Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1904-09-01
Books, Bookish People and Things
We get no god by being ungenerous to a book
E. B. Browning.

a German realistic novel entitled
"a Little Garrison, by Lieutenant
Bitse Frltz Won der Kyrbury), has
greatly excited the official circles of ,
Germany. Twehiy.three corps com.
mandcrs have been the object Of an
imperial decree" while the author
and several other officers have been
court martiaIed and imprisoned all
for the sake OF an innocent bit OF writ. |
ing. For this reason and no other, the |
book has been noticed In nearly every !,
country and Is being talked about.
Professor Harry T. Peck OF Column
bia University, has this TO say of the
book: I'm our country, the excuses
for which German militarism Is re-
sponsible have long been known. . :
The brutalities which officers are al
lowed to commit in their treatment of
private soldiers, . . the drillmasters'
tyranny and of the wanton arrogance
OF young captains and lieutenants. Our
freely upon such atrocIous cases as
that of Won Brusewitz, a rampant
young officer who ran a defenseless
civilian through the back and was par
doned by the Kaiser after a punish.
ment that was merely nominal. 1t Is
well known, too, In this country just
why the ranks of German Socialism
are being sweled each year by scores
Of thousands of Germans who have
suffered from outrageous treatment In
the army. and who hate with unalter-
able bitterness the whole system
which is making a long black record
OF insult and oppression. But in Ger.
many these things do not find their
way into the newspapers. II Is dan
gerous even to talk about them In any
public place. The crueltles, the
debaucheries, and the still darker
vices Of the military caste are spoken
Of In whispers and behind closed
doors. The Germans when not
aroused to their historic Juror, are q
timid people, patient under heavy bur.
dens, and with an awful sense OF tho
greatness and even sacredness Of au-
thority, even when they feel its iron
boot-heel set contemptuously upon
their necks. They mutter and grum-
bic under their breaths, but they are
afraid to speak aloud or to fail in
showing outward reverence to the
great ones Of the earth.
Fancy, then, the commotion caused
among such people by the appear
ance Of book like this one by Lieu.
tenant Bitse. Here was not the prod
uct of an ignorant socialists magma
ton, but an exact, painstaking nara.
tive of army life set down by one who
was himself within the sacred enclos.
ure and who had seen with his own
eyes and experienced in his own life
the things of which he wrote. /
The report Of 1t spread abroad through
out the whole empire. The authors
identity was soon discovered. i
lie was sentenced to be imprisoned
for six months and to dismissal from
the service. The evidence given
at the trial substantiated beyond ques.
tion the truth of every statement
which the book contained, A Little
Garrison is book which must dis
hearten every German who has his
country's good at heart. It is a pic
ture OF military life in small garri.
son town; and nothing more sordid
and squalid and depressing and at
times disgusting could readily be i'm
agined. Officers who spend their
time in gambling, in drunkenness, in
RIGHTEOUSNESS, in swindllng their
creditors and In demoralzing their
men; non.coms, who kick and beat
and freeze the soldiers under them, II
not bribed to treat them decently;
and private soldiers who learn to |
loathe the uniform they wear and the |
flag they follow.
DIR. Wolf Won Schlerbrand, the