ired writers of editorials in the newspapers;
and whether the words of men who are independent will not render it
impossible for a subsidised press to continue its destructive work."

Gerard's investigation showed that a group of German-Americans in
Berlin were financing the _League of Truth_; that a man named William
F. Marten, who posed as an American, was the head, and that the editors
and writers of the publication _Light and Truth_ were being assisted by
the Foreign Office Press Bureau and protected by the General Staff. An
American dentist in Berlin, Dr. Charles Mueller, was chairman of the
league. Mrs. Annie Neumann-Hofer, the American-born wife of
Neumann-Hofer, of the Reichstag, was secretary. Gerard reported other
names to the State Department, and asked authority to take away the
passports of Americans who were assisting the German government in this
propaganda.

The "league" heard about the Ambassador's efforts, and announced that a
"Big Bertha" issue would be published exposing Gerard. For several
months the propagandists worked to collect data. One day Gerard
decided to go to the league's offices and look at the people who were
directing it. In the course of his remarks the Ambassador said that if
the Foreign Office didn't do something to suppress the league
immediately, he would burn down the place. The next day Marten and his
co-workers went to the Royal Administration of the Superior Court,
No. 1, in Berlin, and through his attorney lodged a criminal charge of
"threat of arson" against the Ambassador.

The next day Germany was flooded with letters from "The League of
Truth," saying:

"The undersigned committee of the League of Truth to their deepest
regret felt compelled to inform the members that Ambassador Gerard had
become involved in a criminal charge involving threat of arson. . . .
All American citizens are now asked whether an Ambassador who acts so
undignified at the moment of a formal threat of a wholly unnecessary
war, is to be considered worthy further to represent a country like the
United States."

Were it not for the fact that at this time President Wilson was trying
to impress upon Germany the seriousness of her continued disregard of
American and neutral lives on the high seas, the whole thing would have
been too absurd to notice. But Germany wanted to create the impression
among her people that President Wilson was not speaking for America,
and that the Ambassador was