Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1914-10-22


put down a line. them gathered up
every scrap or paper left On the table
blotters, little note pads. fooiscap---
used or unused. Everything was to so
into the fire.
went about this slowly and desb-
erateIy. taking care to glance at every
thing before carried 1t over TO the
crate. wanted to make sure that
nothing Of value was destroyed, Here
and there came good chance to 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 were 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. KideTlen-
/ Waechter had recorded the full
strength OF England and Austria as
given by Churchill and Moritz. So had
Moritz taken down German and Eng
Iish statistics. Obviously ii was q tri-
angular alliance. each noting to what
extent dependence could be placed mp
on the other. Then there were data
on the French and Russian armies and
navies. The significance OF that was
apparent What puzzled me, however,
were numerous statistics on Holland
and Belgium.
$4,000 Germans Ready for Action.
Not until Kiderlen-Waechter and
Churchill. squatting down BY the fire.
place and poking the burning papers
with eId-fashioned irons. not until then,
when there began q conversation and
other pairs conversed 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-
versation as they drifted to me while I
! moved to and from the table and fire.
place, / shall neN present as close to
the words OF the men involved as am
able.
Heeringen. who had drawn Haidane
, aside, said: 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 1000. 900 more
men. The financial aspect OF this Is,
OF course, out OF my hands.
HaIdane mumbled something that
sounded like that 10 very satisfac.
tory" At any rate. he nodded an at.
flrmative.
BY this time the positions had
changed somewhat, and Churchill drew
lTirpitz aside. Churchill spoke German
only indifferently. so they conversed in
French and partly IN English. heard
Tirpitz say:
we could bottle up the Baltic In
twelve hours. Russia would not have
q chance to stir. OF course, III the
event OF any outside situation arising
we shall look to England to take care
of such new condition. That seems to
rest clearly with your navy"
Churchill became little cautious.
"There is certain contingency thai
might arise" he said. Suppose, under
stress of circumstances, the Unitet
States should take q definite stand
against us in this matterf'
United States Not Factor.
The reply OF the admiral was tn,
VERY expressive German word
Guatschl He further intimated that tn,
United States was so interested in ii.
own internal affairs that 1t would no
be drawn into the question, and tina
In any event its navy would be needed
for It's own immediate protection. I'll,
had a disposition, however, to put tn,
entire situation up to Churchill.
Kiderlen-Waechter and Moritz wer,
deep In the Balkan question, and
sensed then the coming Balkan imbrog
lilo.
Without doubt" Moritz said. "w,
will bring that to an issue within a fey
mouths. knewshe meant that Aus
tria would pfseipitate the Balkan
question. KiderIp Waechter was SER
Gus.
1t has got TO be done"
There were other snatches, all bear
ing on the same subject. and gradual,
O the situation began to clarity In m.
mind. II was not, however. until ha,
noted the contents OF certain doeu
= ments before destroying them that tn
tremendous importance OF the hi,
= stakes they were all playing for be
Z came apparent. What shall now d
IL TO reveal the substance OF thes,
= documents. coupling them with over
Y heard conversation, thus interpretin,
z the full significance of the conference
Within the last twenty-five year
y Germany has SO enormously advance,
Y In commerce that she urgently need
y some further outlet on northern sea
= coast This means Holland and Be
y GUM, Hamburg and Bremen are Til
only two practical harbors that Gel
many possesses for the distribution 0
Y, her enormous export. The congestio
.. I'M beth places ID such that steamer
= wait for weeks to load. Onequarte
OF Gernanysa exports goes throug
n Antwerp. Germany must have An
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