The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-05-12
Believe Kaiser Is Organizing
Invading Army.
HISS The GERMAN MOVIES
Business Men Change Names
When in Paris.
Military Service Never So Pop
ular as Now.


sive policy of pinpricks and saber rat
has at last eliminated in an outbreak
! of popular feeling which only those
! living in France can thoroughly ap-
| preciate. The statements made by
! German politicians and newspapers
| that France is the enemy has re-
vived the slumbering international
hatred, which is now as keen as it
was during the years following the
! Franco-Prussian war.
| The formidable increase in the kais-
| er's legions, bringing their numerical
| strength, on a peace footing, up to
| nine hundred thousand men, has left
| no doubt in the minds of a surprising
| ly large proportion of the French peo-
! pie that this gigantic mass of men is
| to be hurled against them at the first
! favorable opportunity. They are now
| making every effort to be ready to
stem the invaders onward rush.
Naturally enough, the German is
becoming increasingly unpopular. He
no longer can do business in Paris
openly under his own name and ra-
| tionality; he either borrowS a French
name or pretends to be English.
Even the great German sausage shop
on the boulevards insists on being
English and most Parisians think
the goods come from London.
Films Kissed and Booed.
German films at the picture pal
aces are hissed and booed, and the
famous goose step" of the German
| soldier is greeted with yellS of deri-
sion.
Such a play as "Alsace," which is
full of provocative language would
have been impossible a few years ago.
Now it is received with rapturous ap
plause. When Rejane softly plays
the ''Marseillaise" in her old Alsacian
home women spectators sob and men
shed tears. In some business quar-
ters of Paris German used to be the
only language heard in the restau-
rants. Now bad French has taken
its place The newspapers are full
of notices warning people not to deal
with German firms.
Military service was never popular in
France. Now the young Frenchman
takes his place in the ranks cheerfuIly
enough. Cafe walters, masons, drivers
and clerks are all anxious 'to have a
CO. at the ''salauds' dirty chaps) as
they now call the Germans. That is the
most Opprobrious expression in the
French language.
Frenchman Worth Two Germans
Although the French army, on a
peace footing, will soon be numerically
inferior to the German army by 300 900
men, the average Frenchman is con-
vinced that he is worth two Germans.
There is no doubt, however, that the
French trooper is a handy man. He
can march 40 miles a day and carry his
bedding. food and utensils, weighing
about Is pounds, on his back He can
make meal where another man would
starve. His unfailing good spirits keep
him going.
When fortune favors him, his bay
onet or cavalry charge is Irresistible,
and he fights as well without officers
as with them. He is familiar with his
superior officers.
Whether the easy-going French sys-
tenn or the iron discipline of the Ger
man army produces the best fighting
machine time alone can tell
The next international incident
will be magnified into affair of
prime Importance. The French press
will proclaim that "the honor of the
country is at stake" and public opin-
ion will force the hands of tirnid Of
ce-seeking chamber.
In spite of the undoubted value of the
French soldier, he makes the mistake of
understanding the worth of his foe Not
one Frenchman in thousand has ever
been in Germany and the kaiser's soldiers
are always represented to him fat, un-
wieldly creatures, incapable of running a
hundred yards. Anyone who has seen the
German army mdneuveTS knows that this
is wide of the mark.
An impartial view of the French soldier
by one who had lived in the United States
was that he would carry everything be-
fore him if successful in the first great
battle; first defeat would, on the other
hand dishearten him. To those who
know the French character that is obvious
enough, and it on a knowledge of this
fact that the German plan of campaign
is based. They intend to throw a large
body of troops across the frontier and
paralyze the French mobilization, which
would be much slower than the German,
owing to a defective railway system.
opposed to that invading army the
French have what they call their cover
ing troops" but their numbers are always
ia ho1O ha M 1IT1a1 str 1orth
Women Handle Soldiers Jobs.
The great danger to France is the lack
of men. There is a proposal foot to
remedy this inherent weakness. 1t has
been calculated that there about one hun
dred thousand soldiers employed in the
army offices, tailors' shops, bake houses
replaced by women it would liberate this
great number of soldiers for service in the
field. The French minister is favor
ing this proposal and a large number Of
fered to serve their country in this way.
War in October?
There is a general belief among officers
that hostlities will break out in October
of this year. Questioned as to the prob
ability of war in the autumn, a French
diplomat made the following statement:
In the coming struggle France will be
alone. The Russians cannot mobilize in
less than three weeks. Besides, Austria
will guard the Slay frontier and threaten
Poland. Germany is sitting for want of
air. It wants our colonies and our min
for it, and for usi Yes, believe 1t will
come in October.
The three men on whom the tremendous
task of preparing the campaign Will fail
Joffre, commander-in-chief of the French
army and General Michel military gov