the United States would no longer be in a position to enter the
war, because American public opinion would not have allowed it.
But without the help of the United States, the Entente could not
win. It resolved itself, therefore, into a question of the skill of
our negotiators to ensure a tolerable peace for us, as the result
of the conference. Diplomatic negotiations have a way of ending
owing to general weariness, in which case the party which holds
the best cards secures the greatest advantages. If this happened,
we should have the advantage of the position as our military gains
would give us a strong lever in the negotiations.

Here I may touch on another question which was engaging my attention
at that time. Since the _Lusitania_ catastrophe I had adopted the
principle, and put it into practice as far as possible, of leaving
the propaganda to our American friends, who were in a position to
get an earlier hearing than we, and in any case understood the
psychology of the Americans better than the Imperial German agents.
Indeed, the words "German propagandist" had already become a term of
abuse in America. We were reproached there with being too indulgent,
while in Germany the opposite criticism was levelled at us. In spite
of the difficulty of the situation, however, there were Americans
of German and other origin, who had the courage openly to champion
our cause and to swim against the stream. Among others, a "Citizens'
Committee for Food Shipments" was formed, whose activities spread
through the whole country, and were avowedly pro-German. A special
function of the committee with Dr. von Mach as executive chief, was
a month of propaganda throughout the country, with the object of
obtaining the means to supply the children of Germany with milk. The
English control of the post even led to the bold plan of building a
submarine to run the milk through the English blockade. The propaganda
was very vigorously attacked by the greater part of the American
Press, but pursued its course unafraid, collected money, submitted
protests to the State Department against the attitude of the Entente,
and so on.

Dr. von Mach succeeded in bringing the matter to the notice of
the President who actively interested himself in it, and promised
to see that the milk should pass the English blockade and reach
Germany in safety. Accordingly, the State Department instructed
the American Embassy in Berlin to issue a statement. Meanwhile, the