German efforts in Mexico were divided into three classes: the press propaganda; the business intrigue; and the political endeavours. The press work was placed in the hands of Herr von Lubeck, a wealthy German merchant, who collected three hundred thousand dollars from Germans in Mexico City as an initial campaign fund.
About the middle of 1916 it was discovered that these various organisations were not only making detailed reports to Berlin, but that they were receiving instructions from headquarters there. This correspondence, which was written as confidential, was intercepted; and one document, which I obtained, discloses in a general way the activities of the German agents.
In order to make possible an efficient secret service it was necessary for Germany to spread a net over Mexico, as she did over the United States; but in casting this net in the well-known German secret manner, it struck snags, and the holes torn were so great that the German service in Mexico has lost its effectiveness. All the German agents in Mexico are known to the Allies. Every movement is traced, though sometimes it is exceedingly difficult to do so; and, though there are Germans travelling throughout Mexico all the time, their plans are nipped before they are well under way. Mexico, which was to be the Spy's Paradise, has become the German Spy's Hades.
Travelling on Mexican trains, I met a large number of Germans. On some railroad lines there were
