The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-08-07
ARMY OFFICERS
LOSING HOLD
On the Exalted Affections of
the People
AN OLD CODE OF HONOR
Recent Developments in German Army
Tends to Lose Respect for the
Officers of the Military
Organization


but none the less surely, the masses OF
the German people are beginning to real
lie how false is the claim of the German
army officers that they are supermen
with separate code of honor who live
and move in a sphere far above that of
the mere civilian, claim that has al
ways been carefully nursed and encour-
aged by the Kaiser himself who is well
aware that the army is the very basis
of his power.
The idea of the special military code
of honor is deeply rooted in the German
nation, and the essential point in it is
that every insult to an officer can only
be wiped out in blood. If mere civil
ian, for instance, should brush against
an officer in the street or hesitate in
giving him the right of way, the officer
Is not only justified, but even required
to draw his sword and chastise the Of
Tending citizen.
When an officer is insulted to a fellow
officer or gentleman who is "satisfac-
tionsfaehig" he must challenge the ag-
gressor to a duel. and is dishonored in
the eyes of military law until he has
fought duel under severe conditions.
An officer, who shirks a duel, is ex-
PEELED from the army with demonstrative
rapidity, although the duel according to
the law of the land is a criminal offence.
| The civilian in Germany on the
whole. occupies the same social posi-
| ton as the negro in the southern states
| in America. The officers themselves as
| sociate only with officers and have a
profound contempt for every man who
does not wear a military uniform.
1t was the utter and complete exposure
of the falacy of the claim of superiority
| that made the recent Allenstein case
so dstasteful to Germany officers, for
the sworn testimony of witnesses in
court revealed conditions of moral de-
| pravity and of utter absence of decency
of feeling among the officers of the gar
rison.
| The last issue of the intrepid Maximi-
| liam Won Harden's magazine the "Zun-
| kunft was confscated for its scathing
| comment on the moral lepers" found
among the Allenstein officers but truth
will out and with the discovery of the
clay feet of the idol. Germany citizens
are undergoing a revolution of feeling
toward those who boosted of being their
superiors and of maintaining the chiv-
| alrous traditions of the knights of the
hidden ages.
|
| the lack of money in the country it
self, Germany is going ahead construct
ing a navy which makes England turn
pale with fear and apprehension In
| 1917, It is said officially, the naval pro-
gramme will have been carried, but with
every shipyard working overtime and
with the Krupp works adding hundreds
of their army Of workers every year.
| prospects are that the German navy
| oil To fEb hal ha
| complete even before then.
| During the debate in the Reichetag
last year, the Secretary of Navy Ad-
miral Tirpitz, promised to reduce
expenses, but nothing has been heard
of this intention since then.
No one can persuade the Kaiser to re-
duce that programme. No argument
can convince him. not even certain offers
GERS from the English Liberal Cabinet
| to reduce the naval ornaments.
| Discipline in the German navy, how
ever, is far from satisfactory and there
is tendency to hush up unpleasant
| incidents. Last year more than 3 per
cent of the sailors and non-commission-
ed officers underwent sentences of i'm
prisonment and statistics show that in
a ship with crew of 600 men the aver
age number of court martials was four,
| the average assertions during the same
period being about one per cent These
| assertions are nearly always due to the
rough ways of the non-commissioned
officers and l myself have once at Kiel
Witnessed as indescribably brutal scene
| when a man was cruelty ill-treated by
a boatswain without any expression of
| surprise by the officers present.
Accidents to German ships are also
| concealed. Not so very long ago the
battleships Hessen and Kaiser der
Crosse had a serious collision, and the
| Hohenzollern, the Imperial yacht, cut
a Merchant vessel in twain but the
newspapers hardly referred to these ac-
cidents. Near F1einbrug, too. the Wur-
| temberg, torpedo training ship ran
aground, and owed its salvation only
to an exceptionally high tide, which
| foated 1t
Germany, indeed. is lucky in having
| sandy shores, as If she had coasts like
those of America and France, studded
two years have lost many more ships
than the other navies have lost.
In building up her navy, 1t must be
admitted, however. that Germany has
accomplished an immense work, worthy
of general admiration.
No one can deny that the German
| navy is superb and the army strong.
| both we'll prepared for the work for
which they were designed-war.
| If the too rapidly increasing German
population lacks land. If money is want
| ing in the Golfers of the empire. it is
| by no means impossible that the German
government will think of war and that
the war they will attempt victory
which permits the robbery of the land
| of the vanquished and the imposition
of the many millards of which the ma
ton is in urgent need. The question is
| only: War against whom?
1t seems to be pretty we'll authenti-
Gated now that Prince Nicholas of Mon
tenegro has been sounding the European
powers to find out If there Is any seri-
Gus objection to his assumption of the
| title of King when he celebrates his
jubilee as ruler on the 4th of this month.
| IF the hardy Montenegrians want a king
no power would altogether relish the
| task of compelling them to be satisfied
with a Prince
| For five hundred years the Turks tried
| unsuccessfully to impose their yoke on
| the people of the Black Mountain, and
| receiving such a drubbng in their last
| attempt that the signatories to the Ber-
lin Treaty promptly gave this race Of
warriors a certificate of complete in
dependence.
Until Prince Danilo, uncle of Prince
Nicholas, founded a secular hereditary
monarchy In 1852, the ruler of the Mon
tenegrins was a bishop Of the Greek
church, who nominated another bishop
as his successor. Danilo Came to VI
client end in 1860 and Nicholas during
his fifty years reign has worked hard
for the prosperity of his country. One
of the would-be kings daughters is the
Queen of italy and another the wife
of a Russian Grand Duke, but he him
self has been content with little of the
ceremonies and trappenge of royalty,