Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-09-24
SECOND Won MOLTKE
HAS YET TO FULFIL
TRADITIONS DEMAND
Name of German Amys S
Head the Synonym for In
vincibility in War-Quali-
ties Not Dazzling.

For nine years another Moltke-Teutontc
synonym for invincibiity In war-has
been chief of the great General staff of
the German army The decisive arbitra-
ment of the present campaign Will be
necessary to determine whether Lieuten-
ant General Helmuth Won Moltke, nephew
of the Organizer of victory" is entitled
to his celebrated unces other sobriquet
of THE Battle winner" His supreme
war lord, the Kaiser, and the tremendous
organization of 5000 900 officers and men
which Lieutenant General Won Moltke
heads at any rate have unaloyed conf
dence in his ability to vindicate the tra-
ditions entrusted to his keeping. Mean
time emulating the habits which gave
the conqueror of France still another pop
ular title, THE Great Silence Keeper"
Won Moltkes energies, writes Frederic w.
VILE. in the Chicago Tribune, are devoted
to hammering into still more deadly per-
fecton the mightiest war machine the
world has yet known. The victories which
the German army has won in the first
six weeks of the war are n striking trlb-
ute to his genius.
Won Moltke succeeded brilliant SOL
der, Count Won SChlictfen. at the General
Staff on January 1, 1906. He had had
somewhat more than ordinary career in
the army up to that time. won his lieuten-
ancy and Iron Cross in the field as
stripping in the Franco -Prussian cam
paign and acquitted himself credtably in
various grades of the service until he
reached his lieutenant generalcy In 1902.
But men inside and outside the army
looked askance on his elevation to the
post so long adorned by Schlieffen. They
declared he owed it primarily to EN-
peror Williams passion for the pictur-
eque and a gnawing desire once again to
have the magic name of Moltke at the
head of the 'brains department of the
German army.
SCOFFERS RUB THEIR EYES.
Detractors were destined to have their
skepticism dramatically undermined. Hav-
ing scoffed at Won Moltke as a decorative
figure. they rubbed their eyes over the
first KAISER maneuvers" held under his
auspices before he had been at the Cen
eral Staff ten months. The great autumn
mimic campaign for years past had heen
distinguished by operations which that
oft-quoted marshal of France would have
called magnificent but not war" The
Kaiser had an unconquerable passion for
thrilling cavalry charges over bare fields,
which would make splendid cinema films,
but cost the lives of division in war.
With the taunts of his rivals ringing in
his ears that he was n Kaiser staff
chief pure and simple, Won Moltke's first
innovation was ruthlessly to obliterate
the picturesque from the autumn maneu-
vers and substitute Rrueling, practical op-
erations-night fighting, forced marches
and all the other sappngs of real war
Count Schlieffen. who had opposed Will
liam lis prediction for pvrot"chrics.
had finally to leave the General staff in
disfavOr Won Moltke. revealing - will of
steel. succeeded speedily where his emf
nent predecessor had failed. His growth
in the esteem of the army was consistent
and rapid thenceforth. That the German
army today is essentially "workmanlike"
is to a large degree the achievement Of
its present chief of staff
General Won Moltke, born in Mecklen-
burg-schwerin in 1siS, was 66 years old
in May. 1914 He Is often mistakenly
called Count" Won Moltke. for the title
of count, conferred on his great ancestor
in 1870 on the dag y. z fell, was inherited
by the elder brother Of the present Mot-
Ike. General Count Wilhelm Won Moltke.
and ceased with the latter's death a few
years ago. The "organi2er of victory"
whose wife was an Englishwoman, Miss
Burt had no children. General Helmuth
Won Moltke served as adjutant 10 his dis
tingushed uncle at the General Staff from
1881 until the Field Marshal's death in
1891. While escorting the latter to the
grave Emperor William informed the then
Major Won Moltke that he had decided to
elevate him to the rank of a personal
aide de camp. Five years of service in the
Kaiser's encourage were succeeded by
regimental and divisional commands in
the guards until in 1904 Emperor William
created a puartermaster Eeneralship at
the General Staff, hitherto filled only in
wal time, and designated Lieutenant Cen
eral Won Moltlte to occupy it, The post is
that of n vice chief and Won MOltlIe was
thenceforth looked upon as Count Schlief-
fen's eventual successor.
Won MOltke's qualities are not of the
dazzling order Bulky and stoCkv of eX-
terior, with the ungainly outlines of a
Bismarck, blue eyed and blondish gray
haired. taciturn to a degree a famed
characteristic of the Mecklenburgers and
Schleswig Holsteners from which the
Moltkes have sprung the chief of the
General Staff Is a man of indomitable
force unfailing candOr and mental ca
pacity more distinguished for sanity than
scintillattng brillancy. He cares far less
for show than a guard lieutenant.