blished, were
discussed in detail.

With this entirely improvised and, as will be seen, very modest
machinery, Dr. Dernburg began his campaign. The enemy statement
that the German propaganda in the United States had been actually
organized many years before the war, so that in 1914 we might have
ready at our disposal an organization with branches in every part
of the country, is unfortunately devoid of any foundation. It is
a regrettable fact that, in spite of my repeated warnings to the
authorities, nothing was ever done on the German side before the
war. It is well known that at that time the power of public opinion
in democratic countries was very little understood in Germany. It was
thought at home--which is typical of the objective, matter-of-fact
German national character--that it was much more important that the
right should be done than that it should be recognized as right by
the public. Added to this was the under-estimation of the influence
of the United States on the development of world politics.

Before the war no one in Germany had thought it possible that the
Union would have to be reckoned with as a factor, much less a decisive
factor, in a European war. This was a mistake, the effect of which
unfortunately was felt until well into 1917--the result was that
there was never enough money available to keep in touch and co-operate
with the American Press. As a matter of fact I had, in the course
of my activities in Washington, personally entered into certain
social relations with the proprietors of a few great American
newspapers. But from Berlin no advances were made. Even with the
German-American papers there was no organized connection, and they
themselves did not work together in any way. It is true that for
years there had been a business connection between the greatest
American news-agency, the Associated Press, and the Wolff Telegraphic
Bureau; as, however, the agency was not served direct with Berlin
Wolff-telegrams, but by its own representatives there, this did
not amount to much. England, on the other hand--quite apart from
the close relationship resulting from a common language--had for
years maintained and systematically cultivated the closest contact
with the American Press. It followed, then, that on the outbreak of
war the English influence on the American daily Press was enormous.
It did not rest as exclusively as has been assumed in Germany on
direct proprietary rights. I do not think t