Others who bore English names were persuaded to take leading places in similar organizations which concealed their origin and real purpose. The American Embargo Conference arose out of the ashes of Labor's Peace Council, and its president was American, though the funds were not. Others tampered with were journalists who lent themselves to the German propaganda and who went so far as to serve as couriers between the Teutonic embassies in Washington and the governments in Berlin and Vienna. A check of $5,000 was discovered which Count von Bernstorff had sent to Marcus Braun, editor of Fair Play. And a letter was discovered which George Sylvester Viereck, editor of the Fatherland, sent to Privy Councilor Albert, the German agent, arranging for a monthly subsidy of $1,750, to be delivered to him through the hands of intermediaries--women whose names he abbreviates "to prevent any possible inquiry." There is a record of $3,000 paid through the German embassy to finance the lecture tour of Miss Ray Beveridge, an American artist, who was further to be supplied with German war pictures. The German propagandists also directed their efforts to poisoning the minds of the people through the circulation of lies concerning affairs in France and at home. Here are some of the rumors circulated throughout the country that were nailed as falsehoods: It was said that the national registration of women by the Food Administration was to find out how much money each had in the bank, how much of this was owed, and everything about each registrant's personal affairs. That the millions collected from the public for the Red Cross went into the pockets of thieves, and that the soldiers and sailors got none of it, nor any of its benefits. That base hospital units had been annihilated while en route overseas. That leading members of other hospital units had been executed as spies by the American Government. That canned goods put up by the housewives were to be seized by the government and appropriated to the use of the army and navy. That soldiers in training were being instructed to put out the eyes of every German captured. That all of the "plums" at the officers' training camps fell to Roman Catholics. The plums went to Protestants when the propagandist talked to a Catholic. That the registration of women was held so that girls would be enticed into the cities where white slaves were made of them. That the battleship Pennsylvania had been destroyed with everyone on board by a German submarine. That more than seventy-five per cent of the American soldiers in France had been infected with venereal diseases. That intoxicants were given freely to American soldiers in Y. M. C. A. and Knights of Columbus huts in France.