The Harrison times., 1914-10-24

out down a line. | then gathered up
very scrap Of paper left on the table
-blotters, little note pads foolscap-
used or unused, Everything was to 90
into the fire,
| went about this slowly and delib-
erately, taking care to glance at every.
thing before carried it over to the
CRATE | wanted to make sure that
nothing of value was destroyed Here
and there came a good chance 70 read
some Of the contents. Piece by piece
from the memoranda the different men
had made, always being careful not to
confuse individual notes, thus learn
Ing one by one their train Of thought,
the thing began to piece Itself together
for me,
There we're extensive notes on army
and navy matters. Churchill, for In
stance, had carefully noted the full
strength that Austria and Germany
could muster in case OF war Kiderlen.
Waechter had recorded the full
strength Of England and Austria as
given by Churchill and Moritz. so had
Moritz taken down German and Eng
lish statistics. Obviously II was tri.
angular alliance, each noting to what
extent dependence could be placed up
on the other Then there were data
! h,, lnu M
nayes The significance OF that was
apparent, What puzzled me, however
were numerous statistics on Holland
and Belgium
3,5oooo0 Germans Ready for Action,
Not until Kiderlen.WAechter and
Churchill, sQuatting down by the FIRE
place and pohng the burning papers
with old,fashioned irons, not until then,
when there began a conversation and
other pairs conyersed on certain points
all around the room, did / gain clear
idea Of just what had happened, What
they said, the vital scraps Of their con
yersation az they drifted to me while
moved to and from the table and fire.
place, shall now present as close to
the words Of the men involved as am
able.
Heeringen, who had drawn Hadane
aside, said; 1--WE are ready at any
time with 100000 men without any
further straIning OF our reserves. Ac.
cording to our latest agreement Aus
tria will support US with 100000 moro
men The financial aspect Of this is
Of course, out Of my hands"
Haldane mumbled something that
sounded like that Is very satisfac'
tory" At any rate, he nodded an af
frmatiyo,
by this time the positions had
changed somewhat, and Churchill drew
TirpItz aside Churchill spoke German
only lndinerently 80 they conyersed In
French and partly in English, heard
TlrpItz say;
1--WE could bottle up the Baltic in
twelve hours Russia would not have
a chance TO stir. or courBe, In the
event Of any outside situation arising,
we shall look to England TO take caro-
OF such new condition That seems to
rest clearly with your navy"
Churchill became a little cautious,
"1hero Is certain contingency that
might arise, he said Suppose under
stress Of circumstances, the United
states should take n definite stand
against us In this matter%
United States Not a Factor,
The reply Of the admiral was the
very expressive German word
Quatschl lie further intlmated that the
United States was 30 Interested in Its
own internal affairs that II would not
be drawn into tho question, and that
in any event It's navy would be needed
for It's own immediate protection Ho
had disposition however, to put the
entire situation up to Churchill
KIdorlen,W0echtor and MorIt2 wero
deep IN the Balkan question, and /
son8od then the coming Balkan lmbrog
lIo,
without doubt" MorItz said I'VE
will bring that to nm issue within few
months" | know he meant that Aus
trIa would preolpltOte the Balkan
question, KlderlensWNeohtor was sorl
Gus,
1T has got TO be done"
There were other Bnatches, all bear.
ing on tho same subject, and gradually
tho situation began TO clarity IN my
mind, II was not, however, until had
noted the contents OF certain docu.
montS before destroying thom that tho
tremendous importance Of tho big
stakes they were all playing for bo-
came apparent What ! shall now do
In 10 reveal the substance Of these
documents, coupling them with over,
heard conversation, thus interpreting
the full Significance OF the conference,
within the last twenty-five years
Germany has 30 enormously advanced
In commerce that she urgently needs
some further outlet on northern sea
coast, This means Holland and Del,
gium Hamburg and Bremen are tho
only two practical harborB that Ger
many possesses FOR the distribution Of
| ~. .navn,nua nynppI Thn anuuaatIan