leading business men and financiers. I knew Secretaries of State Von
Jagow and Zimmermann; General von Kluck, who drove the German first
army against Paris in August, 1914; General von Falkenhayn, former
Chief of the General Staff; Philip Scheidemann, leader of the Reichstag
Socialists; Count Stefan Tisza, Minister President of Hungary and Count
Albert Apponyi.

While my headquarters were in Berlin, I made frequent journeys to the
front in Belgium, France, Poland, Russia and Roumania. Ten times I was
on the battlefields during important military engagements. Verdun, the
Somme battlefield, General Brusiloff's offensive against Austria and
the invasion of Roumania, I saw almost as well as a soldier.

After the sinking of the _Lusitania_ and the beginning of critical
relations with the United States I was in constant touch with James W.
Gerard, the American Ambassador, and the Foreign Office. I followed
closely the effects of American political intervention until February
10th, 1917. Frequent visits to Holland and Denmark gave me the
impressions of those countries regarding President Wilson and the
United States. En route to Washington with Ambassador Gerard, I met in
Berne, Paris and Madrid, officials and people who interpreted the
affairs in these countries.

So, from the beginning of the war until today, I have been at the
strategic points as our relations with Germany developed and came to a
climax. At the beginning of the war I was sympathetic with Germany,
but my sympathy changed to disgust as I watched developments in Berlin
change the German people from world citizens to narrow-minded,
deceitful tools of a ruthless government. I saw Germany outlaw
herself. I saw the effects of President Wilson's notes. I saw the