Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1903-03-10
Herr Bebel Says Emperor and
Ofic ers Regard Il as Necessary
SOLDIERS BADLY TREATED.
sergeants Roast OF Their Ingenuity in
Abusing Young Privates-sone
Remarkable Ipstances cited.

Berlin, March 1O.-Herr Bebel, the So
. clalist leader during the debate on the
military budget in the reohstag said
the higher classes Of society were In a
state of permanent conspiracy against
the law and religion So far as duel
Ing was concerned all the military
courts and the fixed opinion Of the mil
itary class, including his majesty, re-
garded dueling as necessary i'm the ar
my, Notwithstanding the reichstag' S
resolutions on the subject and against
the weight OF public opinion,
Herr Bebel referred In detail TO the
recent Instances Of dueling and COM
planned OF the inyariable pardoning OF
duelists before their terms of imprison-
ment had been completed
Turning 10 the III treatment Of the
German soldiers, he said It was COM
mon for old sergeants to boast Of
their Ingenuity IN abusing young pri-
Yates. Most extreme instances, the
speaker added, were those Of weaken
ed minded young fellows, sometimes
bordering on idiocy, who ought not to
be In the service and who would not
be there II mllitarism did not bias the
minds OF the medical officers.
Among the Incidents referred to by
the Socialist leader was that OF a pri-
waite who was compelled to open his
mouth while u sergeant spat into II sew
eral times.
zone must wonder" said he, that
the man treated thus did not have the
moral courage to stab such beast to
death" The Socialist leader then spoke
on the unfavorable criticism OF the
kaiser maneuvers In the French and
English press as well as by high Ger
man military writer's.
war Minister Won Gossler replying,
said that throughout the year 1902 no
duel had occurred between officers on
the active list. Duelists, he continued,
were pardoned only on the recommen-
dalton Of the highest court. The sharp
measures adopted in the case OF Lieut..
Hildebrandt who killed Lieut. Blasko-
wltz IN duel In November 1901. and
was sentenced to two years imprison-
ment, though he was pardoned by En-
peTor William after serving seven
months Of his sentence left no doubt
as to the attitude Of the emperor The
speaker fully agreed with Herr Rebel
that officers who III treated soldiers in
the way described by the Socialist lead.
er merit the most severe punishment.
The minister added: I'VE know per-
fectly we'll that an army having large
cavalry force has an immense adyan-
tage over its enemy. The kaiser man.
euNers show that our troops are quite
pre-eminent. When Herr Bebel refers
10 unfayorable foreign criticisms we re-
ply that we do not exepct foreign APP
plause for our maneuvers,"
Herr Tiedmann, Conservative. said
that dueling was unavoidable In some
cases, however, severely IL might be
punished, and he would regret to see
the day when this view disappeared
among the people.
Herr Kunert, Socialist. attempted 10
criticise the emperOrs military skill. An
leading the maneuvers. but Speaker Won
Ballestrom ruled that such criticisms
were inadmissible Herr Kunert retort-
ed: Il infer from your ruling that we
can mention God here, but not William
H."
Count Won Ballestrom had 10 call
Count kunert to order before the latter
desisted In his remarks.
Count Won Rooen. Conservative. said:
We cannot accept criticisms OF FOR
eisners on our army, since II is proved
that our army Is the best IN the world"
The Conservative member, Won Old
enburg expressed his delight al the em-
peror's pardonIng Lieut. Hldebrandt.
because that action proved that nei-
Their the press nor so-called public opln-
Ion has the slightest influence on his
maiesty's decision
Regarding the actions Of officers, con-
tinued the speaker II would be a most
tragic thing n the views OF honor OBJ
tanning In the German army corps were
10 change and without duelIng the es-
prit de corps would suffer.