File 705/1916 Pt 1 'Arab revolt: reports' [‎240v] (28/494)

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M TURKS, ARMENIANS, HELLENES, AND GERMANS IN
AMERICA.
Turkish Propaganda in America.
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The Turks are not carrying on in the United States a regular system of
propaganda as they are in Switzerland. They are letting Germany deal
with the main issues of their cause. I presume that the reason for Turkish
inaction is principally that the Turkish Government cannot afford the
expense of a well-organised propaganda. Besides, they know that the
American public is very little interested in the fate of Turkey and their
work would be of no avail. The Turkish authorities keep a few local
agents and spies to report on the doings of Syrians, especially those that are
known for their antagonism to Turkey. As they cannot, however, deal
any punishment to them in America they wreak their revenge on their
relatives in Turkey and confiscate their properties. There have been cases
when a man having been praised by a Syrian newspaper had his relatives
in Turkey subjected to oppression and reprisals.
The local German Press and the Arabic newspaper A l Bay an are the
only organs in America that support the Turkish Government.
German Propaganda.
German propaganda in America has failed disastrously. Even persons
who were formerly prepense to Germany and inclined to sympathise with
her against the Allies have been disillusioned. They had formed a high
ideal of German “ kultur ” and civilisation, and were shocked by the brutal
and aggressive behaviour of German agents. The plots and intrigues
engineered by Germany’s official representatives and the outrages com
mitted by German agents alienated from them the sympathies of true
Americans, and dealt a very severe blow to German influence in the
United States. On the other hand, Americans could not but admire the
sober and dignified attitude of the British Government and the scrupulous
correctness of England’s representatives.
Germany has tried to plead her cause before the American public by
slinging at England the most villainous insults and base accusations of
treachery and aggressiveness. German methods of propaganda are too
well known to be gone into. Millions of libellous pamphlets in English
and German were distributed broadcast all over the United States. But
the publication that was intended to make a hit and strike at the root of
British influence is a book in English by Rudolf Cornau, bearing the title
of The Black Book of England, by an American. A perusal of this
book will give an idea of the extraordinary aberration of German mentality.
Events in the history of England are twisted in such a manner, and argu
ments are so childish and groundless, that only an ignorant or a fool could
be deceived by them. In a conversation I had with a Mr. Stortz, a very
prominent man in Chicago, ex-President of the American Tobacco Trust
and himself of German descent, he said, “ For Germans to swamp the