Any real American, whether at home or abroad, deeply resents the degradation of his flag.  Yet the League of Truth in Berlin has consistently dragged the Stars and Stripes in the mire, and that in a country which boasts that the police are not only omniscient but omnipotent.

A constant attempt, in accordance with the policy of most German newspapers, I may add, is made to depict us as a spineless jelly-fish nation.  They have regarded principles of international custom as little as the manipulators of submarines under the reign of Tirpitz.

Last fourth of July, Charles Mueller, a pseudo-American, hung from his home in the busy Kurfurstendamm a huge American flag with a deep border of black that Berlin might see a “real American’s” symbol of humiliation.  On the same day, dear to the hearts of Americans, a four-page flyer was spread broadcast through the German capital with a black border on the front page enclosing a black cross.  The Declaration of Independence was bordered with black inside and an ode to American degradation by John L. Stoddard completed the slap in the face.

The League selected January 27th, 1916, the Kaiser’s birthday, as a suitable occasion for Mueller and Marten, not even hyphenates, solemnly and in the presence of a great crowd to place an immense wreath at the base of the statue of Frederick the Great on the Linden, with the inscription “Wilson and his Press are not America.”

The stern Police Department of Berlin does not permit the promiscuous scattering of floral decorations and advertising matter on the statues of German gods, and the fact that the wreath remained there month after month proved that somebody high up was sanctioning the methods of the League.

The protests of the American Ambassador were of no avail, until he determined to make an end of the humiliation, after three months, by threatening to go down to this busy section of Berlin, near the Royal Palace, and remove the wreath himself.  Force is the only argument which impresses the Prussians, and we are extremely fortunate that our Ambassador to Germany is a man of force.

The League, however, had printed a picture of the wreath in its issue of Light and Truth, which it endeavours to circulate everywhere.

Stoddard, mentioned above, is the famous lecturer.  He has written booklets for the League, one of which I read in America.  His last pamphlet, however, is a most scurrilous attack against his country.  He raves against America, and, after throwing the facts of international law to the winds, he shrieks for the impeachment of Wilson to stop this slaughter for which he has sold himself.

It is no secret in Berlin that the League have systematically hounded Mr. Gerard.  I do not know why they hate him, unless it is because he is a member of the American Government.  I have heard it said that one way to get at Wilson was through his Ambassador.  Their threats and abuse became so great that he and one of the American newspaper correspondents went to 48, Potsdamerstrasse during the Sussex crisis to warn the leaders.  They answered by swearing out a warrant against Mr. Gerard with the Berlin police—­paying no heed to international customs in such matters—­and circulating copies of the charge broadcast.