The Washington times., 1904-08-21
The German ATmy.

History REPEATS itself, declares Wolf
Won Sutherland, writing in the
North American Review" on the
subject of degeneracy in the German
army, and quoting as the incentive
for his sermon the thinly disguised
fcuonal description of life in a typi-
cal German garrison by the unfor-
tunate Lieutenant Biise, who has
been imprisoned and dismissed from
the army for telling what even those
who court-martialed him admitted to
be the truth
In drawing his parallel, Mr. Won
Schierbrand recalls the period of
Prussian seTvitude. beginning twenty
years after the death of Frederick
the Great, with the defeat by Napo-
leon at Jena-an experience which
resulted in a loss of Prussian mill
tary prestige, which vas not regained
until 1866, and the battle of Sadowa
Then he quotes William IFS words to
his generals, gathered in the Hall of
Glories at Berlin. New Year Day,
1900:
The glorious soldiers Of Frederick
the Great had fallen asleep on their
laurels, ossifed in the trivial details
Of a senseless, antiquated drill; led
by sup erannuated, unready, and un-
warlike generals; their officers no
longer used to serious work. and de-
generated by luxury, sloth, and blind
self-glorification."
1T may he doubted" remarks Mr..
Won SchierbrsDt, IF William II had
any idea that he was addressing a
body of me2 who themselves fitted
in rather closely with the description
given of the men Of 1906, that he,
personally, is rapidly bringing the
German army to the sorry plight he
spoke Of"
Specifying details which tend to
fortify his comparison Of the German
army of 1904 with the Prussian army
Of 1906, the writer notes the character
Of the diseases which send men TO
the military hospitals, the gaming
and betting INDUCED in to excess in
such clubs, composed largely of army
officers. as the Union and Jockey of
Berlin; the hard drinking, French
brandy being the regular tipple and
the regulation mess-punch being com
posed of champagne, brandy, curacao,
and rum, and the money marriages
which have become an established
feature of German army life.
The critic then goes a step farther
and seriously questions the efficiency
Of the army, commanded by an En-
peror who knows less of actual fight
ing than ''the youngest lieutenant in
France, Russia England, and the
United States" and Offered by men
who ARE just as ignorant Of real war
as he"
For fifteen years" asserts the
writer, the German army has been
taught, in Nham battle. to attack an
imaginary enemy on conditions and
in a manner which would invite COM
plete humiliation in actual warfare"
Adding 10 these moral faiIings and
military plumbers the cruelties prac-
ticed upon private soldiers and the
insufferable attitude OF the profess
sional soldier toward the private citl-
zen, Mr.. Won Sutherland naturally
concludes that the army Of the Kaiser
IS in a bad way. He considers the
question Of reform entirely In the
hands Of the Emperor, but admits
that energetic and sensible as that
monarch is in some respects, there
appears little indication Of any inten-
ton on Williams part of seriously
graphing with these crying evils, but
rather a tendency 70 aggravate the
faults by the Kaiser's own extrava-
CANT conduct and fambOyant utter
ances.
viii it require another Jena" asks
the writer. ito restore that robustness
OF moral fiber 20 the German army
which was probably the most i'm
portant factor that led It on from
victory to victory in the gigantic
struggle with France a generation
ago?"