was to set up a news-service which should supplement or supplant Wolff's Telegram Bureau. Wolff, in the ordinary course of business, had concluded with the other great news-agencies, Reuter, Havas, Stefani, etc., an agreement by which each of these bodies had its own sphere of work, pooled the telegrams received, and circulated them to subscribers throughout the world. an international news-agency the scheme worked fairly well, but the founders of the D. U. Transozean above all things objected to an international news-agency; they complained that the telegrams circulated by Wolff were too neutral in tone. They desired to establish a national, as opposed to an international, news-agency, which would serve exclusively the interests of Germany throughout the world, and have as its unwritten motto, 'Deutschland über Alles.'

The original intention of the founders was probably only to conduct a campaign for furthering the commercial interests of Germany; but the outbreak of war, which at once put an end to Germany's overseas export trade, and threatened very shortly to extinguish her overseas import trade also, impelled them to a different line of conduct. In 1915 the D. U. Transozean was reconstructed as a political propagandist organisation; and from that date it has been in close touch with other propagandist societies at home and abroad. Although its views did not always coincide with those of the German Government, and from time to time some measure of restraint had to be imposed upon it, it nevertheless to a great extent acted under official direction. Its pecuniary resources were apparently boundless; certainly its expenses were enormous; and there can be little doubt that it was heavily subsidised by Government. The Director of the organisation was Dr Th. Schuchart; and it is impossible not to admire the thoroughness and vigour with which he conducted the campaign entrusted to his management.

The D. U. Transozean issued a daily wireless service, which has been of great value to Germany; for, while Wolff's Telegram Bureau is to some extent compelled by its semi-official character to maintain a certain reserve, Transozean, being ostensibly a private concern, could conduct its service as unscrupulously as it liked, without

in any way implicating the Government. As a matter of fact, it did not hesitate to send out garbled war telegrams and tendencious matter of all kinds. It seems scarcely to be doubted that the official circles of the Empire encouraged and sometimes instructed it to issue doubtful and even definitely mendacious statements for which the Government did not care openly to accept responsibility. Certainly the promptness and regularity with which these messages were despatched suggest that priority was given to them by the authorities.

The management devised a very thorough Intelligence Section, with agents all over the world, especially in Central and South America. These agents reported on the political situation and economic conditions in the country in which they lived, and furnished lists of people to whom propagandist literature could with advantage be sent. Well aware that public opinion is to a great extent manufactured by the Press, the organisation endeavoured, by every means in its power, to influence proprietors and editors of newspapers and periodicals in neutral countries; and in this branch of its activities it was ably seconded by its agents abroad, who supplied detailed information concerning such publications, and the importance and financial position of proprietors, foreign correspondents, and journalists.

Besides its wireless propagandist messages, this association printed a news-service, Continental Correspondenz,' with editions in German, English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. This was founded in 1915 by Herr Ludwig Asch, and said to be edited now by Herr Günther Thomas. Through its agents it supplied free 'copy,' in the form of Germanophile articles, to any newspaper that would print it. Before Rumania entered the war, that country was favoured by the D. U. Transozean with a special news-service, which consisted mainly of cuttings from the German, Allied, and Neutral Press, selected, of course, with the view of showing that the Central Powers must emerge victorious from the conflict. If argument failed, it would, if possible, subsidise a newspaper proprietor or editor; when this course proved ineffectual, it would endeavour to purchase a newspaper outright. All other means failing, it would itself found a newspaper.

་

For the general public the organisation published various propagandist works, the most important of which was the monthly periodical, Der Grosse Krieg in Bildern,' edited by Jos. Schumacher, consisting of about forty pages of photographs, with descriptions in German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and English. The covers designed for the different countries bear the titles, Illustrations of the Great War,' Album de la Grande Guerre,' 'La Guerra Grande en Cuadros,' 'Illustrações da Grande Guerra,' and 'La Grande Guerra Illustrata.' Another edition, with the legends printed in Turkish, Arabic, Persian, and Urdu, was published in co-partnership with the News-service for the Orient (Nachrichtenstelle für den Orient). Nor did the Association confine itself to distributing its own publications, but it circulated through its agents many propagandist works brought out by other societies. In conjunction with the Society for Economic Training (Gesellschaft für wirtschaftliche Ausbildung), Frankfort, it issued a newssheet, Wirtschaftliche Nachrichtendienst,' each number of which is devoted to a particular country, and gives a statistical survey of foreign trade, information as regards the position and prospects of the different branches of finance, industry, and agriculture, and the development of communication and traffic.

In September 1916 the Deutscher Ueberseedienst Transozean ceased to exist as such, and split up into two separate companies, known henceforth respectively as the Deutscher Ueberseedienst and the Transozean. From this date the Transozean dealt exclusively with the telegraphic news and the war-picture service; while the task of the Deutscher Ueberseedienst, which is presided over by Herr M. Rötger, a former managingdirector of Krupp's, was

'to establish a foreign news-service, with the object of enlightening public opinion both abroad and at home, particular attention being paid to the requirements of Germany's economic life. The company being the centre of all general organisations supported by private means to cultivate relations with foreign countries, it will be its special object to take all measures likely, when economic relations with other countries are resumed, to promote German commerce and German prestige in the world.'

Apart from the division of labour between the two companies, the work goes on as already described.

If Tranzocean and the Deutscher Ueberseedienst bulk very largely in the public eye, and work on an extensive scale, they are not the only institutions that the war has converted from commerce to politics. The Hamburg Colonial Institute (Hamburgisches KolonialInstitut) founded a news-service at the beginning of the war, and has issued at irregular intervals, but on an average once a week, 'Information for Foreign Countries (Mitteilungen für das Ausland). This at first circulated widely, and was highly valued for propagandist purposes; but presently more attractive publications appeared, and it declined in consequence. The H.C. Institute in

January last started a weekly paper, 'Wirtschaftsdienst,' with the sub-title, 'Reports on Commerce in Foreign Countries during the War' (Kriegswirtschaftliche Berichte über das Ausland).

The War Combine of German Industries (Kriegsausschuss der Deutschen Industrie) is an amalgamation, since the outbreak of war, of two rival organisations, the Central Association of German Manufacturers (Zentral Verband Deutscher Industriellen), the President of which is Herr M. Rötger, and the Union of Manufacturers (Bund der Industriellen), the President of which is Herr H. Friedrichs. The principal function of the new organisation is to represent the industrialists in their controversies with the Government. This, however, does not prevent it from disseminating propaganda, frequently of a political kind, though its chief aim is said to be the demonstration of Germany's economic ascendency over her foes. The four-page leaflets which it issues in German, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, and Norwegian, are said to be written by the well-known financial expert, Arnold SteinmannBucher, who is the editor of the weekly organ of the association, 'Mitteilungen des Kriegsausschusses der Deutschen Industrie.' These leaflets are frankly propagandist; and among the subjects, which are treated entirely from the German point of view, are 'The German-American Crisis,' The Economic Conference at Paris,' and 'The German victory in the naval battle of

the Skagerrak.' It is doubtful if this propaganda is private propaganda. Indeed, the space devoted in the leaflets to official statements and to ministerial speeches suggests that the War-Combine of German Industries is really an official organisation masquerading under a title likely to impress unsuspecting foreigners.

It is a common subject of complaint in Germany that the German who goes abroad speedily becomes absorbed by the country in which he settles. If he comes to England, he is soon more English than the English. He casts his nationality from him as if it were a cloak. Every effort is therefore made to keep him in touch with the Fatherland. Hence such an organisation as the Union for Germanism in Foreign Countries (Verein für das Deutschtum im Ausland). It publishes a quarterly review, Das Deutschtum im Ausland,' and a newsservice, Mitteilungen des Vereins für das Deutschtum im Ausland,' the objects of which are, at home, to spread German thought by word of mouth, by articles, and by lectures; abroad, to set up schools, kindergartens, and libraries, to encourage union between Germans abroad, and, above all, to keep them in touch with the country of their origin.

While this society, and others like the Union for the Development of German Commerce in Foreign Countries (Vereinigung zur Förderung deutscher Wirtschaftsinteressen im Ausland), take the whole world for their province, there are numerous societies which restrict their operations to a certain country or a group of countries. One great sphere of activity is the Near East, in which Germany has, during the last thirty years, made such remarkable progress by means of peaceful penetration.' Some time since there was set up at Berlin German-Bulgarian Society (Deutsch-Bulgarische Gesellschaft), which, however, in November last announced that it had become amalgamated with the more recently established Institute for Economic Intercourse with Bulgaria (Institut für den Wirtschaftsverkehr mit Bulgarien), which also has its headquarters in the capital. The Institute has been formed by three powerful German associations, the Union of Manufacturers, the Central Association of German Manufacturers, and the Union of

the