office explained that the man who had stabbed the
woman was really not a soldier but a red cross worker. It was
explained that he had been wounded and was not responsible for what he
did. The testimony of the woman, however, and of other witnesses,
showed that the man at the time he attacked the American was dressed in
a soldier's uniform, which is grey, and which could not he mistaken for
the black uniform of a red cross worker.

It was often said in Berlin, "Germany hates England, fights France,
fears Russia but loathes America." No one, not even American
officials, questioned it.

The hate campaign was bearing fruit.

In January, 1916, there appeared in Berlin a publication called _Light
and Truth_. It was a twelve-page circular in English and German
attacking President Wilson and the United States. Copies were sent by
mail to all Americans and to hundreds of thousands of Germans. It was
edited and distributed by "The League of Truth." It was the most
sensational document printed in Germany since the beginning of the war
against a power with which Germany was supposed to be at peace. Page 6
contained two illustrations under the legend:

WILSON AND HIS PRESS IS NOT AMERICA

Underneath was this paragraph:

"An American Demonstration--On the 27th of January, the birthday of the
German Emperor, an immense laurel wreath decorated with the German and
American flags was placed by Americans at the foot of the monument to
Frederick the Great (in Berlin). The American flag was enshrouded in
black crape. Frederick the Great was the first to recognise the
independence of the young Republic, after it had won its freedom from
the yoke of England, at the price of its very heart's blood through
years of struggle. His successor, Wilhelm II, receives the gratitude
of America in the form of hypocritical phrases and war supplies to his
mortal enemy."

[Illustration: First page of the magazine "Light and Truth"]

One photograph was of the wreath itself. The other showed a group of
thirty-six people, mostly boys, standing in front of the statue after
the wreath had been placed.

When Ambassador Gerard learned about the "demonstration" he went to the