Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 43, Number 229, 7 August 1918 — Page 2

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THE RICHMOND PALLADIUM AND SUN-TELEGRAM, WEDNESDAY, AUG. 7, 1918. DOCTOR RUM ELYSUPERMAN Arrazing Story of the Life of an Aroerican Who Placed German 8 Institutions Above the TraditioQS of His Native Lard S3

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Secret Agents on Rumely's Trail for 3 Years Seeking Hun Cash in Evening Mail Secret of German Funds in Newspaper Concealed Despite All Efforts of Detectives and Other Agencies to Develop Reasons for Its Propaganda and Connections.

Dj Frank Parker Stockbridge, Late

(Copyright, 1918. by tbe New York Herald CompanyAll BlchU Reserved.) (Copyright, Canada, by tbe New York Herald Company.) FIFTH INSTALMENT.

If tbe atmosphere in the offices of the Evening Mall was rapidly becoming one of suspicion, there was an even greater mass of suspicion from the outside centring about Dr. Rumely and to a lesser extent about every one else in a responsible position in the management of the newspaper. As a matter of fact, I never had any evidence of any actual spying or intrigue Inside the office : such differences as arose ketwecn Dr. Rumely on the one hand and the other directors and department heads were fought out in tbe open at least so far as the rest of us were concerned. Dr. Uumely had said he wanted to be checked up when he was wrong. We took him at his word, and there were many lively encounters. Dr. Rumely, so far as I can recall, never acknowledged or admitted openly a proGorman policy ; rather than avow, even to those closely associated with him, an Intent to serve the German cause, he would frequently yield his point when it was pointed out to tim that to pursue a course he had determined cron would -intensify iSe suspicion that already surrounded thi paper. Either the Evening Mail was owned by t'.e Cercjan government or it was not; nobody in the organization except Dr. Rawly and Mr. Knuffinnnn was in n position to know, it took the United States government three years to get proof that tbe money came from th-; 1 ands of Captain Albert and the German Ambassador. But the effort to ascertain the sources of the money that bought tnc paper nud the influences behind it began almost with the transfer of the property; perhaps even earlier. Forced to Deny Hon Ownerablp. Dr. Rumely had (insured Mr. McClure and myself that there was no German lunacy in the property. When this statemeal, was challenged from outside sources, hn.ievpr. he always dodged the itssue. More M an once the positive assertion that tie Mail was German owned cot into print Dr. Rumely either got Mr McCl-ir to sign the denial, or worded his own d'-niul i:i such a way that it did not actually denv the main charge, when he did not ignore it altogether. We had Lee'i in possession of the paper Lardy two wee is when a circumstantial sfi fewer.; charging Dr. Rumely with being the hc." of the German secret "service in America and asserting that the transfer of the Evening Mail to its new owners was dictated and planned by the German Ambassador was widely published. Dr. it'J.-nely denied both allegations So far ns I know his denial was techni cally n correct statement. I do not be l'rrvc h won ever head of the German Secret Service, and the transfer of the Mail n:te probably was neither "die fated" nor "pluaned" by the German Am bassador. Rut his letter of denial ehciteJ from the editor of the newspaper that .fUitiniiv nuMished the charge a letter i , that the Doctor never answered. Question Asked of Itumely. This bitter was sent to Dr. Rumely on June IS. 1015. Four copies were sent, each rc;;ist?rcd. One was addressed to l un in care of the German Ambassador. os. in rate of the Hamburg-American Steanraip J:ii one to Captain Boy-Ed's New- Yor'.: nffiee and one to the Evening y n'd. Co far r.s the sender of it knows. Inreceived all four. I have a copy 01 the lctte.- before me. It asked Dr. Rumely five categorical questions: First: By denial do you intend the public to believe that you have not during the 1 -t ix months had many confern?ci with Captain Boy-Ed, that you Lave not given suggestions or tdvice or been in any way jip-i.-roaolu-d by or have yourself conferred with Captain Boy-Ed or the Gcrir.i:a Ambassador or any representatives of tbo German government In this country with regard to matters cf po'icy or qucsUon3 of publicity? Secand: Do you deny that even nince the h1j:M''S ot the Lusitaniu you have engaged in a personal investigation in behalf of official German represent.! tires? 'Third: Do you declare that no representative of the German government in this country has ever conferred with you or tal!;ed with you in regard to the purchase by German interests or Ger-lnnn-Amcricnn interests of a daily

Managing Editor of the Evening Mail.

Dr. Rumely brought this letter to my desk. "I have been trying to draft a reply to this," he said, "but I do not get exactly the force in my reply that I want Who is the best person to write a voluminous reply? The man who wrote this says here that he will print whatever reply 1 want to make. .1 want to send him a letter that will take up several columns of his newspaper." "What do you want to say as to the points he raises?" I inquired. "I want to come back at him with the most forceful kind of questions and allegations concerning his own activities," said the doctor. "I know all about thi man, and he and his paper are entirely irresponsible." I tried to pin the doctor down to categorical deniuls, but he refused to be pinned. He wanted a letter written, 1 gathered, that would befog the real issue and commit him to no positive assertions. I suggested a man who might write such a document, and he asked me to have it done. A voluminous letter was produced it would have taken several columns of, newspaper space, had It ever been printed. But it didn't suit the doctor. He made several changes and had it typeu again. These had disappeared when it was finally revised. It lay on his desk a few days, then vanished. I asked him about it several days. later; I was curious to ..know whether it had been published. "I've decided to ignore attacks from that source," said Dr. Rumely. "These follows are trying t otrap me into admissions that they can distort. The man who wrote this letter is an Englishman. Tbe British have bought up a detective ageney and they have their men following me everywhere. I can't go up to the Bronx to see my wife's relatives without being followed.; They spy on me at my club. I'm going to ignore them ! " Secret Service Becomes Suspicions. There were others besides the detectives who were curious about Dr. Rumely's movements, however, borne of us who had suspicions as to the activities of the United States Secret Service took pans not to obtain definite knowledge of what was going on. Once in a while, however, bits of information that were illuminating would come to our attention. "I never saw a man who was so obvi ously trying to throw any one who might be following off his trail," one of the men who had a good deal to do with tracing Dr. Rumely's movements told me. "I have known him to go as far north as Seventy-second street and double back by another route, to keep what would otherwise have passed unnoticed as an ordinary business engagement." I think I am well within the limits of accuracy when I say that every person Dr. Rumely saw, every trip that he took, almost every telephone call that he made, was under scrutiny from a very early period in tbe career of the Mail under bis management. And there was never any question that, up to the breaking off of relations between the United States and Germany, he was in close and continuous rnntnrt with the representatives ot we German government in America. Controlled Washington Service. Very early in the game Dr. Rumely attempted to assume exclusive control of the Washington correspondence of the paper. It was not long before the Mail's Washinsrton representative was spoken newspaper, or that the purchase of the Evening Mail has not been the subject of conversation between Captain Boy-Ed and yourself or the German Ambassador and yourself. Fourth: Do you affirm that none of the money used in acquiring the Evening Mail property has come directly or indirectly from pro-German sources and that there has never been any suggestion or intimation that the Evening Mail should favor the German cause in the present war or that it should attack or seek to embarass the Wilson Administration? Fifth: Do you deny that yon have many times during the present year been in conference with representatives of the German government in this country in regard to the subjects of the purchase of ammunition in tbe United States by and for the Allies, or tbe purchase of ammunition in this country by and for Germany?

of as the one man who could always get

to Von Bernstorff, even when the German Ambassador was not receiving other newspaper men. Not that there was anything necessarily illegitimate in that; it was often possible for tbe Mall, through this close connection with the German Embassy, to obtain an advance tip on what the German attitude would be in regard to whichever one of the various controversies between that government and our own was pending at the time and ao score a decided "bea at a time when such matters were legitimate news. Relations Broken Off. When relations were finally broken off and Von Bernstorff sent back to Germany Dr. Rumely professed to believe that the difficulties would still be patched up and that there would be no war. He sent tbe Mall's Washington man along with the dismissed Ambassador and be remained in Berlin until after war was actually declared. Tbe interest of Germany in fomenting trouble between the United States and Mexico was not clearly apparent to many persons or newspapers in the early days of the European war. It was apparent from the day the control of tbe Mail passed into Dr. Ivumely's hands, bow ever, that he was greatly interested In Mexican matters, and this interest never waned so long as I remained on the paper. l?ne of the earliest visitors to the of fices of the Mail under the new regime was Eduardo Iturbide, a descendant of the man who bad been Emperor of Mexico under the title of Augustin I. Iturbide wanted to head the Mexican government Dr. Rumely in the Mail indorsed his efforts to obtain backing for a coup d'etat that would put him at the head of the Mexican people. Itnrblde Dropped. Later Iturbide was dropped by those who had originally backed him and Felix Diaz was picked as the man to lead successful counter revolution. All through the months when the Carranzistas and the Villistas were having it out with each other and our troops were watchfully waiting on the border Dr.' Rumely was sure that Felix Diaz would be the man who finally would bring order out of chaos. Later, when the Mexican situation grew more intense, he would bring in letters from a friend who owned a large ranch in Mexico, quoting from a letter from his ranch foreman retailing gossip brought in by the peons. This, in the Doctor's mind, was "news," no matter how contradictory the news despatches might be! And he got "news" from Germany, about the war, in similar mysterious ways. It was always "news" that did not appear in tbe press despatches. "Peace is at hand. It is in the air!" he would inform me so frequently that I at last formulated a stock reply. He had it from confidential sources that Germany j ready to make peaceon her own terms, of course. And frequently these confidential communications' would, a few days later, be followed by another of the famous German "peace dries" which the German government used so effectively to keep public sentiment in America from focussing on war preparations. Some times he was sure the war would be over in six months ; once he even fixed a date for its termination. JThat those of us who were handling the news would not take these private advices seriously and handle the war news in such a way as to reflect the peace propaganda annoyed him ex ceedingly. Stifling War Sentiment. Newspaper dealers will remember the German attempt to arouse sympathy and stifle war sentiment in America by depicting the sufferings of German babies. German babies were dying by thousands because the dreadful British blockade had cut off their milk supply or if it wasn't the blockade it was something ele. Funds were opened in the name of the German Red Cross to buy condensed milk and ship it to Germany to keep the babies from starving. It sounded plaus ible : it did not at first look like propa ganda. It got a lot of publicity. Dr. Rumely opened the columns of the Mail to subscriptions for this worthy and humanitarian purpose. Then Mr. McClure came back from Europe. He had penetrated as far as Constantinople after leaving the peace ship, and bad met many old friends whom he had known in the piping times of peace. And somewhere along the line the propagandists had got their wires crossed. Mr. McClnre Crosses Wires. For in Berlin a high official whom Mr. McClure knew personally had pointed with pride to tbe fact that Germany was enduring war conditions remarkably well, and in proof had handed him voluminous statistics showing that the infant mortality rate in Berlin and other German cities had acunlly declined since the war began. . Mr. McClure returned ust as the "milk for German babies" campaign was beginning to gain momentum. He took issue with its promoters at once. They protested and he smothered their protests with their own German statistics that he had brought back with him! That ended one affective bit of propaganda. Nevertheless,

stigma of his Mail connection and many of bis old friends, who ought to have known him better than they did, turned away for a time.

Mr. McClure suffered

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COUNT VDN3RNTOFr

Rumely, by Secret Links with Huns, First to Know

Deutschland Was Coming Also Had Knowledge of Bremen's Leaving German Port Long in Advance of Any Other News Agency in America His Propaganda Efforts a Complete Failure.

It-would be easy to write interminably j of interesting inciewnts and episodes in the stormy career of the Evening Mall under Dr. Rumely's management and to point out instance after instance in which his German ideals and sympathies found expression in its columns, often so subtly disguised that the German poison was not easily discernible. Even if it had not been known that be w-as in constant touch with the representatives of the German government in America, a close study of the newspaper would havrf revealed many surprising coincidences that indicated either that or an uncanny power of forecasting events. Sometimes it was a peace drive that was anticipated in the Evening Mail by editorial articles calculated to make Americans weary of war and prepare them to back up the demand for peace at any price; sometimes it would bo a German reply to an American protest that would be foreshadowed ; sometimes some other German move or activity. Germany's conciliatory reply to President Wilson's' note in the Sussex case contained the insolent demand that the United States compel Great Britain to raise the blockade against cargoes destined for Germany. The demand aroused the greatest public indignation, and the Mail editorially voiced the general resentment ; it was part of the general policy to sound the patriotic note whenever 'there was any thing that looked like a real crisis. But long before the German note was received in America the Mail had been printing articles fiercely denouncing the British embargo and demanding that the Presi-J dent declare an embargo on munitions and) so "forthwith crush the British rebellion" against law." First to Know of Dentschland. The first intimation that the Germans intended to send a cargo submarine across tbe Atlantic reached the public through the Evening Mail; the arrival of the Deutschland came as a surprise to the rest of the country; tbe sailing of the Bremen, the other cargo submarine, that never reuched this side of the ocean, was also first known in the office of the Mail, as I recollect it. All of these coincidences have been known to and analyzed by government investigators for a long time; some of them have been coupled up with other things that did not take place in the offices of ne Mail. I do not think there was ever any doubt in Dr. Rumely's mind, up to the breaking off 6f relations between the United States and Germany, that this country would not get into the war and that Germany would force France and England to accept a German peace, if they were not actually defeated. Germany expected to win at Verdun: that -was to be the Waterloo of the Allies. Rumely Sure of Hun Victory. As the fighting about that ancient fortress grew fiercer Dr. Rumely had a long editorial article written, celebrating the downfall of . the French stronghold. It made about three newspaper columns. It was put into type and held for orders, As every one remembers, the German victory at Verdun did not function according to schedule. I don't know how many times that chunk of type went into the forms and out again, was proved and revised. It got to be as familiar a piece of

There never was a more loyal American than S. S. McClure, nor one less capable of believing ill of those whom he regarded as his best friends.

furniture about the composin- room as the foreman's desk. I can't tell, either, how many times Germany was declared to have won the war, France and England to have been actually defeated, in the editorial columns of the Mail. These were "moral victories," of course, but Dr. Rumely was oerfectlv sure they had been won. That Germany was right and the others wrom was his sincere belief. As I have said be fore, he did no violence to his conscience in espousing the German cause he had become a German. And up to very late in 1916 the war was a long way off from America as a whole. e were, as a peo ple, looking at it from a perfectly de tacbed viewpoint and mostly hoping we would never have to look at it any more closely. Entirely apart from any question of taking sirAs !u the war. Dr. Rumely exhibited great interest in municipal affairs, as every German does. If there is one thing above all others in which Germans take pride it is in their belief that they have the most efficient city governments in the world. One of Dr. Rumely's first acts after assuming control of the Evening Mail was to display at tbe head of the editorial page the "Oath of the Young Men of Athens." It was a favorite with him. I had seen copies of it printed on cards by the boys at the Interlaken' school. It reads : "Wo will never bring disgrace to this, our city, by any act of dishonesty or cowardice, or ever desert our suffering comrades in the ranks. We will fight for the ideals and sacred things of the city, both alone and with many ; we will revere and obey the city's laws and do our best to incite a like respect and reverence in those above us who are prone to annul or set them at naught; we will strive unceasingly to quicken the public's sense of civic duty. Thus in all these ways we will transmit this city not only not less but greater, better and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us." Had Hun Socialistic Views. I do not believe that any one who ever talked with Dr. Rumely about city government will disagree with the assertion that this conception of good city government was distinctly the German state socialism conception. He would have the city "do things" for the common people; he loved to talk about the way the city of Freiburg provided entertainment and "happiness" for its working classes. Once when these things were under discussion I reminded him of the "panem et circenses," with which the Caesars used to appease the Roman populace while they went on their imperial way unchecked. I ventured the opinion that "bread and circuses" were not exactly the sort of pab"lum with which " satisfy the American desire to be let akne in the pursuit of happiness. "You are nothing but an individualistic American!" he exclaimed. The scheme of making the city's p.rks into something between a schuetzenpark and Coney Island appealed to him strongly. He would have the city provide every form of entertainment, recreation and "uplift," as tbey d in Germany, In Freiburg there is t rauriiipal theatre, supported by the taxpayers for the benefit of the working clasies; New York ought to have a mun.cipal theatre. The poor should have the advantage of seeing the besi plays. "There are plenty of neighborhood the-

atres in New York where good plays are put on at popular prices," I suggested t

bim. That wasn't the idea. That was "commercialized." I spoke of the places where the people of the neighborhood get together and put on their own plays. That didn't meet the need, cither. They had no proper diiection as to what sort of plays they ought to see. In Germany, apparently, the paternal government not only gives the people its theatres but selects its plays for it. So when some earnest German actors came to New Yors and tried to raise a fund by subscription to subsidize a theatre where the working man could see tbe sort of plays he ought to see Dr. Rumely was its most ardent advocate and opened the columns of tbi Mail to subscriptions to the fund. In Germany, apparently, the paternal government not only gives the people its theatres but selects its plays for it. So when some earnest German actors came to New York and tried to raise a fund by subscription to subsidize a theatre where the workingman could see the sort of plays he ought to see Dr. Rumely was its most ardent advocate and opened the columns of the Mail to subscriptions to the fuad. German Tragedies Had No Appeal. New York workingmen somehow didn't take very kindly to dreary tragedies de picting the suffering of the peasant classes in fiermanv a hundred years ago. Even the lure of ten cent tickets didn't make the venture a success. I shall never for get the look of indignation on the face of one young woman as she turned on her escort in the lobby as they were leaving the house and said : "My God, Bill, who in told you this was a good show?" That this sort of paternalism grew out of and strengthened class distinctions, and thnt rlass distinctions, with one class tloin the governing, were un-American, Dr. Rumely could not or would not see, It is unnecessary to point out that he did not get very far in the effort to lm nose kultur on New York in this fashion; no farther than he did in the attempt to distribute the Evening Mail over the whole United States and make it the great national newspaper. He wanted to Dut the motto: "What New York thinks to-day the nation thinks to-morrow" at the top of the first page; he was only deterred by the most forceful opposition on the part of every one else connected with the paper to whom he confided this purpose. But wben every other newspsper in the United States was cutting off its free list and discontinuing the free exchange of copies with other papers, he was enlarging the free list and the ex change list of the Mail in the hope, apparently that some of the propaganda which other papers refused to buy through the syndicate might strike root in fertile soil through this means. Favored Compulsory Service. The national policy that Dr. Rumely strongly advocated was universal compulsory military service not the selective draft system, which the American people have so cheerfully accepted as an emer gency war measure, but the same sort of military service that Prussianism imposes upon the people of Germany. Every boy should become a trained soldier. There is no doubt that Dr. Rumely believed in this as the best possible system; it is German. There is no doubt, however, that in advocating it he was playing Ger many's game. Perhaps I overestimate Germany's ca pacity to understand the psychology of other peoples, but I think any one who knows what the temper of the American people as a whole was with regard to this war up to the time we really got into it must realize that any serious attempt at compulsory military service would have swept the party advocating it from power, and that war preparations on any im portant scale prior to actual hostilities would have been bitterly opposed by probablv an overwhelming majority of the people. But, for one thing, it looked patriotic to advocate such things and furnish a decent camouflage behind which almost any thing could conceal itself. For another thine, there always was the chance that if enough newspapers and orators shouted loud enough the powers that be might

Thirteen Newspapers for German Propaganda

The trail of government officials have led to the discovery of a "slush fund" to control thirty newspapers in the United States by Ambassador von Bernstorff and his propaganda advisers for the dissemination of war news favorable to the German cause, as well as for the spreading of peace propaganda at the close of the war. It is known that Alfred L. Becker, Deputy Attorney General of New York State, who conducted the investigation of the purchasa of the Mail for the government, was in possession of information showing that the German government had acquired the ownership or control of at least thirteen new spapers in the country. Mr. Becker admitted that these newspapers were controlled from Ambassador von Bernstorff's office in Washington, but he refused to state whether they were all controlled through the fund which purchased Dr. Rumely's newspaper. Government officials are in possession of secret correspondence between German Officials in Berlin and in this country which goes to show that as far back as 1915 the Kaiser's diplomatists were figuring on the amount of advantage they

be tricked into trying tbe unpopular, with

at least a sharply divided public sentiment as the result I admit that would be pretty close reasoning for a German, but I offer it as a possible explanation of the vociferous demands for universal service and preparedness that emanated from so many obviously German sources, echoing, it is true, bimilar demands fro a sources whose Americanism could not ba questioned. Of the career and course of Dr. Rnmdy and the Evening Mail after the dismissal of Von Bernstorff in February, 191Z, I have no personal knowledge; my relations with the Mail ended when America broke off relations with Germany. I baveeen Dr. Rumely but once since; I have teea but one copy of the Mail. Jfot tbe Only Victim of Kulttrav I said in tbe beginning of these articles that I proposed to tell the story of an American who became a German. I have told it- But Edward A. Rumely -is not tbe only American who has became German. Thousands and tens ot thousands have been infected with the virus of kultur; not all have become so completely Germanized and few baare bad tbe opportunity that came to Dr. Bumcly to spread the poison of German prop aganda. I suggested that Ldward A. Rumely might be a "throw back" to some Hun ancestor. That biological ex planation, however, does not account for the Americans who have no 6bgle drop of German blood in their veins and yet who, before we entered upon this wax. saw only good in tbe Germaai system, believed that kultur would yet triumph believe it still in the secret -recesses of their minds. There was the suggestion, too, that Dr. Rumely's early environment among the German speaking people of his home circle may have Lad aa influence in the Germanizingiof Lis later career. The answer and the explanation of Edward A. Rumely are, I believe, none of these. Certainly there was no conscious bending of bis boyhood aims and aspirations Germanward ia his home circle, I have received many letters and heard from many sources about Edward A. Rumely's early life and hU family, sine the first of these articles was published, and I can assert with confidence th.it the manifestations of his acceptance of the German viewpoint have . Dowbera caused greater surprise nor elicited more expressions of grief than in his home town of La Porte and from inembers of his own family. That tho grandson of Meinrad Rumely should yield allegiance even in spirit, to the military antocrucy from which the founder of the ?amily in America fled is little short of shocking to the residents of La Porte, who havs heard the old man tell why ho carao M America. "Look," he would say, paisbwg bMck th short hair on tho top o bis head. "Se that scar?' Grandfather Ten How He Cot Sear. It was plainly visible a scar several inches long. "I slipped when I was mounting mj horse as a German soldier. That was not a great offence, but it was in the presence of 'majestaet' of the Kaiser himself! The sword that made that scar was thi Kaiser's own sword ! "I was in tho hospital six weeks. When I recovered I swore I would not serr the military of that country nether day. That is why I came to America !" What, then, is the explanation? How did this man's grandson become a Ger man? How have the other Americans b come Germans? ' I said that this was the story f symbol and a manifestation rather thai of an individual Edward AloyrfiM Rumely, the man who chose to strive foi power and riches rather than to serve at a priest of the Church, Is a symbol of thi conflict that is fccing fought on the battl fields of France and Flanders to-day. T those who believe, as I believe, as America to-day believes, that this is a war between tbe materialistic conception of life and the spiritual forces that rule the souls and destinies of free men and free nations, Edward A. Rumely is a manifestation ot the triumph of the materialistic ideal. could obtain in the peace conference at the close of the war, and it is now knowa that the strongest weapon Potsdam expected to use in this country -were tbe newspapers which bis representatives hero were expected to control. It is believed that it was the intention rf Count von Bernstorff, Dr. Dernburg and his successor, Dr. Albert, to obtain any information reaching the office of the Cabinet officer that would tend to place Germany in a favorable light in tbe conduct of the war, and that that information vras to be turned to good account by the American literary men in their employ by tho subtle "coloring" of newspaper article that would be sent out to newspapers all over tbe country in addition to the publications the German government expected to get in its control. The reports of agents at work oa this feature of the investigation indicate that the leaders of the German propaganda were not as successful in the undertaking as tbey expected. It is known that the money from German sympathizers did not total that which was expected. Jj is also known that as a result the Oerrorm government was not able to get control of thirty newspapers throughout the country.