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COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC INFORMATION DIVISION OF FOUR MINUTE MEN August 27, 1917. Bulletin No. 15. 4 MINUTE MEN 4 10 JACKSON PLACE WASHINGTON, D. C. UNMASKING GERMAN PROPAGANDA Supplementary to the General Topic "What Our Enemy Really Is" August 27 to September 23, 1917 To all Four Minute Men: This Bulletin is supplementary to Bulletin No. 14, and the matter here given is to be used in connection with the general topic, "What Our Enemy Really Is." Beginning September 3d, or as soon thereafter as possible, and for two weeks at least, it is requested that the major emphasis be put on Section IV of the outline, which reads: "We must unmask pro-German arguments that pretend to be American sentiment, and which deceive many well-intentioned Americans." The present activities of German propaganda are such as to deserve especial attention at the hands of all who are in a position to counteract this influence upon the public mind. Abundant facts known to the Government show that the German war office has long been engaged in developing lines of false argument which can be masked as a kind of American sentiment, and that, aided by paid agents, and pro-German sympathizers, these arguments have been insinuated into the popular mind in this country by speeches and writings. The evidence is also abundant to snow that these arguments are finding lodgment in the minds of many people who would not for a moment think of themselves as disloyal citizens. These arguments are finding voice in many ways, and their influence must be overcome by telling the plain truth about them. The German plotters understand all too well the weakness of human nature which presumes to sit in judgment on the policies of the Government without knowing a thousandth part of the facts upon which those policies are based. This type of mind, which is legion, is an easy prey to the false arguments of German propaganda which tend to divert public sentiment from the effective support of the Government's war program. Our real enemy in this war is this kind of false argument, and the type of mind that can be influenced to give it circulation, no less than it is the German system of government which owes its very existence to the capacity of the great masses in Germany to absorb monarchial doctrine as patriotic sentiment. 10102°17 It is not possible, in four minutes, to cover thoroughly all the important points which this topic suggests. The best that can be expected of the speaker is that he snail drive home one big point in a way that will be remembered, and cover the remainder by inference or brief mention so the hearer will have been put on his guard and started on a complete train of thought. We give here three typical speeches which illustrate what may be done with the topic in accordance with these suggestions. A TYPICAL SPEECH. (A.) Ladies and Gentlemen : As we sit here in comfort and peace enjoying an evening's entertainment, many thousands of miles across the sea from the scenes of battle, we have but a dim appreciation of the world upheaval that is going on, and the effect it is having and must continue to have upon our own Nation and our individual lives. It is not my purpose to-night to picture to you the scenes of devastation and unspeakable destruction which Germanythe enemy of a united civilization has wreaked upon Belgium, Serbia, Roumania, Poland, and northern France. It is not my purpose to picture to you the danger which so obviously threatens our country if Germany 2 should break through the lines of defense now being held by France, England, and our own small but efficient army now on the battle front, and the consequent necessity that our country should rise in its very might and unite its resources to the efforts of other nations to hurl back the armies of German despotism. But I want to call your most serious attention to a very real danger which threatens us right now, right here in our own land, and that is that the American people, or any substantial part of them, should fall victims to the false and misleading lines of argument which German propaganda has attempted to foist upon us as a brand of American sentiment. Whenever you read in any newspaper, whether printed in the German or the English language, that we should keep our soldiers and our munitions and our food at home for our own use and protection, and not send them to aid the allied nations now fighting in France against Germany, you must know that the United States Government has proved this to be one of the very lines of argument which the German war office has used to corrupt the sentiment of the American people and undermine popular support from our own Government. Whenever you hear of any organized opposition to the draft law, and the claim that it is not constitutional, you can be equally sure that this is exactly what our wily old enemy wants the American people to believe, and what she has a thousand ways of planting in the public speeches and writings of weak, foolish, and disloyal Americans. When you see or hear any line of talk that tries to build up American prejudice against England you can make Very sure that it is only the influence of Germany trying her best to divide the forces that are arrayed against her. Whenever you see any brand of sentiment that hampers the vigorous war program of our Government, whether it bear the label of peace or politics, or any other false label, you have a good right to suspect that German money and initiative are giving it an impetus and seeking to undermine our Government. We must be awake to the wiles of Germany, not only on the field of battle, but right here in our Own land. You will make no mistake, and Will not be deceived, if you put every ounce of your energy squarely into the program of the Old Flag. Stand by the Government, and it will stand by all that is dear to you.- A TYPICAL SPEECH. (B.) Ladies and Gentlemen : All over our land tonight the agents of Germany are working for the downfall of our Nation as surely as if the German armies were invading our coasts. Explosion after explosion in our factories and arsenals, as in the Mare Island Navy Yard, and at our railroad bridges, gives you some idea of what Germany is doing right here in our own country. Who knows what plans she will put into execution before to-morrow morning ? Who knows where she will strike next ? If you know, it is your instant duty to tell the Government. The Government is in possession of ten thousand pieces of information for every single fact you may know. The habit of a great many of the American people to sit in judgment on the policies of the Government without knowing a thousandth part of the facts upon which those policies are based is a dangerous habit. Germany has seized upon it as a vulnerable point, and is flooding our land with every kind of false argument that can serve her purpose to divert the support of the American people away from the Government. We must know Germany for what she isa despotic military monarchy that can and does plan wars of conquest and subjugation in cold blood. Already her high officers are publicly planning what they should do in the next warhow they should profit by their failures in this. They have no intention of giving up their original program for world dominion. The peace they Would offer at this time, whether its terms are victory or compromise, would only mean a few years of rest, a continued preparation, and a new war of conquest and dominion. There can be no peace with such a Government but that which is reared upon its ashes! This is the real nature of our enemy. Will you fight that enemy with all your might? Will you stand by the Government that is protecting your home and your freedom from the domination of such a despotism ? Or will you throw obstacles in the way of your own protecting Government by giving voice and circulation to the lies which Germany is propagating here in America ? One of those lies is that there is no danger for America; that she might better have kept out of the war; that we should not be sending our troops abroad to fight in France, but should hold them at home until our country is attacked; that we should not be sending food and ammunition to the aid of other nation > now fighting against Germany, but should keep them at home for our own use. Such is the mental poison with which Germany seeks to divert your support from the war program of the United States Government. Another brand of German mental poison is the effort to stir up our sentiments against Englandtrying to divide the forces that are arrayed against her. The ruthless ingenuities of Germany must not be allowed to corrupt the sentiment of the American people. The word of this hour is: Stand by the Government and help push the war program till Prussian military despotism is overthrown, never again to threaten the peace of the world. 3 A TYPICAL SPEECH (C). Ladies and Gentlemen: The President of the United States has said, "We have no quarrel with the German people. It was not upon their impulse that their Government acted in entering the war. It was not with their previous knowledge or approval." What, then, is this enemy that has filled our land with spies and secret agents, blown up our factories, burned our wheat fields, poisoned our live stock, burned our canneries, and caused industrial strikes and disorders ? The German people have nothing to say about these things. They are not a self-governed nation. They elect representatives to the Reichstag, who storm at the chancellor and indulge in oratory, but if the Reichstag should pass a resolution, the Bundesrath could veto it. We hear very little about the Bundesrath because it meets in secret to act, while the Reichstag meets in public to talk. The Bundesrath is not a body of representatives of the people. It is appointed by the kings and princes. Its 61 members are nominated by and directly represent the monarchs of the 25 States comprising the German Empire. The Emperor of Germany, as King of Prussia, appoints 17 out of the 61, and controls 3 more. That is 6 more than is necessary to veto any measure that even the other Kings of Germany may desire. Who then is our enemy 1 It is Prussian Autocracy the Junkersthe little group of men called "the Potsdam gang." They rule by the "divine right of kings," another name for self-constituted despotism, and are responsible to no one but a god of their own making. Let me recall to you the words of the Kaiser when he wrote to King Constantine of Greece after the allies had dethroned him. "The mailed fist of Germany, with the further aid from the Almighty God, will restore you to your throne, of which no man by right can rob you." My friends, no democracy can live at peace with such a doctrine. If it triumphs in this war, democracy will perish. At this moment we are in grave danger from paid propaganda circulated in this country by certain political organizations and by certain newspapers and magazines printed in the German language and in the English language. It has gained wide circulation under the pretense of a kind of American sentiment. "Keep our soldiers and supples at home." "Let France and England fight their own battles." Whoever repeats these sayings is like a wrecker on a treacherous shore, flashing false signals to ships at sea. These doctrines are known to originate in the very war offices of Germany. Another false signal, "Let the German people attend to their own form of government." If the government was one that limited itself to running Germany, this might be allowed, but when it wants to dominate the world it ceases to be a German question and becomes a world question and stays a world question until this spirit of world conquest is driven out. That patriotic leader of organized labor, Samuel Gompers, has said "The working people of the United States are now doing everything within their power to help their country in its war against imperialism and autocracy. The Kaiser and Prussianism must be crushed, whether internally or externally, or surrender to the demand of the democracy and civilization of the world." Prussia is not a democracy. The Kaiser promises that she will beafter the war. He is undoubtedly right. Wm. McCormick Blair, Director. Note.Our speakers will be interested to know that the work of the Four Minute Men is receiving a great deal of commendation from various sources. Authorities in Washington have freely expressed their personal appreciation of the effective service being rendered by the organization. Much of this credit is due to the individual speakers upon whose services the uses of the organization rest, and the State and local chairmen without whose executive efforts the work could not be carried on. Credit is also due, and in no small degree, to the owners and managers of motion picture theaters for their essential part in giving the Four Minute Men access to their audiences during the intermission. We feel sure, however, that the personal consciousness of performing a patriotic service affords a satisfaction which outweighs any words of approval which others might say about the work. WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTINO OFFICE : 1917
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COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC INFORMATION DIVISION OF FOUR MINUTE MEN August 27, 1917. Bulletin No. 15. 4 MINUTE MEN 4 10 JACKSON PLACE WASHINGTON, D. C. UNMASKING GERMAN PROPAGANDA Supplementary to the General Topic "What Our Enemy Really Is" August 27 to September 23, 1917 To all Four Minute Men: This Bulletin is supplementary to Bulletin No. 14, and the matter here given is to be used in connection with the general topic, "What Our Enemy Really Is." Beginning September 3d, or as soon thereafter as possible, and for two weeks at least, it is requested that the major emphasis be put on Section IV of the outline, which reads: "We must unmask pro-German arguments that pretend to be American sentiment, and which deceive many well-intentioned Americans." The present activities of German propaganda are such as to deserve especial attention at the hands of all who are in a position to counteract this influence upon the public mind. Abundant facts known to the Government show that the German war office has long been engaged in developing lines of false argument which can be masked as a kind of American sentiment, and that, aided by paid agents, and pro-German sympathizers, these arguments have been insinuated into the popular mind in this country by speeches and writings. The evidence is also abundant to snow that these arguments are finding lodgment in the minds of many people who would not for a moment think of themselves as disloyal citizens. These arguments are finding voice in many ways, and their influence must be overcome by telling the plain truth about them. The German plotters understand all too well the weakness of human nature which presumes to sit in judgment on the policies of the Government without knowing a thousandth part of the facts upon which those policies are based. This type of mind, which is legion, is an easy prey to the false arguments of German propaganda which tend to divert public sentiment from the effective support of the Government's war program. Our real enemy in this war is this kind of false argument, and the type of mind that can be influenced to give it circulation, no less than it is the German system of government which owes its very existence to the capacity of the great masses in Germany to absorb monarchial doctrine as patriotic sentiment. 10102°17 It is not possible, in four minutes, to cover thoroughly all the important points which this topic suggests. The best that can be expected of the speaker is that he snail drive home one big point in a way that will be remembered, and cover the remainder by inference or brief mention so the hearer will have been put on his guard and started on a complete train of thought. We give here three typical speeches which illustrate what may be done with the topic in accordance with these suggestions. A TYPICAL SPEECH. (A.) Ladies and Gentlemen : As we sit here in comfort and peace enjoying an evening's entertainment, many thousands of miles across the sea from the scenes of battle, we have but a dim appreciation of the world upheaval that is going on, and the effect it is having and must continue to have upon our own Nation and our individual lives. It is not my purpose to-night to picture to you the scenes of devastation and unspeakable destruction which Germanythe enemy of a united civilization has wreaked upon Belgium, Serbia, Roumania, Poland, and northern France. It is not my purpose to picture to you the danger which so obviously threatens our country if Germany 2 should break through the lines of defense now being held by France, England, and our own small but efficient army now on the battle front, and the consequent necessity that our country should rise in its very might and unite its resources to the efforts of other nations to hurl back the armies of German despotism. But I want to call your most serious attention to a very real danger which threatens us right now, right here in our own land, and that is that the American people, or any substantial part of them, should fall victims to the false and misleading lines of argument which German propaganda has attempted to foist upon us as a brand of American sentiment. Whenever you read in any newspaper, whether printed in the German or the English language, that we should keep our soldiers and our munitions and our food at home for our own use and protection, and not send them to aid the allied nations now fighting in France against Germany, you must know that the United States Government has proved this to be one of the very lines of argument which the German war office has used to corrupt the sentiment of the American people and undermine popular support from our own Government. Whenever you hear of any organized opposition to the draft law, and the claim that it is not constitutional, you can be equally sure that this is exactly what our wily old enemy wants the American people to believe, and what she has a thousand ways of planting in the public speeches and writings of weak, foolish, and disloyal Americans. When you see or hear any line of talk that tries to build up American prejudice against England you can make Very sure that it is only the influence of Germany trying her best to divide the forces that are arrayed against her. Whenever you see any brand of sentiment that hampers the vigorous war program of our Government, whether it bear the label of peace or politics, or any other false label, you have a good right to suspect that German money and initiative are giving it an impetus and seeking to undermine our Government. We must be awake to the wiles of Germany, not only on the field of battle, but right here in our Own land. You will make no mistake, and Will not be deceived, if you put every ounce of your energy squarely into the program of the Old Flag. Stand by the Government, and it will stand by all that is dear to you.- A TYPICAL SPEECH. (B.) Ladies and Gentlemen : All over our land tonight the agents of Germany are working for the downfall of our Nation as surely as if the German armies were invading our coasts. Explosion after explosion in our factories and arsenals, as in the Mare Island Navy Yard, and at our railroad bridges, gives you some idea of what Germany is doing right here in our own country. Who knows what plans she will put into execution before to-morrow morning ? Who knows where she will strike next ? If you know, it is your instant duty to tell the Government. The Government is in possession of ten thousand pieces of information for every single fact you may know. The habit of a great many of the American people to sit in judgment on the policies of the Government without knowing a thousandth part of the facts upon which those policies are based is a dangerous habit. Germany has seized upon it as a vulnerable point, and is flooding our land with every kind of false argument that can serve her purpose to divert the support of the American people away from the Government. We must know Germany for what she isa despotic military monarchy that can and does plan wars of conquest and subjugation in cold blood. Already her high officers are publicly planning what they should do in the next warhow they should profit by their failures in this. They have no intention of giving up their original program for world dominion. The peace they Would offer at this time, whether its terms are victory or compromise, would only mean a few years of rest, a continued preparation, and a new war of conquest and dominion. There can be no peace with such a Government but that which is reared upon its ashes! This is the real nature of our enemy. Will you fight that enemy with all your might? Will you stand by the Government that is protecting your home and your freedom from the domination of such a despotism ? Or will you throw obstacles in the way of your own protecting Government by giving voice and circulation to the lies which Germany is propagating here in America ? One of those lies is that there is no danger for America; that she might better have kept out of the war; that we should not be sending our troops abroad to fight in France, but should hold them at home until our country is attacked; that we should not be sending food and ammunition to the aid of other nation > now fighting against Germany, but should keep them at home for our own use. Such is the mental poison with which Germany seeks to divert your support from the war program of the United States Government. Another brand of German mental poison is the effort to stir up our sentiments against Englandtrying to divide the forces that are arrayed against her. The ruthless ingenuities of Germany must not be allowed to corrupt the sentiment of the American people. The word of this hour is: Stand by the Government and help push the war program till Prussian military despotism is overthrown, never again to threaten the peace of the world. 3 A TYPICAL SPEECH (C). Ladies and Gentlemen: The President of the United States has said, "We have no quarrel with the German people. It was not upon their impulse that their Government acted in entering the war. It was not with their previous knowledge or approval." What, then, is this enemy that has filled our land with spies and secret agents, blown up our factories, burned our wheat fields, poisoned our live stock, burned our canneries, and caused industrial strikes and disorders ? The German people have nothing to say about these things. They are not a self-governed nation. They elect representatives to the Reichstag, who storm at the chancellor and indulge in oratory, but if the Reichstag should pass a resolution, the Bundesrath could veto it. We hear very little about the Bundesrath because it meets in secret to act, while the Reichstag meets in public to talk. The Bundesrath is not a body of representatives of the people. It is appointed by the kings and princes. Its 61 members are nominated by and directly represent the monarchs of the 25 States comprising the German Empire. The Emperor of Germany, as King of Prussia, appoints 17 out of the 61, and controls 3 more. That is 6 more than is necessary to veto any measure that even the other Kings of Germany may desire. Who then is our enemy 1 It is Prussian Autocracy the Junkersthe little group of men called "the Potsdam gang." They rule by the "divine right of kings," another name for self-constituted despotism, and are responsible to no one but a god of their own making. Let me recall to you the words of the Kaiser when he wrote to King Constantine of Greece after the allies had dethroned him. "The mailed fist of Germany, with the further aid from the Almighty God, will restore you to your throne, of which no man by right can rob you." My friends, no democracy can live at peace with such a doctrine. If it triumphs in this war, democracy will perish. At this moment we are in grave danger from paid propaganda circulated in this country by certain political organizations and by certain newspapers and magazines printed in the German language and in the English language. It has gained wide circulation under the pretense of a kind of American sentiment. "Keep our soldiers and supples at home." "Let France and England fight their own battles." Whoever repeats these sayings is like a wrecker on a treacherous shore, flashing false signals to ships at sea. These doctrines are known to originate in the very war offices of Germany. Another false signal, "Let the German people attend to their own form of government." If the government was one that limited itself to running Germany, this might be allowed, but when it wants to dominate the world it ceases to be a German question and becomes a world question and stays a world question until this spirit of world conquest is driven out. That patriotic leader of organized labor, Samuel Gompers, has said "The working people of the United States are now doing everything within their power to help their country in its war against imperialism and autocracy. The Kaiser and Prussianism must be crushed, whether internally or externally, or surrender to the demand of the democracy and civilization of the world." Prussia is not a democracy. The Kaiser promises that she will beafter the war. He is undoubtedly right. Wm. McCormick Blair, Director. Note.Our speakers will be interested to know that the work of the Four Minute Men is receiving a great deal of commendation from various sources. Authorities in Washington have freely expressed their personal appreciation of the effective service being rendered by the organization. Much of this credit is due to the individual speakers upon whose services the uses of the organization rest, and the State and local chairmen without whose executive efforts the work could not be carried on. Credit is also due, and in no small degree, to the owners and managers of motion picture theaters for their essential part in giving the Four Minute Men access to their audiences during the intermission. We feel sure, however, that the personal consciousness of performing a patriotic service affords a satisfaction which outweighs any words of approval which others might say about the work. WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTINO OFFICE : 1917
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